Summit December 13 - Summary

[njgrlloves2trvl]

Background- Party of 6. Ages range from 36-43. My fourth cruise. 2010 Carnival, 2012 X, 2013 RC and this one. This was my second on Summit, same itinerary. Booked an Oceanview cabin and had classic drink package. I'm not particular about cabins because I use them to sleep in and get dressed. Would it be nice to have more floor space for getting ready? Of course but not enough to justify spending $$ for it. Oceanview suffices. Flew in a day before; stayed at La Concha.

 

Ship experience-appears to be fairly well maintained but showing its age. Didn't search for flaws so not sure if there are major areas of work needed. Service was noticeably slow at breakfast in Oceanview. We always had to wait and or hunt someone down to get us beverages. Our waiter would see us and not come over. On two occasions I witnessed staff being slightly rude. One; our sommelier at dinner, the other was the guy on the omelet station at the back of the ship. That was directed at a different couple. Again my party was a group of 6. Sometimes you're not sure if you want s cocktail or wine. On Monday the sommelier asks if we want drinks. A few order and he says "does anyone else want a drink? I don't want to keep walking back and forth to the bar". I get it, that's not efficient in the grand scheme of things but it's part of the business you're in. It was just a bit off putting to hear him say what inconveniences him. One morning a couple ordered TWO omelets with everything. Somewhere between getting the first omelet going they decide they only want one but the cook didn't realize that changed and began putting toppings in the second. After it was explained they didn't want the second one he was visibly annoyed by huffing and some frustrated body language. Bar and pool service for drinks was good.

 

Ports-Of the 5 ports we booked 3 of the excursions ahead of time independent of X and were leaving two open for others in the group to chime in. I didn't want the others in the party to feel like the two of us that are "the planners" were taking over. Barbados we freestyled it and hired a guy at the port. Mistake. He was lousy. I don't care where Tiger Woods got married, Rhianna lived or where Simon Cowell has a house. We did feed the monkeys. That was nice to do when your entire life you're told not to. :-) the island itself isn't memorable.

 

St. Lucia never fails. Booked Cosol. Requested Yellow Bird and he was as great as he was two years ago. It was a full day. Everyone in the group enjoyed the experience.

 

Antigua was a nice day. This tour was pre arranged and not as nice as the last time. We had him alter it and just take us to the beach. We couldn't sit in that van any longer. One of the better moments was visiting with a friend I've spoken with but haven't seen in several years due to relocations and traveling. She's the director of tourism for the Antigua and her sister island Barbuda. Turns out she knows my tour guide's mother who owns a shop in the vicinity of the stores near the ship. Small world.

 

St. Maarten was a nice day. Went to the perfume shop Tijon. I'm not into perfume but others in my group had a great experience so it was time well spent.

 

St. Thomas. This was a freestyle day; nothing arranged. Some rude folks on that island. They seriously need to improve how they do things at the taxi depot. Went to Coki beach. I had been before and there was some confusion going on and I was over talking with anyone so I went again. Great beach but St . Thomas is off my list of places to return.

 

Food/Bev-Breakfast is always in Oceanview. For breakfast I have an omelet with a side of meat or either bagel with salmon and some sort of fruit with water. Those are always standard and good. Dinner is always in the MDR and overall the food is good. I notice the food is NEVER hot which needs to be improved. When it comes to buffets my expectations start out low. There are many offerings but there will always be a compromise in quality of some sort so I go in not expecting to be wow'd. If you have the classic package the drinks available to you at the martini bar are a regular martini, apple and cosmopolitan. For the most part I drank margaritas or martinis. The cookies were really good. How can I forget those! Highlights in the MDR were the short ribs, french onion soup, and the chocolate lava cake.

 

Entertainment-Justin the activities manager and Ken the cruise director were a good time. The house band wasn't that impressive. One night they were playing in Rendezvous to a packed house of 6. I wanted to die for them. I know your performance should be the same for 6 as it would be for 600 but I kept thinking how I would have threw the mic down and left. I'm not a showman. Haha when they were done 1/3 of the crowd clapped. I witnessed this because I showed up early for karaoke under the impression I needed to rush to get a seat. Wrong. Karaoke had a turn out of 25. I performed not once but three times as there was no one rushing to sign up. Shout out to Fiona's Dad, Meridith and the little boy that did the Thriller dance while I sang. Again not much enthusiasm or clapping. Maybe I was awful or older people have a thing against clapping. Tough crowd. They incorporated some of the games that RC does which is nice but again they rely on crowd participation so if your audience is more reserved it makes it tough. I have a renewed appreciation for the activities staff. It would be nice if they did the "week in review" type of thing on the last night. I experienced that on RC and it was a great way to sum up the week and have a great time. They changed the shows to 7 and 9. 9 I'm at dinner and 7 I'm usually waking up from a post excursion nap and getting ready for dinner so we skipped most theater shows. I did see the iMagic show, that was pretty cool.

 

Overall thoughts-We had a great trip. Food was good, entertainment was decent. We had some fun times. I came to the conclusion that I'm better suited for Royal based on the demographic. There appeared to be a mix of people on the ship but it leans toward an older more reserved crowd which I knew going in. I was told by an employee that they are trying to change that. I'll save the details of the convo because it was a little tongue in cheek and I don't want to offend anyone because the banter won't convey in print. Perhaps I'll return in 20 years if they aren't successful at blending the crowd.

[ProfessorEFFE]

Nice review thanks! Just 2 comments. How would you feel if you were a cook and someone ordered 2 omelettes and then they said ooopppsss sorry we only wanted one. Food may be free on a cruise but come on lets be reasonable. As far as the demographic goes, I think Royal Caribbean would be perfect for you.

[DinaS]

Nice review thanks! Just 2 comments. How would you feel if you were a cook and someone ordered 2 omelettes and then they said ooopppsss sorry we only wanted one. Food may be free on a cruise but come on lets be reasonable. As far as the demographic goes, I think Royal Caribbean would be perfect for you.

 

A cook or a sommelier on a cruise ship doesn't have the right to "huff" and be "visibly annoyed" when a customer changes their mind or asks for something AFTER the initial order is taken.

 

Granted, they MAY be annoyed (and rightly so), but the customer should NEVER see it, hear it, or know about it.

Edited December 23, 2014 by DinaS

[crazycatlady82]

Thanks for your review. I am slightly worried, as we are in our mid 30's, that we are at the low end of the age range. We've found that we are too old for carnival, so we are trying X for something new. Appreciate your words!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review.

[dodger1964]

Thanks for review. We did same cruise in November.

 

You should have gone to the show the last night. They do (or did on our cruise) a "cruise in review" video at the show.

 

And for others seeing your comment about Barbados. We rented a car and drive around the island. It was my favorite island of this trip. We went to some beautiful churches and saw some great scenery. Beautiful breaking waves on the north shore. The roads aren't marked very well, so be prepared for some meandering.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[hcat]

Thanks for your honest review...

sorry you did not get to experience the full beauty of Barbados..,.agree that St Thomas is getting less enjoyable...and that Summit is showing her age even with Solsticizing..

 

Royal or S class ships like Silhouette or Reflection seem like a better choice for you,...more lively for sure from the nightlife you described.,,

[seadancer]

I've been on many cruises but my first on X was on the Silhouette. My dh and I loved it!! The bistro on five, the other restaurants like Qsine and the buffet. I don't know if it was the ship, but we thought it was great. The staff was extraordinary!! I hope we feel the same way with the Summit! I've read other reviews and think it will be great.

[Iamcruzin]

Thanks for the review. The weeks after Thanksgiving and before Christmas tend to draw an older demographic.My guess is the majority of the passengers this time of year are either retired or Newly Weds. Families and younger couples don't want to take the kids out of school or they have used up all of their vacation time for the year. DW is 45 and I'm 54 and found at times during our Summit cruise it was a little slow paced.

[jb008]

Thanks for your review. I am slightly worried, as we are in our mid 30's, that we are at the low end of the age range. We've found that we are too old for carnival, so we are trying X for something new. Appreciate your words!

 

DW and I are both in our early 30's and loved our experience on X (same cruise as the OP). She enjoyed the quieter and more reserved atmosphere over RCI, and we both enjoyed the food more than what was on Jewel OTS last year.

 

I posted my trip report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140428 but my takeaway between X and RCI is that we'd favor X any time the itinerary and pricing is comparable (I'd probably sat it'd need to be >10-15% cheaper on RCI to really get serious attention).

 

Somewhat described it well as X feeling more like a Spa Resort where things are a little slower paced with a refined, almost elegant, feel. Versus an almost vegas like feel on Carnival, or a family oriented resort on RCI.

 

Enjoy the vacation, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

[njgrlloves2trvl]

Nice review thanks! Just 2 comments. How would you feel if you were a cook and someone ordered 2 omelettes and then they said ooopppsss sorry we only wanted one. Food may be free on a cruise but come on lets be reasonable. As far as the demographic goes, I think Royal Caribbean would be perfect for you.

 

I don't think he should have visibly shown his displeasure. English weren't the couples first language and they said one after initially ordering two but he didn't hear them when they changed. I actually spoke up because I knew the cook thought he should make two. I took the second once after adding more ingredients to it so it didn't go to waste.

[njgrlloves2trvl]

Don't get me wrong we still had fun. Actually by night 5 we were tired. Very port intensive. I also agree with the contributor that said different times of year will determine the demographic. I was on Summit previously in February and it was livlier and perhaps more passengers. I just felt different. The Martini bar was always hopping. The comedian on the adults only show was good and the magician was also great. I've tried Freedom of the Seas on RC and that was quite memorable.

 

I also forgot to add that check in was a breeze. We arrived at the port a little after three. There wasn't a line to be seen. We breezed through security, got our seapass cards and were on board in probably 15. That was a seamless process.