Addict,
Let me try to answer your questions.
1. Whether you take a taxi to the ship or use Celebrity's transfers really depends where your hotel is. If it is in FLL, the taxi ride will probably be short and inexpensive, and I would tend to take a taxi. From Miami, howeveer, you will have an hour's ride (or more, depending on the time of day) and it would be fairly expensive, so I'd use the Celebrity transfer.
2. In the casino, you go to a window and "purchase" chips with cash or charge them to your shipboard account. After play, you return to the window and receive cash for your remaining chips. If you are a slot player, the same window can give you the coins you'll need. So, you can see that the casino is an obvious exception to the cashless system that is used on the rest of the ship.
3. Your room is fine. It is mid-ship on what I think is the best deck of the ship. You are far away from all of the pool noise, etc, but close to the public areas below you.
4. It is not required that you notify anyone that you will not be dining at your regular spot, but it is a nice thing to do. Typically, your waiter will not begin taking orders, etc until everyone is seated at the table. So, he/she will wait for you to arrive for no reason at all if you haven't informed them. It will delay dinner for your table mates. It is more considerate to let the waiter and your table mates know in advance, if that is possible.
You'll love Constellation. It is a fabulous ship.
Ted
