Considering Celebrity- Summit?

[cruisexlife]

Hello,

 

I have never cruised Celebrity, but I have been on 7 cruises total. WHile browsing cruises, I found a very nice deal to even better places (4 new places even after my Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan in March) onboard the Celebrity Summit. It is visiting bucket-list places of mine, such as Dominica, Grenada and Tortola.

 

What is the atmosphere onboard? I honestly don't care about the passenger age, as it is a 5-port cruise, and on the sea days, I like to work out, read, sunbath and relax. So I don't really care about what's onboard. Heck, I'm even considering getting an interior cabin!!

 

But back to the original question. What is the atmosphere onboard? How are the crew? What do the passengers enjoy and where are most of them from? What are popular day time activities? Night-time? While I may not attend many activities, I just want to see what the onboard like will be like, as I've never cruised Celebrity.

 

So happy I've found my way over to these boards! :D

 

Thanks,

 

CruiseXLife

[cruiserone]

Did the Summit last May and we are doing it again in April.Would not go back if we did not like it. Over 25 cruises under our belt so we did like The Summit. In fact we are looking to book her for October 2016 too! Staff was great. We had a CC cabin and had amazing steward and cabin assistant. Found the staff in the main dining room to be wonderful. Food was good. I don't eat meat so they were aware of that the first night and remembered it every night after that. Great wine steward's!! if you love wine. Bartenders were entertaining. People on board were mostly over 35 but we were traveling to Bermuda. We in fact, like it that way as we go on a cruise to relax and de stress.

 

Ship is older so don't expect the glamour of the S class. She has a more distinguished vibe. Cafe Bacio was amazing and the staff there was quick and personal!!!!!

 

Your on vacation whats not to like!!! Happy Sailing!!:D

[razzinger]

Which cruise are you considering? I see you have booked Carnival for March 29, are you considering the week prior on the Summit, headed to Barbados? We are on that cruise leaving the 21st.

 

Seeing you have been only on Carnival, I think you will really enjoy the more upscale but not stuffy feel of Celebrity. As far as who is on board, and where from? That's a crap shoot. We did Celebrity back in 2000, from San Juan, and were pleasantly surprised as to the diversity of the ages and homelands. There will be fewer adolescents I believe, but the range of ages will cover everything, guessing mainly 35-70 being the largest numbers.

 

What to do onboard? With a port intensive schedule, the ship will be a hotel room, and restaurant first, with all the regular venues for gathering, small lounges, disco, bars etc, a few pools, hot tubs. You won't find ice skating, wave pools, rock walls either, but there's a fine fitness center, spa , basketball, game room, etc, along with a small library.

 

Food will be personal, but we are picky eaters, and have never had a bad meal on a cruise. We think we try to make the best of things we don't get to do on a regular basis, so enjoy it while we can. We don't need a balcony or suite, concierge service or butler. Room service food is awesome, as is service from the room stewards. Staff will be more friendly we think than Carnival (we have been on Carnival Freedom and Liberty, and loved both).

 

Hope I answered some of your questions, and will watch to see if you have others. Otherwise, have a great time no matter when or where you go, we do!

[Mr. Click]

We did the Summit for a Southern Caribbean trip March 2013 and it was delightful. Very relaxed, very friendly staff. The crew is solid, they care about their passengers. It was our fourth SC trip, the other 3 were on the Serenade of Seas and we enjoyed it but we loved the Summit more. We paid for C3 cabin to get a bit more space, it was worth it for us.

[Maligator]

Captain Kafetzis is amazing. He was very visible around the ship, always approachable and a riot. If you see "Liar's Club" on the late evening itinerary, don't miss it. It's slightly raunchy without being crude and you'll get to see some very genuine humor. If Hotel Director Paul Kelley is still on board, he compliments the Captain and has a similar sense of humor.

[cruisexlife]

Did the Summit last May and we are doing it again in April.Would not go back if we did not like it. Over 25 cruises under our belt so we did like The Summit. In fact we are looking to book her for October 2016 too! Staff was great. We had a CC cabin and had amazing steward and cabin assistant. Found the staff in the main dining room to be wonderful. Food was good. I don't eat meat so they were aware of that the first night and remembered it every night after that. Great wine steward's!! if you love wine. Bartenders were entertaining. People on board were mostly over 35 but we were traveling to Bermuda. We in fact, like it that way as we go on a cruise to relax and de stress.

 

Ship is older so don't expect the glamour of the S class. She has a more distinguished vibe. Cafe Bacio was amazing and the staff there was quick and personal!!!!!

 

Your on vacation whats not to like!!! Happy Sailing!!:D

 

Thanks so much! :D

[cruisexlife]

Which cruise are you considering? I see you have booked Carnival for March 29, are you considering the week prior on the Summit, headed to Barbados? We are on that cruise leaving the 21st.

 

Seeing you have been only on Carnival, I think you will really enjoy the more upscale but not stuffy feel of Celebrity. As far as who is on board, and where from? That's a crap shoot. We did Celebrity back in 2000, from San Juan, and were pleasantly surprised as to the diversity of the ages and homelands. There will be fewer adolescents I believe, but the range of ages will cover everything, guessing mainly 35-70 being the largest numbers.

 

What to do onboard? With a port intensive schedule, the ship will be a hotel room, and restaurant first, with all the regular venues for gathering, small lounges, disco, bars etc, a few pools, hot tubs. You won't find ice skating, wave pools, rock walls either, but there's a fine fitness center, spa , basketball, game room, etc, along with a small library.

 

Food will be personal, but we are picky eaters, and have never had a bad meal on a cruise. We think we try to make the best of things we don't get to do on a regular basis, so enjoy it while we can. We don't need a balcony or suite, concierge service or butler. Room service food is awesome, as is service from the room stewards. Staff will be more friendly we think than Carnival (we have been on Carnival Freedom and Liberty, and loved both).

 

Hope I answered some of your questions, and will watch to see if you have others. Otherwise, have a great time no matter when or where you go, we do!

 

I am considering Thanksgiving week, November 21st, 2015. But yes, I will be on the Liberty, it's her first cruise from SJ ;)

 

Thanks soso Much! You have fun on your cruise too!:D

[Redtravel]

I have sailed on the Summit twice. While nothing is perfect, Summit does a good job. I would gladly sail on her again. Nice ship. Have a great time.

[phoenix_dream]

Just sailed Summit last year on the week after Thanksgiving and had a great time. I have a member review posted if you are interested.

 

One point to mention- sometimes, depending on how the bookings are going, Celebrity will put some great deals for locals (ie., Puerto Rican citizens) to fill the ship. I imagine Thanksgiving week might be one of those times. We have experienced this before, and while it was still a fun cruise, and I absolutely DO NOT have anything against Puerto Rican people, it is a different vibe on a ship when lots of big families with (often) small children are onboard. The ship was very crowded (a lot of cabins filled to max I am guessing) and public areas tended to be noisier than usual as any big family groups (or other groups for that matter) tend to socialize amongst themselves and don't necessarily do so quietly. I am mentioning this only because that is not usually what Celebrity is like, but a Thanksgiving cruise may be different in that respect. I hope no one takes offence as it is not meant as a criticism of anyone, just an observation of how the cruise was different than the usual Celebrity cruise.

[monicajay]

Enjoyed our 2014 Summit cruise so much we are booked again for 2015, would have booked for 2016 too but it seems to be either chartered or dry-docked during my school break vacation. We are trying the Connie instead.

 

It might seem a bit more upscale based on your Carnival experience. We love the atmosphere on board. Leaving out of San Juan there are not very many children on board unless you choose a holiday week.

 

Check your dates and see if the bevy package is included, might be worth taking the ocean view or balcony just to get it. Do your homework!

[Sheeba67]

Hello,

 

I have never cruised Celebrity, but I have been on 7 cruises total. WHile browsing cruises, I found a very nice deal to even better places (4 new places even after my Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan in March) onboard the Celebrity Summit. It is visiting bucket-list places of mine, such as Dominica, Grenada and Tortola.

 

What is the atmosphere onboard? I honestly don't care about the passenger age, as it is a 5-port cruise, and on the sea days, I like to work out, read, sunbath and relax. So I don't really care about what's onboard. Heck, I'm even considering getting an interior cabin!!

 

But back to the original question. What is the atmosphere onboard? How are the crew? What do the passengers enjoy and where are most of them from? What are popular day time activities? Night-time? While I may not attend many activities, I just want to see what the onboard like will be like, as I've never cruised Celebrity.

 

So happy I've found my way over to these boards! :D

 

Thanks,

 

CruiseXLife

 

We were on the Summit last November and had a great time. Food was good in the MDR. Normandie was excellent. Pax mostly 40-70 and friendly. They seem to be from various cities around the US, unlike cruises from Galveston where everyone is from Texas. Crew was great. Seemed like more from Eastern Europe, so interesting conversations. With the port intensive itinerary you tend to not miss all the comedy shows and trivia events on Carnival. You will have a great time

[jb008]

Hello,

 

I have never cruised Celebrity, but I have been on 7 cruises total. WHile browsing cruises, I found a very nice deal to even better places (4 new places even after my Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan in March) onboard the Celebrity Summit. It is visiting bucket-list places of mine, such as Dominica, Grenada and Tortola.

 

What is the atmosphere onboard? I honestly don't care about the passenger age, as it is a 5-port cruise, and on the sea days, I like to work out, read, sunbath and relax. So I don't really care about what's onboard. Heck, I'm even considering getting an interior cabin!!

 

But back to the original question. What is the atmosphere onboard? How are the crew? What do the passengers enjoy and where are most of them from? What are popular day time activities? Night-time? While I may not attend many activities, I just want to see what the onboard like will be like, as I've never cruised Celebrity.

 

 

We just sailed Summit in Dec 2014 and really enjoyed the trip. It was a more refined and sedate feel than Jewel of the Seas (sailed Dec 2013), and service was excellent. With the port intensive itinerary, the popular day activities were the ports, and night-time had a number of things going on between the shows, the live music in the lounges, and various organized parties. Two parties that stood out were the Liquid party, themed after a vegas club with DJ and some of the dancers there to help spice it up, and Indulgence, an evening party with a fee to cover open bar. With the ports, we really didn't do much on the ship beyond the main show and dinner. The shows included some live music, singers-dancers, juggling, comedy, and the iMagic show (featuring, you guessed - magic!).

 

Dominica, Grenada, and Tortola are all exciting ports that are a little more exotic than some of the more classic ports (e.g., Barbados, St. Thomas, St. Maarten). Sailing out of San Juan, there aren't all that many options and we preferred Summit over JotS (I figured JotS would need to be 15-20% cheaper than Summit to make it a hard choice), and in fact have a tentative booking on Summit for Jan 2016.

 

As others mentioned, compare the perks between category, a Concierge Class can net the all-inclusive promo (if you book by Jan 11th) which is worth a pretty hefty chunk of change (something like $87.50 for gratuity + $395 for beverage pkg + $150 OBC = $632 in perks per person)

[Tak8]

I did my first Celebrity cruise on The Summit this past Christmas. Enjoyed the cruise. Qsine and Normandie were excellent specialty restaurants. We were in a suite, so we ate at Blu for most breakfasts and dinners. Great service except in main dining room. We may have just hit a bad server which caused us to try and love Blu.

A little chair hogging, but you will get that on almost any line. Gym opens early, normally 6:00am.

I would sail on The Summit again.

[fleckle]

Hello,

 

I have never cruised Celebrity, but I have been on 7 cruises total. WHile browsing cruises, I found a very nice deal to even better places (4 new places even after my Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan in March) onboard the Celebrity Summit. It is visiting bucket-list places of mine, such as Dominica, Grenada and Tortola.

 

What is the atmosphere onboard? I honestly don't care about the passenger age, as it is a 5-port cruise, and on the sea days, I like to work out, read, sunbath and relax. So I don't really care about what's onboard. Heck, I'm even considering getting an interior cabin!!

 

But back to the original question. What is the atmosphere onboard? How are the crew? What do the passengers enjoy and where are most of them from? What are popular day time activities? Night-time? While I may not attend many activities, I just want to see what the onboard like will be like, as I've never cruised Celebrity.

Since it looks like you have been on a lot of Carnival cruises, for comparison I would describe the atmosphere on Celebrity ships as more laid back and low key than Carnival.

 

On Celebrity ships, there is usually only one announcement per day over the PA system, in stark contrast to Carnival's continuing announcements throughout the day urging you to participate in this or that.

 

You will receive a newsletter, Celebrity Today, in your cabin each night that lists the activities for the following day.

Then it is left up to you to choose the activities you want on your own and show up for them, or not, without further PA reminders that they are starting.

 

If you really like having additional reminders, you can turn to a channel on the TV in your cabin where the Cruise Director and Activities Manager usually talk about what will be going on throughout the ship.

Another channel has information about the various shore excursions offered.

 

As for the passengers, there is generally a mix of nationalities from countries throughout the world that will vary somewhat from cruise to cruise, but usually lots of Americans and recently more Canadians than previously, as Celebrity is offering special packages to Canadians where they fly them down on chartered airplanes.

 

The Summit Caribbean cruises are very port intensive, so there are not as many activities offered as on other Celebrity cruises that have more sea days.

 

The crew is wonderful and for the most part provides excellent service, but there will always be some exceptions, as can be expected.

If you get a server in the dining room you don't care for, you can ask to have your table changed

Or you can pick Select dining and sit at a different table each night if you wish, or ask to sit in a particular waiter's section if you find a favorite that you like.

 

Edited January 11, 2015 by fleckle

[Robalegab3]

I also have the same questions as you. My last cruise was carnival as I felt it was a great option for my children. My second home has been Antigua where I have also had the opportunity to explore many other islands. I chose this cruise because I'm traveling alone with my 2 teens for their spring break and loved the itinerary as I have always wanted to go to Dominica and Grenada. I hope my 19 year old finds people to hang out with. My younger one likes to hang out with me. I enjoy good wine and food which also seemed to be an attraction to Celebrity. Hoping it all goes well.

[mitttocs]

I have never cruised on Carnival -- but my understanding is that the average age is much lower than on Celebrity. I just got off last week's cruise 2 days ago, and although it was a great time as always you could almost count on one hand the number of people younger than 21. Also, there were some musical acts around the ship in addition to the main evening shows (singers/dancers on 3 nights, an English singer on 1 night, and Spanish guitarist 1 night, and iMagic show 1 night, and a comedian/juggler 1 night), as well as other fun stuff here and there, but the overall activity in the evening after 10:00 is very very low.

 

I only point that out because the O.P. specifically asked for energy level of the ship. This was my 6th cruise with Celebrity and while I absolutely love the brand and can depend on each cruise to be wonderful, the energy level of the passengers on this particular cruise was quite low in terms of evening activities. I was on the Reflection a couple of months back and the activity level on that ship was immensely higher than that on the Summit last week.

 

Again, to be clear, I am not complaining, as the overall experience was fantastic, but if you're looking for tons of stuff to do late into the evening, you might want to look at another option.

[Robalegab3]

Being that we are going college and high school spring break, I'm sure it will be fine. And if I get really lucky, there won't be many young people and for 1 week of my sons life he'll have to spend time with me!!!!😃

[azsunseeker]

I have never cruised on Celebirty and will be on the Summit Saturday January 31, 2015. I have done one Costa cruise and did not like it. I have been on Carnival 13 times and love it. I have read many great things about Celebrity. How does it compare to Carnival? If better, how? Thanks :D

Edited January 26, 2015 by azsunseeker

[cannongate]

I really enjoy all cruises and that includes the ones that I have taken on Carnival. I think that the decor of the ship is much nicer, dare I say classier, but also not as flashy. The reason that I like Celebrity more are a couple of small things that fit my cruising style. I think the food is better in the main dining room, there is less smoking areas by a long shot. There isn't smoking anywhere inside or on your balcony which really makes for a smoke free environment. It is quieter due to the lack of overhead announcements. You can get extra towels at the pool or anywhere for that matter without signing them out with your sea pass card and making sure that you get it back. Although these are small things I think they add up to a better experience. Add in the 123Go program for Coffee and snacks at Cafe El Bacio and included drinks by the pool and at dinner and the experience gets alot better.