5:00_Somewhere

This is a picture from the desk area in Discovery Princess standard balcony cabin S222. By the way, that device on the right-hand side of the desk is a port expander I bought to fit into the European E/F type electrical outlet, which leaves the 2 existing US type outlets free while adding 2 more and 3 USB charging ports. Also works great for hotels when travelling in Europe.

We have booked this excursion at least 3 times - pre-Covid - and had it cancelled all 3 times. Once we were not informed until we showed up at the appointed time and place to begin the excursion, only to be told it was cancelled and everyone was notified days before - we were not. I hope the OP has better luck.

Well I'll say it: It annoys the heck out of me. I hope they lose it, too. 😜

Whoa! Talk about a "zombie thread". 😲 Although I confess I'd be interested in the answer, as well. I miss Godwin ... and Rui and Generoso and Giovani .... 😄

As full as they can get them. They're reserving a few - very few - cabins to use for Covid isolation (for those instances in which one passenger in a cabin tests positive and the other negative; otherwise positive passengers stay in their cabin), but otherwise they're sailing as full as possible. Depends only on the itinerary and demand of passengers. Just got off the Summit 1 1/2 weeks ago and it was at 96%, and have heard similar reports across Celebrity and Princess.

We LOVE the LCG and Porch café on the Silhouette and Reflection, and always have lunch at both when on those ships. In fact, we've chosen those ships over other S-Class ships primarily because of these 2 dining venues; that's how much we enjoy them. 🙂

We've sailed with Sue several times and absolutely adore her. I echo what others have said: she is everywhere all the time, always interacts with passengers and - perhaps most astoundingly - has even remembered us from cruise to cruise, even when many months or even a couple years have passed. 🤩

Not at all. I never intended this to be a "one man show". Happy to hear others' experiences. I also agree that the ship seemed to be in good shape, overall, although we did notice - sitting on our balcony for 5 days - that the undersides of the decks and balconies are showing a LOT of rust and staining and really could use some attention. As with other things, I very much suspect this is related to lack of staffing. Something else I can now agree with, after spending 5 days in our cabin, is that - as much as I like many things about the "revolutionization" of the Summit, the furniture is largely impractical and uncomfortable for use over any extended period. We never minded in the past, as we tend not to spend an inordinate amount of time in our cabin, but this time .... 😉

I want to echo what my hubby said: I really appreciate you all being so understanding and supportive, and letting us rant a little. I also want to clarify a couple of things. First, our Butler was outstanding, over all. Things would have been SOOO much worse if we had not had his assistance with virtually everything (and his tip definitely reflected that). The one area where we had an issue was that we could not seem to get him to understand that the X app could be glitchy, and that it was often incomplete or inaccurate where the Luminae menu was concerned. He seemed to think that whatever appeared on the app was "Gospel". So, when on day 1 it showed 2 different appetizer menus and 2 different entrée menus, we had difficulty getting him to understand that this had to be a mistake and that only one appetizer menu and one entrée menu could be valid for that evening. Likewise, when no lunch menu appeared on a sea day even though the app said Luminae was open and we knew they served lunch on that day, he insisted lunch was not available (until we finally prevailed upon him to collect an actual paper menu for us). And, the same with desserts: most nights no desserts appeared on the Luminae menu on the app, and his assumption was that no desserts were offered. A very odd take, but this was literally the only issue we had with his service, and it was far overshadowed by all the other wonderful services he provided us. We also feel SO fortunate to have been in a Suite and to have had the Luminae menu and our Butler service available to us. On port days, lunch was available only from regular room service. It took forever to reach them, and when we placed an order it would typically take an hour or so to arrive, and was always cold. As for the Concierge hosts, Lyle and Mar were both very nice and personable, especially whenever we would see them before we were quarantined. And Mar called to check on us every single day during quarantine, always asking if there was anything she could do for us. Unfortunately, when we did ask for something, it was either handed off to our Butler - who always took care of it - or, apparently, forgotten. This includes empathizing with us being "locked up" for our anniversary and assuring she would "do something special" for us, which is why it was so disappointing. We didn't feel we needed to "remind" her, and chose not to "be demanding" but, in retrospect, I suppose we should have taken more control over our own celebration and simply explicitly stated what we wanted ... so our Butler could take care of it. 😉 Finally, I agree with what others have said, that a lot of the Covid and service issues are essentially inevitable, given cruise lines' (not only Celebrity) decisions to simultaneously increase passenger capacity and reduce Covid protective protocols, all while they continue to struggle with severe staffing issues. I fully understand the business reasons behind these decisions, but fear that they have not adequately prepared for the inevitable consequences.

Hi all, we're officially home now, thankfully, after a complete cluster**** of a disembarkation. I want to say at the outset that we both tend to be very positive people, look on the bright side, give people - especially shipboard staff and crew - the benefit of the doubt, but we feel terribly disappointed in a few respects about how things were handled the end of this cruise. They did absolutely nothing for our anniversary - despite promising they would do something very special - other than put a sign and balloons on our cabin door which we did not even see until they delivered our dinner at 8:30 last night because we weren't allowed to leave our cabin. We thought we might get champagne, based on something our Butler said, but when there was no sign of that by mid-afternoon, I decided to blow some of our non-refundable OBC on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. We had heard others had gotten some kind of special dessert with dinner, but when we went to order there were no desserts showing on the app menu (which happened many nights), and we had to plead with our Butler to call down to Luminae to find out what might be available - apparently, there was only 1 dessert last night, which we know is BS. Then, after being jerked around about disembarkation - being told 4 different things - we finally did as we were told, tagged our luggage with the "covid" group and put it all outside our door. We were told we would be met in our cabin at 8:00 a.m. and escorted off with the first groups where we could pick up our luggage and leave. Then, after our luggage was gone, we were told, oops, no, because disembarkation day is your last day of quarantine, you're free to leave whenever you want (which is what we had initially been told by the nurse upon my positive diagnosis, but which we had subsequently been told repeatedly was wrong). They said we really should have have sent your luggage with a "regular" group (which we were not given as an option). But, because it's already with the covid group, we were told we could disembark anytime after 8:00 a.m. and our luggage would be waiting for us. So, this is what we did. Of course, once we were in the port terminal and couldn't find our luggage group, we were told, oh no, that group will be last and the luggage won't be coming off until much later. We finally got it, got our Uber and got the hell out of there. I've never been so happy to see a ship disappearing in the rearview mirror. *Sigh* I know I sound bitter. Believe it or not, it takes a lot to wear down my usual sunny disposition. 🙂 And I know some of these things may seem small, but all taken together, after 5 days stuck in our cabin, it just sent us both over the edge. I want to emphasize that we never ever took any of our frustration out on any personnel. We know they were dealing with "shifting sands" too. But, the lack of communication, and Keystone Kops way the whole Covid quarantine and disembarkation situation was dealt with was disheartening to say the least. We were left feeling very dejected. And I know there will be those who think I'm just whining. That's fine. I admit I'm venting. But, I'm also posting this so future passengers may have some realistic expectations about what they might encounter. We did just this, although, after the Veuve, there was less than there had been. 😉 We also wrote out personal thank you cards and included cash tips for a number of individuals (which our Butler kindly delivered - including to himself 😉 ). We even received a very nice call from the Luminae Maitre d' thanking us for the note and extra gratuity, which was very nice. One final note: ground transportation after disembarking was a bit of a mess. The lines for taxis were long and taxis were surprisingly sparse. Also, after we called our Uber to pick us up where we had originally been directed, we were told the rideshare pick up is now on the OTHER side of the Boston Design Center building, which is the building across the street from the Black Falcon terminal. The Massport police were downright belligerent when our Uber - along with a few others - tried to pick us up in front of the terminal. Something to consider for planning purposes. Oh, and though it's in no way scientific, I can "guestimate' that there were a few dozen people quarantined with Covid at the end of the cruise. This is based on the amount of luggage grouped with ours, as well as a glimpse I got of at least 2 1/2 sheets of paper on a clipboard filled with names of people to whom that luggage belonged. Sorry for the negative tone. It was just a very disappointing end to what we had hoped would be a very special trip. Home now and going to try to put it behind us. I hope anyone boarding today and in the future has a nice trip.

I've decided to take the bull by the horns as for our celebration. The Retreat Concierges have been very nice and promised "something special" for our anniversary ... but, based on follow-through to date, I've decided to just go ahead and order a nice bottle of champagne and explicitly ask for a special dessert of some kind. We have actually been able to order off the Luninae menu each night, as it appears on the App but, for some unknown reason, desserts rarely appear on the app and we have, therefore, not been able to order anything. Also, we have been frustrated the past day trying to get information about disembarkation. We were initially told we would be clear on disembarkation day to disembark as usual, and could even go down to breakfast if we liked. But, when we asked about this when our disembarkation instructions and luggage tags failed to materialize yesterday, we were told that we were going to have to go through the special disembarkation procedure required for all quarantined guests. But no one could tell us what that meant. Literally, everyone we have asked had different answers or no answer at all what that means in terms of our luggage, timing of disembarkation, logistics, etc. Very, very frustrating. But, our dependable Butler - upon whose shoulders every shipboard operation is apparently heaped - has undertaken to find all this out for us. So, apparently due to logistical difficulties in the way things have been done regarding quarantine guest disembarkation until now, there is a new process. We are to receive special luggage tags today, We will put out our large luggage tonight, just like "normal". In the morning, between 8:00 and 8:30, someone from housekeeping will arrive to escort us off the ship, then we will be free to proceed as normal. Apparently, no "Andromeda Strain" hazmat suits. 😉 We're so relieved to know this FINALLY. Also, although they would normally re-test quarantined passengers on day 5, they will not bother testing me because I am disembarking. So, we finally have that sorted. I can't speak to that, but I can say that - in my opinion, only based on our first 5 days prior to quarantine - I felt that staff was doing an excellent job getting the new people up to speed. Were there hiccups here and there? Sure, but I truly felt that I was seeing improvements in service every day. We really enjoyed our guided walking tour of Saint John (we learned you have to spell out "Saint" if you search anything online or you end up with information about St. John's, Newfoundland), learned all about the history of the city, the great fire, lots of architectural history, visited King's Square and the Bandstand, the Loyalist Burying Ground, and strolled through the City Market (where we happily added a bit to local coffers.) 🙂 We also learned about the wide tide swings. I mentioned the single gangway and disembarkation simply to set expectations, as we heard much grumbling about it that morning. I feel so badly for the staff and crew on this - and all - cruise ships these days. So many passengers - not all, but too many - simply seem unwilling to make any allowances for staffing shortages and ongoing supply chain issues. Fortunately, we haven't seen many passengers treating staff poorly on this ship, but there has definitely been some "entitlement" and frustration expressed when, for instance, a certain brand of beverage isn't available. You're correct about the ship sailing full, or nearly so, and passengers being permitted to remain in their cabins if they test positive. However, we were informed that there are still a number of cabins set aside for situations in which one cabin occupant is positive and one is negative, in which event one passenger is given the option of moving to another cabin. However, we were given to understand (from 2 different sources) when our time came (on day 5 of the 10-day cruise, mind you) that no more such cabins were available - and my husband planned not to move, in any event. I can only speculate what that might mean for the Covid positivity rates on this cruise - as they are very tight lipped about it. We've been in quarantine, of course, but as I mentioned above, in our case when the hurricane blew through the northern reaches of our course, the Captain simply held us in literally one spot for an entire day - that was our original 1st sea day - and then substituted another sea day for what was supposed to have been the first of 2 days in Charlottetown. Otherwise, our itinerary did not change. However, he did make an announcement as we sailed away from Sydney that we were the first ship in several days that had been able to get into that port. As for new information, as may have been reported elsewhere, there was an emergency medical chopper evacuation of a passenger yesterday afternoon. We have no details, but our thoughts are with the passenger and their family. We are docked in Portland, ME today. As I believe was discussed elsewhere, they are processing all passengers through US Customs at this - our first stop back in the US - rather than at disembarkaton in Boston. We docked at 7:00 a.m., and heard them begin making announcements of people being processed by groups beginning about 8:00 a.m. I think. People appear to be free to walk off the ship once through customs. We are told that the Customs officials are then being brought through the ship to visit we "inmates" one by one. We passed through a fierce thunder and lightening storm during the night, but it's currently dry in Portland, though gray and a bit raw. For our part, we're just counting the hours until we can finally get off this damned ship. Not the fault of the ship or crew, and we blame no one, but I've never wanted to disembark and be home so much - with the exception of the Star Princess after the fire. But, that's a story for another time. 😉

I did get a notice on day 1 of quarantine stating that I would receive free unlimited Wi-Fi (which we already had), in-room movies (there is nothing we care to watch) and phone calls (which was surprising and, thankfully, not really necessary for us), as well as a pro-rata refund for the days spent in isolation. Not sure if the refund applies to my husband, as well, who quarantined voluntarily and, thankfully, still has no symptoms, but plan to ask, just so we know what to expect Wise move on your last cruise. In retrospect, I should have considered requesting Paxlovid from my Dr. before this cruise, but we thought we were doing everything we could and would be okay. I'm feeling better now, but the weekend was rough and I still have some breathing issues, but I suspect that's due to an old respiratory issue I've dealt with for about 30 years. It had mostly not been an issue in recent years, but this seems to have exacerbated things, which isn't a surprise, I suppose. But, again, I know I'm much better off than others how have gotten Covid. At this point we're mostly just bored out of our minds and lamenting all the activities we're not able to enjoy, including our planned anniversary dinner. But, will try to make the best of it, and are just counting down the hours now til we can get off the ship and go home. Usually at this point in a cruise we'd be wishing for more days instead of fewer. 😉 Oh, in answer to another question or point you made, our 5 day quarantine expires on disembarkation morning so, unfortunately, there's no get out of jail free card until we dock in Boston. But, they said at that point we can disembark as usual and don't have to be escorted off by staff in hazmat suits, so there's that. This is our last sea day, heading to Portland, and fortunately it's not raining and warm enough to enjoy with a hoodie on, so heading out to the balcony for some fresh air.

A woman named Sarah. She is new to us, but seems fun and funny and very chipper on our early morning port calls. 😉 And she seems to have been good about having plenty of activities planned, including on our unplanned additional sea day. We booked through Viator in Bar Harbor and Saint John; Tours By Locals in Halifax, Charlottetown and Sydney; and a local private company in Portland that I don't know the name of (it was supposed to be a surprise for me). Sadly, we had to cancel all after Halifax but, fortunately, got full refunds on all.

Docked I Sydney and, once again, we feel fortunate to be facing the water instead of the pier. Weather is very similar to yesterday: 55°F with sun and clouds and very little wind. Very comfortable, and the forecast is to reach the low 60s. Looking across the harbor today I see only one hint of color in one tree, but the view is nice over all. Another day in COVID lockdown.

I'm sorry, that's so subjective I'm not sure how to answer. All I can say is that I was never uncomfortable either way, including nights I wore only a shirt to dinner and others also wearing a sports coat or sweater. And it always felt comfortable to me during the day, neither overly warm or cold. Before I could ask they told me they did not have any Paxlovid on board. Gave me Tylenol, cough syrup, cough drops, a digital thermometer and pulse oximeter to monitor my stats. They call once a day to check on me, and I'm free to call medical if I have any issues. Symptoms are proceeding. Fever spiked last night, then calmed a bit. Today it seems to have moved from my head to my chest, but I think I feel a little better. Maybe. Just a very little bit here and there, but everyone has said once the change starts it will likely go quickly. Thanks Jim, I recall following your "COVID adventures", and feel like we are being taken care of very well by comparison. It's one reason we chose a suite for this trip: our "just in case" planning definitely paid off. And, yes, our waiter in Luminae was supposed to have left already but was extended through this sailing, which was fortunate for us because he was wonderful.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and well wishes. Still feeling pretty crummy after a fitful night, but feel fortunate my symptoms are nothing like those suffered by people I know who contracted COVID a couple years ago. One note regarding meals: we are able to order off the Luminae menu on the app and our Butler brings it to us. It was pretty quick for dinner last night. Oh, were docked in Charlottetown and, fortunately, our cabin faces the water instead of the pier. The skies are partly sunny with a nice fall crispness in the air. The Celebrity app says it's 55°F.

Well, I can now definitively answer one question. After 2 1/2 years of the pandemic and 4 prior cruises in the past year I just tested positive for Covid for the 1st time. 🫤 Fortunately, my husband is negative so far and has no symptoms. 🤞 I also feel fortunate that my symptoms are essentially like a nasty cold at this point. But so frustrating, as we tried to do everything right, including masking, but so few others take any precautions, it was probably inevitable on such a full ship with people indoors so much due to the weather. Now we quarantine for 5 days, which is the rest of the vacation, including our 25th anniversary. Hubby was given the option to move to another cabin, but chose to quarantine with me. There were a number of others in Medical who were also positive, and it was clear from conversations that there are several cases onboard. I can also say the medical staff was fantastic, informative and helpful, as was Guest Services who called to discuss logistics just a few minutes after we were escorted back to our cabin. We are fortunate to be able to order meals through our Suite Butler. Non-suite passengers can order through room service. That's about it for now and, due to these circumstances, will necessarily limit future posts. Stay safe everyone.

I agree. Very lame, and the balloon at the end .... 🙄

Yes, the ships' features are not identical by any means, but I do see some definite similarities, which does make some sense from a design and innovation cost perspective. They'll always "spin" things to emphasize purported "firsts".

We are currently on the Summit and I wanted to share some thoughts, as this is the first of this exact itinerary of the season. This will likely not be a true “live from” post, exactly, just some information, thoughts and observations I wanted to pass along. Embarkation in Boston was delayed and people backed up in the morning, which we were informed was due to the Coast Guard arriving very late for their mandatory inspection. We arrived exactly on time for our 11:00 boarding time and the entire terminal area was full, so much so that they simply stopped processing people and we just stood in the security line. They finally began boarding around 11:45 and, once the backlog of passengers was cleared, we heard it went pretty smoothly. We sailed away just a few minutes late, and had a picturesque transit through Boston Harbor, which we enjoyed from the Sunset Bar. We are in a Sky Suite, so some of this information will be geared toward the Retreat experience. The Retreat Concierge told us there are 2050 passengers on board for this sailing. We were also told that somewhere just under 30% of the staff is new between the last cruise and ours. They are also still operating short-staffed, but I don’t know exactly how short they are. Some passengers were complaining the first couple days that service was slow, and it may have been a little, what with training new staff. But, honestly, after that first day, we have felt the service has been very good. A couple notable busy spots are the Sunset Bar – especially for sail aways – and the Martini Bar before dinner, but we feel they do a pretty good job serving passengers, and the service seems to have improved each day. We have found both the food and service in Luminae to be wonderful, and the staff very friendly. Service times may be taking just a tad longer than they have in the past, but the timing does not seem extreme by any means, and the staff is always attentive – making sure we have water, bread and wine, etc., and are expediting dishes as quickly as they are able. We have enjoyed every meal, and not felt there were any undue delays. Our first port was Bar Harbor, and we had spectacular weather. The ship anchors so that there is actually an island between it and Bar Harbor proper. Tendering was easy and efficient. The transit only took about 15 minutes each way. On our return, in addition to using the ship’s tender boats, they were using large local tour boats to ferry passengers back to the ship. We did a wonderful private tour of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, which was spectacular! Afterward, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Stewman’s Lobster Pound just next to where the tenders dock. We originally assumed it would be very “touristy”, but our guide assured us it was the place the locals went, and the food and service were fantastic. The next day began incredibly foggy and we made a slow entrance to Saint John, New Brunswick. Docking was delayed just a bit. I would note that there was only 1 gangway to shore, and the lines were long so that it took us probably 20+ minutes just to walk off the ship. We heard some passengers complaining that there wasn’t really much to see, but we chose a very nice 2 hour walking tour of the old downtown area, and found it quite interesting. We again enjoyed lunch at a nice seafood place near the port called “Steamers”. Nothing fancy, but great service and decent food. To our surprise, this was our first Chic night (surprised, because they are often on sea days). The next day also began with a lot of fog as we sailed into Halifax, but it had begun to lift a bit by the time we docked at 11:00 a.m. Again, there was a bit of a delay getting tied up and getting the gangways attached (by the shoreside crew), but we ended up only being about 15 minutes late meeting out tour guide. We had another fantastic private tour of Halifax, including stops at the Titanic burying ground and Peggy’s Cove. The skies cleared and we had beautiful, sunny, warm weather the majority of the day. We were supposed to have one sea following Halifax but, unfortunately, the Captain announced that, due to a hurricane in our path, we would have 2 sea days and only 1 day in Charlottetown instead of 2, as planned. The first sea day we literally did not move, hovering in very pleasant weather just northeast of Halifax. Today is the second sea day, and we are sailing to our next port through gray and rainy weather with pretty high seas, although the ships stabilizers are doing a great job of minimizing the motion on board. We do not go to the theater, but have been enjoying the many musical acts onboard, which we think are wonderful, especially guitarist/singer Kyle. Finally, to answer a couple of perennial question: as to dress code: we have, indeed, seen shorts in the dining rooms at night, and a wide range of attire on chic night, from tuxes and gowns (the minority) to suits or just sports coats (for men) to simple trousers and Aloha shirts/sparkly tops (for women); and we are among perhaps 10% or fewer who are masking when indoors (and avoiding elevators). I have no information on any Covid positivity rates, but we have been told that positive passengers are permitted to quarantine in their own cabin, rather than being moved to a different isolation cabin. That’s it so far. I’ll add more as I’m able. Internet is definitely spotty, especially on a sea day with everyone online. We are very much enjoying ourselves. Hope some find this helpful.

It does seem to share a few features that are at least somewhat similar to the P&O Iona: the "inset" and "bump out" cabin layout on the sides of the ship; the "bump out" for in the center of the ship, including the atrium; the covered "conservatory" (though in a different location); the general openness and glass in the atrium; and the cabana balcony cabins. Hmm. Can't seem to get other pictures to load right now. Will try again later.

Oh yes, I'm actually not concerned about being at sea. Just hoping it doesn't rain the entire time when we're in ports. Just did another long-range weather check and forecasts have actually improved significantly in that department, so ... 🤞 Thanks for the info about customs in Portland. Does look like a bit of rigmarole, but will be nice to have it out of the way for disembarkation in Boston. How were the room service Eggs Benny? They look good? Oh, which reminds me, have they offered Lobster Benny on the cruise at all? It's one of my favorites. 🤤 Hope you have a great final day in Portland. Weather should be wonderful.

We're watching this very closely. 😬

I've read here on CC and in FaceBook cruise groups that passengers are still being quarantined on Celebrity and Princess if they are positive while on board. Some ships are apparently still setting aside "isolation cabins" on a specified deck (seems to be the case on S-Class and E-Class ships) while people on some M-Class ships are reporting that the positive passenger is allowed to stay in their cabin, while any non-positive cabin-mates are given the option of moving to another cabin. I board this Summit on Sunday and will report back about the protocol. I would certainly hope they will continue to quarantine passengers who test positive while on a cruise. It would not be wise or reasonable to permit Covid positive passengers to roam the ship or board public transportation - including planes - after disembarking to infect others.

Same here. We board the Summit this weekend with multiple stops in the Canadian Maritimes, and we're happy everyone has to test before boarding. It's not perfect, but it helps screen out some who could spread the virus. We're following a "live from" blog by a couple on a B3B on the Summit right now, and this is what they're reporting, as well. We're also happy to hear that, if we contract Covid while on board, at least we'll be able to stay in our Sky Suite and enjoy the balcony. And, yes, we will self-test/report and quarantine if we develop symptoms, as I would hope others would - but, unfortunately, I have been distressed to see many here on CC and in Facebook cruise groups say they will do anything they can to cover it up and will not "get stuck in their cabin" even if they are sick. 😬