Chuck and Wanda go on a cruise.

A number of friends and family have asked us about some of our cruise vacations. This one that I am writing about was in early fall, three years ago. Some of the information, like various movies we saw, will be dated. I do think that overall this experience will be a great example of what a cruise can be. We had a great time and look back on this with lots of fond memories. Over the course of the next week or so I hope you will enjoy reading, as much as we enjoyed doing, this cruise.

This was our fifth Celebrity cruise, eighth overall, and first transatlantic.

We departed San Francisco on the 4PM direct to London British Air flight. We were able to upgrade our seats to what is called World Traveler Plus. The B.A. web site makes this upgrade seem like a "must do"; of course the pictures never show more than one row of seats. Once seated, we did have some extra legroom but I honestly think the coach seats on Jet Blue have the same, or even a few more inches. The seat configuration in coach is 3-4-3 and in "Plus" it’s 2-4-2 with just 5 rows in the curtained off area. So, it was quieter I’m sure, but we were in the 4 row so IF you ever do this, make sure you get the "2 on the isle."

We arrived in London at 11AM local time while our bodies were still at 3AM West Coast time. We took a suggestion and picked up some "No Jet Lag" at our local health food store. We’ve nothing to compare as we have never traveled this distance but we did feel great upon landing, so as my Grandma Sophia used to say, "what could it hurt?" The only issue we had was being a little off at mealtime which was a good thing considering the prices in London.

A group of us spent two days in London before heading out to Dover and the ship. We really enjoyed the city and look forward to getting there again some time.

Saturday morning we were a part of a group that had three pick-ups at local hotels and then we were off to Dover. We arrived at the ship around noon. I don’t think it took us ten minutes to get processed and on board Constellation. We were booked in 7175, a very nice cabin with a large balcony. The bedding was new and very, very comfortable.

The first four days of the cruise were ports with stops in LaHavre, France (for Paris) Falmouth, England, Dublin and Cork, Ireland. We then rocked across the Atlantic for three days then ported in St. John’s Newfoundland and Halifax Nova Scotia. We stayed in Newfoundland an additional twelve hours because of high winds. Halifax was a substitution for our original port, St. John, New Brunswick.

Our return to Cape Liberty, New Jersey was followed up with two days in New York, City.

As I wrote, this was our fifth Celebrity cruise. I can’t say which one was "the best" as we have been more than satisfied with all of them. Prior to discovering the joy of cruising we did a lot of travel in and around the great state of California. A favorite of ours was three or four days on the northern coast, maybe a long weekend in Carmel, or a train trip up to Portland or even Denver. When we compare the cabin, food, entertainment, service, and company along with an ocean to enjoy; well, there is no comparison.

We all know that just about everything on and about a cruise is subjective. Heck, even the cleanliness of the cabin is; after all, who knows what kind of housekeepers we are? Having said that, we were more than happy with the meals offered. Between the many entrees and the "always" menu, and the suggestions from our waiter we always left the dinner table satisfied.

There is one area that WE would love to see improved on the Celebrity ships. The in-room entertainment and the theater type movies. We don’t spend a ton of time in our cabin but late in the evenings, or late afternoons and just relaxing before dinner it would be nice to turn on the TV and see SOMETHING that wasn’t older than most of the passengers. The movies shown were exactly the same ones shown when we were on Infinity four months ago and they were old THEN. Actually, ALL the programming (except news) was the same as four months ago.

Some of the movies shown in the "theater" were "Match Point" "The Queen" "King Kong" "Firewall" "Pink Panther" "The Matador" and others of the same vintage. I don’t think any of these are under a year old. The in room selection was even worse.

If you have any questions, fire away. All things considered we have been more than satisfied on each and every one of our cruises. Maybe we are just easy to please and the type of passenger Celebrity (and Princess) is looking for. You know, pay your money and don’t complain? Actually I think we are just realistic.