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New to Celebrity: Summit Blues Cruise from Puerto Rico


limace
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Hi, all! My father just booked us all on the Blues Cruise on the Summit, leaving Puerto Rico on 10/29, and I have a lot of questions for you experts.

 

There will be 5 or 6 of us (depending on whether my sister brings someone): my parents, in their 70s and very active; my husband and I and my sister, in our 40s. I have cruised once-11 day Southern Caribbean on HAL Noordam, my mom has done that cruise, and my folks did a Blues Cruise on HAL last year. My husband and sister have never cruised but we are all pretty experienced travelers.

 

How would you say HAL compares with Celebrity? I realize the entertainment and activities will be completely different than normal on this cruise, but how about food and cabin quality? We will be in 7112, described as a 2A deluxe oceanview stateroom with verandah. Thoughts about that cabin or that cabin category?

 

I see the Summit is getting a rehab this year and assume that will happen before we sail. Any thoughts about that?

 

Thoughts about the spa? I may need to go somewhere calm and quiet for a few hours during all the noise and activity of this cruise!

 

My husband actually turns 50 on this trip; is there something special we can order for him (cake, etc)?

 

Finally, I notice there isn't a roll call for this sailing; appropriate to create one or not typical because it's a charter?

 

As always, I'll be reading the boards obsessively for the next ten months. Thank you!

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Sounds like a great cruise. As far as cabins, the summit is an m-class ship and the concierge and aqua cabins are 20 sq ft (about 10%) larger than the 1A/2A cabins....something to consider. One of the biggest differences between HAL and Celebrity is Celebrity's no smoking policy....smoking is only allowed in a few designated outdoor spaces...and never on balconies.

 

I'll let others comment on your other questions.

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Since this is a charter, I doubt you'll get much action, but nothing prohibits you from starting one.

 

It's really difficult to tell how things will go on your cruise because the charter company has control.

 

I've been on HAL and Celebrity and I think Celebrity is better than HAL in many areas. We weren't impressed at all with HAL's food, but food is subjective and others will feel differently. We also found the service on HAL to be, at times, quite surly and other times just ok. But the big thing for us is HAL's smoking policy, which is more liberal than Celebrity. We don't smoke and prefer Celebrity's restrictive smoking policy.

 

There are birthday packages you can purchase on Celebrity's website and you can speak to your waiter about providing a cake at dinner.

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My husband's birthday has fallen during two of our cruises. They asked when we booked if we were celebrating any occasions, so they had that information. On the Summit, the dining room staff brought a special dessert and sang happy birthday, our room steward decorated the cabin door, and I think he may also have had a treat delivered to the cabin.I didn't set anything up--it just happened. But I think we may have been fortunate.

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Ive sailed on several full ship charters.(Atlantis) on all of these charters there were NO availible booze packages. soda and water yes, but no booze. ask X wethather booze packages will be availble on your sailing, if it is a full ship charter. Enjoy your cruise.

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Should be a great cruise! Though we have sailed Celebrity a few times, we are going on our first charter in a few weeks on the Constellation (Flower Power Cruise with many well-known bands from the 60's and 70's).

 

I started a roll call for our charter and, as someone said, it hasn't been that active (I emailed the moderator and she said not to put the name of the charter in the title, just the date like the other cruises on the roll call). It has been good to get info from other people who have done charters with the same company so we know what to expect. It's also fun to share the excitement.

 

Our charter will have drink packages available, according to the organizers. I'm sure there will be differences between a regular cruise with Celebrity and a charter. We are doing a regular cruise before the charter, same ship, same suite, so it will be interesting to see the differences. We will just be happy to hear the bands play and get to meet and mingle with them a bit!

 

The spa is very nice, though expensive. If you go on port days from 8 AM to 1 PM it is cheaper. Attached is the brochure. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/0b7cba2c#/0b7cba2c/1

 

Happy planning!

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We've cruised on both the Noordam and the Summit.

 

You'll find that the balcony rooms on the Summit are bit smaller than the Noordam, and the bathrooms are also smaller on the Summit.

 

We prefer the food on HAL, but that's subjective.

 

To be honest, after three cruises we've found the service on Celebrity to be hit or miss. We've consistently had excellent service on HAL.

 

Both are mid-range, mainstream cruise lines which are much more alike than not, and we would not hesitate to cruise on either. We cruise based on itinerary and price, and we're not cheerleaders for any cruise line.

 

Having just sailed on Summit in December, I will say that it definitely needs a dry dock. The ship did look a little tired so hopefully it will be freshened up a bit.

 

Have a great time on your charter!

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Thank you all! VTcruising, thanks for the spa brochure. Prices are ridiculous, but that's always true of resorts and cruises, isn't it? I couldn't find the cost for a day pass to the spa area; anyone know that off hand?

 

We had a great experience on HAL and found the service to be impeccable. Food was good-wine list was sparse so good to hear that might be better on X.

 

We will be in Barbados and Dominica, both of which I hit last time, and Grenada and Guadeloupe, which I haven't visited. Any favorite excursions? Last time, we arranged private excursions through our roll call at quite the savings from ship's prices, so contemplating something similar.

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We did the whale watch trip in Dominica this December and it was a great deal of fun. The boat is smaller than the ones used in Alaska, but the whales were very plentiful. In there were even mothers and calves.

 

And food truly is relative. We left HAL after six cruises because of the food as much as the smoking policy. We like Celebrity's food (but we never dine in the main dining room so take this for what it's worth).

Edited by tangerinebunny
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  • 4 months later...

HI limace...we just booked this blues cruise as well, and I'll be celebrating my 60th birthday!!!! I was just on the Summit at the beginning of May to Bermuda and I can tell you the ship looks great. A few worn carpets in the cabin hallways, but otherwise it looks great. There is a new top/backdeck feature with a large screen and very comfortable seating where they showed movies and concerts, it was a great place to hang out. OF course I don't think we'll be watching movies on this cruise. I'm so excited about it and have been wanting to do this cruise for a long time. Food was good, some hit or miss, smaller portions than expected but realized it was all I needed :) French fries are a fave snack during the day and they were hot and crispy. Our Outside cabin was clean and comfortable, and quiet. That's what we have on this cruise as well. STaff were great, very friendly with the exception of a few barkeeps which was surprising. Can't wait to go!

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  • 1 month later...

We usually cruise Celebrity but we did one HAL -two things I really liked about HAL that X does not have, fresh flowers and a large, covered promenade deck. For pretty much everything else we liked Celebrity - in our opinion, food quite a bit better on X, service much better on X. I'm sure your family will have a great time!

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The Summit already went through it's refurbishment last Feb./March.

 

If you want a larger balcony, downgrade to Cat. 2C on Deck 6 in the "Sweet 16" cabins (most forward 8 balcony cabins on either side of the ship).

 

If you want a larger cabin, go with a Concierge Class cabin. They're bigger on this ship.

 

If you want a larger balcony AND cabin, go with the aft-facing Category C1 cabins, specifically on Decks 7 and 8. (9 isn't the best - right under the Sunset Bar).

 

Celebrity has a much more "with it" feeling than HAL's ships IME. It's a little more open-feeling and the crew are so much better than HAL's! They're friendly and very welcoming.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi!

 

I'm booked on this as well. I was trying to find the roll call for it, and couldn't. Is it in the regular Summit Roll Call thread? Am I blind or just crazy? (Ok, don't answer that)

 

Are you going to be there for the pre-cruise party in San Juan as well? I'm flying in a day early so I won't miss a thing. I haven't been to any of the ports on this trip, so I'm really looking forward to visiting the ports as well as the entertainment on ship.

 

I haven't been on a Celebrity cruise yet, but I did the blues cruise when it was on HAL a couple of years ago. I must say, I was a bit disappointed in the food--mostly in the choices outside of the regular dining room schedule. The food in the buffet was exactly the same thing each day, and it was quite a small buffet. Other choices to find variety were limited and I found I was pretty sick of the offerings by the end of the cruise. Last year, the October cruise was on NCL, and that was much better. I'm hoping this year on Celebrity will shine.

 

We're almost at the 60 day mark--I can't wait!!!

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  • 1 month later...

I don't think there is a roll call; I asked on another board and someone said typically roll calls for these are poorly attended so I didn't start one (plus this is only my second cruise ever so I feel weird starting one for some reason!).

 

We are getting in on the 27th and will be going to the party! Just got booking numbers and got up early this morning and did my registration; so exciting. Still not sure about excursions; on my other cruise (11 day So Caribbean on HAL) we did mainly private excursions or our own thing and had great experiences, plus I don't know if there is already stuff planned on the islands. I have joined the FB group for the cruise and there is some chatter there.

 

What are you guys all doing re excursions? And are you springing for the beverage package?

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I've been on music charters on both HAL & Celebrity. There is a very different pace on music charters than a regular sailing (especially on full days at sea), so thus you spend very little time in your cabin (so the size of your cabin becomes less important) and the dining experience on a music charter is keyed to the concert performance schedule so one does not linger long in the dining venue then one might on a regular cruise

 

my friend is one of the musicians on the Blues Cruise Charter every year and he loves seeing how much the guests enjoy the experience

 

have fun

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