Thanksgiving 2010 on Summit

[PAGA]

I will be away from my computer for a few days, so I wanted to share some quick insights from our Nov 20-27 Summit cruise.

 

Background: married couple in mid-30's traveling with group of 15 family members. Group included 3 tweens/teens and a 1 year old. This was cruise 25 for me; number 6 on Celebrity. Most recently cruised Sep 2010 on RCCL Freedom and Jan 2010 on Celebrity Century.

 

To address the often discussed condition of Summit: Is she in bad shape - no. Is she in as good of condition as some other ships I've been on that were nearing a major drydock - no. Probably the most noticable wear & tear is on the pool deck (rust), but there is nothing "bad" about the ship. I think the '90s decor actually gives the impression that the ship is older/in worse condition than she is. Just getting rid of the pastels in the Waterfall cafe would make the place look new!

 

At least over the holiday, this ship was not ideal for English-speaking teens. Yes, we've left from Puerto Rico previously, but this was our first time with the kids. The tweens/teens in our group gave it 3 tries on different days and times, and found that most of the kids were unwilling to speak English. My son did make Puerto Rican friends outside the teen club, and they participated in the regular guest activities throughout the ship (trivia, baggo, putting tournament). I will say, however, that some of the activities staff tried to deter the teens from participating in the activities listed for all passengers claiming that they were really intended for adults...the crusie director (Keith), however, not only knew my son's name by the end of the week, but also encouraged him to attend the events. It was one of the few complaints I made on my comment card...just that the activities staff needed to be on the same page, be equally enthusiastic if 5 or 50 people show up for an event, and clearly state on the activity sheet if something is intended to be adult only.

 

We really enjoyed the pool/party band - they were well-utilized throughout the ship. I also liked that they did everything from Bob Marley/traditional cruise music to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Charlie - the guitarist primarly on the back deck behind Waterfall Cafe - is also really good. We had the chance to chat with him for a while after one of his sets...a really nice guy, too.

 

Most of our group had drink packages. One bartender blatantly told us he hates it. He said not only are they losing the $1 and $2 cash tips, but some of the bartenders hold the cards and swipe them every 10 minutes just to get extra gratuity credited to them...and on our final statement printout we could verify this was true (times & bars clearly noted...3 swipes at 10 minute intervals when we know we only had 1 drink). Another bartender told members of our group that the packages are only a trial and the trial will end in January. ANother bartender told us that RCCL had intended to participate in the trial too, but the bartenders on RCCL raised such a fuss that RCCL didn't go forward with it. Who knows how much of this is crew rumor or true, but we definitely did not receive enthusiastic bar service throughout the week with the exception of 2 who we tipped $10-15 on day 2. In the MDR, our glass never went empty, but the sommelier pushed the 2 "recommended" wines by the glass that were listed on the menu each day. The sommeliers (in my opinion) got the worst end of the deal...they are running around the dining room like mad men. A negative of the package was that you had to wait 10 minutes between drink orders...for example, if you wanted a bottle of water with your cocktail you had to order them in 10 minute intervals. Some bartenders who got to know us (and who we tipped cash) would serve them together...others were very vocal that they "couldn't"..."company policy."

 

We have Elite Captain's Club benefits due to our Diamond status with RCCL. With the drink packages the Michael's Club daily 4-6pm event was very under-utilized. Korina, the Captain's Club hostess (who went home for vaca at the end of our cruise - replaced by Donna just off Constellation) strictly enforced the dress code of no shorts, tshirts, etc. This was not done on our Jan Century cruise, but Korina said it is a directive from corporate and should be enforced on every ship. Korina was lovely...we enjoyed talking to her about life at sea and Celebrity in general. She was gracious enough to invite us to dine with the Staff Captain on the last formal night, and that was a lovely evening. Unfortunately, since the itinerary has only 1 sea day, most of the Elite events are crammed into that 1 day. Elite Bridge tour, Elite wine tasting, Captain's Club celebration, and Elite tea are all on the one sea day...as well as the all-passenger brunch in the MDR.

 

Normandie was lovely. We had a very nice dinner for 8, with excellent service. They were very patient with us and our drink packages, but there is very little selection (I think 2 whites & 2 reds) that fall within the premium package limit of $12. And they do a lovely champagne presentation at the start of the meal, but none of them are within the package limits.

 

Overall we found the dining room food to be very good (and we're foodies), and the Waterfall food to be pretty bad. We ate a lot of pizza up there as a result. I had the pasta bar one day and the sauces were all watery and there was a piece of toothpick mixed in with my pasta. Almost every potato I ate throughout the ship was under cooked. Many of the breakfast dishes tasted like they had been sitting around for hours (we stuck with the poached egg station...that was good if you have time to wait in the line). The pool snack bar was disorganized...I was only in the line once, but they messed up quite a few orders...I even saw one person come back from the condiment station ans point out that they had put they mushrooms and onions on her bun, but failed to include a burger! The early evening sushi bar in Waterfall was nice. One major complaint about Waterfall at breakfst is that there are table tents advertising smoothies and lattes...but when we ordered them the first 2 days the staff looked at us like we were crazy and tried to talk us out of them because they would take soooooo long to get. Seriously - either dedicate staff to this or get rid of the table tents! I never expected a latte in the buffet restaurant until they put the table tents up!

 

Overall a good cruise. We were pleased to see 3 crew from our Jan trip on Century including the Cellar Master, another sommelier and Jason Cruz in specialty dining. Our 6 first time cruisers in our group thought everything was amazing. No complaints at all. Those of us with more experience are of course more critical and more prone to make comparisons. So here's my comparison...this was my least favorite of the 6 Celebrity cruises I have been on, but I would sail the Summit every week of every year rather than go back to RCCL (which, inevitably we will do eventually because we still have a free cruise to spend from our RCCL Visa card...and we'll also have to cater to other family member's preferences on some trips).

 

Ask away on the questions...but it will be early next week until I can reply.

[portofrome]

Thank you for your review.

[TeaBag]

Great review. I felt like I was back on Summit. We loved Korina too and thought she was very personable. she often chatted with us in Michaels Club. We hope she likes the Century and maybe we'll see her on there since it is sailing out of Vancouver next year.

[reklawr]

Thanks for your review. It was interesting to read the comments you had regarding the beverage packages and the bartenders reactions.

[librarylady19]

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to post. Glad you had an overall good experience. I personally am not concerned about buffet/mast cafe food as will not eat there anyway, preferring breakfast by room service and Aqua Spa for the few lunches on board. Glad to hear you enjoyed Normandie and MDR food. I am glad I am paying by the drink onboard as would not get our money's worth out of packages on such a port intensive itinerary and would not like the hassle you dealt with. I would be interested to know what other Celebrity ships you sailed if this is considered your least favorite.

[Island_Chica]

Thank you for this review. We are doing this itinerary in February, and chose it more for the ports than the ship. Our only prior cruise in on RCI's Mariner of the Seas in 2005 (and it was an inside cabin), so our balcony cabin on Summit should be a step up for sure! I'd be curious to hear what you did in port and what you'd recommend.

[librarylady19]

Check out the fantastic review with photos posted recently by Deladane.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314598

It will certainly give you a great idea of the shipboard and port experiences on Summit.

[unfdoug]

Great review! I thought the same thing with the Captain's Club happy hour from 4-6. The ship was full and the only people that were in the Sky lounge were the folks around the bar (maybe 20).

 

I sure as heck was taking advantage of it.

[Tatka]

My friend in her 40-ies with DH and son were on the same sailing. I highly recommended this ship. Her first cruise was a year ago on Costa Atlantica... and surprisingly she was underwelmed by Summit. As I understand part of it was due to PAX, on Costa there were many Europeans, nice dresses etc, different atmosphere.

[deladane]

Check out the fantastic review with photos posted recently by Deladane.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1314598

It will certainly give you a great idea of the shipboard and port experiences on Summit.

 

 

HAHA thanks for posting that! I was about to go open the thread so I could repost the link when I saw you had done it already ;)

[PAGA]

Great review. I felt like I was back on Summit. We loved Korina too and thought she was very personable. she often chatted with us in Michaels Club. We hope she likes the Century and maybe we'll see her on there since it is sailing out of Vancouver next year.

 

Actually, she found out during our sailing that she will be returning to Summit...I think she said mid-january.

[PAGA]

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to post. Glad you had an overall good experience. I personally am not concerned about buffet/mast cafe food as will not eat there anyway, preferring breakfast by room service and Aqua Spa for the few lunches on board. Glad to hear you enjoyed Normandie and MDR food. I am glad I am paying by the drink onboard as would not get our money's worth out of packages on such a port intensive itinerary and would not like the hassle you dealt with. I would be interested to know what other Celebrity ships you sailed if this is considered your least favorite.

 

3 times on Century

1 time on Mercury

1 time on Galaxy

1 time (current cruise review) on Summit

[PAGA]

Thank you for this review. We are doing this itinerary in February, and chose it more for the ports than the ship. Our only prior cruise in on RCI's Mariner of the Seas in 2005 (and it was an inside cabin), so our balcony cabin on Summit should be a step up for sure! I'd be curious to hear what you did in port and what you'd recommend.

 

In St. Maarten it was a rainy day. We had lunch at Antoine's along the "boardwalk" and then did some light shopping in town. Service was poor at Antoine's, but lunch was good. Most of us had the Lobster Caesar salad. And, of course, we drank an obligatory Guavaberry Colada.

 

The day started as rainy in Antigua, too. So we had conch fritters and local beers on the balcony at Hemingway's, and when the sky cleared we went to Valley Church Beach. Some of our group got persuaded by a taxi driver to go to Jolly Beach instead...claimed more shelter if it started to rain again. We had a great afternoon at Valley Church Beach and the restaurant and bathroom facilities there were quite decent.

 

In St. Lucia we did our only ship excursion - the Rainforest Aerial tram tour...it was ok...not really worth the $100+ per person. Our van driver said absolutely nothing for the 30 minutes to/from the ship. The rainforest may have been more scenic (more flowers???) prior to Hurricane Tomas going through in late Oct. It was pretty much just green foliage and some evidence of mudslides. It was an amazing overview of St. Lucia on the way back down. Some of our group also did the ziplining available at the same location. They had fun, but said it wasn't a very challeging/exciting course compared to others they'd been on...so it may be perfect for first-time zipliners...Others in our group did an independent taxi tour, and were told that the volcano was not currently safe to access due to road conditions/continuing potential for mudslides in the area. Not sure if that has stabilized yet.

 

We stayed onboard in St. Thomas and Barbados...but others in our group traveled to St. John and went to Hawksnest Beach and really enjoyed it (FYI - no amenities there). In Barbados, someone in our group did a surfing lesson (independent of the ship tours) that they saw recommended on TripAdvisor. I don't have the details, but they enjoyed the experience.