Summit review 10/24-10/30

[steeners81]

So off we headed to the Normadie. First thing I noticed about the Normadie was how open it was. When I was in Harrys on the Carnival Liberty I loved it but I felt the tables were close together and you could hear word for word your neighbor’s convo. So we sat down right by a window and I was facing the galley. It is neat there is a window where you can see inside the galley.

 

 

 

The plates as we sat down ( I thought they were pretty)

 

We get a little something before our appetizer. It was avocado with strawberry on top it. It was served in a shot glass. After the water brought it both my mom and I realized he never brought a spoon. We kept trying to catch the waiters attention but unfortunately we caught the maitre d’s attention. We just asked for some spoons and he walked right over to the waiter who basically ran to get the spoons and came over apologizing. I felt bad I hope we didn’t get him in trouble because he was great. I did not get a shot of it but it was gross. Picture pureed avocados with a strawberry sauce on it. Not my cup of tea.

 

So after that we received our appetizers. I got the Escargot Tortellini. It was delicious.

 

 

My mom had the Diver scallop Wellington style

 

 

I didn’t try it but it looked excellent

 

After this I had the creamy main lobster bisque It wasn’t bad just wasn’t for me. They come out with a bowl with some green stuff (still don’t know what it was) in the center with cream on top it and a few pieces of lobster in it. They then pour the soup on top of it. There was also the side dish to add to it

 

 

[steeners81]

Oh I found the pictures I was looking for before(Me and photobucket are not getting along today)

 

 

This is the avocado/strawberry thing I was talking about

 

 

 

This is what the soup looked like before they poured the actually “soup” part on

 

[steeners81]

Next onto the main entree

 

 

We both had decided to order the Surf and Turf. I had ordered mine rare and it was cooked wonderfully. I apologize it looked so good when I got it I forgot to take a picture prior to cutting up the lobster tail.

 

 

After this we were both stuffed but figured we would order dessert just to have a few bites of it. I decided to order the Grand Marnier Soufflé. My mom ordered the Crepe. I Unfortunately don’t remember the name of it but it was prepared table side.

 

Prior to pouring the sauce on

 

 

Crepe being prepared tableside (sorry the pic wasn’t great)

 

 

Final product.

 

We were also given these

 

They were so delicious. We went into dessert saying we would only have a few bites and we both cleaned our plates. I think if we both could have ordered another we would have. I would def. go to the Normandie if you have the opportunity the food and the service was excellent. Well worth the extra cost.

 

After dinner we decided to change and head up to the 60’s groove interactive theme party. It was fun and a lot of people were participating. I actually got up and danced a bit ( Had to burn off those desserts). We stayed until about midnight and headed to bed.

[steeners81]

Forgot to mention they had a 20th anniversary celebration prior to the 60's party. The captain got up and said a little something and introduced some of the crew. They also had a beautiful cake ( I did not have a piece I was stuffed at that point)

 

The captain

 

The cake

 

Attached below is the copy of the Celebrity Today for Wed and the menu for the Normandie

Celebrity Today-Wed.pdf

Normadie.pdf

[steeners81]

Thursday morning up bright and early again. I love sea days. I would be fine going on a 7 day cruise to nowhere. In fact I once found a 14 day transatlantic cruise that had 7 sea days in a row and thought that was the perfect cruise for me. Unfortunately being only 29 I could not take that much time off a work at once. Only 36 more years until I retire and go on cruises like that. But anyway I had planned on going to a spin class but when I saw that we would be able to take a Galley tour in the morning I jumped on it. If you haven’t noticed I am all about the food so getting a chance to see the galley intrigued me. So we headed to breakfast ( I got my chocolate croissant again I love these things). Then we headed to the MDR for the tour.

 

The tour was done by the head chef from the Normandie

 

 

 

 

Where the bake all my delicious chocolate croissants

 

Escalators used by the waiters

[steeners81]

After we moved out of the main galley and went past the galley in the Normandie and into the Normandie where we met the manager (I think that was his title?).

 

 

Normandie galley

 

Normandie manager (?)

 

These walls were taken off the original Normandie

 

Normandie restaurant

 

After this we headed to the theater for the star chef cooking. You could volunteer to be a judge or a chef both my mom and I put our names in to be a judge.

 

The stage set up for it

 

So when they picked the names out of the hat my mom got picked to be a judge

 

The judges (my mom is the one all the way on the right hand side)

 

The food looked delicious that was prepared and I would not have wanted to judge it.

 

After this came the crew talent show. All the crew members that performed were really good but there was this one guy ( I think his name was Jay he was a waiter) just had a phenomenal voice. We got to see him perform again later at a captains club event.

 

The day before Katie ( part of the cruise staff )had come up to tell me that they were able to get the bingo machines working to play one game. I was very excited. It was schedules after the crew talent show. I had to run back to the cabin for something so I ran out one side of the theater and noticed they were not selling tickets yet so I would have plenty of time to get a ticket. I ran back into the theater and happened to look over at the entrance and noticed this huge line. This is the first time on a cruise where they only sold tickets on one side of the theater. I ran to get my mom and told her we better get in line. The line was ridiculous I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted to play bingo that week. TO any of you familiar with the millennium class ships the line started from inside the theater went through the photo gallery and ended right at the door to the casino. It was nuts. But I stood in it. 35 minutes later we were able to purchase our card. I hate the new bingo cards. I have always had cards that you could punch out but now the cards Celebrity has you either have to have a pen to X out the numbers or buy the dapper thing to mark your card. SO Bingo ended up starting about an hour after it was supposed to. They played 4 games and I didn’t win any of them.

[steeners81]

After bingo we decided to head to the Captains Celebration. I thought I had packed so good for this cruise. Usually I over pack but for this cruise I brought a few pairs of shorts and jeans and a dress for every night. Was not thinking about captains club events. For the Celebration they ask no shorts, jeans, or t-shirts. That was my whole wardrobe. So I raced back to the cabin threw on one of my less formal dresses and raced up to revelations ( Well as fast as I could race in heels). I felt very overdressed and looking around probably could have work my jeans and a nicer top but I didn’t want to be on of those people everyone talks about. I just got a Soda again and went to check out the food. They had crepes with either strawberry or caramel sauce. I had the strawberry my mom had the caramel sauce (The caramel sauce was better). They also had some sushi which was delicious. There were mini roast beef sandwiches which were ok. Further down there were fruit skewers you could dip in the chocolate fountain but I had heard a few people commenting that the chocolate tasted funny so I decided to skip that.

 

 

The was the waiter (Jay?) I was talking about in the previous post her performed two songs for us

 

Group that just came in Bermuda they were very good

[steeners81]

After that I raced back to the cabin ( I took the heels off this time so I actually did run) to change into more comfortable clothes so I could head up to the modern dance class out by the pool. I guess I am used to the modern dance class where they do the cha cha slide or similar type dances. Let me introduce you to James

 

This is James

 

He is from England and we met him on the first day when he was in the elevator when we embarked to lead us all up the the waterfall grille. James is 100% over the top and I could see a lot of people not liking his personality but I loved it.

 

So anyway James taught the modern dance class. He started over really easy with the cupid shuffle. Then we moved onto to Womanizer by Brittany Spears ( I think at this point my mom has a picture of me looking like what the heck am I doing up here). After that we moved onto Single Ladies by Beyonce. After doing these three dances I found out my mom was taking video…awesome. I wish I could post a video of James doing these dances it was hysterical. Anyway if you happen to cruise and James in onboard doing these classes join him its alot of fun.

 

So after that I needed a drink so I headed up to the mast bar. Dr. Feelgood is up here, he a great bartender. Normally he is dressed up with a stethoscope and a blonde wig but I guess on this day he decided to be a Scotsman?.

 

 

After we headed down to Michaels club to watch the end of Wii bowling and wait for alphabet trivia to start. Alphabet trivia was fun but we did not win. There wasn’t much to do between trvia and inner so I headed up to the Waterfall to get some little sandwiches.

[ETski]

Stenner81 Have enjoyed reading your review. Sounds like you and your Mom had a great time. We were on the Summit in May and booked the repositioning cruise from PR this April. I just love the Summit, sure its an older ship, but it has class. I just wanted to know where do they serve the chocolate croissants. They are my husbands favorite, never had them or saw them in May. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places:D;

[steeners81]

Stenner81 Have enjoyed reading your review. Sounds like you and your Mom had a great time. We were on the Summit in May and booked the repositioning cruise from PR this April. I just love the Summit, sure its an older ship, but it has class. I just wanted to know where do they serve the chocolate croissants. They are my husbands favorite, never had them or saw them in May. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places:D;

 

I saw them everyone morning in the cova cafe. They also had regular croissants and ham and cheese ones. Occasionally they had them for breakfast in the windjammer also.

[steeners81]

So we decided to get ready for dinner. On the first day when we went to make our useless reservation we were told there was 2 formal nights. What?!?! On the website it says any cruise 6 days or less there is only one formal night. On the Celebrity brocheres it says any cruise 6 days or less there is only one formal night. Someone from the boards had called up Celebrity to ask about when the formal night would be on this cruise and was told there was only one formal night and it would be the first sea day. So there was a lot of annoyed people about this. Luckily I had dressed but there were a lot people caught unprepared and didn’t not have the “appropriate” attire for formal night.

 

So anyway the second formal night

 

Wild Mushroom Vol-Au-Vent

 

Caesar salad

 

Lobster Melange (After having the lobster in the normandie this was just ok, but the scallops and shrimp were delicious)

 

Baked Alaska (this was the only dessert offered tonight which I thought was strange)

 

 

We did have an excellent waiter tonight though. His name was Pralhad. If you have select dining and he is onboard request him you will not be disappointed

 

So after dinner we headed to the show. Encore. It wasn’t terrible but it was not as good as IBroadway. They did there tribute to Titanic which I do not get. After the show I was surprised to hear that the next night ( the last night) there would be a deck party. Usually on the last night there is not much going on so this made me quite happy. I was exhausted and we were planning on heading up to the 70’s party that night but since I would be staying up late the next night I decided to call it a night.

 

Attached below is Thursdays Celebrity Today and also the kids activities

Celebrity Today-thurs.pdf

Kids Thursday.pdf

[steeners81]

Friday St. Thomas

 

Originally when we planned St. Thomas we were going to head to a beach for a few hours but we had both been to St. Thomas more then once and I am not really a beach person ( I can not sit still so laying on a beach doesn’t work for me) so we figured we would just go downtown and shop a bit.

 

I got up that morning with one goal. I wanted to see how they got the lines from the ship to the dock. I have been on so many cruises and never witnessed it. I have heard how it is done but wanted to see it. ( Yes you can say I’m strange I wont deny it). We went to eat breakfast then headed up on deck to watch as the ship pulled in. We ended up talking to a gentleman who was explaining to me the different ways they throw the lines out. I was paying attention to what he was saying and not watching and I missed them throw it I just say the line lying on the dock. Oh well next cruise.

 

After this we decided to head to the Persian gardens. One of the elite coupons we had was we could use the Persian gardens for one day when we were in port so we decided to check it out. It was nice but I got bored quick. They have the heated stone seats and two saunas one with dry heat and one with a very humid heat. They also had showers that mimicked a waterfall, gentle rain, etc..I liked those. It was nice for about 15 minutes then we decided to head over to the T-pool. I love these pools and if you haven’t been on a ship with one you have to try it. It is so relaxing. I stayed in for about 10 minutes (which is a long time for me) and then hopped in the whirlpool which was a little to warm.

 

So after that we decided to change and head into town. I have never been downtown and my mom was there once. It was ok nothing great next time I would probably just shop at havensight right by the ship. It is about a 5 minute cab ride downtown.

 

There was a few shops I wanted to stop at. The first was the Belgium chocolate factory. The chocolate was very expensive but good. I bought 3 pieces for 5 dollars ( I still can’t believe I paid that much) I had milk choc filled with baileys/baileys caramel/and coconut. The only issue was it was so hot outside I had to eat them quick.

 

Alleyway where I believe the Belgium shop was located

 

The other shop I wanted to stop in was Diamonds International for my charm for my bracelet. We went in there and I was browsing for jewelry and asked where we get the charm from and they sent us to the back. The lady who gave them to us was just rude. I know they probably get a lot of people just going in for the charm but we were both actually looking at the jewelry and after dealing with her there was no way we were getting anything there. We also went to Milano which is also a jewelry store. I am very wary about buying jewelry from the Caribbean but I would highly recommend this store. First they have a store in the US (in NYC) so that boosted my confidence in dealing with them. Also the sales people were not pushy. While my mom was buying a pendent I was looking at engagement rings (wishful thinking) and saw one that caught my eye. The salelady took it out let me try it on and gave me the price…all while knowing I wasn’t buying it. If my bf and I decide to look for rings on our next cruise I am def going to check out the Milanos in Cozumel. After that we wandered around and stopped for a drink and had a bushwhacker and a rum runner. They were both very very good and pretty strong for a frozen drink. After our shopping and drinking we were ready to head back to the ship.

[steeners81]

So after stopping at a few of the shops in Havensight we headed back on the ship for lunch. I wanted to head to musical trivia and didn’t have much time for lunch so I headed to the grill to grab some food. I got onion rings and French fries and some chicken wings. The french fries and onion rings tasted fresh and the chicken wings were good…they had a weird sauce on them I couldn’t identify but they were good. So I carried my food up to revelations so I would not be late. There was a total of 4 us playing. The cruise staff member who ran this trivia I actually did not care for her name was laurie (sp?). Before trivia she read the trivia rules

1) we had to have a unique team name if you did not your team could not win

2) if you have a problem with one of the questions or answer see her after the trvia and she will take you off to the side to discuss it

3) Make sure you have fun

Ok first of all this was all side in a voice with very little personality. Second if I have a problem with a question I am not waiting until the end of trivia. I have never waited to the end of trivia. I felt like I was back in kindergarten. Third if you are telling me to have fun try and make it sound like you are having a little bit of fun. I honestly have no idea if we won or not I forgot. After this we headed poolside for musical trivia. The way this was played was everyone crowded around the DJ was running it and yelled out the answer….that didn’t work so well. There were times when people were yelling the answers at him and he didn’t even acknowledge it. I think Celebrity needs to rethink that.

 

After this I needed a drink (Side note after looking through my pics I feel like I have a drinking problem so I just wanted to state I actually only drink when I am on vacation) so we headed over to the pool bar to get my BBC.

 

SO drink in hand we headed to the next trivia once again done by Laurie. This is when she really annoyed me. Before the game she was talking about Carnival cruise line and talking about the stupid thing that a fellow passenger had told her about how they give out a boat on a stick. I ever so nicely told her that it was a ship on a stick and it’s the prize that you get if you win trivia. She visibly rolled her eyes at me and turned away, Really?? I guess those the ship on a stick doesn’t rate as high as a celebrity lanyard or pen. During the trivia she went off subject and started talking about Canadian geese and one of the people on my team told her they were actually called Canada geese. She once again visibly rolled her eyes and said regardless in a snotty tone and kept talking. That just annoyed me. So after that round of trivia she was going to do another…we couldn’t stay but even if we weren’t busy I wouldn’t do another trivia with her she just irked me.

 

That morning we had been invited to a sailaway party from St. Thomas out on the helipad. So we headed outside the theater where they took us out to the helipad. It was nice they had some officers out there and had champagne and fruit juice.

 

Helipad party

 

Us out on the helipad

 

View of havensight

 

 

Tram up to Mountain top which has not reopened yet

 

[librarylady19]

Thanks for your continuing review. Did you attend the Champagne Tea that is listed in the Celebrity Today?

[steeners81]

Thanks for your continuing review. Did you attend the Champagne Tea that is listed in the Celebrity Today?

 

No I was thinking about it but I would have had to rush to throw another dress on and I was not in the mood to so we just went to trivia instead.

[steeners81]

After trvia we were going to head up to Revelations for the last cocktail hour but we stepped outside to snap a few pictures and decided to stay and watch the sunset.

 

 

 

It was beautiful, pictures do not do it justice.

 

SO after we sat for about 20 minutes watching it set we headed to get changed for dinner. We lucked out and got the same waiter we had the night before and again the service was excellent.

 

Spinach Turnover

 

Creamy Baked Potato Soup

 

Seared Tuna Steak(So delicious)

 

Oven Roasted Tom Turkey

 

After dinner we changed and got our bags out and headed to the farewell show. I sat around until the ventriloquist came out again and found him just as annoying as the first time I so I went to go pick up our pictures and wandered around a bit then went back in to meet my mom. He was just finishing as I entered and the comic came on. His name was Fred Klett and was hysterical. I wish we had gotten to see his whole performance but it was the night we had reservations at the Normandie.

 

After the show we went up on deck for the Carribean Island night deck party. We got there about 10 minutes before it was supposed to start and there was barely anyone there. The band started to play and the cruise staff came out and the cruise director pulled my mom up to dance then me up to dance and a few more people and we actually had a decent group up there dancing. They did a lot of line dances and played decent music so you wanted to get up and dance. Finally a little after midnight we called it quits my mom headed to bed but I decided to go around and snap some pictures around the ship.

[steeners81]

Celebrity ILounge-Only once did I have a problem connecting with the internet and that was with using the computer at least once a day. One night the computer wouldn’t except my card and I went back to guest services reissued me a card 3 times and it still wouldn’t work. An IT guy happened to be standing there and said there were having issues with the system took me up to the computers tosee if he could get it working and when he couldn’t he swiped in using his card so I could check my mail. There are some great and friendly people working on the Summit. Also the only time it was crowded was the night before we disembarked due to people checking in with the airlines.

 

Martini/Champagne bar-this is where they send you to sit when you are waiting for select dining. The bartenders and waiters here were great

 

Cova Café-great place to stop in and get a small snack during the day ( or a chocolate croissant in the morning )

 

The shops-I didn’t find things that pricey. I got a sweatshirt for around $30 and a pashmina for $10. The prices for alcohol and cigs were about the same on board as I saw on the islands

 

The T-pool. Also behind the pool is where you would find the spa café with lighter fare. I honestly never ate there ( I eat healthy enough at home I refuse to do it on vacation) but everything looked good. They had a lot of fresh fruit out.

 

The casino-never played in there but the bartender at the casino bar was great

[steeners81]

Main Lobby

 

 

One shot of Michaels club

Another of Michaels club

 

Attached below is the Celebrity today for Friday, the kids programs for Friday and the map for St. Thomas

[steeners81]

So I woke up on Sat. morning to a bittersweet view out of our window.

 

 

I love San Juan but I didn’t want to get off the ship. So we got dressed tripled check the cabin to make sure we didn’t forget anything and headed up to breakfast. I was already for my last chocolate croissant and they didn’t have it….they didn’t have any croissants. I was so sad. Actually I did try the asian cuisine for breakfast this morning. I was intrigued when I saw this so I went up and they have I believe it was asian shrimp dumplings and the were delicious. Not more usual breakfast but very good. After that we headed down to the normandie and as we were walking in we were told they had just called our number…perfect timing. The line moving off the ship was quick and then we grabbed our bags and waited to go through customs. Even that moved quick.

 

Once we got outside we got a taxi to the airport (it only took about 15 minutes to get there). They tell how much a taxi to the airport is but when you are dropped off ask the driver, We had paid our driver the amount listed on the sheet and the couple who shared the cab with us asked him and he quoted a lower price to them. We checked in and headed through security and this is where I got to laugh at people. I saw two different couples complaining that they didn’t know their huge tube or toothpaste or big bottle of suntan lotion wasn’t 3 oz. Really?? It says it right on the bottle. The 3 oz ruke has been in affect for such a long time and it still amazes me when people say I didn’t know I couldn’t bring that.

 

So we waited around the airport for a bit and boarded our flight back to JFK. I was unfortunately next to a very rude woman who decided to make my flight miserable. But I just popped on my ipod and tuned her out for 3.5 hours. Landed at JFK and it was so cold I wanted to hop back on the next plane to the carribean. About 2 hours later we were home safe and sound.

 

I will be following up with just an overall thoughts on the cruise but that’s my review hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions about the Summit please ask!

[robtulipe]

Once we got outside we got a taxi to the airport (it only took about 15 minutes to get there). They tell how much a taxi to the airport is but when you are dropped off ask the driver, We had paid our driver the amount listed on the sheet and the couple who shared the cab with us asked him and he quoted a lower price to them.

 

FYI the next time you take a taxi either way between the airport and Pan Am or OSJ piers the flat rate ($19 plus $1 per driver handled piece of luggage) on the rate slip the taxi dispatcher gives you is for up to five passenger so you, your mom and the other couple should have shared the one cost. The money the driver got from the other couple was just a big tip to him and you paid the handling charge for the other couple's luggage. I hope you didn't give him a big tip also.

What he did, double fare, was illegal and he could be reported to the taxi control organization for doing that.

 

[lettrich]

Loved reading your reviews. Looked forward to reading them each day. So excited - we just booked the summit bermuda cruise for July (same week as this past July)!

[steeners81]

FYI the next time you take a taxi either way between the airport and Pan Am or OSJ piers the flat rate ($19 plus $1 per driver handled piece of luggage) on the rate slip the taxi dispatcher gives you is for up to five passenger so you, your mom and the other couple should have shared the one cost. The money the driver got from the other couple was just a big tip to him and you paid the handling charge for the other couple's luggage. I hope you didn't give him a big tip also.

What he did, double fare, was illegal and he could be reported to the taxi control organization for doing that.

 

 

Yeah he walked away with about a 25$ tip then. Well I now know for next time

[robtulipe]

Yeah he walked away with about a 25$ tip then. Well I now know for next time

 

I wasn't trying to be critical but wanted you and others to realize this often happens with taxis in SJ especially if the driver finds out the passengers doesn't know how the SJ taxi flat rates system operates. The driver will or should back down and provide you with the correct fare if you threaten to report him to the government regulated taxi commission.

That is the reason for the taxi dispatchers providing the passengers the correct fare on the rate slips at the airport and cruise piers. This is more of a problem when the pick up is at a hotel since there aren't any dispatchers there. The flat rates are applicable through out the tourist zone shown on the map I provided.

 

I really enjoyed your posts which gives us a good idea what to expect on our upcoming B2B Summit cruises.

Thank you very much.

[steeners81]

I wasn't trying to be critical but wanted you and others to realize this often happens with taxis in SJ especially if the driver finds out the passengers doesn't know how the SJ taxi flat rates system operates. The driver will or should back down and provide you with the correct fare if you threaten to report him to the government regulated taxi commission.

That is the reason for the taxi dispatchers providing the passengers the correct fare on the rate slips at the airport and cruise piers. This is more of a problem when the pick up is at a hotel since there aren't any dispatchers there. The flat rates are applicable through out the tourist zone shown on the map I provided.

 

I really enjoyed your posts which gives us a good idea what to expect on our upcoming B2B Summit cruises.

Thank you very much.

 

I know you weren't being critical and thank you hopefully others will read that and not get screwed. Enjoy your B2B!

[MartinsCruise]

Hi Christine, We were also on this cruise and the one after it. Thank you so much for the great review. I can't remember if we met you at the sailaway on deck 10. There were so many of us!! After reading your postings, I am going to make the most of our next trip. We had a great time but you did it all!! Good luck on that engagement ring!!! :D

 

Sue