Constellation in Curacao

Each night after the evening cabin cleaning a paper with what’s going on the next day was left in the cabin. It always included a schedule of the day’s events and activities. They had the usual cruise ship fare of trivia, dance classes, exercise classes, games, competitions, lectures, and shows. Instead of bingo they had something called Deal or No Deal, modeled after the TV show of the same name. We looked into it one day and saw in the lounge where it was to be held, in the line waiting to buy cards, the most people we had seen in one place since boarding the ship. That includes the dining room and buffet, neither of which were ever crowded. Not that there wasn’t room enough in that lounge for all the people there, or that it would even be considered a crowd on most ships, but for this one it was since there were only 700 passengers onboard a ship that holds over 2000. You could buy one card, or for a better per card price a group of 3. The prizes offered included a free cruise, $1000, and early on in the cruise an upgrade to a suite for the rest of the cruise. On the outside all the cards looked the same with little cases numbered in a row like on the TV show, but each card is different when you open the tiny paper cases.

Deal or No Deal in the Reflections Lounge

Each card has a serial number. At the start of the game one person is picked by that number. They know who has each number and the system knows what is under each case on each card. The choice appears as random as the numbers on a screen that rapidly change until they stop on the chosen one, but who knows how random that actually is when the computer system picking the winner knows everything. The person whose card number and name gets called goes down by the screen and picks cases like on the show, except these are just pictures of cases on a video screen rather than actual physical ones. The cases on the screen go up to $1000, but the ones on the cards only go up to $50. If your card matches 2 or more of the numbers in the same case number as shown on the screen you win something. 2 numbers wins $5 in casino play (where the minimum bet on table games is $10). 3 matches wins $10 in casino play. The max prize there was 8 matches for $400 in casino play. Several people won $5 or $10 and one $50, but that was all.

one of the ship’s shops

The person actually playing gets to pick cases and then gets offers from the banker for actual cash amounts depending on what they have left available to win on the board just like on the show. The game has 2 rounds, each with a different player. The offers throughout both rounds ran from $119 to $196. The highest amount the person playing can win is $1000. One of the players stayed in until the end and ended up with $0.25 in their case. The other one took a deal for $196, which was a good choice since their chosen case contained $0.01. After the 2 rounds another card serial number is chosen for someone to spin a wheel where they get a 50% chance of winning a cruise and a 50% chance of various amounts of casino play. It’s not a real wheel, again a computer image so the results may or may not be random. The winner got $100 in casino play. It’s a pretty good money maker for the ship selling cards at $25 each or 3 for $40 and not actually giving out much cash. Plus sending the winners into the casino to spend more money. They probably make pretty good money at the ship’s shops too. They did not have the one thing I always buy if it’s available though, which is a Christmas tree ornament ship model.

spa treatment room

As is normal with cruise ships, the Constellation has a spa, though massages and things there were priced higher than we cared to pay so we didn’t use it.

gym

The gym equipment is available to use for free on your own. They also had a few classes there.

guest lecturer

The lectures in the theater were actually real lectures about whatever the subject said they were, at least the ones from outside people. Their destinations lecturer even mentioned using reef safe sunscreen, something the cruise lines themselves should make an effort to educate people about considering how many people they bring to coral reefs daily. We tried attending a lecture at the photo shop that sounded like it would be information about go-pro cameras, but it turned out to be just a sales pitch to buy one. Go-pros were the only cameras they had for sale there. Usually there are little pocket cameras available. I bought one on a ship once when the one I’d brought died during our cruise. My cell phone would be the back-up now I guess, but it would not be able to go in the water when snorkeling like my waterproof camera does.

solarium

Our favorite hangout on the Constellation was the solarium, which is kind of like a bigger version of the pool area of some ship’s thermal suites, except on this one it’s a free space. It has what they call a thalassotherapy pool. Much like the pool in the thermal suite on some ships it had racks to lay on with jets under them and some fountains, except in the thermal suites the water in those pools is usually warmer. The solarium also has some hot tubs and cushioned loungers with a view. Towels are available near all Constellation’s pool areas without having to check them out on your room card like some ships require. The solarium even has a small café that serves smoothies for a price and things like small salads and other tidbits for free at lunchtime. It’s an indoor area under glass rather than out in the elements like the main pool deck so there’s protection from wind, sun, and rain. When the café is open there are things to drink that don’t cost anything like tea, coffee, water, and juice. There’s also a bar just the other side of the door to the main pool area where people can get something to drink when the café is not open, or all sorts of things not offered at the café even when it is. Of course drinks from the bar do cost extra.

view from the solarium loungers by the window

Ships moving through the water often scare up flying fish so it’s fun to watch for them while sailing along. Sometimes there’s other wildlife too. Usually birds, but people may see other things like dolphins occasionally too.

random ping-pong table

We tried the cornhole game sitting up on the pool deck one day, which was a slick plastic one that said baggo rather than cornhole on it. We’re usually pretty good at that game, but this one was both more flexible and slicker than the usual wooden ones are. Instead of sliding into the hole the beanbags would slide right over it and off the top end of the board. They only went in from a direct hit on the hole without touching the board at all. Even landing one on the board happened much less often than usual as any that hit tended to slide off rather than sticking. There’s also a ping-pong table onboard for something people can do on their own.

little nook by windows

The ship has lots of little nooks with seating where people can read or watch the sea go by.

library

It also has an internet room with computers available for anyone who didn’t bring their own, but you don’t have to go to the internet room to use the wifi as it is available in your own cabin and around the ship. You do have to buy an internet package to use it though unless you got one included in your cruise fare. You can use it free for the Celebrity app on phones, but not for anything else on the phone. A stairway leads between the internet room and a library on the deck below.

casino

The casino usually had high minimum bets and not much business, but one day they had a half price time to attract more people. Their daily schedule advertised poker tournaments and nightly cash games, but not enough people to actually hold them ever showed up so there wasn’t any poker during our cruise.

line dance class

We’re more the entertain yourselves sort than joiners of scheduled activities, but sometimes we give it a go. We participated in a few activities on the Constellation. I tried a line dancing class, which was fun as well as good exercise. They broke down each dance into a series of steps learned one set at a time, then put them all together for the whole dance. It really didn’t matter whether people were any good at it or not. It was all just for fun. That was nice since more people are not that talented at it than are – which is good if (like me) you are one of those not-so-good dancers because when a lot of other people suck at it too you can just have fun and not worry about how you look.

“ring” toss turned out to be throwing hula hoops on a crew guy

Their ring toss turned out to be throwing hula hoops over a crew guy. Each person got 3 tries. Nobody got more than one hoop around him. Some people didn’t get any, but John and I each managed to get one. They didn’t have any prizes for that game. Maybe because there was no clear winner since all the participants had a score of either 1 or 0.

ready, aim, miss the tiny little floating ball target

The archery had a blow up target booth with balls held up on streams of air to shoot at. The arrows had a big round rubber end, not a sharp point. A real arrow would have popped the target booth. Two people at a time shot at the 4 balls. You got 3 arrows each, but if you hit a ball you got an extra arrow for each ball you hit. The first time we tried it several people hit one each, and the three that hit 2 went another round. John was one of the 3, along with 2 women, one of whom had been on our kayak excursion in Costa Maya. She was the only one who hit the target on the shoot-off round so they gave her a medal. We went there a second time and less people participated. Only two of them hit any targets. A lady hit one and a guy hit 2 so he got the medal, no shoot off needed.

aircraft carrier – for paper airplanes anyway

We tried one other game. Lots of ships we’ve been on had paper airplane contests. Usually it’s somewhere inside and whoever throws it the farthest wins. Princess put a different spin on it with a hoop and runway. On the Constellation it was the usual whoever throws it the farthest, but held outside so wind was a factor. Some planes caught the wind in a way that made them go up higher and then back down without going very far. Others caught a better breeze and sailed across the deck. When we threw ours they were the only ones who had gone far at all, the previous ones not exceeding 20 feet, most closer to 5 or 10. A couple people after us got farther though, one all the way into the tables on the other side of the ship. He won, but there was no prize. I guess the Constellation wasn’t that big on handing out prizes for their games.

movies on the top back deck

Other things to do included several movie screenings a day at the outdoor theater, and nightly shows in the indoor theater.

pool deck

Of course there are pools too, and lots of chairs around them for people who like to spend the day lounging in or near the pool. There were also hot tubs on the pool deck.

cruising duck

Some people create their own things for themselves and other people to do. I found a little rubber ducky hiding in a sort of round chair thing in the entryway from the outside deck to the hallway in front of the Reflections Lounge. It had a note on it about cruising ducks that said to post a photo and re-hide it, or keep it if you want. We just left it there for someone else to find. A few days later it was gone.

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