Review of Summit Med cruise - it may get long

[Ardy53]

Introduction.

 

I thought that I would write the outline of this review on my laptop during the cruise, but the time or inclination to do so was never there. I am sure that I can recall most of the details though and if I forget anything, it is surely not too important.

 

Let me start off by introducing ourselves. We are Roy (me), 55 years old and Val, 53, from Cape Town, South Africa. This was only our 2nd cruise; the first was 2 years ago for 4 nights in the Bahamas on Carnival Sensation. Also, I had been to Venice and Rome previously, but Val had not. One other thing to mention is that we were only going to be able to do this (or any) cruise after our trip to Toronto if we stuck to a relatively tight budget. This meant cheapest cabins, low-cost excursions etc.

 

Unlike our first cruise which had been organized by our travel agent, I researched all the possibilities as far as available cruises that would suit our dates and the places that we wanted to see. The one important factor was that we did not select this cruise at all based upon a cruise line or ship. We were returning from a wedding in Toronto on the 25th August and wanted to cruise in the Med, thus we required a cruise departing within a day or two from our arrival at Heathrow. Our first choice would have been a departure from Southampton or Dover, but I couldn't find an itinerary that suited us, particularly one that would include Venice.

 

This itinerary was the perfect match, even though it was going to mean travelling to Venice and then returning from Barcelona in order to fly home. In my research for the cruise, I discovered CruiseCritic and that really changed the way that the remainder of our planning was conducted. Instead of asking the travel agent to help us plan, I ended up telling her what we needed done. Through CC and the Celebrity website, I obtained 3 price reductions which the travel agent was unaware of.

 

Travel Day

 

We had initially considered taking the Eurostar from London to Paris and then an overnight sleeper through the Alps to Venice. Our idea was that this would allow us to see a bit more of the French and Italian countryside than we would by simply climbing aboard another short flight and arriving in Venice. Thanks to a great website (www.seat61.com), I gathered all the info necessary and came very close to booking the train trips.

 

Then in discussions on these boards and elsewhere, we came to the realization that all the train boarding, buses, taxis, re-boarding with 2 suitcases each was going to become a real problem. So, that idea was ditched in favour of simply changing terminals at Heathrow, flying to Venice and as a bonus, spending an extra night in Venice.

 

After an uneventful flight from Toronto to Heathrow, we changed terminals and took the 2 1/2 hour flight to Venice, arriving about 15:00 on Tuesday, the day before embarkation. We chose the cheapest way into Venice from the airport; €3.00 each for the blue bus to Piazzale Roma. I had booked a small hotel, Locando Salieri (no elevator, 8 rooms) very near P. Roma for €95.00. At one point we had considered leaving our 2 big bags at the baggage storage in P. Roma, but somehow we forgot to repack accordingly and so had to get to our hotel with all 4 bags. In reality this was not too bad, but at the time it was rather strenuous in the heat of a hot Venice afternoon with 2 small bridges to cross and then 2 flight up at the hotel. (Sorry Val).

 

I must just skip back to the bus trip. Purely by accident we discovered another couple on the bus were also arriving for the same cruise as ours, we chatted on the drive in, discovered we had a lot in common and before heading for our hotel, we had arranged to meet with at 6pm at Harry’s Bar (the only sure landmark that I could remember, except for something ridiculous like “in the middle of St Mark’s square.

 

Anyway, back to the remainder of our afternoon. We resisted the urge to lie down and have a quick sleep after losing so many sleep hours. I took a quick shower and then I had to go find conditioner for Val after discovering that there was none in the hotel. (Grrr… that an afternoon can be dominated by the need to find conditioner… it’s not quite like the need to find toilet paper in the bathroom). As us men have learned, it is much easier to say “yes dear” and trot off to get the article in question, than to spend half an hour discussing whether it is really required and then still having to go get it. Enough said.

 

After we had both donned clean clothes for the first time in 2 days (well, only about 12 hours, but that’s what flying east makes one feel like), we headed off to explore a bit of Venice before our 6 pm rendezvous at Harry’s. We headed for the nearby Vaporetta stop and purchased a 48-hour pass for about €26 each. Although walking through Venice is delightful, there also comes a time when one needs to get from one end to the other a little faster (particularly when Val is there and there are clothing stores open) and in addition the water taxi ride is really the only way to see all the beautiful buildings down the Grand Canal.

 

In fact, we took the slow ride down the canal that stops at every stop; I think it took about 40 minutes from P. Roma to St. Marco.

 

Although we had arranged to meet Gary and Debbie at Harry’s, we did not intend to have a drink there as a Bellini inside costs the same as a 48-hour Vaporetta pass. We ordered a glass of wine at a nearby café where we could keep an eye on Harry’s and about 15 minutes later were joined by our new cruise friends from Chicago. After a drink there we strolled around St Marks and then decided to head for the Rialto Bridge. I was the only one to have previously been to Venice, which meant that as soon as we got lost, I was to blame. (I tried pointing out that they should have bought a map, but was assured that they had trusted me, so that was unnecessary). Of course, the truth is that you will get lost in Venice despite a map, but it is never for too long and is really part of the fun of being there.

 

After a lot of walking and dragging (the women away from designer shops) we decided it was time to eat. As we were nowhere near the real touristy areas, we ended up having a delightful meal that looked to be about half the price of other establishments that we had seen earlier. The only downside to eating in places off the beaten track is that the English of the waiters is not that good.

 

After supper we wandered around a bit until we chanced upon a sign pointing the way to a Vaporetta stop. Phew!!! We were no longer lost !! We then took the water taxi up the canal and a few stops later saw that we were just about to stop near the casino. On a whim, we informed our friends that we wanted to go look inside, so we hopped off the taxi, waved goodbye to them and then spent 10 minutes lost again before finding the entrance to the casino.

 

Of course we never wondered why we were getting strange looks as we entered the foyer, forgetting for the moment that we were still in shorts and sandals. Maybe they would have allowed us in, but when we discovered the hassle of paying €10.00 each just to get in, as well as the identification they required in the absence of our passport, we decided to just leave.

 

We took the Vaporetta back to P. Roma and just strolled around some more quaint streets before deciding that a final glass of wine would be a good idea. Before ordering though, we realized that we might order two glasses each though, and in that case it would be cheaper to order a bottle, which we did. However, that full bottle of wine looked so lonely without a plate of food next to it, we took pity and each ordered a small entrée to help the bottle along. It was the end of a lovely evening and just a short walk back to our hotel, where we fell fast asleep till 7 the next morning.

 

Embarkation Day

 

Breakfast at our hotel was only between 8.00 and 9.00 the next morning, so after my shower I took a 15 minute, early morning walk for a cup of coffee and a bit more exploring. Of course I got hopelessly lost again, but managed to find the hotel after about 30 minutes. We had a delightful breakfast of cereal, croissants, rolls, jam, cheese and prosciutto, all washed down by several cups of coffee. Breakfast was in the restaurant adjoining the hotel and was included in the price of the room.

 

We then went upstairs to pack our bags, leaving them in the hotel to be collected on our way to the ship. Our morning was going to be spent exploring the Jewish ghetto.

 

Let me explain firstly that Val is Jewish, I am not. I love old buildings, famous places, monuments etc, Val does not. Val likes shops, I do not. Despite all these seeming differences, we have been together for 3 years and never had a single disagreement. Our secret? (well, mine, anyway) All that is required is to understand how a woman’s mind works. Once you have that mastered, you will never have a problem. So, if you want to see St Marks Square, tell her that it would be fun to stroll past all these wonderful designer shops near St Marks Square, where she can do some great window shopping. Then arrange to meet her at a predetermined spot in half an hour and guess what – everyone is happy. (There can be problems with this arrangement sometimes, but you will need to wait till we are in Athens before we get to that – come to think of it, at this rate I don’t even know when we are going to get to the ship, let alone leave Venice).

 

So, where were we? Oh, on the way to the ghetto. I had been to St Mark’s Cathedral previously, as well as the Doges Palace and glass factories, and because there were no designer clothes stores in any of these Venice landmarks, Val was quite happy not to see them.

 

The Jewish ghetto was a good compromise, as I hadn’t been there before and she was quite keen to have some photo’s taken there to show her children that she had made the effort to visit the ghetto, even if it meant not getting to see the more famous sights. (As I already stated, understand the mind)

 

However, what should have been a delightful and relaxed morning before boarding the ship, turned into a bit of a nightmare. Halfway through the morning, after strolling slowly towards the Jewish quarter, she suddenly stopped me and pointed ashen-faced at her left hand. I could see nothing wrong at all, but eventually she managed to stammer “ring, ring”!! At that point I thought that her mobile was ringing in her bag and only after a sip of water was she able to tell me that she had left her ring on the bedside table that morning. I assured her that I had personally checked the room before we left and had thrown all the small, last minute items into her bag. So, at the side of a busy canal, we proceeded to look for the ring in her bag.

 

Of course there is no need to describe to anyone how long it can take a woman to search for an item as small as a ring in a handbag. She searched and searched. I searched and searched. Then, we both searched together. There was no ring in the bag. If you were guessing that it was on her other hand, you would be smart, but wrong. She wanted to rush straight back to the hotel, but I persuaded her that if we did that first, we might never get the pictures to show her children of her visiting the Jewish ghetto in Venice.

 

So, with a bit of encouragement from me, we proceeded to spend an hour or so exploring, but neither of our hearts was really in it. I even offered to walk with her to the shops near Rialto to help cheer her up, but she just wanted to get back to the hotel. Once there, we asked to get into the room, only to be told that it had already been cleaned and that there had been no ring found. Of course we could not accept that, and were taken to the room where beds and tables were moved in search of the missing ring.

 

The receptionist was asked to telephone the police so that we could report the ring stolen / missing. It transpired that if we were reporting a theft, then we would have to lay charges and remain in Venice till the case was resolved. I didn’t think that missing our cruise over a ring was worth it. As I looked at it, our insurance would cover a lost ring, but not a missed cruise because of a lost ring (and certainly not both).

 

All this time I was sure that the ring would turn up in some item of clothing hidden away in our bags. (I was still convinced that I had put it into her handbag) It was just not appropriate to try and unpack four suitcases on a small landing in the hotel, so we headed to the ship with our luggage, hoping the ring would turn up in a suitcase once we were able to unpack.

 

After negotiating the 2 flights of stairs down and then the two bridges back to P. Roma, we searched for the shuttle bus to the pier that Celebrity promises. Of course, with Val still in a state over the ring, someone else had to carry her cases over the bridges and because none of the people around us offered to help, I had to do the 8 trips for each bridge.

 

Those of you that have been there know that P. Roma has lots of buses. They are all clearly marked with their destinations, but none of them indicated the pier or Celebrity. Eventually we started asking groups of people with suitcases if they were waiting for a ship shuttle. On about the 3rd group, we hit gold and found that this was the group waiting for the bus.

 

Unfortunately, there was no bus waiting for the group. It occurred to me that maybe the group was not waiting at the same place as the bus was waiting, and after several circuits of P. Roma, this proved to be the case. As the bus was unwilling to move to the group, we all moved to the bus, left our luggage beside it and boarded. Then we all filed off again when someone recognized a few words that the driver had been muttering the whole time. We had to load our own bags under the bus, which we did and then all boarded the bus again.

 

(For those that are going to be there soon, if you face P. Roma with the Grand Canal behind you, the shuttle bus is to be found across P. Roma on the extreme left).

 

It was a short 5 minute drive to the cruise terminal, where we were directed to the baggage drop-off (we still had to take our own bags out from under the bus), labelled our cases, and then walked to the check-in facility. Everything went quite smoothly at this point, which was quite a relief after all that had transpired earlier. Being South African, our check-in took a bit longer because we have Visa requirements for EU countries and for Croatia.

Boarding

... coming soon ...

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thats all for the moment. I will continue unless I get told to stop with this drivel...

 

Roy

[amapola]

Don't stop :D . Can't wait for the next installment... and news of The Ring!

[Dowunder]

Yes we need to know what happened to the ring before we read any further.

[Dowunder]

Oh and how did you get those price reductions? That would make for an interesting post.

[Addict1]

Please keep it coming:D

[judyfssw]

Enjoying your review. Keep it coming.

[CathyCruises]

WHAT???? This can't be the end??? It's like being in the middle of a really good book and leaving it on the airplane!

[Ardy53]

WHAT???? This can't be the end??? It's like being in the middle of a really good book and leaving it on the airplane!

 

Nope, I have hardly started... :)

 

I will try and post a couple of cruise days each day, depending on how much time I find to write.

 

Oh and how did you get those price reductions? That would make for an interesting post.

 

For months I checked the Celebrity website every Wednesday and that is where I saw the price reductions. I then informed my travel agent who rebooked at the lower price.

 

Our price per person dropped from $1,900 to $1,200 over 4 months.

 

Once final payment was made I didn't see any further drops, so not sure what would have happened if that were the case.

 

Roy

[lucky white heather]

C,mon Roy...want to know what happened next???? can't wait!!!!

Yvonne

[spearmint]

Agghhhhh! Nooooooooooooooooooo. You can't hold us up for days!:eek: That is way too long. Great drivel.

 

We were thinking of taking this cruise, and wondered about flying to Venice (probably via Toronto). I wondered if there was a direct flight. Did you have any difficulties moving from one terminal to another in London Heathrow? We have never had to do that. Then, we wondered about Venice, also. I don't particularly like the place, but that's where the ship departs. So, thanks for the write-up so far. We really are looking foward to the rest of the story. :)Bill

[Ardy53]

... so on with the story!!

 

Boarding

 

At about 13:00 on 27th August, we walked the plank (so to speak) to board the lovely Celebrity Summit.

 

Comparisons are odious (so they say), but we were a little underwhelmed by the grand foyer compared to the Carnival Sensation 2 years earlier. There was no 6 storey atrium with glistening elevators but we were determined to accept that we were on a different ship, different cruise line and a different offering. The marble staircase looked good.

 

At this stage let me just pause and say that any and all negative comments that I may make in this review are to be taken in a spirit of observation rather than outright criticism. The bottom line is that we thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and would do it again at the drop of a hat.

 

I seem to recall that there was champagne and cordial after boarding, but we were not escorted to our cabin as I had been told we would be.

 

Once onboard, we headed for the nearest bar (remember, the ring was still lost) to calm distraught nerves. Because it is not wise to drink on an empty tummy, we also had a snack from the hamburger bar.

 

Have I mentioned that we are both smokers? This means (because I had read all the literature) that there are certain places where you can sit to drink and smoke. Generally speaking, there was no issue with smoking on this cruise. The smokers observed the rules and the non-smokers, for the most part, understood them too (more on this in a moment).

 

So, hoping that our bags were already delivered, we headed to our stateroom. They were not outside as we had hoped, but imagine our delight when we opened the door and found the 4 bags already placed in the room.

 

Needless to say, everything was rapidly unpacked in the hope that the ring would be uncovered. Item after item was hung up in the ample wardrobe space, but no ring. Clothes were unfolded, refolded and placed into drawers, but no ring.

 

Oh, forgot to mention our introduction to our cabin steward. Soon after we arrived at our room, J. was there to greet us and tell us he would be at our service for the next 12 nights. We asked him if he could please bring us 2 ashtrays, as there were none in the room. He then told us that we could not smoke in the cabin.

 

Huh??? Does he not read CruiseCritic?? Has he missed all the violent discussions that I have been reading about for 3 months? Does he not know what the current policy is?

 

I quietly informed him that we WERE allowed to smoke in the cabin; but that this would be changing from 1st October and we were glad to see that he had our health at heart and eager to implement the new policy, but please to just get the ashtrays. So off he went and returned with an ashtray. I pointed out that we both smoked and would each like an ashtray. He then told us we were not allowed to smoke in the bed, which I thought was a bit presumptuous on his part. Eventually we got our 2 ashtrays but there is more to this story later on.

 

All our clothes were now safely stowed in wardrobes, drawers and anywhere else that seemed appropriate. Still no ring to be found.

 

Finally we got to the last few items in Val’s suitcase; the vanity bags, toiletry bags, cosmetic bags and other bags which don’t have names including her other handbag. Other handbag? Like I have another mobile cover? Or another laptop bag? Anyway, she has another handbag. Ok, you all guessed correctly!! There, tucked away in a little side pocket, was the ring. I knew I had put it there!! I am to remember if the bag was brown or black? I am to know she changed handbags that morning? Enough said; ring found, everyone happy, so head back upstairs to celebrate.

 

Although we had planned to head back into Venice that evening, with all the excitement (and tears) of the day, we changed our minds and decided to eat onboard (remember our budget) and watch a show, leaving more Venice exploration till the next day.

 

It was casual dining that evening, meaning we didn’t sit at our allocated table. We found ourselves at a table with two couples from England and we all got along fine and had a great dinner until the main course arrived.

 

There had been a lot of discussion on CruiseCritic of the passenger makeup for a Mediterranean cruise, both country of origin and age group. Our experience for this cruise was that the largest contingent was from the UK, with USA and Canada a little way behind. There were very few from Europe, certainly not as many as we had been led to believe that we would find. There were 69 children aboard (I didn’t count them, the activities staff informed us). In fact, I can not recall seeing more than a dozen children. We were informed though that the sailing prior to ours had 480 children, which had worn the staff out completely.

 

The reason for this information just supplied is to better explain the incident that took place at dinner, after my grilled steak arrived. I had declined the horseradish sauce that accompanied the beef and politely asked if I could have some mustard. About 5 minutes later our waiter dropped a little jar of Dijon mustard in front of me and rushed off to attend to another table. I eventually managed to attract his attention again, and requested some hot English mustard. (We all call it Colman’s hot mustard, but there are other makes).

 

He then informed me that they didn’t have any hot mustard!!!! What??

 

The mouths of all six of us at the table dropped!! I was sure they just hadn’t covered the hot mustard definition in his training program, so I asked him to just check with the assistant Maitre’d or perhaps with the kitchen. He returned to tell me that there definitely was no hot mustard on the ship.

 

We were flabbergasted. I know that the American readers are going to be unimpressed that I make such an issue of this, but British eaters know that hot mustard is always on the table. Every fast food place back home has hot mustard. Even the barrow vendors selling hamburgers and hot dogs have hot mustard.

 

There was nothing more I could do about it, so quietly finished my steak.

 

There was another issue that was slightly irritating at dinner. As soon as we were seated, our waiter brought us menus and a short while later someone appeared to take a drinks order. I ordered a bottle of wine but he informed me that he did all the drinks except for the wine, and that the wine sommelier would be along shortly. This was new to me as on our Carnival cruise one waiter managed drinks and wine quite adequately. His idea of shortly and my expectation were not quite the same and it was somewhere between the soup and salad that he finally arrived at our table.

 

I know that it is a great idea to have a knowledgeable sommelier advising one of the correct wine to order for the dinner, but we are not wine connoisseur’s and our method of choosing wine, particularly on Celebrity is very simple. (remember the low-budget?). We simply narrowed the choices down to anything that was less then $30 a bottle, which made for a very small selection. Overall, the discussion on these boards and onboard was that prices of drinks on Celebrity were higher than elsewhere and we certainly found this to be true. This applies to the $25 corkage as well if we had chosen to bring one of our two allowed bottles of wine to dinner. I believe that on some other lines there is no 2-bottle limit and that the corkage is $15.00, which certainly sounds more reasonable.

 

After dinner, we went dancing for a while and then attended a show at 10:30, which was not particularly memorable (meaning that I can’t actually remember what it was).

 

We went up to Revelations for a while after the show and then decided to get to bed.

 

 

Sailaway Day

 

--------------------

 

check back later... there will be more!!!

 

Roy

[ejgravatt]

Roy,

 

I'm eagerly awaiting more! One question-was there a wine opener in your cabin to open the bottles brought onboard? Also, happy the ring was found!

 

Judy

[Ardy53]

Roy,

 

I'm eagerly awaiting more! One question-was there a wine opener in your cabin to open the bottles brought onboard? Also, happy the ring was found!

 

Judy

 

Judy

 

There wasn't a corkscrew in the cabin, but one was produced when I asked. I also had my trusty Swiss Army knife as a backup!!

 

Roy

[amapola]

Enough said; ring found, everyone happy, so head back upstairs to celebrate.

 

Thank goodness! I will be able to sleep tonight :D.

 

Love your narrative style! I'm not planning on this cruise anytime soon, but we're on the Summit in Jan (Caribbean) and I can't wait to read your impressions of the ship itself. Thanks for sharing :)

[valli54]

... Ok, you all guessed correctly!! There, tucked away in a little side pocket, was the ring. I knew I had put it there!! I am to remember if the bag was brown or black? I am to know she changed handbags that morning?

Roy

 

Hi Guys

Now Roy tells me (and the whole world) that he knew all along where my ring was!!! Yeah rite!!!!! He would never have offered to come shopping with me if he was so sure that he was 100% correct but nevertheless he was absolutely fantastic to me and very comforting.

 

Although it seems that he is being very critical of Celebrity, I can assure you we had an absolutely fantastic time.

 

I won't say anymore now as I will leave it up to him to continue......

 

Val

ps I love you my baby and thank you for putting up with all my shopping

[pantherfan47]

We were on the same cruise and looking forward to your full review- I also asked for English Mustard.

Have read a couple of reviews on Cruise Critic which were highly critical I think some people only live to complain

[Ardy53]

Sailaway Day

 

Val, cunning as she and every other woman is, remembered my offer of shopping at Rialto Bridge. It was an offer of mine, made in good faith to cheer her up the previous day, but I guess there is no statute of limitations on offers such as these.

 

So, we headed off the ship the next morning after grabbing a quick bite for breakfast at the Waterfall place. I love smoked salmon, so that set the tone of our breakfasts for the next 11 mornings. Salmon with toast, salmon with bagels, salmon with croissants, salmon with anything else that they had on offer!!!

 

After that we headed off for the trip to Rialto bridge and the shops. $20 dollars for the Celebrity water taxi to St. Marco for the day seemed unnecessary, so we did the 10 minute walk from the cruise terminal to P. Roma and took the Vaporetta (48 hour pass, remember) to Rialto. I needed about an hour on the internet (more about this later), so left Val to do her shopping while I found an internet café. We met up as planned an hour later, wandered around together for a while before heading back to P. Roma and the walk from there to the cruise terminal.

 

While in P.Roma, we bought a couple of bottles of wine from the delightful supermarket just next to the Vaporetta stop. There were such attractive local hams and cheeses, but we had to keep reminding ourselves that food was waiting for us back at the ship. (also, Val doesn't eat ham)

 

We had no issues boarding with our purchases and our wine, but that was set to change later during the cruise.

 

We had a light lunch at the Waterfall Café and then prepared ourselves for our departure from Venice.

 

This is now an appropriate place to introduce our CC roll call. The first post took place exactly a year before our sail date, but never really gained momentum till 6 months before. For a long time we weren’t sure that we would get 25 people registered, but there was a late surge of people joining and we ended up with 33 registered guests for the Celebrity get-together. We also setup a website to share excursion information and to post our mugshots. http://www.freewebs.com/ardy53

 

We had also arranged an informal get together at the Mast Bar for 3.00 pm as we sailed out of Venice. About 18 of us were able to recognize each other from our pictures on the website and we had a great time enjoying a drink, meeting each other, enjoying a drink, snapping pictures, enjoying a drink, listening to Botticelli, enjoying a drink and waving goodbye to Venice. Such fun was had that we found it necessary to go have a little lie-down in preparation for the evening.

 

After I had enjoyed a short nap, I went to explore areas of the ship that I had not yet encountered. I found the library and checked out a book that I thought I would enjoy. There is a fair selection of fiction, hard and soft cover, but no organization or filing that I could determine, so one just has to scrounge each shelf, much like at a book sale. It was very cool in the library, so this was definitely a place to head for on a hot day.

 

We had late dinner seating at 8.45, so after a drink in the lounge we headed into the dining room to our allocated table. Our Chicago friends had asked us to try and obtain a seat at their table, but we left it too late to arrange for that evening and promised to make an arrangement for the next night. We were seated at a table for six, but only had 2 ladies as dinner companions that evening.

 

I thought that we would have an uneventful dinner after the mustard issue the previous evening, but that was not to be. After ordering our food and waiting the interminable 10 minutes for the sommelier to arrive at our table, I decided to break the self-imposed $30 limit on a bottle. On the dinner menu, there is a chef’s recommendation for each of the courses, as well as a list of 4 or 5 recommended wines for the evening. I chose the Pinot Grigio listed there only to be told that it was not available.

 

Huh????

 

Thinking that the wine had been so good that all 2,000 people on board had ordered it that evening, I asked the sommelier how many bottles they had loaded on board. Appears it hadn’t yet arrived on board, which is strange, as I am sure it should only be recommended at dinner if a bottle or two from the same consignment had been tasted by the head sommelier.

 

I asked for an alternative dry white recommendation and a Riesling was suggested. This eventually arrived and was not bad, but the after half a glass, we found it really wasn’t dry enough for us. I often drink a Riesling and can’t ever recall that it ever comes less than dry. After managing to catch the attention of the sommelier, I told him that the wine was not really dry enough for us.

 

He then told me that certain Rieslings are definitely less dry than others, and this was one of them. After pointing out that we had asked him to recommend a dry white, he offered to bring us another bottle of wine and only charge us for the two glasses that we had half-consumed. By now the 2 ladies at the table were getting edgy, so I decided to drop the issue and finish dinner.

 

We met up with our friends at the late show, which was quite good and they persuaded us to ask the Maitre’d to get us shifted to their table the next night.

 

Then we headed to the casino for the first time. As smokers, we were glad to see that one half of the casino is smoking. Val did have an issue at a blackjack table with a gentleman who asked her not to smoke. She pointed out that this was the smoking half of the casino, but he said he wanted to play a $20 table, and there wasn’t one in the non-smoking side.

 

She then pointed out that she really wanted to play a $10 table, but that wasn’t available in the smoking section. He was adamant however, so like we so often do, she just moved away.

 

Have I mentioned the waiters at the bars yet?? If not, this is an appropriate time. It might seem that I have done nothing but complain so far and had nothing but trouble the whole cruise long. This is not the case however; we had enjoyed everything so far and a few hiccups along the way were not too serious.

 

I recognized the waiter in the casino from the pool deck earlier, but was amazed when he greeted me by name. Then I was nothing short of astounded when he asked if I would like a glass of Pinot Grigio, which is what I had been drinking earlier. Then I actually did fall out of my chair when he asked if Miss Val at the blackjack table would also care for a glass.

 

I had of course heard that the waiters got to know you by name, but I really hadn’t expected it to happen so early in the cruise. (Of course, one of our rude friends pointed out that they are actually trained to spot those that are going to be ordering lots from the bars, and learn their names first).

 

I only play the slots, and they weren’t too bad; very much up and down and I ended up an hour later perhaps $10 down.

 

By about 1.30 am we were ready for bed, which is what we did.

 

Dubrovnik

 

We had not planned to do too much in Dubrovnik, where the ship was only due to arrive at 09:00, so were in no real hurry to wake up and rush ashore. Those of you that have stayed in an inside cabin know that once the cabin lights are switched off, it is impossible to tell whether it is day or night. It is really weird to wake up and not have a clue whether it is 04:00 or 10:00 in the morning.

 

I actually woke up early that morning and went upstairs while Val had coffee in the room. It was a beautiful morning watching the cliffs near Dubrovnik come into view and all the other little craft flitting around.

 

I decided to go have breakfast in the dining room, which proved to serve almost the same food as the Waterfall Bistro did. The only difference on the plus side was that there were kippers or haddock available, which I never saw upstairs. The other plus was the fresh juices that were served.

 

On the downside, unless you insist on a table for two and also insist that you are in a hurry, the breakfast takes quite a while to get through. This is partly because they wait till a table is full before even bringing menus to the table. Then they let each of the juice waiters, the pastry waiters and the coffee waiters have a turn at serving the table. I was able to get a coffee out of turn by grabbing onto a waiter.

 

We were not able to dock at the cruise dock, so were tendered in the bay outside the old harbour entrance. If we had docked, we would have required a taxi or else paid $10 each for the ship shuttle to the old town.

 

We left the ship at about 11:00 once all the queues had disappeared and had a quick lifeboat trip to the harbour. At this stage, there is no need to explain why we were splitting up for a while. We arranged to meet in the small square just inside the walls an hour later and I hurried off to an internet café for a while before heading for the wall. Because there were 3 large ships, more than 8,000 passengers ashore, the place was crowded. In the end I decided not to walk on the wall and instead walked for a while on the inside and outside, thereby avoiding the crush to get on top.

 

I then joined Val and we visited a few shops because I was actually looking for a specific item to buy. I didn’t find the pair of shorts that I was looking for, but I did spot a rather stunning, short black cocktail dress. I asked Val to try it on and she loved it, so I bought it for her to wear to the formal dinner that night.

 

While we were in the store, there was an unexpected cloudburst which lasted all of 5 minutes then disappeared. Val was not certain that it wouldn’t turn around and come back though, so we decided to head back to the ship before that cloudburst saw her hair in Dubrovnik and came hurtling back to do maximum damage to an easy target.

 

There has been plenty written here on CC about bringing wine onboard at the ports. The policy states 2 bottles of wine at embarkation. Presumably this means that there is no problem in principle with enjoying wine that you have uncorked yourself in your cabin. So the reason for the policy is actually not provided by Celebrity, but there is plenty of speculation, the most common of which is that it is another great source of revenue for them.

 

In one corner of this debate there are the “believers in adhering to policy” no matter what the policy.

 

In the other corner, there are those who believe that their freedom to enjoy a wine of their choosing from a port or even wine estate that they visited that day is being curtailed.

 

Coming from South Africa where there was previously a “policy” that curtailed freedoms, it is pretty obvious where my sympathies in this debate lie.

 

So, the bottle of wine that we purchased in Dubrovnik was put through the scanner at security whilst boarding and we were told to head for the “bottles” table with our purchases. Of course this meant they would take away my bottle, so I gave that bag to Val, told her to go to the elevators and walked to the “bottles” table with the short, little black dress that I had purchased in a shopping bag. They took one look inside and then nodded me through.

 

So, now we had a new ships game to play each port day. We’ll revisit this game a little later on.

 

We had lunch aboard and then spent most of the afternoon at the pool, because the rest of the ship was still fighting to get up or down or across the walls.

 

About 6.00 pm, we found the sushi bar and had a quick snack to tide us over till dinner at 9.00 pm. Although we didn’t know it at the time, we suspect that the quick sushi snack was responsible for events that occurred the following day.

 

 

First Formal Dinner

 

Coming soon ....

 

 

Roy

[ejgravatt]

Roy,

 

Thanks for the information about a cork screw-just love the way you write and can't wait for the next installment-I have a feeling you got ill from the sushi ???????? I sure hope not!

 

My DH is in Canada fishing for a week and I've gotten addicted to the web-I'll have tons for information for him when he gets home as we, too, tend to break a few liquor rules.

 

Judy

[KY Deb]

I'm loving your report!!! I had an experience with English hot mustard. It was at the Tower of London were I ordered a hot dog and added mustard. My sinus passages have never been the same since. To this day it is the hottest stuff I've eaten. I guess it was so memorable because I wasn't expecting it. Can't wait for your next installment.

[scotslass]

I normally cant wait for the next chapter of my book every night but now I will be waiting for the next instalment of your review

[Dowunder]

Oh those cliffhangers. Bold and the Beautiful eat your heart out!!!

[Pupsweet]

"You go to see a play or ballet, and spend it searching

for her glove" ... or in this case, "ring?"

 

 

Great epistolary review ... but there is a slight "Henry Higgins" factor regarding the fair sex that I find ... uh, well. um ... a trifle stereotypical? :p

 

Different strokes ... so to speak! What do I know ... I wanted Hillary. :D

 

You weave a brilliant yarn though! Carry on!!!

 

Your fans await the dropping of the other shoe ...;)

[Ardy53]

Thanks for all your positive comments ...:)

 

 

Our first Formal Dinner

 

Right after the sushi, we headed to the dining room to speak to the Maitre’d about changing our table. He took down all the details and promised he would sort something out by late dinner.

 

We proceeded to get ready for the evening and Val was particularly pleased with the new little black dress from Dubrovnik.

 

We enjoyed a drink and a bit of dancing before dinner, then went to see the Maitre’d (I keep saying that but I think it is actually the Assistant Maitre’d for the starboard side, upper level of the main dining room, but I’m going to just stick with Maitre’d and hope you will all understand) about our new table.

 

He gave us a new table number and assured us that we would be happy there and he would sort out the details about our old table.

 

We met our Chicago friends and their fiends, but there was another couple at the table who were not expected to be there. We were expecting a honeymoon couple, but instead found a couple our age from Australia. Our honeymoon couple, it transpired did not want to attend the formal dinner, not because they wanted to be alone, but because she had forgotten to tell him that a suit was required to be packed.

 

So now we were eight at the table, but two more were going to arrive the next night. So we went and had another word with the Maitre’d and he said he was really stuck to find a 10-seater, but he would try his best.

 

We then proceeded to have a fantastic dinner. I haven’t made a note of what we ate each night, except for a few special items on the menu on a few occasions. What made every evening special was the camaraderie around our table. We ended up referring to our table as the “United Nations Table” and when we got home I even created a website for us. http://www.freewebs.com/table571

 

Although we now had a new waiter and a new sommelier, the issue of service in the dining room never lived up to our expectations. In comparison to our Carnival cruise 2 years earlier, the availability of the waiter was not as good and as I have mentioned previously, the sommelier really just took too long to get to our table each evening. We found an easy solution to that problem though. Before dinner we would sit down in the lounge for a pre-dinner drink and order a bottle of wine from the dining room wine list. Once we had assembled there with our dinner companions, we would ask for the bottle to be sent to our table and so once we were seated our wine would immediately be available at the table.

 

On another occasion, we left a half completed bottle in the dining room and the wine sommelier ensured that it was waiting there for us the next night.

 

It is hard to pinpoint exactly where the problem with Celebrity is around these issues. My feeling is that it could just be that our ship was quite full and the dining room was packed each night.

 

We had far too much fun on this cruise for any of the little issues to worry us. I mention them because they did occur and if they hadn’t, we could have claimed that everything met our high expectations.

 

After dinner that night we headed off to a show which was pretty good and then headed to the casino.

 

This was the 2nd night that the casino was open and the captain had adjusted the little win meter percentage in the backroom, as everybody was winning on the slots. I think I came away $200 better off for the evening.

 

The people at the tables were also having a good time. However, the evening came to an end earlier than we thought, because they shut the casino before 2 am, no doubt because the house wasn’t doing too well.

 

That reminds me of another difference between Celebrity and Carnival. After 12.30 or so the ship has nowhere to grab a bite to eat, other than room service. I had expected at least the pizza station to be open very late, if not all night. I guess it all boils down to the market that Celebrity is aiming at and the average age and lifestyle of their typical cruiser.

 

So once the casino was closed, we headed back to our room to order a late night snack. We were in no hurry to go to sleep as the next day was a sea day and we could sleep late. Our only arrangement was the Celebrity CruiseCritic party, scheduled for 10:00 am.

 

Little did we know of the trouble that would befall us the next day?

 

 

Our first Sea Day

 

We both woke up the next morning with the room still dark, so our first thought was that we should roll over and carry on sleeping till the sun came up. Then we realized that the sun might already be up, so checked the clock, only to discover that it was already 10:30 in the morning.

 

Oh no!!! We had missed the CC party!!! I dressed in a hurry and ran up to Michelangelo’s where our party should have been, only to discover that it had already finished. (apologies again to all my CC friends).

 

I returned to the cabin to find that Val was extremely unwell. At first we thought it was perhaps a bit too much indulgence the night before, but it soon became apparent that this was something a bit more than overindulgence.

 

She basically spent the whole day in the cabin vomiting and we eventually decided that I should take her down to the hospital when it reopened at 17:00. They were very pleasant there (a fellow South African was the nursing sister) and they decided that Val was suffering from a bout of gastro-enteritis caused by an unknown virus. Could it have been the sushi the night before? Who knows, but I doubt that Celebrity would be keen to admit that any food they served could be off. We are also not pointing fingers anywhere, as I know how easy it is for things like this to spread.

 

She was given an injection and put on a drip for 2 hours to rehydrate, then released back to her cabin. She ordered room service, consisting of chicken noodle soup, grilled chicken and salad, whilst I went up to join our friends for dinner.

 

I must just add at this point that all our friends, CC and others that I bumped into through the course of the day were all very concerned about Val and I thank them all for being so thoughtful.

 

Our Maitre’d had managed to perform a miracle!!

 

At this point I am not sure whether I entirely believe his story, but if it is not true, I give him 10 out of 10 for a great yarn. He told us that there were no more 10-seater tables available, but he had got the ship’s carpenters in to add an oval top to our previously round table. I almost tend to believe him, as it was a bit wobbly, which would not have been the case with a proper table.

 

Anyway, we now had our full complement with the addition of the Irish newlyweds. (Val was missing that night, but we were all there from the next night onwards)

 

Everyone at the table was of course very concerned about Val, but I assured them that she was feeling much better (a sure sign was the fact that she actually wanted to eat, for the first time the whole day)

 

After dinner, I checked in on Val again then headed to the casino for a while. The tables (or rather slots) had turned from the night before, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to keep pumping coins into a slot that never returned anything.

 

After chatting to a few friends and spending a bit of time on the open deck, I decided to head back to the cabin in preparation for our arrival in Athens the next day.

 

Reflecting back on the day, where I spent a lot of time by myself just reading, sun tanning or people-watching, I realized that the ship was actually a great place to be. I found that on the sea day it was very crowded around the pool area and also on the deck overlooking the pool. It was actually very hard to find a deck chair at any time on that day. I believe that this is a common problem on all ships and the way it is handled by the crew varies from ship to ship. However, enough has been written about this topic so that I have no need to dwell on it here.

 

I found a particular spot that I loved on the port side (smoking) on the 4th floor, below the lifeboats. There are plenty of loungers there, no crosswinds and very few people. Depending on the time of day and which direction we were travelling in, one had the choice of sunny or shady, definitely quiet and perhaps one of the most peaceful spots on the ship.

 

I know that people want to know what the state of the ship was like. Well, I always saw crew working in various parts of the ship; painting, cleaning, varnishing etc. We really had no complaints at all as far as the condition of the Summit was concerned.

 

I hope that this is turning out to be a balanced review. Did we enjoy our cruise? Yes. Are there some areas that we were disappointed in? Yes. Would we do it again? Yes – but only before 1st October!!! Guess no more is needed to explain that comment.

[Ardy53]

I hope there are still people interested in reading ...

 

Athens

 

We woke up the next morning rearing to go. Val was feeling fine, I was looking forward to Athens and it looked like a lovely day.

 

I haven’t commented much on the weather yet. We were told to expect sweltering hot days, but we had not yet encountered this. Venice was quite hot, but not as bad as the previous time I had been there, which was in June. Dubrovnik was hot to start with, but then clouded over with a few thundershowers, which cooled the day off. Athens looked as if it was going to be quite hot and we had been warned that climbing the Acropolis in the heat would be a real killer.

 

Well, we were in luck. There was actually a cool breeze blowing right after we docked in Piraeus, there was patchy cloud and I was suddenly convinced that the climb would not be as bad as anticipated.

 

We were off the ship after a quick bite to eat and were headed for the train station when we were accosted by a bunch of taxi drivers offering us a full day tour of Athens. This was not unexpected and we had been warned that they were very difficult to deal with. We bumped into another couple also headed for the train station and after debating the issue for a few minutes, asked the Greek taxi drivers if there was anyone that would take us to the Plaka, one way only.

 

All of them jumped forward offering a one-way ride, but promising that they could do a better deal for us than just that. So we just continued walking past them until one of them ran up behind us and told us that he would drive us to the Plaka for 20 Euros. We weighed this up against the 2 Euros per person train fare and decided the lack of walking, buying the ticket, waiting for the next train was probably worth it.

 

So we jumped into his Mercedes, were subjected to another string of attractive offers, which we ignored, and eventually found ourselves dropped off in the middle of the Plaka.

 

Our plan was that Val would have 2 whole hours of shopping while I ventured up the hill behind us. Being a Sunday however, many of the regular shops either weren’t yet open or would not open at all. Nonetheless, we arranged to meet at the Starbucks in the middle of the main square in the middle of the Plaka at 12:30. If the other was not there within 5 minutes, we would return again half an hour later and again each half hour after that. It sounded like a great arrangement, which left each of us with plenty of flexibility to enjoy what we wanted to do.

 

I left Val peering into shop windows, quivering at the thought of at least 2 hours of uninterrupted shopping, and headed to the Acropolis with our shared taxi friends.

 

I have got to tell everyone that it is really a magnificent feeling to meet the Acropolis and the Parthenon in person after reading so much about them and looking at all the pictures.

 

It looks really daunting when you start out, but it ends up being not too bad if you take it slowly. We had two things in our favour, and one against. Firstly the weather, we actually ended up having a shower or two after we got to the top, so it really wasn’t as hot as it could have been. Secondly, because it was a Sunday and also because we had no other large cruise ships in port that day, it ended up being nothing like we had been expecting as far as crowds go.

 

The downside was entirely my own fault – I had left the bag containing the water with Val so that she could stay hydrated and had forgotten to buy another one.

 

I bumped into 4 of our dinner companions (the “United Nations Table”) at the top of the Acropolis, so we walked back down together, after admiring the stunning views of the city from the hill.

 

I then headed back to the main square in the Plaka to meet up with Val.

 

I didn’t actually wait in the Starbucks, but sat in an adjoining café which had a perfect view of the entire Starbucks. Although I had enjoyed a refreshing coca-cola once we got down the hill (Nope, they are NOT paying me to mention their name), I was still very thirsty, so I ordered a refreshing local beer while I waited for 12:30.

 

By 12:45 I reckoned that Val was really enjoying the shopping and so I ordered another beer to wait for her. 13:00 came and went and I thought nothing of it as I was going by our arrangement that we would check every half-hour until we met up with each other.

 

By 13:45 I was getting a little concerned as I was also unable to reach her on her mobile. Around 14:00 I eventually received a message from her asking where I was. I messaged back (our phones were set to only message, not make/receive calls) that I was at Starbucks; when would she be joining me. Imagine my surprise when she said she was at Starbucks and had been waiting for me for over an hour. So I got up and walked into the Starbucks indoor area to meet with her, but she was not there!!!

 

Slowly it dawned on me that there might be more than one Starbucks in the Plaka and sure enough, after checking with the café owner, there was. By this time I was on my 2nd carafe of the house wine and had also ordered a plate of calamari, so after messaging her with the exact address, I sat down to finish my lunch and wait for her.

 

About 20 minutes later (did I mention that there had been another short thunderstorm?), a very tearful and bedraggled Val threw her arms around me and swore she would visit every ruin and monument with me in future, as long as I never left her alone again.

 

How on earth was I to suspect that, after asking directions to Starbucks, that she would not recognize the fact that she was not at the same Starbucks where we had last parted company??

 

(I hope she doesn’t spot this entry, but how can someone who confuses the Parthenon with the Colosseum, ever hope to distinguish one Starbucks from another??)

 

Happily reunited, we shared another carafe of house wine and then decided to splurge on a taxi back to the ship instead of taking the train as planned. We had to haggle the cab fare down by 5 Euros, but then I ended tipping the driver those 5 Euros as he was such a delight, keeping us in stitches all the way to the ship. I found him genuinely funny; I think that Val was just laughing hysterically, glad that we had found each other.

 

(Her story is that she asked directions to Starbucks, sat and waited an hour and a half for me, and when I eventually messaged her the correct address, set out looking for someone to show her how to get to me. She even offered a waiter at Starbucks 15 Euros to walk with her to the other Starbucks, but he said it was too far, and just pointed her in the general direction).

 

All’s well that end’s well, and we got back on board the ship safely, ready to enjoy another great evening.

 

That night we were a full complement at our table of 10 and had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner (as always it was the companionship). I really can’t remember if we visited the casino that night (probably we did) but we did end up having a fairly early night and were probably in bed soon after midnight.

 

Tomorrow we would be in Santorini, which we had heard so much about and were really looking forward to visiting. We had also made telephonic arrangements to have lunch on Santorini with one of our CC friends that we had not yet met (remember the missed party?).

 

 

Santorini

 

more soon ...

 

Roy

[Tammiko]

I hope there are still people interested in reading ...

 

Just wanted to let you know that there are DEFINITELY people still interested in reading....

We are on the November 15th Summit so this is very informative as well as entertaining!

 

P.S. I feel so sorry for your wife! If that had been me I, too, would have been in tears. The only difference would have been that you would have had to take your food to go and come and find me! I would have been in too much of a 'state' by then.