Just back from Summit

[Hibiscus13]

Tell me more about what you did on shore.

 

St. Croix - we went to Cane Bay, hubs did a two tank dive, I sat on the beach. The water was a bit rough for snorkeling, dives were ok. We had lunch at Eat @ Cane Bay, good food. It was a super busy Sunday on the beach complete with a kid's birthday party.

 

St. Kitts - we toured with Rose of Rose & Jim's Taxi - private tour, we saw the island highlights, Brimstone Hill, Caribelle Batik, ended the day with a late lunch on Cockleshell beach. Great guide and service, would certainly recommend.

 

Dominica - Off the Beaten Trail with Woody - fantastic day although the weather was not very cooperative. Again private tour, snacks and drinks, toured the island and had a break on a secluded chocolate sand beach. This tour was certainly a highlight for us.

 

Grenada - we booked with Chris's Taxi tours - but did not go with Chris as he had two other couples also booked. We were disappointed with that, our driver was very slow (paid by the hour), but had good information. We saw the Nutmeg processor, small waterfall, chocolate plantation, but did not get to the beach because the pace was so painfully slow. We had asked for some afternoon beach time, and didn't even get to see the beach.

 

Tobago - we were booked with the Island Girl sailing catamaran, but unfortunately the weather was terrible, and the charter was cancelled. Sarah met us at the port, and we waited for about a half hour to decide if we should go or not. It poured rain, and it was cold, so the trip was called off. We hired a taxi for a couple of hours to tour the island and ended up at Pigeon Point. We had about an hour of sun before another downpour, one that completed drenched. Of all the islands though, this is one that we would go back to again.

 

San Juan - we did two days pre-cruise and three post. The segway tour was fantastic, great fun, and great guide. Also, we did a sailing trip out of Fajardo on the Erin Go Braugh - beautiful day, wonderful boat, crew and food. Great way to finish the trip.

[Hibiscus13]

Hello,

 

du you remember your cruise director+party band?

 

The cruise director was Keith Cox (I think?) from Tennessee, I believe. Um, party band - there was a Latin group who performed in the evenings at the pool I think - the one or two times I heard them perform I thought they were fantastic, but we preferred Charlie Butler or the String duo in the Cova Cafe....

[lrowen01]

Thanks for the info, we sail on Saturday! When you say that the waiters refilled your wine glass without asking, i am assuming it was a separate charge each time? Or did you pay for a bottle? My biggest fear is having a huge bar tab at the end of the week so I want to be aware of things like that.

Liz

[Hibiscus13]

Thanks for the info, we sail on Saturday! When you say that the waiters refilled your wine glass without asking, i am assuming it was a separate charge each time? Or did you pay for a bottle? My biggest fear is having a huge bar tab at the end of the week so I want to be aware of things like that.

Liz

 

We had the premium drink package, so no, there were no bar charges. As soon as the server saw that we had a drink package they just refilled our glasses. We did not experience any reduced service, complaints or otherwise, as some have mentioned with the drink packages. Nor did we have additional card swipes for extra tips (another thread was talking about that).

 

The servers would remember what kind of wine we liked and would ask as soon as we sat down if we wanted the same every time.

[bweppner]

We were on the same cruise on the Summit and dined at the Normandie on three nights. On the first night, one man attempted to enter the Normandie for dinner wearing shorts and a simple shirt. I was pleased to see that the restaruant staff informed the man that shorts were not appropriate attire for the Normandie and he was denied entry. My wife and I dressed up on both formal nights (Tuxedo and long gown) and semi-formal for the other nights in Normandie. We too were disappointed to see how people dress in the MDR.

 

We wish Celebrity would go back to the Formal, Semi-Formal, and Casual dress codes. There doesn't seem to be much if any dress code enforcement in the MDR.

My family and I were on the 11/27 S. Caribbean cruise of the Summit and enjoyed it in every way. I did bring my tux, but do see a problem with Celebrity enforcing dress codes. There was quite a large contingent from Puerto Rico aboard (to which I have no issue). However, many of those folks cruise due to low, last-minute, local cruise fares being offered to fill the ship. As long as Celebrity practices this tactic of extreme discounting, they will have issues enforcing or upholding a more stringent dress code. I see no issues with nice jeans on "smart casual" nights, but I am not a fan of bathrobes in the breakfast buffet lines... Perhaps they could issue a statement that robes are for use in your cabin. Please understand, this is in no way to be a bigoted statement, it's just a fact that many of these people are not frequent cruisers, particularly on Celebrity. That will cause issues in regards to dress codes and other "cruising traditions."

[Hibiscus13]

My family and I were on the 11/27 S. Caribbean cruise of the Summit and enjoyed it in every way. I did bring my tux, but do see a problem with Celebrity enforcing dress codes. There was quite a large contingent from Puerto Rico aboard (to which I have no issue). However, many of those folks cruise due to low, last-minute, local cruise fares being offered to fill the ship. As long as Celebrity practices this tactic of extreme discounting, they will have issues enforcing or upholding a more stringent dress code. I see no issues with nice jeans on "smart casual" nights, but I am not a fan of bathrobes in the breakfast buffet lines... Perhaps they could issue a statement that robes are for use in your cabin. Please understand, this is in no way to be a bigoted statement, it's just a fact that many of these people are not frequent cruisers, particularly on Celebrity. That will cause issues in regards to dress codes and other "cruising traditions."

 

The pax that we saw wearing bathrobes were definitely not Puerto Rican. We sat next to a guy in the Waterfall bar from about 5:30 to 6:30pm who couldn't be bothered to put on actual clothes...and made a big deal when he said he was going to go shower and change for dinner. I can only imagine what he changed into.

[C&F]

Tobago - we were booked with the Island Girl sailing catamaran, but unfortunately the weather was terrible, and the charter was cancelled. Sarah met us at the port, and we waited for about a half hour to decide if we should go or not. It poured rain, and it was cold, so the trip was called off. We hired a taxi for a couple of hours to tour the island and ended up at Pigeon Point. We had about an hour of sun before another downpour, one that completed drenched. Of all the islands though, this is one that we would go back to again.

 

San Juan - we did two days pre-cruise and three post. The segway tour was fantastic, great fun, and great guide. Also, we did a sailing trip out of Fajardo on the Erin Go Braugh - beautiful day, wonderful boat, crew and food. Great way to finish the trip.

 

How was it dealing with Island Girl? We have a large group for our cruise in April and we are hoping to do this. Did you book it as a charter with ONLY your group or was it with other unknown people on your sailing as well?

[Hibiscus13]

How was it dealing with Island Girl? We have a large group for our cruise in April and we are hoping to do this. Did you book it as a charter with ONLY your group or was it with other unknown people on your sailing as well?

 

Sarah at Island Girl was a complete pleasure to deal with. There were only two of us, so no, we did not charter the whole boat. But there were only 10 booked total that day so it would have been a small group. We were the only two from the cruise ship - so, the others had the option of re-booking later that week in hopes of better weather (I understand it rained for two days).

 

We did see the catamaran moored in Mt. Irvine Bay later that morning, it looked like a really nice cat and we were sorry to have missed out. I guess it's a good reason to go back to Tobago :)

[curiousgirl]

Hibiscus, do you think if I wore a nice top with linen Bermuda shorts and nice sandals I would be okay in the dmr on casual nights?