Summit to Bermuda August 9th – 16th 2015 Photo Review

[sarahc78]

Around 1 pm we headed up to the pool area for a dip. The views from the pool are absolutely breathtaking.

 

 

 

 

 

There were roughly 4 or 5 other guests off and on during the hour or so we spent at the pool. Again very relaxing experience & a nice change of pace compared to the pool area on board the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to have spent more time at the pool, but the beach really tired the kids out so we headed up for our lunch.

[sarahc78]

I thought there were plenty of tasty options to choose from…

 

 

 

 

In fact I had a hard time deciding what to order. So we decided we’d do a little sharing LOL.

 

 

 

I opted for the soup of the day which was a cream of asparagus (super yummy) while DH had the Bermuda Fish Chowder. His won hands down. I’m usually not one for tomato based soups but this was insanely delicious

 

 

 

 

For entrees he chose the Cuban sandwich (very tasty)

 

 

 

 

I went w/ the Bacon Swiss Burger.

 

 

 

 

This thing was MASSIVE. It had to be a pound of hamburger meat on there! I’m a cheeseburger kinda gal and rarely do I ever not finish a burger…I couldn’t even eat half of this thing it was that big & thick! It had a really good beefy flavor. I was definitely impressed! The bread both sandwiches were on was made in house and very good. They elevated both sandwiches.

 

 

 

The fries w/ our sandwiches were also really tasty. Very nice and crispy!

 

 

 

My daughter got the kids cheeseburger and it was very delicious. She enjoyed it a lot.

 

 

[sarahc78]

After eating we asked our waitress to call us a cab and within minutes we were on our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

We were lucky enough again to have a wonderful taxi driver. Miss Norma was her name and she was very friendly also. She talked a lot about what it’s like to live in Bermuda and how prices just seem to keep going up for food. She said they no longer buy milk because it is so expensive. I think she said a box of fruit loops was something like $10.

 

 

 

Halfway through the ride she mentioned how well behaved our children were and that we’d be surprised the way some of the tourist allows their kids to act in her taxi. She also told us that the fare she had picked up before us was a woman on board the NCL Breakaway…apparently the children aboard that ship were getting so out of hand the captain actually had to make an announcement about parents keeping a better eye on their children etc… so yea that sounds not fun!

 

 

 

Luckily there weren’t too many situations like that on Celebrity…but there were moments. One family in particular was celebrating their grandfather’s 80th or 90th birthday. They probably had 10-12 kids in their group but NONE of the parents ever watched them. It was crazy. They literally ran around the ship pretty much the entire cruise. One of the kids actually rode a scooter around the ship. We were lucky enough to be sitting right near them every night in the MDR…so just imagine how lovely that was the nights they were all there…NOT! In fact the last night of the cruise they were in the buffet area unsupervised (mind you some of these kids were 3 or 4 years old) running around screaming and carrying on. They all got ice cream then literally no lie sat down right in front of the ice cream area on the carpet to eat. It was crazy. I heard several people complaining about their behavior but I didn’t stick around to see what if anything happened.

 

 

 

Ok rant about bad ass kids over…

 

Edited August 19, 2015 by sarahc78

[sarahc78]

Miss Norma dropped us off right in front of the ship and we all went inside to shower up. The kids were tired so we all napped for a little bit before being dropping them off at the Fun Factory…tonight was pirate night and they were super excited for that.

 

 

 

We walked around the ship a little before dinner taking in the beautiful views of the dockyard area.

 

 

[sarahc78]

The past few sailings I had noticed the selections while we were in Bermuda were kind of bland. No this sailing, the selection options were quite varied as well as delicious.

 

 

Caprese Salad

 

 

Wedge Salad w/ Celebrity Dressing (love love love Celebrity Dressing)

 

 

 

 

Rigatoni Boscaiola (wish there had been a little more sauce but very delish!)

 

 

Seared Branzino (very good)

 

 

Slow Braised Lamb in Phyllo (I don’t eat lamb but everyone else said it was great)

 

 

 

Tiramisu (really really good! very boozy tasting…just how I like it)

 

[sarahc78]

Tonight we promised the kids when they did the pirate walk through Café Al Baccio we’d check them out early so they could get dessert there.

 

 

It took about 5 minutes to finally agree on two desserts LOL

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Shortcake & Blackberry Cheesecake to share!

 

 

[cherylroslyn]

Love you guys!!!!! Sarah this is great. I am so happy to see your family enjoying another wonderful cruise!!!!

 

 

Isn't Coco Reef great? I loved it when I went there on my birthday two years ago....it is just such a great find...hopefully it will never get too popular:)

[existentialtraveler]

deleted

Edited August 19, 2015 by existentialtraveler

[existentialtraveler]

With nap time over we got dressed for dinner. Tonight was the Top Chef menu. I’d been looking forward to this menu the past few months. I’ve been watching Top Chef since the show first aired…I was finally getting to taste some of the recipes from the show!

 

 

Braised Beef Short Rib (O M G!!!!!! This was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life! Absolutely INCREDIBLE!)

 

 

 

 

I agree!! I always order DOUBLE PORTIONS!

[sarahc78]

Love you guys!!!!! Sarah this is great. I am so happy to see your family enjoying another wonderful cruise!!!!

 

 

Isn't Coco Reef great? I loved it when I went there on my birthday two years ago....it is just such a great find...hopefully it will never get too popular:)

 

 

Thank Cheryl we had such a great time! I'm absolutely in love with Coco reef and we're talking about maybe flying back next year just the two of us for a few days[emoji173]️[emoji267]

[sarahc78]

With nap time over we got dressed for dinner. Tonight was the Top Chef menu. I’d been looking forward to this menu the past few months. I’ve been watching Top Chef since the show first aired…I was finally getting to taste some of the recipes from the show!

 

 

 

 

 

Braised Beef Short Rib (O M G!!!!!! This was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life! Absolutely INCREDIBLE!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree!! I always order DOUBLE PORTIONS!

 

 

It's definitely the best thing they have going on right now on the seven day menu! I could've ate that every night for dinner and been a happy girl [emoji41]

[sarahc78]

OK thanks, I'll be at the aft bar next Sun. With my phone hoping to get a similar shot.

 

What type phone do you have, it takes great pics.

 

 

Sorry I missed this! All the pictures that I've posted in this review were taken with my iPhone 6 Plus

[Iamcruzin]

I really want to visit Coco Reef on our trip in May. How far in advance did you book it? Do you book on line or over the phone?

 

Great review. Keep it coming.

[MisterMet]

Thank you for such a wonderful and thorough review. We will be on the Summit in August 2016 and really found this informative. Did you book the Coco Reef Resort through Celebrity or on your own? We would like to visit if possible.

[sarahc78]

I really want to visit Coco Reef on our trip in May. How far in advance did you book it? Do you book on line or over the phone?

 

 

 

Great review. Keep it coming.

 

We booked about 3 months in advance but I don't think it's necessary to do so. We had friends who booked 30 days out and were fine. I'll post all the contact information later or you can check the Bermuda board I posted a review over there.

[sarahc78]

Thank you for such a wonderful and thorough review. We will be on the Summit in August 2016 and really found this informative. Did you book the Coco Reef Resort through Celebrity or on your own? We would like to visit if possible.

 

 

I'm actually wondering if celebrity will be trying to partner with coco reef...the second day of our cruise I noticed Ken Mills our cruise director was at Coco Reef & recorded his show from there!

[Iamcruzin]

We booked about 3 months in advance but I don't think it's necessary to do so. We had friends who booked 30 days out and were fine. I'll post all the contact information later or you can check the Bermuda board I posted a review over there.

 

Thanks I'll check it out.

[sarahc78]

August 13th, 2015

Day 5 Bermuda

 

We were all really tired from the beach day yesterday so we decided to sleep in a little later this morning. This was still an up in the air kind of day. I wanted to drop the kids off for a few hours in the Fun Factory so we could head to Hamilton to walk around & do lunch, then come back grab the kids and hit snorkel park for an hour or so w/ them in the afternoon. DH was just too tired and didn’t feel like messing w/ Hamilton…I caved, because it is his vacation too! So we opted to just take the kids to snorkel park for a few hours then grab lunch in the Dockyard. We got off the boat and waited about 10 minutes for the tram to pick us all up.

 

 

 

Snorkel Park isn’t considered a “real” Bermuda beach…but it’s pretty nice when you don’t want to travel out of the dockyard area. It was $5 per adult to enter and the kids were free. Apparently they’ve changed their rules because the other times we’ve gone I’ve been able to bring my own umbrella. Unfortunately this time it was confiscated until we were ready to leave. They did however offer rentals of umbrellas & chairs. $5 for small little seats, $10 for plastic loungers, $15 for nice loungers and umbrellas were $10.

 

 

We opted to get one plastic lounger & an umbrella. We figured one of us would either be using the chair while the other was swimming w/ the kids…luckily once we sat down another couple left and said we could have both of their chairs & umbrella…SCORE! I had brought some snacks & water bottles….not sure if that is allowed, they didn’t ask so yea… I found that the lay’s stacks are perfect to pack in suitcase or beach bag they don’t get crunched up, also go go squeeze apple sauces are great for the kids. The ship has large Evian water bottles when you are getting off in port so we just grab a few of those.

 

 

 

The snorkeling there has always been fantastic, this time was no exception. We were able to see a lot of different fish varieties, an octopus, tons of starfish, etc… it’s not really deep at all either so the kids could pretty much walk half way out which was nice.

 

 

 

 

Off to the right hand side is the wall to the maritime museum I guess and at low tide you can walk along the rocks & find sea glass. DS loves finding sea glass & other treasures so he spent a good hour or so exploring that area.

 

 

 

 

We stayed for a good 3 hours or so…just enough time for me to get some chill time in front of the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sarahc78]

Eventually we started getting hungry for lunch so we headed to the Frog & Onion Pub.

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve been there several times and their food is delicious. I pretty much order the same thing…fish & chips. Some of the best I’ve ever had. Super fresh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pint of Trunk Island Pale Ale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids shared chicken tenders & fries which were actually quite good also. Just be prepared to pay $$$. We shared an order of the fish & chips, the kids shared the tenders, 3 iced teas, and 1 pint of beer was $83 :eek: w/ the included 17% gratuity. Also a heads up the iced tea was $4.25 per glass, there is no free refills. A pint of beer was $6.25 and they also offered a smaller glass of beer for $5.00… so yea if I’d have known the prices ahead of time I’d have been drinking beer the entire time!

 

 

You also get a code for an hour of free Wi-Fi when you dine at Frog & Onion so that was nice to be able to check our emails, Facebook ,etc…

[sarahc78]

There is a tram stop directly outside of the Frog & Onion so after lunch we lugged all our snorkel gear, beach bag, umbrella, etc… over there and waited for the tram…and waited…and waited.

 

I’m not if I’ve mentioned before how much I hate the tram they have in the dockyard but it’s a nightmare when you’re trying to get back to the ship! The day you arrive they have two of them out there alternating but after that it’s just the one tram. So if you are on the far end of the Dockyard it takes forever to get there and 9x's out of 10 its full when it does finally arrive.

 

I have knee issues so it’s hard for me to walk long distances… plus all of our bags & the kids it’s too much for us to walk that far to the ship. So after waiting 30 minutes for a tram that never came I finally I said screw this and hailed a taxi. At that point I’d have paid $20 to get back to the ship it was so hot out… luckily it was only $5 plus I tipped him $5.

 

Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to the ship. After getting cleaned up we all laid down for a nap…we slept so long we nearly missed dinner. Thankfully we woke up with just enough time to get the kids off to the fun factory & head to dinner.

[Elcruzer]

There is a tram stop directly outside of the Frog & Onion so after lunch we lugged all our snorkel gear, beach bag, umbrella, etc… over there and waited for the tram…and waited…and waited.

 

I’m not if I’ve mentioned before how much I hate the tram they have in the dockyard but it’s a nightmare when you’re trying to get back to the ship! The day you arrive they have two of them out there alternating but after that it’s just the one tram. So if you are on the far end of the Dockyard it takes forever to get there and 9x's out of 10 its full when it does finally arrive.

 

I have knee issues so it’s hard for me to walk long distances… plus all of our bags & the kids it’s too much for us to walk that far to the ship. So after waiting 30 minutes for a tram that never came I finally I said screw this and hailed a taxi. At that point I’d have paid $20 to get back to the ship it was so hot out… luckily it was only $5 plus I tipped him $5.

 

Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to the ship. After getting cleaned up we all laid down for a nap…we slept so long we nearly missed dinner. Thankfully we woke up with just enough time to get the kids off to the fun factory & head to dinner.

Good to know about the cab, worth the $5 especially if you have a few people sharing.

BTW I hope you haven't forgotten to tell us if you solved the mystery of why staff member was stationed outside the cabin?

:confused:

[wendycook22]

Good to know about the cab, worth the $5 especially if you have a few people sharing.

BTW I hope you haven't forgotten to tell us if you solved the mystery of why staff member was stationed outside the cabin?

:confused:

 

 

She didn't - see page 2 post 36 :)

[Tudorcruisers]

Thanks for doing this great review. I will be on summit 30th August and it's been great reading all about it and Bermuda.

[MisterBill99]

Thanks for posting this and the great photos. Hopefully you'll be done posting by the time we leave on Sunday!

 

Question about the Top Chef meal -- what didn't you like about the tuna tartar? Was it not as good as other preparations you've had? Not great quality tuna (which I can believe given the sushi I've had on board), not seasoned?

 

Thanks..

[Loyal2Royal1995]

Thanks for great review...

Edited August 20, 2015 by Loyal2Royal1995