Celebrity Summit

[nubble88]

In the very near future, me and my husband will be sailing on celebrity Summit. I have never been on Celebrity before and I would like to know some of its good points. I've been on Royal Caribbean 7 times and Princess once.

 

I'm sure every cruise line has its similarities. Is there any thing that absolutely stands out that Celebrity does to make it better than Royal Caribbean.

 

My husband has been on Celebrity before, and he thinks I will really enjoy the difference.

 

I just wanted others opinions of what to expect.

 

Thanks!

[gtexan]

Just a superior level of thoughtfulness in my opinion.

Some things you'll notice on Summit:

 

1) Atmosphere in the dining room. Very nice :)

 

2) Cold towels, water, and fruit punch on returning to your ship after being in port. Very classy.

 

3) Very helpful staff

 

4) Seriously impressive shows (if you like broadway, you'll love the Celebrity Cast on Summit)

 

5) A slightly more sophisticated crowd. My wife and I are both 26, so Im not saying older. Just people seemed more wellbehaved to me on Celebrity than they did on my last Carnival cruise

 

6) Excellent food

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Here's my standard post regarding how Celebrity differs from other cruise lines-- their smoking policy. Smoking is not allowed in staterooms, balconies, the casino, most indoor venues. Great if you're a nonsmoker:cool:! If you smoke, not to worry-- most smokers report they have little difficulty getting to one of the outside areas where it's permitted in order to indulge.

[Denny01]

We've enjoyed RCL and Princess, but look to Celebrity as our starting point when picking a cruise.

 

Why? It treats me like an adult. Not a put down on others, but we enjoy 'entertaining' ourselves so we don't go in for the group activities and diversions that much. Tried a climbing wall and all that, but just didn't get that much out of it. I cruise to enjoy my wife and friends, meet new friends and so on. There is one announcement per day, no real press to take part in ship activities or any real hard sale. There are good lectures, and group activities, just not the main focus as on some lines.

 

Since you've picked Summit, there is a what I think is the best pool afloat - the Aqua/T-Spa forward deck. Free. Large, very warm, lots of water action (spouts you stand under), and steel pipes that form 'lounges' on the side with bubbles up throug them. We usually get a forward SR on an M-Class (Summit is one) so we can zip up in the morning and enjoy. Nice Aqua Cafe there also with healthy options.

 

Enjoy! Celebrity is just a bit more layed back and lower key, but lots to do as you wish.

 

Denny

[nubble88]

Thanks for the input everyone. It's seems to be in agreement with what my husband was saying. Not that I doubted him, but it is good to know others opinions as well and about what to do on this particular ship.

 

I am very much looking forward to the differences between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

[Lois R]

Hi:) I was on SUMMIT in January and will be going back on her again

next month:D....she is a terrific ship!

[safein]

Lois,

 

Did they take down the Cirque du Soleil stuff in Revelations?

 

Thanks!

 

Anita

[Lois R]

Lois,

 

Did they take down the Cirque du Soleil stuff in Revelations?

 

Thanks!

 

Anita

 

Hi Anita:).....I don't remember seeing anything funky;)...but it had

been 5 years since my 1st time on SUMMIT.

It looked like a regular lounge:)

[nubble88]

That's when we are going on the Summit, next month. This will be my first time on Celebrity and my first time going to Bermuda! I'm soooooooooo looking forward to it!

[safein]

Hi Anita:).....I don't remember seeing anything funky;)...but it had

been 5 years since my 1st time on SUMMIT.

It looked like a regular lounge:)

 

Lois, you're my angel! Too bad we're on 2 different sailings going to Bermuda.

 

One of these days, I hope we get to meet.

 

Anita

[nubble88]

Can anyone tell me what the buffet is like on this ship? Is there an adults only area too?

[kitkat9438]

We went on our first Celebrity cruise on the Summit last December and we fell in love with it. We now prefer it over Royal Caribbean or Princess. Here's a little bit of information for you.

 

You can get room service 24/7 but here’s the hours for the other dining venues:

Breakfast buffet 6:30 - 10:00 am

Sushi and stir fry. 5:00 - 9:00 pm

Casual dining. 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Pizza/pasta. Noon - 1:00 am

Salad bar. Noon - 11:00 pm

Hamburgers 11:30 - 6:30 pm

Lunch buffet noon - 2.30 pm

Sandwiches Noon - 3:00 pm

You will love the Summit. I was so amazed how friendly everyone was (crew members and our waiter). They would always stop what they were doing when we walked down the hallway and say hello and ask how we were. Our waiter was the best ever. He really bent over backwards to accommodate our large group of friends and make sure everything was exactly as we wanted.

 

Make sure you check out the T-pool. It is an adults only section at the back of the ship behind the pools. It's covered. This is where the Aqua Spa Cafe is. You can get healthy meals for breakfast and lunch, fresh cooked to order fish and salads. The T-pool is heated and has tubes on the side that you lay on for massaging. Very relaxing. There are also hot tubs in here. You will also find tables where you can play games if you want.

 

You also need to go to Normandie, the specialty restaurant. They have the best chocolate souffle ever. You cannot get this in the MDR. One thing I didn't like about the MDR is that they don't serve regular lobster tail, which I love, but you can get it in Normandie. They do have a lobster medley on the second formal night.

 

Did you check out the beverage package selection? Celebrity now offers packages you can buy. I purchased the frozen drink package which is $22/day or $154 with the whole cruise. This works out to 3 drinks/day at $7.50 after tip. I usually got a pina colada which is made to order and had a floater of rum on top. Yummy. They also have liquor and beer packages. I wouldn't buy the water package because you can bring on your own water and soda with no problems and Celebrity allows two bottles of wine.

Your formal nights will be Sunday and Thursday if your cruise leaves on Saturday. We booked Normandie for Monday night so we wouldn't miss formal night. Usually the food is a little better on formal nights in the MDR. You really don't want to miss the last formal night because that is when the waiters dress up in their white gloves and jackets and do the parade through the dining room with the baked alaska. You get to cheer on your waiter. Very entertaining.

 

Normandie also has a goat cheese souffle which is really popular. I had never tried it, and to be honest it sounded pretty strange, but a friend highly recommended it so I tried it and liked it. I got filet and lobster tail and the steak was much better than the main dining room. So tender that you could cut it with a fork. The dinner menu for the MDR will be outside the MDR each morning so you can check and see if you like what the evening menu has and then make your reservation with Normandie. The MDR has a lot of options for the everyday choices on the left side of the menu. You can get steak, chicken or fish, caesar's salad, shrimp cocktail, any time you want it. I love their creme brulee and would have that every night. Since we travelled with some friends in a large group we ordered a lot of extra things on the menu for everyone to share and our waiter began bringing things out for us to try without having to ask for them. Awesome!! As I mentioned, don't miss the chocolate souffle in Normandie. Other than that, I didn't have anything that I didn't like. It was all good. I know food is pretty subjective but we eat out a lot so we feel we are pretty good judges when it comes to food.

 

They have sushi but the sushi bar won't be open the first night. You will be able to get it the rest of the week from 5:00 to 6:00. My husband loves sushi and really enjoyed the selection. Celebrity has an afternoon "tea" where you can get little sandwiches, cheeses, cookies and desserts, as well as the normal pasta station. This is from 4:00 to 5:00. We would usually hit this area when we got back from port. There's an ice cream station (free). Don't miss the waffles which are at the end of the buffet section for breakfast. These are a big hit and come with several kinds of toppings. There's also a cova cafe (I think it's called) where you can get free warm pastries in the morning that are very good. You can also purchase specialty coffees here.

 

FYI, Summit doesn't have an "evening buffet" like the other cruise lines. You can get stir fry, pasta and salad, and of course pizza and the pool grill has hamburgers and hot dogs and nachos. There's also a sit down casual dining area with a suggested tip of $2, with waiters that are in training. It is not the same menu as the MDR though and not a lot of variety, but good if you don't want to dress up for dinner.

 

There's also the Celebrity theatre which has live entertainment and it's really good. They have early shows for the late diners and late shows for early diners. You will also have a midnight chocolate buffet, I think it was Thursday night. Then there's also another late night buffet another night with the ice carvings. And of course there's the clubs with dancing and the martini bars.

Here’s a list of the cabins that have extra large balconies. You will find mention of the sweet 16 cabins and those are the 2C cabins listed below.

CC-9043,9038,9201,9164,9162,9160

CC-8045,8046,8185,8176,8172,8170

CC-7203,7212,7208,7206

CC-6135,6136,6143,6144

 

2A-8161,8146,9173,9138

2B-7049,7080,7163,7166,7171,7173,7175,7177,7174,7176, 7178,7180

2C- 6016,6018,6020,6021,6022,6023,6024,6025,6026,6027, 6029,6030,6031,6033,6035,6053,6048

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[Denny01]

kitkat9438 - lovely review and since I agree with it, it Must be right! Only one correction - the T-Spa/Solarium Pool is in the foward section of the Resort Deck 'in front' of the other pools. I'm sure of this because we love the T-Spa and get forward SR's on M-Class ships so we can zip up in the morning and then eat at the great little Aqua Cafe. (I also cheated and went and looked at the deckplan to make sure). Our favorite experience on any ship. We loved the Solstice, but the Solarium/T-Spa keeps drawing us back. thanks for taking the time to review Her.

 

We hadn't cruised Summit since '02 and were starting to wonder a bit after a few of the recent 'reviews'. Always take many of them with that grain of salt, especially the ones that hated every meal and so on. Enjoy good criticisims (well thought out I guess would be a better term), but you have to wonder.....nothing wrong with reporting 'hit or miss' and 'some was OK, others not..' but 'all'?

 

Denny

[Bonnie Voyager]

We just booked our first Celebrity cruise too, after many cruises on other lines. We will also be sailing on Summit (but not till next spring). I am very excited to experience the differences and am very happy that my Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor "Diamond" level will transfer to the Celebrity Captain's Club giving us a few nice perks as we celebrate our 35th anniversary. :D

 

I am not easily discouraged by bad reviews either, as I know from past history that my opinion rarely coincides with any negative reviews I've read about any ship. I've never been on a "bad" cruise and don't expect to start now! ;)

[Denny01]

We just booked our first Celebrity cruise too, after many cruises on other lines. We will also be sailing on Summit (but not till next spring). I am very excited to experience the differences and am very happy that my Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor "Diamond" level will transfer to the Celebrity Captain's Club giving us a few nice perks as we celebrate our 35th anniversary. :D

 

I am not easily discouraged by bad reviews either, as I know from past history that my opinion rarely coincides with any negative reviews I've read about any ship. I've never been on a "bad" cruise and don't expect to start now! ;)

 

Great post. I'd copy your comments and just submit them as my own next time! Yup, have cruised on the dreaded Carnival line on of their oldest ships for group New Years parties and for a family Thanksgiving cruise, have dined on the Infinity when I ddin't think it was up to par for that cruise and one table mate wasn't able to find anything the liked (that got old fast), but loved all of them. When we heard about some people had issues with the storage space in S-Class, we under packed. So I use critical reviews

 

Cruising....can't beat it. And yes, it is very subjective and yes, I'm a half-full guy, and yes, I make any experience a postive as much as possible.

 

I do set limits, do call with issues to be fixed and so on...but I Don't listen to the complainers when it becomes obvious the complaining is the point. I don't really listen to the complainers beyond one or two sentences. Example: On one of our first Celebrity cruises, got into a hot tub with an older gentleman (well, older than me!) and mentioned how great the cruise was...he started into his (memorized) litany of complaints I think mainly to impress me how sophisticated he is...into his second sentence, I stood up and excused myself, saying that I was enjoying the cruise and wanted to continue to do so, so I was leaving....and did.

 

Denny

[Casino Player]

We just booked our first Celebrity cruise too, after many cruises on other lines. We will also be sailing on Summit (but not till next spring). I am very excited to experience the differences and am very happy that my Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor "Diamond" level will transfer to the Celebrity Captain's Club giving us a few nice perks as we celebrate our 35th anniversary. :D

 

I am not easily discouraged by bad reviews either, as I know from past history that my opinion rarely coincides with any negative reviews I've read about any ship. I've never been on a "bad" cruise and don't expect to start now! ;)

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Miss Bonnie: We were on the Dream together last year. Celebrity Cruise Line provides a really good cruise. They have fewer announcements than the contemparary cruise lines. And as you might expect from me, Casino management is better.

The staterooms aren't as large as Carnival's, but, then who does have staterooms that size? The food is almost as good as Carnival's. It runs neck and neck. I've been on one Royal Carribbean cruise and didn't enjoy it. And I was a big winner in the Casino. Everything else went bad.

Welcome to Celebrity Cruise Line. I think you will like it better than RCCL.

[Bonnie Voyager]

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Miss Bonnie: We were on the Dream together last year. Celebrity Cruise Line provides a really good cruise. They have fewer announcements than the contemparary cruise lines. And as you might expect from me, Casino management is better.

 

The staterooms aren't as large as Carnival's, but, then who does have staterooms that size? The food is almost as good as Carnival's. It runs neck and neck. I've been on one Royal Carribbean cruise and didn't enjoy it. And I was a big winner in the Casino. Everything else went bad.

 

Welcome to Celebrity Cruise Line. I think you will like it better than RCCL.

 

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO Casino Player! I remember you well! :D I appreciate your comparisons. I know I will love Celebrity, I love ALL cruises! For me, Royal Caribbean has repeatedly been my favorite. I'm not a "foodie", not a gambler, not much into organized activities...(gee, I sound like a blast, don't I :eek:) But, I enjoy exploring the ship, watching the shows, and most of all...relaxing on my aft balcony and watching the wake. I think I will be just fine on Summit! I'm really looking forward to it!

[cherylroslyn]

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO Casino Player! I remember you well! :D I appreciate your comparisons. I know I will love Celebrity, I love ALL cruises! For me, Royal Caribbean has repeatedly been my favorite. I'm not a "foodie", not a gambler, not much into organized activities...(gee, I sound like a blast, don't I :eek:) But, I enjoy exploring the ship, watching the shows, and most of all...relaxing on my aft balcony and watching the wake. I think I will be just fine on Summit! I'm really looking forward to it!

Are you doing 4/30/11? I'm about to book that one.....

[Bonnie Voyager]

Are you doing 4/30/11? I'm about to book that one.....

 

We will be disembarking as you board! :(

[Terry in NJ]

 

You can get room service 24/7 but here’s the hours for the other dining venues:

 

Breakfast buffet 6:30 - 10:00 am

Sushi and stir fry. 5:00 - 9:00 pm

Casual dining. 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Pizza/pasta. Noon - 1:00 am

Salad bar. Noon - 11:00 pm

Hamburgers 11:30 - 6:30 pm

Lunch buffet noon - 2.30 pm

Sandwiches Noon - 3:00 pm

 

 

 

FYI, Summit doesn't have an "evening buffet" like the other cruise lines. You can get stir fry, pasta and salad, and of course pizza and the pool grill has hamburgers and hot dogs and nachos. There's also a sit down casual dining area with a suggested tip of $2, with waiters that are in training. It is not the same menu as the MDR though and not a lot of variety, but good if you don't want to dress up for dinner.

 

Two quick questions for the Summit experts:

The "snacking" times listed above, silly question, are all the snacks laid out in the windjammer? Or some other bar/lounge/location?

And if I read the second paragraph correctly, you can't just go to the Windjammer for an informal buffet dinner? Well you can, but it's limited offerings and you are required to tip?

Thanks for your help.

[Lois R]

Lois, you're my angel! Too bad we're on 2 different sailings going to Bermuda.

 

One of these days, I hope we get to meet.

 

Anita

 

I would like that as well:)

[Lois R]

Two quick questions for the Summit experts:

 

The "snacking" times listed above, silly question, are all the snacks laid out in the windjammer? Or some other bar/lounge/location?

 

And if I read the second paragraph correctly, you can't just go to the Windjammer for an informal buffet dinner? Well you can, but it's limited offerings and you are required to tip?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Hi:) the ship does not offer a "full buffet" for dinner as you would

have on Royal.

They have pizza/pasta, sushi and a stir fry station.

There is also room service and the grill at the pool has offerings as well.

 

They also offer what is called "Alternative Dining". It is located

near the buffet area but you are served, on linen, by wait staff who

are in training. You are given a menu, although it is not as large as

the main dining room. You are not "required to tip"...it is a suggestion

of 2.00 per person and it is a more casual atmosphere.

[nubble88]

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for taking the time to give an outstanding review on the Summit. We have enjoyed many cruises on Royal Caribbean, but my husband has cruised with Celebrity before.

 

Thank you for the helpful hints as to the dining times throughout the day. I'm also happy to know that there is an adult only pool area...even better that the pool is heated. I do not like to swim in salt water pools....so, it is a plus if the pools are fresh water.

 

We did sign up for this cruise kind of late so we are stuck with second seating. Something tells me that getting into first seating will not be easy. But, maybe we will try the specialty restaurant, especially if we can get lobster in there too.

 

I am counting the weeks until we leave, which is not much longer. My first time on Celebrity and my first time to Bermuda...........feel like a Cruise Virgin all over again!!!

 

Thanks again for that great description of the Summit!

 

Kathy

[Terry in NJ]

Thanks Lois ;), that's exactly the specificity I was looking for! We are sailing Aug. 29th to NE/Canada and I'm not sure if we're dressing both nights for formal night.

 

Thanks again!

[kitkat9438]

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for taking the time to give an outstanding review on the Summit. We have enjoyed many cruises on Royal Caribbean, but my husband has cruised with Celebrity before.

 

Thank you for the helpful hints as to the dining times throughout the day. I'm also happy to know that there is an adult only pool area...even better that the pool is heated. I do not like to swim in salt water pools....so, it is a plus if the pools are fresh water.

 

We did sign up for this cruise kind of late so we are stuck with second seating. Something tells me that getting into first seating will not be easy. But, maybe we will try the specialty restaurant, especially if we can get lobster in there too.

 

I am counting the weeks until we leave, which is not much longer. My first time on Celebrity and my first time to Bermuda...........feel like a Cruise Virgin all over again!!!

 

Thanks again for that great description of the Summit!

 

Kathy

 

Your welcome Kathy. We had second seating for dinner and loved it. That way you don't have to rush around when you get back from port to get ready, you can swing by the buffet area and pick up some little sandwiches, cookies or ice cream and get ready for the show before dinner. Much nicer in my opinion. I hate to rush when I'm on vacation. :D