“Old ship, poor service, substandard food, concierge class worse than standard on other ships/lines. ”
Although we normally cruise large RC ships, for a special occasion we chose to step up to Celebrity, with which we had previously had excellent experience. This particular cruise was a big step down. Whether the problems were unique to the older Constellation, to Celebrity, or is endemic to the hurting cruise industry is hard for me to say. Poor service in concierge class seems inexcusable in any case - especially with the quantum leap in gratuity fee. Food was fine for breakfast, worse than mediocre for lunch (containers of unappetizing brown goop were particularly distressing), dinner selections were limited and sometimes disappointing. Wait staff was overtaxed, inexperienced or lazy; Two hours was way too long for an enjoyable experience. We saw our cabin steward on the first day ONLY. The room was generally cared for, but 11 nights on the original bedsheets was an unpleasant surprise. A malfunctioning toilet, a door deadlock requiring service, and a need to string an extention cord across the cabin floor for my CPAP are signs of a tired ship and substandard maintenance. On the positive side, we found most staff to be friendly and helpful
