Marleycruiser

Can you tell us what sky suite you are in (we sail in two weeks).

Can you comment on how check in was and some of the staff in Michaels/Luminae (we were on the same cruise a year ago).

Also, I work in downtown Manhattan and have some pictures of you guys in front of the statue on my phone but do not know how to post on here. If anyone is interested in pics, I can text them the pictures and someone more tech savy can post.

Thanks

Very interesting and you are right. She is sailing far too fast and will likely be near the dock within the hour..... The better question is where will she dock given the Dawn and the Anthem are in port.

Are there any recent reports that provide a general time on when the Celebrity Summit opens her doors to new passengers?

Or alternatively, does anyone know when the Celebrity Summit commences boarding?

I am trying to figure out what time to get to the port.

Thank you in advance.

We have done the Summit and the Breakaway.

Here is my take and I think demographics of a cruise ship largely depend on the time of year.

We sailed the NCL Breakaway the year it came out and paid top dollar for the trip, and were truthfully disappointed. To date, it was our worst cruise but we still made the best of it. For us, it was far too crowded (and we have sailed the Oasis of the Seas which felt much less crowded and flow was MUCH BETTER) as we fel tthe Breakaway just had too much of a cookie cutter interior design. I felt like I was getting constantly nickel and dimed for EVERYTHING, and the food and service were quite poor (it was 2.5-3 hours the two nights we went so instead we did specialty dining the remaining of the trip). Pools are extremely crowded, as is deck space, and I felt like I was on a spring break trip with adults. On the contrary, the Breakaway, or Escape in this instance, really do have a "WOW" factor when first seeing the ship and does have the bells and whistles. It several water slides and ropes courses which is nice for the kids.

Last summer we decided to give the Celebrity Summit a try, which, is the oldest ship I have every sailed. Initially we booked a balcony room, but the prices dropped so much that we were able to book a suite. While the ship is smaller, this is a much better maintained ship with far better service. Is the ship aging and older? Yes, but the attention to detail and quality of product is far superior in our opinion.

Now I realize while comparing a Celebrity Suite experience is not comparable to a standard balcony suite on NCL, we simply felt Celebrity provided a far superior product. So much so that we ended up booking the same exact cruise this coming July and are bringing our brother in law; unfortunately, I am paying twice the price of last year but we felt that strongly about the level of service you get on Celebrity.

Hope that helps.

Thanks - I made the right decision after getting some good feedback above.

To me an extra $200 per night is worth it, particularly with all of the extra perks.

Throwing this to another vacation is not an option as we will hopefully be pregnant by then and won't be taking a real vacation for a few years.

Thanks again everyone.

Brother in law just called me........ Said they were booking the suite and so are we!

Thanks folks.....

To answer some questions, I did not have anything booked but the $1400 was the difference in cabin... other than additional onboard credit, all perks are the same....

One other nice touch which i don't know if people discussed, was being on the bow of the Summit when she departed Bermuda... It was just a nice touch.

I waited a bit too long to book this Summit cruise to Bermuda and now my wife and I are in disagreement with regards to the cabin we should book.

It would be great to get some input from the "experts." Long story long, we can get a Suite for $1400 more in total. Additionally, we would get an additional $400 so in all it really is more like $1000 more for the entire trip.

We did this identical trip last year, and truly enjoyed the Suite perks, particularly, Luminae, Michaels Club, and priority boarding/disembarking. It really made the trip and allowed us to just relax and meet some pretty neat people without the feeling of being herded like cattle. The other perks (butler + slightly larger room) really was not that big of a deal for us but the three previously mentioned perks truly made this vacation in 2017 having us come back for more in 2018.

So my question to you all is am I crazy for paying an extra $1500 for suite perks? I need to decide by tonight as there was a courtesy hold put on the reservation.

Thank you very much in advance.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help.

As stated above, we are not Butler people and the last time we did not use the butler at all.

I think the only thing we may potentially miss is Michaels and priority boarding (although I am not sure if we get priority embarkation/debarkation if we are only Aqua class).

Right now the price difference between an Aqua cabin and Sky Suite is ~$1600 and that is simply to steep for me to justify the "additional perks."

Thanks again everyone.

We sailed on the Celebrity Summit last year and truly enjoyed sailing her primarily attributable to the fact we were in a Sky Suite for the first time.

We enjoyed priority boarding/debarkation, Luminae was the best restaurant we have eaten at sea (including the service and Maggy made our trip), and enjoyed getting away from the crazy at Michael s.

My question to the experts is, whether or not I will be disappointing in booking a Aqua Class room? I know there is Blu but we never ate there, and I suppose the question I am asking is what do you get as a suite guest that you don't get as a Aqua Class Room guest?

The price is double (Aqua vs. a Sky) and while the trip was good, it was not that good.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thank you in advance.

Size is not an issue at all. We were on her in August of this year and would walk right in between 7/730 every night without a wait. Maggie was awesome, as was all of the staff. Enjoy

Bermuda weather was surprisingly not good. The first day we had decent weather from early morning until about 1 and then it started down pouring for the rest of the day. Second day was a complete and total wash out. Third day was excellent weather.

I must say, in the half dozen times I have been to Bermuda, there is practically no rain. If there was, it was a passing shower. I think we were unfortunate, and you should not have anything to worry about.

To answer a few question.

1) We did not eat at any specialty restaurants as the experience in Luminae was beyond anything we had ever experienced before.

2) Embarkation we got there at 1030 and the ship had already started boarding early (they made mention of the fact they turned around the previous ship "early")

3) Debarkation was OK, but we were in our car driving away by 830 AM. There was really no need to walk off luggage as Suite Guests luggage is dropped off closest to the customs line. Additionally, we were walked from Michael's to our luggage but there were several people that joined the Suite Guests line. Manuala, the concierge in Michael's, was clearly overwhelmed and I felt they needed to have 3-4 more people handling Suite guests (100+ people). We did cut the line to get off the ship where we showed our card, and again at customs. In my opinion, 1030 is far too late, I would have him pick me up no later than 9 (I would tell him 830 and let him wait as opposed to the other way around).

Just got off the Celebrity Summit yesterday and had a great week to Bermuda. I will be brief and try and highlight some of the key takeaways from the trip. We stayed in Suite #9123 and absolutely loved all of the amenities it came with which made the trip. I will try and do a comparison to the NCL Breakaway which we sailed a few months ago.

Embarkation - This was our first trip out of Bayonne and it was by FAR the easiest port we have ever gone through. It was also great being a suite member to have a separate line and we were on the ship within 15 minutes of entering into the building. This was far better than the chaos we experienced on the Breakaway. CS wins this hands down

Service - Hands down Celebrity wins this category. It was the little things that really made a difference. Champagne at embarkation, a simple hello from almost all guests, and the service in Luminae and Michael's Club was hands down the best service at sea (compared to Carnival, NCL, Princess, and RCL ships that we have been on).

Activities - This is where we thought the Summit really lacked in activities and definately need some work. We had a couple of sea days where rain was relentless (not the ships fault and can only control so much), but we felt the ship's activity staff should have tried to plan something else. We also felt the ship was missing a Shooner Bar like on many RCL ships. A simple Piano Bar would have been great every night (although there were sing alongs a few nights in Rendevious). Our plan this trip was to "veg out" but even with that thought in mind, we felt there were far too few activities planned both day and night. NCL wins this one

Ship - I would say this is a win for the Summit and here is why. We were traveling alone WITHOUT kids. There are people CONSTANTLY cleaning, painting, and maintaining the breakaway. I never felt claustrophobic like I did on the Breakaway and loved the way the ship flowed; however, the Summit is clearly showing its age. The salt and people really put a beating on these ships, but I would still rather sail this over the Breakaway (see further comments below).

On the contrary, the Breakaway still looks to be very well maintained and has all of the slides, and the "WoW" factor for sure. The kids really loved the Breakaway but I could not stand the cookie cutter lay out in the Breakaway. I constantly felt chlostrophobic and I think it is simply a poor ship design as we have been on the Oasis of the Seas which holds more popele and never felt cramped . CS win for sure.

Internet - We had unlimited internet and was surprisingly fast; however, we needed to "forget this network" every day and re-login in order to use the internet. It was great being able to stay in touch with people back home. This internet was definitely better than on the Breakaway.

Food - This is subjective as we ate in Luminae every night, and I realize it is unfair to compare Luminae food to dining room food on the Breakaway; however, the compairosn is not even close. The food and service were absolutely FANTASTIC. Everyone from our waiter Jason, to our Wine Sommelier Maggy, to the Maitre'd Bruno who were nothing short of spectacular. I never once in my life (including all of the pay restaurants in RCL, Princess, and Breakaway) have had food which comes out hot, nor a steak that was so tender. Additionally, it was nice to have a healthy cafe on the pool deck as opposed to over filling yourself in the buffet. CS hands down on this one.

Conclusion - After this trip, it will be very hard to go back to non suite life; however, it became very clear to us that we will never go back on the Breakaway again. After sialing her twice, and being introduced to an older Summit ship, we realized newer/bigger isn't always better. If we had kids with us, we would likely have tried the Anthem 5 day to Bermuda, but if RCL was really smart, they would offer a 7 day Bermuda trip to compete with the Summit and the Breakaway. In conclusion, we had a wonderful time and feel that Celebirty currently offers a FAR more superior product than NCL. If they just work on the activities (with a few simple fixes), I think it would be a no brainer to conclude this is the best 7 day cruise to Bermuda out of the NYC Metro area.

If you have any questions, feel free to fire away.

Thanks

If this is in fact true and not included in future cruise fares, I will not be buying package...... Thats just too damn expensive - period....but at least they give the option to buy so can't ding the cruise line.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Any must do's on the summit?

This will be our first time in a suite so we will be trying luminae. Any restaurants worth paying for ?

Any other aid bits?

Thanks

DaniDyanielle - Can I ask you a few questions?

Dress Code- I was going to bring some nice jeans and black shoes with button down collared shirts, is this acceptable on non formal nights? For formal nights, I was just going to dress business casual (nice pear of pants with a button down dress shirt and dress shoes). Wanted to make sure this was ok?

Boarding Time - What time did you guys commence boarding?

Parking - Did you park? If so can you share your experience?

Thank you in advance.

Appreciate the come back...... Hopefully nothing too serious but I am sure more details will be provided in the hors/days to come...

Oh no are you serious?!>!>! Any more details? Hope this is not another azipod issue...... We are on the next sailing!

Currently still in port... Anyone have an idea what is going on?

No one has any comments/pics?

Getting super excited for this upcoming trip.... Never been in a suite!!!

Appreciate the feedback..... One question for clarification..... I thought since I will be in a suite, I am only allowed in Luminae and NOT blu? Would appreciate clarification on this.

Thank you

Great question, would also like to know....

Also, any differences between Luminae and Blu?

Anyone ever stay in this room? Any pictures? Pro's/cons?

Thank you in advance

So I did it, for an extra $100 I got a Suite guarantee on the Summit. I went from an Aqua Class Balcony room with $600 OBC + Classic Beverage Program.

For an extra $100, I got upgraded to a suite guarantee, prepaid gratuities, PREMIUM Beverage Package, Unlimited Internet, and $600 OBC......

This deal likely looks better on the surface than I actually got, because I had paid close to $3600 for a balcony that is now going for $2800 so take it with a grain of salt.

OK so now I am on deck 11 and the prices continue to decrease (wish I would have waited longer as it looks like al Bermuda cruises out of NJ/NY have been slashed drastically).......

I am currently booked on a deck 11 Aqua stateroom with a Classic Beverage Package. Just looked today and I can upgrade to a suite guarantee for an extra $100l however I get unlimited internet and premium drink package (which we plan don upgrading nonetheless).... What are your thoughts?

I really liked the thought of deck 11 and the aqua class stateroom but we have never been in a suite so would deeply appreciate your insight.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE.