March 2, 2025 Sea Day #1

It was our first Sea Day on Celebrity Constellation in the Gulf of Mexico (or Gulf of America if U.S. President Trump gets his way). The clocks were moved back an hour overnight.

At 7:30 a.m. Constellation had cruised 200 nautical miles averaging about 12.7 knots and there were just 250 nautical miles left to arrive in New Orleans tomorrow morning about 9 a.m.

The sun was shining. There was a barely noticeable rock to the ship from the gentle swelling of the 1.5 meter waves.

We went to the Elite Loyalty member breakfast on the upper level of the San Marco dining room (Deck 5) at 8 a.m. where we were joined by Shawn & Graham from Burlington, Ontario, and Muriel and Phil from Tampa. Included were Mimosas, Bellinis and other “breakfast” cocktails and different kinds of espresso coffees. We ordered one of the breakfast cocktails and enjoyed the Continental breakfast. This was morning drink #1.

Then it was down to Deck 4 forward to the Celebrity Theatre for a Back Stage Tour at 9 a.m. Waiters were waiting with the “breakfast” cocktails. This was morning drink #2.

There were about 60 people at Select level and higher to listen to three performers tell us about their job and life on the ship and to see backstage. Rebecca is from Manchester, England and is one of the principal female singers; Kara in one of the dancers from St. Louis, Missouri and McKinley is one of the principal male singers from West Palm Beach, Florida. There was a question and answer session after the hosts introduced themselves. This group has a seven month contact on the ship after they completed 10 weeks in Miami rehearsing all the material for their shows and parties. The passenger group was split in two for a tour of the back of the stage area starting at Stage Right where the stage manager has a TV screen view of the performers, next was the rack of microphones for the principle singers then into the women’s dressing room and the men’s dressing room. The performers dress their own hair and apply their own make-up. They each have a desk and cubby-holes for their shoes and accessories and a place for their costumes that are fitted for each person. We ended on stage to get a performers view of the audience.

Only the paper daily program has all of the activities listed which was commented on Cruise Critic & Facebook message boards, several times during the last few weeks. There is an app with a daily program but it does not show the guest speakers presentation time. The app allows you to personalize to My Calendar from the main program things that interest you, but you cannot add your own notes, a bit frustrating.

The Beyond the Podium speaker was Samantha Olson in the Celebrity Theatre (Decks 4 & 5) at 10 a.m. The presentation was a Pronunciation Guide to New Orleans. Most New Orleans natives have an accent similar to New York City. Locals call the city New OR-lins, but the city is located in OR-leens Parsh; Lake Pontchartrain is called Lake PONCH-uh-train. Samantha gave many examples of how the mixture of French, then Spanish then English speaking colonists changed the pronunciation of the original French words. Po’boy (Poh-boy) is a filled sandwich on French bread, when dressed also included is mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce and a pickle. Logniappe means a little something more such as a side salad or fries. Neutral ground means the median of a street. New Orleans has street cars, NOT trams or trolleys. Flambeaux is the name for heavy giant flaming torches carried by parade members.

Lake Borgne (BOR-nay) adjoins Lake Pontchartrain on the route into New Orleans at the Mississippi Delta. To finish her presentation Samatha showed the phrase “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” which pronounced just as the French would say it. Let the good times roll!

On Deck 11, the Reflections Lounge hosted the Captain’s Club Welcome Party at 11:15 a.m. with complimentary drinks - this time we enjoyed Margeritas - morning drink #3. Waiting in line for the doors to open, were breakfast table mates, Shawn & Graham and Muriel. The band Pesta Pora was playing dance music. We and another couple were the only people dancing before the official program began. The captain announced that of the 2,100 passengers, 1,547 have Loyalty levels of Select or greater. Captain Christos Trifyllis introduced some of his Senior Officers who were greeting people as they arrived. The event included all levels of Loyalty Classic, Select, Elite, Elite Plus and Zenith instead of dividing the parties Classic and Select or Elite, Elite Plus and Zenith due to the limited amount of sea days and four port days over the next six days. We shared a table with a couple from Florida who have cruised over 100 times, 87 cruises have been on Celebrity. They apologized for President Trump. The Zenith member couple with the most points on this cruise had accumulated more than 6,300 points and over 100 cruises which is over 13 times our point count and more than three times the number of cruises that we have taken. They were presented with a bouquet of flowers and bottle of champagne.

We grabbed a light lunch at Café al Bacio (where we sat at the table next to Muriel & noticed, after she left, that she had left behind her sea pass card) before attending the 12:30 p.m. “Intimate Broadway Cabaret” which was preceded by Captain Christos Trifyllis introducing some of his Senior Officers. Both Rebecca and McKinley from the backstage tour sang along with the other two singers, Matthew and Chloe. There were no costume changes for the 45 minute show.

We remained in the Celebrity Theatre for the 2 p.m. a Brief History of Mardi Gras presented by Samantha Olson. Mardi Gras is the last day to eat red meat, foods with fats and a day for revelry before Lent in the Roman Catholic Church. In the days before refrigeration, people would eat foods that would spoil in the 40 days before Easter. For the purposes of Lent, for Roman Catholics, alligators are considered fish. Louisiana residents eat lots of alligator and crawfish as well as other seafood. Schools are out for Mardi Gras week in Louisiana. Colours of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. In 1829 colours were introduced representing Justice, Faith and Power respectively. King Cake is a round cinnamon roll, about the size of a Bundt cake, with filling and decorated with Mardi Gras coloured icing. The shape represents the crowns of three kings who visited baby Jesus. You need to take small bites of the cake as a tiny baby Jesus or nut is hidden in the cake. IF you find the “baby” in your piece of cake then you must buy the next year’s King Cake.

The first Mardi Gras was held in 1703 in Mobile, Alabama, which was in the French Louisiana territory. New Orleans was established in 1718. Mardi Gras Balls started in 1740. Extraordinary themed costumes of debutants and other attendees were features of the many formal balls. Modern balls are more like an adult prom with strict dress codes, some requiring floor strength gowns and tuxedoes. Throws are things that are thrown from the side of the floats. Necklaces of beads came later which represents a king sharing his wealth. Before 1960, the bead necklaces were made from glass, now are plastic. Doubloons are plastic coins the size of a silver dollar. Zulu Krewe “throws” coconuts, but they are actually handed to people. Much of the police presence is policemen on horseback during the parades. Masks on the floats are cheap plastic that cover the full face and offer social anonymity. Float riders since 1875, when a law was passed, must wear a full face mask. The King of Rex (Whites originally) and King of Zulu (only Blacks, who early in the 20th century decided to have their own parade) meet at sunset on Lundi Gras to declare the official start of the Mardi Gras parades. The Zulus traditionally have painted faces instead of masks and are the only ones allowed to have face paint rather masks. Louis Armstrong was the Zulu King in 1949.

Advise for Mardi Gras Day - Be aware of your surroundings. Plan a meeting point in case of separation. Take a backpack for keeping hand sanitizer, jackets or rain gear. Watch your step to avoid turning your ankle, or horse manure. (Eight feet under sea level.) Wear sensible enclosed shoes. Streets get very gross. Have cash in small bills (5s and10s) as many bars do not accept credit cards on Mardi Gras Day. Pace yourself - it is a marathon NOT a sprint.

After the presentation we went back to the cabin for a break and to get ready for Evening Chic night, which is the replacement for Formal Night. People are expected to dress a little more elegantly, no tuxedo or gowns were visible.

Pesta Pora was playing in the Rendezvous Lounge before dinner. It was the Elite Cocktail Hour (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) so we had free drink #4 for the day. We danced to several tunes before leaving for dinner. The scheduled early dinner time is 5:45 p.m. We arrived after Randy and Beth but Cathy and Fred arrived after 6 p.m., which is the original time listed on the eDocuments. The four of us had already ordered. In our cabins, we all received a separate card giving the dinner time as 5:45 p.m. Peyton and Cher arrived five minutes later, their orders were not taken for another ten minutes. We had hoped to be finished before 7 p.m., but we discovered that there was no ballroom dancing hour, so there was no rush. Irish did not appear, although we did see her earlier in the day. As dessert was served, Allan our waiter advised us that Constellation would be docked at 10 a.m. tomorrow. He also wanted to know how many of us would be at dinner tomorrow, just Randy and Beth have plans to watch the evening parades. It was almost 8 p.m. when the whole table decided we should vacate to let the waiters prepare for the 8:15 seating. We stopped by the Rendezvous Lounge where Acoustic Duo Lanisters had just started their set. They played good dance music until 8:30 p.m.

Tonight’s entertainer in the Celebrity Theater was Vocalist Todd Adamson, who among other things starred in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”.

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