mmcruise

Following! I'm going on this cruise in two weeks. Thanks for sharing!

Is the snorkeling at Darkwood beach any good?

 

 

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Sorry, I did not snorkel there.

Thanks, everybody, glad if I can help.

I did not walk off with luggage, though it is my preferred method. I was in Group 3 with the excursions and departed the ship at 745am. I believe that the walk-off group could depart at around 7 or 715am. The port was still pretty slow when I got off and a tip to a porter got my bags out and me through express customs line very fast.

The Tpool has jets and minerals and is warm and wonderful and kid free. I love kids and I bring my 13 year old with us, but it is nice to have an adult only escape.

 

The teen X club is the best. My son loved the kids program on Celebrity more than any other line we have sailed with. The counselors really connect with the kids and the group is generally small enough to make all the kids feel welcome.

 

We sail again to Bermuda, out of NJ, May 25th and I can't wait

I would love to do the Bermuda itinerary. We went to Bermuda on our honeymoon almost 18 years ago and haven't been back since. It is so beautiful there. (Sigh). Now that I know the teen programs are good, maybe for our 20th? :)

What a lovely review. Thanks for the great info.

 

I am vegetarian as well and would love to hear what your favs were.

 

Also the tip about the Gelato with the espresso, you say it was covered in the premium bev pack? Did you have to BUY the gelato and the espresso was covered or the entire thing? Interesting.

As far as veggie food, spinach and ricotta ravioli with a beet appetizer were great on the first night. The Indian dishes I had were vegetable korma and fried masala potatoes. Both totally yummy - spicy, which I like, but yummy. Toasted Israeli couscous cake was delicious. The spinach turnover appetizer was terrific. I also ate at Bistro on Five on our sea day ($5 charge) and had the Mexicano crepe - delicious.

The espresso drink with gelato was called Affogato - I just found the name. The scoop of gelato was included in the drink, so was included in the premium package.

There's a wonderful site that has all the Celebrity menus. Though they are not in the order we had them since it was a different itinerary, and they were on a longer cruise, so you will not see all of them, it will give you an idea. http://www.thepreismans.com/baltic_2013_menus.htm

(Thank you, Preismans!)

You have me just a bit worried here. We also have booked this excursion with Spencer and kind of concerned about the return time! How close was it? If I remember, they drop you off right at the ship pier, correct!

No worries - ours was a custom excursion and we probably just tried to squeeze too much in. We were picked up and dropped off right at the pier. Spencer and his crew are awesome - you will have a great time!

I have a question. Is the T pool a Tpool? or did they make it a pool? Does it have jets and minerals is my question.

 

Thank you,

Still a T Pool - walked by it a million times but never got to get in.

Thank you for giving us this information. My husband loves saunas but I really don't. Is there a free sauna for men also? Thanks!

I didn't make it into the Men's locker room :) - maybe someone else knows?

It almost seemed as if you enjoyed the cruise more becasue you were with a bunch of friends and could let it all go.

 

Nice to get away for a few days.

 

 

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Were you watching me? :)

Our Jost Van Dyke trip was a group charter, so if you have a group, you may be able to do something like it. Our group used Speedy's Ferry - but I only see them listed as going to Virgin Gorda from St T.

I'll warn you, it's not for the faint of heart - very rocky trip getting there, and it was a long day - you have to go through customs both ways in and out of the BVI. If we weren't such a large group, I'd have been afraid of getting back on time.

But the gorgeous beach, Painkillers from the Soggy Dollar and Bushwhackers from Gertrude's provided happy memories I'll have for a good long time.

Here's a thread I found from last August on visiting JVD: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1892825&highlight=jost+van+dyke. The timing there seems about right. You really only have a few hours there.

I tried the Persian gardens on Infinity because I had a free coupon. I wouldn't pay for this experience and did not find it enjoyable. What view of the sea? It is a dimly lit room that is part of the locker room with uncomfortable benches. If you want to give it a whirl- you can buy a day pass for $25.

The free sauna in the ladies' locker room - not part of the Persian Gardens - has a window. See, I love the benches and I also love steam rooms - to each her own! No windows in Persian Gardens, though. You can check it out and see if it's for you. I would definitely go for the day pass next time, skip the week long fee, and save a few dollars.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I completely concur - we have sailed on RCCL and on Celebrity, and in so many ways Celebrity was a superior experience.

 

One thing to let you know, our tween has loved sailing Celebrity - and the Summit - several times now (as a kid and a tween). Yes, it lacks the bells and whistles of surf machines and rock climbing walls, but, even as a child, he picked up on the difference in the quality of the kids' club staff. Whether it was basketball to talent shows to behind the scenes tours to in-club programming, what they offer wasn't novel, but how they offered it and the ability of the youth counsellors to connect with the kids was first-rate. He's looking forward to doing the Summit again in just under two months!

 

And, of course, the slightly older and subtly different demographic suits his mom and dad just fine! :o

Good to hear. Has he passed into the "teen" club yet? Mine will likely be 12 next time we sail, so I would love to hear about that. I think Summit does some great itineraries out of NJ in the summer, so it would be ideal for us.

great review, with some good info. thank you. I'm a Celebrity newbie too and will be on the Summit soon. Would like a little more info on the Persian Gardens and how you split a pass? Heated beds? Also, is there a white sand beach you would recommend over another?

 

thanks again!

 

deb:D

Happy to help! I was traveling with a friend, so we split a "Couple" pass rather than buying individual passes, which made for a bit of savings. I believe it was $99 for an individual, $159 for a couple (plus tax/gratuity). The heated beds on this ship are really more like a big semi-circle bench, made of tile, with some kind of heating element that I find so relaxing on my back. On other ships, they are sometimes individual beds. This time I did get a few hours to read my book there, but it's never enough! It's co-ed, so you need to wear a swimsuit but can also wear a (provided) spa robe. The spa robes seem sized for supermodels (i.e. wouldn't close even around the tiniest of us), so we finally learned to bring the robe from the room, which is roomier.

There's actually a pretty good picture on the Celebrity site; hope this works:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/seoMedia.do?overlay=/global/mediaArticleOverlay.do%3Fpagename%3Donboard_celebrity_persian_garden%26parentpage%3Donboard_celebrity_spa_fitness&pagename=onboard_celebrity_spa_fitness

Our itinerary was white-sand-beach filled, with not a bad one among them.

Barbados: The Boatyard - rowdy, party atmosphere, beautiful beach, quick 10 minute cab ride from the port.

St. Lucia: Our group sailed to Jalousie Beach in the Pitons with Spencer Ambrose - a long ride and we got back right before sailaway, but it's gorgeous and quiet there.

Antigua: We went to Darkwood Beach - beautiful, quiet (shh, don't tell anyone). About a 20 minute cab ride from the port. Beware of cab drivers who negotiate a round-trip price and tell you to pay them on the way back. Pay individually and save yourself the hassle of them not showing up on time.

St. Maarten: Kakao Beach Club at Orient Beach - lovely and very French. About 30 minutes from port.

St. Thomas: Our group went on a (somewhat terrifying) high speed ferry ride to Jost Van Dyke, probably the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. I would do a day sail and take it a bit easier next time.

Enjoy it - it really was a great experience! Let me know if I can answer anything else.

I received a gift card for Christmas and decided to use it to purchase some OBC for myself to use on the cruise, to avoid standing in line to pay with it when I got there.

Got the confirmation email that others have reported but with no specifics, confirmation number, etc. For our first two days on the ship, no OBC showed up - finally I got the RCCL credit card OBC I expected but not the one I purchased. Guess what - wound up waiting in line 3x to fix the problem. Lesson learned. For USD to USD it's just not worth the hassle unless you want to spread out expenses as suggested.

We were on the Summit last week and we docked in Havensight. We were the ONLY ship in Havensight that day and the port was like a ghost town. As for the bigger ships docking in Crown Bay, I know that when we were on the Oasis last March, it docked in Crown Bay. However, smaller ships do dock there as well. A Holland America ship docked in Crown Bay by itself last week when the Summit docked in Havensight. The Holland America ship seemed so small that it could have been a lifeboat on the Oasis, so it is not only the huge ships that go to Crown Bay. Even though there were multiple empty berths available in Havensight, the Holland America ship docked in Crown Bay for some reason.

Good to know - thanks! Both had their own merits. We loved the beach we went to when we docked in Crown Bay (Lindbergh Bay?), but Havensight definitely has more commerce and life.

Arrived home on Saturday from a week on the Celebrity Summit, Southern Caribbean, with some girlfriends and a larger group called “Team Cocktail.” Having sailed a number of cruise lines before, I can honestly say Celebrity excelled in many ways, though I’m also still a RCCL fan. A lot of this has probably already been covered, but I wanted to share my thoughts in case they might be helpful, since so many of your comments helped me plan.

Our cabin, an OV on Deck 3 near the forward elevators, was small as expected, but the big surprise was the bathroom. A pretty roomy shower made for a nicer-than-usual cruise experience. I expected a much smaller shower with a door, like the “pods” on many RCCL ships, and got a larger-sized shower with a curtain. The room had a twin size sofabed, but I’d be hard pressed to put 3 in this room unless one was a very small child – and maybe not even then. Amenities like shampoo, conditioner, lotion all came in bottles and not the built-in dispensers with mystery soap that I’ve seen on other lines.

Food was a cut above any other cruise line I’ve had, and service was terrific. I am mostly vegetarian, and the vegetarian dishes were delicious. A couple of nights, they were Indian food, which was spectacular as promised by some CC writers - not surprising, since the executive chef is from India. Besides our waiter and assistant waiter, we constantly saw our sommelier (who kept our glasses filled at all times) and bar server, something I had not noticed on other lines. We had the premium drinks package and it really suited my cruising style - besides top shelf cocktails with my favorites like Grey Goose vodka, it covered bottled water and soda, sparkling water, premium coffee drinks like espresso and cappuccino, Vitamin Water, and “Zero Proof” “mock-tails.” We received the standard package as part of our cruise fare, and paid the upgrade charge which was well worth it. A special thanks to the Cruise Critic writer who pointed out that you could get a scoop of gelato with espresso over it in Café al Bacio as part of the premium package. I don’t recall the actual name of it, but we named it “heaven in a cup.” I was also happy that the “drink of the day” with souvenir glass was included and brought yet another one home for my collection.

Entertainment was very good, with a great cast of performers. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, why they would license a show like “Dream Girls,” whose songs were performed almost in entirety in one of the production shows, and then wrap a hokey premise around it. Why not, as RCCL has done, just do the actual Broadway show? I’m a Broadway lover, though, so it may just be my bias.

We signed on for the Persian Gardens – I love the steam rooms, saunas and heated beds and have done similar packages on other ships. We split it between two of us for a cost of about $91 pp. It probably wasn’t worth it in a cruise this port heavy, unless you are staying on the ship. Also, there is a sauna that you can use for free in the ladies’ locker room, with a beautiful view out to sea.

The itinerary was tremendous: Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas. Though I’m used to having a sea day at the end of the cruise to pack and our last day was St. Thomas, it was nice to see so many different places. The CC party took place on the first full day of the cruise, which was our sea day, at 5pm and I arrived very late because our group also had a function at that time.

In the end, it really was the small touches that set Celebrity apart. One of those very small things was the welcome back to the ship after you’d been in port – with water, cool towels and seating to meet up with friends – not just a tent with a metal detector. I chatted with some people who’d been on my first ship, RCCL’s lovely Jewel of the Seas, who’d been next to a Celebrity ship in port and even they noticed this touch and told me they were jealous.

I did not do any ship-organized excursions during the cruise, but did sign on for the “Old and New San Juan” tour afterwards, since I had a late flight. It was a good opportunity to see some of the city, which I hadn’t had a chance to do before the cruise. We flew in a day early and stayed at the Caribe Hilton, but it poured rain most of the day. The post-cruise San Juan excursion was great, but started very early – we disembarked at 7:30am in Group 3 – and ended early as we were dropped at the airport before noon, leaving me with an additional 6 hours to kill before my flight. The San Juan airport is very short on restaurants and services, so the one restaurant in terminal C had a line of about 50 people when I arrived, and I wound up sitting at the Land Shark Bar (which offered only 3 lunch options) for about 2 of those hours until the increasing volume of the thumping disco music drove me away.

I was not cruising with my tween son (or husband) this time, and I’m not sure the young set would think this cruise was as great as I did. Summit lacks some of the kid-friendly elements like mini golf, rock climbing, and robust kids’ clubs that many of the RCCL and other ships boast, I'm sure by design. For adults-only travel at a decent price, though, Celebrity Summit was a very nice experience.

Ship : Summit

Cabin #: 3015

Deck #: 3

Class: OV

Area: Forward

Bed near: Bathroom

Quiet?: Yes

Balcony view: n/a

Balcony size: n/a

Wind a problem?: n/a

Soot a problem?: n/a

Problems/comments: Extremely convenient to elevators, theater, just a quick ride up to the spa. Not the first cabin visible from elevators but just off the hall. Was concerned about noise from elevator corridor but it was not an issue.

I think mostly the mega-ships like Royal Caribbean's Oasis class ships go to Crown Bay. That's where we went on Allure.

I'll be on board with you for the first leg of your b2b. Cannot wait!

Besides the coffee maker, the suites also have a tea pot in the room. When we were on a couple of weeks ago, the single cup coffee maker came with a 4 cup coffee pod which obviously didn't seem to fit into the machine. When I asked the room steward(ess) about this, she said "oh just squish it in". Well, let me tell you, it makes for one VERY strong cup of morning java! So, to rectify the situation, I just warmed up about a 1/2 pot of water in the tea pot and added the very strong coffee to it. Voila, the perfect cup of morning joe.

 

Another tip, bring along a small covered container, or just get a paper coffee cup/ lid in the cafe promenade and fill it with 1/2 and 1/2. Put it in your fridge then you will always have it available for your coffee in the morning. The little drink spout on the disposable lib makes it perfect for pouring too:)

 

Enjoy the Explorer. It is one of our favorite ships...love the dining room. The food is terrific there. Although, in my opinion, skip Portofino. It was not worth the extra cost on this ship. I have had a superb experience with it on other ships but it was poor here:/

Thank you so much for the ideas. We hear mixed things about Portofino - will probably stick with the dining room anyway.

Thank you B-52! Bummer, was hoping for a cooler coffee maker, but whatever! It'll be great to brew a fresh cup if we feel like it either way. We had a room near the elevators and moved back a bit for noise reasons - we're in the middle of the hallway now. A little walking isn't bad - we've done an aft stateroom before and that was totally worth the walk.

Can't wait can't wait can't wait!

We're sailing on Explorer in March and have a couple of questions. Forgive me as I become that person asking ridiculously specific questions!

1. We are in a GS (woo!) for the first time ever and really looking forward to experiencing the "suite" life - at least this once! I understand the GS has a coffee maker - does anyone know what kind it is? I'm hoping it's a single cup maker - preferably Keurig so we can bring our favorite coffees.

2. The itinerary is FL/Bahamas 7 night - it looks like this might be a new-ish itinerary for the ship. Does anyone know when it begins and when I might start begging for Compasses? Would love to know what the activities for 3 sea days look like.

Any other cool Explorer tips are welcome! We can't wait to cruise from "home"!

We were just in 7203, right down the hall, during the week of 4/1.

What we liked: sitting in the window seat and people watching. We could see all the parades and events, but it was more fun to be down on the promenade in the middle of it.

What we didn't like as much: as noted, a lot of structure in front of you - we looked at a little balcony with a spotlight and what looked like a bag of garbage all week. I would not recommend this particular cabin, however - it's right below the Park Cafe, and the noise from chairs scraping the floor above you is loud and annoying, especially in the late afternoon. If I had a baby who needed to nap (or liked afternoon naps myself), it would have been a bigger problem. Not sure if Park Cafe is above 7187 too but you might want to check. It looks like there might just be stores above you. Noise from outside didn't bother us as much as noise from above.

The affordability of that cabin got us on Allure, and we were just thrilled to be there, so it didn't bother us too much. I missed having a balcony, though, especially when the ship was a little rocky one night. It always helps me to look out at the ocean - so I walked down the hall and looked out by the rock climbing wall.

If I had to do this cabin class on this ship again, I'd pay closer attention to what was above me.

We've never really cared who the cruise director was - some of them are downright obnoxious - but we thought Dennis was great, so another vote for him.

He told us 4 1/2 years ago on Mariner that he was retiring, though - guess not!

We're going in 16 days and I signed my 9 year old and myself up for the kids' class. Hoping that works out because I also was hoping we could do it together. Neither one of us is an 'experienced baker' but hoping to have some laughs doing it. Good luck.

nydoll, I had problems initially booking the character breakfast for the 4/1 sailing but keep trying.

A couple of observations:

1. If you have a choice of browsers, RCCL.com seems to like Internet Explorer better. It did not let me book any reservations in Firefox. Weird.

2. Once I booked, it only shows up as 1 person on the reservation - but I know I booked all 3 of us. If I go to try and change it, all 3 show up. Also weird.

3. It's funny how RCCL customer service people make stuff up when they don't know the answers. This breakfast is pretty well established in the MDR, I can't imagine them moving it to WJ with no reservations - it would be a zoo.

4. RCCL.com is unreliable and frequently goes down for no apparent reason.

I have actually reserved more than one because apparently different characters show up - Madagascar one day, then Shrek another day. Plus it's a "chocolate breakfast," which sounds awesome (as long as there's real breakfast food too...).