Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 4/26/14 REPO Cruise – Caribbean & Bermuda

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I knew from researching in advance that we should have been able to see the Summit from the Sheraton’s pool area, so once we got up and ready, we headed there to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checkout of the hotel wasn’t until noon, but by 10am we had all our stuff ready to go, checked out and caught a taxi to the port. By 10:30 we were among the first handful in line at the port. Even though our hotel appeared to be one of the closest to Celebrity’s port, it would have been difficult to walk there because of the roads and pulling your luggage. It only took a few minutes via taxi to get to the port. I don’t recall the exact cost of the taxi, but I think it was $10-12. . We waited in line, and by 11am they opened the doors. We were checked in within minutes. There was zero wait at the security check point or receiving your card. By 11:15 or so we were onboard the Summit.

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We headed straight for Bistro on Five for lunch once onboard. I think the secret’s out about this place on embarkation day, because within 30 minutes or so the place was packed. After not having breakfast, we were both starving and ordered two crepes each. One would have been plenty, but our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. We still made room to share a dessert though (crème brule). We ended up eating here a second time for lunch later in the week. Things we had that I’d order again here: Cowboy Crepe, Hot & Spicy Crepe, and Buffalo Crepe. Things I would not order again with my issues with each: Mexicano (too much corn inside) & Spanish (this dessert crepe had nothing inside it – only caramel sauce on top – I’m still not sure if they forgot to put something inside ours or if that’s the way it normally comes).

 

Around 1-1:30, they made the announcement that our rooms were ready. At that point, we headed there to checkout our cabin for the week. This was just around the time we were finishing up at Bistro on Five, talk about perfect timing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I was clearly spoiled with the space in my last ocean-view room (9001) because this room felt very, very small. Even the bathroom seemed smaller. Initially when we got to the room, they had put the beds together. I made a call to the room steward to let them know we’d like the beds separated. When I returned to the room around 4pm to see if our luggage had made it back, the beds had been separated, and they had put our luggage inside the room (which was nice). I hate the thought of your luggage sitting outside your room unattended when it’s delivered. As you can see from the pictures below, there wasn’t much room to move around, but it was totally adequate for the week. We never spent any time in the room other than to change clothes, shower, and sleep. The room did show a little bit of age – specifically the tiles/grout in the bathroom and a few of the drawers in the bedside table and closets were a little bit rickety.

Edited May 6, 2014 by HeatherC430

[bjinouno]

Loving all the pictures and your review so far.. Keep them coming. Love that you are showing photo's of the ship that are different from others, Can't wait to see and read more, I am on the ship May 25th first time Celebrity, so I am LOOKING !

[HeatherC430]

Once the sun was about to go down, we headed back to the room to change clothes for the evening. The muster drill was at 7:45pm. It was relatively painless compared to other muster drills in the past. Our muster area was in one of the lounges so we were able to sit. Afterwards, we enjoyed sail away on Lido deck. My camera takes horrible pictures at night so I only have a few from the first evening.

 

Here’s your first glimpse of mom (with her Cosmo). It’s worth noting that there were 3 options to choose from at the Martini Bar with the classic beverage package: a regular martini, Cosmo, or Appletini. She opted for the Cosmo variety each time. As the week progressed we ended up at the Martini Bar almost every night. Three nights in a row we closed down the place (lights come on at 1am and that’s your queue to go back to your cabin). I didn’t have any martinis the whole week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Views of St. Maarten from the Summit…

 

 

 

 

Shortly after we pulled into port, the NCL Gem pulled into next to us.

 

 

 

 

 

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We were scheduled to be in port from 8am until 5pm this day. I had been to St. Maarten once before (on my first cruise with mom back in 1998). I was anxious to visit again on this trip since I barely remembered much from our first visit. Mom wanted to do some shopping on the French side of the island, so I had pre-booked the tour below through Celebrity. For each of the tours we’ve booked through Celebrity, I’ll include the tour description as well. When our shore excursion tickets arrived in our stateroom on the first day, we saw that there was a note on the ticket along with the meeting time that all shops would be closed due to it being a Sunday. Mom had a serious issue with this, because who books a shopping tour when all the shops will be closed on that day? Since it was less than 24 hours away, it said the deadline had already passed to cancel this tour, so we figured we’d take our chances and go anyway. The tour was supposed to be 4 hours long – scheduled from 9:30am until 1:30pm.

 

The Ultimate Island Tour: Explorer Cruise and Island Tour (SMD2) $58 pp

This tour is a fun cruise on the lagoon with complimentary drinks, calypso entertainers and shopping time in Marigot. The narrated tour leaves from the cruise ship pier. You’ll pass the Great Salt Pond as your guide points out places of interest and explains some of the colorful history of the island. You’ll see Orient Bay, the village of Grand Case, the Rum Factory, Marigot, Fort Louis, and the neighboring island of Tintamarre. Your double-decker boat "Explorer" will take you to the French capital of Marigot where you can spend time browsing, shopping or just relax while sipping an ice cold drink and looking out over beautiful Marina Royale. From the marina, cruise the Simpson Bay lagoon passing the luxury villas and mega-yachts. With music and great drinks, cruise past Port des Plaisance to Simpson Bay Marina where the coaches will be waiting for the short return drive to Philipsburg and the cruise pier.

 

We both enjoyed the cruise along the St. Maarten coast on our way to the French side of the island. We took a short narrated bus trip to the boat, and then cruised to Marigot as the description specified. We sat on the top level of the boat. The calypso entertainer sang various crowd favorites (he even took a few requests) and kept the crowd engaged. The rum punch was pretty good, and they also included beer with just a donation bucket for “tips”. The beer was Coors light. Once we arrived in Marigot, we were told about the shops being closed, but where instructed that the “flea market” would be open. We had about an hour of free time to kill before being told to meet back onboard the boat. We walked through the “flea market” area. Most of the booths had the same stuff. An hour was more than enough since all the shops were closed. There were a few places to eat or drink along the way as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This was our boat – the Explorer

Heading to the "flea market"...

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We met back onboard the boat at the specified time. Once everyone was loaded on the boat, they had us get off the boat and then walk to where the buses were. In addition to Celebrity Summit passengers, this tour also included those from the NCL ship in port as well (they were on a different bus). Us, as well as a few others seemed to be a little bit irritated that he had to re-board the boat only to be escorted back off and moved to the bus. It seemed like a second “tip grab” since there was a worker standing there with the tip box again as you got back off the boat. In either case, we did enjoy the boat ride to Marigot and the sights along the way; it just would have been nice if the shops were actually open.

 

At the end of the bus ride, we were told that they’d be making a stop for anyone who wanted to get off earlier rather than being dropped off back at the port. When the tour operator on the bus described what would be at the stop she talked about a casino and marina (therefore we stayed on the bus) - had she mentioned that the beach & boardwalk where there, we would have gotten off the bus at that point. Since she didn’t, we rode the bus to the port, and then got a taxi ($3 per person) back to the exact place that the stop was made on the bus. Live and learn I suppose. The beach is Great Bay beach. We enjoyed the beach area for an hour or so. It’s worth mentioning that there were tons of shells at this beach. Normally, in the Caribbean, you rarely see many shells. After the beach, we walked the shops along the boardwalk and parallel street (these shops were open on the Dutch side). Then, we got another taxi back to the ship. You can walk to/from this beach and boardwalk area – it’s about a mile walk each way. Also, they have a water taxi available too for $7 per person each way. On our next trip, we’ll probably just walk to the beach and boardwalk. You had to be back onboard the Summit by 4:45pm.

 

Below is a picture of mom getting off the boat (for a second time) looking miserable :)

 

 

Back on the bus going back to port.

 

 

This yellow building is where we got a cab to the beach. You're able to get taxis to other places from here as well.

 

 

The boardwalk area where the taxi dropped us off.

 

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(I can’t stop myself from the cheesy tourist photos)

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Once onboard, we headed to the aft bar to have a drink and watch sail away.

 

 

 

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Not much to report on this night. It was formal night; however, we just ate dinner in the ocean view café. Afterwards we made our way to the show. This was the first show I’ve seen on Celebrity (my DH & I didn’t attend any shows on our week onboard the Summit in February). I thought it was pretty good. I especially enjoyed the aerialists.

 

 

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Here are the Captain’s Club coupons I received in our stateroom. I only used the 3-free BINGO cards (when you purchased the package) and the free scoop of Gelato.