A few Summit observations

[puppyluv1]

First, thank you to the cruise critic posters for all of the great tips and information. DH and I sailed Celebrity about 13 years ago, so it hd been awhile! We were on the Oct 19 repositioning cruise from NJ to San Juan and I thought I would post some observations relevant to the research I did on cruise critic.

 

1. Was in a Celebrity Suite and received Elite benefits even though we are only Classic

2. Were given 3 drink vouchers per person per day; accompanying letter said it was due to the large number of Elite passengers

3. When our butler explained the different venues where we could have breakfast, lunch and dinner he did not mention Blu. I asked if we could eat there and then he told us as suite guests we could, based on availability, and for a $5 pp charge. We ate there one night and they charged us $10

4. We brought a bottle of champagne on board and asked our butler for champagne glasses when he came by with the afternoon coffee and snacks. Not only did he bring us the glasses but brought us a shrimp cocktail platter to have with our "special drink"

5. We had Select Dining and never waited more than 5 minutes for a table

6. The MDR seemed understaffed and because we didn't have an assigned table, and ended up in different sections, we felt a little like an afterthought on some nights. I would do Select again for the flexibility, but might make reservations and ask for the same section

7. Ate in Bistro on 5 on embarkment day. We got there at a good time...wasn't crowded and food was great

8. Did the Riedel glass workshop and it was amazing...would highly recommend

9. At the end of Riedel workshop I said it would be great if we could use these glasses for the rest of the cruise. The sommelier half whispered that we were entitled to request these glasses at dinner because we attended the workshop. Unfortunately, as I said the MDR seemed understaffed and we were lucky to get a glass of wine at all during dinner

10. Took the premium beverage package and loved it. I don't know that it was a "bargain", but the freedom to have a bottled water, cappuccino or glass of wine when we wanted without keeping track of what we were spending was well worth it. Also tried my first (and second) martini

11. Speaking of martinis, I asked for the 20 year martini and was told the menu had changed. The next day, the Daily suggested we try the 20 year martini...go figure

12. Ate once in Qsine and loved it. DH ordered a glass of wine that cost 12.50 and they charged us the .50 (plus tip). Actually he had two glasses so it was $1 (plus tip)

13. Ate once at Normandy and loved it. We asked the sommelier to pair wine with each course and she did an amazing job. She asked us if she could go over the $12 limit per glass and we said yes. Cost us a few extra bucks but well worth it. This was the only night we had every course (including the cheese plate!)

14. The reservation card left in our stateroom for Normandy said that kids had to be at least 12 for Normandy (and Murano, Olympic, SS United States and Ocean Liners)...we didn't have the kids with us, but I know this question has been asked in the past

 

Hope this was helpful! We just booked an Alaska cruise with Celebrity for next September. Can't wait!

[themwl]

Thanks for all the information. Were they running any specials on Specialty dinning?

[puppyluv1]

When we boarded there was a table set up for reservations and they were offering a 20% discount for the first night.

[bphman]

We had many of the same impressions about the Summit. Our dinner at Normandie was less than spectacular and the sommelier was very aloof. We had breakfast in Blu every morning and it was great. We, too, were in a suite and were charged the $5 pp charge for the one dinner we had there. We had assigned dining so our experience in the MDR was great.

 

I agree with you in Bistro on 5. Had lunch there twice and enjoyed it immensely.

 

We loved the ship. Very classic. Although we enjoyed the Equinox, we found it to be very "white" in color. It did not have the fittings we preferred on the Summit.

 

We did book the Infinity for next June while on board and got a nice OBC in addition to the beverage package that we upgraded to Premium. We chose AQ because we enjoyed Blu. Didn't wan to spring for a suite this time and applied the money to a Windstar cruise in January.

[karena1]

We will be on Summit for the first time in April and really looking forward to it. Normally do Royal, but the price on Summit was great and then when they threw in the 123promo and free bev pkg, it sealed the deal. Looking forward to what Summit has to offer and we love going out of San Juan.

[farout141]

I was on the same cruise (Summit Oct 19 repositioning cruise from NJ to San Juan) and found the Select Dining to be far better than Blu. We switched over from Blu to the MDR and did select and found service to be great. We were seated in the same area all 5 nights and had the same staff wait on us. Service was very quick with Jorge as our Waiter, Samantha as the Bar Person and able to keep our drinks filled for us.

 

We ate at Bistro on 5 2 times and both times we timed it right before they got busy. Food very good.

 

Doug Cameron was onboard and did a show which was excellent (this is the second time we have seen him on the Summit)

 

We are booked on the Summit in May of 2014 and also a B2B in Oct 2014 and counting the days down till we are back.

[puppyluv1]

Next time we'll still do Select dining, but will definitely ask to sit in the same section. I think having the same waiter would really make a difference. We still enjoyed our dinners in the MDR and thought the food was very good.

 

I also thought Doug Cameron was excellent.

[Kartgv]

We were on the Oct. 5 cruise and agree with most of your observations.

 

We too had both the Elite drink coupons and a drink package (free from our TA), so had way more free drinks than we could possibly use. We did run into a slight issue with Rendevous wait staff 'hustling' Elite coupons. When we used our drink package, a couple of waiters strongly encouraged us to use the Elite coupons instead. One went so far as to ask us to bring any unused coupons to the bar and give them to him. Not sure what was going on with that, but it made us uncomfortable and we moved to the Cellar Masters bar after that.

 

We also had Select dining but had a wonderful experience. Maybe we were just lucky - on our first night were assigned to Jasper and Yovana. They were great and we asked for them each night. Once or twice we would have had to wait too long for one of their tables, but our alternate table servers were almost as good. We found the MDR food to be generally very good - better than on the Celebrity a year ago.

 

Dinner at Normandie was just OK. Service was very good, though a little formal for our taste. Food was very good and well presented, but we just don't like their menu - too heavy on sauces and very rich.

 

Our biggest complaint was the buffet - both food (mediocre and monotonous) and layout. Having to walk all the way around the room to see what is available is crazy, and much of the time you couldn't even see the food without breaking into a line somewhere. The other problem was the lines themselves - much too difficult to figure out where the lines began for each food station, except for the one at the very back that had clear markings.

 

Other good points - Bistro on Five, the ice cream, the pool-side burgers and hot dogs, and an exceptionally fast and efficient boarding process, in spite of the Noro deep cleaning the day we boarded.

[Phxazzcruisers]

We were on the Oct 5 sailing in the Penthouse and agree with your observations. We ate in Blu every night with our friends that were in Aqua Class. Luigi, the Mater Di was exceptional as were our waiterReynaldo and asst. Ganna. We also had breakfast there when we did not eat in the room. Qsine was a great experience. We ate there for my birthday dinner, just way way way too much food. Now that we know how to order, we will try again.

Loved the elite drink coupons, very easy to use and we took wine to dinner most nights. Th swine we were able to get at Cellar Masters was MUCH better than then wine normally served at the elite parties.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for the information.

 

Keith

[Ellen S]

Was on the Sept. 21st sailing to Quebec. Unfortunately DH got sick on the 8th day. Got fantastic care from Med staff (while they were dealing with a very bad case of Noro Virus), Guest Relations and wait staff and Captain's Club people. My DH was taken to Quebec City Hospital the next day and we flew home the day after. Also took Travel Insurance and they are very easy to work with. DH is doing better.

The trick of doing Select Dining is check with the roll coll a couple weeks before you are going and find out what station to sit at. We were at Juan Carlos' station and he was wonderful. Found out from friends about him. I am sure next year there will be a new staff.

Embarkation day we went to Bistro on 5 and it was so nice not fighting the buffet crowd. Our adult DD was with us and she had a good time. We did the Sail A Way, Meet and Mingle, Slot Pull and cabin crawl. We got to meet wonderful people on Cruise Critic and the second week of the cruise when she was by herself she met up and had dinner with the Cruise Critic people and a friend we had made before the cruise started.

We ate at Normandie the first night and it was above my expectations. I just think I am lucky when it comes to fantastic service on all my cruises. I am also easy to please.

I loved Doug Cameron. This was the second time I've seen him. For any one who does not know who Doug is, he plays a mean violin. I am not into classical music, but he makes the violin sing and doesn't play classical. Also, loved the other shows I got to see.

Just remember this is a cruise ship and it does get some rust and I find it charming. Hoping to be able to do Bermuda again sometime next year.:)

[john2003]

Nice to read this post. Unfortunately we have just had to cancel our Nov 9 sailing on the Summit so it will be for "future" information purposes!

[puppyluv1]

Just thought of one more observation I wanted to share....after reading a thread on Amex perks we decided to use our Amex Platinum card to pay for this cruise. We received $300 OBC (non-refundable), a nice bottle of champagne (may have been sparkling wine, but it was good), and $60 OBC towards a specialty dinner (refundable). This was in addition to OBC from our TA. We didn't have any perks from Celebrity, so didn't have to worry about combining offers.