bespin

We stayed there in August 2023 prior to a cruise; the hotel had a shuttle available for (I think) less than $30 for two of us, with two checked bags each. Just let the desk know a day or two ahead of your stay that you’ll want to use the shuttle. It’s a large van that picks up passengers from several nearby hotels. We’d Ubered to and from the Statue of Liberty ferry port in New Jersey, and that cost between $30-50 depending on the time of day, so the hotel shuttle might be a more affordable option for you.

BBC - Bailey’s Banana Colada. Or its close cousin, the Dirty Banana.

We’re doing a B2B on Summit. The first leg was a regular veranda, the second leg in a concierge veranda. The size of the cabins seem to be about the same. The robes in the concierge cabin are thicker, heavier, nicer. There’s a different brand of shampoo/conditioner/body wash in the shower, with a slightly larger hand-held shower head. The location of the Concierge veranda is Deck 9 aft - right under the buffet, so there is overnight noise from carts and such - not enough to wake us from sleep, but if we’re awake anyway, we do notice it. There’s a large overhang on the veranda itself, which while technically isn’t “obstructed” is still more limited than the regular veranda, which was Deck 8 forward and had no oversized overhang. There are complimentary afternoon snacks - hors d’oeuvres, which we haven’t liked, so we’ve asked for fruit plates instead. We’ve gotten an invitation to a complimentary galley tour, apparently due to concierge status? Or maybe because our travel agent is part of Distinctive Voyages, and this is one of their freebies. (The invitation mentioned both, so I’m not sure.) Verandas count as two points per day toward Captain’s Club status, and Concierge counts as three points, if I understand correctly. Anytime we’d’ve asked the Concierge Desk for something, we’ve been referred to either Guest Services or to the Shore Excursion desk. This is our first experience with Concierge, and for us it’s not worth the up-charge. Your mileage may vary.

On Summit right now. Escargot and shrimp cocktail are available every day in the MDR, as are Caesar salad and French onion soup. The entrees are basically fish, chicken, pasta, vegetarian, and beef or pork, for the most part. We’ve eaten mostly in the OVC due to the overall “meh” of the MDR menus. We did, however, like the prime rib and the (free) lobster when it was offered in the MDR.

32 Degrees (available at Costco and on their own website) have some synthetic pants that are loose-fitting and work well on their own or layered over thermals for colder weather. They’re also easy to hand wash and hang dry.

On Celebrity Summit now (August 17) - we were able to tender at Isafjordur with no problem. Weather was overcast and windy on land, but that was good because it meant no bugs on our tour to Dynjandi! (The bugs were horrible the day before in Akureyri, Bug hoods are your friend! You can buy them in places in Greenland and Iceland, but I ordered mine ahead of time on Amazon, and was very glad to have them in hand the instant we needed them.)

I’d ordered them on Amazon and brought them from home. The tour operator didn’t provide any, although some of the shops along the way sold them. Thursday’s tour to Dynjandi (from Isafjordur) was cool and windy - the wind kept the bugs away!

On Wednesday, in Akureyri, we did an excursion to Godafoss and Lake Myvatn - OMG the bugs! We were so glad to have bug hoods to keep them out of our mouths/noses/hair. The sights themselves were great.

NFL - US football 🙂

Take the rain pants. I thought I’d be fine in merino leggings over thermals; while wet wool might still be warm, it’s still wet, so I’d rather not risk it again. Even if it doesn’t rain, the pants will block the wind, which makes it worthwhile for me. Also, I wore a 32 Degrees fleece hoodie just about every day, over merino tops and under a rain shell, and I was comfortably warm without overheating.

We’re onboard right now. Our first time on Summit, so I can’t compare to previous, but overall, the ship is fine. Some cosmetic wear and tear in places - rust on balcony, some chips on OVC table top edges, some worn fabric on chairs in some lounges. We’ve enjoyed the entertainment; there are two enrichment speakers - one about football, the other is a naturalist, talking about wildlife and the Northern Lights. (His name is Brent Nixon - if he’s ever onboard one of your cruises, go to the theater early, because his talks are always a full house!) I have to say that we’ve eaten most often in the OVC, partly because that way I’m better able to control portion sizes there, but also because the MDR menus have been generally uninspiring and I’ve always found something that appeals in the buffet. (We don’t do specialty dining.) Weather-wise, we had rough-ish seas and gale force winds between Halifax and past St. John’s. There was rocking and rolling, but I didn’t think it was awful. The early sea days were foggy and chilly; Sunday in Qaqortoq and Monday in Prins Christian Sund (after the fog burned off) were 55F-ish and pleasant. Nights have been too cloudy/foggy for Northern Lights so far.

We’re with you on the B2B back to Boston! Agree with the ship condition, although we do notice rust on our balcony - could use some touching up. Great staff, good food (MDR, OVC, and Cafe Al Bacio so far.) Basic wifi is working well for us, once Guest Services manually switched us over after our free Elite minutes were used up.

I figured, based on similar offers on other ships. Thanks so much!

If you don’t mind, could you please share a photo of the locket and the charms? Do they have a list of the available charms, and what they cost? Thanks in advance!

Our experience was many years ago, but it’s the one that made us religious about always arriving at the embarkation port at least one day early. We booked air through Celebrity from Detroit to Santiago, Chile, with a change of planes in Atlanta. On a Saturday night. On a NASCAR weekend. Which matters because the airline overbooked the flight to Santiago. 10 couples who were booked on the cruise (full transit through Panama Canal) could not get to Santiago in time to board the ship. Celebrity said this was the airlines problem. We were sent to a hotel for the night - and rooms were very limited due to the NASCAR weekend. We were lucky - we got a room at the first hotel we were sent to. Other couples had to try several hotels to find a room. We were flown the next day to Houston, then to Santiago. We were sent to a hotel in Santiago for two nights, then flown to the first port - Arica, Chile, which is very small. No transportation in place to get us to the ship. We had to caravan in taxis to the port. We were given a LOT of onboard credit for the inconvenience and the missed days onboard. This ended up as our most memorable cruise due to the “we missed the boat” stories we have to tell now. The worst part was that when this happened, we were relatively inexperienced travelers, and we relied on Celebrity and the airline to resolve the issue. This meant we accepted the hotels and the flights that we were offered. We are much more proactive now in making our own choices. The lessons learned: 1) always get to the embarkation port at least one day early, if domestic, and preferably two days if overseas,2) make our own hotel and flight arrangements, to have the flexibility to choose when and with which airline, and 3) ALWAYS have travel insurance.