DAK76

Thank you for all your replies. I've wanted to see Bermuda for a long time. We don't dislike children...we have grandchildren....what we do mind is children who misbehave and their behavior is allowed by their parents. 200 children is a lot...will definitely be doing more research in the upcoming weeks.

I think I was the one who mentioned "almost 200 children", but if you're OK with kids in general, I don't think you would have minded the cruise we were on. Yes, we saw more kids than usual in the dining room and engaged in activities, but we saw few, if any, cases of "misbehavior".

If you want to see Bermuda, and you're OK with kids, please don't let my advisory stop you. Bermuda is a beautiful island, and the Summit has been great for us for four trips, so I don't see how you can go wrong.

We've sailed on the Summit four time (once to Bermuda), and the Solstice once (and also with Azamara, which I see in your cruise history).

We very much like the Summit, and may very well repeat an itinerary with her again some time. These days, she feels like a "smaller" ship, now that the S-class and mega-ships are more common, although not nearly as small as the Azamara ships. Since the "Solsticization", the dining options are good, between the MDR, Normandie, Qsine, and Blu (if you decide to go Aqua); we've also enjoyed Bistro on Five for a light dinner on occasion.

We've also enjoyed the service on the Summit; there's a friendliness and atmosphere that adds to the general enjoyment of the cruise. Entertainment options are usually pretty good, depending on your tastes and who happens to be on board; we've encountered some of our favorite entertainers on the Summit. The Summit is also large enough to host bigger productions in the theatre, if that's to your liking.

As for Bermuda, we went back for our first visit since our honeymoon 30+ years ago. Three days in Bermuda is probably enough. You will have those sea days (we had one extra because of Hurricane Irene); although we usually prefer a destination to a sea day, we were quite happy with the balance on our Bermuda trip.

Another nice aspect of the Bermuda cruise for us was that we could avoid air travel and drive from the Boston area to Bayonne for the trip, reducing cost and hassles (if you overlook the small matter of the hurricane...).

One caveat, if this matters to you: expect a lot more kids. Since the cruise leaves from Bayonne, it is naturally attractive to families from the New York/New Jersey area, who don't need to fly there. If I recall correctly, there were almost 200 children on our cruise. In a conversation with the Cruise Director, he told us that they had staffed up to handle the large numbers, and I have to say that, because of all the organized activities, it wasn't a big deal for us (my wife teaches first grade).

I'm not sure we'll do that cruise again soon, but only because we have other destinations higher on our list; we very much enjoyed the cruise.

[Our once-in-a-lifetime hurricane "hassle": our trip was extended a day because we were scheduled to arrive in New York the day Irene hit. We were worried about our car on the pier, but that worked out OK. We almost ran out of gas in Connecticut because much of the state was without electricity, but it all worked out.]

We recently booked a summer 2015 cruise.

 

When I tried to add it to my reservations, the date didn't come up.

 

Just curious, what is the sail date of the cancelled cruise?

Our original departure date was July 24th (which, if I'm remembering correctly, translated to a 7/26 sail date after the pre-cruise stay in Quito).

We have resolved this matter with Celebrity to our satisfaction, and are booked on another itinerary that summer that fits our date constraints.

Having done business with Celebrity for 13 years and eight great cruises, I suppose a little rough patch with the relationship was to be expected. In the end, I'm glad it happened on land, more than a year away from the cruise, and not at sea.

Celebrity promised to call back today; that call never came. I called this afternoon, spoke to a rep who found our file, put me on hold for 10 minutes or so, then asked if she could call back later. That call never came, either.

I could understand disruptions for weather or even mechanical problems, but in this case, Celebrity apparently decided to boot us and do business with someone else, and wants us to spend time and money to sort it out.

Disappointing, to say the least.

On a Summit cruise last February (2013), we booked a summer 2015 cruise to the Galapagos; with the advanced booking, we were able to choose an optimal cabin and secure good discounts. On returning home, we convinced friends to sign on to the same itinerary.

(For what it's worth, we're 8-time Celebrity cruisers, plus some RCCL and two Azamara cruises.)

Today, we received a call from Celebrity, informing us that the cruise had been "chartered out"; we were given the option of re-booking (with a promised credit) or canceling.

When we called the provided phone number, we were referred to another. When we called that number, we were put on hold for 15 minutes or more.

Our friends got through first, and were offered a chance to re-book another cruise around the same time (inconvenient), but the cabins we originally selected are no longer available, so we are looking at something like a $750 per person increase for the available cabins. We spent a whole evening on the phones, and we still have no satisfactory answer; it looks like we may end up with a serious compromise on the date to get anything like the fare we thought we had signed up for.

We've had a great relationship with Celebrity up until now; I'd hate to think it doesn't count for anything when adjustments need to be made.