Summit Review - Nov 29 to Dec 6 2014 - With Pictures

[poffles]

St. Lucia cont... local sights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

St. Lucia cont...

 

Back on the ship, here are a few of the town from a different vantage point. Hopefully I'm not bombarding y'all with too many pictures :)

 

Traffic just like any other place.

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

St. Lucia cont. ... sick of it yet LOL

 

Taken as we were leaving this island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye St. Lucia ... till next time.

 

[poffles]

Tuesday evening ...

 

Bistro on Five:

 

I think we ate at Bistro on Five this night. We figured we'd try it out and so glad we did. They had the new menu with added items. We both had the steak which was really good. We started with French Onion soup and Clam (or Seafood) Chowder served in a bread bowl. We each found ours very good. For dessert I had the crepe with Nutella, really good, my friend had the Crème Brule which she loved. The food was really good, so good we returned a few nights later. Worth the $7 charge. We noticed another table, two couples, that equally loved it as they were there every night. The quiet setting and low lighting of this place made for a very calming way to enjoy your supper. Music was piped in that was just loud enough to be heard but still able to converse without any issue. It really is a nice venue with good service. Did not try it for breakfast or lunch as it didn't entice me for those meals and likely being in a port each day was more the reason, maybe next trip on Reflection we would try a lunch.

 

Theater show: Sirens

 

We went to the theater show Sirens. This was pretty good for what it was, but we are not easily entertained by singing type shows. They were good singers and it filled some time but we walked away without much after thought about it. I loved the shows on our Disney cruise as they definitely wowed you, magical sums it up, but you definitely paid for it. Or we prefer shows that are more Broadway, but we don't currently sail expecting spectacular shows so it is what it is and when it's good it's a bonus. Much like all inclusive vacations that have evening shows which are done by in house staff, I don't think much of them either though they sometimes surprised me.

 

I'll add that, as mentioned earlier, our Epic cruise had very good evening entertainment but it came at a cost of a ship that was large and not able to handle the number of people. Perhaps hard to find a balance of how much money to put into entertainment vs other areas and the number of passengers paying for it?

 

Time to call it a night ... next stop Antigua.

Edited January 4, 2015 by poffles

[Jenlwarren]

Absolutely loving this! We leave Thursday for the same itinerary. Can you tell me how close they local market is in St. Lucia?

 

 

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[poffles]

Absolutely loving this! We leave Thursday for the same itinerary. Can you tell me how close they local market is in St. Lucia?

 

 

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Thank you! We walked to it ..really really close. Maybe a block or two, it's to the left as you walk out from the port onto the main street. We stumbled upon it and did not venture far from the ship. It was a big market.

Edited January 4, 2015 by poffles

[need2bespoiled]

Thank you! We walked to it ..really really close. Maybe a block or two, it's to the left as you walk out from the port onto the main street. We stumbled upon it and did not venture far from the ship. It was a big market.

 

When we were there on Eclipse in 2012 there was a bit of construction but the Eclipse docked further away from the market, and town I'm not sure if it a different dock that Summit can use, or a new one, but it was definitely closer, which is great. We were the only ship in port then. Hopefully we'll be on this port when we're there in April.

 

Thanks for the great review.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[poffles]

When we were there on Eclipse in 2012 there was a bit of construction but the Eclipse docked further away from the market, and town I'm not sure if it a different dock that Summit can use, or a new one, but it was definitely closer, which is great. We were the only ship in port then. Hopefully we'll be on this port when we're there in April.

 

Thanks for the great review.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

Last trip we docked same dock on the Carnival Victory in 2011 (don't think we were further up) so maybe the construction is what impacted your stop. We were looking right down on the town. Here is a picture from our last time docking here. Really nice being right there

 

 

 

 

Here's another angle ...

 

 

Looking at this photo maybe we lucked out because there does look like the tail end of another ship in this shot docked across the water, maybe size makes the difference and the Summit and Carnival Victory would be smaller ships??

 

Edited January 4, 2015 by poffles

[dodger1964]

We were there last month on summit and we docked at the other side of the port (where those ships are pictured on the left side of picture above). The dock we used is pictured in one of the sail away pictures posted above (the one with the colored flags). We walked to town from there. Easy walk, but it was probably a mile each way.

 

 

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[poffles]

We were there last month on summit and we docked at the other side of the port (where those ships are pictured on the left side of picture above). The dock we used is pictured in one of the sail away pictures posted above (the one with the colored flags). We walked to town from there. Easy walk, but it was probably a mile each way.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Well there you have it folks ... it's a coin toss.

[Mungus]

We are LOVING your review. We just booked this ship and itinerary for January 2016 and were a bit nervous about the age and size of the ship but feel so much better about things and I'm sure we're going to love it as much as you did. Would it be too much trouble to post copies of your daily activities newsletter? We're new to Celebrity, and would enjoy seeing what they have to offer. Thanks again for taking the time and posting such beautiful photos!

[poffles]

We are LOVING your review. We just booked this ship and itinerary for January 2016 and were a bit nervous about the age and size of the ship but feel so much better about things and I'm sure we're going to love it as much as you did. Would it be too much trouble to post copies of your daily activities newsletter? We're new to Celebrity, and would enjoy seeing what they have to offer. Thanks again for taking the time and posting such beautiful photos!

 

 

Thank you, I can totally relate to your apprehension but pretty sure you will love the ship and itinerary.

 

I don't have a scanner but could try taking pictures of them and posting that way. Will take me some time to do this but since you aren't going until 2016 I'm sure I'll get them up before that if the pics work :)

[Mungus]

Thank you, I can totally relate to your apprehension but pretty sure you will love the ship and itinerary.

 

I don't have a scanner but could try taking pictures of them and posting that way. Will take me some time to do this but since you aren't going until 2016 I'm sure I'll get them up before that if the pics work :)

 

Haha...yes, we have lots of time...just brimming with excitement now that it's booked! Anything you're able to do, at your leisure, would be most appreciated. Thanks again! :)

[ETski]

Poffles Thanks for your great Summit review. While reading your review I relived my B2B cruise this past October on the Summit. Will be doing another B2B this October on our favorite ship. Enjoy your Reflection cruise.

[poffles]

Okay ... time has escaped me but think it's time to carry on here. Hopefully this is still of interest to others.

 

Wednesday found us arriving in St. John's, Antigua. We had not been to this port before but after all my research we decided to do a beach day. After while the islands tend to look somewhat the same so we didn't want to take an island tour and be in and out of a vehicle all day so a beach sounded nice.

 

Here's what we booked:

 

Day 5 03-Dec-2014 St. Johns, Antigua

Tour: ANA9 - Beach Escape

Time: 2014-12-03 09:00 AM

Cost: 86.50 CAD (total for two adults)

 

Another beautiful day so we would not regret our choice for the day. See for yourself, here's our first view of the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

We have company.

 

 

[poffles]

So we were off this ship in not time and walked over to shuttle vans to take us to our beach. And I will apologize now and say i have no idea what beach it was! Oh my.

 

I'll side track here to say I feel very sad for people that appear to have miserable dispositions (just cause or not). There was on lady on our shuttle that was a little physically challenged ... walking with a cane ... and upon getting into the van she was not happy. She was complaining about the cramped space, even though she had the best seat being last one in near the door. The taxi driver tried to help her in but she was very angrily pushing him away telling him to leave her be. After she got settled, another girl setting beside her tried to be friendly saying it would be a good day and the lady grumpily mumbled "I doubt it" At this point I made a note to myself to be sure not to be in this ladies shuttle going back! :eek:

 

Here are the shuttles.

 

We are at the beach.

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

They had a little area where you could get drinks. Our excursion included a drink ticket for a glass of punch ... rum or virgin. I'm having recall 'challenge' but think chair was included but we paid $10 for the large wooden umbrella ... age is not my friend LOL).

 

 

This is the umbrella we had.

 

 

They must do another excursion of horse riding on the beach as we saw another group doing this and the horses went in the water too. Looked like fun. Here's a shot of the horses enjoying the shade.

 

[poffles]

We were told our time to be back to catch our shuttle and we just piled into one of the ones waiting and quick trip back and we were at the port again.

 

We wondered around the port a bit, didn't really do much else here. Theres some shops here but nothing really outstanding.

 

Few shots from near the port.

 

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

That evening was pretty much a repeat of other evenings, eat drink and roam the ship. We did not do the theater show. We were boring people when it came to evenings on the ship :p Have to wind down and get rested for the next day in St. Maarten.

 

Reflecting on the beach day in Antigua, I am really glad we did this, especially after we seen how little there was at the port. We believed it would have been a waste of a day to have nothing planned to take us away from this location and eight hours is a longer time that people realize to just putter around the port.

[poffles]

Thursday Phillipsburg, St. Maarten Dec 4th 2014

 

This is one of my favorite islands. This would be my 3rd visit and I've been lucky to have beautiful weather every visit.

 

 

 

 

All ready for Christmas.

 

 

Sidewalk that takes you into Phillipsburg.

 

[poffles]

We did not book any excursion here. Easy to get into town and do shopping. Two other trips here we took the water taxi over which is a great as it gives you a view along the way and saves the walking. This time we decided to walk over which is really not that far but I'll warn you that with the heat it seems much longer than it is. It wasn't that bad but realize I enjoyed the water taxi much more and would opt for that in the future.

 

Did some shopping, bought much 'needed' jewelry :D and then got bored by noon. We were shopped out and realize that when we visit here in April we have to do something different and thinking a trip to the French side might be in our future.

 

Here are some random shots of Phillipsburg.

 

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

Few more.

 

 

We sat and had a drink on the waterfront and this band was playing. Sounded great but I don't think any of the songs had more than five words repeated over and over and over again. Their music is best heard in passing or maybe I hadn't drank enough :p Was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can it get any better than this! I am so fortunate to get to experience this.

[poffles]

The evening was a repeat of the others. I think we may have dined at Bistro tonight. As I had said prior, we loved this place. It really is a good place to eat and wind down, great way to finish of the day.

 

We did not do the show this night, it was Al Ducharme comedian. I might have regretted not going if I had not seen a snippet of his performance on the next evening in the farewell show. We were not impressed and did not find him funny at all (we actually walked out about that time.) I'm fussy with comedy anyway so could be just me so don't let me sway you from going and forming your own opinion.

 

After a bit of roaming around we retired. Here is what we came back to in our room, he's reading about the next days events! Looks like his eyesight needs a little help like mine LOL.

 

 

Next day is St. Thomas and our trip over to St. John for first time!

Edited February 2, 2015 by poffles

[need2bespoiled]

So we were off this ship in not time and walked over to shuttle vans to take us to our beach. And I will apologize now and say i have no idea what beach it was! Oh my.

 

I'll side track here to say I feel very sad for people that appear to have miserable dispositions (just cause or not). There was on lady on our shuttle that was a little physically challenged ... walking with a cane ... and upon getting into the van she was not happy. She was complaining about the cramped space, even though she had the best seat being last one in near the door. The taxi driver tried to help her in but she was very angrily pushing him away telling him to leave her be. After she got settled, another girl setting beside her tried to be friendly saying it would be a good day and the lady grumpily mumbled "I doubt it" At this point I made a note to myself to be sure not to be in this ladies shuttle going back! :eek:

 

Here are the shuttles.

 

We are at the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was Fort James Beach, it's been a while, but that is what it looks like to me.

 

Thanks for your review.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna