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Shanker1

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    taxi at FLL

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    Reading some posts it is easier to use a taxi from FLL to our hotel on 17st.  My questions is are the taxi's at FLL big enough to carry 2 28" suitcases and 2 carryons with 2 people?

     

    Joe

    Celebrity Summit Review- 7/15-7/22

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Just returned from the Celebrity Summit cruise to Bermuda and had a good time. It was myself and wife in one room, and my brother in law and his wife/child (17) in another room. While I won't do a full review, I will give you some thoughts on our trip as I always thoroughly enjoyed when others reported back. If you have any specific questions, I will be more than happy to answer. Here is my take:

     

    Positives

    Pier Check In - As usual, pier check in was an absolute breeze and we were on the sip within 15 minutes of going through security and checking in for our SeaPass cards.

     

    Suite Experience - We have mixed thoughts about doing a suite again but there are really nice perks by being in a suite such as, express check in/check out (which was a huge bonus when getting back to NJ), Michael's Club (always nice to just get away from the masses), and Luminae were definitely a highlight of our cruise where the food and service were top notch.

     

    Michael's Club Staff- Anastasia and the other bartender from Eastern Europe were top notch. Anastasia was a huge upgrade from the previous host we had on the same sailing/ship nearly a year ago. Anastasia was engaging, helpful, and it was the little things that really made her shine. An example of this would be when we first got on the ship and how she took the time to set us up with internet. Another example is how we chartered a boat in Bermuda to go Marlin Fishing and reached out to Bermuda while on the ship to make sure things all went smoothly. The other bartender was FANTASTIC, remembered our name and our drink order by day 2. Truly remarkable.

     

    Luminae Host- He is from Eastern Europe and was absolutely fantastic. He led by example, ensured things went smooth for the dining room, and when things got busy, you saw him clearing plates and a true team player.

     

    Service - I would say the service overall was fantastic. This is a smaller ship (one of the smallest we have ever sailed on), but there is a certain vibe of the crew that make this work. Practically everyone on the ship always greets you with a smile and this is one of the few ships that you actually feel like the workers are actually happy.

     

    Food: The food in the buffet was great. There was a great amount of variety and always something to please everyone. I also think the grill in the stern of the ship on deck 10 was AMAZING. You can have a cooked to order steak, pork chop, or salmon cooked ot order and then eat it 20 feet away while watching the wake of the ship with a drink in hand.

     

    Martini Bar - This was a huge hit on the ship this year and last year. Poput is a great bartender, who not only makes great drinks, but gets to know his clientale. By day 2 he had our drink orders ready, and was just a great pre and post dinner bar to have a cocktail.

     

    Bermuda: We love Bermuda and have done it now 4X. We decided to go to Elbow Beach and it was nothing short of breath taking. We really loved the fact there were absolutely no crowds (contrary to Horshoe Bay). We loved the fact the ship docked here for 2.5 days.

     

    Ship Design: I never really felt crammed on the ship and we thought the Summit really handles traffic well. We spoke to multiple people who were on the NCL Escape and all had very nasty things to say about their cruise. Most of the issues all dealt with the fact there were too many people. I was on the NCL Breakway a few years ago, and it was by far the worst cruise ship we have ever been on, but not because of too many people, but because of poor ship design. We have been on the Oasis and Allure of the Seas and there are far more people that are on these ships, and never once did it feel crowded. The NCL Escape/Breakaway are terrible in design and I will not sail them unless I am in the Heavan.

     

    Negatives

     

    Wine Selection - We had the UBP and were really dissapointed with the wine selection this cruise. There were only two red wines (yes I counted) that we were able to select that were either in stock or within our $15 per glass alottment.

     

    Sommelier in Luminae - Or shall I say experienced waitor. This individual is not a sommelier but claimed to be one. Last year we had Maggy, who was an absolute delight and a highlight of our cruise. She always paired our meal, made helpful selections which expanded our pallets, and was nothing short of fantastic. This go around, our sommelier was not well trained, asked if we wanted red or white, and was nothing more than a waitor. We did not make mention of it to anyone as we just went with the flow but we believe Celebrity's cut back in wine selection coupled with little to no training is the result we obtained.

     

    Butler - We never met our Butler until day 5 of the cruise (yes day 5). She was absolutely the worst Butler (Tatyana) we have ever experienced on any cruise line. My wife met her while entering the room and she introduced herself to her while I was in the shower. About 30 minutes later, we were having a drink in Michaels when my wife told me that was our butler. Thinking she owuld introduce herself, she never did until the night before we arrived in NJ and her asking me how it is important she gets a 10 for service and to please fill out the survey. I responded with, "Do you really want me to fill out that survery card?" I think she realized I wasn't quite happy, she smiled and walked away. Our Room Steward on the other hand, was fantastic (Fransico). We really don't ask for much, other than ice around 6PM. The second night there was no ice, and I saw Fransico who said he told Tatyana but then said "I will take care of it myself." I tipped him early on in the cruise, and after the cruise as he was great. Tatyana on the other hand was horrendous.

     

    Understaffed - Last year we saw multiple people roaming the decks asking for drink orders etc. This year it was a complete ghost town. We would see one of the bartenders rotate and make 3 rounds per day with their drink cart and that was it. We know this because we sat near the bar. I guess with all the drink packages bought, there is little incentive for the cruise line to push more product on patrons which have already paid.

     

    Deck Police (Or lack there of) - Chair hogs were in full swing and Celebrity really needs to do a better at montioring this. In the solarium there were guests that would leave personal belongings for hours at a time without any reprucssions. Others we saw take multiple seats in the solorium and then take a second set of seats in the sun out on the pool deck. Given there was no deck enforcement, there did this multiple days.

     

    Ship Condition - While in most public areas the ship looked fine, she is looking very tired. There was rust all throughout our balcony, on the outside of the ship, and in our bathroom there was a mold issue. In the buffet area there were chairs which should have been thrown away, and the bedding/mattresses have seen better days. She is up for refurbishment in March of 2019 where she will undergo a major renovation. I spoke with the captain about this and he said they were going to add at close to 50 suites and redo Michaels and Luminae.

     

    In conclusion, we had a good time on the Celebrity Summit. While not as good as last year, we thought it was a solid 7 out of 10 stars. We think we will take a break from the Summit as the value for us simple isn't there. We were charged a 5 star price with our Suite while receiving 3.5 star service. If there was another ship (Solstice Class) that would come to Bermuda, I would give it a shot for the sheer reason we love BErmuda and enjoy Celebrity, unfortunately, the Captain confirm the Summit will not be going anywhere until at least 2020.

     

    Hope this helps, as I tried to give an honest review of the Summit.

     

    Thanks for the great information. We are sailing on the Summit Sept,23 and are in a SS what cabin did you have with the terrible butler, we are in 6119.

     

    Joe

    Flying Air France

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Thanks for all of the replies, as expected there are many varied opinions, all very helpful. We will be using Choice Air flying business class with a Delta code share. The flight is next spring after a TA.

     

    Joe

    ChoiceAir nightmare

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I had a similar problem with delta changing their schedule. Delta was ready to make my requested changes until the notified that the ticket had to be changed by Choice Of course Choice wanted to charge me me a fee for

    schedule change. After several frustrating calls back and forth with Delta and Choice A Choice supervisor told me they needed a OSI code added to my Delta reservation code and Choice can change to flights with no additional cost Called Delta and they said no problem we can do that. Flights and destination were changed easy peasy. Only took a couple of hours of aggravation which I do not need.

     

    Joe

    CAPE LIBERTY 411 (and NYC too) Version 4!!

    in East Coast Departures

    Posted

    The Newark Penn Station Hilton would work for you. It has an airport shuttle (call hotel,directly for pickup). However, it is in downtown Newark, which is really not a suggested walking environment at night. The Ironbound District is nearby with many Spanish and Portuguese restaurants - a quick inexpensive cab ride.

    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g46671-zfn7252-Newark_New_Jersey.html

    Great help I think we will cross penn station Hilton off the list

    Transportation to and from Cape Liberty and LGA

    in East Coast Departures

    Posted

    LGA and midtown Manhattan - car service like Dial7 or Carmellimo (fixed quote plus tolls and tip), metered taxi, or Uber/Lyft.

     

    Midtown Manhattan to Cape Liberty - car service or Uber/Lyft - NO NYC taxi because it is a NY to NJ trip

    Cape Liberty to midtown Manhattan - car service, Uber/Lyft, or get a fixed price ride plus tolls and tip from the Cape Liberty Taxi Dispatcher (tunnel toll will be $15)

     

    Could you provide your Manhattan hotel locations and LGA arrival and departure dates and times so that folks can comment on any other timing considerations?

     

    Thanks for the info

     

    Arriving LGA 4:56 PM we have not selected a hotel yet but probably a Hilton property using points. Departing LGA 10/10 noon Hotel is Residence Inn Manhattan/Central Park

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