March 27th, 2009
Celebrity Constellation
10 Night South Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review
Hi!
It's Kim Turcot & Scott Leeming with a review of our recent 10 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise on The Celebrity Constellation Sailing departing out of Fort Lauderdale on March 27th, 2009...Our cruise vacation on the Constellation was simply magnificent! We were left wanting to do it all over again, small tear drops slipped from our eyes as we disembarked this fantastic ship!While on the Celebrity Constellation, we experienced a truly luxurious experience from the Celebrity staff. Everyone from our room attendants, head & assistant waiters, Maitre d’, guest relations & excursion staff , internet technicians, entertainment director, musicians, etc... & so forth truly rose above our expectations in every way. The meaning of Celebrity's slogan "Starring You" became noticeably self explanatory whilst being pampered literally from dawn till dusk. The food preparation, its delivery to our table by our servers every day was simply splendid. The breakfast & evening dining menu combined with our ability to choose from a fresh & tantalizing buffet made our daily meal choices a breeze...the live music by the talented band "Fusion" kept a fun laid back spirit alive throughout the cruise & several vacationers on their toes dancing in the warm Caribbean breeze... This particular sailing with its itinerary was especially appealing to us which included St, Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia & finally St. Martin. The shores & beaches of St. Thomas are rated some of the best in the world & we can now see why that is! Utterly breathtaking views of clear turquoise water as far as the eye can see invite you to jump right in with a snorkel & mask to bask in its beauty...We booked an excursion to St. John's & were equally impressed with our surroundings. This was most unquestionably one of our greatest highlight of the cruise...St. Kitts was next on the itinerary and somewhat disappointing. Although historically interesting, we probably would have enjoyed ourselves more staying on the ship. At a glance, St Kitts is only starting to develop its’ tourism infrastructure for the cruise lines as it migrates away from their historical & labour-intensive Sugar Cane production. The beaches were somewhat disappointing and those that would have been ideal, were owned by the expanding resort developments along the Atlantic Coastline. We did meet a good tour guide who took us sightseeing to the bluffs overlooking the new resort developments where we had the pleasure of seeing the most cute & irresistible green leaf monkeys! These special little creatures were a definite highlight to see... Still, we feel that St Kitts is a few years away from becoming a destination ‘hot spot’...Barbados was wonderful! We were lucky to have booked an excursion on ‘The Tiami’ – a 5-Star Catamaran & Snorkel excursion. We enjoyed snorkelling in two distinct sites where we swam with hundreds of tropical fish & beautiful sea turtles. The mood on this excursion was fun. We were served a 5-star lunch onboard after snorkelling & then allowed to get off & swim or walk along the white sand beaches.. It was here that much Congo juice was poured by the very friendly Congo Man & his Rum Spiced Rum Punch...We even made him a reggae song that we all sang as the juice was poured into our glasses while swimming in the amazing gentle water... This was a really fun & relaxing excursion & we highly recommend it!After spending almost a month in St. Lucia in December 2008, we were quite emotional about returning to this tropical paradise! St. Lucia's lush tropical rainforest & drop dead gorgeous scenery & weather are not to be missed! We hired a fantastic tour guide who drove us near the famous Pitons Volcanic Mountains & everywhere we wanted to go. We managed to see almost every friend we made while in St. Lucia... We opted not to drive to a beach on this stop, though we would recommend any catamaran snorkel sailing to Annes Cochon beach or Annes Chastanet beach or the Jalousie Resort beach which sits directly against the Piton Mountain side. We feel that the southern part of the island is far more beautiful than the northern part which is more populated & resort-based. Tours to the scenic Waterfalls, the Rainforest ‘Zip Line’ the drive-in volcano are also worth a tour. Many of these tours will find you heading towards Soufriere... though it may appear somewhat economically challenged, don’t be fooled as the people are friendly and the views simply stunning. St. Lucia is a very special place to us & many who have come to know the locals can see that they are rich with culture & lifestyle. Like many islands, your first visit will find you taken back by the apparent hustling of cab drivers and merchants to buy their trinkets & such... However, if you are clear about what you want and what you do not want, St. Lucians will show you much respect. St. Lucians are wonderful loving people. We hired a local fisherman named Rudi in Soufriere who took us fishing in December & it was a blast! Some of our favourite guides can be found on our website at www.selectsailingsandtours.com under TOUR GUIDES.Next we visit St. Maarten whose reputation, beauty & shopping Mecca did not disappoint us. Again, here we enjoyed breathtaking views of the Caribbean sea... friendly locals & pleasing scenery... we highly recommend the Captain Morgan Catamaran Snorkel excursion that we missed as it was sold out. Instead we raced on the America’s Cup racing sail ships – two competing ships crewed by two sets of cruise ship passengers... and you do all of the work with the Captain shouting out your tasks as you try to win the race. It was good fun and drinks were supplied, but somewhat limiting in terms of being able to see a wider spectrum of the heralded French side of the island & waters. Also – if you book a beach excursion, know that the French side offers the best beaches (as opposed to the Dutch Atlantic Side).What is most enjoyable about a cruise that is longer than 7 nights, are those days at sea! Wake up late if you wish without the expectation to do an excursion, select one of several breakfast options at your leisure, lay around the pool whilst a live band plays in the hot sun, waves rolling by and that sea breeze that takes you far away from your day to day... drift in & out of sleep if you wish... Note to self; Bring 30 – 50 Proof Suntan Lotion!! Truthfully, those days at sea were equally pleasurable if not some of our favourite times of our cruise! The days at sea are relaxing & give you a real sense of vacationing at its best!All in all, the Celebrity Constellation delivered a 5-star rating for us.
Kim & Scott
