Travel This And That

The Constellation:

This time I really have a laundry list of things to tell you about so let’s get started. Regardless of popular opinion travel agents do not get many if any “freebies.” Even training is not free. Most recently I had the opportunity to participate in a “Seminar At Sea” on the Celebrity Constellation sailing a 12 night itinerary cruising New England and the St Lawrence River. These seminars consist of classroom training, and a look behind the scenes of the operation of the ship. The Constellation is the newest of Celebrity’s Millennium ships and was launched in May of 2002. I had been on her sister ship, The Summit, three times and since the ships are almost identical it was easy to find my way around . The “Connie’ is rated #`1 in several categories by the readers of Conde’ Nast Traveler Magazine, and after my experience I can easily see why. The food was superb, service outstanding, and the ship was in great shape. To be sure there were a few signs of wear here and there, but I did notice the maintenance crew was busy while we were at sea and in port. The itinerary included Prince Edward Island, Portland and Bar Harbor, Me, Quebec, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. In a future article I will talk in more detail about each of those ports of call. One of the neat things that I got to do was spend some time on the Navigational Bridge. This is someplace that not a lot of people get to see, so I was very pleased when the District Sales Manager who coordinated the Seminar arranged the tour. Being a fan of “high tech” stuff I was impressed by the fact that a ship of this size, 91,000 tons, and some 953 feet long, could be controlled by a 4” joystick. Yes they still do have a wheel; I almost wondered if it was for show. Modern ships have adjustable propulsion pods and bow thrusters that can actually move the ship sideways in port, which the Constellation did several times during the cruise. While I was on the bridge ,the ship was on auto pilot, and I watched as the ship adjusted course and speed as necessary. For the benefit of my friends, no, they did not let me play with the controls as the Second Officer was with our group all the time.





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