Celebrity Summit 05 20 18 Trip Report

Hi everyone, I will be posting a review later but here follows a quick report on the ship and her facilities.

Summary:

A great first time trip to Bermuda (we will be back) on an older but well maintained ship. It was a much more relaxed trip then a typical Caribbean cruise since we only had one port. No rushing. A ship and itinerary geared towards couples; from my perspective not a great choice for families.

We typically go for an Aqua cabin but splurged for a suite this time.

Excellent food in Luminae. Decent offerings in the buffet. Our one specialty dining experience (see below) was an utter disaster.

The ship is approaching 20 years in age but looks very good. I found it clean and well looked after. Some of the furniture is beyond its best by date, especially in the buffet area. Iget the impression they are trying to make it last until they get to the edgification dry dock in February. That said, it’s like the old leather sofa I have: a little worn but very comfortable.

The crew was fantastic. All smiles and always willing to help out.

Embarkation:

We drove to the port. With three cruise ships now home porting out of Bayonne, we found ourselves parking outdoors instead of in the garage. I suspect if this situation continues we’ll see a premium covered parking option along with a basic surface parking option. Never fear – the outdoor parking adds only a 100 yard walk to the terminal entrance!

Security was very fast – we were through the detectors in about two minutes. Check in was a little slower. Celebrity, unlike RCCL, still takes a picture at check in and issues your sea pass at that time. While slower I prefer getting the card immediately (see my RCCL Anthem of the Seas reviews for the issues we had with missing sea pass cards!).

As we were celebrating an anniversary we had a suite. This gets you a separate check in (didn’t seem to save any time) and an escort up toMichael’s club with lunch in Luminae.

The Cabin:

We were booked into a Celebrity suite. It has a quirky layout with the bathroom adjoining the separate bedroom and a combination dining room / living room. After staying in the room I think it would have been better to have the bathroom connected directly to the main area.

We had a substantial HVAC issue the first night of the cruise. The HVAC compressor was starting to breakdown, resulting in a large thumping sound. Compounding this, the bed in the Celebrity Suite is situated against the corridor wall where the HVAC is located.

We raised the issue with the Suite manager. Unfortunately, there was no available space (the ship was full) but, once we got to Bermuda, another suite opened up and we were promptly moved to the new location.

The suite manager and team were great about it, doing everything possible to try and resolve the problem and were able to provide a solution to us.

Dining

Luminae

Luminae was delightful, with great dining options every night and also able to provide a vegetarian option for my DW. The service was outstanding and the meals were always well prepared. We typically skip breakfast but found ourselves getting up most days to get breakfast as it was very well done.

Waitstaffquickly got to know your preferences and drinks were typically set down as youarrived.

If you can afford a suite – go for it for Luminae alone!

Buffet:

We ended up in the buffet on port days usually to grab a late lunch or snack after a day inBermuda. The buffet is smaller than on the larger ships and lacks some of the variety we’ve expected. However, there is a grill at one end of the buffet that will prepare to order steak, fish, chicken, and pork along with fresh made paninis – excellent.

Food was generally good and if you avoided peak lunch hour you didn’t have an issue getting a table.

Specialty Dining – Tuscan Grille:

Awful. Simply awful. We’ve eaten at Tuscan Grille on all of our Celebrity cruises over the past few years and we’ve found the dining to be fantastic. Until this cruise. I asked if they could prepare a steak ‘black and blue’ (also called Pittsburgh style, I believe) to which the waiter responded ‘absolutely.’

What I received was a burnt steak (note: not fully burnt; rather, spotted burnt) with a taste of burnt pan. Not sure how I can describe it other than a burnt metallic taste. So, I get the waiter over, explain the issues, and ask for a rare ribeye (not black and blue). No problem, he grabs my plate along with all of my cutlery and rushes away. So, I’m now sitting with a bunch of sides, no main, no cutlery, watching my table mates enjoy their meals!

About 10 minutes later, when everyone is finishing up their mains, a new steak is provided along with cutlery. Unfortunately, I received a thin minute steak (at least, it looked just like the steaks you can get in the buffet grill area) doused in some sort of salty sauce. Not a good steak at all. At this point I gave up, still dealing with the metallic burnt pan taste in my mouth, and waited for my table mates to finish up their dessert (yes, they were on dessert) before heading up to the buffet to have something to eat. I raised my issues and concerns both with the suite manager and on the post cruise survey. I hope that they will do something to improve the poor quality of the food and the service or that this was a one off experience.

Entertainment:

We didn’t expect much on this front. I’ve found that this has never been Celebrity’s strong suite. We did attend a couple of the production shows offered (can’t remember the names) and while it was a typical mashup of songs for a change the cast had very strong voices. The special entertainers were quite good – excellent singers and comedians. I really wish Celebrity would have a magician. I’ve never had a magician on celebrity unlike other cruise lines.

Debarkation:

Being in a suite we were able to exit the ship with our luggage almost immediately after the ship was cleared.

While the debarkation was fast (great) the port area left a lot to be desired. The ship arrived in a downpour and the outdoor parking lot had drainage issues. The entire space was a small lake that we had no choice but to slog through. I hope that they correct this at some point.

Hi A,

Sorry to hear about the bad parts.

Happy about the good parts.

Ira

Thanks for the review.

Where was your original suite (with the HVAC noise problem) located? When you moved, apparently you no longer had the issue. Was was your new suite located? Just concerned about the location vis a vis our reserved stateroom.

Also, by any chance do you have copies of the dailies?

Nice review. Didn’t try the specialty restaurants on our 2016 Summit to Bermuda. Found your analysis of the passenger make up spot on. We loved the whole trip even though we left Bermuda early to out run a tropical storm. Thanks for sharing.[emoji4]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for the review.

 

Where was your original suite (with the HVAC noise problem) located? When you moved, apparently you no longer had the issue. Was was your new suite located? Just concerned about the location vis a vis our reserved stateroom.

 

 

Also, by any chance do you have copies of the dailies?

Hi, we were in 7140 and were moved to another Suite. I won’t book a Celebrity Suite again — the bed is located against the interior wall (the only time we’ve had a configuration like this) so your head is right up against the wall where the HVAC is. It’s okay if the HVAC is working fine but if its acting up you will have noise. We passed by the suite a few times after we moved and they had been working on replacing most of the HVAC innards.

Unfortunately no dailies.

For what it’s worth, the crew was fantastic and very responsive to our concerns. They did the utmost that they could do and we were very appreciative for everything. Would definitely do Summit to Bermuda (or anywhere else) again.

Unfortunately, the issue with the Tuscan Grill was not confined to your cruise. Something is off there. We were on the week prior and found similar issues with the steak. Ordered medium and it was raw on the inside. Everything arrived "at once" which was fine - sides were nice. I was full from the pasta tasting so it wasn't a big deal, but definitely did not meet the standards from the year prior (where we so enjoyed our first meal there that we went back for another two nights later). On the other hand, we LOVED Quisine and hadn't visited the year before, so it more than made up for the basically uncooked steak.

The crew is so warm and responsive on the Summit. Like the OP, we'd sail her anywhere.

We were on the May 20 cruise also. QSine was outstanding. Food and service were both great. Tuscan Grill was hit or miss. Server and sommelier were super. Dinner - not so much. There were six in our party and two received poorly cooked pasta. One was so raw it was crunchy. The other was so over cooked it was mush. It is time for the ship's executive chef to inspect the Tuscan Grill's kitchen standards.

Specialty Dining – Tuscan Grille:

 

Awful. Simply awful.

We have dined twice here on Summit and I did not like my meal either time so we stopped going. I asked for my steak medium well and it came out rare, they took it back. I asked they just cook that piece longer - no - they brought me another new filet and it too was medium rare. Thanks but I can eat for free in the MDR and get better food and service.

 

Debarkation:

The ship arrived in a downpour and the outdoor parking lot had drainage issues. The entire space was a small lake that we had no choice but to slog through. I hope that they correct this at some point.

We sailed the week before you. It rained almost the entire week we were away in NJ. That lot has always had bad drainage issues and we too arrived to small ponds and lakes. It's is ridiculous to have to pay $20 a day to park in such a terrible spot. I noted it on my post cruise survey and also wrote a letter to Celebrity about how this situation is anything but "Modern Luxury."

We were on the May 20 cruise also. QSine was outstanding. Food and service were both great. Tuscan Grill was hit or miss. Server and sommelier were super. Dinner - not so much. There were six in our party and two received poorly cooked pasta. One was so raw it was crunchy. The other was so over cooked it was mush. It is time for the ship's executive chef to inspect the Tuscan Grill's kitchen standards.

What I am beginning to believe is that the food on the Summit is really hit or miss in every venue. Our meals in the MDR were almost always mis-cooked or bland even when the sauce was advertised as curry. How can curry be tasteless, especially when the chef is Indian? How could he allow that?

On Friday I tried two different fish dishes at lunch in the Ocean View. After several bites, I put down my fork and told my wife "I can't eat this". I went to the spa and chose several items which looked tempting but had no flavor. I don't understand how professional cooks do not have the skills or desire to season food properly. But the day before in the OC I had a perfectly prepared piece of calf's liver. Go figure.

On the last night we ate in Tuscan Grille and the meal was wonderful, a far cry from what has been described by others. Did they rotate the staff? Did we luck out and get the first team while others got the third? Eating on the Summit is a crap shoot and, unfortunately, some of the meals are just that-crap.

I should have mentioned previously, all our meals in the MDR were top notch, as was the service. No complaints there at all.