1st time cruisers... Summit questions

[Beachgirlohio]

We are huge all inclusive travelers but after multiple trips to Dominican republic, Jamaica, and Mexico, we have decided to take a 7 nt cruise in April on the summit. Based on our personal style I felt like the silhouette would be the best ship but I did not want to do a 12 nt cruise for the first time! We are not excited about the summit reviews but are just really hoping the refurb in Jan might solve this issue a bit! Here are a few of my questions...

 

1. Booked aqua class #9074 sky deck. My TA picked this location. Is this a good room? If not, can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

2. We are going to stay 2 nights in San Juan pre-cruise and are looking for the best overall hotel. Very mixed reviews on trip advisor. Any recommendations?

 

3. We booked the select dining. I think this means our dining room will be blu. Can we also do the mdr if we get tired of blu?

 

Any other recommendations or advice in regards to the summit is appreciated!!!

[kitkat9438]

We are huge all inclusive travelers but after multiple trips to Dominican republic, Jamaica, and Mexico, we have decided to take a 7 nt cruise in April on the summit. Based on our personal style I felt like the silhouette would be the best ship but I did not want to do a 12 nt cruise for the first time! We are not excited about the summit reviews but are just really hoping the refurb in Jan might solve this issue a bit! Here are a few of my questions...

 

1. Booked aqua class #9074 sky deck. My TA picked this location. Is this a good room? If not, can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

2. We are going to stay 2 nights in San Juan pre-cruise and are looking for the best overall hotel. Very mixed reviews on trip advisor. Any recommendations?

 

3. We booked the select dining. I think this means our dining room will be blu. Can we also do the mdr if we get tired of blu?

 

Any other recommendations or advice in regards to the summit is appreciated!!!

 

Welcome to cruising and to Celebrity! Don't believe the bad reviews about the Summit. There have been many dicussions on the subject and it's a great ship with great food and awesome service, even if it does need a little updating. We sailed on her in 2009 and fell in love with the ship and Celebrity and now we will be on her again in December.

 

I have not seen the new deck plans so I can't tell you whether this would be a good cabin. We loved Aqua Class on the Eclipse last year. Have you considered that ship? It's our favorite so far. It's new as of last year and they have 7 day itineraries.

 

On the M class ships (Summit) there are some cabins that have a larger balcony. All Concierge Class rooms have larger cabins as well as balconies, with some having extra large balconies. Here's the current list of good balconies. I imagine this will change after refurbishment when they make some cabins Aqua.

 

S1-6131,6132,6145,6146

 

C1-9201,9164,9162,9160,,8185,8176,8172,8170,7203,7212, 7208,7206,6135,6136,6143,6144

C2-9043,9038,8045,8046

 

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

2B-8161,8146,9173,9138

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

Blu is a great dining room and yes it is always select (or anytime) dining. Blu is your "assigned" dining room but you can still eat in the main dining room on a space available basis. Just check out the menus that will be posted every day in front of Blu and the MDR and decide where you want to eat.

We like staying in the Condado beach area of San Juan because there are a lot of great restaurants within walking distance and a Walgreens for last minute items. It's also a short taxi ride into Old San Juan to do some touring. Our favorite hotels are La Concha and the Marriott Stellaris. They both have great pools and are on the beach. (both Marriott hotels) We normally bid on a hotel through Priceline and get a hotel for around $100 a night. This year we wanted to stay at La Concha and most of the winning bids were going to the Intercontinental so we didn't try it. Intercontinental is a good resort, it's just in the Isla Verde area over by the airport.

Since you like all inclusives, I'd suggest you check out Celebrity's alcohol packages. We buy the premium alcohol package that includes all beverages, not just alcohol, such as bottled water, fresh squeezed juices, specialty coffee, energy drinks, beer, wine, frozen drinks, martinis, etc. Everything up to $12. It really makes the cruise feel more all inclusive and you can pay for it ahead of time.

You will get canapes in the afternoon. If you don't like them, you can exchange them for cheese and crackers.

You also get fresh fruit and it will be replenished every day. Be sure and let your room steward know what you like and they will get it for you.

With Aqua class you also get free bottled water. Put your two bottles that will be in your room in your refrigerator and they will be replaced. We always had plenty of water.

Have a great cruise!

[EithneMay]

If your TA booked you Select Dining, you will not be in Blu, you will be in the MDR. Blu has select dining, but you will be given a set time for the first night only, then you can come as you wish after that... If you are in Aqua class, you automatically are assigned to Blu unless you request MDR or Select Dining, which will be in the MDR.

[kitkat9438]

If your TA booked you Select Dining, you will not be in Blu, you will be in the MDR. Blu has select dining, but you will be given a set time for the first night only, then you can come as you wish after that... If you are in Aqua class, you automatically are assigned to Blu unless you request MDR or Select Dining, which will be in the MDR.

 

This is not true anymore. It used to be the case that if you chose select dining when you booked you were removed from dining in Blu. Now it's not.

 

This is from Celebrity's website:

 

If I am an AquaClass guests, can I choose Celebrity Select Dining?

Subject: Celebrity Select Dining

 

In order to offer the same great flexibility as the Celebrity Select dining option that our guests can enjoy in the Main dining room, we are now offering a more flexible dining format for Blu as well.

 

Blu now offers flexible dining between 6:00 and 9:30 PM every evening, so guests are free to dine at the time of their choosing during our operating hours.

[dkjretired]

This is not true anymore. It used to be the case that if you chose select dining when you booked you were removed from dining in Blu. Now it's not.

 

This is from Celebrity's website:

 

If I am an AquaClass guests, can I choose Celebrity Select Dining?

Subject: Celebrity Select Dining

 

In order to offer the same great flexibility as the Celebrity Select dining option that our guests can enjoy in the Main dining room, we are now offering a more flexible dining format for Blu as well.

 

Blu now offers flexible dining between 6:00 and 9:30 PM every evening, so guests are free to dine at the time of their choosing during our operating hours.

 

If you are in an AQ cabin, BLU REPLACES the Mdr, it is your assigned dining room. It is totally anytime dining, show up anytime and you will be seated. You will receive a letter in your stateroom when you arrive which explains Blu dining. Kathy is correct, the procedure has been changed however not everyone at Celebrity has apparently received the message. Best thing for you to do is have your TA switch you to one of the traditional times, it doesn't matter which time as Blu is totally anytime dining.

 

This is not your fault or your TAs but Celebrity's. They have created a situation where you have to choose the opposite of what you want to get what you want in Blu.

 

You can eat in the MDR if space is available....

[phoenix_dream]

We have stayed at the Hilton Doubletree the last couple of pre-cruise trips. It is mid-way between the airport and the cruise dock. We like it because it is a nice hotel and has restaurants on-site. It has a supermarket directly across the street where you can pick up your two bottles of wine and soft drinks to bring onboard if you wish. It is also within reasonable walking distance of a number of hotels along the beach with casinos and a number of other restaurants.

 

Our other favorite place to stay is the Embassy Suites near the airport. It has a casino onsite as well as an Outback Steakhouse. There is a grocery store a couple blocks away. You can also walk to other restaurants a few blocks away, as well as other nice hotels with casinos and restaurants.

 

Once we stayed at Caribe Hilton, which is a very nice property with a nice pool area and restaurants onsite. One thing we did not like about that property (besides the high price - although we got it on Priceline I think) is that the area surrounding it is not all that nice so you are pretty much confined to that resort or the one next to it.

[63galaxie]

We are huge all inclusive travelers but after multiple trips to Dominican republic, Jamaica, and Mexico, we have decided to take a 7 nt cruise in April on the summit. Based on our personal style I felt like the silhouette would be the best ship but I did not want to do a 12 nt cruise for the first time! We are not excited about the summit reviews but are just really hoping the refurb in Jan might solve this issue a bit! Here are a few of my questions...

 

1. Booked aqua class #9074 sky deck. My TA picked this location. Is this a good room? If not, can anyone give me some suggestions?

 

2. We are going to stay 2 nights in San Juan pre-cruise and are looking for the best overall hotel. Very mixed reviews on trip advisor. Any recommendations?

 

3. We booked the select dining. I think this means our dining room will be blu. Can we also do the mdr if we get tired of blu?

 

Any other recommendations or advice in regards to the summit is appreciated!!!

1. I looked up the deck plans on Celebrity's website (look under ships, deck plans, click on your dates). 9074 looks to be directly under the pool area which means you may get noise from chairs being set up and moved (this was the case on one of our sailings on another cruise prior to Aqua Cabins, but in a similar location). We just booked an AQ for March and we chose a cabin under the spa area (but not under the exercise area).

2. We've stayed at the Caribe Hilton many times. LOVE IT!! Look on their website for pictures. They have an excellent open air expansive marble lobby with spectacular views of the infinity pool overlooking the ocean, a beautiful swimming area with private beach and calm waters, several restaurants, 1 block from Subway (cheaper eating), a Star Bucks in the lobby, many shops, kids' activities, spa, hammocks under the palm trees, nice walk-way along the ocean, a big "pond" with swans and large fish with a gazebo over the pond in a tropical garden, several pools and jacuzzis, etc.

3. When we booked AQ, our t.a. asked if we wanted select dining. We told him we would be dining in Blu and we wouldn't necessarily be dining in the MDR.