Summit review - March 28 sailing

[sanjay]

i'll try to keep this short and sweet...

 

key facts to put this review in context:

- this is my 6th cruise

- 1 carnival (europe), 3 royal caribbean, 1 princess

- the princess cruise was exactly 1 year ago and was southern caribbean, almost identical to the summit's intinerary.

 

here we go!!!

 

embarkation - well organized, hassle free. greeted with champagne and friendy staff. our room (balcony) was ready despite it being quite early.

 

first impresions of the ship - beautiful, but definitely not the grandeur of the atriums you find on the freedom class (RCI). however, i immediatelyl oved the ship and would take it over crown princess!

 

room (8140)- loved loved loved it. great layout, so much storage, and that beautiful balcony which we sat on for hours at a time...it was more than perfect.

 

meals - on the whole, the food was great. obviously, there are going to be hits and misses (for example, overcooked tuna one night). at the same time, some meals were truly excellent (pulled pork sandwich at lunch, mahi mahi, and all of the fresh ice cream!) i did think that the meals were better than RCI and Princess.

 

normandie - was slightly disappointed. the service, food, etc was excellent. it just wasn't the fine steakhouse that my mouth was watering for. i can't hold that against them, though. i preferred the alternative dining on both RCI and Princess.

 

breakfast & lunch - i really didnt get the service buffet concept. we opted to eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room whenver possible, because the lines were so, so, so slow. also, i hate to waste food, and even though i'd say things like "just one piece", somehow, 3 would still end up on my plate. the food was definitely a higher quality than RCI and princess -- especially the gelatos.

 

cova - best croissants ever. i woke up every morning to get them piping hot, despite the standing offer to get us fresh stuff from the ovens in the back. only issue here was that there is no regular tea/coffee available...so if you want both a coffee and croissant in the mornings, you have to traipse around the ship a bit. cova was most definitely a higher quality than the cafe on RCI, and much much better than Princess.

 

itinerary - excellent! here is a quick synopsis of each port:

 

st maarten - had a chill out day at orient beach, which was stunning as always. we rented jet skis ($50 two ppl 30 minutes), which was really fun. definitely the perfect way to ease into the vacation!

 

dominica - we booked with levi baron of bumpiing tours - worth every cent, plus more. the guide we had (cecil), knew everything about the island and you could tell he really loved his home. my hilight of the trip was titou gorge - swimming through that fresh water under the canopy of the rainforest is a memory i'll never forget, and not because of the cold water! highly recommend anyone visiting dominica to do this tour.

 

grenada - we wandered around the port area for a bit in the morning on foot, and then called it a day and headed back to explore the summit. had we done more research prior, we might have known where to go - but didn't want to book a tour immediately after the dominica day. we had been to grenada before and spent it at a beach.

 

bonaire - this island is my favourite in the caribbean, and was largely why we booked the summit (my #1 criteria in booking the cruise was a stop in bonaire). we went to Klein and spent the day snorkeling - absolutely fabulous, as it has always been. on the way back to the ship, wandered around the port area and daydreamed about relocating...

 

aruba - again, another favourite island. aruba is a great day, because you're there 7am - 7pm. we went out shopping in the morning - great stuff available there. we then came back to the ship for lunch and were off again, to hit palm beach. we took the bus to the hyatt and were amazed by their lobby and pool area. we grabbed chairs by the waterfront (half price since it was already afternoon) and hit the waves. the water was really calm, but very cloudy. we tried to rent some jetskis, but were disappointed to find that they started at $65/half hour. i understand that there's a different cost of business vs. st maarten, and fair enough - i just didnt understand why there was a premium for 2 ppl vs 1 person.

 

sea day - so relaxing and fun. we had brunch on the ship, lazed around, etc etc.

 

disembarkation - so so so smooth, super organized. much better organized than rci and princess - worlds apart. i would chose celebrity again for this reason only! :)

 

other random observations:

- single ply toilet paper?

- our assistant waiter was kind of out to lunch. no cream for the coffee one day (and i don't mean he forgot. i mean he told us, "we have no cream".) twice i got regular coffee instead of the decaf i ordered. on the first evening, i ordered a caesar salad, and was presented with a choice of ranch, italian or thousand island dressing. when i asked for caesar, he said that it was not available. water glasses were frequently empty, and i often noticed our waiter refilling, bringing us coffee and lemon wedges, etc. maybe he was new? to be clear, it didn't change our experience - i don't care about this stuff really - but it was kind of surprising.

- no cracked black pepper!!! we had this on carnival, rci, princes...but celebrity puts a pepper mill on your table (ok, it was peugot, but still!). i was just surprised.

- gym equipment was some of the best i have ever used. i am slightly upset that i have to go back to my older stuff now!

 

final closing thoughts - would do this cruise again in a heartbeat. it's a smaller ship, yes - but cozy, and it's nice to not have to trek miles to get from your room to the pool. i loved celebrity, and it blew princess out of the water.

 

now, what cruise to book next!?!?!

[WineDown17]

So glad you had a great time!! Great review.

 

My only comment is on the TP.. I am inclined to believe they use a special, easily degradable TP.... We have the same on our albeit much smaller boat. HATE IT.. but much nicer to boat potty systems. I will pack a role of Charmin perhaps.. just to be safe..

 

:)

[sanjay]

My only comment is on the TP.. I am inclined to believe they use a special, easily degradable TP....

 

i never thought about this as being the reason why ..... and if it is that's totally totally okay.

 

it's possible that even my 3 other cruises with RC and Princess in 2008 used the same single ply but nothing strikes out to me like it did on summit.

[WineDown17]

Ya know.. with all the food they serve, you would think they would have a better solution.. :)

 

Welcome home.

[Lois R]

Hi, thanks for the review:)

If I may, when you said Normandie was not a fine steakhouse your

mouth was watering for....

None of the Specialty Restaurants on the M class ships are

Steakhouses. They do serve Filet and Steak Diane, but they

have never been under the "Steakhouse" title.

They are considered more of a "Continental Cuisine" type restaurant.

 

Glad you had a good cruise though:)

[vana]

Thanks for the review, we will be there in 12 days... Hope the the asst waiter has put his act together buy then :)...

 

As for cracked pepper from the mill, you just have to ask for it. I never use the pepper on the table.

[guccibaby]

Thanks for the review. I'm thinking about taking the Celebrity Summit out of Venice on 8/26. I've been on celebrity before and know what to expect. But wondering since Summit was built in 2001, is the ship still maintained or is it showing it's age?

[pumpkin 11]

the croissonts are the best on celebrity! made fresh daily!:)

[hcat]

What time do they have the croissants at the Cova?- we'll have to try them next time out...

[Lois R]

What time do they have the croissants at the Cova?- we'll have to try them next time out...

 

Hi hcat:) they have always offered crossiants in Cova in the

morning hours. It is a nice alternative if you want something

sweet for breakfast;)

Check your daily for the exact hours but I have had them

whenever I sleep in and have missed the dining room and don't

feel like the buffet. So in the 9am range for sure:D

[Solstice23]

We have been on Summit 3 times, most recently 2 weeks before your cruise,

 

We loved it also!

[cruisemuse13]

just returned from the same trip and had a great time and loved the ship. complaints were few and very minor.

just a few quickpoints:

Dominica- book a tour or it is a good day to enjoy the ship. Only one store in town that was nice and had the best dutyfree price for the perfume I wanted.

 

Grenada- ignore the directions in the ship's shopping/port guide that direct you to walk into town 'thru the tunnel' to find a water taxi. that information is out of date. there is a booth in the terminal directing you to the watertaxi which is right by the ship. it was $4 one way to get to Grand Anse beach.

 

Bonaire- book the water taxi to Klein Bonaire thru the ship. Unfortunately for us, it sold out early and local water taxies were hard to find

 

Waiter- we were lucky and our waiter Ulas, and assistant , Leeford . were excellent and worked together like a well run team. The food courses just flowed, water was always filled (and we drank alot of water), bread basket full, coffee without asking, they made spot-on menu reccomendations, and always brought us one of each dessert for my husband and I to share. we had no complaints about service and we ate in the dining room every night. they always stopped by to say hello when we saw them at the buffet as well.

 

Buffet- we often ate there for breakfast and lunch and found the lines very short, or not bad compared to what we had experienced on Royal cruised. People tended to bunch up at the 2 lines, and the eating area at the entrance to the buffet. If you walked further back there was another line for salad and pasta, one for Asian food, another station for fruit and desserts, a pizza station, and at the very back, a line for custom sandwiches and pannini. also the seating areas in the back wer never crowded and we always got a nice table by the window

 

Deck chairs- we never had a problem finding a quiet private chair on deck 11 in the sun or shade. they even had some nice teak chairs and loungers too. we never did want to lay around close to the pool.

 

all in all, we had a great time and I would love to go again.

[Lois R]

quote by cruzluze:

"Grenada- ignore the directions in the ship's shopping/port guide that direct you to walk into town 'thru the tunnel' to find a water taxi. that information is out of date. there is a booth in the terminal directing you to the watertaxi which is right by the ship. it was $4 one way to get to Grand Anse beach."

 

I agree with you 100% on this one!:) I did the water taxi back

in January when I was on Galaxy and it was great!

The one thing I will add is if you want a more peaceful area

of the beach, walk all the way to the right and don't let the

vendors pester you. Then want to rent you a beach chair

very much:rolleyes:...I just kept walking and they would end up

leaving me alone. I met one of the singers in the Quartet on

board the ship (on the water taxi) and we found a good

spot on the sand in front of one of the hotels.

She is from Argentina and it was nice talking with her.:)

Made for a fun time!