We booked this cruise from and to Venice on Celebrity Constellation on their Jet Set Sail package. This meant we had to arrive at the Inflite Private Jet Terminal at Stansted by 05.30 am where we checked-in swiftly and then spent time in a comfortable lounge with pastries, hot beverages, prosecco and newspapers on offer. When the flight was called we walked straight out onto the apron and up stairs into a Titan Airways comfortable 737. En route we were served real food with actual cutlery and crockery. We were met at Venice airport and guided through the chaos to coaches for priority boarding ~ all very efficient.
Having only five weeks earlier endured a disappointing cruise on Celebrity Infinity we approached this cruise with some trepidation. However with one caveat our faith in Celebrity was restored. Celebrity Constellation is so much better organised in almost every respect. The MDR chaos we did not enjoy on Infinity was replaced by calm organisation in the San Marco restaurant. The restaurant did get very busy but service was very good and the food equally so. As we were on Select Dining we had once again booked for each evening beforehand and turning up early we were placed every night by a window with the same pleasant team led by Agus.
The cruise visited ports in Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Italy. We only took one ship’s excursion (in Dubrovnik to Cavtat) preferring to just wander off into the peace and quiet of these towns. The exceptions were however Naples and Messina, the former torrid and the latter busy.
Our cabin (2146) was comfortable and kept spotless by our steward Munir. One point however, it was over the embarkation/disembarkation area so set up could be quite noisy when the ship was preparing to dock on the starboard side. We enjoyed the Classic drinks package and we also visited the Cafe al Bacio many times where the staff are lovely.
Our one criticism which also applied to Infinity is the incessant noise in all public rooms. Celebrity must have invested in some dreadful recordings of female singers which they play incessantly. Strangely the Cruise Director on both these cruises was Luigi De La Cruz so maybe that is the common link. Thank goodness for the peace and quiet of the Solarium, such a super feature of these ships. The shows were extremely good and we saw them all. We do miss though lectures and quizzes, the latter bizarrely only a feature of port days.
For disembarkation in Venice the Jet Set Sail group were gathered together in the Q-Sine restaurant and when called led to coaches and on arrival at the airport, escorted to Departures ~ again all very efficient.
Our return to the Inflite Private Jet Terminal at Stansted was uneventful though it was clear that Titan Airways have little clout in Venice as we had to wait ages for buses to takes us to a far flung part of the airfield and wait further to leave the stand. Unfortunately collecting luggage after we landed, in the too small Arrivals area was poor. There is no baggage carousal, bags just being pushed through an hole in the wall onto a very short length of conveyor belt which led to bags being piled onto each other and very rapidly, chaos. However our cars were outside so we were soon away
