Aboard the Celebrity Constellation

Sept 15, 2007

Sail-away was interesting to say the least. About 250 devout readers of Cruise Critic were onboard and had planned a 5pm sail-away party at the Sunset Bar aft. I showed up, having been “recruited” by one of my clients from   San Francisco.. I’m in a wonderful business. Because of the internet, I have clients from all over the world and most I have never met.  Doris  would be an exception…I’d actually get to meet a client that I have “known” for almost 7 years. There she was…exactly as I pictured her from a tiny little headshot on Cruise Critic. Effervescent, entertaining and not looking one day older than --, I finally met the elusive  Doris. Or Dorass as she preferred to call herself. Sister to Jack and Fat, she continually gained friendships while casually working the “room”. Unfortunately, I would rarely run into  Doris during the next 12 days as our dining times differed and our ashore schedules did not coincide with each other’s plans.

Shortly after sail-away, under a brilliant blue sky complimented by the stark white cliffs bordering our exit towards the sea, I made my way back indoors to learn my way around the ship as quickly as possible. This ship certainly was not as large as the Queen Mary 2 nor as compact as the Celebrity Century, my former ome-away-from-home, but the Constellation certainly was a lengthy vessel. Making the walk from my forward-most cabin on deck 7 to the aft staircase a 300-pace trek. If the Japanese have the motto, “10,000 Steps a Day” equals 5 miles, then I certainly could expect to easily walk 2 miles just going to and coming from the Sunset Bar/Lido Restaurants. Let’s narrow that down to just the restaurant, please.

When 8:30pm approached and it was time to make our entrance into the dining room, I met my tablemates and best friends at the entrance approximately 10 minutes prior to being permitted entrance into the dining room. Why the 10 minute lead time every night and every morning, I’ll never understand. But the other two couples that I travel with always plan on that arranged schedule. I finally decided to make my future dining room entrances shortly after everyone else is seated. It was explained to me by another well-cruised couple that all you do is patiently sit at your table for ten minutes anyway…may as well be doing something else until it is time to be handed the evening’s menu and unfolded napkin.

After the perfunctory “Hello, I’m Adi, your waiter” introduction, we proceeded to enjoy our first dinner at sea en route to Le Havre, the gateway port city to Paris, France. The seas across the  English Channel  were quite calm, maybe in quiet contrast to what was to befall us 6 days later. The Welcome Aboard show in the main theater began at 10:45 so as soon as dinner ended, we parted from the dining room with a commitment to meet (what I affectionately call, “homesteading”) at 10:15  to secure the best seats in the theater. The show came and went; a brief glimpse at what we could expect for the next 11 nights of the cruise: a very talented performance group of singers and dancers, a ladder-climber, a world-reknown whistler, yes, whistler, an adage couple to absolutely wow you with their Cirque de Soleil style acrobatics, a magican, comedian…you get the picture.

Calling it an early night, at approximately midnight, I said goodnight to my four closest friends and headed back to my cabin. Time to regroup and reconfirm my plans for tomorrow, in  Paris.  Bon soir!