Jan 22-29 Summit Reiview from a first time X sailer

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

First this review will be in mulitiple posts since I am trying to get as much of my opinion out there as possible and I'll probably not get everything posted today. Just remember this is my opinion and I know it maynot mesh with everyones. First things first this was my first time on Celebrity and 5th cruise over all and I loved Celebrity. It was not that the line itself was better but that do so many small things that just push them over the top. I'll try to get to as many as possible through out this but I know I'll miss some. my DW and I are both 30 so I was very nervious about how the evening entertainment would be and who our table mates would be since we requested late seating at a table for 6. Speaking of dinner the food was great, I only had one meal that I was not thrilled with and it happned to be the second main dish I had ordered so I was pretty much full at that time. We did not try the specialty reasturant but two of the couples at our table did and they both raved about it. I also am starting from the beginning and putting some about the pre-cruise night we spend in San Juan. Also this sailing was from San Juan to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and Tobago. So with out further waiting here we go.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

We left St. Louis on US Airways around 7:30 am leaving behind about a foot of snow with more on the way. The flight to Charlotte was fine and we arrived on time. We had about an hour and a half layover so we grabbed some food from California Pizza Kitchen and walked over to the gate to wait for boarding. The flight from Charlotte to San Juan left on time and there were no issues. For some reason the flight to San Juan seemed to take forever but I think that just might have been excitement. We arrived in San Juan on time and waited for our luggage. I will say San Juan’s airport is probably the worst I’ve even been in, there are very few places to get food and the baggage claim is just two large carousels so we were not sure which one our luggage was going to come out on. We walked over the ground transportation and there have a stand for those that need taxis. The nice thing is that they give you a piece of paper that gives a list of most of the hotels in the area and what zone they are in and what the price for the taxi will be. We were the only ones in our taxi headed to the Hotel Casablanca. The hotel is located right smack in the middle of Old San Juan which was want we wanted. I found this off of Cruise Critic since we could not get a good price off of price line. We spend $100 for an inside room and we were on the fifth floor. The staff did help take the bags upstairs for us which was nice. We relaxed in the room (actually we both fell asleep for about an hour) then went to Mojito’s restaurant for some dinner. It was really nice since it was only about 4 blocks from the hotel. The meal was good, I had Beef Mofungo, my wife had the grilled pork chops and we both had a mojito to drink. It was all very tasty and I had more then enough to eat as I couldn’t finish the whole plate. After dinner we walked down to the port area to look around. It was pretty quiet down there so we walked a little then headed back to the hotel.

About the hotel, it’s a small place but it suited our needs. The bed was comfortable and the room had a couch and small flat screen LCD TV with satellite reception. I had read reviews about the rooms not having TV reception and the air conditioner being too loud. Our TV worked fine and the AC did as well and did not bother us. The floors were not carpeted so that was a little strange. The issue I did have was that the bathroom shower the handle was broken and there was very little water pressure. This was probably just our room and we were able to take a hot shower but it took a little effort to get the temp right. Other people had spoken about the noise but the only noise I heard was from people coming back to their room a little later in the evening.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Love it so far:)-- we leave on the same itinerary on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to your insights.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

We have already seen San Juan before so our biggest thing was getting on the ship. I usually wake up early so I was outside by about 7:30/8am. I walked back down to the port area and docked were two ships, one was a SilverSea and the other Royal Caribbean. I’m not sure if these were just there for the day or if they were starting their voyage. I walked around a little then headed back to the room. My wife was up by then and we walked down to the lobby for the little breakfast we received with the room. There is a café in the restaurant however unless you want to pay more the only thing you receive for staying in the hotel is OJ or coffee, Cereal and toast or a pastry. It was enough since we knew that in about 4 hours we were going to have more then enough food. We again walked down to the port and this time walked as far left as we could and were able to see the Summit at the Pan-am pier. We walked back and headed down towards the fort and walked the path to the large fountain (I can’t remember the name). The fountain was being repaired so it was not shooting any water. We then headed back to the hotel since it was getting close to 11 and we were ready to go. The nice thing about the hotel was that first they would store your luggage if you wanted to check out and walk around OSJ. The other nice this was that their check out time was noon so you could wait at the hotel until then and then head to the port. We checked out at about 11:15 and had them call a cab for us. The cab showed up at about 11:30 and they came inside the lobby and called for us and helped us with our luggage. The trip to the pier took about 15 minutes and we realized that right after we left we were very close to Fort Cristóbal which we had not seen and would have walked over to if it was open.

We arrived at the port at about 11:45 and there was a very short line already formed. We dropped off our luggage and waited. They opened the doors at 12 and we then had to go through security. Once we were through there we had to wait until about 12:30 before we could check in. They had chairs there for us to sit in and also fruit punch and lemonade available (drinks provided by Celebrity). At 12:30 we were able to get in line to check in and it took all of maybe 15 minutes. The lines moved very quickly since we were about number 60 in line. Once we were checked in we hit the small duty free shop in the pier and bought two bottles of Champaign to take on board. Truthfully we could have brought anything we would have liked from that store on board. They never once check our bags again but we carried the two bottles in the shopping bag they provided and there was a table once you when through were your picture was taken to match up with your sea pass card. The guy there tried to look in the shopping bag but they are sealed so he could only look through the handle. He finally said just go on through after I told him what was in there. When we were on board we got our free glass of Champaign and then headed to the buffet. One of the major issues I had with Celebrity and there were not many was that there main dinning room was not open for lunch ever. The only time they ever had anything there was the sea day brunch which we skipped. If you wanted lunch you had to go to the buffet, waterfall grill or the Spa grill. I ended up with a cheeseburger, onion rings and chicken wings most days and I will say it was very good. The buffet was just ok for me, the food selection was not the greatest compared to other lines. After lunch we wander the ship a little until our room was ready. We walked up to the spa and my wife was interested in maybe getting something but the prices were just to high even with some of the specials they were offering. Right about 1:30 they announced that our rooms were ready so we stopped by there to drop off our carryon and see the room. We were in 8105 which was an inside cabin. We like them since we only really spend time in our cabin to sleep and get ready for dinner. Also my wife likes the total darkness for sleeping and it was quiet. There was nothing wrong with the room, the only issue was a rip in the wall paper but it certainly did not take away from our experience. We then walked around the ship some more with no real purpose. The muster drill was at 5:30 and what I did love about this is that you just had to go to a specific location, most were lounges or the theater. Then you just listened to the instructions over the loud speaker and could watch the crew demonstrate. It was over in about 20 minutes and we got to sit in a comfortable lounge chair and not stand outside in the heat with the life jackets. After that we headed back to the room and our luggage was there so we unpacked and rested until dinner. We had the late seating at 8:30 which we like since it gives us time to get ready after coming back from shore and we are not rushed. We were lead to one of the very back tables near the windows and it was a table of 8. I was not sure if it was the right table since we had requested 6 but it was. However on the first night there were only 6 of us so we figured that they just put 6 at a table of 8. Our table mates were great and I have to say that Celebrity has to profile you for dinner. Every one at our table ended up being 40 or younger which I figured was not going to happen. The youngest at our table was 26 so we all got along great and had a lot in common. Dinner was very good every night and I will say that this was the one thing that really impressed me about Celebrity. I had heard so many reviews about how the food had gone down hill but I found it to be 4 and 5 star every night. We then went to the welcome aboard show in the theater with our table mates. The shows were ok, we when to three total but there did not impress me except for they had a French couple that did acrobatics on a rope much like they do in Cirque Du Soleil. They were amazing and they had a great act in one of the shows later in the week. After that we all headed back to our cabin via the casino and we played a little. My wife was upset since they did not have Let it Ride, her favorite game but they did have 3 card poker which she likes so we spent a decent amount of time there. We headed back to our room around midnight and got ready for snorkeling in St. Croix.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

We were up at around 7:30 and this was the one time that we actually had breakfast in the dinning room and not the buffet. It was very nice, and I do like being able to sit down and relax at breakfast and not have to look around for food. We were off the ship at around 8:45 since we took some pictures from the top desk of the port and island. St. Croix is a nice little island and Frederiksted was a nice little town. We went snorkeling with a dive shop called N2 the Blue. I have to say this was probably the best trip we took on the entire cruise. Both my wife and I are avid snorkelers and for Christmas this year she got me a prescription mask so I can actually see everything clearly under water. Our guide was Jesse and she knew a great deal about the island and about most of the stuff under the water. We took their Butler Bay trip but did not get to snorkel the pier since the ship was in port. We spent about 3 hours total in the water and saw tons of life. We also went out to two wreaks and swam over them. I was able to get to the bridge area of one of them which was about 20ft down but the rest was deeper. They did provide water and some orange slices for use on the way back. The trip was much cheaper then those offered by the ship and we were the only ones on it so we got to spend as much time in the water as we wanted.

Once we finished we headed back to the ship and cleaned up and had lunch. We ate at the buffet and I went to the Waterfall Grill for a burger and onion rings. This would actually be my lunch most days since it was really good. They also had good chicken wings which I got every day. After lunch we walked back out to town to look around. There were some tents with vendors and a few stores but it certainly was a laid back and quiet island which we really liked. If you walked off the pier and turned left there was a nice park that sat on the water and you could get some really nice pictures of the ship. We headed back on board after maybe an hour of wandering. We both took a nap for a while and then I went to find the sushi bar that I had heard so much about. They started at 6 but there was no one there. 5 of us there started to wonder and we asked some one what was going on and they said that the Sushi chef was actually stuck in on of the elevators and they were waiting for maintenance to get him out. So unfortunately that night no sushi for me. I headed back to the room and got ready for our first formal night. We did take the time to have our picture taken at two of the spots that they offer, but it really seemed to me that they were not busy. We never had to wait for any of them but maybe that was because we were going in the middle of the early dinner seating. We also stopped by the Martini Bar for a round of trivia that was going on. The theme for this round was James Bond so I figured hey I’ve seen most of the movies a few times why not. Well we started off pretty bad knowing that I had two of the first 3 wrong. Well there where 14 total questions and at the end we ended up with a score of 11.5 since they had a bonus question. The one question that actually got everyone though was how many people have played James Bond. The hotel manager was actually the one hosting the trivia and for this question he said the answer was 5, when actually there were 6. I ended up being the only one that was able to correct him. At then end we did end up winning and they gave us some nice luggage tags and some stress balls. We were talking with another couple (who ended up being part of the cruise critic roll call). As we were sitting there one of the activities staff came over and asked us our cabin number and said that we had also won a tour of the bridge and that we would be getting a call to confirm everything later. We were both surprised at this since no other trivia that week offered that nice a prize. I still think that it had to do with me being able to correct the hotel manager on the one question but that’s just be thinking I’m really cool.

We went to our table right at about 8:30 and we actually meet the last couple that filled up our table of 8. They had actually been given that wrong dinner seating the first night and they had had it correct that day. I forgot to add this to the first day but my dinner on embarkation was the following: Appetizer – Tropical fruit medley and Baked goat cheese tart. Soup – Angus Beef Consomme. Salad – Caprese Salad. Entrée – Lamb Shank Tagine Style. All of these were very good and the lamb shank was a very large portion.

For formal night I had the following: Appetizer – Grenadine Scented Pineapple and Beef Carpaccio, Salad – Baby Spinach Salad, Entrée – BBQ Glazed Chilian Sea Bass. The fish was excellent and the BBQ sauce was very good. I was not sure if BBQ sauce on fish would be good but this was. That night was another show in the theater. They did a medley from other Broadway shows and it was nice. Certainly if you had seen them done before in full scale you might not have been impressed but it was still good. The singers were very good and the dancing was nice. We then when to the casino which was having a Casino Royal night, which consisted of some raffles and they had mixed some of the dance staff in to the audience and had a very large dance production to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face which was really cool. We threw some money around there and walked out a little up and then headed to bed even though Tuesday and St. Kitts was our one day to actually get a little time to sleep in.

 

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

This was the one day that we were able to sleep in since we did not have to be to our trip until about 9:45. I was still up around 8 am though and did a little wandering the ship and looking out over the port. I woke my DW up around 8:30 since we wanted to get breakfast and get ready. We hit the buffet for breakfast since we did not leave the room until after 9 then walked out to the port. It was very rainy this day and we actually had to huddle under the building until the rain semi passed. WE took a catamaran through Blue Water Safari which was 4 hours and had a light lunch with an open bar. It took about an hour to get to the snorkeling spot which was a nice rocky area that had a decent amount of sea life. There was a wreak up on the shore a ways down that had been thrown up there by Hurricane Earl a few years back and they had just left there. We swam around by it thinking there might be more sea life there but there was not. On the boat there was another couple from the ship but the rest were from resorts off the island. I will say it did rain a lot on this trip and there was one time the capital of the boat more or less stopped up completely and headed us more towards land because of the look of the clouds. It actually made the day a little cooler but we still had fun. After we snorkeled for a bit they called us back for a light lunch which was sometime of chicken salad, pasta salad and a regular salad with chips and banana bread. It was a very good lunch. On the way back we did find it strange that the capital had to take the steering wheel off the ship and fix something. Fortunately the beer and run punch kept flowing so we didn’t really care. Actually something was wrong with the steering and they did have to fix something when we were in the middle of the ocean between St. Kitts and Nevis. We made it back to the dock though around 2:30 and off we went. We did a little shopping since this was the only island that had major stores. We really only collected some of the free items that were offered and didn’t buy anything over like 5 dollars. After this we went back to the ship to clean up and I went back and passed out from all the free libations the catamaran offered. I was woken up at around 8 to go to dinner even though I really didn’t feel like going but I was hungry. Dinner that night was Appetizer – Taste of Tuscan Grill Assorted Crostini per Due. It probably would have been good had I not been close to being sick. Salad - Caprese Salad (both DW and I had this many nights as it was nice and we both like it) Entrée – La Francaise Entrecote Café De Paris, this was wonderful and I really wish I could have enjoyed the whole thing. I would have gone back for seconds had I been able to at that time. After dinner 6 of us went to the Newly wed/Not so Newly Wed game. The couple on their honeymoon was picked and they tried to get us to go but the DW didn’t feel like it. It was a funny show however it seems a bit more tame then other times I have seen it done. Our friends did win it however and we then stayed for the 60s dance party that went on. It was a good time and we were all pretty tired by about 12 when it ended and the DJ took over. This was a good thing since we had to be up at 7 for our tour on Dominica which started at around 8.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

A bridge tour for a trivia game prize!:cool::) Luggage tags and stress balls, too. I had made the suggestion on CC about a year ago that they needed some better prizes than pens-- maybe they heard me.

 

Glad your steering problem didn't strand you in the middle of the ocean, and you got back to the ship okay. Just keep singing, "A three-hour tour. A three-hour tour...":D

 

Still enjoying your review, thanks for taking the effort!

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

We had arranged a tour with Bumpiing Tours which came highly recommended from many people on cruise critic. They asked that we try to be off the ship by 8 so that we can get the tour started by or before 8:30 so as to reach at least one location before the ship tours did. I had contacted Levi to see who we would be doing our tour with and we were with Gary (SP?) He was a good guide that was very nice and funny. The first stop was Ti Tou gorge. This for those that didn’t already know was used in the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 2. The water current was pretty strong and the water temp was 54 degrees according to Gary. It certainly felt that way because you were numb after 5 minutes in the water. Gary proceeded to take us up the gorge to the pool where the waterfall was coming down but due to the current strength no one was able to get close to the waterfall. Also during the middle of this two of our party members had their watercase pop open and they lost their sea pass cards as well as one drivers license. Due to this we did stay at the gorge a little longer as we tried to find them. Most of us figured that the current had taken them and pushed them down the river and they were gone. Gary did look for them and Levi and his group did show up and Levi helped as well. Amazingly enough they were able to find the sea pass cards which some how had been pull under the waterfall and had just been kept in a small circular current under the water there. After the gorge we hopped back on the bus and headed to Trafalgar Falls. The nice thing about this place other then being very pretty is that the hot springs also run down the mountains here as well. Gary took us down to the water and had us climb through a hole that the water was running down to get closer to the bottom. The hot spring water was probably around 80 degrees and felt wonderful after Ti Tou gorge. It was really a nice place since you could relax in the hot springs and then walk about 10 feet to the waterfall where the water was 54 again. Myself and one other of the guys on the tour (the two youngest) decided to climb to the base of the waterfall. It’s not an easy climb and you had to be very carful since everything was slippery. Gary was always shouting to go a certain way however it seemed that his way was not always the best. We both made it up and back and then I relaxed in the hot spring again for maybe 15 more minutes before we all headed back to the bus. The falls were definitely more crowded then the gorge was and most places kept getting busier even though there was only our ship in port. After the falls we drove to the Sulfur Springs and got out and just walked to them and then walked back. It was nothing spectacular but it did have a very strong smell to it. We then drove past the school bus crushed by the tree but did not get out and then drove through the botanical gardens. Everyone on our tour was headed to Champaign reef to snorkel. Now the snorkeling was very nice, there was a lot of sea life and the bubbles were really neat to see, however getting in and out of the water was damn near impossible. We may have entered the water in the wrong spot but I saw a lot of people having to take it very slow and my DW and the other younger couple on our trip all got cut on the rocks trying to get out. I spoke with a couple that was on the catamaran with us on St. Kitts later that evening and they said that they did Champaign reef as well but they did it from a catamaran and that made it very easy but they also went to a second location call the Abyss or something close to that and they said it was much better then Champaign reef. Once we got back to the ship we had lunch at the buffet again (more burgers, onion rings and chicken wings for me) then relaxed until dinner. Every day they had Fun in the Sun trivia at the Waterfall Bar on the back of deck 10. It was fun but it was really a big general knowledge so you had to know something about everything. It really helped if you had a team. I then got ready for dinner and decided to hit the deal or ne deal game they had going on. It was pretty simple, they just used the Nintendo Wii’s version and all you had to do to win was get an offer of over $75,000. I think each team that played did win. All we won were some luggage tags, bingo ball key chain and some bingo cards. Dinner that night was very nice, nothing special however here is where it looks like they changed the menu. I had read another post on Cruise Critic that had all the menus and what they offered and most people said that they were upset that Osso Buco was taken off the menu and replaced by Pork Belly Roulade. Well I opened my menu that evening and there sitting in front of me was Osso Buco. However I’m not a giant fan of it so I chose the Blacked Cajun Ribeye but something must have been wrong with it that night because 4 or 5 of at the table got it and it was tough and not all that good. We actually had the head waiter for our area come around and ask about it and we all said that it was not that good. So I wonder if they just received a bad thing of meat or if something else happened to it. I did try the Osso Buco then and it was lovely, very tender and moist. Here is the rest of what I had: Appetizer – Citrus Delight, Salad – Caprese Salad, Entrée – Cajun Blackened Ribeye which was exchanged for Osso Buco.

After dinner that evening we just went to the casino for a while and then to bed since Grenada was going to be an early day again.

[d4m]

What a thorough review! Thanks

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

Woke up early again today since we needed to be off the ship and to the meeting place around 8:15 so we just hit the buffet again for breakfast. We toured with A & E tours and we did have an issue finding them when we arrived in the terminal. Looks like we actually had gotten there earlier then they did so we walked past where we were supposed to be. If you do use a tour they meet in the terminal where the little theater is showing a movie about Grenada. The tour itself was nice, I don’t remember our guides name but he was good but did not do much outside of the van as other guides have on other islands. The first place we went was a spice shop and it was nice. They actually have a little lecture on the different spices and how to use them. It’s very informative and we got to smell and try different spices and things made from them. We then headed to Annadale falls which was very pretty and there are people jumping off asking for “donations”. The only issue I had here was that the vendors are slightly pushy and there was a older gentleman singing songs he was making up about the visitors and he would ask for money as well. After the falls we headed to Grand Etang National Park. This is where something very funny started happening. To get in the park it costs $2. I really wish this would have been included in the tour but $2 is not a deal breaker. However I went to the stand and all I had was a $10 on me. The lady at the desk would not take it and asked if I had anything smaller. Unfortunately I didn’t so she had me wait next to the desk to see if she could get change. Well after 2 or three other customers she just waved us through. The park itself is nice, and the visitor center is very interesting but there is not a lot there. The view over the lake is good. We then drove down to the lake for a quick drink and a snack. There is a little pier in the water and lots of little fish came up to eat some of the crackers we had. After the lake we drove over to Fort Fredrick. Once again you have to pay $2 to get in and all I had was a $10. This time the person in front of us had paid for 3 people so I knew the lady had $6 to give me back but no she wanted something smaller as well. I even pointed out that she had just received $6 but she said she needed the change for other people. So we just walked in and no one stopped me. Later we found out that the reason maybe that the $10 bill is rather easy to counterfeit so that may have been their reluctance to take a $10. Fort Frederick was a nice place and it was interesting to learn about some of the history of the island. You also got some great views if you went to the second level, just watch you hat if you have one on since it was very windy. After the fort we headed to a rum distillery. This was slightly disappointing since all we did was go into their visitor center and taste some samples. We did find out that they offer a tour so about 8 of us took that for an additional cost. They were not making anything since it was in the middle of carnival so most everyone was off for the day. The distillery was interesting but it was a very small operation so the tour only took about 15-20 minutes total. After that we headed to Grand Anse Beach. This was a nice place to rest after the day and we ended our tour there, you do have the option of staying for 30 minutes then heading back to the ship with the tour guide. We stayed on the beach for about an hour and a half. There are a few restaurants but the prices were a little high so we didn’t get any food. We did walk through the spice market but it was the same stuff everyone else had and there were rather pushy wanting you to come and look at their stuff. We took the water taxi back to the ship and looked at some of the stands in the terminal building. The only thing bad about the port in Grenada is that you have to go through security to get back to the ship then go through the ships security. When we got to the port there was only one line open and it was at least 50-60 people long each with a bag that needed to be scanned. Fortunately while we were shopping they did open another and it went pretty quick. Once on the boat we hit the buffet again then went to take a little nap. Dinner that night was Appetizer – Taste of Silk Harvest Spring Rolls and Tomato and Arugula Crostini, both were very good but the taste of Silk Harvest was wonderful. Soup – Chilled Black Cherry Soup, Salad – Boston Lettuce and Gorgonzola Salad, Entrée – First I tried the Signature Mozzarella Meat Balls, however they are primarily turkey so they don’t taste like real meat balls. I then had the Braised Beef Short Ribs and this was amazingly good. The meat was very tender and the gravy was wonderful. I should have gotten two of these instead. We made a plan at dinner that evening that the whole table should go to pigeon point the next day so it was agreed that we would meet at 10 on the pier right after you got off the ship. That evening we just walked the deck a bit and then hit the casino again.

[Kathie44]

Carib. Amph. --hope you don't mind my shortening your handle, lol. I saw PartyAllDaThyme's reference to steering and at first thought it had something to do with Summit. I was on the cruise before yours and we had a German yacht captain at our dinner table, who was worried about the ship movement not feeling right. Then in the 3rd port (Antigua) he saw two divers go under the ship and thought it was a bad sign. He talked to the engineer, who said there was a problem and he hoped they wouldn't have to go into drydock. Evidently adjustments were made and it turned out OK. I just wondered if anything seemed amiss during your sailing. The M-class ships have had numerous pod problems over the years. This couple from Germany were B2Bers who were on their second week on your cruise.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. No cruise is perfect, but Celebrity comes very close.

I, too, am a trivia player. I remembered Alejandro from another cruise, but not which one. He remembered me and that it was on Mercury to Mexico FOUR years ago! Amazing!

I missed all but the last 2 morning games due to excursions. Did most of the afternoon ones. I won a luggage tag, (which I gave to my SIL since I had others), a cool key ring that was also a bottle opener, a stress ball, and a T-shirt to add to the 5 others in my collection. On Summit in 6/09 I won a logo visor, flip flops and many other prizes. I was disappointed this time that they didn't do Battle of the Sexes or Tribond. The new game for me was Cruise Feud. My team almost won that. The CD had two extra shirts for us losers and he guessed numbers we picked to decide which two won them. I bombed out on Name That Tune and Movie quotes. I did know the one from Gone with the Wind--pays to be old, lol. Actually, I could have used a new pen. :D

I stick with Celebrity and RCCL, but haven't done RCCL since '06. They remain my back-up in case can't find an X cruise that suits me. This was my 3rd cruise on Summit and wonderful, as usual.

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib. 1/03 Explorer W. Carib. 8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib. 2/05 Galaxy PC 6/06 Jewel OS Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords

1/07 Mercury Mex. Riv. 1/08 Mercury Aust/NZ 1/09 Galaxy S. Carib.

6/09 Summit Classical Med. 1/11 Summit S. Carib. 6/11 Constellation Scand/Russia

.

[Ontario Cruiser]

Sure hope that there is no problem with the pods that was mentioned on the last post. We were scheduled for the Millie New Zealand cruise that was cancelled 6 days before sailing in March of 2009 and we as a family are going on the Summit on Feb 26th to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.:(

If you hear anything please keep us posted

Love reading your posts

Ontari Cruiser

[one.new.island.a.year]

Hi Caribbean Amphibian,

 

Thanks for the detailed review. Can't wait to read about Pigeon Point.

 

Can you tell us more about the casino? Do you know if there were any poker tournaments?

[Lois R]

Enjoying your review:D I fly out tomorrow morning. Now if I can just

get through the work day today:eek:

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

This was mainly a relax on the beach day. We meet all our tablemates’ right outside the ship and we took a taxi over to pigeon point. We did negotiate with one taxi driver to pick us up around 3:00 but we did find out that he actually just stayed at the beach and waited for us. I’m not sure of the cost of the taxi, I think it is $20 one way for a normal taxi but we had a van and 8 people so I think our driver got a very nice tip. Pigeon Point is a nice beach however the day that we were there it was very windy and slightly overcast in the beginning. There were times when the wind was blowing hard enough that the sand was stinging us. We found a picnic bench close to the water and one of the many bar/restaurants on the beach. We did pick up some lounge chairs when the people using them left and asked us if we wanted them so I don’t know how much it cost to rent them for the day. The bar we were near was good, $3 for a beer and they had a decent selection. The issue with them I had was that any mixed drink was very over priced for the amount you got. I had 2 strawberry margaritas and it cost $8 a piece and they were only in the little plastic cups that you would give kids at a birthday party. So we stuck with beer for the day. There were a few people walking around either selling necklaces or trying to get you to do a glass bottom boat tour or Jet Ski. We did not choose to do any of those things and just relaxed. Another couple and us decided to get some food and there was a buffet in the bar that we were near but we decided to walk around to see what else there was. We did find a little shack that was selling burgers, and fried fish. We ended us eating here and got two shark platters and two kingfish platters. They both came with fries (homestyle kind) and salad (more like coleslaw without the dressing). This was a very good lunch, I had the shark and it tasted wonderful, it was not heavily greasy and the fried and salad were good as well. With both the kingfish and shark you got two nice sized pieces so you did not end up hungry after you finished. We left the beach right around 3 and headed back to the port. You may want to be careful as there was a lot more traffic heading back to the port then when we left so I would say that you don’t want to leave any later then 4 to get back to the ship. We did end up hitting a bar right next to the port when we got back for $2 beer before we had to get back on. My DW and I headed back to the ship after this but the rest of the group decided that it was a good time for Kentucky Fried Chicken since there was one right across the street. I also noticed that this seemed to be the only fast food place on most of the islands which I did find strange. After we headed to the room to clean up we took a short nap before dinner which was the second formal night. I headed to the Martini Bar around 7:45 for pre-dinner drinks and got to watch a nice show by the bartender when he poured 3 cosmopolitans and 2 martinis all at once. Dinner that evening was the lobster tail which most people got and it was good. My meal consisted of: Appetizer – Traditional Steak Tartar, Soup – Chicken and corn Chowder, Salad – Seasonal Mixed Lettuce, Entrée – Lobster Melange and Tournedos Rossini which I was unimpressed with. Someone did order the pork chops and they said that they were good. Our wine steward did actually talk me into doing one of their tasting of wines from around the world to be held on the sea day. For $20 I got to try 12 different wines 6 red and 6 white from 6 different countries for an hour. I figured that it was worth the extra money. That evening we went and saw the show in the theater which as good but not as good as the first two. They did have the two acrobats going again and this time both where flying around on the ropes and out over the audience which was really cool. We then headed back to the room to get ready for the last full day on the ship.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

Sure hope that there is no problem with the pods that was mentioned on the last post. We were scheduled for the Millie New Zealand cruise that was cancelled 6 days before sailing in March of 2009 and we as a family are going on the Summit on Feb 26th to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.:(

If you hear anything please keep us posted

Love reading your posts

Ontari Cruiser

 

No everything seems fine when we were on there. We made pretty good time to every port and nothing was every said to us that there was an issue, not that they would.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

Hi Caribbean Amphibian,

 

Thanks for the detailed review. Can't wait to read about Pigeon Point.

 

Can you tell us more about the casino? Do you know if there were any poker tournaments?

 

Actually they had quiet a few. There were slot tournys on 4 of the days I think and at least 2 black jack. They did have what they called the Masters Texas Holdem tournment which for the first 4 days of the cruise they held qualifying tournys in which the winners of those 4 would then go up against 4 of the senior officers in a texas holdem tournment. I never found out who won that. They did have a normal texas holdem tournment on the last day but I did not partake since it was the video texas holdem and so far I am not the biggest fan of that.

Other then that it was a regular casino, though there were no waitress or waiters to take drink orders. If you were at a table the dealer would hit the little bell and the bartender woudl then come over. It did make for slow drink service at times.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

I, too, am a trivia player. I remembered Alejandro from another cruise, but not which one. He remembered me and that it was on Mercury to Mexico FOUR years ago! Amazing!

.

 

He was actually just getting off after this cruise for 2 months. I think I remember him saying that his next tour was on the Infinity in Alaska.

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

I tried to sleep in today but just couldn’t so I was up sometime between 7:30 and 8. There was not a lot going on that early so I grabbed some pastries from Cova Café and wandered the decks a bit. We did have the bridge tour at 10:30 so I made sure that we were ready for that. We did breakfast at the buffet which was much more busy then normal since everyone was sleeping in. Also the breakfast was cut short in the dinning room since they have the brunch buffet on the sea day. The bridge tour was really neat, the captain came when we were in the middle of it so we got to ask him some questions as well as the first officer. They don’t allow pictures but they do have an official ship photographer that will take your picture which you can buy later. I didn’t like that since they don’t allow you to use your own camera they only way to remember it is to buy one from them which we ended up doing. After the bridge tour we went back to the room and packed. We figured that it was good to get this out of the way since we would then have the rest of the day free to do what we wanted. Also the luggage is supposed to be in the hall at 11 PM which was right after dinner and I knew we would not have time to do it that evening. After packing we headed to the buffet and took our lunch down to one of the lounges for trivia. We didn’t win any of the three rounds but they did give out bingo cards for later that day. After that I headed to my wine tasting and my DW took a nap. The wine tasting was very nice. You got all you wanted to try for an hour and they had sheets so you could take notes on each wine. There also was a some snacks to eat as well. After the wine tasting I headed to the waterfall bar to check out more trivia and found two of our table mates there doing movie quote trivia. I stayed around for that and then did the fun in the sun trivia one last time. I will say the fun in the sun trivia is not easy stuff, I really suggest a team if you try to play since you need to know something about many different areas. After that I headed back to the room to wake up the wife and head over to Bingo since we had three free cards. We didn’t win which was unfortunate but hey I didn’t pay for the cards either so no loss there. We then headed to the room and got ready and headed to one of the lounges for a before dinner drink and then hit the dinning room. For dinner that night I had: Appetizer - Warm Goat Cheese Croustillant and Supreme of Chilled Melon Midori, Soup – Creamy Baked Potato Salad – Green Leaf and Radicchio Lettuces, Entrée – Seared Tuna Steak and Classic French Pot-au-Feu. The Tuna was wonderful and the Pot-au-Fue was decent. I decided that on the last night I was going to eat as much as possible at dinner since I was not going to get great food again for a while. We also set up a tour for the Bacardi Rum Distillery for when we arrived in San Juan since we did not have a flight until 3:40 so I did not want to just sit around on the ship and then in the airport. That night we took the last of our poker chips to the casino and tried to make a little more however we lost and cashed out only down about $30 for the cruise. It was then off to bed and the knowledge that tomorrow we would have to get up and leave our wonderful home of the past week.

[CruisingChick]

Enjoying your review:D I fly out tomorrow morning. Now if I can just

get through the work day today:eek:

 

Lois, BON VOYAGE!!! Have a wonderful time on Summit. Have a few martinis for me. We've had to cancel the last two cruises we had booked and I'm dying to get back on a ship.

 

Have fun.

 

Anne Maria

[spotdog14]

I have to add that The Normandy restaurant was amazing, defiantly worth the $35 per person that they were charging. My girlfriend and I eat at it on the last day of the cruise and would defiantly recommend it.

 

Here are some pictures of the Summit.

 

 

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

I have to add that The Normandy restaurant was amazing, defiantly worth the $35 per person that they were charging. My girlfriend and I eat at it on the last day of the cruise and would defiantly recommend it.

 

Here are some pictures of the Summit.

 

 

 

The top photo is in Dominica right, and the the bottom is Granada since that was the only island where there was another ship. Do you remember what Princess ship that was?

[gotcha3]

The top photo is in Dominica right, and the the bottom is Granada since that was the only island where there was another ship. Do you remember what Princess ship that was?

 

 

It was the Sea Princess.

[Lois R]

Lois, BON VOYAGE!!! Have a wonderful time on Summit. Have a few martinis for me. We've had to cancel the last two cruises we had booked and I'm dying to get back on a ship.

 

Have fun.

 

Anne Maria

 

Hi Anne Maria, thanks for the good wishes:) I am all packed and

ready to go:D. Leaving here very early in the morning.