Great Disembarkation

[RLM77]

Kudos to Celebrity for an incredibly fast disembarkation from Summit yesterday! The ship was two hours late into LA due to some rough weather on the way back from Hawaii. (The Captain mentioned 40-50 knot headwinds.) Our flight from LAX was at 12:30, so we were nervous about the delay, to say the least!:eek: Fortunately, we had signed up for the "Express Walk-Off" program, which I very highly recommend if you are 1) physically able to handle your own luggage and 2) not using Celebrity's airport shuttles (you're not eligible for the program if you use Celebrity's transportation).

 

The ship arrived at the pier at exactly 9:00 AM, which was exactly as announced. By 9:05 pax were being called to the theater for immigration inspection. After a wait of about 15 minutes the Feds arrived. (First time I've ever heard Government employees applauded!):rolleyes: As Express departure pax we were in the first group through immigration, and were cleared about 9:35. We had left our luggage in the photo sales area just aft of the theater. By the time we collected it, reached the midships elevators, and were waiting to descend to Deck 3 (where the gangway was located), it was announced that Express Walk-Off patrons were free to disembark! We were off the ship by 9:45 and at LAX by 10:10 with more than enough time to make our flight.:):)

 

Other cruise lines may have variations on the Express progam. But a process that lasted just 45 minutes from the time the ship tied up to the time we were allowed off is nothing short of fantastic by any standard! My sincere thanks and appreciation to Celebrity and the Officers of Summit for creating such a smooth process and beautifully compensating for the weather-related delay.

[BobBeaSea]

That's nice and quick...how was the cruise?

[osiebosie]

We, too, had an easy disembarkation from the Constellation. Since we were not pushed for time, we relaxed in the theatre. There were two luggage colors, since we were on separate decks from my dd and sil, but they let them leave with us since we were called first. I didn't pay alot of attention to the time, since we had plenty, but we were off fairly quickly (darn it) and off to the airport to sit until 2:30.

 

Glad yours went well.

 

Shay

[RLM77]

That's nice and quick...how was the cruise?

 

In a word, great! The only impact from the earthquake was that a portion of the Hana road was still closed during our Maui overnight. Otherwise, everything shoreside was back to normal from what we could see.

 

The onboard experience equaled or exceeded our previous Celebrity experience, which is saying a lot IMHO. Service was outstanding; most of the staff really do go above and beyond in their efforts to please. Personnel on Summit seem genuinely proud that the ship was named the "friendliest at sea" in a recent Conde Nast survey and appear highly motivated to retain that title.

 

Cruise Director John Howell put together a fine program, difficult on a cruise that has more sea days than port days (more on John in a future post). Entertainment was the best I have seen on any of our cruises thus far. The Broadway floor show was an energetic, well directed, and well choreographed effort that far surpassed the norm. Individual entertainers included Brooks Aehron, a concert pianist who combined great skill with a winning personality, and Scott(?) Record, who combined impersonations of singers from the past and present and some stand-up comedy into one terrific performance. The Cirque show was excellent, although brief. One minor criticism is the "use it or lose it" mentality among the lighting crew. If a lighting effect was available it was used. Repeatedly. Whether or not its use enhanced what was actually happening on stage.

 

Cabaret entertainment was also excellent. Pianist Steve Heist, the Max Sherman Quartet, Jacqueline the Harpist, and the Viva Music string quartet were all top notch. The Celebrity Orchestra was absolutely amazing in their ability to play nearly any style, any genre, any era extremely well with seemingly no hesitation. Unfortunately the guitarist (Art Michaud) lost a member of his family early in the cruise and left the ship before we got a chance to hear him.

 

The ship is immaculate although with its fifth birthday coming in November there is a bit of wear in spots (most notably the chairs in the main dining room). Our cabin was spotless. The only issue with the furniture or fixtures was a balcony door that needed a couple adjustments before it locked properly.

 

Food at dinner continues to be excellent overall. It would be outstanding overall in my opinion were it not for some of the fish selections, which are good rather than great. Wine choices are broad rather than deep, with at least a selection or two from most of the world's significant viticultual areas. A few more options from places such as New Zealand or Spain would have been welcome. California wines are the most common; there are a significant number of French wines as well. The Normandie specialty restaurant provides outstanding ambiance and service along with some outstanding menu items that are unique to that venue. The goat cheese soufflé is heavenly; everything favorable that other posters have said about it is true. For lunch, the pasta station in the buffet area was a frequent choice. Celebrity does a great job with pasta in all its venues.

 

A personal disappointment is that Jill Hardy left Celebrity at the end of September; we had been looking forward to seeing her again this cruise.

 

In short, we loved the cruise and are looking forward to our future Celebrity vacations.

[Tucsoncruisers]

Thanks for the great information. So glad you enjoyed your cruise. We will be on the Summit Dec. 9th. Did you do any excursions? Also did you take any of the computer or digital camera classes offered?

[RLM77]

Did you do any excursions? Also did you take any of the computer or digital camera classes offered?

 

We only did one excursion - "Explore the North Shore" from Honolulu. It was a good excursion with stops to see Sunset Beach (near the Banzai Pipeline) and "Turtle Beach" where you can see Hawaiian sea turtles basking in the sun. The surf was high for this time of year, which made Sunset Beach quite interesting but precluded the turtles from climbing onto the rocks to bask. Traffic was very heavy; it was a Sunday and all the surfers were on their way to take advantage of the first high surf of the season! There were also stops at the Dole plantation and at a Coffee and Macadamia nut shop to give you opportunities to spend additional $$:rolleyes:. The soft serve ice cream topped with fresh pineapple available at the plantation was great!

 

We rented a car on Maui which was our overnight port, so no excursions there. We did Hilo on our own, but from a previous (land) trip I highly recommend an excursion (or renting a car and driving) to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Kilauea) if you've never been. It's about 35 miles from the pier and well worth your time. The stop at Kona was fairly short (the ship departed at 2 PM for LA), so we stayed on board to avoid the tender lines. My understanding is that there is shopping and a decent beach close to the tender pier.

 

We did not take any of the computer/imaging classes; we somehow manage to muddle through OK without help.

 

Hope that helps.