Celebrity Summit or Reflection

[sjpsoccer14]

I have cruised mainly with Royal Caribbean in the past but this year we are considering the Celebrity Summit April 2nd, 2016 out of PR or The April 2nd, 2016 Reflection out of Miami. I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route.

 

The Summit visits: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

The Reflection visits: Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten

 

Which ship / itinerary would you select?

[If only]

I have cruised mainly with Royal Caribbean in the past but this year we are considering the Celebrity Summit April 2nd, 2016 out of PR or The April 2nd, 2016 Reflection out of Miami. I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route.

 

The Summit visits: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

The Reflection visits: Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten

 

Which ship / itinerary would you select?

 

If you are going for the ports I would choose the Summit. If you want a newer ship the Reflection but bear it mind it takes 2 sea days to get to the Caribbean on the Reflection. Any cruise is great, I would have to take air etc into the mix so a lot would depend on that.

[sjpsoccer14]

If you are going for the ports I would choose the Summit. If you want a newer ship the Reflection but bear it mind it takes 2 sea days to get to the Caribbean on the Reflection. Any cruise is great, I would have to take air etc into the mix so a lot would depend on that.

 

Thank you very much for your imput.

[need2bespoiled]

The PR stop on Reflection is an afternoon arrival, so don't plan on a beach day there. You can also generally get a better deal on Summit, but sometimes pay a bit more for airfare to and from SJU. The Summit is smaller, but will have less restaurants to dine in. The ocean view cafe is not setup as well or as big and it doesn't have all of the newer fancy bars available that Reflection has. If you like new and shiny, and would prefer the hipper W over an Slightly older comfortable Westin, the Reflection might be better. You have to decide what's most important, ship or ports if all else is equal (is it ever)?

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

Sent from my iPad using fat fingers and Tapatalk

Edited October 3, 2015 by need2bespoiled

[DrivesLikeMario]

Another thing to consider if you're looking for warm weather:

 

When you cruise out of FL, you're going to have 1-1.5 days of cooler weather heading south, then again at the end of the cruise heading north.

 

For that reason and the fantastic, less crowded ports, we like to get right down to the hot weather in Puerto Rico and start our cruise there. Airfare from the West Coast is often much more than the cruise fare but it's worth it to us.

[Nanatravel]

I have cruised mainly with Royal Caribbean in the past but this year we are considering the Celebrity Summit April 2nd, 2016 out of PR or The April 2nd, 2016 Reflection out of Miami. I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route.

 

The Summit visits: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

The Reflection visits: Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten

 

Which ship / itinerary would you select?

 

Don't know your cruising history. Summit is older M Class but San Juan is a lovely pre-cruise port to explore. Think about her ports of call. All are very unique and great for private local tours as well as just beach destinations. You will have no problem just taking a taxi to a nice beach. Celebrity maintains her ships very well.

 

Reflection is the newest ship in the fleet. We are going on her in 5 weeks. As referenced, your day at port in San Juan is limited so plan accordingly for a tour or just walk Old San Juan, take a taxi to the old El San Juan hotel for ambience of hotel grandeur of days gone by. Two other ports are great.

 

Weather will be the same from either port of embarkation once out to sea. San Juan a little more humid but no issue IMO. If you want port intensive, pick Summit. If you want a good balance, pick Reflection.

[cruza]

I have cruised mainly with Royal Caribbean in the past but this year we are considering the Celebrity Summit April 2nd, 2016 out of PR or The April 2nd, 2016 Reflection out of Miami. I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route.

 

The Summit visits: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

The Reflection visits: Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten

 

Which ship / itinerary would you select?

 

We took cruise on Equinox last year with the same (almost) ports like Summit but a lot of sea days. We will be sailing on Summit this year dure to ports/itinerary and cheaper price since it's 7 days (not 10 like on Equinox).

[need2bespoiled]

Another thing to consider if you're looking for warm weather:

 

When you cruise out of FL, you're going to have 1-1.5 days of cooler weather heading south, then again at the end of the cruise heading north.

 

For that reason and the fantastic, less crowded ports, we like to get right down to the hot weather in Puerto Rico and start our cruise there. Airfare from the West Coast is often much more than the cruise fare but it's worth it to us.

 

Maybe in January but in April, when the original poster is sailing it's a pretty good bet FL would have good weather and certainly by the next morning after they board when they will be pretty fas south as they'll be steaming at 18k to make San Juan on time.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Mr. Click]

We have done the southern route on the Serenade and the Summit, we have done other cruises on some of the S Class ships. We love the southern route and we are not big fans of lots of sea days but we also love the S class ships. All of that said, I would choose the Summit and enjoy the weather and the ports. The Summit is a great ship, the S-class ships are just a bit greater....

[Champagne Cruiser]

We love the Summit and will be on our 5th cruise with her in a few weeks. However, we were at a wine tasting with a couple who had only sailed Royal prior to this cruise and they were not very happy. They felt the older style ship without the soaring all glass feel felt confining and said they would not sail X again. I mentioned they should try the S class before giving up on X. So you need to decide what is more important: ports or more modern ship.

[chrismakris]

Love the Summit. Will be on her for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. I would definitely do the itinerary that starts in PR. My reasoning is this. The Reflection gets in during the afternoon in PR, while embarkation on the Summit begins early, but the ship doesn't leave until 8:30 pm.

 

Essentially if you fly in the night before, and go to port and drop off your luggage with the porters the next morning, you can head back into San Juan and have a full day as you would if you sailed in on the Reflection. My wife and I did this on our first trip on the Summit. We looked at each other after we dropped off our bags at the port, saw that it was noon and went back into town. Got back to the ship around 5:30, checked in and went to our room and freshened up for dinner. So technically we got 6 ports instead of 5.

 

Also I found that because the ports are so close together that the ship basically "floats" from one port to the next which is nice.

Edited October 3, 2015 by chrismakris

[Cheers4cb]

Not sure if the original poster is considering Aqua Class or not, but if so, the Persian Gardens is much, much nicer on Reflection. We did the southern route on Summit a couple of years ago and even then some of the equipment was not working and the area felt dark/old. On Reflection last year, the Persian Gardens was one of our favorite places on the ship. Love the steam room, then the cold room and the heated "beds"!

[notsomadhatter]

We've done a couple of southerns on different lines out of SJU. I love San Juan but prefer more sea days and driving to my cruise port so I'd pick Reflection. The southern is more port intensive. We have no qualms with booking a smaller M-class ship with three done and two more on the books. It's completely up to your cruising style!

[mitttocs]

We are a huge fan of both of these ships. We have sailed Reflection twice on the itinerary you mentioned, and the only downside experienced (as others have mentioned) is the forward speed necessary to get from Miami to San Juan in 48 hours. It makes being on the pool decks "interesting" to say the least on Sunday and Monday, with a very stiff wind blowing at you the whole time. Other than that, the Reflection is an awesome ship! At the end of January, we will be sailing the Summit for the fourth time -- we really, really love this ship as well, and this year's itinerary has many different stops which we are looking forward to. Where you are sailing in April, you are going to get warm weather regardless whether you start in Miami or San Juan.

 

We "strayed" from Celebrity two weeks ago with some "loyal Royal" friends and did the West Coast from Vancouver to L.A. on the Royal Caribbean Jewel. While the itinerary was interesting, we will never stray again -- the level of service on the Jewel was not comparable in any way to Celebrity, and the breakfast/lunch in the Cafe was also sub-standard to Celebrity.

 

Summit or Reflection -- you can't go wrong with either choice!

[Schmoe38]

I have cruised mainly with Royal Caribbean in the past but this year we are considering the Celebrity Summit April 2nd, 2016 out of PR or The April 2nd, 2016 Reflection out of Miami. I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route.

 

The Summit visits: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas

The Reflection visits: Puerto Rico, St Thomas and St Maarten

 

Which ship / itinerary would you select?

 

The phrase that sticks out in my mind is "I like the Southern Ports over the typical Eastern Caribbean route."

 

It sounds more to me that you are trying to weigh the differences in the 2 ships, and rightly so.

 

We have sailed on both ships and have done both itineraries. Yes, there are differences between Reflection and Summit, but if the itinerary is the main driver in your decision, you will not be disappointed with Summit. Our personal preference would be with the Summit itinerary, as, not only is the ship beautiful, but it would allow you to see more ports in the 7 day time period and 2 of those ports are on both itineraries (St Thomas and St Maarten).

 

As mentioned earlier, the airfare from SC will be more for the Summit itinerary, but if you check it out, you will find that you will be paying approximately $400 more per person (return) for the airfare to San Juan.

 

Right now, you have a really great problem, where no matter which itinerary you choose, you will come up a winner either way.

 

Randy

Edited October 4, 2015 by Schmoe38

[purpletequila]

I've done both in recent years.

For ports, the Summit, hands down.

For onboard life, the Reflection, hands down.

 

So, the thing with the Summit is 1) its age and 2) its port intensive itinerary.

As far as age goes, it is physically a beautiful ship but it lacks, for example, a decent spa. It's outdated. I never thought I was a spa person until I got a free pass to the Persian Gardens on the Reflection and saw what a decent spa was. The Persian Gardens on the Summit is dark and dreary and just sort of tossed in there. Also, if you are a foodie, there are only 2 choices on the Summit--Normandie and Qsine.

As for the port intensive itinerary, what happens, or happened to me, was that there were so many stops at such early hours that it was a ghost ship at night. NO ONE was around. Ever. Being someone who likes to be out and about after dinner etc, this was a big bore. Also, by the end of the week, everyone in my group was saying that it would have been nice to have at least one less port so there would be a break.

 

The Reflection does have fewer port stops and, if you've ever been on a cruise odds are you've hit them before. But, everything is new and fresh. The Persian Gardens is fantastic. The choice of restaurants is great. The number of bars and people hanging out in them at night is awesome. There's always something to do and for me, I felt more like I was on vacation with fewer stops and running around.

 

Either is a going to be a great choice. As others have said, it just comes down to what you are personally looking for. Itinerary? The Summit. Anything else? Reflection.

[2jeffs]

We had the same conundrum. We were originally booked on the Reflection for our first cruise on Feb 6, 2016 but after some serious thought we reconsidered and switched to the Summit and the southern itinerary. We did have to downgrade to an Ocean view (verandah all sold out) but we saved $500 and picked up $300 OBC. I loved the idea of adding Barbados, Antigua, and St Lucia since we have never been to any of them. It also means that we are going into San Juan 2 days earlier so we will really get to see it instead of just a quick evening stroll. I know we are giving up some dining options and such on Reflection but I guess that just means we will have to book another cruise on her next time!

[purpletequila]

If I could put the Reflection on the Summit's route, I'd be incredibly happy. ;)

[sjpsoccer14]

Thank you everyone for your advice and help selecting our upcoming cruise. We picked the Celebrity Silhouette Western route and plan on taking the Summit southern route in the near future.

 

We are very excited to try Celebrity.

 

Any specialty restaurant recommendations for the Silhouette?

[notsomadhatter]

Well, it depends entirely on what you like. Murano is my personal favorite. It's an elegant French meal and the service has always been impeccable. Many people love Tuscan but while the location is a beautiful one the food just doesn't spark for me. I find it a little plain.

[Balconyaft]

After 4 consecutive cruises from Port intensive San Juan we are finally trying a more laid back cruise aboard the Celebrity Reflection. Absolutely loved our cruises and the islands we visited in the Southern Caribbean since 2010. DH enjoyed the variety each port day would bring but I missed the leisurely feeling of the sail day. We sailed both Princess and Celebrity lines. Though I adored the experience I must admit the Celebrity Summit just didn't have the wow appeal that I expected. This November we will sail from Miami and I'm so looking forward to the hours, days at sea. We rarely do the additional fee dining experiences, so that aspect on the Reflection is irrelevant. Room service breakfast, enjoyed from our balcony on a sea day is one of the luxuries I'm looking forward to. Finding a spot on the upper decks, with a view of nothing but ocean, sipping on our favourite Classic Package beverages. Late arrival in San Juan is fine after so many wonderful multi day holidays in Puerto Rico during previous year's cruises. We are contemplating a short stroll ashore then return to enjoy the pool. Enjoy your cruise aboard the Celebrity Silouette!

[Aunt Tina]

Just got off the Summit for a two week New England/Canada cruise. We have sailed on both San Juan itineraries. The ship was just inspected by the Canadian authorities while we were on board - and received a 100% score! Her new captain is Kate McCue - an American female who just completed her first cruise at captain of the Summit. She was out and about the whole cruise. The crew is outstanding. The officers are approachable and available. At the Cruise Critic party Captain Kate and at least 8 senior officers attended and talked with us.

If you are interested in ports, rather than sea days, you won't be unhappy on the Summit. There is a new schedule for 2017 on the Summit - she will be sailing longer cruises out of San Juan. We are aready booked!