How would Celebrity Cruises compare to the other cruise lines I’ve sailed on? Let’s find out.
I’d only been on five cruises prior to this one (1 on Carnival, 2 on Disney and 3 on Royal Caribbean) and this was my first cruise on a Celebrity Cruises ship. We picked Constellation for a couple of reasons; except for my first Disney cruise (on Wonder many years ago), this was the smallest cruise ship that I’d been on and it was my first time leaving out of the Port of Tampa Bay. This cruise would also take me to four ports that I’d never been to; Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize City and Cozumel. My wife, our son and my aunt and uncle were also on board and the four of them had been to both Mexican ports on a previous cruise several years ago.
This trip actually started a couple of days prior to our departure from Tampa as my wife, our son and I went to see Jon Pardi at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City two days before the cruise and then we picked up my aunt and uncle at Tampa International Airport and spent the day before we departed hanging out in Downtown Tampa and going to a Tampa Bay Lightning game.
Video clips from the Jon Pardi concert at the Florida Strawberry Festival.
We did enjoy lunch at Fabrica Pizza in Downtown Tampa and it’s 100% on the list to visit again when we’re over there.
After a little break back at our hotel, we walked down to Amalie Arena to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Boston Bruins. Full disclosure, we didn’t buy tickets to the game because they were pretty pricey and had planned on watching the game outside of the arena at Thunder Alley (the space between the arena and the building that houses a parking garage and the Cigar City Brewing taproom), but a lady from the University of South Florida came over to us and gave us six tickets to go inside and see the game. Score! Unfortunately the Lightning lost to Boston 4-0. Boo.
We did grab a Cuban sandwich from the Cigar City Brewing taproom and then made our way over to Sparkman Wharf where there are plenty of options for food and drinks. And of course…. doughnuts! I never pass up an opportunity to enjoy an Everglazed Donut.
We then headed back to our hotel to rest up for the next day since we’d be boarding Constellation before noon.
On the cruises that I’ve been on, only once did we book a room that wasn’t probably the least expensive on the ship and that’s because my wife and I think that it’s not really all that important to spend extra on a place you’re not going to be spending much time.
This interior room on Constellation was a tight fit for the three of us, but it worked fine for the cruise.
As Constellation is one of the older ships in Celebrity’s fleet, you could definitely see things that showed you its age, but none of it took away from enjoying time on board.
One thing that I was particularly interested in on this cruise was going to be the quality of the food on board, from the buffet, to the main dining room and the limited options available besides those. We did not opt to enjoy any of the specialty dining restaurants on this trip (even though there were some great deals) so that we could really get a feel for the options that are open to everyone for free.
You’ll see photos of some of the main dining menu below, but if I had to rate the dining experiences between the food options on the four cruise lines that I’ve been on it would go like this; #1- Disney Cruise Lines, #2- Celebrity Cruise Lines (but it could really be a tie between the first two), #3- Royal Caribbean and #4- Carnival Cruise Lines. We will be going on an MSC cruise to Norway this year and I’m interested to see how the food options on that ship compare. We’ll be trying Norwegian Cruiselines next year as well as trips with Celebrity and MSC again, so more culinary comparisons will be coming.
Now back to the first evening on the ship and I do have to say that leaving from the Port of Tampa Bay was easy (our hotel was only a block from the terminal Constellation was docked at and they had a shuttle to take us over to it) and I would 100% leave from there again. What you will find is that the cruise lines have to send their smaller ships to Tampa because of the clearance restrictions caused by the Skyway Bridge.
Besides dinner and a little martini bar fun, we took it pretty easy that first night. Plus, we had a full day at sea the next day and that was going to allow us to fully explore every aspect of the ship.
Did I mention the martini bar? Yes the bartenders performed an amazing show each evening and they did pour some great drinks.
While the main dining room is open each day for breakfast, the buffet definitely offered enough options each morning to make us all happy and the view off the aft of the ship was a much sought after spot every day.
We pretty much did nothing on that first day traversing The Gulf on our way to Costa Maya and having secured lounge chairs in the shade by the pool, it made for a very unusual (as I am always running around), but much needed day of doing pretty much nothing.
There are two pool areas, this one where most of the action each day took place, and a smaller indoor pool area on the same deck forward of the main pool. Both have a couple of hot tubs around them.
Here are a few images from the dinners in the main dining room.
Again, the food on board was pretty good overall and as long as you’re good with only a couple of “quick service” options, you’re good to go. Those quick service options include; The Mast Grill (burgers and hot dogs), Oceanview Cafe (some sweet and savory bite size options) and The Spa Cafe (it had a few options each day, plus juices and smoothies that you have to pay for if you don’t have a drink plan).
The grilled hot dogs at The Mast Grill were actually pretty good!
Our first port of call was Costa Maya, Mexico and I have to say that I was REALLY looking forward to this (even though we had not booked an excursion) because when my wife and both of our kids went there years ago they were able to see the luchadores (masked Mexican wrestlers) doing their thing right at the port. It turns out that those days are long gone and you actually have to go on an excursion to see them. Boo.
If you’re not booking an excursion at Costa Maya, you can swim with dolphins, hang out around the pool, browse the dozens of little shops at the port and of course you’ll find some food and beverages to enjoy.
It was pretty busy on our day at Costa Maya as there were three ships docked and the port area was PACKED.
My wife, our son and I did do our part to stimulate the local economy by purchasing a couple of rounds of adult beverages, but then it was time to head back to the ship.
I would say that unless you’re wanting to spend the day on your ship, or you enjoy browsing the shops right there at the port, booking an excursion is your best option at Costa Maya.
Now some more about Constellation, and it’s about the on board entertainment. There is a comprehensive list of things to do all day long, but you may find that overall, it’s a little more tame than on some other ships. There was nothing at all wrong with the entertainment (and to be fair, each cruise can vary from week to week on the same ship depending on the crowd that comes on board), but this was for a lack of better wording, a very relaxing and mellow cruise. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you’re looking for. And if you’re looking for a more lively time, you can be the one that brings the party on board.
Back to the actual trip and our second port was Roatan, Honduras.
We had booked a short excursion over to Maya Key (it’s literally a 2-3 minute boat ride from the cruise terminal) to relax on the beach and to do a little snorkeling. Lunch was included and there are quite a few rescued animals in enclosures on the island. I personally didn’t go see the animals, but my wife and son did and they ended up getting sprayed by the jaguar which was good for a couple of laughs when they told me about getting “blessed” by the big cat.
The beach area on Maya Key is quite nice and there’s plenty of shade.
The big draw here though is the snorkeling at the end of this pier. You can go out with one of the guides who will take you to where the reef drops off into deep water or you can go out on your own. If you do venture out on your own, remember that when you get out to the dropoff, it’s the wide open Caribbean Sea and you never know what might come up for a visit.
There’s actually a decent number of fish to encounter at Maya Key, but you never know when this guy is going to show up…
Lunch was some roasted chicken, fried fish, beans, salad and fried plantains. The homemade salad dressing was AMAZING and the tartar sauce for the fish was unique and quite good. I was actually pretty impressed by the meal. Two thumbs up for this excursion lunch!
We didn’t spend too long on Maya Key as we wanted to visit Roatan Island Brewing Co. which required a driver to get us up into the northern part of the island. Our driver’s name was Danny and we learned quite a bit about Roatan during the drive. We also invited Danny to join us at the brewery instead of having to wait in his SUV for us.
I’m not the beer drinker of the group, but my wife and son both agreed that Roatan Island Brewing Co. was one of the better breweries in the Caribbean that they had been to.
We did get to see quite a bit of the “real” Roatan on our drive with Danny and it’s always nice to see how other people actually live in other parts of the world. It makes you realize how lucky you are to have what you have and to live in the U.S.
There is a shopping area at the port we docked at, but by the time we got back, we just wanted to get back on the ship and relax.
Here’s another look at Constellation while it was docked in Roatan.
Our port the next day was Belize City and we had a day long excursion planned, so we didn’t do a whole lot after dinner that night, well a little time was spent in the casino which was completely non-smoking and that was quite literally a breath of fresh air.
Cruise ships don’t dock in Belize City due to the shallow water. Instead, tenders come out to the ships and that’s how passengers get back and forth. This was my first time doing such a thing and while I had heard some interesting stories, there wasn’t anything bad about my first experience with a cruise ship tender.
There is a nice shopping area where the tenders dock in Belize City, but we had to hurry to get over to where the buses were at to get going on our excursion to see the Mayan ruins at Lamanai Archaeological Reserve in the middle of the country. Here’s a link with some information about the reserve. https://lamanaimayanruinstour.bravesites.com/lamanai-archaeological-reserve-facts
Again, traveling through what is known as a “developing country”, you realize just how great you have it at home. At the same time, you understand that the people who live in these countries are just as happy as anyone else because they are living their best lives with what they have. You can also see how when people from these countries do make it to other places where there are things that they don’t have at home, they can be overwhelmed at times.
Our bus took us to Ayinha Adventures which is a lodge located on the New River. That’s where we took a 20 minute boat ride north to Lamanai.
This excursion is definitely not for those who might have trouble traversing semi rough ground, but if you don’t mind a little walking, it’s an amazing time that allows you to explore some areas that were inhabited centuries before Europeans discovered North and Central America.
This is the Mask Temple at Lamanai. It’s the smallest of the three temples, but you are allowed to climb up the back of the temple and to come back down the front if you want.
This is the High Temple at Lamanai. You could see where there was a path up the structure, but visitors aren’t allowed on it now.
While we were at the High Temple we did hear a couple of howler monkeys and if you’ve never heard howler monkeys while you’re out in the middle of the jungle staring at Mayan ruins, you 100% start looking around to see what creature might be preparing to jump out of the trees.
This is the Jaguar Temple. If it was fully excavated, it would be larger than even the High Temple.
There is a small area with some shops near the docks at Lamanai and after what had already been a long day, we still had to take the boat back to Ayinha Adventures where we would eat lunch and then hop back on the bus for the hour and a half ride back to the port. Lunch was roasted chicken, beans and rice, plantains and a pretty tasty juice drink. It was all much appreciated and I would HIGHLY recommend bringing some kind of snack with you if you book this excursion, as well as a couple bottles of water.
The Belizean beer and giant bottle of Mexican Coke were a perfect ending to this excursion. But we still had that bus ride back.
One of the great things about this cruise is that the wifi signal throughout the ship was strong during the entire cruise and that’s thanks to Starlink. It was the first time that I didn’t have to stress about getting online to work while on a cruise and that was much appreciated.
Our last port of call was Cozumel, Mexico and I was looking forward to this one because we didn’t have any excursions planned and we were going to go check out the Mercado area north of the port.
The water right along the shore was the most amazing shades of blue that I’ve seen anywhere in the Caribbean.
We didn’t spend too much time in the shops in the port area and that’s probably a good thing as there were quite a few tempting everyone in with free shots of tequila or rum. Okay, I may have had a couple of samples, but that was it. And then we caught a cab up the coast to the older part of town to do a little exploring.
I was searching for a couple of places to look for another watch to add to my collection (no comments on having too many watches), but Cozumel is not stacked with jewelry stores like St. Thomas. There are a few in the port area and some more in the older part of town, but you do have to look a little bit. I also noticed at least for me, that haggling on the price of items at the little touristy stores isn’t always going to happen. If you run into that anywhere in the Caribbean, in Mexico or in Central America, I would move on to the next shop unless you really want that item. One thing that I wanted was some legit street tacos and none of the restaurants that had people standing outside trying to get you to come in fit that bill. So my son and I went searching a little bit off the beaten path and….
When you walk around the corner to see a little hole in the wall of a restaurant with a lady making fresh tortillas on a small flat top and you see random ingredients ready to be placed on those fresh tortillas, if you’re me, you go for it.
We walked around for a a bit longer, but needed to head back to the port. When we arrived, our son wanted to grab a drink at Tequila Go Go so to Tequila Go Go we went for one last adult beverage in Mexico and some amazing guacamole.
Oh, I didn’t mention the watermelon Jello shots.
We had a full day at sea coming on the way back to Tampa and I will say that with the exception of Costa Maya, I look forward to visiting the other ports again some day.
Now let’s talk about the ship a bit more.
As I said at the beginning, we picked Celebrity Constellation for a few reasons. First, to try a new (to us) cruise line. Second, to try and older and much smaller ship than we’re used to. Third, to sail out of Tampa.
You could definitely tell that the ship was older, but not in any real negative way. It was just some little things that again, didn’t take away from the experience.
The free dining options are more limited than on one of the larger ships, but that’s to be expected and never fear, you can eat pretty much any time you wish. I will say that the dinners in the main dining room were a little more refined than what I’ve experienced on Royal Caribbean and Carnival and up there with Disney. Same for the buffet and believe me, the buffet was checked by my son and I daily at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The next time we’re on Celebrity (spring of 2026) we will probably try some of the specialty dining options.
The entertainment options are not as varied as on a larger ship, but that’s also to be expected. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be bored. There’s always something going on if you want to stay busy. I do appreciate the smoke free casino and it’s a pretty small casino (again, to be expected on such a small ship).
I really can’t think of anything negative to comment about.
If you’re looking for a little more of a laid back ship where you’re not running around trying to fit in everything there is to do each day, if you are okay with not as many free dining options as you’ll find on larger ships and if you’re looking for a cruise with not as many children, this is a perfect ship to take.
