Summit- 2/20/16- Review and monkeys, too.

[OhioDogLover]

I like to read others' reviews, and so am trying to give a bit back by doing one.

 

A bit about us, I am in my mid50s and DH is a bit older. We love to cruise, and although we have not cruised as much as many people here, have done so about 25 times on various lines. Our preferred lines are Celebrity and Princess. We have not cruised the premium lines except Peter Deilmann (a now defunct German river cruise line.) We travelled with some experienced cruisers friends, although they had not sailed Celebrity before.

 

Precruise - Off we go.

 

Hoping to avoid stress, it is our goal to fly in the day before the cruise, preferably early in the day, just in case.

 

The day started at the lovely hour of 3:00am when we dragged ourselves out of bed to get to the Columbus airport for our 6:00 am flight. At the airport, we encountered the longest line we would see all day -- caffeine deprived travelers waiting for Starbucks to open.

 

Our Southwest Airlines flight was without incident, although very full, and we arrived for our connection in Baltimore right on time. Ohioans love to travel, yes I know, we all want to get out of Ohio. Not so much really, but we do love to go places.

 

The first really good thing of the vacation occurred when we found out that our connecting gate was only 2 away from where we landed. Yeah!

 

The flight from Baltimore to San Juan was EARLY into San Juan, yes, this day was going just fine. There was also no snow in San Juan. Our luggage appeared, I did the I have my luggage dance, and vacation officially started for me. DH always says, don't worry, we can buy clothes and figure it out, but then again, he's a guy and has a different perspective.

 

We stayed at the Sheraton Convention Center Casino hotel. It was ok. Not 4* by any means, but it met the criteria. Near the cruise port, very clean, wifi, close enough to Old San Juan to grab a cab and get there. We would stay there again, but there is a Hyatt Place right nearby, and I think next time we will try that one. The best part of the hotel was the Mexican restaurant right across the street. Good food, good service, good drinks, live music, good view, outside tables, reasonably priced, all in all a good time was had by all.

 

If you haven't been to Old San Juan, we suggest that you go over and look at the forts. You can walk from one to the other, and they are interesting to tour.

 

DAY 2 - All Aboard

 

Waking up, we could see the Summit outside the hotel window. I still think it is very walkable (I think everything is walkable), but my traveling companions talked some sense into me and we would take a cab to the pier.

 

First day of the cruise, always a good thing. We all had breakfast at the hotel; it was ok, but not great. They had good coffee, which frankly is my main interest anyway.

 

At 11:30, we caught a cab over to the cruise terminal. Turn in luggage, enter terminal, get into Aqua line, fill out health form, get cruise card, board ship. All in all, maybe 15 minutes. Definitely one of the fastest boarding processes ever. Kudos to Celebrity.

 

We toured the ship and at about 1:30 our cabins were ready to go. For the first time, we had aft facing balcony aqua cabins. Deck 11, cabins 1130 and 1141. Very nice, one floor above coffee, one floor above the bar. Who could ask for anything more. The balcony in our cabin was a bit larger, too, which is always a nice amenity.

 

For those who don't know yet, Celebrity still brings the sparkling wine, fruit, tea, afternoon snack, and two bottles of water to the aqua cabins. We dispensed with the snack, the fruit and the wine. We had the beverage package and saw no need to trade in the wine for something else.

 

They offered a 2 for 1 deal in Qsine, so that's where we went for dinner. It was fun, as usual. Our friends hadn't been there before, and they enjoyed it, too. Our favorites are the Indian food and the spring rolls. Our friends liked the filet mignon. The donuts for dessert are always a hit.

 

Three of us attended the welcome aboard show, and were treated to what we found to be the theme of the cruise -- Ken (the cruise director)'s entertainment staff/comedy troupe. Ken did a very nice job. This would continue all week.

As a rule, we found there were more things to do than we could get into the evenings. That was new for us on Celebrity. And, it is a tribute to the job Ken and his staff did.

 

Next... sea day and golf with monkeys.

 

Ohiodoglover

[Clarea]

Thanks, enjoying the review.

[Keith1010]

You are off to a great start with your review.

 

Keith

[Mungus]

Enjoying your review. We were just on Summit for our first Celebrity cruise in January! Loved the Summit.:)

[vplsh]

 

They offered a 2 for 1 deal in Qsine, so that's where we went for dinner. It was fun, as usual. Our friends hadn't been there before, and they enjoyed it, too. Our favorites are the Indian food and the spring rolls. Our friends liked the filet mignon. The donuts for dessert are always a hit.

 

Ohiodoglover

 

Nice review so far. We are on Summit for the fifth time in a couple of weeks. Where did you find the 2 for 1 deal? Was it in the cabin or did you ask?

 

We were in 1138 and it's a great location!

[Laurab23]

Nice review so far. We are on Summit for the fifth time in a couple of weeks. Where did you find the 2 for 1 deal? Was it in the cabin or did you ask?

 

We were in 1138 and it's a great location!

 

I will be in 1138 in May. Please come back and tell me how this room is since the new rooftop terrace and movie screen was added.

 

Laura

[trbarton]

I'm on the Summit in October for a Canada/New England cruise. I'm new to Celebrity so any important information for a newcomer will be appreciated. Enjoy reading your review.

 

Thanks for any information you may have!!!

 

Tom😎

[DrivesLikeMario]

Anxiously awaiting the next chapter! :)

[bumble12]

i like to read others' reviews, and so am trying to give a bit back by doing one.

 

A bit about us, i am in my mid50s and dh is a bit older. We love to cruise, and although we have not cruised as much as many people here, have done so about 25 times on various lines. Our preferred lines are celebrity and princess. We have not cruised the premium lines except peter deilmann (a now defunct german river cruise line.) we travelled with some experienced cruisers friends, although they had not sailed celebrity before.

 

Precruise - off we go.

 

Hoping to avoid stress, it is our goal to fly in the day before the cruise, preferably early in the day, just in case.

 

The day started at the lovely hour of 3:00am when we dragged ourselves out of bed to get to the columbus airport for our 6:00 am flight. At the airport, we encountered the longest line we would see all day -- caffeine deprived travelers waiting for starbucks to open.

 

Our southwest airlines flight was without incident, although very full, and we arrived for our connection in baltimore right on time. Ohioans love to travel, yes i know, we all want to get out of ohio. Not so much really, but we do love to go places.

 

The first really good thing of the vacation occurred when we found out that our connecting gate was only 2 away from where we landed. Yeah!

 

The flight from baltimore to san juan was early into san juan, yes, this day was going just fine. There was also no snow in san juan. Our luggage appeared, i did the i have my luggage dance, and vacation officially started for me. Dh always says, don't worry, we can buy clothes and figure it out, but then again, he's a guy and has a different perspective.

 

We stayed at the sheraton convention center casino hotel. It was ok. Not 4* by any means, but it met the criteria. Near the cruise port, very clean, wifi, close enough to old san juan to grab a cab and get there. We would stay there again, but there is a hyatt place right nearby, and i think next time we will try that one. The best part of the hotel was the mexican restaurant right across the street. Good food, good service, good drinks, live music, good view, outside tables, reasonably priced, all in all a good time was had by all.

 

If you haven't been to old san juan, we suggest that you go over and look at the forts. You can walk from one to the other, and they are interesting to tour.

 

Day 2 - all aboard

 

waking up, we could see the summit outside the hotel window. I still think it is very walkable (i think everything is walkable), but my traveling companions talked some sense into me and we would take a cab to the pier.

 

First day of the cruise, always a good thing. We all had breakfast at the hotel; it was ok, but not great. They had good coffee, which frankly is my main interest anyway.

 

At 11:30, we caught a cab over to the cruise terminal. Turn in luggage, enter terminal, get into aqua line, fill out health form, get cruise card, board ship. All in all, maybe 15 minutes. Definitely one of the fastest boarding processes ever. Kudos to celebrity.

 

We toured the ship and at about 1:30 our cabins were ready to go. For the first time, we had aft facing balcony aqua cabins. Deck 11, cabins 1130 and 1141. Very nice, one floor above coffee, one floor above the bar. Who could ask for anything more. The balcony in our cabin was a bit larger, too, which is always a nice amenity.

 

For those who don't know yet, celebrity still brings the sparkling wine, fruit, tea, afternoon snack, and two bottles of water to the aqua cabins. We dispensed with the snack, the fruit and the wine. We had the beverage package and saw no need to trade in the wine for something else.

 

They offered a 2 for 1 deal in qsine, so that's where we went for dinner. It was fun, as usual. Our friends hadn't been there before, and they enjoyed it, too. Our favorites are the indian food and the spring rolls. Our friends liked the filet mignon. The donuts for dessert are always a hit.

 

Three of us attended the welcome aboard show, and were treated to what we found to be the theme of the cruise -- ken (the cruise director)'s entertainment staff/comedy troupe. Ken did a very nice job. This would continue all week.

As a rule, we found there were more things to do than we could get into the evenings. That was new for us on celebrity. And, it is a tribute to the job ken and his staff did.

 

Next... Sea day and golf with monkeys.

 

Ohiodoglover

 

was there enoough time to eat at qsine before drill

[dodger1964]

Nice review so far. We are on Summit for the fifth time in a couple of weeks. Where did you find the 2 for 1 deal? Was it in the cabin or did you ask?

 

We were in 1138 and it's a great location!

 

We just booked our 5th cruise on summit also!!

 

I don't find many people that really like the ship as much as we do. I think many cruisers like the newer, solstice sized ships better.

 

I really like walking on the deck and watching the ocean spray. On solstice ships there is no where on ship that u can actually see the water hitting ship.

 

I will be curious to see after upcoming dry dock.

[rngoofy]

We are booked for cabin 1141 in July for a cruise to Bermuda , hope you enjoy the room & cruise.

[OhioDogLover]

First to answer the questions:

 

As to the Qsine deal, there were people offering it where they were selling specialty restaurant reservations. We just asked about it because we had done it before. I do not know if it was for everyone or just for Aqua passengers. It was only for the first night. We did make the muster drill, but dessert was a bit rushed. Not too bad, just a bit. I think it was OK though.

 

CRUISE DAY 2 - Goofing Off at Sea

 

Day 2 was the only sea day on the cruise. We decided to goof off as much as possible.

 

We attended the Cruise Critic meet and greet. The ship sent the Captain, cruise director, HR director and others who answered questions including: what are you doing in dry dock and why is your website so awful.

Answers: They are changing the entertainment venues, adding a big screen (a la Princess, I guess) and re-doing the bathrooms. They are working on the website and professed ignorance of the "we can't get our luggage tags through the website"issue. Very nice and approachable.

 

The guys did the golf chipping and were introduced to Justin, one of the entertainment staff. They had a great time and came back raving about the silly things Justin did. They were determined to do other activities with Justin throughout the cruise.

 

Justin is from Kansas City and was part of the cruise director comedy troupe. We came to enjoy his trivia sessions because he took them, in our opinion, the right way. It just isn't that important and we're all there to have a good time. So, let's do it that way. Besides, when we did the sing along Broadway song trivia (OK, it wasn't really supposed to be a singalong, but we all made it that way), we had one of the best trivia events we have ever had on a cruise. Just plain silly. DH and I have a motto to do something silly every day, so Justin fit right in.

 

DH and I attended the TopChef at Sea competition. That was fun to watch. If you don't know, it involves passengers in some basic culinary challenges (grate cheese, make meringue, squeeze oranges), and then the two who emerge from the prelims make a meal with the assistance of a "real"cook from the ship. Passengers were the judges of the final results.

Ken did the emcee duties, and quite well. The judges were one guy who reminded us of the character in "Sideways" - "Tastes Good to Me..."and two Midwestern women who tried to be funny in a dry midwestern way which was unfortunately lost on Ken, but not the audience. A bit of additional comedy was added by the on board juggler Adam Kario, who would walk across the stage periodically juggling cleavers.

If you haven't seen this, I suggest you try it; it's fun.

 

The rest of the day was uneventful but fun. The guys tried out the Persian Garden which is included with Aqua class and enjoyed it a lot.

 

Dinner that night was our first in Blu. DH and I had sailed Summit in Aqua before and also done Aqua on two of the bigger ships. We really enjoy Blu and feel it is the main reason to cruise Aqua. This was the best service yet.

The maitre d and his assistant were great. They seated us with a smile every time we went into the restaurant. They assisted with drink service when it wasn't quite a fast as they thought it should be. It was fast though; we weren't complaining. We had a fabulous waitstaff lead by Bill from Jamaica. One of our group has dietary restrictions and is a bit picky besides and Bill took good care of him. Food was tailored to us, beverage service was outstanding - wine was served promptly upon our arrival as was a big glass of cold milk. Nonalcoholic beverage service was tremendous. Bill was engaging and did a wonderful job.

 

The food in Blu was good. I thought that it was a bit under seasoned from time to time, but I like everything spicy. For people with normal taste, it was just right.

Try the short ribs and the chicken and beet salad. Excellent.

 

A fun silly day all in all.

 

Next Golf with monkeys, really.

[OhioDogLover]

CRUISE DAY 3 - Barbados

 

After a wonderfully relaxing breakfast in Blu with lots and lots of coffee, we headed off the ship for our 10:00 am tee time a Rockley Golf Club. Getting off the ship was easy and we found the line of taxis ready to take people around Barbados. Herded into a taxi that eventually seated 13 people, really, we went for our 5 minute ride to the course. So, it was actually 30 minutes, and we made 3 stops along the way, it's the Caribbean. We got there.

 

For those who are interested, Rockley Golf Club will never be confused with Pebble Beach. It cost us about $100 US each for 18 holes (you play 9 holes twice each), carts, and rental clubs. The clubs were vintage 1980, the grip on my pitching wedge was repaired with tape and a paper towel, and sand wedge, you don't need no stinking' sand wedge. Dh had forgotten to bring sneakers, so he played in sandals.

 

I admit to having a few misgivings as we teed off on one. But we had a good time, and got some four wheeling in driving the golf carts down the fairways which weren't exactly smooth. It was golf, it was February and we live in Ohio, so it was good. From time to time, we dodged sprinklers running on some of the tees. That's ok.

 

On the first nine, DH suddenly pointed and said, "Look there is a monkey". (No, he doesn't drink.) There was an animal running across the fairway. Maybe a monkey. Maybe not.

By the time we had reached the 16th hole, a par 3, we had glimpsed a couple more animals who we had now determined to be monkeys. Just off the 16th tee, there was a tree with somewhere between 10 and 20 monkeys playing around. In the tree, around the tree, chattering, having a ball. They let us get to about 15 feet of them. Very cute. Generally, we are fast players, but not on this hole. Keep playing or look at wild monkeys? Wild monkeys win every single time.

 

Best shore excursion ever. Four wheeling, golf and nature tour of wild monkey habitat. Do it again, you bet! And DH birdied the last hole, too.

 

I think this was the night with the name the tv or movie theme song game, hosted by... Justin. Get the name, run to a chair in the middle of the room and sit down before anyone else does. Craziness ensues. Fun. Someone sent up a four year old for "The Exorcist". Yep, she won, you bet.

 

By this time, we realized that we were on ship with a whole bunch of people, both crew and passengers,who were determined to have a great time and be silly. Even the Captain got into the act as "The Voice From Above." Was it because the ship was headed into drydock and the crew was getting ready for vacation, maybe. Who knows? But fun.

 

Next- We go St. Lucia and eat banana ketchup

[lightning bolt]

I wish every ship had a Justin. What fun we had on our 14 day New England - Canada cruise. Loved his trivia and hope to run into him again. :D

[DrivesLikeMario]

Loving it! Love your sense of humor and way of looking at things!

[Barwick Cruiser]

We were on this sailing as part of a b2b. Agree totally about Justin...he and Mark made a great team and were so much fun at all the events that they hosted!

 

Keep up the great review, this was a really fun cruise!

Cathy

[llarosa]

Great review so far. I'm so excited for our April 2nd cruise with the same itinerary.

[OhioCruiseDog]

DH here, with some photographic evidence to accompany DW's review.

 

This is the Puerto Rico Convention Center, situated a block or so from the Sheraton, and right across from the Mexican restaurant referred to. In fact, this photo taken from dinner at that restaurant. Neat architecture:

 

[OhioCruiseDog]

View of the Barbados port/harbor, taken from our stern balcony, with the Maltese flag prominent:

[OhioCruiseDog]

Just to prove that DW was not hallucinating, here is one of our monkey friends who chose to accompany us on the course:

 

 

And another member of the gallery:

 

 

Finally, a shot of the course itself -- clearly not Pebble Beach, as DW says, but made for a fun, low stress round.

 

[OhioDogLover]

CRUISE DAY 4- St. Lucia

 

Generally, we avoid ship tours and book independent ones. I did some research on this board and Trip Advisor and we booked Cosol Tours in St. Lucia.

 

After another ho hum wonderful Blu breakfast, we headed off the ship to meet our tour. We found the group that was waiting for Cosol Tours - there must have been 30 people there. As the person who had done the research, I had the thought one generally does when one sees something like that: "Oh expletive deleted, I have totally goofed up our day!" But they broke us off into a group of 10 and sent us to a mini bus driven by our guide, Benedict, "like the the pope, but call me Bombi. Everyone on St. Lucia has a nickname." There was plenty of room on the bus and it was a good group. One of the people on the bus was one of the judges from the Top Chef competition. Nice person to have along for the ride.

 

We drove around the island and were treated to humor and history. Also, we learned about how bananas grow and are harvested. I learned more about bananas than I thought there was to learn and got to taste banana ketchup. It does taste like tomato ketchup and we bought a bottle for our DS and DDIL. One of the highlights of the tour, at least for me, was that when we tasted the bananas, Bombi saved the banana peels. We stopped at various spots along the route and he fed the peels to goats who lived there.

 

Cosol arranged things very well, IMHO. They had three buses which did the tours for the island but met for breakfast, lunch, drinks, etc. There was a truck which followed the buses containing the "bar", local beer, rum, rum drinks, water and sodas (or pop for those of us from Ohio). There were plenty of drinks and they were good. In the interests of research, I sampled the beer and spiced rum and must say in the words of the movie "Sideways", tasted good to me. Other researchers on our bus agreed.

 

This was an incredibly thorough tour. We were treated to "breakfast" which was a smorgasbord of St. Lucian treats, including fruits, cakes, fish, sugar cane, etc. There was more than we could eat, and it was fun to sample some of the local cuisine. Th watermelon was terrific. (I am a big watermelon fan.) The guides seemed to agree about the watermelon.

 

We stopped at a beach by the Twin Petons, and were able to swim or snorkel. Taken to the beach via motor boat, it was like having an amusement park ride built into the tour. DH and I walked up to the Sugar Beach Resort and wow - it was like something out of a James Bond movie. I expected to see Daniel Craig in a Saville Rowe white suit with Panama hat, Bond Girl on his arm ordering a vodka martini - shaken, not stirred, of course. The guide said Craig had been married there, and I believe it. I confess, we got a price list for rooms. Romantic location.

 

Other highlights of the tour included a drive in volcano, very cool, optional mud bath and visit to a waterfall to wash off the mud you got all over yourself at the mud bath.

 

As we went along, Bombi treated us to information about the local flora and fauna, showing us lemon grass, cashew plants, etc. We stopped along the side of the road for lunch which consisted of warm freshly baked bread and cheese. It was perfect for the tour. There were chickens on one of the properties bordering the road there, which resulted in what we thought was a funny exchange between husband and wife. Picture: Wife is running around trying to get a picture of chickens. Husband says,"Emily (name changed to protect the innocent), why are you taking pictures of chickens? We have those at home." Wife, "Not these chickens, these are St. Lucian chickens." At least photography is digital now.

 

Taken back to the port, we paid for the tour at the end, $75 per person. A bargain for a wonderful day in St. Lucia. A word of caution though, the roads are windy, if you are prone to motion sickness, take Bonine, wear a patch or your sea bands.

 

That evening featured the usual wonderful Blu dinner, and fun game of extreme name that tune. Another fabulous day on vacation.

 

Next: Antigua or I hope you like the beach.

[beason641]

Hello fellow Columbusian! (Columbusite?) We're on the Summit May 29th (trying to avoid the Memorial Day rain lol) and love trivia, so I'm all about thus review!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[OhioDogLover]

CRUISE DAY 5- Antigua

 

By the time we had reached Day 5, everyone in our group had reached the, "if you book one more activity for me, you are going off the side of the ship point." Although we had found what appeared to be a good tour, we decided to head off on our own. Antigua is billed as a good place to go to the beach, and I believe it. The maitre d' in Blu had suggested a nice place called Anna's with a good restaurant and a nice beach. We aren't beach people due to some medical conditions, and so just walked around the port. The area around the port needs some work. Taking the opportunity for some "free" wifi, we did stop in a bar for a drink. Other than that, it was a walk around the shops, crumbling church, and back to the ship.

 

Back on the ship, we decided to go Bistro on 5 for lunch. DH and I had gone to Bistro on 5 on the Solstice and it was a great experience. Unfortunately, this trip was not. There was one other table in the restaurant when we got there. (Everyone else was at the beach.) Service was slow and spotty as dishes came out one at a time, the ice cream in the milkshakes was melted (but the milkshakes were great anyway), etc. The server just didn't seem to care about his job. Unfortunate, but that is the way it was.

 

That evening was yet another great set of entertainment. Jim Colliton, a comic, performed. he was extremely funny. Then there was Motown trivia hosted by Lenny, the DJ, another great member of the comedy troupe on board. Also, really good with music. Trivia was held in the Revelations Lounge, a smallish venue at the bow on deck 11. Nice place to sit and look out the window, and various activities were hosted there throughout the cruise. After trivia, the ship singers and dancers came out and did a 45 minute Motown mashup of high energy songs and dances. Dancers moved throughout the audience. Afterward, members of the audience danced with the performers. If you like Motown, you would love this. More silly fun activities that appeared out of nowhere.

 

A word here about Cafe al Bacio. As an admitted coffee addict, I tend to frequent that venue. The brewed coffee on the ship was pretty good, they used real coffee, and it was strong, but Cafe al Bacio coffee was really good. We had the drink package and took advantage of it. Service was quick, even though there were frequently lines. Five stars for them. You could get "coffee with flavor" there and as a research tool, I tried a coffee with Kahlua. It was covered under our package and passed muster.

 

Next St. Maarten: how many ships can you have in port at once?

[OhioDogLover]

Hello fellow Columbusian! (Columbusite?) We're on the Summit May 29th (trying to avoid the Memorial Day rain lol) and love trivia, so I'm all about thus review!!

 

Hello fellow Columbusian!! If they have the same entertainment people, you will have a wonderful time. The Justin and Mark show is worth it all by itself. I love Justin's attitude toward the whole thing, This is cruise ship trivia, if you take it seriously, too bad for you. I'm here to have a good time. I wish we were going with you, we had that much fun!

 

Ohiodoglover

[schlimazel_traveler]

My daughter is friends with Justin on Facebook and recently posted something that makes me fear he's going to be on vacation during our Memorial Day cruise.:mad::eek::(:(

 

I felt he softened Mark's British-game-show-presenter-style insult humor, er, humour. But I also appreciated Mark as activities director. If there even WAS an actvities director on our Reflection cruise, I couldn't tell you who it was, and we went to EVERYTHING.