Disappointed in Summit

[fishin' musician]

The pillows were terrible,

 

Did you utilize the pillow menu?

[durberville]

Did you utilize the pillow menu?

 

..and on the same subject, could you tell me if you found the pillows too hard, too soft, too big, too small? I'm booked in a regular balcony cabin and won't have the luxury of the "pillow menu". Can't sleep without my down pillow or similar - perhaps I'll vacuum pack it and bring it with me. Haha!

 

LOVED the Summit two years ago (before her "Solcitizing") but now you've got me worried about the bedding. Did they change the pillows??

 

(Didn't have a problem with the bathroom/room storage - thought it was exceptional)

[stellarose]

I hear various accounts of summitt. I will go into summitt , summer cruise, with an open mind. DH and I just want to relax, take in some sun, have a nice beverage ( upgraded package), and see Bermuda.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Jborosara]

We love summit too

[vermonter16]

To be honest, I don't recall servers in the buffet area taking drink orders on my last cruise. Maybe for breakfast...maybe.... But, we generally have always gotten our own drinks which isn't that big of a deal.

[caribsun]

Sorry that the Summit did not meet your exceptions maybe try the S class. We have sailed on the Summit the last two years and just had a wonderful time but we did notice the steam in the bathroom. Something really needs to be done about that.

[caribsun]

To be honest, I don't recall servers in the buffet area taking drink orders on my last cruise. Maybe for breakfast...maybe.... But, we generally have always gotten our own drinks which isn't that big of a deal.

 

We had dinner one night in the buffet and servers were there to take drink orders.

[vermonter16]

Hey caribsun, I've actually never eaten in the buffet for dinner...only breakfast and lunch. I didn't realize the OP was talking about dinner....doh! :)

[constantcruiser]

It's been years since I've been on M-class ships, but absolutely love S-class. Based on my recent experience on Solstice & Equinox, I recommended X to DD & DSIL for their Southern Caribbean cruise. They were also aboard Summit last week and expressed many of the same concerns that OP mentioned...wear & tear that should not have been showing after the ship was recently refurbished. Although they've cruised extensively on other lines, this was their first (and possibly their last) time on X.

[fishin' musician]

So many brands, so little time...

[puddy and me]

my and i were on the same cruise. the ship did seem well worn and need of some tlc especially in the public areas. the ports and weather were great the at sea day was horrible no chairs available everyone saving there space.the mdr.food was adequate. ate at Normandy 1 nite we enjoyed. over all a great week. this was are fourth cruise on celebrity but thinking of trying another line next year

[JudithLynne]

We were on the Summit last fall, it was our 31st cruise. We lucked out in that we booked late and were able to get a corner aft family veranda cabin for the two of us which is like having an apartment complete with” his and hers” closets. We enjoyed the ship, food, and the Ocean View Café, but I will tell you what the major problem was for us! Getting off the ship in ports. Tender tickets were of course prioritized. As non elites and not having a ship sponsored shore excursion, it would take hours to get a tender leaving many with just a few hours ashore. We finally gave up at tender ports and stayed on board the ship. Because of their poor planning we missed three ports. Even in Portland, Maine where we docked, it took 45 minutes to walk off the ship! They had the plank at such a steep angle, that people had to slowly walk down it one at a time tightly gripping the hand rail.

 

We have been on the Infinity twice and never had these problems. We have never had this problem with any other ship on any of the cruise lines that we have used.

[happygran]

Our first cruise with Celebrity was last February on the Equinox. Loved it so much that we immediately booked again for this February on the Summit.

 

We enjoyed the cruise and the ports but wouldn't sail M class again. I didn't like the buffet layout and also didn't think there was as much choice as on Equinox. The bathroom design was poor, the toilet didn't work one day, the floor covering on the balcony was awful, the pillows were as hard as bricks...plus a lot of minor niggles. I ordered room service breakfast on the TV when we had an early excursion...it never showed. When I phoned, they had no record of my order.

 

We did think that Cellar Masters was much better on Summit though.

 

But no, we'll stick to Solstice class in future.

[Lady Chew]

I hear various accounts of summitt. I will go into summitt , summer cruise, with an open mind. DH and I just want to relax, take in some sun, have a nice beverage ( upgraded package), and see Bermuda.

 

then you'll probably have a great cruise ... we did, in spite of all the little bumps we encountered ...

 

So many brands' date=' so little time...[/quote']

 

too true!!

[Lady Chew]

Sorry the ship wasn't more to your liking. Maybe S class would be better, however, be advised that the general consensus is that while the S class bathrooms are nicer, the storage is somewhat lacking.

 

The poorest - least - storage we've ever had was on Oasis. They solved some of the problems on Allure, but still not very good.

 

I am curious, what cruise line have you sailed on that has room for lounge chairs on the balcony. As far as I know, all lines' standard balcony staterooms are pretty much comparable in size, including their balconies.

 

We've had loungers on the balcony on most of our Royal Caribb cruises, except this last one on Independence. We've had them on all of our cruises on Holland ... and with the exception of one cruise on Holland and this one in "concierge" on Celebrity ... we've had "regular" balcony cabins

 

..and on the same subject, could you tell me if you found the pillows too hard, too soft, too big, too small? I'm booked in a regular balcony cabin and won't have the luxury of the "pillow menu". Can't sleep without my down pillow or similar - perhaps I'll vacuum pack it and bring it with me. Haha!

 

LOVED the Summit two years ago (before her "Solcitizing") but now you've got me worried about the bedding. Did they change the pillows??

 

)

 

The pillows were too thin & too small, and kind of lumpy. Mr Chew put his two on top of one another for sleeping, but that made them too big for me. I went in search of my steward once or twice to ask for something different, but couldn't find him. (As I mentioned in my OP, he did an excellent job but we only saw him a few times during the week) I suppose I could've phoned, but just ... didn't! I really only thought about the pillows when I was trying to go to sleep at night!

[yunksr]

We will be sailing on the Summit on March 30th, our 2nd time on Summit, and can't wait. I understand that we can all find something that we don't like or things we think should be better or different. But..... A day on a cruise is better than a day at work.... EVERYTIME ! :)

[chill6x6]

We were in concierge class, Deck 8 ... the cabin was small, and the veranda was small, two regular chairs & one table took up all the space.

 

 

 

Yes, they were pretty horrible. I still have a hard time believing that any cruise line would keep chairs that bad in use. The solarium had newer chairs, but those of in our party who used them didn't find them comfortable.

The service was pretty good around the ship ... except in the buffet. The only time they seemed to be adequately staffed was at breakfast. We didn't notice long lines at lunch or at dinner because there were so few people around, including servers. We ate most of our lunches out at the grill, those hambugers were yummy! And on the one sea day, they had a big buffet in the MDR.

As I said, we'd never sail or recommend Celebrity on the basis of this ship, but would be willing to try one of the newer ships if the price & itinerary were absolutely completely totally perfect!

 

I'm pretty upset about the deck chair situation you saw aboard the Summit. That will be first time this issue will have come up for us. Hard to believe that they would keep shoddy deck chairs on a refurbished cruise ship. That's probably one of the most used/appreciated items on the ship!

[Rachel302]

Several times I saw crew members repairing broken lounge chairs, replacing the straps/bands that had broken. Then you're just left with a dingy dirty chair with 1 or 2 new straps. I wouldn't have used them, but would rather sit by the pool with the padded chairs anyway!

We found the pillows too flat, the mattress too firm and the bedding too thin. We asked for an extra blanket which solved one problem and used the decorative pillows which solved the first problem. We've had much more comfortable bedding on other cruises, but like I said before, it certainly didn't deter us from booking the same exact cabin again.

[librarylady19]

I'm pretty upset about the deck chair situation you saw aboard the Summit. That will be first time this issue will have come up for us. Hard to believe that they would keep shoddy deck chairs on a refurbished cruise ship. That's probably one of the most used/appreciated items on the ship!

 

I'm appalled that they still,had the dirty deck chairs. I noticed them on our cruise last September. Can't imagine how grungy they would be by now :(

[Lady Chew]

We found the pillows too flat, the mattress too firm and the bedding too thin. We asked for an extra blanket which solved one problem and used the decorative pillows which solved the first problem. We've had much more comfortable bedding on other cruises, but like I said before, it certainly didn't deter us from booking the same exact cabin again.

 

I had thought about using the decorative pillows, but decided not to. I don't know how often they get cleaned! Does anyone have any idea how often they get changed? what about the couch? does it ever get cleaned, or at least vacuumed?

I try not to be paranoid about these things ... but sometimes I just wonder ... :o

[vermonter16]

I don't think about it because most of the time, if we really knew what went on - we'd be apalled. Just like at the grocery store....really don't want to know the process of how that meat got to you that you're eating...or you'd never eat it. I'm not going to think about if they clean the couch or not....I'm just going to sit on it :)

[Seago2]

I had thought about using the decorative pillows, but decided not to. I don't know how often they get cleaned! Does anyone have any idea how often they get changed? what about the couch? does it ever get cleaned, or at least vacuumed?

I try not to be paranoid about these things ... but sometimes I just wonder ... :o

 

I hear you. That's why I always strip the bedspread off of the bed... Especially hotel beds.

[Miss SeaBee]

Just back from the March 2 Southern Caribbean sailing of the Summit. Even though we had a good time on the cruise overall, we were disappointed in the Summit.

We were traveling with a family group, six adults 58-68 yrs, and one 30 year old adult child of one of the couples. We all had a variety of things to do and enjoyed ourselves. We all liked the ports, did different things in some of them and did things together in others. Three ports were new to Mr Chew & me, so we had private tours to take us all 'round and show us St. Croix, St. Kitts, & Grenada, and we also took a similar tour in Dominica, which we had visited before. On St. Thomas we got off & rode up to Paradise Point (it was great being the only ship in port that day!)

Our stateroom was okay ... would have preferred drawers in the desk/dresser instead of shelves, every time we opened those swing out doors things would fall out. The little tiny hooks on either side of the mirror didn't hold much. The pillows were terrible, the reading lights not very strong and couldn't be directed, you have to read on your side in order to get the full light on your book.

I hate not having a full lounge chair on the balcony (I know Celebrity isn't the only cruise line doing this) Sitting on one chair & putting your feet up on the other just isn't the same as stretching out on a lounger!

The bathroom is just about the smallest we've ever had, and we didn't like the layout - the toilet blocking full access to the shelves. Would have preferred cabinets to open shelves. While they had plenty of space for our toiletries, everything gets steamed up when you take a shower. The shelves below the counter weren't very usable - some were blocked by the toilet and the others were open to below, and things would fall through. Our cabin steward was very good, even though we only saw him a few times.

We had to call 4 times in the first 3 days to get our toilet working properly. Go to flush, and no vacuum. No nothing. Their explanation was that someone had probably flushed one of the no-nos and it was affecting other cabins. Our response was you'd better find them and get them to stop. I had to make a few early moring trips down to Deck 5 to find a working toilet. They finally came down and did some work outside our cabin and after that the problem went away.

The lounge chairs on the upper deck were disgraceful - stained, torn, just in horrible condition, although at least the ones by the pool had those mesh (?) covers on them. I wouldn't have wanted to sit on them otherwise, even with a few towels! We didn't use the Solarium, it looked & felt like an old gymnasium pool.

The band at the sailaway was FABULOUS - best we've ever had on a cruise. The entertainment generally was very good, although we didn't care very much for the featured hypnotist/mentalist. Not big fans of the cruise director either, but that didn't effect our overall experience one way or the other. We went to the first art auction, just for fun & for the raffle, and left after a few minutes because the auctioneer was such a ... I don't know what to call him, he wasn't very entertaining and he wasn't very funny, nor was he very understandable. We were not the only ones who walked out! The production shows were pretty good.

MDR was excellent, we had select dining and generally ate around 8. Never made reservations and never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table. We shared a table a few times and had our own table twice. Food & service was excellent.

Our biggest disappointment was in the Oceanview Cafe. We thought it was horrible. The layout was all wrong, way to long. If you wanted to see what was available before making your choices, you had to walk around the entire thing in order to see everything. A lot of it was wasted space, not being used for anything, mirrored walls, doors ... just not a good layout. Although the quality of the food was excellent, there was not great variety from day to day it was not very well organized. You go to one station to get your beef or chicken, and you may want your potatoes/pasta from another, and your veggies from still another. A lot of walking around. And while I understand the need for sneeze guards over the food, the food should be arranged horizontally along them, not stacked up 3 platters deep. When you see someone put their arm inside up to the shoulder to reach something, and it touches the things in front of it ... well, not very appetizing. No servers available to help you out. At least in my case, it was probably a good thing I couldn't reach the desserts! No one to take a drink order (except at breakfast there was a waiter going around with coffee). And the trays! I know some people really like them, but we think they are for waiters & school students. Just made it seem like a cheap cafeteria rather than a nice buffet.

There were places all over the ship where the floors were uneven under the carpet ... in the passenger corridors, in the buffet and in some of the lounges. Several of the elevators sounded as if they were falling apart.

Bottom line - we enjoyed the cruise, but had some problems/difficulties with the ship. We would never sail on Celebrity again based on this ship, but might be willing to give one of the newer ones a try, if the price & itinerary were absoloutely perfect.

 

I have cruised on the Summit's sister ship, Millie, and I thought it was a little shabby, too. I hope you will try an S class ship! They are lovely, new, and the buffet is much, much better! I also hated the Millie buffet layout. The S class buffets have multiple stations, so there isn't one long line snaking through the buffet area. I also thought the food was better in the Solstice buffet. Lots of people prefer the M class ships, but I am definitely not one of them. I'm cruising on the Reflection in 3 weeks! Yay!

[Miss SeaBee]

We've had loungers on the balcony on most of our Royal Caribb cruises, except this last one on Independence. We've had them on all of our cruises on Holland ... and with the exception of one cruise on Holland and this one in "concierge" on Celebrity ... we've had "regular" balcony cabins

 

 

 

The pillows were too thin & too small, and kind of lumpy. Mr Chew put his two on top of one another for sleeping, but that made them too big for me. I went in search of my steward once or twice to ask for something different, but couldn't find him. (As I mentioned in my OP, he did an excellent job but we only saw him a few times during the week) I suppose I could've phoned, but just ... didn't! I really only thought about the pillows when I was trying to go to sleep at night!

 

I'm surprised that your cruises all had loungers on standard balconies. I've only cruised X and Princess, but I avidly "check out" the other ships we dock beside in ports, and I never saw anything on any ship with a regular balcony except chairs similar (but not as nice) to X. That being said, I can't think of a time that I've been docked beside a Holland ship, so I can't report on that. Maybe loungers on standard balconies are a thing of the past, before I started cruising in 2005. ?