Our amazing trip to Bermuda on the Summit: pictures, tips, guides, and opinions

Intro

We love to cruise. We are Valerie and Marc, 27/28 just back from our second cruise as a married couple ( I cruised as a child). We chose Bermuda because of the summer itinerary. I am a teacher and DH is a freelance classical musician so schedule is a top priority for us. Europe was not in the budget and Alaska doesn’t appeal to me as much as turquoise water and tropical breezes. We do plan on going, just not yet! While we reside in GA now, we graduated from schools in NYC and worked there for several years after, so we still have many friends to visit in the area. Otherwise, the Bayonne departure would have been an even bigger pain. We were lucky to get to crash with friends after we got off the boat. Talk about major depression otherwise! We sailed Celebrity for our honeymoon and loved the drink package promotion. We are open to trying other lines, but honestly, we haven’t found a better deal yet and the food and service would really be hard to beat. I researched for months prior to sailing. Thank goodness for Cruise Critic! I am writing this to share the many things we learned and to give back to the community that helped us have a fantastic time. I hope I can help you plan or relive a fantastic journey, or just fantasy vacation plan, as I so often do while reading reviews!

Saturday May 31st, 2014

The journey starts! 6:30 wake up and I thought for a moment I was late for work. Best feeling ever to realize that no, vacation has begun! Easy check in at Hartsfield-Jackson and we were on the way to Charlotte, NC to catch our second flight. A little time for lunch and then on to our second plane bound for Newark, NJ. This is the part that maybe took the most research, shockingly. While we could have stayed with friends the night before, factoring in transportation (we didn’t want to take the train with lots of luggage) from the airport and again to the port, it cost just a bit more to stay in a hotel close by. That being said, I THOUGHT I could find cheap transportation easily in Newark. WRONG! I was successful, but not without blood, sweat, and a few tears. I looked all around Newark and many hotels offered a “Stay and Cruise” package. This would be fine if we were driving and needed a place to park, but we didn’t find any hotel willing to deduct the parking charge built into a package like this. On top of that, none of these hotels offered free transport to the port. The average was a shuttle for $25 each. My goal was FREE! On the North East Departures forum, I happened upon someone who had stayed in Staten Island at the Hampton Inn. This proved perfect! The hotel provided FREE transport to and from the airport, FREE transport to the Staten Island Ferry (which gets you to Manhattan for free), and FREE that’s right FREE transportation to the port. Victory! And, the price was extremely reasonable and accommodations excellent. We paid $180 total for one night. This included a free breakfast. Next door is the sister hotel, The Hilton, which offers the same exact shuttle perks. Pictured below, our hotel. Below that, The Hilton.

Finding the hotel shuttle itself was a bit confusing as Newark’s AirTrain is currently out of commission due to construction. We did finally find the buses that took us to the hotel shuttles. ***MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHICH SHUTTLE TO TAKE. There are lots of hotels in the area and several duplicate hotels, for example, a Hampton Inn in Newark, and a Hampton Inn on Staten Island. Get explicit details on what the shuttle looks like and when it will be there. We almost got in the wrong van! Luckily I knew it was supposed to be a white van and we averted that disaster.

Once at the hotel we checked in and arrived at our more than adequate corner room. I provide pictures below so you can see how big the rooms are. They include a fridge and microwave as well. I also think the couch pulls out to a sleeper, so this would work for families with kids.

There is a restaurant next door at the Hilton, Lorenzos, that’s supposed to be excellent, however, we were in the mood for pizza. We ordered delivery from one of the recommended places in the book Hampton provided, J&B’s Pizza. It was a great recommendation! We totally underestimated the size of the “small” pizza though. Woah! That microwave came in handy for late night leftovers ;-) Don’t get the garlic knots though, they were too dry to eat. Otherwise, a delicious meal. We did go across the parking lot later to the Hilton for a drink in their very nice bar. There is also randomly a nightclub there. We didn’t feel up to that, but FYI, it’s attached to the hotel.

Next up, Bayonne Cape Liberty arrival, embarkation, first look at our “sweet sixteen”, and sail away with our CC buddies!

Looking forward to your review. We will be on the Summit on 8/31!

Thanks for posting....looking forward to reading more!

Looking forward to your cruise review!

Thanks for the report!

This is a great start. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Great job so far! I can't wait to see more since we leave for Bermuda in two weeks.

This is going to be a great read, I can tell. This is MY kind of review! Love the pictures and the details. I know it takes a lot of work, but I hope you keep going. We are leaving in 6 weeks so this will help me pass the time. Can't wait for the next installment.

We are doing this cruise in August. First time cruisers and looking forward to reading more about your trip.

We are doing this cruise in August. First time cruisers and looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Look forward to a great cruise and great memories!

Great "first chapter" cruise review! Thanks for the info and the pictures. Much appreciated. Looking forward to the next post.

I recognized your name from my Equinox Photo Trip and had to click and check out your Trip Report or should I say review. Looking forward to reading. Did you try the lobster? One other thing on other Summit reviews there was a lot of talk about the new "wire baskets" in the buffet how did you find them?

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Fantastic start! Loved your detail along with photos. Going on the Summit in October so will be curious to read your full review.

Walter

I recognized your name from my Equinox Photo Trip and had to click and check out your Trip Report or should I say review. Looking forward to reading. Did you try the lobster? One other thing on other Summit reviews there was a lot of talk about the new "wire baskets" in the buffet how did you find them?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Oh gosh, Kevin! Now that I know you're reading, I've really got to be good at this! Your review was just awesome. I found the wire baskets OK, kind of convenient in that you could simply grab and go, but they made the tray very awkward and multiple trips a necessity in most cases since the baskets were bulky. There were still self serve plates available sometimes, it would just depend. Most of the time the stuff was hot or at least warm. I never had anything inedible because of temperature.

I didn't have the lobster as the beef wellington was calling my name, but I did try DH's portion. It was very good and he agreed!

Sunday June 1st, 2014

We were up early to grab some breakfast. It was not wonderful, but it was fine. We had booked a shuttle to the port ahead of time with the hotel.

**Let me talk a bit about the shuttles that Hilton and Hampton offer. They are totally free (minus tips, of course), but they have to be booked well ahead of time as they fill quickly. I booked our room back in early March for a June 1 cruise. You have to call to get reservations for the shuttle, there is no way to do this online. There are three places it can take you, maybe more, but three for sure. 1. To and from Newark Airport 2. To and from Cape Liberty 3. To and from the Staten Island Ferry. You have to call the Hilton (just let them know you're a Hampton guest) in order to book any shuttle ride. When I booked, the schedule wasn’t made yet for the trip to the port, but I was able to go ahead and make our reservation from the airport. The cruise shuttle schedules are created a month out, but after being warned by the hotel staff about how quickly the shuttle fills, I called once every week or two weeks to make certain I wouldn’t lose our space. On May 3rd I was finally successful and we made a reservation for a 10am shuttle. I wanted to make sure to be early and take as much advantage of time on the ship as possible. The hotel stay included a return trip on the shuttle, but that didn’t help us as we were moving on to Manhattan. When you call, also book a shuttle time to and from the Staten Island Ferry. It gets you into Manhattan where you can hang out around the Battery Park area or take the train uptown from there. Or, you can just ride the ferry for fun :-) The shuttle fills up fast and you have to ask about the ferry shuttle. They don’t really advertise it.**

We checked out and made sure our bags were in order. TIPS ** make sure to have one carry on bag with bathing suits and dinner clothes, in case your bags don’t make it to you in time for dinner and take any seasick meds before boarding. I popped my Bonine just before check out and no issues that evening.** We boarded the shuttle with two other couples, both Summit-bound! It was great to meet people right away, and we ended up seeing a lot of Debbie and Mike (hi guys!) around the boat and really enjoying their company. Bob and Cindy were also a lovely couple but we didn’t end up running into them as much on the boat. Pictured below was the first glimpse of the port. It was what I expected sailing out of Bayonne. Folks, it's not Miami, but it’s still a great feeling to see the beautiful ship. :)

Check in itself was very fast, as we arrived around 10:15. The suite/aqua peeps are separated just past security for check in, but then everyone is together again waiting in the holding area. We were given a number which indicated our boarding group. At least we finally figured out what the number was, we weren’t told! We grabbed a seat and waited patiently. 11am came and went and still no sign of boarding starting. Finally around 11:45 someone started speaking to the now very very large crowd on a bullhorn. It was nowhere near loud enough to be heard. We were towards the middle of the room and so no chance for the people in the back. Also, forgive me, but we seemed to be among the youngest in the room and many were looking to us to help relay the bullhorn speaker’s message. Luckily my husband could hear because I couldn’t! Someone official did come around every so often to repeat the instruction, but it wasn’t sufficient. I would hate to think what would happen if an emergency evacuation were needed, yikes! They need to get a better system figured out. A simple rolling speaker and one mic would have done the job. Group 26, our group, was called just after 12pm. We boarded a large bus to take us about 100 yards and then we were in line to board! Once we scanned our sea passes, we were offered champagne/mimosas. Ahhhhhhhh.

Proof it’s still offered:

We navigated around the very long elevator line and took the stairs to the fifth floor. We made stops along the way to take pictures of the near-empty ship.

The lobby is very nice, but don’t expect the mind-numbing height and wow-factor of the Reflection. I was expecting this and so it was fine. I think the Summit has a very elegant and sophisticated design. Just don’t expect the very modern look the S-class ships have. **Nothing against the M-Class. There are things that are much better that I’ll get to later ;-) **

So much of our contentment level is simply expectation vs reality. I am trying to provide our view of our very subjective reality for this one week, June 1-8. I am a very upbeat person and go with the flow, that being said, I knew the M-class ships would be different from the S-class so, armed with that expectation, I was not at all disappointed. Reading the X boards for the last year got me thinking a lot about expectations, and that's why I say all of this ;)

Embarkation day continued

Thanks to CC, I knew to avoid the buffet chaos by dining at Bistro on 5. We loved it! Service was slow for drinks, but we weren’t in a hurry. I will only include the very blurry pic of the menu below because I’ve seen it requested several times since our return. WARNING: if you're prone to seasickness or vertigo, you may need to pop a bonine before seeing this terribly blurry pic!! :o I would blame it on the motion of the boat, but we weren't moving yet! It is a NEW menu for Bistro. They have added entrees and appetizers. This was our first time eating there, so I don’t have a comparison. Again, sorry for the blurry pic!

I started with the Goat Cheese and Onion Tart (pictured). YUM!! I then had the Indian Summer crepe (pictured) and DH had the ever popular Cowboy. His was better but mine was definitely lighter which is good because I saved room for dessert! I had the French crepe with grand marnier and candied orange (pictured). Excellent.

The first look at our room

While we were finishing up, the announcement came on that staterooms were ready. It was also mentioned at that time that our boarding process had been delayed due to a coast guard inspection. From what I’ve read, the pax on the sailing right before ours received an email to come late to the port due to a coast guard inspection, however, it ended up not happening. We never received any communication about the inspection, but it was really no biggie. Before heading to check out the room, I stopped by one of my favorite spots, Cafe al Bacio for a delicious speciality coffee. This may be a good time to mention that I upgraded my classic package to a premium while DH stayed on classic. It worked out great for the most part. More on that later. So we headed up to deck six to find room 6028. We were eagerly anticipating seeing this room since all we had to compare it to was our ocean view on the Reflection. I did a lot of research to get this room, a “sweet sixteen”, named because of the eight rooms on each side with DOUBLE size balconies for the price of a 2C balcony. Sweet indeed! This is nomenclature your typical travel agent and celebrity rep will not know about, or at least pretend not to know about so you will have to ask directly for the stateroom numbers. These cabins are only on M-Class vessels, FYI. They are 6016-6030 SB side and 6021-6035 port side. We came to our room and our door was ajar. Now, keep in mind it was already a good half hour since the announcement was made that rooms were ready, so we were a bit perplexed. We peeked in and saw/heard nobody. At first we were kind of nervous it wasn’t our room, but months of planning had that number engraved in my brain cells! And, it was on our sea pass holder, after double checking! The room was small in comparison to our room on the Reflection, or at least it seems it was. You can be the judge as I've posted pics of both below.

Here is 6028 on Summit, viewed from the balcony

6028 again

6028 Bathroom. No glass shower door, but bigger shower I think.

Now, here is our room, 3111 OV from the Reflection.

And from the other side. Note the full couch as opposed to the oversize chair thingy on the Summit.

The balcony though, wow, made up for the small room (or perceived smallness) easily!

We noticed we did not have a second deck chair and that our trashcans were without liners. Looking back, I think that the awesome staff (best we’ve had) were not finished yet with our room and that’s why the door was ajar when we first went in. We did mention the deck chair when we met our cabin attendant, Suneil. We headed up to the pool area to get some pics of the NYC skyline and explore a bit. I relaxed and got some sun while DH made use of the pool bar. Back downstairs we attended the muster drill in the big theatre and it didn’t take too long. We were back upstairs donning our mardi gras beads for our CC sail away party soon.

A beautiful Sail Away from the Sunset Bar

An announcement that sail away was delayed until 4:30 (it was more like 5:30) came on, but we still headed to the Sunset Bar to get a good place to see the sail away. We met some really fantastic CC people! Hi to everyone and especially Beth and her sweet husband whose name I am shamefully forgetting right now! :o **M-Class Advantage: I would like to take a moment to say how nice it is to be on a smaller boat. One of the things we really enjoyed about the Summit was running into familiar faces. This never happened on the Reflection!** The Five O’clock Somewhere duet was playing and it was quite nice. They have great voices and I enjoyed their selection of songs. Sail away was beautiful and a highlight was sailing under the Verrazano bridge.

During part of the sail away I was on the phone with my dad, as he was watching us sail away on the port webcam. He was never able to pick us out. **Tip, if some poor land-bound soul is looking for you on a boat, bring a small pocket mirror to make their job easier!** I wish I had!

Embarkation Day Continued: Our experience with Select Dining

Sushi was being served in the Oceanview at that time, so we grabbed a snack and continued to watch the shore get smaller and smaller. We loved the windows on the floor of the Oceanview that looked down on the water.

Still wearing the beads!

When we went back to the room before dinner, still no deck chair, so we called to remind the staff we needed one. I also got some time to unpack. While I was doing so, a wonderful surprise came floating under our door - a $100 OBC from our TA. What an amazing surprise!

Dinner the first evening was a bit of a surprise as well, but not a great one! We chose select dining, a first time thing for us. I had done a lot of research and based on this, expected no more than a 10-15 minute wait without reservations. That’s why when we walked over the the 5th floor entrance to the MDR, we were shocked to see a line all the way back to the end of the bar in Cellar Masters for people without reservations. There must have been 15-20 parties ahead of us. Based on the reactions from those around us, this wasn’t a typical occurrence. While annoying, I think it would have been much less annoying if someone from Celebrity served complimentary beverages or handed out vouchers to the people in line. There were some pretty upset folks. It certainly didn’t ruin our trip, but it’s not what I expected. I didn’t choose select dining to have to make reservations in order to avoid an hour wait, which is what it ended up being. We were given a buzzer when we reached the front of the line (30-40 min) and then once we had a buzzer it was all good because we could sit and get a drink. The 20 minutes it took for the buzzer to go off didn’t seem that long when sitting comfortably. This was a theme all week, although I never saw the line that long again. We did make some reservations, but chose mostly to wing it. The typical wait without reservations from start to finish was around 20 minutes for us, a party of 2. Larger parties doing select should definitely make reservations or face much longer wait times, although this is just an assumption. Once seated, we were treated to the exceptional service for which Celebrity is known. We loved the layout of the Cosmopolitan dining room, especially being able to sit on the upper level because we were select. I had the Shrimp Louie (OK), Cumin Carrot Salad (pretty good), and the Jerk spiced chicken (great). Dessert for me was guava sorbet (excellent). DH had escargot (good but heavy garlic), wild mushroom soup (great), prime rib (excellent), and creme brulee (excellent). After dinner we hit the casino and I enjoyed some Bahama Mammas! When we returned back to the room we had a completely finished room - trashcan liners and most importantly, a second deck chair! Way to go Suniel and Lancy (sorry for bad spelling!)! They really were a stellar team.

Coming up later, room service, big waves, cabin crawl, and life around the ship.

I can tell that I am really going to enjoy your review! My husband and I will be sailing July 13th on the Summit in a sweet 16 room (6024). This cruise is to celebrate my 30th birthday. I am anxiously awaiting the rest of your picture report! It has been a great start!

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Never having had a sweet 16 cabin, I have a question:

Did you experience movement due to rough seas?

We had a few very rough nights on our last TA on Infinity. We were at the stern, in a FV cabin.

I was told that movement was worse in bows, where I believe the sweet 16s are located, as the weight of the engine keeps the stern more stable.

I really wished I had kept our original mid- ships cabin.:eek:

Great review! It's nice to see a photo review of the Summit in Bermuda. We loved our trip on Millenium and the t pool was our favorite!

We were shocked at how poorly Select Dining was handled on Silhouette. Especially contrasted to our cruise before that on Royal Caribbean (who handled it beautifully, no lines, no waits). Celebrity needs to get their act together in Select Dining!

Looking forward to the rest, thank you for taking the time to do the review!

Awesome review so far - I've been taking notes for our trip in August. We have a Corner FV (I'm so excited to relax on a balcony that will fit my family of 5 comfortably)!!

Amazing review Viva_la_Vida! I was on this sailing too so it is fun to see the trip through your perspective as we were probably doing the opposite of each other......Sweet 16 vs OV, MDR vs buffet, premium drink package vs no drink package. :)

Loving your writing style and upbeat attitude. Really looking forward to more of your review and thank you for all the effort you are taking in posting - we know it's a lot of work.

Embarkation Day Continued: Our experience with Select Dining

Dinner the first evening was a bit of a surprise as well, but not a great one! We chose select dining, a first time thing for us. I had done a lot of research and based on this, expected no more than a 10-15 minute wait without reservations. That’s why when we walked over the the 5th floor entrance to the MDR, we were shocked to see a line all the way back to the end of the bar in Cellar Masters for people without reservations. There must have been 15-20 parties ahead of us. Based on the reactions from those around us, this wasn’t a typical occurrence. While annoying, I think it would have been much less annoying if someone from Celebrity served complimentary beverages or handed out vouchers to the people in line. There were some pretty upset folks. It certainly didn’t ruin our trip, but it’s not what I expected. I didn’t choose select dining to have to make reservations in order to avoid an hour wait, which is what it ended up being. We were given a buzzer when we reached the front of the line (30-40 min) and then once we had a buzzer it was all good because we could sit and get a drink. The 20 minutes it took for the buzzer to go off didn’t seem that long when sitting comfortably. This was a theme all week, although I never saw the line that long again. We did make some reservations, but chose mostly to wing it. The typical wait without reservations from start to finish was around 20 minutes for us, a party of 2. Larger parties doing select should definitely make reservations or face much longer wait times, although this is just an assumption.

We have found that Select Dining is chaotic on the first night (and Formal nights too). To avoid that hassle altogether, we book a specialty restaurant on those nights. The other evenings don't seem to be a problem.