Zenica

You might get better advice here with more details. At the moment, you’ve given us some very subjective information. We were on Millennium for a month last September and found her to be in extremely good shape, with work ongoing to keep her looking good. For example, our shower floor was retiled while we were on the ship. She’s not a new ship, so our expectation were very reasonable, but they were far exceeded. Is it possible that your disappointing land tour jaundiced your whole experience?

Wait, your stateroom bathroom was re-tiled while you were on the ship? meaning...while you were using the bathroom?

I know, not at the exact moment it was being worked on but any time I redid a kitchen, it wasn't safe to step in the tiles for many hours. I'd be interested in how this was done to avoid the issue of not stepping on them.

Our experience on Summit was nothing like the OP's. Plenty of room. A/C worked fine. In and out in 15 minutes. Heard everything everyone said. We just wondered if the PA announcement from the CD and Captain were prerecorded. Otheriwise, it was over in a flash.

Ah!!! I thought it was that but I've not heard any of my UK friends ever call it that!

Agree with you on that one. Look really uncomfortable and not very substantial. All that weave won't be too comfy if you are sunbathing in a costume / shorts etc. Very odd.

Sunbathing in a costume???

Don't want to know what your compensation was, but did they offer explanation at all how it could have deteriorated to that gross level without any intervening repairs?

They did not. They did say that a message was set to the ship to see what can be done before the refit.

The only clear explanation is neglect. Whether the stewards notified management and a decision was made to wait or the stewards didn't say anything for fear of any potential backlash neither changes the only explanation that fits. Neglect.

It did not happen over night and could have been remediated a long time ago. Interestingly, others that have had Aqua class cabins did not have staterooms in that condition so it isn't a systemic issue. That probably contributed to the lack of material action taken to address it.

I just received a call from Celebrity. We had a delightful conversation about the pending refit, the Edge and of course, our recent Summit experience. We ended the call on a positive note and I feel much better going forward with regard to how their customer service handles such issues. There was a delay in their response but I accept responsibility for that in that I mistakenly believed their FB page would be an effective means of communicating with them. I have so little free time that I prefer email, web chat and PM's over phone calls. I can multitask with a keyboard in a way I can't when on the phone, if I try thinking in C++ but speaking in English, the result is jibbering code!

I won't elaborate with the remedy they provided, suffice it to say it exceeded my expectations and solidifies my loyalty to the line.

I never understood the care for the deposit amount. It is just a part of what will ultimately be paid. I care about two things, three really; price, perk and when is the final payment due as that is the point of no return.

Summit in August did not have them either.

Do you mind if I ask what cabin you were in? We're sailing on the Summit repo on 10/21, in AQ on deck 9...of course your post has me concerned. The condition of that bathroom is unacceptable!

It was cabin 9048. So far, Celebrity has not called me. I called a number provided by my TA. The person took my information and gave me an email address to send the images to. I did that via Facebook but now they say those images never came through although the FB messenger app shows them uploaded fine.

Thus far, their handling of it is now making what was once a single issue an matter of two concerns. We vacation for 8 weeks a year ranging from cruises to flights to London or Paris to east coast resorts like Disney or Universal and when ever an issue arises, the more reputable companies tend to rectify things or remediate them. Celebrity seems disinterested in doing anything, as the stateroom condition suggests.

Even on the dress up nights, I saw men wearing polo styled shirts with jeans.

The signage on the ship stated "long sleeve shirt" which contradicts the web site which does not make such a delineation but it was not enforced.

I suspect he'd be find with a polo and jeans. The sweat pants would be a stretch!

Sure, if you don’t want to pay for space and pampering it’s probably not for you guys. We happen to enjoy both those things quite a bit so will likely continue to book a PH when it’s available. Agree there is a price point for everyone where it ceases to make sense, of course...

 

Don’t know anything about teatime as I never asked for it to be served, but clotted cream quality likely depends on the skill of that sailing’s chef *♀️ Maybe someone else can weigh in on this one.

 

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The Penthouse space is considerable. Probably about the same as our first house which when looking back, seems spacious and constraining at the same time. Even the Haven and non Haven cabins we book fall short of a Penthouse in terms of space but it did afford the au pair a separate cabin. It may seem counter intuitive considering she lives with us but we feel better if she has her own cabin and a Penthouse wouldn't eliminate that. At home, she has the run of the entire walk out basement including the theater room and kitchen. We only go down for the gym or massage chair so it is like she doesn't really live in the house and ever since she started dating, she is only around 9-5 anyway! The Penthouse layout, is it bifurcated into bedrooms? Being new to Celebrity I have to say, the web site leaves much to be desired. I tried to find a page just about cabins but it seems you have to select a booking to see them and if its sold out, you can't open it at all.

I'll ask our TA about a Penthouse....just for the curiosity. Perhaps just once we'll try it. Kind of like the Concord. I did it once for the experience and now I'm glad I did, the chance to no longer exists.

Agreed, I do hope people were/are able to get out of the area. Florence is going to bring a tremendous amount of storm surge and rain. More than we saw with Sandy. I fear for the aftermath. The homes and towns people will return to....or as in the case of New Orleans, not return to,

Size wise the Sky Suite, Veranda, Aqua and Concierge are all smaller than NCL haven. So is the Celebrity suite by a very small margin.

Granted I only looked on the Summit and Breakaway. In our previous sailings, all except for one, we sailed NCL Haven and made a switch to Celebrity at the behest of our TA. It seems that Celebrity prices its Haven comparable cabins higher than NCL. A premium for not sailing the a dysfunctional cruise line I suppose.

Aside from the nearly triple space of the Penthouse, how else does it justify the nearly triple cost? We like space as much as anyone but when we are rarely in our cabin and the kids are with the au pair for several hours at a clip, the space would be mostly unused. The Michael's Club would be nice. I imagine it is similar to the Haven lounge which was where we were for 90% of the time we wanted to sit at a bar. It was quieter, the staff more attentive and the furniture more comfortable.

The rest seems like fluff because we'd probably not have a use for it. I have never had a resort launder my clothes, the piano in our house is for show because until our son or daughter is 6 and can start lessons, it remains a family heirloom my mom left them. We only availed ourselves of the Butler a handful of times and never even met the Concierge. Our excursions are always booked through an external company. Priority embarkation is a plus and almost reason alone with NCL out of NY but the Summit out of NJ was the polar opposite. We had priority embarkation but I don't see it as necessary. The dock is designed well, the people handle things efficiently and it was not pandemonium like in NY. I do wonder though, because no where else on the Summit could I find any but I see that the Penthouse has High Tea, is genuine British clotted cream served? Elsewhere on the ship they had the biscuits, the jams and traditional hard butter. If they have the genuine article, I have to figure out how to acquire it on the black market! I love going to London and having high tea at Fortnum & Mason! I might have to start a thread ahead of our next sailing....a clotted cream quest!

A little more reading, it seems the WHO recommends TDS concentrations below 1000 mg and the EPA secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) is half that.

So, 1 to 1.5 EC is safe.

Thanks for the review. Having been on the Summit just before you, I've been looking for reviews of those that cruised after us.

Given the crew to passenger ratio, it should not be difficult to track someone down. We never experienced that but we did have other observations related to the bars. Our dining experiences in Blu! and Tuscan were different. Our Waiter and Sommelier made regular and sometimes very frequent table visits. Both were friendly and professional so they intuitively knew when to keep the visit brief.

Did you ever stop by al Bacio? That was a hot spot for us...so I'd be interested in your experience there.

I looked at Penthouse, if I even thought of dropping the entire annual vacation budget on a single 7 day cruise I'd never hear the end of it.

And there would seemingly be more time to hear it being we'd all be home more!

The debate over EC and TDS has been an ongoing issue for a long time. These two measurements are used to determine the strength of hydroponic solution. Although they are widely used they should only be used as a guideline.

EC stands for Electrical Conductivity and is measured in mS/cm or millisiemens per centimeter. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids and is measured in PPM or parts per million. TDS is acquired by taking the EC value and performing a calculation to determine the TDS value. Because TDS is actually a calculation it is really only a guess at what the nutrient concentration is. (This means it isn't checking percentages of any one mineral like salt or metals) On top of that, there are three different conversion factors to determine TDS and different manufacturers use different conversion factors. In other words you could test the same solution with two different meters and get two totally different readings. But the EC is read the same by all meters the only difference is the conversion factor.

I once purchased a TAG onboard. The price was about $200 less than local retail and I avoided taxes which saves another $180 give or take.

I don't buy jewelry often enough to have any leverage with a jeweler. I have the Brietling I always wanted, a few TAGs for daily use but like when I buy cars, I price around so it isn't always the same store. If you have non refundable OBC, the TAG is priced right....it might make sense. If you have an internet package, you can verify the price right away.

My condolences.

Losing a parent is always a sad point in our lives but you will have a memory of his final voyage worth holding onto.

Actually, I can bet that it was a licensed Marine Electrical Engineer that fixed the problem. Many countries have two career paths for marine engineers, mechanical or electrical. The cruise ships usually carry 2-3 Assistant Electricians (who are mainly light bulb changers), 2-3 Electrical Engineers, an Electronic Engineer, an Automation Engineer, and a Chief Electrical Engineer. All but the Assistant Electricians are licensed Marine Engineers. Anything in the high voltage range (10,000 volts) like the generators, propulsion motors, thrusters and AC chillers are handled by the licensed Electrical Engineers.

I love your posts. Where ever I happen to read them, they never disappoint.

You should be drawing a salary from CC.

Someone clearly blew a circuit breaker with their rice cooker.

OMG too funny!

Made my night!

The Aqua Class perks are easy:

ALL of the Concierge Class perks - except embarkation day luch in MDR

(so yes, canapés and sparkling wine)

PLUS Blu (!!!), Persian Garden

 

While I prefer the A1 staterooms on deck 11 without overhang, the A2s on deck 9 are fine. Don´t worry!

We were in Aqua recently, we never had any sparkling wine. Canopies yes, wine? nope.

We are booked for next year on deck 11 but....I'm second guessing that, isn't deck 11 aft right below the movie theater??

That must generate a lot of noise late at night....no?

Just out of dry dock? That does not bode well for building confidence although for a mechanical marvel on the scale of a 965 foot long ship with a thousand cabins, malfunctions are expected. Are cruise ships put through a shake down sailing? A cousin of my wife is married to someone that does contract work refitting cruise ships. His work always entails a few days with the entire work detail taking the ship on a 3 or 4 day cruise, living on the ship as a passenger would.

@Ereggae;

The link you gave doesn't list specifics about what will be addressed during the refit.

The Celebrity ship page only states

"As part of our $500-million fleet-wide modernization program, in February 2019, Celebrity Summit® will making even more waves in the cruise world. From adding brand new staterooms and elevating design concepts and technology across the ship to adding a private The Retreat Sun Deck and The Retreat Lounge for our Suite Class guests, this stunner will be turning heads more than ever. Slip into new eXhaleTM bedding featuring CashmereSM mattresses that will surround you in luxury—literally. Marvel at completely new bathroom modernizations. Wine and dine in reimagined restaurants and lounges, including the main dining room, Oceanview Café, Sunset Bar, and Rendezvous Lounge. Surrender your senses in the newly redesigned spa. Shop in new retail boutiques. The Celebrity RevolutionSM will change the way you experience the world aboard Celebrity Summit."

Nothing is mentioned about non suite class cabins. This concerns me because we really LOVED Bermuda. The people, the island, the ----well, the everything. So much so that we rebooked the same cruise next year. Primarily because it allows for a full 2 days to enjoy all the island has to offer without a clock dictating our time management. NCL has the same itinerary but I'd really prefer NOT to sail NCL again. As a fellow Summit passenger phrased it, the No Class Line. That play on words certainly is reconciled by my own experiences with NCL.

Does anyone have a link to more specific Celebrity information about the pending refit?

Does anyone have a link to the official Celebrity page regarding the 2019 dry dock refit?

I'm looking for information related to the scope of work being done. I've been advised by a few what some changes

to expect but it has all been verbal, I'd like to read it from Celebrity. So far I have only found information as it relates to

the Suite class, no mention of Aqua class.

We were on the Summit in July, in Aqua, on deck 9 and our bathroom was fine. If I walked into a cabin and found mold I would have bypassed the cabin steward and gone right to guest relations with pictures in hand asking to be moved immediately. We had a nice bathroom, yes the shower door leaked so we aimed the shower head in a tiny bit and it was much better but no mold, no other bathroom issues and we had a great cruise.

It is my understanding that cruise ships always depart at 100% capacity. They don't allow cabins to remain empty unless an unusual circumstance happened such as a passenger not arriving in time or at all. Can they legally even put someone in there? What if the paying passenger took a flight to the first port of call?

In a land based hotel, there is usually an unoccupied room the hotel staff can use when issues arise and I've had to be moved a few times for various reasons but I've also been told the hotel was at capacity and could not accommodate moving me until someone checked out. Usually that meant putting up with what ever the issue is, the last time that happened was in San Diego at Comic Con and the issue was not minor, the shower's hot water was a trickle making it more like an ice bucket challenge. They went to replace a valve, the one behind the pull knob but didn't have the right one. A 30 minute fix became a two day repair with multiple incursions into our room.

Sometimes you have to weight the negative against any gain and in our case, we avoided the bathroom to mitigate the negative. if we didn't have access to the Spa shower it might have been different.