Introducing Sheila's Personal Ports of Call Guides: "The Beautiful Baltics" Begins Tomorrow

Introducing my new blog series: Sheila's Personal Ports of Call Guides!

Because I am a Cruise Specialist and it is my job to help my clients book the right cruise for them, I thought it might be helpful to my clients if, from now on, I share information about the ports of call that I visit whenever I cruise. Of course, there is plenty of information about different ports of call all over the internet, but maybe the information that I provide, based upon my personal experiences, could give my clients a better idea of what really to expect when they visit a particular port of call.

So, beginning tomorrow, I will post the first blog in my series entitled "The Beautiful Baltics". See you then, and thanks for reading!

Celebrity Constellation Cruise Review: The Constellation is Stellar, But Not Quite Out of This World

I recently returned from a 12-night Baltic/Russia cruise on the Celebrity Constellation, which departed from Amsterdam on May 16, 2010. I was quite impressed with the Constellation and I think she is a very, very nice ship. She had just come out of a 15 day or so drydock, during which she was “Solsticized” by adding several new restaurants/dining venues, a Martini Bar, the Cellar Masters wine tasting area, and replacing carpets and furnishings in public areas and staterooms. I wanted to try the new Tuscan Grille restaurant but as my traveling companion has a very sensitive stomach when it comes to garlic, it was not recommended that we dine there. I also don’t drink much so I did not try the Martini Bar or Cellar Masters, although I did bring a bottle of wine onboard in my luggage and my roommate and I split the cost of a stateroom bar setup (Bacardi Rum and Diet Coke).

A note on the stateroom bar setup: they will only deliver six cans of soda to go with an entire bottle of rum (or whatever liquor you choose), so if you don’t like your drinks very strong, you may have to pay for additional mixers. We asked our room steward for some pineapple juice to use as a mixer, and he brought us one small container of it, but after that the bar manager told us we couldn’t have any more. However, later that evening our room steward brought us a huge can of pineapple juice, stating that he got it from a friend in the galley. With the large number of drinks we were able to make from that bottle of rum, the $80.00 we paid was well worth it, but if you ever order a bar setup, keep in mind that if you don’t have a nice room steward you may end up having to buy additional mixers.

The layout of the ship is pretty easy to remember: entertainment is forward (Celebrity Theater, Reflections lounge, etc.) and dining is aft. There is a nice thalasaotherapy pool on deck 10 in a very nice glass-roof enclosed area and use of the pool is free. I have encountered similar pools on other cruise lines and they charge for use of their thalassotherapy pool, so I really applaud Celebrity for offering theirs for free and in such a nice setting. The main pool is on deck 10 midship and while it seemed to be a pretty decent pool, it didn't get much use on this cruise because it was just too darn cold. The library had a really nice selection of books, which you could check out anytime on the honor system, and one thing I really enjoyed about the ship was that there were plenty of cozy places to sit and do your own thing, whether it be snuggle with your mate, enjoy a drink, or simply read and enjoy quiet. In addition to the great layout of the ship, the service was excellent, with crew member we encountered being very friendly and attentive, especially our room steward and our waiter.

Our inside stateroom was a small but larger than I expected for an inside stateroom, and it had ample storage and closet space for the two of us. The bathroom was small but still larger than the one we had with a balcony stateroom on the Celebrity Mercury. The twin bed was comfortable and our steward did a good job of keeping our room tidy. I had never sailed in an inside stateroom before, and, to tell the truth, I was quite concerned about feeling claustrophobic in such a small room, especially when dark. However, I was able to overcome those concerns by bringing a small battery-operated fan and by using an iPhone app that looks and acts like a nightstand clock to provide some light in the room. Another important note about inside staterooms: it's really easy to lose track of what time it is since there's no natural light coming in! It is very easy to oversleep in the morning since you have no idea whether it’s night or day so having a lighted clock that you can easily see is pretty much a necessity.

The Constellation’s food was excellent in the main dining room. Every day offered completely new and different selections, and they ranged from typical American fare to more exotic Moroccan and Indian dishes. The always available dinner selections included a New York Strip steak, which was a very nice steak compared to what has been offered as steak on other cruises. Dishes were always cooked as ordered and were presented very nicely, and portion size was just right. The buffet, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired, save for the make your own pasta and Asian stir-fry stations in the late afternoons/early evenings. Also, because these stations took a lot of time to make food for one person, they should be moved away from the actual buffet line to prevent “traffic jams”. I’m not a big fan of buffets to begin with, but this one was pretty typical uninspired buffet fare that was best visited when you just wanted a snack when other venues were not available.

The room service menu was decent, offering mostly sandwiches, but the burgers were very tasty and service was relatively prompt. The room service breakfast menu offered mostly cold items but you could select from either plain scrambled eggs (which were often runny) or a plain omelet (which had no taste) and hot sides such as bacon or sausage, and it was always delivered either slightly before or right at our requested time. Room service orders could be ordered by phone or on the interactive TV (or by hanging the breakfast card on your door). You could also order from the main dining room’s menu for dinner, although I did this one night and had to wait over an hour for delivery.

The grill near the pool offered the typical burgers and fries, but unlike the burgers offered at the grill on other ships, these were awesome! The grill also offered chicken sandwiches and the like, as well as those all-important French fries, which were quite good. Another highlight was the ice cream station by the buffet, which was open every afternoon. The selection was always good and included ice cream as well as sorbet, plus candy toppings; and it beat the alternative of paying $3 for a scoop at the gelato bar on deck 5. Overall, the food on the Constellation was really good and I was impressed.

The one real negative about this cruise was the entertainment, or lack thereof. Our cruise director was neither entertaining nor funny, and unfortunately, this was my second time on a Celebrity cruise with a bad cruise director. I have been on many other cruises where the cruise director was a really fun guy: great to be around, funny, and very entertaining in his own right. The right cruise director can really make the entertainment onboard even more special, and I am beginning to wonder if I’ve just been unlucky with my Celebrity cruises, or if this is a problem with Celebrity. The problem with the entertainment, however, extended beyond the bad cruise director on this cruise. The Celebrity singers and dancers were mediocre at best, and unfortunately, they took up several evenings’ entertainment with their production shows. After watching their poor performance during the first night's show, I decided that an evening spent watching one of the limited TV channels in my stateroom would be more entertaining than watching the singers and dancers, so I did not bother attending any of the production shows. Several other nights were performances by singers that I’d never heard of, and, since they had not been introduced during the first nght’s Welcome Aboard Show, nobody else knew who they were either or what to expect. The other nights had some sort of comedy/juggling/acrobatics, but the shows were really nothing worth writing home about, unfortunately.

Daytime entertainment on sea days consisted mainly of trivia, sports-related contests, bingo, and the like. There were also other activities offered as part of Celebrity’s “Life” program, but most of them did not hold much interest for me and most required additional fees. While I certainly appreciate what Celebrity is trying to do here by enriching guests’ experiences onboard, I feel that they could include a lot of these activities without charging additional fees.

I would also like to note that the limited variety and quality of the entertainment onboard could be due to the clientele and the itinerary for this cruise. This was a 12-night cruise to the Baltics in mid-May, so you would expect the average age of passengers onboard to be higher since older people would have not only the disposable income but the time to travel for that long. Also, this was a very port-intensive itinerary with about 5 ports in a row (including overnight in St. Petersburg) without a sea day and the other sea days being at the beginning and the end of the cruise. With this cruise being so port-intensive, many passengers were very tired out at the end of each day, so it is possible that Celebrity felt it didn't need to really beef-up the evening's entertainment as they figured the shows wouldn't be very popular. This could also explain the lack of anything really extraordinary entertainment-wise on sea days as well, because I'm sure many passengers didn't feel like doing much on those days in order to recuperate from being in port!

One other brief point I would like to make about the Constellation is that I really do appreciate Celebrity's attempts to keep their older ships up to date, and the concept of "Solsticizing" is a good one. However, it seemed to me that the bulk of the new venues/improvements added during the dry dock were new ways for passengers to spend more money onboard (the new restaurants carry cover charges, the wine cellar and martini bar offer expensive drinks, etc.). I can't fault Celebrity for wanting to increase their bottom line, but I personally felt like I was constantly being bombarded to spend, Spend, SPEND, and for me that doesn't lead to a very relaxing vacation.

So, all in all, I think the Constellation is a very nice ship: she offers great food, great service, great accommodations and many beautiful, modern, and cozy venues, but the disappointing and uninspired entertainment made this cruise a little less stellar than I had hoped.

Exclusive Offer: Book a Royal Caribbean Cruise for 2010 and CruiseOne Will Pay Your Gratuities!

Wanna get away on a cruise this year? Then here's a deal for you! This deal is for 3 days only beginning today and ending midnight on June 10. All you need to do is book any Royal Caribbean Cruise for 5 nights or longer in an oceanview stateroom or above, sailing anytime between July 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, and CruiseOne will pay the standard gratuities for the first two passengers in your stateroom.

This deal is exclusive to World Travel Holdings brands, including CruiseOne, so you won't find this deal on most cruise booking sites. But for the best service, book with your CruiseOne agent and take advantage of this deal!

To book a cruise under this promotion or any other, contact Sheila McPherson, Your Independent Cruise and Vacation Specialist, at 630-868-8719 or toll free 877-823-8597.

A Different Dolphin Excursion in Mexico!

In early April, 2010, I sailed on the Norwegian Star for 7 nights to the Mexican Riviera. I have done this itinerary many times and I always enjoy it because there is so much to do and see. My previous trips to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas have primarily focused on shopping, but this time I decided to do something different: I wanted to see dolphins.

Most shore excursions that involve dolphins entail you standing in a large tank of water and having trained dolphins swim with you and maybe giving you a kiss. It's a fun experience because the dolphins are so cute and friendly, but is that really the best way to see dolphins? Wouldn't you prefer to see dolphins just being dolphins, instead of acting like trained seals? If that sounds like a good idea to you, then you should try taking a dolphins in the wild excursion: it's like whale-watching, but when you locate the dolphins in the water, you may get to jump in and swim with them!

I booked my excursion with ShoreTrips, entitled "Dolphins in the Wild with a Marine Biologist". The excursion is actually operated by a company called Wildlife Connection in Puerto Vallarta. You meet with the Wildlife Connection staff at Opequimar Pier in Puerto Vallarta, where they give you a brief introduction to the tour and information about dolphins, and then you head out on one of their boats to search for the dolphins. Each boat has a driver and a marine biologist with a camera. The marine biologist will take photos of the dolphins during the excursion and can email them to you if you wish. You have to keep in mind that since you're going to look for dolphins in the wild, you may not see any, but it also also possible that you may encounter dolphins that would like to play; and if you do, then you can get in the water and swim with them!

On our excursion, we set out looking for dolphins, and at first we didn't spot any, but we did see a manta ray and a whale! After a while, we spotted some dolphins but they didn't want to stay

up near the surface. We kept moving the boat around to different parts of the water to find dolphins and we ended up seeing quite a few. Some even leaped and flipped in the water like the trained dolphins do in the tanks, but this was better because it was spontaneous and the dolphins were doing it because they wanted to, not because they were commanded to do so. At one point our marine biologist got in the water to play with the dolphins, but they wouldn't stay near her and play so there was no point in us getting in the water.

The whole tour lasted about 3 hours (I think) and it was really a lot of fun. It was so exciting seeing the dolphins in their natural habitat, seeing them leap, swim, and play as they wish. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to swim with the dolphins, but the trip was very interesting and I will always remember it. The next time I'm in Puerto Vallarta I will do it again and maybe I'll get lucky and get to swim with the dolphins next time!

Here's a clip of some dolphins leaping:

If you would be interested in taking this excurion the next time you are in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, please contact me at (630) 868-6719 or ShoreTrips at http://www.shoretrips.com/ and we will be happy to book it for you. You can reach Wildlife Connection directly at http://www.wildlifeconnection.com/.