Summit 1/3/09 -- some impressions

[amapola]

Instead of a day by day review, I thought I’d just do some comments on various aspects of our Summit 1/3–1/10 cruise. To set the scene, DH and I are 45 & 50, laid back, quiet professionals, celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. This was our 8th cruise (2 on Carnival many years ago, 2 on Royal Caribbean and 3 on Princess, our favorite line), all to the Caribbean except one this past summer to Alaska.

 

We were quite excited to try Celebrity because we perceived it to be a “step above” other mass market lines, and were ready for a new experience. I also want to say that I’m not a negative, critical person. I always go into every new adventure with an open mind and expecting to have a good time. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect good service – service at the level that is marketed, KWIM? And Celebrity sells itself as an upscale, refined, personalized cruise experience.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation: We arrived at 1:00 and had a long line at the pier, but it moved quickly and we were aboard in less than ½ hour. Disembarkation was the best, most organized and painless I’ve experienced.

 

Ship layout: I thought the ship was quite beautiful, the décor and artwork were quite pleasant and the layout was nice. Even though we were sailing at capacity, the ship never felt crowded (except the buffet!!) and we always found a nice shady area to lounge and read. The theater seating was quite comfortable. I give it an A in design/appearance.

 

However, it needs some rehabbing pronto. Some of the things we noticed were masking tape holding together the carpet in the casino, loose weather stripping around doors, flaking and peeling paint & varnish, torn upholstery in the Rendezvous lounge… and we weren’t looking for faults, really we weren’t – this were things that jumped out at us. Maintenance gets a C.

 

Stateroom: standard verandah on Deck 7 (7156). We both loved the cabin design, décor, layout and especially the bathroom, which was much larger than we’d had on other lines. The only flaw I see is that the closet doors make it difficult to pack and unpack, since you have to keep closing the door to get by, but it’s a minor thing. Otherwise, there was plenty of room for storage. The cabin was well maintained, and our steward was perfectly efficient and polite. We give cabin and attendant an A.

 

Waterfall Grill: There was a nice selection of cold and hot dishes at lunch and extensive breakfast fare, including an Asian breakfast section. What we found severely lacking was the service. The empty plates sat on the table for a long time. Also, we thought the area was poorly designed. On other ships, the dirty plates are taken behind a high counter or half wall, thereby sparing diners from the sight of plates piled high with leftovers. Here, they’re in plain view on a sideboard. Ugh. We had lunch the first day and breakfast the next morning (St. Maarten) and the place was a zoo both times. I forgot about the Aqua Spa Café that morning, but that never happened again! The first morning and again on disembarkation day, they actually ran out of coffee – I tried all 5 urns and all were empty. Eventually they were refilled.

 

Maintenance in this area was dismal. In addition to the empty plates remaining on the table, we had to examine each and every cup, plate and glass for cleanliness, as they were quite often dirty (lipstick, dried-on food). The floor had several soft spots under the carpet, and the carpet was not terribly clean. On the positive side, the afternoon informal tea was very nice, with teeny sandwiches, pastries and fresh fruit. We don’t eat sweets but we always had 2 sandwiches and some fruit. Another very nice touch was the sushi available every night. Since we had late seating, we went up for a few pieces around 7:30 to tide us over. Grade: C (and that is only because of the sushi and tea sandwiches LOL).

 

Cosmopolitan: where oh where to begin? The first night we were shown to a table for 6 (we had already seen the Maitre d’ to request a 2 top, but we didn’t get it until the next day). When I opened my napkin it had crusted, dried out food inside :eek:. My husband’s fork was dirty. Not a very auspicious way to start. The next day we got our table for 2. Our waiter came over and the first words out of his mouth were “You weren’t at this table last night!” and not in a nice way. After showing him the card that we had received, he gave us the menus.

 

He was the gruffest, grumpiest waiter I’ve ever had on a cruise. He & the assistant waiter were always in a rush to and fro, but our water glasses often went unfilled until we asked, and the plates sat in front of us for ages after we finished each course. The service level was what I’d expect at Denny’s, not a supposedly fine dining setting. Maybe this is a petty complaint to others, but it was disturbing to us given the setting. It was such a letdown from the excellent table service we’ve had before. It didn’t ruin our cruise ;-) but it was disappointing to say the least.

 

The food was fairly good overall, with some high points in the appetizers and soups (none of the entrees stand out in my memory). Two memorable low points were the first night – the soup (Asian vegetable something) was absolutely flavorless and the hake (chef’s selection) was inedible, pure and simple. It was dry and tough and impossible to cut. The spinach and potatoes that came with it were good, though :). The waiter (different one, we were at another table) asked if I wanted something else, but at that point I was so frustrated – between the napkin, the tablemates and the food – that all I wanted to do was run out of there. Another night halfway through I got the pasta with tuna and had only a few bites of it. Total waste of carbs LOL since it was dry and the tuna consisted of a few flakes of canned tuna. Hmmm… not quite what I expected. We left w/o dessert and went upstairs for pizza LOL. Grade: C+/B- (the service brought it down considerably)

 

Aqua Spa Café – this lovely spot for breakfast and lunch was the only place on the ship where we had consistently great food and excellent service. For breakfast we had either bagels & low fat cream cheese or cereal and yogurt. Both were also available in the Waterfall, but with lines and noise. For lunch we had really good composed salads, tuna (real tuna, not canned), salmon tartare, rice salad, that sort of thing, and excellent cold soups (either tomato based or fruit). They also had very nicely presented fruit plates. They had 2 desserts every day, but we never tried them.

 

I spoke to the officer in charge of the area to compliment him on the service and food, and he told me that they are part of the Normandy restaurant, separate from the other food service areas. It shows in both service and food! Needless to say I gave them a good write up on the evaluation form. The only negative is a maintenance issue, and that is that the table laminate was chipped and cracked, exposing the pressed wood underneath. Very unappealing and unhygienic. Grade: A

 

Well, I think I’ve gone on too long so I’ll stop now. All told, we had a good time, because any time DH and I can be together on vacation is a good time, and the positives probably outnumbered the negatives. However, I went in expecting a higher level of service and found the opposite, which left me feeling disappointed and let down. I think that X in principle intends to offer a superior product, but it just didn’t come through on this cruise.

 

I’ll be happy to answer any questions or comments. Thanks for reading, if you got this far :)

[benbess]

Thanks very much for the well written and perceptive review. I thought your review was quite balanced. You pointed out the high points (Aqua spa cafe, etc.), but clearly there were a fair number of just plain mediocre things about the Summit for your cruise. I'm glad the two of you are able to enjoy yourselves anyway.

 

You're right that Celebrity advertises itself as an upscale line, comparable with Princess. And this time it doesn't seem like they delivered.

 

I could be wrong, but it seems like X is inconsistent--and maybe more so than other competing lines like HAL and Princess. Some people have genuinely great cruises--maybe even a little above HAL and Princess-- and other people sometimes report some rather worrying things.

 

It sounds like the Summit has some issues to work on. They sound fixable, gosh darnit, if someone would just do the work to fix them. I think X's management should look into a few things.

 

I sometimes wonder if they've put so much money and attention into the Solstice-class ships that the M-class and C-class ships are starving for money and attention...

 

Again, thanks for your review. I'm not sure you'll try X again, but I don't think what you experienced was typical. Hard to say....

[ExpressoMama]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review.

Like you, I don't go out of my way to find fault with the ships we sail on but sometimes things do jump out. It is too bad about the service in the dinning room. I do look forward to the best that can be offered while understanding they are serving aprox. 2000 meals.

We'll be sailing on the Summit on 2/21 and are looking forward to it!!!

Diane

[CathyCruises]

First off, thank you for the comprehensive review. I am definitely NOT a Celebrity apologist, but I will say that my dining room experience was much different than yours, once they got the seat assignment kinks worked out. Our waiter and assistant were just wonderful, and we never had to wait for a thing.

 

I agree about the open busing stations at the buffet-but I never expect much from a buffet anyway and try to avoid them wherever I go. However, I did not see dirty silverware, dinnerware or napkins in any of the times we ate there.

 

I also did not notice the extent of maintenance issues that you cited; a few chairs with worn cording, a tiny bit of rust on our balcony were all we noticed. I have heard several people since our cruise (in November) talk about the duct tape on the carpet, but I have to confess to not seeing that either!

 

We had a great time, and I'm glad that you did too. She is an older lady these days but we really enjoyed sailing on her!!

 

Cathy

[Jacqueline]

Since the OP also likes Princess, I can see where she is coming from. I felt the same way on my first X cruise. Princess ships are basically perfectly maintained. Everywhere one goes, one can see painting varnishing, window washing.

X promises a lot in terms of food and service, but I never would judge it "better" in a qualitative sense. Service is always a bit of the luck of the draw on any line. 9 times out of 10 it is wonderful.

X is a great product, but promised more than it can deliver in terms of being a step above the other lines in this category. No one is going to confuse it with Crystal.

[Lineaway]

Thanks for a great review. Couple questions as we will be on the 1/17 sailing.

 

You arrived at the pier at 1..... could you have arrived earlier and gotten on or was everyone waiting and they had just started letting people on when you got there? We usually get to the pier at 1130 -1200 and have only had to wait once. This will be our first Celebrity cruise so it will be a learning experience. Will I be way too early? Also, did they make you wait to go to your cabin or did they allow you in right after boarding?

 

Are there any other places onboard to get something to eat besides the usual welcome aboard buffet? NCL had a special Hamburger/hotdog setup that was away from the Buffet and I remember HAL did too.

 

Is there a duty free shop at this pier? They have one on the pier in old San Juan and was wondering about this Pan American Pier. We have never been to this one. I also read that this pier is a real zoo getting dropped off at as there is another ship that goes out on the same day. Comments

 

One thing I missed on our last cruise was no comedians. ( I think we all need a good laugh) Did they have any entertainment after the main shows in the lounges besides the usual singers and bands? Having not been on a Celebrity ship before, does everything kinda shut down after 10 like on HAL or is it more ongoing like RCI?

 

Your scared me about the food. How did it compare to you last RCI cruise? I put RCI food at a mostly OK rating with an occasional excellent. I have heard Celebrity is a notch above. ???????????

 

Lastly, how long could you stay on the ship the last day. Our flight doesn't leave until 1245, do they really boot everyone out of the cabns by 8 or does it depend? Seems every cruiseline I have been on does something different.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[amapola]

Thanks for all the replies :). A few follow up comments:

 

First off, thank you for the comprehensive review. I am definitely NOT a Celebrity apologist, but I will say that my dining room experience was much different than yours, once they got the seat assignment kinks worked out. Our waiter and assistant were just wonderful, and we never had to wait for a thing.

 

Oh, I wasn't implying that all waiters were bad, of course. It seemed to me that the waiter in the next section over was very good, from what I could see. We just got the short straw this time. :rolleyes:

 

X is a great product, but promised more than it can deliver in terms of being a step above the other lines in this category. No one is going to confuse it with Crystal.

 

Exactly. I think they set the bar too high, for the experience I encountered -- which, again, I'm not suggesting is the norm for X. I experienced one sailing out of hundreds of cruises in different itineraries, price levels, ships, ports...

 

 

You arrived at the pier at 1..... could you have arrived earlier and gotten on or was everyone waiting and they had just started letting people on when you got there? We usually get to the pier at 1130 -1200 and have only had to wait once. This will be our first Celebrity cruise so it will be a learning experience. Will I be way too early? Also, did they make you wait to go to your cabin or did they allow you in right after boarding?

 

The line was moving already as we got there, so I'm sure you could arrive earlier. We went straight to our cabin and it was ready for occupancy. That was definitely a nice touch, other lines we've had to schlep our carryon for a while.

 

Are there any other places onboard to get something to eat besides the usual welcome aboard buffet? NCL had a special Hamburger/hotdog setup that was away from the Buffet and I remember HAL did too.

 

Don't know. We went straight to the buffet.

 

Is there a duty free shop at this pier? They have one on the pier in old San Juan and was wondering about this Pan American Pier. We have never been to this one. I also read that this pier is a real zoo getting dropped off at as there is another ship that goes out on the same day. Comments

 

There is a duty free shop and they were giving samples :D. We don't drink, so I didn't look at the store. The line was disorganized and looooong, but it moved along all right.

 

One thing I missed on our last cruise was no comedians. ( I think we all need a good laugh) Did they have any entertainment after the main shows in the lounges besides the usual singers and bands? Having not been on a Celebrity ship before, does everything kinda shut down after 10 like on HAL or is it more ongoing like RCI?

 

I didn't comment about the entertainment because that is such a subjective thing (not like whether there is tape on the carpet or not LOL). There was a "comedy juggler" two nights who was IMO neither funny nor particularly good at juggling. One female headline singer who had a one-woman show one night and shared the stage with the juggler the last night (we went to the first show but didn't attend the last night since we hadn't enjoyed either the singer or the juggler :o). The production shows were OK (the Lion King number was the best), and the aerialists Roberto and Dorota were outstanding.

 

After dinner & the shows, we would walk through lounges that were completely empty. I know they advertised music up in Revelations, but we never went. There was a piano player in Michael's Club and either a string quartet or the a capella group in Cova Cafe. But the atmosphere was very subdued, nothing like RCI or even Princess. Mind you, this wasn't an issue for us because after dinner we just like to stroll around the ship, either on the upper decks if the weather is nice or the Promenade, so we don't particularly care if there is much happening in the bars. But we did notice the apparent lack of activity.

 

Your scared me about the food. How did it compare to you last RCI cruise? I put RCI food at a mostly OK rating with an occasional excellent. I have heard Celebrity is a notch above. ???????????

 

Well, I think it's banquet quality food, but that's what I expect from a ship serving 2,000 people, you know? ;) Except for the 2 dishes I mentioned, nothing else was bad and most of the apps were excellent. Oh, another thing to consider is that we don't eat shellfish and very few fish, and I don't like beef, veal or lamb; DH had lamb 3 times and said it was good. Maybe the shrimp and prime beef were the excellent dishes and we just didn't try them :).

 

Lastly, how long could you stay on the ship the last day. Our flight doesn't leave until 1245, do they really boot everyone out of the cabns by 8 or does it depend? Seems every cruiseline I have been on does something different.

 

The CD said you didn't have to leave the cabins at any specific time, but that of course if you wanted to vacate them early it was much better for the stewards. Our meeting time was 8:50 and I think we left the cabin at 8:15 or so (we had gone up for breakfast at 7:00 and then came back to finish packing the carryon). We went up to deck 11 and sat in the shade until it was time to disembark.

 

I don't want to leave the impression that we had a bad time. Like I said, there were many positive aspects and we had a good time overall. But you know how at the end of your vacation you don't really wanna go home? You want it to last just one more day? This trip, not so much.

[bubbalu]

Amapola, thanks for the great review. I was with you on the Summit for the 1/3/09 sailing. We stayed some extra days in San Juan when we got back so I'm just getting around to the boards again.

 

I think you pretty much nailed everything in your write-up. However, I would give poorer marks to the Dining Room. I thought the menu was not very attractive so we only ate in the dining room 3 times. Of those 3 times, 2 were horrible. The third time was the last night and the food was pretty good. I think other people had similar experiences based on the talk we heard around the ship. We thought the food on the buffet and cafe grill was better. We also spoiled ourselves by going to the specialty restaurant for an absolutely amazing meal.

 

The shows didn't really appeal to us that much either. However, we enjoyed the juggler. We thought his sense of humor was just twisted enough to keep us entertained.

 

I think also this cruise line lost points with us because they changed the itinerary within 120 days of sailing. We always book our cruises based on itinerary. When they switched Aruba and Bonaire to Tobago and Barbados, it really upset us. We booked the cruise specifically for Aruba and Bonaire.

 

However, overall I really don't think there is such a thing as a bad cruise or vacation. You just gotta roll with the flow and take the good with the bad. Overall, the cruise line was more good than bad and I thought the staff was extremely friendly. However, this was my first cruise with Celebrity and I'm not really sure if I'd go out of my way to book another cruise with them or show the line any kind of loyalty. I'm also not sure if I'd recommend Celebrity to friends or family. In other words, the line itself was just okay. But after the itinerary switch-a-roo, I wouldn't trust them again.

[amapola]

Amapola, thanks for the great review. I was with you on the Summit for the 1/3/09 sailing. We stayed some extra days in San Juan when we got back so I'm just getting around to the boards again.

 

Thanks! I hope you enjoyed your stay here :)

 

I think you pretty much nailed everything in your write-up. However, I would give poorer marks to the Dining Room.

 

You know, I agree with you. I don't know why I said that except that I did like several of the appetizers and most of the cold soups... but the main dishes were unmemorable and of course, the service... {{shudder}}

 

We thought the food on the buffet and cafe grill was better. We also spoiled ourselves by going to the specialty restaurant for an absolutely amazing meal.

 

The few things we tried from the buffet were fine (the sushi was good, to my surprise), what we didn't like there was the service. We didn't try the Normandie because we don't eat any shellfish, very little beef, in fact the only things that attracted me from the menu were the goat cheese souffle and the mushroom risotto, so we didn't think it was worth it for us. But I did hear very good things about it. In retrospect, I wish we would have just given up on the DR and eaten at the Bistro, don't know why we didn't do that :confused:

 

I think also this cruise line lost points with us because they changed the itinerary within 120 days of sailing. We always book our cruises based on itinerary. When they switched Aruba and Bonaire to Tobago and Barbados, it really upset us. We booked the cruise specifically for Aruba and Bonaire.

 

I was looking forward to Bonaire, because it's the only one of the ABC's that we haven't visited, but we didn't have our heart set on any particular island. That said, we thought Tobago was a terrible port and we took the absolutely worst tour we've ever taken, bar none. The tour guide was completely incompetent, boring (she said "actually" every other word) and one of the stops on the tour was the airport. The airport. :eek: A complete waste of money and time, IMO.

 

However, overall I really don't think there is such a thing as a bad cruise or vacation.

 

A friend of mine was just caught in the mayhem in Bangkok and was stranded for about a week... :eek: that's a bad vacation! But ITA, the negatives were not enough to ruin the cruise or the vacation for us. It was disappointing, but not terrible.

 

You just gotta roll with the flow and take the good with the bad. Overall, the cruise line was more good than bad and I thought the staff was extremely friendly.

 

Except for the waiters, I thought the rest of the staff was friendly and polite. I also forgot to mention some points that we really enjoyed: the cold towels when you come back to the ship, the artwork, the quiet areas even on deck, always finding a lounger in the shade, the nice music in the Cova Cafe before and after dinner, oh and brewed coffee (instead of syrup-based like on Princess!).

 

However, this was my first cruise with Celebrity and I'm not really sure if I'd go out of my way to book another cruise with them or show the line any kind of loyalty. I'm also not sure if I'd recommend Celebrity to friends or family. In other words, the line itself was just okay. But after the itinerary switch-a-roo, I wouldn't trust them again.

 

Funny, a friend called me about an hour ago to ask if I would recommend the Summit and I unequivocally said no. I'm glad we tried it, we're always open to new options, but that's it for us. In any case, our next few vacations will be land based (we're going to DC, Chicago & Philadelphia - not all in the same trip LOL - in the next few months and Israel next year) but our next cruise will most likely be on Princess again.

[ajkcruising]

Funny, a friend called me about an hour ago to ask if I would recommend the Summit and I unequivocally said no. I'm glad we tried it, we're always open to new options, but that's it for us. In any case, our next few vacations will be land based (we're going to DC, Chicago & Philadelphia - not all in the same trip LOL - in the next few months and Israel next year) but our next cruise will most likely be on Princess again.

 

Thanks again for posting......do u have any pics of your cabin/Balcony?

 

 

Thanks

 

AJ

[dutchess43]

Thanks for writing a comprehensive & honest review.

[amapola]

Thanks again for posting......do u have any pics of your cabin/Balcony?

 

Thanks

AJ

 

I uploaded 4 to Picasa. The first one is my wallpaper at the office right now :D

http://picasaweb.google.com/calping.along/Summit?feat=directlink

 

The cabin (7156) was excellent. We have no complaints about the condition, location or service!

[ajkcruising]

Thanks Amapola,,,,,Very nice pics

 

AJ

[amapola]

Thanks Amapola,,,,,Very nice pics

 

AJ

 

Thanks and you're welcome! :)