Middle East Cruise News

Celebrity confirm refurbished Constellation for 2020-21 Dubai cruise season

Editor’s note: Celebrity Cruises have since announced that they will be sending Constellation to Tampa Bay, Florida for the 2020/21 cruise season instead of Dubai

Celebrity Cruises will homeport Celebrity Constellation in Dubai for the 2020-21 winter cruise season in the Arabian Gulf, sailing an identical set of itineraries to her 2019-2020 deployment.

Celebrity Constellation will cruise back-to-back between Dubai and Singapore 10 times on 15-night cruises each way that use either city as the turnaround port from December, 2020 to March, 2021.

Celebrity Constellation will undergo major refurbishment ahead of her 2020-21 Dubai cruise program.

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To make its Asia, India, and Dubai sailings more in-depth, Celebrity is introducing more port visits longer than 10 hours and more overnights than ever before.

Each cruise will spend the first night in port in Dubai, departing the following afternoon bound for Muscat in Oman and Mumbai and Mormugao (Goa) in India.

She’ll then visit Colombo in Sri Lanka before crossing the India Ocean to visit Phuket in Thailand and Penang in Malaysia ahead of her arrival in Singapore.

Mumbai is the only other cruise port on the itinerary where Constellation will stay overnight, giving passengers a full two days to explore the city and partake in the cruise line’s more than 19 shore excursion offerings.

Celebrity Constellation will stay overnight in Mumbai, India

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Celebrity Constellation will be returning to Dubai for this popular cruise itinerary fresh from a major refit and refurbishment (her last refurb was in 2017).

The dry-dock is part of the cruise line’s US $500-million Revolution project that will see  more than 500 leading architects, designers, and engineers bringing the entire fleet up to the same standards as the new Celebrity Edge.

“We launched the Celebrity Revolution to do one thing – transform the way our guests experience the world,” says Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. “It began with the introduction of the industry-changing Celebrity Edge, and continued with the stunning Celebrity Flora.”

“Our dedication to improving the way guests experience the world knows no bounds. We are taking our entire award-winning fleet to the edge and giving people the vacation they truly deserve,” she added.

With Celebrity Edge, the cruise line introduced an exclusive new sanctuary for all Suite Class guests called The Retreat.

After her refit, Constellation, and every other ship in the fleet, will offer The Retreat Sundeck and The Retreat Lounge, a chic, open-air hideaway with the feel of a high-end resort designed by Hoppen.

All staterooms will also be redeveloped. When redesigning the accommodations, every detail was carefully thought through with guest comfort at the front of mind, according to Celebrity.

“Every detail of our staterooms has been elevated, every comfort refined,” said Brian Abel, Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, Celebrity Cruises. “By the end of the Celebrity Revolution the entire fleet will have the same quality, design essence, and consistency of modern luxury, bringing our fleet to the edge.”

The main dining room, staterooms and bars will get the biggest upgrades

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All staterooms will feature a fresh, chic design, rivaling the world’s best boutique hotels. They will also be fitted with Celebrity’s eXhale bedding featuring exclusive luxurious cashmere mattresses, RFID locks, pervasive Xcelerate and Bluetooth capabilities.

When it comes to dining, guest-favorite restaurant Qsine will be added across the fleet and completely renovated, now offering the brand’s virtual Le Petit Chef experience, created by the world-famous artists of Skullmapping and presented by TableMation exclusively for Celebrity.

Oceanview Café will be redesigned with an open, airy, marketplace-inspired design offering guests island after island of international delicacies, while the already-stunning Main Restaurants will undergo a beautiful redesign, with new textures and new finishes added throughout.

During the refurbishment Celebrity Constellation will also get an expanded SEA Thermal Suite – first introduced on Celebrity Edge, new shopping experiences featuring sought-after brands and designers, such as Shinola, John Hardy, and Hublot, plus state-of-the-art digital photo galleries.

All her bars and lounges will be upgraded, including the newly re-imagined Passport Bar and an expansion of Celebrity’s popular Gastrobar concept, serving more than 40 craft beers, creative cocktails, and gourmet comfort food.

All public venues throughout the ship, and every other ship in the fleet, will also be redeveloped, including The Hideaway, Team Earth, The Library, and more.

Celebrity Constellation will undergo her refurbishment in May, 2020, and will sail her first Dubai to Singapore cruise of the 2020-21 cruise season in December, 2020.

11 replies »

  1. They need to lower prices bc we booked a 13 day Mediterranean cruise on Constellation thinking it would be refurbished. Not only is it not being refurbished it is on a heavy schedule with staterooms that are being reviewed as tired & dingy. Ratings for this ship are not good so sad to mislead passengers & blame covid while their schedule is back to back trips all year. Drop a few trips & take care of the ship as planned & promised!

  2. Is there a revised schedule for Constellation’s 2020 refurbishment, given the constraints of Covid-19? If so, when will she likely come out of dry dock and begin sailing out of Tampa?

    • The revised timetable for Constellation’s refurbishment is up in the air at the moment. She was meant to go into dry dock last month, but the shutdown of the cruise industry and Royal Caribbean’s efforts to conserve cash meant that those plans were shelved. Whether her Tampa cruise season will even go ahead remains to be seen.

    • You’re probably right, given that Royal Caribbean have amended Allure of the Seas’ refurb into a purely technical dry dock. Constellation’s refurb will most likely be delayed until the cruise sector recovers.

      • When do you think they will update information on sailing out of Tampa. We are scheduled for next March.

      • I’d imagine that closer to the end of the year they’ll probably have a better idea of what their post-COVID deployment will look like. Carnival and NCL have announced they’ll be restarting cruises with just a small handful of ships initially, with full deployment only planned for 2022. Celebrity Cruises might ultimately decide to do the same, unfortunately we won’t know until they announce it.

  3. Please could you advise if the Celebrity Constellation with also have a private pool on the Retreat Sundeck

    • Celebrity Cruises hasn’t explicitly said whether she will, but it’s unlikely as her sister ship Millennium only got a Jacuzzi on her Retreat Sundeck

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