tonyd285

We were in 1134 on the Summit in April. Absolutely quiet day and night. Some noise if sitting on the balcony. We love Aqua Class, especially dining in Blu. You will absolutely enjoy the experience.

We always provide an extra tip in cash to our cabin attendant, wait staff, and the person who brings me my pre-dinner Manhattan every evening.. The prepaid gratuities are split among the entire staff, including those we don't come in personal contact with. We book Aqua Class so don't see much of the MDR people, or those working behind the scene to provide service..

The water on modern cruise ships is sea water which is processed in a desalinization system (reverse osmosis). It tends to be high in sodium and sometimes the process is imperfect. We always use only bottled water when cruising, including at meals, and avoid things like iced tea, etc. The classic drink package includes unlimited bottled water which is highly purified.

We were on this cruise as well. I can't say enough positive things about the wonderful staff on the Summit. Our cabin attendants, we had two, one experienced and one newby, LaLaine and Victor, both were great. The Maitre D" in Blu, Serkan, and his entire staff were fantastic. The food was very good. I was not as happy with the lunches in the MDR. Maybe I should have ordered the hotdogs or burgers. The servers in Cellar Master's were ready every day with my Manhattan and my wife's Kir Royale as soon as we sat down for our pre-dinner cocktail. I thought they had the sound cranked up a little too loud for some of the shows and left early. It was kind of a lazy voyage for us but just what we needed. One thing that bothered us, the whirlpool hot tubs in the Solarium were not working properly. Overall, the Summit is in great shape for an older ship and sailing aboard will be a treat for those looking ahead.

Yea. We book Aqua Class mainly because of Blu. Elegant, quiet and superior service. Well with the price.

National Express is the way to go. Cheap and efficient. If you want you can reserve seats on a particular run. A taxi from the coach station to the ship is less than $10.

We agree with other posters. We have sailed AquaClass over the past several years. It now appears that Celebrity has expanded the pricing between Concierge and Aqua by several hundred dollars. I guess, until they come to their senses, we will go back to Concierge. The only significant difference for us is Blu and the price differential simply is not worth it.

We did especially enjoy the UK immigration program. Times were set by deck (ours was deck 6) and three days before arriving at Southampton we cleared immigration on the ship. The only other instance of that, as i recall, was prior to arrival in Israel, with Israeli immigration preclearing passengers. Strangely, when we were leaving London we were through check-in, bag drop, and security at Heathrow on Wednesday in less than one-half hour. I had allotted three hours due to past painful experience.

Asked about losing an hour each day for five days, I can only tell you that for the most part we adapted. Did miss one performance I was looking forward to because I forgot to turn my watch ahead. Showed up just as the performance ended. By the time we reached the UK we were pretty well okay for our stay there. We have also done a couple of transatlantic from Europe to the US (not on Cunard) and found it much easier to adapt.

We showed up just prior to our designated check-in time. We weren't on the ship until 3 hours later. I estimate that the queue, which was endless, numbered perhaps 2,000 people. There were passengers still leaving the ship well into mid-afternoon. Whatever went wrong seriously needs to be fixed. Maybe Cunard should send spies to Viking Ocean or Celebrity and learn how flawless embarkation is done.

We have just returned from the August 28th sailing from Brooklyn to Southampton, followed by a few days in London. First off, the embarkation process was utter chaos. Cunard blamed the fiasco on US Immigration but who knows? The ship itself was a mixed bag for me, a once in lifetime trip to say I had done it. The cabin, a sheltered balcony, was pretty much standard cruise ship, on the small side compared to Celebrity or Holland America, and not at all plush. The food in Brittania Restaurant was sometimes quite good and others seemed to represent a chef trying too hard. The salads were weird, especially the Waldorf - a few grapes some walnuts a smidgen of greens in some kind of sauce. The casino used a system I have not seen anywhere else for slots and I never quite figured it out. On the other hand, the public spaces were very nice, the music was the best I have heard on a ship. Both the classical musicians and the ship's band were top-notch. The entertainers were very good. Better than most in the cruise industry. The lectures were very interesting. The Tea, served every afternoon at 3:30PM was a lovely touch. Only, Viking Ocean seems to do it as well. Most guests followed the rules for proper attire but there were some who ignored compliance, T shirts, jeans and baseball caps on this ship, especially during lunch, dinner and Tea seemed very inappropriate. If you are going up to London after the cruise I do recommend National Express coaches, inexpensive, prompt, and good service. Overall, we did have a pleasant sailing and for a bucket list vacation I would recommend it.

Question: Is a dark gray suit acceptable for formal evenings? I am in my eighties and not inclined to purchase another suit. The last time I wore a tux was at my daughter's wedding 35 years ago. We are looking forward to our QM2 cruise but I'm not sure how formal I need to be.

We will be sailing from NY to Southampton on the QM2. Curious as to when we can disembark and how long it takes to get through immigration and customs. We have reserved transportation via National Express at 9:50AM and want to be sure we will have ample time to get a taxi to the bus terminal for that departure. Anyone with experience traveling this way?