REVIEW: Summit 4/14-4/21 Southern Caribbean

[AMAC86]

After having a day or two to relax after our 4/14 sailing on the Celebrity Summit, I thought I would try to cobble together something about our journey and the experience of the ship.

 

Just so you have some background, this was my first trip aboard a Celebrity ship, and only my second trip aboard any cruise ship--the last being the Carnival Dream in the fall of 2011. I am a male in my mid-20s, so I was on the younger end of the age range of those on the ship.

 

CRUISE

 

Overall

 

On the outside, the Celebrity Summit appears rather homely, especially in the rear. The way the stern is boxy and upright, yet has some scalloped curves and edges is truly ugly. However, I did like the color scheme, and the "X" logo gave it kind of an exclusive look.

 

 

Inside, she was truly beautiful. We first entered the ship on Deck 4 (I think) near the main Atrium, and it was immediately apparent how classy and elegant the ship's decor was. Very contemporary without being wacky like Carnival's ships.

 

[AMAC86]

Collection of Random Thoughts

 

-There is no place to really track the location of the ship. On my previous cruise, Carnival had one or more prominently displayed maps showing the current location of the ship, the heading, and speed in knots, etc. On Celebrity, there was a channel on the TV that had a circle (like a Window's mouse pointer) that I presume showed the location of the ship, although on one occasion it appeared to be incorrect (we were in St. Maarten and it showed we were in St. Thomas?). It didn't give any speed or heading information and was very zoomed out. There was a physical paper chart (with the course drawn in PENCIL) on Deck 10 (pool deck) which seemed very out of place on a "modern" ship.

 

-In the Celebrity Secrets thread, someone expressed surprise that the pastries/sandwiches in the case at Cafe al Baccio were free. It is true. However, all of these items can also be found in the buffet.

 

-The brunch was on our last (and only sea day), which happened to be the first full day of our cruise. The ice sculptures were elaborate, and there was a wide variety of foods placed out. However, as others have noticed, with few exceptions, all of these foods are available in the buffet at various times of day. The only thing I can think of that was on the buffet that was not ordinarily available were the petit fours, and the shrimp.

 

-The deck chairs/loungers on this ship are disgusting and grimy. The ones on the main pool deck are covered with new strapped canvas cushions. However ones on Deck 11 and 12 on the forward and aft sections of the ship were not covered and were not particularly appealing.

 

-Music being too loud seemed to be a point of concern for many people on CruiseCritic. I found that this was generally not a problem. Music was loud at the Martini Bar, but I think it fit the theme of the bar. I was hoping it would keep all the old people away, but it didn't work. The music was quite loud on the pool deck, but only if they were having a function or having live performers. However, this could be easily remedied by moving to the opposite end of the pool deck, if the music was bothersome. Contrary to popular belief, there was no rap music on the ship, and there was no music in the library.

 

-Formal nights were surprisingly formal. Many women were dressed in elegant ball gowns, whereas almost all men wore dark suits or tuxedos. The people who showed up to the main dining room on formal nights without jackets were allowed in without question, but looked dumb in the process.

 

-The nationality of the crew was quite a bit more diverse than what I had seen on Carnival. On Carnival it seemed that almost all of the crew was from Southeast Asia. However, on the Summit, it seemed that the crew was from all different countries--our cabin steward was from Honduras, our waiter was from Southeast Asia, and our assistant waiter was from Croatia.

 

-Smoke was never a problem on the ship. I rarely smelled any smoke, even when walking right by people who were smoking. And I don't smoke and I don't hang around people who smoke.

 

Dining

 

The ship has several dining venues. There is one main dining room on the ship, the Cosmopolitan Restaurant, as well as several other venues such as the Waterfall Cafe (buffet), AquaSpa Cafe (light, healthy food) as well as three specialty restaurants (Normandie, Q-Sine, and Bistro on Five). Also a coffee bar (Cafe al Baccio) and a gelato stand, and a poolside burger grill.

 

The quality of the Cuisine on the ship at the "standard" restaurants, which I consider to be Cosmopolitan and Waterfall Cafe, was very mediocre at best--and I am not a picky eater in the slightest. There were very few things that I ordered that were really truly tasty. Even the lobster tails on our second formal night did not seem that great, although I was not expecting much of spiny lobster tails. On the buffet, many items did not seem to be kept at food safe temperatures. For example, smoked salmon and sushi were all seemingly kept at room temperature. Chilled desserts were often too warm and ended up having condensation covering them. The "hard" ice cream near the rear of the ship was always very soft because it couldn't be properly chilled. I did like that fresh fruit (melons, watermelon, and berries) were available at the buffet all the time, although it wasn't always ripe.

 

Bistro on Five was delicious, with a variety of sweet and savory crepes, as well as panini sandwiches.

 

 

One of my favorite places to eat on the ship was the AquaSpa Cafe. For breakfast, they would often just have oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. At lunchtime, they would have little salads (chicken, sometimes smoked fish with greens, etc.) and gelatinous desserts that were very creative and delicious (healthy, too!). The last lunchtime we were on the ship they had little salmon burgers which were actually some of the best things I had on the ship.

 

I also really enjoyed the cheeseburgers at the pool grill. Always very tasty and fast.

 

The entire time on the cruise, I didn't see a single person use the wine machines at Cellarmasters. Also, Michael's (the beer place) usually seemed fairly empty, although not as empty as Cellarmasters.

 

I really liked room service--it was great when having an exhausting day on the island. I liked to order the cheese plate, and a margherita pizza which was very good.

 

 

We tried the gelato place, which is much better than that standard hard ice cream. As mentioned before, the hard ice cream was always melted.

The most disappointing aspect of dining was the company. The first night, at our table of eight, there were the two of us and another couple. The other couple was great, and we got along very well. We figured that the four empty chairs were for those who had decided to dine in the buffet or specialty restaurants on the first night.

 

The next night, two other older couples filled the empty seats. Of the four, only one of them said more than one or two words to us. The rest were really snarky and glared at us from across the table. Very strange, and the entire time the lamented that they had had their table assignment switch and wished they could switch again. Fine with me, not everyone has to get along with us!

 

But the third night after we left Barbados, we walked into the dining room to see an older lady sitting by herself. Immediately, I thought this was strange. It turns out she had an all you can drink liquor package (probably the premium package) and she was doing her damndest to get the most out of it. At dinner eat, she was extremely loud--laughing, snorting, shouting, etc. She would yell for the sommelier and call for her next dishes to be served immediately! On one occasion, she complained that her main course was cold. Immediately our waiter, as he should have, ran as quickly as possible to retrieve another entree for her. Upon his return 2 or 3 minutes later, she began shouting, "I never asked you to do this! WHY did you do that?!" I forgot to mention that our table was right next to the captain's table, and the Captain and all the senior officers were dining with him that night as it was "employee of the month" night, or something to that effect. It definitely made our waiter look extremely bad and was very embarrassing for everyone. Here's the kicker--after the inebriated diner had left, the master of the vessel, the CAPTAIN, walked over to our table and joked with us, "She's happy, eh?" We got a good chuckle out of that. Unfortunately this sort of thing happened every single night.

 

I really think Celebrity should consider doing away with these packages. I know there is a clause that says they reserve the right not to serve you alcohol if you are belligerent or disruptive, etc., but that never happens because employees are afraid of confrontation. When someone can't control themselves, it really can ruin someone else's time.

 

Layout

The layout of the ship is pretty straight forward. Pretty much everything you could want is on Decks 4, 5, and 10. The main atrium spans Decks 3, 4 and 5. Fortunes Casino is on Deck 4, and the coffee shop and Bistro on 5 is on Deck 5. The Cosmopolitan Restaurant has two levels on Deck 4 and 5.

 

Deck 10 is where all the pools are. There are 3 pools. Two of them are on the outdoor pool deck (one small and one larger deeper pool), and one is the "T-pool" which is located indoors in the Solarium where AquaSpa is. The T-pool is heated so it is quite a bit warmer, and has two areas where you can lie down while bubbles are pumped from below. This seemed to be a gathering place for older people--or at least it garnered that sort of reputation. On our sea day, which had cloudy and rainy (at times) weather, the outdoor pool deck was still pretty full, although there were still plenty of places to sit.

 

Interestingly, the posted "rules" on all of the pools said that they were "adults only", yet this was strange since it would imply that children were not allowed to swim on the ship. Needless to say children were allowed into all pools with the exception of the T-pool, where "adults only" was fairly strictly enforced.

 

One thing that was not present on the Summit that I loved on the Carnival Dream was a promenade deck. The closest thing that the Summit had was on Deck 4, where there was an outdoor deck (with lifeboats hanging overhead) on each side of the ship that spanned about half the length of the ship.

 

 

 

 

There were also several areas of the ship that just seemed almost completely abandoned. Notably, the areas on Deck 11 and 12 at the forward and aft sections of the ship rarely had people on them, unless Summit was departing a port, in which case a handful of people could be found. It seemed very bizarre since you would think these would be prime locations for them to put a bar or something interesting.

 

Speaking of Deck 11, the jogging track on Deck 11 is very short, because Aqua class cabins were added on the aft of Deck 11, which cut the original jogging track short (it just ends!). Because of this, the only way to get up to Deck 12 aft is by going to Deck 11 near the pools (below on Deck 10) and walking over that way, instead of taking some sort of stairs near the aft of the ship.

 

Entertainment

 

This is one area where Celebrity just completely fell flat.

My first beef about the entertainment was that there was NO STANDUP COMEDY. This is an absolute must for me on a cruise ship, and I am dumbfounded as to why there was not a single standup comedian on our ship the entire 7 day cruise. The closest we got to standup comedy was a ventriloquist and his puppet, which got old after about 10 minutes.

Although I appreciated the effort of the musicians (I have done gigs myself as a musician), I thought the music was extremely repetitive and relied extremely heavily on the background tracks from the iPod. I don't know if I could take another day at of Nestor Santurio playing Hotel California at sea, or hearing the steel drummer fumble through jazz standards. Not to mention these musicians didn't get swapped out for new ones

 

The production shows were absolutely awful. The sad thing here is that I think the talent is there, but the writing/production is just awful. No show had any cohesive theme or any sort of plot. We went to a few shows, but one was supposed to be about Hollywood. First they started going through the technological advancements of film (sound, color, etc.) which then degenerated into playing a million Mamma Mia songs??? Another show "Sirens" was about some sailor or something falling in love with a mermaid, which culminated in the two of them belting out "My Heart Will Go On" several times throughout the show while animated images of seahorses and fish designed to stop toddlers from crying danced across the backdrop. Are you kidding me!? Each show was like a bait and switch. You got in, sat down, and then you realized it wasn't going to be what they advertised, but you couldn't exactly get up and leave in the middle of the show. An example of this was a rock pianist, whom they seemed to advertise as an impressionist of Elton John, et al. Far from it! He didn't even sing! He was so obsessed with talking about his piano-shaped ring that Liberace gave him.

 

Very, very frustrating. I would give entertainment on the ship a D+. Thank goodness that the cruise was very port intensive, otherwise I would've been searching for other forms of entertainment aboard the ship.

 

Cabin

 

Our cabin, an inside cabin #7048, was reasonably sized. Based on Celebrity's website, I was expecting there to be a bed and a sofa. However, instead of a sofa/loveseat, there were two small-ish chairs. We never sat in them, and just used them to stack clothes and towels, etc. The cabin itself was very nice looking. Attractive wood cabinets, and a lot of storage space, at least for two people. There was no vanity in the bedroom, unlike in our cabin on the Carnival Dream. There was a safe and a beverage cooler, which I am told is not cold enough for storing food, but works well for keeping beverages cool. There was also a 26-ish inch flat screen HDTV.

 

The beds themselves were very comfortable--not too hard or soft, but as expected when converted to a queen/double bed, the gap between the mattresses is annoying.

 

The bathroom in the cabin is kind of small, but about on par with what we were expecting given our experience with our last cruise. It had a large shower with a curtain. This was an area where the Summit really showed her age. The mirror in the bathroom was badly corroded and worn, and there was a lot of mildew/rust on the floor and caulking throughout the bathroom. I am confused as to why these fixtures were not renovated when the ship was drydocked and refurbished just 4 months ago.

From this cabin, it was very quiet. No vibration at all from the ship's propulsion system, and little foot traffic outside.

 

Service

 

I found the service on the ship to be uniformly good. Our stateroom attendant was very friendly and always enjoyed speaking with us about our day and learning about us. Our dining room waiters were excellent and very personable as well and very accommodating. Around the ship, drink servers were always available to take drink orders and were not intrusive.

[AMAC86]

PORTS OF CALL

 

San Juan, PR

I don't think Puerto Rico gets enough credit. It is extremely diverse, with beautiful beaches, lush rainforests, and beautiful mountains. Driving through the mountains, it is very apparently that people live a very different way of life than what we do in the States. It is certainly not the slightly more Hispanic version of the US that I had been told to expect.

 

In Puerto Rico, we stayed one night in Fajardo at Passion Fruit Bed and Breakfast, which was very nice. That night, we did the a kayaking tour of the "BioBay", which is a bioluminescent bay. It would've been great, but it was raining cats and dogs that night. We got completely soaked. The guide said that it was very rare for it to rain that much on the northeast corner of the island. He said that in 5 years, it has only rained maybe 20 times during the tour!

 

Also took time to see El Yunque! Beautiful!

 

Barbados

 

In Barbados, we did the Celebrity excursion BB82 "4X4 Safari & Snorkel". The snorkeling part was great--they took us to Carlisle Bay, where we snorkeled above a shipwreck. I was hoping to see turtles while snorkeling, but we didn't get to see any. Then we had maybe 20-30 minutes to relax at the beach, which is unbelievably beautiful. The sand is so soft (pink, too!) and the water is so crystal clear! My kind of beach.

 

Next was the 4X4 Safari. It was a complete flop. It was basically being thrown in the back of a pickup truck and driven at high speed over the crumbled roads of a third world country to be driven past such exciting sights as an elementary school, police station, and a hospital. Of course, that's if you were on the right side of the truck. If you were on the other side, you might see a factory and an old lady staring you down from a porch. I think it would've been much better if the truck drivers weren't constantly racing each other--then we might've been comfortable enough to turn our heads to try to see something.

 

Had some fried flying fish. It was pretty good--very buttery.

 

St. Lucia

 

Here, we did the Spencer Ambrose "Jalousie Beach Break". Basically, we rode in a speed boat from the cruise terminal to Jalousie Beach, which is right between the two Pitons. The beach itself was beautiful if rocky, and it had a very exclusive feel to it. At least initially. We set ourselves up at a straw beach umbrella with chairs, and relaxed. Our tour had maybe 10-15 people on it. However it became quickly apparent that all of the Spencer Ambrose (and other) tours end up at Jalousie Beach at some point--like a Grand Central Station of tourists. Pretty soon it was lunchtime and there was a line for the buffet lunch (which was very delicious) was wrapped around our chairs. Later, even more tours arrived, and there were no beach chairs remaining and real estate was at a premium. Not exactly relaxing. We then went on a tour via speedboat of the coastline, which was very enjoyable. Overall, we had a great time.

 

Antigua

 

This was definitely the most disappointing port of call on the cruise. We didn't have much planned, so at the last minute we decided to rent a car. Immediately after exiting the cruise port area, you are bombarded and harassed by aggressive taxi cab drivers. Eventually we found someone who could actually tell us where to retrieve the rental car. Antigua, although it sounds exotic, is definitely a run-down third world country. I'm not saying that to put Antiguans down, but it just doesn't seem like there is much to do or see on the island. I'm sure if we had planned it better, we might have a different opinion of the island, but we ended up driving all over the island looking at the bleak, barren landscape. It is definitely one of those countries that makes me realize how much we take for granted in the US!

 

St. Maarten

 

We had visited here before, so we stayed on the ship late and spent time at the pool, then took the water taxi to Phillipsburg, did some shopping, and had some drinks for cheap. Very relaxing, and the beach (probably artificial beach) near Phillipsburg has very soft sand, although it was quite crowded with the Allure of the Seas and the Maasdam in port with us.

 

St. Thomas

We had visited here before as well, so we again stayed on the ship late. For lunch we had Bistro on Five, described previously.

 

I apologize for the organization (or lack thereof) in this review. Please let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

[ansugabe]

Thanks for writing such a detailed review!

 

In your earlier post, you commented that you had a great time and that you left with a great first impression of Celebrity cruise lines. I was surprised to read this earlier comment after seeing your review above, which made it seem you weren't pleased with the overall experience. I'm cruising on the Summit for the first time in a couple weeks, and as such would be interested in hearing more of what you enjoyed.

 

Again... Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences!

 

Doug

[momofteens]

my "name" may say mom of teens but I'm now the mom of a 25 year old going on the summit with a friend. Thanks much for the great review. I will pass it on.

[AMAC86]

I did have a great time. I think whatever entertainment issues existed are probably not an issue on other itineraries. For whatever reason, there was no standup comedy on our cruise, whereas there had been plenty of standup comedy on other cruises--even other Summit cruises from what I've heard!

 

Yes, I did find the food to be a hit or a miss. But it was still nicely presented.

 

If I had to point out the bright spots of Celebrity from my first cruise on them they would be:

 

--Style/decor/ambiance

--Spaciousness of the ship (not crowded)

--Interesting itineraries

--Excellent service

--Cuisine presentation

--Variety of food options

--Specialty restaurants

 

The black eyes of Celebrity would be:

 

--entertainment

--unrenovated cabin bathrooms (in Summit, at least)

 

The list of things to complain about that were Celebrity's fault is pretty short, IMO.

 

I think one of the things I noticed was that Celebrity appears to be in the midst of a shift in target market. Whereas they probably went after the older passengers before, they seem to be trying to want to attract younger passengers. I wonder what Celebrity will be like when this shift is complete!

 

Above all else, my cruise on the Summit was relaxing, whereas my cruise on the Dream was very hectic and crowded.

[ansugabe]

I did have a great time. I think whatever entertainment issues existed are probably not an issue on other itineraries. For whatever reason, there was no standup comedy on our cruise, whereas there had been plenty of standup comedy on other cruises--even other Summit cruises from what I've heard!

 

Yes, I did find the food to be a hit or a miss. But it was still nicely presented.

 

If I had to point out the bright spots of Celebrity from my first cruise on them they would be:

 

--Style/decor/ambiance

--Spaciousness of the ship (not crowded)

--Interesting itineraries

--Excellent service

--Cuisine presentation

--Variety of food options

--Specialty restaurants

 

The black eyes of Celebrity would be:

 

--entertainment

--unrenovated cabin bathrooms (in Summit, at least)

 

The list of things to complain about that were Celebrity's fault is pretty short, IMO.

 

I think one of the things I noticed was that Celebrity appears to be in the midst of a shift in target market. Whereas they probably went after the older passengers before, they seem to be trying to want to attract younger passengers. I wonder what Celebrity will be like when this shift is complete!

 

Above all else, my cruise on the Summit was relaxing, whereas my cruise on the Dream was very hectic and crowded.

 

Thank you - that helps quite a bit.

 

Did you enjoy ANY of the entertainment options in the evening? We're night owls, and on other lines have enjoyed wandering the ship to check out the different happenings.

 

Doug

[librarylady19]

Thanks for your review and photos. We are going this itinerary in January. While we loved the Summit when we sailed her, the entertainment was definitely the ship's weak spot. There was a comedian but the show was so PG that it was really lame and the production shows were as you described.

However, the other attributes of the ship made up for that IMO (and yours too from what I read in your review).

You really should try an S Class ship to get a well rounded view of Celebrity. We found the entertainment quite good on Eclipse...especially the late night comedians.

One other comment regarding your encounter with the inebriated lady at dinner - unfortunate but not a reason to condemn the beverage packages. we did not witness any problems on our last cruise.

[AMAC86]

Also, while the pools are indeed saltwater pools, they are very crystal clear. From what I can remember, pools on the Carnival ships looks nasty and brown--perhaps it is untreated seawater on Carnival ships?

[AMAC86]

Thank you - that helps quite a bit.

 

Did you enjoy ANY of the entertainment options in the evening? We're night owls, and on other lines have enjoyed wandering the ship to check out the different happenings.

 

Doug

The sad thing is I whined about the entertainment so much, but I didn't actually stay up past 11PM or so most days--mostly due to having to get up so early for the ports of call.

 

There is a night club called "Revelations" which we wandered around in off hours, but never experienced when it was being used for something.

 

 

Pictures of the Gelato:

 

 

Melon platter from room service (similar to main dining room appetizer)

 

 

Beautiful sunset over the water on our sea day

 

But to actually answer you question--I'm not sure I enjoyed any of the entertainment options that much. I think the Fusion band was the best, but very repetitive after 7 days. The most polished performers were the pianist "non-impressionist" and the ventriloquist with the puppet. But those shows were only mildly entertaining.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, the crew talent show was the best show I saw by far, which is ironic because it was all amateurs. But half of that was probably because I had really grown to admire and love the crew!

[portofrome]

Thanks so much for your review and photos.

[Mrs_Tiki]

Thanks so much for your very balanced review and great photos. I can't wait to see the renovated Summit for myself this Saturday! :)

[AMAC86]

One annoying thing that I just thought of--there are very few clocks on the ship. Bring a watch! I found myself having to find phones on the walls that displayed the time on their very tiny displays.

[sarahc78]

Great review & your pictures are gorgeous! What camera did you use?

 

One annoying thing that I just thought of--there are very few clocks on the ship. Bring a watch! I found myself having to find phones on the walls that displayed the time on their very tiny displays.

There arent any in the rooms either. Guess they dont want you to know what time it is lol

 

So you didnt like the steel drum player? He was supposed to get off when you did, but I just read yesterday his contract was renewed for an additional 2 months.

[AMAC86]

Great review & your pictures are gorgeous! What camera did you use?

 

 

There arent any in the rooms either. Guess they dont want you to know what time it is lol

 

So you didnt like the steel drum player? He was supposed to get off when you did, but I just read yesterday his contract was renewed for an additional 2 months.

Thanks, the camera was a simple Sony DSC-W150. Nothing too special. I am not a photography nut by any means, I was just pointing and shooting! And occasionally zooming!

 

I liked the steel drummer as background/mood sounds--but I wouldn't be buying a CD. Compared to a lot of the steel drummers on the islands and/or outside the cruise ship in port, he was just fumbling around going up and down scales while his iPod was playing the cords/tracks, which was fine if you weren't really listening closely.

 

I did like most of the performers as background music initially. They just got so repetitive over seven days.

 

In the theater, the production band is quite good. Unfortunately, they don't have an orchestra pit, so often their sound has to be overly amplified in order for it to be loud enough to project into the audience. This results in it sounding very much like a recording, especially when a backdrop or stage elements are between the listener and the band.

[AMAC86]

 

I turned around and snapped this one papparazzi style on our first formal night to show what people were wearing.

[skittl1321]

Thanks for your review- we have our next cruise booked on Celebrity, though we are thinking of booking another on a more standard ship- to get the real celebrity experience.

 

Interesting about Antigua- it is my favorite stop ever, though we did a tour that had us on the water most of the time, stopping at various islands for hiking. We didn't see the "mainland".

 

Also, while the pools are indeed saltwater pools, they are very crystal clear. From what I can remember, pools on the Carnival ships looks nasty and brown--perhaps it is untreated seawater on Carnival ships?

 

I've done three Carnival cruises and never thought the water looked dirty at all, just like a standard pool. They do treat the seawater they use. Maybe it is the color they've painted the bottom of the pool?

[dvc deernut]

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW. We have done 5 CELEBRITY CRUISES IN THE CARIBBEAN. On the Solstice and the Millinium. 10 on Disney and the last one on Caribbean Princess. We are trying the Summit next Feb. for the first time. Im glad you said you didnt notice the smoking, because the smoking was awful on the Caribbean Princess in the Casino and top deck. We have been to all those islands a few times, yes werent impressed with Antigua either. Thank you for the heads up on the trip you took on St Lucia we were looking for something to do there. Its rather dirty where the ship docks. We like snorkling and have done it in Barbados and Aruba and want to find other places to snorkle. We liked the Spa pools on Celebrity, they were never as busy. We like leaving on cruises in San Juan. Your already in the Caribbean and not at sea to get there.

[dvc deernut]

Thanks for your review- we have our next cruise booked on Celebrity, though we are thinking of booking another on a more standard ship- to get the real celebrity experience.

 

Interesting about Antigua- it is my favorite stop ever, though we did a tour that had us on the water most of the time, stopping at various islands for hiking. We didn't see the "mainland".

 

 

 

I've done three Carnival cruises and never thought the water looked dirty at all, just like a standard pool. They do treat the seawater they use. Maybe it is the color they've painted the bottom of the pool?

Do the SOLSTICE, they have real grass on the top and Live Glassblowing on the top of the ship put on by Corning Museum. Very nice ship.

[NewSalt]

Thanks for the informative review.

 

I especially liked the picture of the three ships in port. I remember driving up to the Summit the first time and thinking how big it was. The comparison is amazing. It makes you wonder how much larger ships can/will get.

[Rick-cruiser]

Great Review! One of the best I've ever read. Balanced, detailed, funny (your description of the 4X4 Safari in Barbados was hilarious), honest, and comprehensive. The pictures interspersed throughout really helped a great deal, and added tremendously to the details of the story as we followed along. You have a great talent as a writer. Nice job.

[AMAC86]

Thanks, I would've put more pictures, but it's only letting me put 6 per post and it's too late to edit any of the posts!

[AMAC86]

 

Serenade of the Seas with the Celebrity Summit in Antigua

 

 

 

 

 

This would've been a great photo if I had a better camera. Serenade of the Seas sailing alongside the Summit on the way to Antigua.

[rollnoles2]

After having a day or two to relax after our 4/14 sailing on the Celebrity Summit, I thought I would try to cobble together something about our journey and the experience of the ship.

 

Just so you have some background, this was my first trip aboard a Celebrity ship, and only my second trip aboard any cruise ship--the last being the Carnival Dream in the fall of 2011. I am a male in my mid-20s, so I was on the younger end of the age range of those on the ship.

 

CRUISE

 

Overall

 

On the outside, the Celebrity Summit appears rather homely, especially in the rear. The way the stern is boxy and upright, yet has some scalloped curves and edges is truly ugly. However, I did like the color scheme, and the "X" logo gave it kind of an exclusive look.

 

 

Inside, she was truly beautiful. We first entered the ship on Deck 4 (I think) near the main Atrium, and it was immediately apparent how classy and elegant the ship's decor was. Very contemporary without being wacky like Carnival's ships.

 

 

I really had to smile when I read this-it was exactly how I felt when we took our first cruise on the Constellation. I thought the other ships in port were so much more spectacular in appearance, but once inside-WOW!

[cruisnuts]

AMAC86 - Thank you for a very detailed review, but it's too bad you let your immaturity take over. Your comments regarding the "two older couples" was very immature, which btw was our first impression when we were relocated to your table on the first formal night. "snarky and glaring" really?? When we arrived at your table it was very obvious that you were not happy with us sitting with you and we were made to feel very unwelcome. If anyone was "snarky and glaring" it was you my friend....