very lengthy review of 8/1 Summit to NE/Canada

[momoforeo]

My husband and I sailed on the Summit to NE and Canada. We are in our mid to late 40’s. This was my husband’s 4th cruise (2 on NCL, 1 on Carnival) and my 9th, with my first being on Home Lines’ Doric. We have taken a lot of

 

land based vacations to different islands, Europe and in the US, with and without our children. We usually try to go slightly more upscale in both the places we stay and eat. From everything we had read Celebrity should fit that. Also my husband is not one to let things go if he feels he is not treated right or something is not to his satisfaction.

Embarkation: Went very smoothly. We arrived at the pier at around 10:45 (after hitting a major rainstorm). There were still cruisers from the previous trip waiting to be picked up and getting off the ship, so there was slight chaos in getting to the unloading spot and then backing out. We pulled into the parking lot, got a close spot and while we were walking back to the loading area, one of the shuttle vans pulled over and offered us a lift. Since we were there early the lines were not too long and we did not have long to wait to register. We were in shuttle 2 over to the boat. The shuttle buses are on loan from Rutgers and are similar to city busses.

Crew: Captain Pappas, Chief Engineer: K. Petrakis, Hotel Director: J. Brackenbury, Cruise Director: Rob Wheatley, Executive Chef: Denton Laing.

First day: After swiping our boarding pass and having our picture taken, we grabbed a Mimosa. There were choices of Mimosa, Orange Juice or straight Champagne. There was a long line to get to the elevators to take us to the Waterfall Café, but Carla, the asst. Hotel director, was directing people to go up the stairs. When I asked where they were, she said she would lead us. We went up the steps to a different bank of elevators and zipped up to the 10th fall and the Waterfall Café for lunch. There was a large selection to choose from: pizza, pasta station, salads, desserts and many other goodies. The lines were short and we quickly collected our food and found a table with a window overlooking gloomy Bayonne pier. Only in looking for issues, did I notice some of the chairs looked a little worn. The aqua spa cafe also had offerings for lunch, which are lighter fare, but we saw this after we had already eaten.

At 1pm our room was ready. We had in inside stateroom, in good condition, nothing ripped or torn. We had the twin beds pushed together, two night tables with two draws each, a desk with a chair (some storage in the desk), two chairs and a glass table. The room was tight and the bathroom even tighter. Overall storage wasn’t too bad a problem and all our stuff eventually found a place. Our luggage took a long time to arrive, as did several other passengers. We didn't receive it until almost 6pm and we had early dinner.

Lifeboat drill was a little after 3. You are assigned a location, no life vests needed. We were fortunate to be assigned the theater.

Sailaway was at 4pm. We enjoyed watching the boat sail under the bridge. There were activities being held including Martini Mixology, and aquaspa raffle and others.

The show that night was the introduction to the talent on the ship. It was the usual dancing and singing talent, though we did enjoy the A Capella group, the Neptunes. After the show we headed to Revelations for the dance party. The band was Magnitude. We actually enjoyed the DJ's music better.

Day 2: Sea Day: We ate in the MDR so we could meet other people. The breakfast menu stayed the same all week and included smoked salmon, bagel and capers. (I know this because everytime we ate in the MDR for breakfast, this is what my husband had.) There was also an assortment of omelots, fruit, eggs, pancakes, french toast, meats, etc.

There were a lot of interesting activities this day, however it was sunny and beautiful and we spent a good deal of the time sitting in the sun. No problem getting chairs. The ones by the pool have a very comfy cushion on them. 10am was the Celebrity Connections party. Not everyone came, but those who did met some of the staff. At 11 my husband went to check out the adult ping pong. When he got there the crowd playing was not quite what he expected, but the cruise activity person, Laurie, handling it asked him if he would like to play one of the crew. She said she would contact him later. While I continued sun basking, my husband went to the wine tasting. He enjoyed it very much and tried to show off his new wine skills at dinner that night. Lunch was at the buffet. I wasn’t as crazy about the food in the buffet. It was ok, but I wouldn’t rave about it. I got a Panini and my husband some Chinese. He didn’t care for the Chinese food. After I ate I remembered the aqua spa cafe, they had some great lunch offerings. After lunch there was a note in our cabin from Laurie, asking if my husband wanted to play Ping Pong against the crew member at 4:30. He went and had a good time. They even brought out brand new paddles for them to play. Also that afternoon was one of the Savor series of events. Four different members of the kitchen staff demonstrated how to make different dishes: Sushi, Crepes, Tiramisu and a fish dish. There was also trivia in the afternoon, lots of renew activities, bingo, seminars, casino games, etc.

Dinner that night was the first formal. My husband was able to fit into his tux, so he wore that and I wore a formal cocktail dress. There were others in tuxes, but most men wore suits. We did also see those that were more casually dressed in the dining room and in the theater that night. Before dinner we had gone to the Maitre D’ to get our table changed. We wanted a table with other couples in our age range (our first night we were with a family.) Our new table was in the main dining area with a view of the staircase to the second level and by the captain table. This night we went to watch the Neptunes perform in the Cova Café before that night’s theater performance.

The show that night was one with the celebrity dancers and singers. It was ok, standard cruise fare in our opinion. There was also Karaoke after the show, as well as a formal night dance party in the lounge.

We also had a Celebrity tote bag waiting in our room. It was a lightweight recycle type of bag. (I am not exactly sure which night it was left in the room, either this night or the next.) There were also 2 umbrellas in our cabin which we took with us each day because the forecast was rain. We didn't need them, but they were small enough to fit in the tote bag.

Day 3: Portland: The ship docked in Portland early, but since our tour wasn’t until later we ate in the MDR. We went on a Foodie walking tour of Portland. We enjoyed this tour which gave us some of the highlights about Portland and the places we were passing, with the opportunity to taste samples of different delicacies, including Lobster, smoked Trout, Whoopie Pie, Truffles, Cheese, Blueberry preserves and scones and local brewed beer. We headed back to the ship after for a quick bite at the grill for hamburgers (which were very good) and some trivia contests. Every afternoon while we were in port they had a fun in the sun general trivia and an hour later music trivia. I didn’t win any of the Celebrity merchandise, but it was still fun to play. (while in port there were various activities: shuffleboard, movies, trivia, etc.) After dinner my husband went to a Jameson Whiskey Tasting. (there is a small charge for this and the other liquor tastings. ) The show that night was an impersonator/comedian, Sean O'Shea. My husband didn’t care for him, I thought he was ok. This night was the 50's and 60's dance in Revelations. The Celebrity dancers put on a little routine and then danced with the guests until around 11:30.

Day 4: Bar Harbor: We watched the ship pull into Bar Harbor. It was a very foggy morning and we were worried about our trip to Cadillac Mountain. Since we had to get our tour tickets at 9:30 we need to be on a tender by 9. We ate at the buffet on deck 10. There was a huge assortment of items for breakfast, from the homemade waffles (two stations), omelot stations, assorted meats, etc. We got to the theater around 8:15 to get our tickets for the tender. We were on a tender and in Bar Harbor by 8:45. We took Oli’s Trolley to Acadia National Park. They had three trolleys running the 2 ½ hour tour. We were on the second trolley. We enjoyed the tour of the park and the view from Cadillac Mountain was amazing. We were lucky because our tour guide changed the order of the trip so went up the mountain after the fog had lifted. One of the trolley drivers did not, so those individuals missed out on the scenic view. After the tour, we went to the West St. Café for lunch. My husband had a steamed lobster and I got a lobster roll. Both of us enjoyed our meal immensely. Entertainment tonight was a magician, Adam Trent. We enjoyed his show, especially his close-up magic (card tricks, etc). At this point we realized many people were changing after dinner into more casual clothes. After the show was the Newlywed Game, which was hilarious, as always. My husband enjoys dancing and likes a night life. This ship was a little weak in this area. We would go to the dance club, Revelations, every night, but it wasn’t ever really crowded, except on the nights they had special dances. Even then by midnight it was emptied out of all but the regulars. Tonight was Spaghetti Western party, we got there after that because we decided to gamble.

Day 5: St. John, N.B : This was not one of our favorite ports. It was very foggy and cold. We decided to do the hop on, hop off pink bus in case it rained. We headed out immediately to the Reversing Falls and saw it at high tide. We couldn’t make out much through the fog, so opted to watch the movie. It was very interesting and gave us an understanding of what the falls really are. We went on all three tours that were offered and then went back to the Reversing Falls at low tide. We could see even less then. Our highlight was stopping for coffee at Tim Horton. Great iced coffee and donut. The show this night was a comedian, Jeff McDonald. We enjoyed him a lot, especially his slide show comparing Celebrity to Carnival. tonight was the Sizzle party, but because of the cold and fog, it was moved inside to Revelations.

Day 6: Halifax: We watched the ship pull into Halifax. The day was going to be a sunny and hot one. We just took a self-guided walking tour. We made stops at the Maritime Museum (enjoyed the exhibit on Titanic, and Halifax explosion), Citadel, Public Gardens and finished our tour at Alexander Heath’s brewery for a beer. This was the second formal night, so while the ship was in port until 7pm, we went back to the ship at 4pm to get ready for dinner. The second formal night there were less tuxes (my husband was one who switched to a suit.) tonight the waiters did the walk with the baked Alaska. Dinner tonight had the choice of lobster tails and other stuff. Everyone who ordered lobster at our table asked for two tails. Two of us got the Tornados of Beef which was excellent. The best meal I had all week (and I did enjoy most meals.) For the show that night, we got to see the Celebrity Dances and Singers in “Encore”. We really found this show amateurish. However tonight was the chocolate buffet. Here were all the ice sculptures people are missing since there are no longer the midnight buffets.

Day 7: At Sea: Today was the last relaxing day before our vacation ended. We started the day with the breakfast buffet and then went to one of the last Trivia games of the day. At 10 was the Chef showdown, followed by the staff talent show. They had a couple of singers and a magician. We really enjoyed this show, as did most who watched. My husband scheduled a Ping Pong rematch with the crew member for the afternoon, but in the morning participated in a Ping Pong tournament. I was so proud he won. During the day today we relaxed in the sun (never had a problem finding chairs, the chair hogs this trip were at a minimum), played trivia, watched ice sculpting, shopped and played Bingo. There were plenty of activities to choose from. Some of our tablemates went to a lecture on the Titanic and they really enjoyed it. I had read many reviews that dinner on the last night was not good. Two of our tablemates got the steak and found it tough, another had the best steak he had ever had. My husband enjoyed the Veal Cordon Bleu, while I enjoyed the Tom Turkey. The entertainment tonight was an encore of the past weeks performances. We enjoyed Adam Trent even more tonight, but really did not like Sean’s encore performance.

Debarkation: We were assigned an 8:20 meeting time in the lounge. After meeting our dinner table mates for a last meal (breakfast in the MDR), we headed over. Our group was called at around 8:25 (we were the third or fourth group). We breezed through customs, walked to our car with our luggage and were home by 9:45. (We live around 45 minutes from the pier.)

Food and Drinks: We did not get the beverage package and for us that was a smart decision. While we did have a drink or two most nights and a couple of specialty coffees, we spent way less than a single package price.

We ate all our dinners in the MDR. We enjoyed most meals in the MDR, both breakfast and dinner. We would rate the food between 3 and 4 stars, depending upon the meal and dish. I liked the Mushroom Capuccino soup and Strawberry soup, but did not care for the cold pumpkin soup. The one night I had salmon it was ok, but nothing special. My husband enjoyed his lamb shank one night. I also enjoyed most of the appetizers I ordered and everyone had shrimp cocktail many times. There were some meals I ordered more than one appetizer because I couldn’t choose. Most of the desserts were good, though I really enjoyed the blueberry topped cheesecake in the Cova Café area. No one from our table left hungry. While the portions appear small, they are actually just the right size (I think we Americans are so used to supersize, we forget what normal portions are.) The Cova Cafe is available for specialty coffees, which were very good. The is also a pastry area (opposite the bar). All afternoon and evening there were pastries, however during lunchtime and other times they also had little sandwiches. I had a really good sandwich one afternoon for a late lunch. The aqua spa food was good. Lite and healthy breakfast and lunch options.

We did not eat in Normandy, as we were enjoying talking to our tablemates in the evening. I only heard rave reviews about the food.

Other: Everything in our cabin worked fine. We had some issues towards the end of a trip with a slow drain and blinking light. We left an attention to detail with the concierge desk on our last day. While it didn’t bother us, the next guest may feel differently and he was appreciative we brought it to his attention.

We also were double billed on the scotch tasting my husband attended. He went to customer relations to get it fixed. The next day while redeeming raffle tickets (I won $5), he checked and it still wasn’t corrected and he also explained to the person that he wasn’t happy with the way the tasting was run. That night we received a bottle of wine in our cabin thanking us for our patience, etc.

We felt we were treated well on the trip and did not experience any rude staff. Actually just the opposite, everyone said hello who we passed, from the housekeeper to the Captain of the ship. (And we did see him out and about a few times.)

Overall we really enjoyed our trip and would sail Celebrity again without any hesitation. We would even sail the Summit again. While there are some issues on the ship, nothing detracted from our experience (I know some others weren’t so fortunate.) Even my husband didn't find anything to complain about or send back in the dining room. I hope you enjoyed my rather long review, and if you have any specific questions, please don’t hesitate to write a question and I will try and answer.

[TMLAalum]

We are seriously considering the Summit 14 day NE/Canada for fall 2011. After a fabulous cruise on the Eclipse, I am leery about sailing this vessel, which other posters have criticized as being rusty, dirty, etc. But we loved the Celebrity experience and really like the Summit's itinerary.

 

It was good to read about your positive voyage!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[ChiSquare8]

Thank you so much for writing such a objective detailed review!

 

Melissa

[Bababooey Land]

thanks for your review!!

[momoforeo]

your very welcome.

 

I also wanted to add, we enjoyed the size of the ship. It never felt too crowded. It was very easy to find your way around the ship.

[Blue Lagoon]

Thanks for such a super review. Was interested to see that the chocolate buffet is alive and well.:D

[elena7seas]

Thank you very much for your detailed, very balanced review.

 

As you didn't mention it, I am guessing that it is true that there was no Gala Brunch on this cruise. Did anyone happen to mention why there was no brunch?

 

Also, did you notice whether there was "Casual Dining" offered in the aft section of the buffet in the evenings (set with linens, flowers on the table, etc.)?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post your impressions.

[momoforeo]

No Gala Brunch and no alternate dining that I noticed. I didn't ask, so I don't know if this lack of brunch was specific to our cruise or a change in policy. There was a group on our cruise that had use of part of the kitchen and used the downstairs dining room for breakfast each day. That may have been the cause of the cancellation of brunch, but I don't know for sure.

[elena7seas]

No Gala Brunch and no alternate dining that I noticed. I didn't ask, so I don't know if this lack of brunch was specific to our cruise or a change in policy. There was a group on our cruise that had use of part of the kitchen and used the downstairs dining room for breakfast each day. That may have been the cause of the cancellation of brunch, but I don't know for sure.

 

Hi Caryn:

 

Thanks for your speedy reply :).

 

Your guess about the group being the reason for "no brunch" makes sense, but it is a little unfair that this regular perk was not offered to passengers on your cruise. We have had the brunch on three sailings now, and it has been very nice. Lots of seafood, meats, etc. but almost no salads though. Still, it was very nicely presented, and a nice change for brunch on a sea day.

 

On two of the three cruises that offered the brunch, it was very poorly advertised, and therefore, rather sparsely attended. We only knew about the brunch from our waiter at dinner, as it was not listed in the "Celebrity Today" on those two cruises. On the third cruise, it was advertised and was much better attended.

 

Thanks again for your answers :).

 

 

 

[momoforeo]

wow. that looks great. sorry we didn't have it, but we will just have to wait until the next cruise. I definitely ate enough.

 

I forgot to mention there was sushi in the on Deck 10 every evening from 5pm until later (not sure when it closed.). The sushi was great and we enjoyed it as an appetizer several times before dinner. There were lots of different types to choose from. We didn't try the other casual dining on deck 10 so don't really know what was offered or how it tasted.

 

I didn't try the ice cream or sherbert, but my husband did, many times. He enjoyed most flavors (lots of topping choices.) as did most of our tablemates at dinner. On the last night two of the gentlemen even got a sort of banana split, by request.

[TeaBag]

Great review, thank you. We haven't been on the Summit.

[shando]

Good review will be on Summit next month so it was especially helpful.

 

Do you happen to know the Captain Club Host/Hostess name?

 

I hope they offer Brunch on our cruise we really have enjoyed it as we could never stay awake for the Midnight Buffet.

[momoforeo]

No, sorry, I don't know the Captain Club's host/hostess' name. This was our first Celebrity cruise.

[librarylady19]

Thank you for the very nicely written review. I especially enjoyed your descriptions of the food and entertainment. Did you use the T-Pool while on board?

[momoforeo]

Yes we did use the T-pool. I knew I left something out of my review!

The T-pool was very nice and relaxing. There were plenty of chairs in the t-pool room, however there were not that many chairs right around the pool. If I couldn't get a chair next to the pool, I just put my towel and stuff on the ledge. There were two hot tubs next to the T-pool.

 

We did not use the Persian garden or any of the spa services. My husband did make it to the gym once or twice, so I would have to ask him about the equipment.

[Coffeequeenj]

Thanks for the review, sounds like you had a great time, sound like a great trip..may have to put it on the to do list!

 

CoffeequeenJ:p

[cynbar]

Thanks for your review, Caryn. Can you compare your experience on Celebrity to NCL and Carnival? Just curious how you felt since Celebrity is usually thought of as a more sedate, formal line than the other two which I see you've sailed before.

[Happy Clam]

Thanks for the detailed review. We sail on the Summit on Sep 12th. Also, sailed Summit May 2010 to Bermuda and were very pleased with the cruise!

Cecelia in VA

[momoforeo]

Thanks for your review, Caryn. Can you compare your experience on Celebrity to NCL and Carnival? Just curious how you felt since Celebrity is usually thought of as a more sedate, formal line than the other two which I see you've sailed before.

 

Celebrity was definitely more sedate than the other lines. The most noticable difference was in the "night" life. The casino was as crowded as any of the other ships (without the smoke!), but the disco was much quieter, as were the piano bar (we rarely saw more than one or two people in there.) when we were on Carnival in April the piano bar, lounges, disco and casino were all packed and were busy until at least 1 or later in the am. We found on Celebrity after the last show (either in the theater or in the Revelations lounge), the ship seemed to empty out. Of course I was one of those who was ready for bed by then, my husband is the one who misses the later night activity.

 

The other thing we noticed were more kids in Revelations (the "disco") later at night. After 11 they were supposed to be gone, but if there was an event, ie: chocolate buffet, sizzle, etc, they seemed to be around until later. On Carnival (and that was during Spring Break) there were never kids in any of these areas. They were all off doing their own thing. Same on NCL (but that was awhile ago and in an off time frame.)

[marinemom99]

thanks for the great review...we are sailing on the summit next month and our first Celebrity cruise. nice to hear some of the details!!

[librarylady19]

Yes we did use the T-pool. I knew I left something out of my review!

The T-pool was very nice and relaxing. There were plenty of chairs in the t-pool room, however there were not that many chairs right around the pool. If I couldn't get a chair next to the pool, I just put my towel and stuff on the ledge. There were two hot tubs next to the T-pool.

 

We did not use the Persian garden or any of the spa services. My husband did make it to the gym once or twice, so I would have to ask him about the equipment.

 

Thank you so much for the response. did you notice a lot of wear and tear in the T-pool. It certainly looks lovely in pictures.

[momoforeo]

I noticed some wear and tear in the pool the first time I went in, but nothing that detracted from the experience I had.

[librarylady19]

I noticed some wear and tear in the pool the first time I went in, but nothing that detracted from the experience I had.

Thanks Caryn. As I've said on other posts - better not to obsess over these things (but I do anyway!!). Appreciate your response.

[Feelin' Nauti']

Hi Caryn:

 

Thanks for your speedy reply .

 

Your guess about the group being the reason for "no brunch" makes sense, but it is a little unfair that this regular perk was not offered to passengers on your cruise. We have had the brunch on three sailings now, and it has been very nice. Lots of seafood, meats, etc. but almost no salads though. Still, it was very nicely presented, and a nice change for brunch on a sea day.

 

On two of the three cruises that offered the brunch, it was very poorly advertised, and therefore, rather sparsely attended. We only knew about the brunch from our waiter at dinner, as it was not listed in the "Celebrity Today" on those two cruises. On the third cruise, it was advertised and was much better attended.

 

Thanks again for your answers .

 

 

 

:eek:

 

Wow! What fantastic shots.

 

I saw this pic

 

 

but yours takes the cake.

Thanks for posting. :)