LIVE from the Celebrity Summit: 6/27/17 Independence Day Canada & New England Cruise

Hello from New Jersey! Tomorrow morning we will embark on a much-needed family vacation on the Celebrity Summit! Currently, I'm writing from the warm confines of my bed at home in Branchburg, New Jersey as my wife struggles to remember if she packed all of the shoes she will need for the next 10 days (spoiler: she's never packed enough shoes). We will be joined by our nearly 3 year old daughter.

I plan on providing daily updates on our cruise along with pictures and videos of the ship, the dailies, the kid's programs, menus and food (oh, there will be so much food). We have the the internet package and are ready to use it!

We are getting picked up promptly at 8:30 a.m. by our chauffeur (my father-in-law) to brave the Tuesday morning traffic into Hudson County to get to the Cape Liberty Cruise Port by 10 a.m. or so (we like being the first one on the ship after the VIPs - I'm paying for it, get me on it!)

We will be staying in a luxurious Category 11 Inside Cabin (2055). We usually go balcony but were very concerned about having a balcony with a toddler so opted for the inside at a great price!

The itinerary is as follows (along with our planned activities):

Tuesday, June 27th: Bayonne, New Jersey

Wednesday, June 28th: AT SEA

Thursday, June 29th: Bar Harbor, Maine (Ollie's Trollies)

Friday, June 30th: Saint John, New Brunswick (Freedom Tours' "Fundy to Fundy" Tour)

Saturday, July 1st: Halifax, Nova Scotia (CANADA DAY)(We plan to go to the parade and walk around on our own, at night we hope to see the fireworks)

Sunday, July 2nd: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Peggy's Cove & Titanic)

Monday, July 3rd: Portland, Maine (Lobster rolls....just, lots of lobster rolls)

Tuesday, July 4th: Boston, Massachusetts (Meeting up with friends who live in Boston for the day, maybe the Children's Museum)

Wednesday, July 5th: Boston, Massachusetts (Staying on board)

Thursday, July 6th: Newport, Rhode Island (The Breakers & the Elms Mansions)

Friday, July 7th: Bayonne, New Jersey (Time to go home, already?)

If you have any questions, let me know and I will be happy to answer. Can't wait to get on board!

Happy sailing and looking forward to your live reports!

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Boston the the 4th of July, very cool!!! Have a GREAT time and look forward to the updates!!!

Safe travels,

Andy

Looking forward to reading your review! Have a great time, Happy Canada Day and Independence Day!! We are on the next cruise. Any tips and recommendations are much appreciated. Enjoy :-)

Looking forward to following your review, as 12 months from now we will be sailing on the same itinerary.

We have already lined up previous cruise mates who live in St John and another in Halifax to be our tour guides when we are in port. They seem to think Beer will play a big part in our visits to their hometowns !

Looking forward to your review. Have a great time!

Ready to go, Summit here we go!

Obviously the most important cargo is there on the steps. I don't know what I would do with Celebrity allowing us to bring on our own case of water!

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I will be reading your review with tears in my eyes as we had really wanted to book this cruise. I had my eye on it for over a year. Unfortunately, circumstances and timing did work out. We are however boarding on July 7th, the day you return, so please leave Summit in good shape.

If you could let me know who the Captain's Club Host(ess) is on board I would very much appreciate it. Have a great time. I love all the ports you are visiting. Have a wonderful time and smooth sailing.

SO looking forward to all your daily reports! We too are leaving on Summit on July 7 for the New England/Bermuda cruise! Hope to see photos from your trip!

Don't wait until Portland for a lobster roll. Halifax has some great lobster rolls (and Lobster if you are up for it) too.

Here is a link for Canada Day in Halifax. Sounds like the commons will be the best place to see the fireworks. Citadel Hill would probably be OK too.

http://www.hrmcanadaday.ca/faq.php

Don't wait until Portland for a lobster roll. Halifax has some great lobster rolls (and Lobster if you are up for it) too.

 

 

 

Here is a link for Canada Day in Halifax. Sounds like the commons will be the best place to see the fireworks. Citadel Hill would probably be OK too.

 

 

 

http://www.hrmcanadaday.ca/faq.php

Thanks for the link, we had figured the Common would be the best place. And I highly suspect we will be having lobster much more than just in Portland.

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Well we have arrived at Cape Liberty, have checked in and are now awaiting the best moment of the cruise - walking on the ship for the first time!

The first time you spot the ship is always special!

Ours bags were picked up by a very friendly porter (who mentioned he had 7 kids!). A $10 tip well deserved.

The new terminal is fantastic compared to the old tent. We swiftly went through security (no pictures!).

And right online where checkin took less than 5 minutes.

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We were then escorted to our holding area (row 4). The second picture shows the suite and zenith waiting area.

While you wait, they have vendors selling lanyards, sunglasses and flip flops at 5,000% markup and photographs waiting to take your first picture!

Carlos here from Peru (who is a waiter at the Tuscan Grille) was very helpful in selling us a 5-meal specialty restaurant package. We made our first reservation for lunch today at Sushi at Five (wish to avoid the buffet party). I was happy to learn Sushi on Five is included in the package!

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We love Cape Liberty, since it's 58 miles from our home and can drive. We have sailed from there 18 times with # 19 coming up in 10 days.

And for completeness, here are the restrooms!

We were told boarding starts at 11:30. Almost there!

And here is the paperwork we've received thus far.

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Already enjoying your posts and looking forward to more. We will be on our annual Summit trip 7/23 and you have jump started my excitement. We travel with our daughter too and I am always a bit uneasy with the balcony. My daughter is 9 and LOVES The Fun Factory- and we have been on Disney a few times, so they must be doing something right in there.

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip.

Enjoy yourselves and your daughter is adorable btw.

Enjoying your review as well and looking forward to more! When we were in Halifax we thought the Maritime Museum was amazing and well worth a visit...the Titanic exhibit alone was worth the cost of admission! If you have a few hours I'd highly recommend checking that out! Lucky you, you get two national holidays to enjoy!! Sounds like a great itinerary and I hope you enjoy every minute!

Cathy

Thanks so much for doing Summit "live!"

I will be looking forward to your reports as we are boarding her for the 7/23 cruise. It will be our 4th time aboard Summit in the last 5 yrs heading to Bermuda, one of our favorite places to visit. This trip will be 10 of us, as every time we go, we talk more and more people into joining us!

Hope you, the Mrs and that adorable little girl have the best time!

Ready to go, Summit here we go!

 

 

Obviously the most important cargo is there on the steps. I don't know what I would do with Celebrity allowing us to bring on our own case of water!

 

 

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BRILLIANT!!:D

Hope there's room for the water!!

Andy

Thank you for your posts. I'm very excited to see the kids programming. We will be on the Summit in July with my 5 YO and are hoping they have some fun things planned. If you get a chance I would love to hear about what kind of food is offered on the children's menus in the dining room.

In Bar Harbor- if you love lobster rolls there is a no frills place just to the left of where you will probably get the tender tat my DH says is one of the best he ever had

Following along. Thank you for taking the time to do the live review.

Sounds like fun, wish we were on with you! You're daughter is adorable!

Looking forward to more.

Ira

Hope you have fun. I've also been looking at these cruises and hoping to do one next year, possibly with my mom.

Also agree the "new" Cape Liberty is so nice! I love how they have the chair rows set up and guide you on for boarding, it's so organized.