frawls

The picture really doesn't do the waterfall justice.

Castries

Celebrity Summit

Our next stop was St. Lucia. We have been to St. Lucia before for a land vacation and DW insisted whatever we do it must include a stop at the mud baths, so we booked Spencer Ambrose Tours.

Spencer has a couple of options for the day we choose the land, sea and beach adventure for $105 per person. Spencer met us right at the cruise terminal and once we were all together we boarded a speed boat and we were off to Soufriere. The roads in St. Lucia are very windy and it normal takes over an hour to get to Soufriere from Castries but by boat we were there in about 25 minutes. When we got off the speed boat there were two vans - one for people going to the mud baths and one for people going to the volcano. The great thing about using Spencer is you get to the sites before the crowds that are taking the buses.

After the mud baths we visited a waterfall and got to go into the pool of water and get up close to the waterfall for some pictures.

After the waterfall we drove near a banana plantation and learned about banana's, which is St. Lucia's #1 export. Then it was lunch time, we stopped at a quaint little restaurant and had a buffet lunch that included chicken, fish, rice and peas and numerous other sides and of course come hot sauce. The food was very good.

After lunch we got back on the van for a very short ride back to the village where we boarded the speed boat for another quick ride over to Sugar Beach. Sugar beach is set between the two Pitons and it is very nice. We spent about 90 - 120 minutes at the beach.

After the beach it was back on the speed boat for a tour by sea. The ride back to the cruise terminal was slower than the ride going. All in all it was a great day. If you have never experience the island of St. Lucia and want to take as many things as possible in one day, then I highly recommend Spencer Ambrose tours. Being we have been to the island before we felt it was a bit rushed to get everything crammed into one day but it really does showcase everything the island has to offer.

These pictures were taken by one of the Calabaza crew members.

We decided that on this trip that we would use all local tour operators and going forward we will continue to use local small businesses.

In Barbados, we used Calabaza to go snorkeling to a couple of spots, one location was with sea turtles and the other location was over a couple of ship wrecks. This is one of the best excursions we have ever done. From the moment I emailed Gina to the time we got off the catamaran we were treated with first class service.

Calabaza now has two catamarans but neither one has more that 12 passangers. We were met at the dock by a driver and within minutes we were boarding Calabaza II. After a brief discussion about our day and safety we were on our way. From that moment on, the food and drink didn't stop. Coffee with some kind of bread, mini breakfast sandwiches on croissants, delicious rum punch and beer and this was just on our way to the first stop. Snorkeling with the turtles was a great experience and really cool to see. Pictures to follow. Back on the catamaran and off to next spot where we went snorkeling over a couple of shipwrecks. More food included bruchetta, hummus and then these incredible cod fritters and more rum punch. We sailed off to another quiet spot where we ate lunch that included chicken, fish and a bunch of sides. Rum punch. After lunch we were able to just chill in the water and drink rum punch.

More rum punch and we were back on board Calabaza II and heading back. This was such a great day, I believe the cost was $110 per person. Well worth it! The attention to service and the small group made for a perfect day.

Did I mention the rum punch?

This is going to be more port intensive than about the Summit. It was a great week and the staff and service was great. We enjoyed it so much we re-booked the Summit and very similar itinerary in February 2018.

Embarkation

We flew into San Juan the day before the cruise and stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Isla Verde. We left for the Pan American Cruise Terminal around noon –20 min taxi ride and about $12. We stayed in the Sky Suite so we were able to avoid the lines that were starting to build up and we were on the ship in no time at all.

The rooms were ready around 1:30 pm so after a nice lunch at Luminae, we headed to our room. Shortly after arriving to the room, our butler, Rolando, stopped by to introduce himself. While we were talking to him, our luggage was delivered. I don’t know if our luggage arrived so quickly because we were staying in a suite or if they are always that quick in San Juan--either way, we were happy. We unpacked and headed to the pool deck for a drink and to wander around the ship. This was the last cruise for the Summit before dry dock so some things are going to be changed and updated but after being on some bigger ships, we really liked the size and layout of the Summit.

We meet up with fellow Cruise Critics at a sail away party. It was nice to meet everyone and it was great to see some friendly faces throughout the week.

Restaurants

Luminae: very happy with our dining experience at Luminae throughout the week. The selection of food was good and the service was even better. This is the best included restaurant we have experienced at sea and we have dined in Blu last year on the Solstice and also have experienced NCL's Haven.

Qsine: an interesting experience. If you like a lot of varieties of food or interested in trying new flavors, this is the place for you. The food is heavy but presented in a creative way.

Bars

We found the service at most of the bars to be very inconsistent – sometimes there was no problem getting a drink but other times it seemed like it took forever. Rendezvous Lounge and Mast Bar were the most consistent in service. We did not visit the Martini Bar or Cellar Masters.

Entertainment:

We only went to two of the shows in the theater, a song and dance show which was pretty good and the iMagic show which we were not really impressed with.

Live Music: There were a couple of great musicians throughout the ship Peter Rossetti, piano and vocals who was usually in Café el Bacio, Pete Henry, acoustic guitar and vocals who played all over the ship and the Jim Beam band who also played all over the ship. The entertainment staff did a good job and the different activities around the ship.

I will post more about each of the ports over the next couple of days. First stop Barbados.

This past August we just walked around the city - it is a nice walk from where the ship docks and we ended up at Irish Times - a great Irish pub with live Irish music. Had a great time.

The float plane was great, I am sure they would love it. The pictures don't really do it justice.

The helicopter and dog sledding sounds great too. Enjoy your trip.

Alaska is an amazing place and I think all ages will enjoy it. Even when you are on the ship, there are whales and dolphins and beautiful scenery. As someone else mentioned the naturalist talks were interesting and entertaining.

There is a link to my review with pictures in my signature.

We like both and I think they offer different things, this past year we were at Sandals and this winter we will be on the Summit but have already booked our Sandals stay for 2017. If you watch the prices, you can get deals on both. Our last stay at Sandals Ochi Rios in a butler level room was just about the same price as our Sky Suite on the Summit with the 123 Go Promotion. When you add in the excursions the cruise is actually more expensive. But the excursions is part of the reason why we cruise. It really depends on what is important to you.

My wife and I are in our late 30s/early 40s and will be on the Summit in February. We find with cruises in general it is hit or miss for the late night parties, but we are fine with that. The crowd can change from week to week - maybe figure out when spring break is and plan it that week.

It also seems on cruise ships the party starts early for sail away and then by midnight every place seems to die down. As others have said, this itinerary is port-intensive so we are looking forward to exploring the different islands and not necessarily staying up all night. If you are looking for nightlife, maybe an all-inclusive resort might be more your thing.

Thank you everyone. I am glad you are enjoying the pictures. Alaska is an amazing place.

@bluebeard39 sorry for not responding sooner - the lens I used was a Cannon EFS 55-250

We are on the Summit out of San Juan Nov. 7, 2015. Do you remember what the cost of the Chef's Table was?

Hi Jimmanknows, sorry but I do not remember what the price was. The Murano maitre d' gave us a package price for the cooking class, chef's table and lunch in Murano.

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Great pictures! We were there in August on a cruise and loved Alaska! Did the train and floatplane too. Well worth it!

 

See that you will be on the Summit in Feb on your list of cruises. So will we! What cruise are you on? Aren't we lucky we have another cruise in the near future to look forward to?!

Hi micruiser12, we are going on the Feb 20th sailing out of San Juan, PR. You? We are lucky, I can't wait and I am very much looking forward to it.

Thank you. I have a Cannon rebel T3i with 2 lenses but I was wondering if I should rent a telephoto lens for those far away shots. Did you use a telephoto lens for some of the shots?

I have to double check what the exact lens was but it was either a 55-250mm or 75-300mm. Nothing too big. You may want to rent a telephoto lens for the sea life, I have some pictures of whale and porpoise but it is not as close as I would have hoped.

What float plane company did you use in Juneau? We are going on Alaska cruise May, 2016 and this is the only port we haven't decided what to do.

 

Beautiful pictures!! Thank you!

Hi Sunlover, we booked directly with Celebrity - 5 Glacier Excursion. The company was Wings Airways. They are located right by the pier where we the tender drops you off.

Hi Paul, It is a Cannon digital SLR and the lenses that came with it. I bought a package a couple years ago. I can get you specifics this weekend if you would like them.

Disclaimer: Some of the photos have been edited.

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Thank you. It was amazing and we lucked out on the weather.

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Thank you everybody. Alaska is beautiful and the pictures don't really do it justice. Since we returned, I have been telling everyone they should go at least once.

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Photo review.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2266408

I just posted a review and photos of our recent trip to Alaska on the Celebrity page.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2266408

More pictures at sea.

The sun setting on a trip of a lifetime

Victoria, B.C. – We opted just to walk around town on our own. It is a decent walk from the pier but nothing too bad, we wandered around for a little while and then ended up at the Irish Times – a great Irish pub that had live Irish music playing. We enjoyed the tunes and a couple of Guinness and then it was back to the ship for our last night.

Overall this was a wonderful trip. My wife was not sure she would enjoy Alaska but she went so I would stop bugging her about going there. We already decided that we will definitely return to Alaska and the next time either do a land trip or take one of the cruises that go further into Alaska.

At Sea

Skagway – We booked the White Pass Scenic Railway with Chilkoot tours. We did the bus up and the train back down. Our tour guide, Stanley, was phenomenal. She lives in the area year round and had some great stories. We stopped at waterfall which was a glacier run off and we filled up our water bottles with some fresh clean water. The further up we went you could just smell how clean the air was. The train back down was beautiful. You can stand at the ends of the train car and take pictures but you cannot hear the tour guide out there. After the train ride, a representative from Chilkoot picked us up and offered to drop us off wherever we wanted. She recommended the Skagway Fish house. More crab legs which were good. The fish and chips was just ok. Service was very good and overall a good place to grab a bite and close to the pier.

More Juneau and float plane