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Celebrity Summit Review - January 4-11th, 2014

chrismakris

By chrismakris,
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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Hello All,

 

I am writing my first review, so bear with me. This was our first cruise with Celebrity and needless to say, my wife and I booked another one while on ship.

 

 

Choice Of Cruise - My wife and I decided in January of 2013 while on a trip to Mexico that we should make a January escape from the cold a yearly habit. With that said once we got back I hurried over to my TA and began discussing options. She mentioned the 123Go promo that Celebrity had and that we had until the end of the month to decide on it.

 

We had cruised before on another line and it pretty much turned us off. After a long discussion we decided to give it one last shot and settled on a 7 day Southern Caribbean from San Juan with 5 ports of call. I met with my travel agent and booked the cruise in a Veranda 2B stateroom and we chose the beverage package.

 

 

 

Flights - We chose a United flight through Chicago from Seattle and came back through JFK on American. A little worried about flying east during the winter, but what could go wrong? Well let me tell you. After getting through security in Seattle the fun began.

 

While eating breakfast the announcement that our flight to Chicago is cancelled. Get to the customer service counter and get booked on a flight through Newark to San Juan. Not bad unless your original flight is scheduled for 10 am and now you are leaving at 9 pm. We took our luggage back to our hotel and went to the Museum of Flight and Pike Place Market to kill some time.

 

Get back to the hotel at 3:30 pm to relax before we go to the airport. I look at the flight board they have at the hotel and notice our flight is delayed until 1 am(making us miss our flight to San Juan). Get on the phone with United and we get scheduled on a 6:30 pm to San Francisco with a 9:45 pm flight to Newark that will connect us with our flight to San Juan.

 

Get to San Francisco and our flight to Newark is delayed(not truly surprised) and we will miss our flight to San Juan anyway(worth the try). Luckily the gate agent in Seattle booked us the second flight to San Juan so we were OK anyways. Leave San Fran at 12:30 am getting into Newark at 9 am. Find out our original flight to San Juan had been cancelled and we would have been on the flight we were on anyway.

 

Leave Newark at 1:30 pm(delayed again) arriving on San Juan at 6 pm. 20 hours late. :p

 

 

Hotel and stay in San Juan w/ Embarkation - We chose the Courtyard Marriott Miramar. Nice hotel. Decent location. Took a cab to old San Juan where we walked around and had dinner.

 

Arrived at the pier the next day dropped off our luggage and went back to Old San Juan because of the late departure. Visited the fort and went back to the ship where we got acquainted with the ship.

 

 

The Ship - I'm sure quite a few people that will read this already are familiar with this ship, so here's the Coles Notes' version.

 

2000 or so passengers. Wine Bar(Cellar Masters), Beer Bar(Michaels Club), 700 seat MDR, 600 seat theater, Casino, iLounge(Internet), Emporium(Shopping), Martini Bar/Crush(self explanatory). Cafe al Bacio(Coffee), Bistro on 5(Crepes. $5 surcharge), Library, Qsine and Normandie(Specialty dining), Fitness facility and AquaSpa. Revelations Lounge.

 

If you want any details on the ship or its' condition, just ask and I will answer with what I saw.

 

 

Our Stateroom - We were located in 6091, approximately mid-ship. The room was 170 sq. ft with a 38 sq. ft balcony. I found the shower to be a little tight, but what else can you expect. Other than that, the room served its needs and it was clean.

 

 

The Food - We found the food to be top notch. The buffet every morning was excellent. Lots of choices of food(even though it was pretty much the same every day. The food in the MDR was top notch. No complaints on the food.

 

We dined in Qsine on the second formal night. The waiter was excellent and was very helpful in helping is choose our food. The food was amazing. I highly recommend the sushi lollipops. He said that we should order six items and that it would be more than enough. Well it was more than enough after the fourth dish. I would start with four choices and then add more if you need to.

 

We didn't do Normandie. We're saving it for the next cruise.

 

Had some Crepes at Bistro on 5. They were pretty good.

 

 

 

 

I will add more on the next thread.

Edited by chrismakris
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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Entertainment - Decent. The Sirens show was a little on the corny side but had it's moments. There was a Broadway singer who I heard was exceptional. The comedian on board was pretty good. She had an adults only show at midnight on the second formal night.

 

 

This is the part where I will tell you why the cruise was so special for us

 

 

The staff - Everyone that we talked to on the ship staff wise was awesome. The bar managers, the wait staff, the restaurant managers, the Captain all asked how we we're enjoying our cruise. Never once did it seem forced.

 

 

Here are the staff that made it worth while:

 

 

Rosemary(MDR manager) - Efficient at getting everyone sat and looked after. Was willing to fire back if you joked around with her. Thank you for your service.

 

???????? - Our Stateroom Attendant - Never got his name because we hardly ever saw him, but he kept the room clean, always had the room turned down and kept the room organized. Top Notch!

 

Oksana(Waitress in Bistro on 5) - Even though we only had 1 crepe each she joked around with us and poked fun at us because we would only have one crepe. We could have more if we wanted.

 

 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

 

 

Numan and Gede(Bartenders at Martini Bar) - These two were the stars of the show. Two co-workers who just met a couple of weeks ago, but have a chemistry that makes you think they've worked together for years. They'll make a drink for you and put on a show flipping their bottles and never dropping them. Easy to talk to and just made the Martini Bar the place to be. Well done guys.

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Ports Of Call

 

 

St Croix - It was a Sunday, so a lot was closed. We rented a car and drove around the island. Went to the eastern most part of the US. Dropped the car off and went back to the cruise ship. Relaxed on the pool deck.

 

St. Kitts - We did the Island History and Rum Tasting tour. Good little excursion to take if you want to learn a something about the island and have a little bit of rum while you're at it. The Estate that you visit is quite exceptional and the rum they serve is pretty good. Go for the Vanilla Rum. I rate this tour a 4 out of 5

 

Dominica - We did the Accessible Dominica and Rainforest Drive. Not bad. Beautiful scenery. The fruit drink stop was uneventful. Overall a 3.5 out of 5.

 

On our way out we got treated to an amazing show of porpoises jumping out of the water next to the boat as we sailed away.

 

Grenada - Somehow we missed our excursion that we booked. This is one we booked through a local company not Celebrity.We showed up 15 minutes early and they were already gone. Weird! We went back to the ship and booked the Spice and Waterfalls excursion. After finally getting them to open the windows of the un-air conditioned bus the trip was more enjoyable. The tour guide was very knowledgable and the spice plantation and nutmeg processing plant were very educational. The waterfall was great and I went for a swim. Freshest water I have ever swam in. Bought some spices as well. Overall a 4.5 out of 5.

 

Sr. Thomas - We booked through Simplicity Charters and did a full sail tour around the islands. I would highly recommend these guys anytime. Took us to some snorkeling spots and a great beach to hang out at. They cooked a great lunch and had a great deck hand in Hinckley. 5 out of 5

 

 

Disembarkation and Flights Home

 

Disembarkation was a breeze. We we're in the first group off the boat at 7:30 am. Everything went smoothly and we we're at the airport and through security within one hour.

 

The flights home were uneventful. We landed at JFK and had a 5:30 minute layover. It gave me time to watch the first half of the New Orleans - Seattle football game. It turned out I got to watch the whole game because of a couple of delays.(What else). Uneventful flight home and after spending the night in Seattle we drove home.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

What can I say. We met some wonderful people and had a magnificent time. We ended up booking on board for the other half of this back to back itinerary for next year.

 

Thank you all at Celebrity. Numan, Gede, Rosemary, the staff at the Art Gallery, Oksana and anyone else who was helped make this cruise wonderful.

 

It was a pleasure to meet Jose, Kurt, Courtney, Diane and Elizabeth, Bob and all the other New Yorkers that were on this cruise.

 

Hopefully we'll see most of you next year.

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evandbob

evandbob

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Ports Of Call

 

 

St Croix - It was a Sunday, so a lot was closed. We rented a car and drove around the island. Went to the eastern most part of the US. Dropped the car off and went back to the cruise ship. Relaxed on the pool deck.

 

St. Kitts - We did the Island History and Rum Tasting tour. Good little excursion to take if you want to learn a something about the island and have a little bit of rum while you're at it. The Estate that you visit is quite exceptional and the rum they serve is pretty good. Go for the Vanilla Rum. I rate this tour a 4 out of 5

 

Dominica - We did the Accessible Dominica and Rainforest Drive. Not bad. Beautiful scenery. The fruit drink stop was uneventful. Overall a 3.5 out of 5.

 

On our way out we got treated to an amazing show of porpoises jumping out of the water next to the boat as we sailed away.

 

Grenada - Somehow we missed our excursion that we booked. This is one we booked through a local company not Celebrity.We showed up 15 minutes early and they were already gone. Weird! We went back to the ship and booked the Spice and Waterfalls excursion. After finally getting them to open the windows of the un-air conditioned bus the trip was more enjoyable. The tour guide was very knowledgable and the spice plantation and nutmeg processing plant were very educational. The waterfall was great and I went for a swim. Freshest water I have ever swam in. Bought some spices as well. Overall a 4.5 out of 5.

 

Sr. Thomas - We booked through Simplicity Charters and did a full sail tour around the islands. I would highly recommend these guys anytime. Took us to some snorkeling spots and a great beach to hang out at. They cooked a great lunch and had a great deck hand in Hinckley. 5 out of 5

 

 

Disembarkation and Flights Home

 

Disembarkation was a breeze. We we're in the first group off the boat at 7:30 am. Everything went smoothly and we we're at the airport and through security within one hour.

 

The flights home were uneventful. We landed at JFK and had a 5:30 minute layover. It gave me time to watch the first half of the New Orleans - Seattle football game. It turned out I got to watch the whole game because of a couple of delays.(What else). Uneventful flight home and after spending the night in Seattle we drove home.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

What can I say. We met some wonderful people and had a magnificent time. We ended up booking on board for the other half of this back to back itinerary for next year.

 

Thank you all at Celebrity. Numan, Gede, Rosemary, the staff at the Art Gallery, Oksana and anyone else who was helped make this cruise wonderful.

 

It was a pleasure to meet Jose, Kurt, Courtney, Diane and Elizabeth, Bob and all the other New Yorkers that were on this cruise.

 

Hopefully we'll see most of you next year.

 

Chris:

It was a pleasure to meet you and your bride, glad you got home safely. Thanks for your review. BTW, the singer was Lindsey Hamilton, the London version of Patti Lupone. Her opening "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was simply fantastic, and her a cappella version of "Amazing Grace" choked me up. First time I experienced such a top notch entertainer at sea.

Bob

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AlbertaCruisers

AlbertaCruisers

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Thanks for the review. We were on this itinerary last month. We also rented a car in St. Croix and drove to Point Udall. Unfortunately, it rained like crazy while we were there.

 

Here are your buddies from the Martini Bar...

 

Interesting, the guy in the first picture was one of the helpers in the Martini Bar in November when it was too busy, nice guy but wasn't involved in the shows etc. The main bartenders in November were Marko and ... (darn I forget his name)!!

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Livin on the Edge

Livin on the Edge

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Ports Of Call

 

 

Sr. Thomas - We booked through Simplicity Charters and did a full sail tour around the islands. I would highly recommend these guys anytime. Took us to some snorkeling spots and a great beach to hang out at. They cooked a great lunch and had a great deck hand in Hinckley. 5 out of 5

 

 

[+1

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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great review thanks, the trip you did in St Thomas, did you book direct for just 2 and they filled it with others or did you have to get a group together as I can see they only take 6 max.

 

thanks

 

We booked with them with directly. There was three of us and we didn't have to find another three. They say they are now booked up to a month in advance so I would get on it before it's too late. We are already going to be booking them for our cruise next year.

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Thanks for your review. We will be on the Summit B2B in March looking forward to the cruise. Did you upgrade your Classic Drink Package? What type of martinis did Norman and Gede make for you?

 

We did upgrade the drink package. It was worth it.

 

I personally didn't have any martini's. I stuck to my drink of choice which was an Old Fashioned(The upgrade allowed me to have Woodford Reserve instead of Makers Mark). Numan and Gede make a good one. My wife stuck to the dirty martini's.

 

I didn't see many martinis going back. The most popular ones seemed to be the Lychee martini, the Chocolate martini. There was a strawberry one that had cream in it that people liked and the Dirty martini.

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Interesting, the guy in the first picture was one of the helpers in the Martini Bar in November when it was too busy, nice guy but wasn't involved in the shows etc. The main bartenders in November were Marko and ... (darn I forget his name)!!

 

These two were awesome. Gede said that there were a lot of complaints about the martini bar before. I didn't really ask why. He was new then in November. Numan and Gede have been on the ship about two months so maybe they were just in training at Martini Bar then.

 

I did see another Marko at one of the bars, so he must still be on the ship.

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Did you use the Aqua spa and/or Persian gardens? How was if? What did you see?

 

I personally didn't use the AquaSpa or Persian Gardens. My wife did get her nails done and also got her hair done for our night at Qsine. Richard was his name I believe and she was very pleased with both services she got while on board.

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chrismakris

chrismakris

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Katrocity1 - Qsine was excellent. We had the sushi lollipops, tacos, tres ceviche, filet mignon, spring rolls and the Chinese dish. We were so full from everything else we didn't have room for dessert.

 

If I were to do it again I would skip the tacos. While they were good, they weren't anything special.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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