vplsh

Just ordered mine for our 12/24 cruise on Rhapsody!

Another vote for Seasport Belize. They do a wonderful job. I had a detailed review of my trip and dives with them that I wish I could share with you but since it was unceremoniously deleted...I will leave you with...

The folks were great

The dives were outstanding

Lunch was served and the ceveiche was fresh

Oh and they definitely got us back to the ship on time.

Have fun!

 

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Thanks for the info! They have been in touch with my husband and he's all set. Thanks again!

Take a look at Allianz too. They allow you to go up until final payment.

It's a short walk from the port. Go out the gate, turn left, about one block. People are very friendly on the street and will give you directions. If hasn't been repainted, their store is right by a tall green building on the left hand side of the street. After the dives, they will return you to the dock, so there is no walk back.

 

They are a very friendly, very helpful place and I love diving with them.

Thanks, Laurie. I filled out a request on their website, so we'll see what they say. My husband loves diving in Belize, so I hope it'll work out!

Seasports Belize is great, no sense in missing out on diving in Belize because you have to take a 10 minute tender ride. We do it with large bags and my large camera setup.

Where are they located once you get off of the tender? Do they provide transportation to their dive shop?

Enjoyed your review! We sailed on Summit for the 6th time on this itinerary the first week of August and loved it. Summit is, in our opinion, the best ship with the best crew!

My husband dove in Belize through the ship in December. However, Hugh Parkey has stopped their dive operation to concentrate on their resort, so there is no company arranging dives through the ship as of now. We are sailing Rhapsody in December and hope a new company will take over, but are looking into Sea Sports Belize in case no one does.

In Roatan, he used Scuba Roatan and loved them and will use them again.

I'm surprised Hugh Parkey would give up a lucrative dive business like that. We went with them once because we wanted to dive Teneriffe. Seasports Belize goes there, too, but their boats are pangas and much slower. They even suggested that we use Hugh Parkey. I much preferred Seaports Belize to Hugh Parkey, it was a much more personalized service.

 

What long tender ride, 10 minutes at most? I always have to laugh when people complain about the tender ride at Belize. They are very nice, fast tenders and it's a good ride in. I complain about having to stand in line for the tenders, much worse than the actual tender ride.

 

BTW, Seasports Belize returns you to the dock after diving, you don't have to walk back from their shop. They will respond, they have always been good about that. I bet the hurricane has caused some problems.

Always seems longer to me than 10 minutes. Oh well, just his preference. We don't sail until December, so I guess we'll wait until it's closer to see what the cruiseline has available then look into Seasports Belize.

What gives? Is this a Carnival thing, or something wonky with the diving?

 

any clues?

Apparently Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection has gone out of business. According to their facebook page:

The owners of Hugh Parkey’s Belize Dive Connection have decided to focus their management and business efforts on the operation of the existing Hugh Parkey’s Belize Adventure Lodge on Spanish Lookou...t Caye located approximately nine miles east of Belize City. Hugh Parkey’s Belize Dive Connection has enjoyed an ideal relationship with the SunBreeze Hotel and the SunBreeze Suites and has been grateful for the opportunity to serve them and their clients. Hugh Parkey’s Belize Dive Connection will be closing its shop at the end of the business day on May 31, 2016.

Hopefully someone will buy the business and they can work with the cruise lines again. This is the one port my husband likes to dive with the ship's excursion due to the long tender ride into port.

Just checked my on board booking and found the loyalty discount hadn't been applied! Got an additional $150 off our July 9, 2017 cruise!!

I read a thread on the scuba and snorkelling board that Hugh Parkey, the dive operation used by the cruise lines, has gone out of business so there isn't an alternative yet.

My husband is looking at Sea Sports Belize as an alternative, although he likes to dive with the ship in Belize due to the long tender. We're on Rhapsody in December, so hopefully something will be arranged by then.

SHIP: Summit

CABIN #: 2130

DECK #: 2

CLASS/CATEGORY: OV Cat 7

LOCATION/AREA: mid ship

QUIET?: yes, except when docking

BALCONY/PORTHOLE VIEW: unobstructed

BALCONY/PORTHOLE SIZE: large window

WIND A PROBLEM?: n/a

SOOT A PROBLEM?: n/a

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: We were pleasantly surprised by this cabin. The location was terrific, mid ship on deck 2, if you don't mind walking up the stairs to get anywhere. Very easy to get to when getting back on board.

One thing to note- when docking you hear noise for quite sometime. This occurred as we were docking in Bermuda and again back in Bayonne. For this cruise, with 2 nights docked in Bermuda, it was fine but I would not book this cabin (or perhaps any deck 2 cabin) when the ship sails out of San Juan. We were awakened at 5 am both times. Again, not a problem for Bermuda, but would be for the Southern Caribbean run.

Just curious, how did you get an all-day beach pass at Elbow Beach?

I could not find a way to book the pass at the Elbow Beach Resort site, but Resort for a Day offers passes to purchase unfortunately it seems that only 'low season' passes are being offered now. I tried various August dates but was repeatedly rejected.

 

A phone number (800-887-6620) is provided so I would suggest calling to see if anything is available for your cruise.

 

 

SBtS

I received this email after emailing Elbow Beach:

Good Day, we do have beach passes at the beach at $100 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. No reservations are taken, it is on a first come first serve basis. We do have beach cabanas available at $400 up to 5 persons and each additional person is $50. We do take reservations for cabanas. Cash and credit cards are accepted. Carla Smith

Here is my "RUFF" run down of a day with a drink pkg on another thread

 

For us at least, the package was not just about drinks that would make us not remember the cruise! It was everything else that the pkg includes.

 

A speciality coffee each on the balcony while the wifester is putting on her face, $5 ea.

 

Evian or San Pellegrino with fresh squeezed juice with that second coffee at breakfast, $15 ea.

 

Grab a bottle water on the way to stake out a deck chair, $4 ea.

$24 each before any mind altering liquid is consumed.

 

A beer or the drink of the day by the pool, $6 ea

Then off to lunch, maybe a soda, or another San Pellegrino $5 ea

The sun is hot hot hot! A cold beer or drink of the day is in order, $6 ea

The burger at the Mast Grill is calling our names, it does not go down with out some liquid assistance, $5 ea, then it is time to meet friends to watch the sun set from the Sunset Bar, $6 ea. Afternoon total $28.

And the evening fun has yet to begin.

San Pellegrino and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, and another speciality coffee with desert, $26 ea

Now it is time for some mind altering sampling to happen, or not A cocktail with friends at one of the watering holes on ship $7 ea, or 2 if we are letting our hair down!

One more bottle water on the way back to the cabin just in case we get thirsty during the night, $4. Evening total, $44.

Morning, $24, day, $28, evening $44, total $96.00 each useing the low end of the cost scale and not much mind altering substance.

Some evening's we will grab another coffee ( or worse) and go and sit on deck 5 to unwind, listen to the swoosh of the waves gently breaking down the side of the ship before heading to the cabin.

 

Depends on how you make use of the package.

 

We have upgraded to the Premium on our last 2 cruises. Our friends stayed with the Classic and were fine. I like the Craft beer selection, the wifester the better wines.

Thanks for posting this Wallie! It helped us decide to actually pay for a beverage package for our upcoming trip on Summit!

I'm so glad this has occurred- we, too, like to sail the Caribbean in the summer. This year we stuck to the Summit from Bayonne, which is our home port, but that itinerary it boring to us more than once every few years. Looking forward to booking Equinox while on board in a couple of weeks.

And count us in for an X ship out of California! Love that itinerary and there are so few choices!

So glad this will be available! We didn't want to have to sail Royal Caribbean next summer. Although the prices are rather high... Will see about booking when onboard Summit in a couple of weeks.

We have sailed on both ships several times- 6 on Summit and 4 on CB. We like both. They are both older ships in very good condition with great crews. The itinerary of both are excellent as well, so that doesn't really enter into your decision.

We love sailing out of San Juan, so that's always a plus. We prefer the specialty restaurants on Summit, and the Solarium pool is very nice. On Princess, we always pay extra for reserved chairs in the Sanctuary, which is adults only and directly above the Lotus Spa pool. That provides us with a child-free environment (I, too, am a teacher/principal) with shade. It's pricey- $210 for the week, but we consider it worth it and take an oceanview cabin to offset the price.

The thing that sets the Summit apart from any Princess ship is the non-smoking policy. I, too, am allergic to smoke and the CB allows it in the casino, which means it floats out to the areas around the casino. There is no smoking whatsoever in any indoor venue on Summit, and it is wonderful.

Hope that helps! Enjoy whatever you choose!!

Dreamer68, I'm on that sailing with my daughter. Join the roll call! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2256701

We're on that sailing too! Look forward to meeting everyone!

Thanks so much to the OP for this great review. We have also sailed on the Summit many times (this will be our 7th) and Celebrity 15 times. We love the Summit- it is our favorite ship. And we also love the oceanview cabins on deck 3, specifically the newer ones where the conference room used to be. This time we got a guarantee and they placed us on deck 2, but we're fine with that! Our most recent cruise on Summit was in March and we were on Deck 11 in an AQ and we decided we'd be happier in the oceanview and being able to sail more often!

I also agree that the specialty restaurants onboard Summit are not really worth the $45 fee. Hopefully we'll get a chance to get a discount for a night.

Good morning. I searched this board for recent information on diving in Bermuda and couldn't find anything from this season. Can anyone recommend a dive operation? We are sailing on Celebrity Summit 7/31 and will be in Bermuda for 3 days. The ship offers a dive excursion, but my husband usually prefers to use a local shop. Any recommendations will be appreciated!

Summit is our favorite ship!

I'm trying to decide who to book with in Roatan. Who would you recommend? RCI is booked and they use Black Pearl Divers.

My husband loved Scuba Roatan and plans to use them again this winter.

This sounds good for those that like the tour aspect but for food and view I would suggest making your way over to Grand Case and eating at one of the Gormet restaurants there on the water.

The nice thing was the convenience from the cruise port. No need for a taxi. It was easy to get to and fun.

Thanks vplsh!! We'll be there for 4 days, staying in Grand Case, so looking for something different and fun to do, and there's only one ship in the day I want to book it. It's been on my bucket list to do a land vacay there - my very favorite island!!

Trish

Enjoy!!!

Hi Lisa, the cruise was FANTASTIC.:D......I wrote a review. Here is a link:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2344645

 

The food tour was very fun......you will see I put a paragraph about it

in the review.

Glad to hear it!

3112 is slightly larger because of where the door is. The other cabins are a little larger than other ocean view cabins, I believe as well. We have been in 3112 several times on Summit and love the location! Here are a couple of pictures. The second one is taken from the area by the bathroom.

Hi Lois,

Hope the cruise was terrific! How was the food tour?