bboop51

Just got home from a wonderful week cruise (8/12-8/19) on the Summit. We sailed with 2 other couples and are all seasoned cruisers( approx. 30)

We ALL loved the service, food and entertainment- and the ship is in very good condition for its age. After reading negative reviews- we were very pleasantly surprised! I certainly can understand why it’s voted #1 in the fleet.

I will do a more complete review once I get settled unpacking, laundry etc.

Back to reality😓

 

Glad you had a wonderful time. We have had four wonderful times on the Summit. We were going to have a wonderful time somewhere else next year but after kicking it around for awhile we booked cruise number five on the Summit for next year again. :hearteyes:

We found the prices got cheaper as we got closer to the sail date on our cruise. We booked about 95 days out and saw prices drop close to $1000 by the time we sailed. The good part was we were happy with what we paid for 2a and were upgraded to an A2 for the same price when the drops started coming. A lot really depends on how well the cruise is selling.

Our issue is reserving our very popular dog sitter. So we tend to book pretty far in advance. If we skip next year, which is what the plan is at the moment, it won't be the end of the world (maybe lol.)

 

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Glad you enjoyed the week. You got on as we got off. Sounds like your week was as great as ours. I am already looking for a deal for next summer...

It's our favorite ship and Bermuda is our favorite destination. We are waiting for a deal for 2019 too. It seems like the deals were offered by now, last year. We like the May sailings before school is out. Our cruise this year was our fourth on the Summit and absolute best yet !

 

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How did you manage to get them to send you a brochure??? I used to request them and get them. Now, my requests fall on deaf ears.

We got our brochure yesterday and did not even ask for it. They must have heard we decided to skip next year ($700/$800 ish increase in price for the same cruise on the Summit..it would be our fifth ) did not delight me and I guess are trying to change our minds.

 

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Only other differences are footstools, extra bath amenities, heavier bathrobes, slippers, bottle of bubbly, pillow menu expanded room service items, afternoon savories and flavored tea.

 

 

We enjoyed Blu BTW.

We enjoy Blu too. It has not been hit and miss for us. We choose Aqua solely for Blu, otherwise we would not bother.

 

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I apologize if this has been addressed before....we received the classic drink package as a “perk”. I am wondering if upgrading to the premium package would be a good idea. I plan on visiting the martini bar and like to have some if the specialty coffees as well as the usual frozen drinks. I also drink a lot of bottled water. I searched for drink menu’s but didn’t find any. Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated!!

 

 

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Regular bottled water is included in the classic drink package. If want the fancy stuff (Perrier etc.) you need to upgrade. The regular lattes are covered, as well. The hubby drinks only the premium stuff, so we upgrade his package. I hardly drink at all but do drink a lot of bottled water and love the lattes, so no upgrade necessary for moi. If you want the specialty martinis on a regular basis, they are all upgrades. You decide what's best for you,

Cheers :)

 

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t - will you point me to the post about the parking passes for Bayonne and X? I have not been able to locate it in this thread, yet. Will continue to search though.

 

bon voyage

I'd like to see it too. Our old travel agent was able to secure parking passes for us twice and then not again. We have since booked directly with Celebrity, so any thought of a parking pass would be out of the question (I asked :) )

I presumed when they built the new parking structure the parking passes were a think of the past.

 

 

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Wow! On my 12-N 9/6/19 Reflection cruise, an A1 cabin (A2 loyalty fare) is now $1600 pp greater than a 1A cabin (1B loyalty fare.)

 

I have always enjoyed Blu; but is it really worth an additional $133.33 pp per night?

We thought about booking the same cruise we did AQ on the Summit this year to Bermuda (our fourth) for next year. Same exact time around $800 more for the week. I think we'll wait. We go AQ or not at all.

 

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I sail on Summit in Aqua Class in 3 weeks. How is the service at Blu? Good maitre d' and wait staff? Did you ever make any special requests, and if so, how did they go?

If I may, I'll jump in here. We sailed the Summit this year on the first cruise of the year, to Bermuda in AQ. This was our fourth time on the Summit in AQ and clearly the best. The service in Blu was fantastic all around but the ladies in front (both the Hostess, Alisa and the Maître D, Tanya were exemplary. We had wonderful wait staff, as well. The staff on the ship, this trip, was all around wonderful. We also cruised with a great group of passengers. As far as special requests...My husband is allergic to shellfish they provided him with his menu a day in advance. I am gluten free and they were amazing, always remembering to bring me gluten free muffin (even if I did not want one lol.) All this done as if we were not being a pain or asking for special treatment.

I'm waiting for the prices to go down a little and we'll be booking trip five :)

Enjoy you trip !!!!

 

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So just returned today from the 8 day Summit repo San Juan to Bayonne. Have cruised Celebrity numerous times and have heard good things about aqua class mostly regarding Blu restaurant. Decided to try this trip. Blu is open seating. We were immediately put off first two nights when we arrived about 7:30 pm and were handed beepeers and asked to wait for a table. Not acceptable for an upscaled upcharged venue. Should have capacity to seat all when arriving. It is advertised as an upscale "clean" establishment. Menus seemed pretentious and overly complicated. The dishes are poorly executed, not very tasty. Plenty of poorly prepared and overly thick sauces. Waiters did not explain the menu.

 

Aqua class room was nothing special, a lttle air freshiner, a larger table on the veranda, and a few jets in the shower.

 

Interested in any ones recent experiences?

 

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We just got off the Summit yesterday. We have always sailed AQ. We have never waited very long but were willing to wait in Cellar Masters with a beeper for "our" waiter for a bit during a busy time. We have never been disappointed in Blu, but this year the service was especially good (for us.) It was our fourth time and it won't be our last.

I can't see see when they can anticipate when everyone will want to have dinner, without insisting on reservations or increasing the space. IMHO it seems to work fine the way it is, but that is why there are different choices.

 

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For US residents: With all due respect, you will NOT "be okay" with X insurance if you have any medical expenses over $10,000. That's a pittance. Medicare does not cover medical outside the USA. Very few, if any, employer group insurance provides this coverage. Insurance purchased on the ACA exchange has no internationally coverage.

 

And evacuation costs? Estimate $30-50,000.

 

Regardless of one's age, if you are leaving the USA on a cruise ship, get medical coverage. (An argument could be made if traveling exclusively in Mexico or the UK, but it's still a big risk.)

 

PS - need medical services on the ship? Get out your credit card. It ain't free.

 

Your comments on pre existing conditions are accurate. It's important to note that most policies require that insurance be purchased within the first ten days after your first reservation related to a trip to eliminate pre existing condition exclusions. Some policies allow 30 days, and a very few allow until you make final payment.

I agree with you 100% on the medical. You MUST know your health coverage before leaving the country. We have medicare plus great coverage from my former employer (Uncle Sam.) However, once I leave the US we have zero medical coverage. I have been very care now to cover us for all eventualities (hopefully.) I had long talk and lesson from insuremytrip. It was costly (since I chose any reason to cancel as well) but worth the peace of mind.

 

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hi all,

I never purchased an insurance other than the cruise line insurance. I’m planning a trip and have a father in a nursing home so I don’t know if I will need to cut my trip short due to health reasons of his such going to the hospital. So far so good but I want to cover myself. I called insureds my trip and was offered the C&F insurance. It is only for a flight overseas. It is important INSURE FOR ANY REASON. Has any one had an experience with them? It is always easy to pay but many times hard to collect if needed. Thanks

I am not a travel insurance expert but I did a lot a research before buying this year. I wanted any reason to cancel but also needed healthy amount of medical coverage . In the past I have bought the Celebrity insurance. It does provide "any reason to cancel" but does not give cash back, you get 75% credit to cruise again. The cost of the insurance was very reasonable. It would not would work for me anymore because of the amount of medical coverage. I would call insuremytrip again and ask specifically about "any reason to cancel ." There are nuisances like look back periods and the details of pre-existing condtions that the explained to me in language I could understand. I was able to get it (it was pricey but worth is for the peace of mind.) You may be OK with the Celebrity insurance, if you don't mind the credit, as opposed to the cash.

Good luck. I hope your dad is ok .

 

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There are restaurants that auto-tip for large groups. Are you saying that ;in such cases' date=' the restaurant becomes responsible for the taxes, rather than the recipient of the tip?[/quote']Absolutely not, my daughter works as a server part time, and when the gratuity is added for the large group she is still responsible for taxes.

 

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You will get many different answers.

I love ALL the different answers. I received my first set of cubes (from Amazon) and I like them. I have to experiment. But, I don't see how larger item will fit in even the large cube, so since I was going to buy a second set I may buy the set from ebags that seems to have a larger large cube. I love to be organized, so the wealth or information is appreciated.

 

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Gluten free is clearly noted on the Main Diningroom menus, at the Spa Cafe, and in places at the buffet.

I did ask, and was certainly not accommodated in Luminae.

Luminae is one place could not comment on. I am surprised though, that Blu was so accommodating (they bent over backwards for me) and Luminae was not. I would be very disappointed.

 

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We are on the Summit on March 29, so will let you know if no one else posts before then.

We are on April 29th, I believe it's the first sailing of the year to Bermuda. I'd love to know too.

 

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Just wondering if Celebrity has stevia based artificial sweetener (“Green stuff”) or just pink, blue and yellow?

Thanks....

As of last September they still did not have it. I brought my own.

 

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I too have done that tour and was very impressed. Our Celiac friend had great service on the Reflection. There seems to be no explanation for the unacceptable experience I had on the Summit.

 

 

 

Perhaps its Luminae? They certainly need some retraining in the area of dietary restrictions. GF options are not even listed on their menu.

I don't think it's mentioned on any menu I've seen, but when you ask they certainly accommodate you.

 

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Or you can go to a website like www.insuremytrip.com and you can compare and contrast many different insurance companies and quotes.

I had questions about our trip insurance and called insuremytrip. They were amazingly helpful (patient) in answering my questions. They found the perfect insurance for my needs.

 

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Someone on the roll call for our sailing (Summit April 29th) has organized one. I am not a gambler but we seem to be nice cohesive group and DH said we should join in. Like someone else said, it's a way to kill a bit of time and heck, we could win some $ and it's not much to lose, if we don't.

 

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Hi there, We just booked for next March on the Infinity. One person in our party has Celiac Disease. I was wondering how Celebrity handles this. We are also looking at possibly booking Qsine...would this be ok for him?

 

Thank you for all your help.

I don't have Celiac but I am 100% gluten free. We sailed on the Summit last year and it was easy. They took care of me extremely well. We did eat all breakfast and dinner in Blu every night. I would be interested in anyone's (Gluten free experience) in Qsine,as well. We sailing soon and would be consider trying it.

 

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Thank you all for tips and tricks and opinions. I ordered a set of (Bago) packing cubes from Amazon last night. They seem to get good reviews and I found out my brother uses them. He schlepped them in the last year across the world to Poland, Peru, and just recently for a month across Florida. He said he highly recommends them. If I like them, I may order a second set. Like I said I am not a light packer.

I really appreciate the advanced packing tips. This old dog is always delighted to learn new tricks.

 

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We do not travel light and I am not firmly in favour of packing cubes for everything except dresses, trousers and jackets (US = coats?). I have a number of different brands and really believe that the dimensions are more important than brand. You need a number of brands to get a good mix of dimensions.

 

I lay out the dresses, skirts and jackets in the case, add the packing cubes and finally fold the rest of the dresses, trousers and jackets over the cubes. This way, there is minimal creasing. On arrival, the cubes can be transferred to drawers and shelves without unpacking. Items can be removed as required. The remaining items hung on hangers. Unpacking is really fast.

 

The important thing to do is to make a list of what is in each cube. Some have windows and I just slip the list in. For those with no windows, I attach a clear plastic bag to the outside of the cube and slip the list in.

 

A further advantage is the you can pack the cubes well in advance, if you wish, making your packing much quicker.

Love the detailed instructions. Thanks [emoji175]

 

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Thank you ALL for your responses, both YEAH and Ney. I'll review everything a buy some in the next week and start filling them up. We drive to the port but they sound like they could be beneficial for my (not so light) packing .

 

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Just to clarify, are you referring to packing cubes to help organize your suitcase, or are you referring to packing cubes to help organize storage of items in the stateroom cabin?

 

 

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I was thinking more for packing, but my girlfriend said it helped her to organize their items in their stateroom too.

 

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