Canada/ New England on Celebrity Summit Review

[easyboy]

MingMing: We were on the same cruise as Tom, which departed 10/2.

I'm not going to add to Tom's excellent review but I will add a few thoughts about the excursions. I have difficulty walking, so all of the excursions we took were either moderate or mild.

 

Halifax:

Sydney:

Charlottetown, PEI:

Quebec:

Bar Harbor:

Portand:

Boston:

Thanks for sharing your port experiences.

[TeeRick]

Unfortunately for next year there is an itinerary change on the Sept 24th cruise and we will miss PEI. Disappointing.

[cocobakerchica]

MingMing: We were on the same cruise as Tom, which departed 10/2. On our cruise noise from the pool was not a problem because while the pool was opened, nobody used it!!! The only pool that was used was the spa pool and while people were using the hot tubs, there were plenty of empty lounges every day (no chair hogs on this trip!) Instead of towels, there were blankets on each chaise! It was very cold and windy up there!

 

FishLover: we boarded about 11:30 and because we were concierge class, were immediately escorted to the MDR for lunch. While we were having lunch we got word that our cabins were ready, which was between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m., although luggage wasn't delivered until several hours later.

 

A word about the lunch: thanks to all the posters who posted the lunch menu, which consisted of lamb or fish, neither of which I eat, but also had a delicious soup and salad...and the chocolate dulce de leche cake, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream is to die for!!!

 

I'm not going to add to Tom's excellent review but I will add a few thoughts about the excursions. I have difficulty walking, so all of the excursions we took were either moderate or mild.

 

Halifax: Peggy's Cove is beautiful, easy walking but not a whole lot of time and the HOHO bus was great.

 

Sydney: Heritage Village was very interesting BUT..it's rated as mild and should be rated as moderate to strenuous because the Village is at the top of a really steep hill. The bus takes you up, but you have to walk down and it was not easy. The Cape Breton oatcakes were delicious and they'll even give you the recipe.

 

Charlottetown, PEI: My favorite port. House was very interesting, especially if you're an Ann of Green Gables fan....plenty of time to tour the house and walk the paths mentioned in her books...and the lobster lunch was fun because the whole lobster was served with no instructions and plenty of napkins!

 

Quebec: Also my favorite port! We took the bus tour to the Hotel Frontenac with its spectacular views. The hotel itself was not as impressive as I expected and you CAN use the bathrooms! (although the tour guide will tell you that you cannot). After lunch on board we walked on our own (across the street) to the Museum of Civilization, which has one of the best Native Peoples exhibits I have ever seen. On our second day we went to Montmorency Falls, which was nice but it would have been better had we stopped at the base of the Falls rather than the gift shop/restaurant at the top of them...and the Sugar Shack was loads of fun.....best apple pie ever....and if you like maple syrup don't miss the frozen syrup on a stick!! You make your own and your dentist will love you!

 

Bar Harbor: like everyone we were looking forward to spending the day here visiting the National Park but it was not to be and Capt. Kate did a great job minimizing the discomfort to everyone on board.

 

Portand: On our own. We were supposed to take the Mail Boat for a 3 hour cruise around all the islands but because we had to do immigration here instead of Bar Harbor were too late getting off the ship to make it...so we took the ferry to Peak's Island, which was very scenic and charming.

 

Boston: We've been here so many times and DH wanted to take the "Duck tour", which we had already done in Seattle, but he really wanted to so we did. This was one of the best tours we did! First we drove around Boston and saw many of the sites and then we drove that school bus into the water and toured the harbor. Unlike Seattle, we did not have quackers to blow at people on the street and we were very grateful for that. But it was a short 2 hour land and sea tour with an excellent guide and a really different tour if you've never done one...and you'll have the whole afternoon to ride the HOHO bus there.

 

Thank you, Hydrokitty, I appreciate you leaving your impressions/review of your port visits. I didn't think the outside pool would see much action on this cruise(the T Pool, though, absolutely!), however it's nice to see that X leaves blankets on the loungers. Too bad about missing Bar Harbor, and Capt. Kate(who is awesome!)made the right choice in not docking. We felt much less of Hermine's rain here in northern NJ, but we got a nice taste of that wind!

 

Thank you also for your impressions of the walking at each port. My DM uses a cane and/or a rollator walker to get around, and my idea of investing in one of those all terrain 'tripod' bottom canes for her is one I'm going with.(we will be taking both with us)

[CruisingChick]

Unfortunately for next year there is an itinerary change on the Sept 24th cruise and we will miss PEI. Disappointing.

 

You see my DH can't wait for that sailing as we will be going to Saguenay. It's very lovely cruising down the Saguenay River. Celebrity has not done that to my knowledge since 2007.

 

We've been to PEI at least 4-5 times and are looking forward to doing something new.

 

So sorry the OP missed Bar Harbor. We had a great time and took the free Island Explorer to Acadia National Park then after that got our pumpkin whoopie pies at Pinks Pastry.

[Cinerama]

We've boarded as early as 10:30am.

 

What time do people start lining up and when do they open the doors for the check-in?

[Hydrokitty]

 

Thank you also for your impressions of the walking at each port. My DM uses a cane and/or a rollator walker to get around, and my idea of investing in one of those all terrain 'tripod' bottom canes for her is one I'm going with.(we will be taking both with us)

 

A suggestion for your DM: I purchased a tripod cane with a seat (like you see at the golf matches I've been told) and it's a God send!! I got it from the Magellan travel catalog, it cost about $30-35 and it actually works as a cane when walking, BUT, when you need to sit down, you just flip the seat down and sit on it! Weighs about 1 pound....doesn't collapse, which would be helpful (it qualifies as a medical device when flying)..and if you buy one, before you use it go to any store that sells canes (Stop & Shop, CVS, Rite Aid, etc.) and replace the rubber "feet" with cane tips. The tips that come on it wear out very fast, while the cane tips last much longer, and IMHO are much safer. :)

[cruise47]

Thanks for sharing your review. The one port you missed was Bar Harbor this port had some of the very best seafood on the east coast and some good local retail stores with some deep discounts on their products. . Maybe, on your next New England / Canada cruise you will get a chance to visit Bar Harbour.

[Fish Lover]

What time do people start lining up and when do they open the doors for the check-in?

 

i don't know. we always depart from Bayonne and we have always walked right on. we never stood in line for more than 2 minutes.

[RJHNorthyorks]

We were also on the October 2nd cruise and largely agree with comments already made. We were however very disappointed with the Select dining arrangements and have never experienced such chaotic organisation on any other cruise.

We had pre-booked dining times for every night prior to sailing but on the first day had a letter in our cabin telling us to go to the dining room 1.5 hours early as the ship was busy. When we went down there were lots people waiting and after queueing for a while we just gave up and went to the buffet instead. Not the best start.

After this, though we had a prebooked time, we had to queue every night and it became clear that the communication system between people on the front desk and dining room staff was not working at all well. One evening after a time spent in the queue we were seated and were amazed to count 16 empty seats in our area of the dining room. It was over 10 minutes before the people standing in the line behind us were seated near us.

We complained about our experience and were given the name of a maitre D who we could call and he would help us jump the queue. We were not impressed by this solution as it was unfair on others and did not use it. We tried to give him our observations but he was totally disinterested.

On a positive note the staff in the dining room were excellent and food generally good. We also met someone who has sailed on this ship 10 times recently and always used Select dining and it was her first experience of queues and delays.

[WEGL81]

Unfortunately for next year there is an itinerary change on the Sept 24th cruise and we will miss PEI. Disappointing.

 

 

That is disappointing. PEI was my favorite port. Such a beautiful place.

 

 

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[calvins5]

We found Captain Kate McCue to be simply wonderful. Thank you Captain Kate for an outstanding cruise and an exciting vacation.

 

 

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[MaryAnn&Don]

Here is a video from our cruise in September.

 

[easyboy]

Here is a video from our cruise in September.

 

 

Very nice video!

[MaryAnn&Don]

Here's another of The Excursion we did on Prince Edward Island

 

 

 

For more of my videos subscribe to my channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/DonLandis