Summit Review - April 9th Southern Caribbean

[fninsn]

Hello, we are Tim and Linda from Toronto. Both of us are in our mid 50’s and we enjoy 1 to 2 vacations per year. In the past we have done all-Inclusives, beach condo rentals and cruises. I have cruised a total of 10 times and Tim has cruised 5 times. We generally stick with Celebrity although I have also cruised on Premier Cruises (1989) and Crystal. This is my 3rd time aboard the Summit and Tim’s 2nd and we were travelling with another couple.

 

We flew into San Juan Puerto Rico two days prior to our cruise. We stayed in a small, out-of-the-way place called Tres Palmas Inn. It is right on the beach and about a 15 minute walk from the Condado Beach area. Since we have been to San Juan several times, we just wondered around the Ocean Park neighbourhood and the Condado Beach area and enjoyed the lovely rooftop terrace at our hotel in the evenings. The hotel was older and the rooms were small and dated, but clean. They offered a daily breakfast, free wifi, excellent service and a beautiful view of the ocean which is right across the street. For the price, I would stay here again for a night or two.

 

On Saturday morning, we took a taxi to the Pam Am pier and arrived about 10:30 am. There was a short wait before entering the terminal, but once we started moving, everything went very smoothly. There were tables set up in the terminal and we were able to upgrade our drink package and book dinner in the Tuscan Grill that evening at a 20% discount. We also purchased some alcohol from the Duty Free Shop in the terminal and it was delivered to our cabin the night before disembarkment. From there we boarded the ship and were sitting in the Sunset Bar enjoying our first cocktail and a lovely buffet lunch by 11:30 am.

 

The cabins were ready at about 1:30 pm. We booked cabin 8080. A C2 concierge cabin located midship on deck 8. We were very happy with the location and the cabin was in tip top shape. We didn’t have any issues with plumbing or A/C and the shower was in very good shape albeit with a curtain. Our cabin stewards did an awesome job and we were very satisfied.

 

For those wondering about concierge perks, we had a bottle of bubbly on ice when we arrived along with some fruit which was replenished daily as we did eat it every day. Canapes appeared late afternoon, but we decided that we didn’t want them and simply asked our cabin steward not to bother bringing them. I didn’t see a pillow menu, but it appeared that we had an upgraded room service menu, shower head and robes. There were two umbrellas in the room along with a pair of binoculars. We wouldn’t pay more for a concierge room as the perks aren’t really that impressive, but we booked this cabin during the 123Go promo and got a great deal on it.

 

As we weren’t sailing until 8:30, muster was held at 7:45. It wasn’t the best time as it interfered with those eating at the early seating, but it was fine for us, we just headed to the dining room when it was finished.

 

Bar service throughout the week was excellent, it was the best we have ever experienced on Celebrity. We frequented the Sunset Bar, The Rendez Vous Lounge, Revelations, The Martini Bar, Café al Bacio, The Mast Bar and The Pool Bar and we felt the service was equally good in all venues. Servers were readily available and drinks were served very quickly. Everyone we encountered was friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be there. I noticed a few things I’ve never seen before. In addition to various alcoholic beverages, waiters were carrying around trays of bottled water which I thought was fantastic. In another time, people would say they were pushing drink sales, but because the majority of cruisers had the drink package, I think this was a way to ensure people were drinking somewhat responsibly. They also put a temporary bar in the Theatre so you could get a drink before the show started which was very convenient.

 

Breakfasts varied between room service, the MDR and the Buffet. We ate lunch in the Bistro on Five once during the week, but had lunch in the buffet or the Mast Grill every other day. We ate in the Tuscan Grill on our first night and enjoyed the remainder of our dinners in the MDR.

 

Room service breakfasts were not great. The first morning, they called about 15 minutes earlier than expected and arrived with the wrong order. We didn’t realize it until it was too late. A few minutes later they called again to say they were on their way to deliver our breakfast, so it appears someone didn’t get theirs. The 2nd time we ordered room service, we got the correct order at the right time, the problem was they sent an extra serving of everything. Not sure if that was our mistake in completing the form or theirs. Either way, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast that morning :o). Breakfast in the MDR was good, but we were rushed and didn’t really have a chance to enjoy it. Breakfast in the buffet was always great. We especially enjoy eating outside in the Sunset Bar.

 

Bistro on Five was actually crowded the day we went which was nice to see. The server was relatively new and struggled a bit with our orders, but he made up for it with his attitude. The menu hasn’t changed since my last cruise so we were very happy with our meal there. We are not fond of Sushi and hope the Bistro doesn’t make that change. The burgers and fries in the Mast Grill are delicious and we enjoyed eating there twice. The rest of our lunches were in the buffet and we enjoyed the food quality and the variety every day.

 

Dinner in the Tuscan Grill was very nice. The new venue is beautiful and they have changed the menu. They gently push you towards a family style meal where several dishes are shared. We liked this style of dining as it gave us an opportunity to try more than one dish. We each ordered our main course and dessert, but shared several appetizers and some pasta dishes. I had the filet Mignon and it was fantastic!! The best part of this dinner was the staff. They were very efficient and friendly and were excited to have us enjoy the food they prepared and served.

 

We had select dining and pre-booked our dinners at 8pm each evening. We enjoyed our servers and sommelier the first evening, so we arranged to sit in their section the rest of the week if possible. The Maîtres’d was very helpful and did her best to accommodate us. There was only one night we sat in a different section which was fine, but we really enjoyed our wait staff in the other section better and returned the next evening. Food in the MDR ranged from very good to excellent and we always left very satisfied.

 

We had a port intensive cruise, so we didn’t get to enjoy the pool as much as we usually do, however, we did spend some time there every day of our cruise. They replaced the loungers on the pool deck and unfortunately, I found them to be quite uncomfortable. The newly renovated Solarium is beautiful. They have redone the deck, refreshed the pool and hot tubs and added new and comfortable deck furniture. They had organized events around the pool area throughout the week. Officer’s vs passenger volleyball, pool Olympics, paper airplane competition and Zumba/line dancing. As always, it was crowded around the pool on our only sea day, but we managed to find a place to sit in the shade. Port days weren’t as crowded so we also found chairs each day. I’m sure there was some chair-hogging going on, but we really didn’t notice it too much.

 

The entertainment around the ship was plentiful. There was a singer/guitarist (Pete), a singer/pianist (Peter), a duet which included a guitarist and a singer (Passions Duo), a Latin house band (Groovity) and another 4 piece band (The Jim Beam Band) along with DJ Lenny. They performed at various times around the ship and rotated the venues. Venues included the pool deck, the Sunset Bar, the Rooftop Terrace, Café al Bacio, The Rendez Vous Lounge and Revelations. We thought they were all good, but not great. We mostly enjoyed Pete the singer/guitarist and DJ Lenny.

 

In addition to music, there was a good variety of other types of entertainment around the ship. Cruise Director Ken Mills and his assistants Liam Ryan and Oz did an outstanding job of keeping us entertained. We did the galley tour and they had a top chef competition on our one sea day. There was the usual bingo, trivia, wine tastings and art actions. They had games like the newlywed game, dancing with the stripes and majority rules along with a Karaoke Idol competition. Because it was a port intensive cruise, we found the venues cleared out relatively early each evening, but we managed to find something to do until midnight or so and others were still around the popular venues like the Martini Bar and Revelations when we were heading back to our cabin.

 

As for entertainment in the Theatre, there were 3 production shows, 2 comedians, I-Magic and an acapella group. We attended only one of the production shows as we have seen them before. The show was a bit cheesy, but we found the singers and dancers to be very good. Both comedians were excellent and also did a late night set on another evening of the cruise which we attended. The I-Magic show was pretty good as was the acapella group. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more variety with the guest entertainers. I have seen so many good acts over the years and even though they were both really good, I thought having 2 comedians on one cruise was a bit too much. An impersonator, ventriloquist or other types of musicians would have been welcomed. We also thought the orchestra was great.

 

We LOVED the new rooftop terrace on deck 12 aft. What a great way to utilize what was wasted space in the past. It boasted some lovely patio furniture and a big screen TV which aired a variety of programs through the week. There were documentaries, sporting events, music concerts and movies. We also enjoyed several sailaways on the terrace where there was live music. Drink service is available although it is a bit slow, but we just brought drinks up with us or went down to the sunset bar on deck 10 to get beverages when we couldn’t find a server. Although we didn’t attend, there was one evening where they showed a movie and had a food pairing event to go with it. The cost of the food was $10 and I believe it was not mandatory to purchase the food. For those worried about accessibility, they were in the process of putting in an elevator. In the future they probably need to add a bar and restrooms, but otherwise, it is an awesome space.

 

We didn’t visit the Spa, the fitness centre or the casino, so we can’t comment on those venues. One venue I would like to talk about is Michael’s Club. I am very sad to report that this room was pretty much empty every time we walked by. I have enjoyed many evenings in Michael’s club on previous cruises and I think that converting it to a suites only venue was a big mistake. Although I understand the premise of offering suite guests additional amenities, using Michael’s Club is a waste of what could be very valuable space. We really missed going there!

 

Ports of call included Tortola, Martinique, Dominica, St. Kitts and St. Thomas.

 

In Tortola, we just got off the ship and walked around town. It was Sunday and most stores in town were closed. They have added a shopping area at the port since my last visit here and it was nice but we weren't interested in shopping. After a short walk and a delicious ice cream, we headed back to the ship to enjoy the quiet pool deck.

 

In Martinique, we took Celebrity's "Panaromic Tour of Martinique". We toured the sites on a full-size bus and it rained for much of our tour. The highlight was a visit to St. Pierre which was destroyed by the volcano Mt Pelee in 1902. We didn't really enjoy this tour due to the weather and the very winding and mountainous roads which made us a little motion sick. We would likely stay on the ship if we were to visit Martinique again.

 

In Dominica, we toured with Bumpiing Tours. Our guide Desmond was excellent and he took us to several main attractions including the Emerald Pool and Trafalger Falls. Dominica is a lovely island and we really enjoyed our visit there.

 

In St. Kitts, we spent a relaxing day at Palm Court Gardens. It's a 15 minute walk from the port and provides a lovely view of the bay and the ship. This location boasts a beautiful garden, a restaurant and bar, an infinity pool and hot tub and free wifi, For $12 per person, you get full access to the facilities, a chair and an umbrella. We booked in advance and paid when we arrived. There is no pressure to eat or drink although we did sample the local fare. Service was excellent and we would definitely go here again.

 

In St. Thomas, we enjoyed a day at the beach. Having been to this island many times, we decided to "wing it". When we got to the pier, we spoke to a taxi driver and asked him to take us to his favourite beach. We ended up at a place called Secret Harbor. There is a resort here that provides a nice bar and restaurant as well as watersports such as snorkelling, scuba diving and paddle boarding. We rented chairs and umbrellas and enjoyed a few adult beverages while soaking up some sun. Although the beach isn't quite as nice as others on this island, we enjoyed the fact that is wasn't busy and the facilities were excellent. We would return here as well.

 

So in summary, we had an excellent cruise on the Summit and we definitely want to sail on her again in the future. We love the size and layout of this ship and we found the overall service to be outstanding. Please feel free to ask questions.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Linda :cool:

[Clarea]

Nicely written, thank-you.

[CruiserN1]

Thanks for your review. We cruise a similar itinerary in November on Summit and so enjoy hearing others' experiences.

[grangerguy]

Thank you for the review. We are sailing Summit (and Celebrity) for the first time in May to Bermuda. Encouraging to read a good review.

[boscobeans]

Thank you so much for your excellent review.

 

bosco

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks for a great review! Good to hear about so many aspects of the cruise.

[Ereggae]

We were also on that cruise and had a wonderful time. We had few complaints. One was the noise from the new section on Deck 12, which caused the furniture on our balcony on Deck 11 to vibrate. It is a small area and I couldn't understand why they had the speakers turned up so high but after several complaints it was turned down. My other complaint was finding leftover items from previous cruisers in my closet, which shows that the room was not properly cleaned and the last was that we were unable to find our life vests. Turned out they were under the bed.

 

Loved the large bathroom with nice shower head and jets. Towels were nice and soft and did not feel like sandpaper like they do on Princess.

 

If you do go back to these islands, be sure to go to Coki Beach in St. Thomas as it is much more beautiful and better organized than Magen's Bay. In Tortola we went to Cane Garden Bay to the beach area in front of Rhymers Bar and Restaurant and the beach there was fine. We also went to Reggae Beach Bar on Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts. Three beautiful beaches.

 

I could live without Dominica and Martinique and definitely will not return to either of these islands.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Ereggae

[Ereggae]

Whatever you do, don't miss the ship. The Eclipse was docked across from us in St. Kitts and it waited approximately 15 minutes past sail time for a couple who eventually arrived just as the ship pulled away. You can only imagine the expletives. Unfortunately all they had with them was their ship ID, picture ID and probably a few dollars as everything else was on board. They thought the Summit would pick them up but sadly that was not the case. They called the port representative who came and escorted them away. The Summit was going to St. Thomas the next day but sadly the Eclipse would be at sea for the next two days before returning to Miami so they were totally out of luck.

 

This was a very painful lesson to be learned. You should always sync your watch when you leave the ship and give yourself enough time to get back if you are not on an official excursion.

 

I would love to know how the ship handles your personal belongings in cases such as this one.

[sound_guy0918]

Thanks for the great review!

[poffles]

Thanks for sharing. Love hearing positive reviews about this ship as I want to go back on it again. I second guess this when I read some of the negative feedback.

[dodger1964]

Thanks for your review. We get to sail on her again this Christmas. I really like the southern Caribbean routing out of San Juan. The summit is my personal favorite Celebrity ship.

[schlimazel_traveler]

Thanks for the review.

 

We'll be in that very cabin over Labor Day! Glad to hear you were happy with the location and the cabin. We had cabins a bit further from the staircase last year and picked 8080 just to get a bit more central.

 

We had the same issues last year with the room service menu--we ended up with twice as much food as we thought we'd ordered.

 

Who hosted the karaoke? Was it Oz, or the DJ?

[meatloafsfan]

Thank you for the review.

 

I am very happy to hear about the elevator being put in for the rooftop terrace. We'll be on the Summit next February and I'm hoping it's installed and fully operational at that time.

[fninsn]

We were also on that cruise and had a wonderful time. We had few complaints. One was the noise from the new section on Deck 12, which caused the furniture on our balcony on Deck 11 to vibrate. It is a small area and I couldn't understand why they had the speakers turned up so high but after several complaints it was turned down. My other complaint was finding leftover items from previous cruisers in my closet, which shows that the room was not properly cleaned and the last was that we were unable to find our life vests. Turned out they were under the bed.

 

Loved the large bathroom with nice shower head and jets. Towels were nice and soft and did not feel like sandpaper like they do on Princess.

 

If you do go back to these islands, be sure to go to Coki Beach in St. Thomas as it is much more beautiful and better organized than Magen's Bay. In Tortola we went to Cane Garden Bay to the beach area in front of Rhymers Bar and Restaurant and the beach there was fine. We also went to Reggae Beach Bar on Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts. Three beautiful beaches.

 

I could live without Dominica and Martinique and definitely will not return to either of these islands.

 

Hi EReggae,

 

I'm sure anyone in an aft cabin has a completely different opinion about the Rooftop Terrace :rolleyes: I can appreciate that it might be quite noisy when they are airing movies up there. I'm glad they were able to turn it down a bit to accommodate you.

 

I agree about Magen's Bay. We've been there several times and we have decided to try other places in the future. We considered Coki Beach but ended up at Secret Harbour which is actually quite close to Coki. Next time!! I have also been to Cane Garden Bay in Tortola and Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts which is why we decided to try something different, but I would definitely visit both locations again.

 

What did you think of Captain Kate? We were quite impressed with her and after a brief conversation, realized why the crew seemed so happy on this cruise.

 

Yes, we were aware of the couple that missed the ship. Very unfortunate for them but it does happen. We always leave ourselves LOTS of time to get back to the ship. Honestly, I can't believe how many people saunter on the ship with minutes to spare :eek: Way too risky for me.

 

My understanding is that the cabin stewards will go into your cabin and pack your things but I'm not sure where they end up and I never want to find out ;)

[fninsn]

Thanks for the review.

 

We'll be in that very cabin over Labor Day! Glad to hear you were happy with the location and the cabin. We had cabins a bit further from the staircase last year and picked 8080 just to get a bit more central.

 

We had the same issues last year with the room service menu--we ended up with twice as much food as we thought we'd ordered.

 

Who hosted the karaoke? Was it Oz, or the DJ?

 

Hi schlimazel_traveler,

 

Yes, the cabin is in a very good location. A very short walk to the mid elevators/stairs to get to decks 4 and 5 for the restaurants and bars and deck 10 for the buffet and pool. An equally short walk forward to get to the theatre. Another plus is the fact that there are inside cabins across the hall that open on the port side, so there is no noise at all. I would book this cabin again in a heartbeat.

 

Oz hosted the Karaoke and even sang a song or two! They held it in the Rendez Vous lounge about 4 nights out of 7. In addition to people singing for fun, they had a Karaoke Idol competition in which 2 singers advanced each night and then the final competition was held in the Revelations Lounge on Friday night. It was a lot of fun!

[fninsn]

Thank you for the review.

 

I am very happy to hear about the elevator being put in for the rooftop terrace. We'll be on the Summit next February and I'm hoping it's installed and fully operational at that time.

 

Hi meatloafsfan,

 

I'm confident the elevator will be operational by next February. It appeared to be close to completion already.

 

I actually wonder if the bar staff will use it for bringing drinks upstairs as well. They were getting the drinks from the sunset bar which is 2 decks down and really not a big deal except that the stairs that get you from deck 10 to 12 are very narrow and dangerous!! We felt a bit sorry for the servers so we almost always got our own drinks or brought them with us.

 

If the terrace stays as I think it should, they really need to think about putting a bar and bathrooms up there :rolleyes: