Summit Bermuda Review May 8th - 15th

[sarahc78]

Summit Review May 8th – 15th

This was our second sailing on the Summit to Bermuda. We had such an exceptional time last year that we decided to book again this time bringing 4 of our children & my parents. They are diamond on RCL and this was their first trip on Celebrity. I had to BEG them to come on this cruise. After their last RCL cruise in January my father had sworn off crusiing. He said “if this is what cruising has become I will have to figure a new way to vacation”

 

Our family drove from Maryland to New Jersey May 7th staying the night at the Embassy Suites Secaucus hotel. We were quite disappointed in this hotel. When we travel we almost always stay w/ Embassy Suites and this particular hotel was probably the worst we had stayed at. The hotel wasn’t very clean (empty glasses from patrons the night before, trash, etc… littered the hallways) after the nearly 6 hour drive because of all the traffic the first thing the kids wanted to do was jump in the pool. However when we walked into the pool area there was 30 kids that’s right 30 kids in the pool and roughly 8 in the jaquizi. You could barely see the water there was so many kids in there not only that imagine the noise level w/ 30 kids screaming. It was awful. We went to the front desk to let them know the situation in the pool area and they just seemed to shrug it off. So we just skipped the pool.

 

The next morning after a quick 15 minute drive we arrived in Bayonne. We dropped off our luggage then continued to long term parking. We were CC the line was short and check in was practically pain free, other than them not having keys/on board cards for my room(but after boarding we received those from the pursers desk)

 

Ahhhh it felt so great to be back on board the Summit! Our kids were so excited and marveled at the ships size. We all headed to the buffet area to get a bite to eat and as usually the food was just excellent and there were tons of choices. Once we were finished eating the announcement was made that all rooms were available. Our family had rooms 8176 (an aft accessible cabin) & 8174 an interior room directly across from 8176. Both rooms were clean and wonderful…but I have to admit our aft balcony room was DIVINE! The balcony was just enormous. The kids were slightly jealous ha!

 

Our Room Steward was Rolando and he was great. He actually serviced both of our rooms which was perfect. My youngest son just loved him, and each evening would look for him to give him a hug goodnight.

We had purchased one premium beverage package and on classic beverage package so after getting our luggage unpacked we headed to the aft bar to grab a drink and start our cruise. The beverage packages worked out great. The bartender even allowed us to order virgin daiquiris, virgin mudslides, etc… for our children which I thought was just wonderful. We never had a problem w/ service re: the packages in fact we rarely ever had to ask for additional drinks they were often just brought to us when the others were low. Talk about FANTASTIC service! We often tipped cash over top of the already included gratuity from the package because we were so pleased w/ service & the bartender’s waiter seemed to really appreciate this. I hate to admit this :o but between the 2 drink packages we consumed 246 drinks the entire cruise!!!! However 40 or so of those were virgin drinks or red bulls for the kids. We definitely came out ahead w/ the packages. It was roughly $725 for both of the packages. If you were to average each drink at $5 it would have cost us $1230. I loved the fact that I could order drinks especially the coffee drinks to experiment and see if I liked them. We most certainly will order the packages in the future.

 

The muster drill was the fastest we had ever experienced. It took maybe 5 minutes!

Our family had the first seating for dinner @ table 485 w/ Allen as our waiter & Jose as the assistant waiter. Service in the dining room was superb! Best we have had to date. Allen would bring additional items for our table to sample, extras of items we enjoyed, etc… One evening my 10 year old arrived late to dinner (he was in the Fun Factory and had lost track of time) within a few minutes of him arriving Allen showed up w/ 2 steaks for him knowing he loved steak. TOP NOTCH I tell ya! But I must say the star of this cruise for us was our sommelier Eliyas (pronounced Elwiss) Last year when my DH and I sailed the first few nights at dinner we had poor service in regards to our drinks. When we went to lunch in the dining room Eliyas had asked us how our cruise was so far, we said it was excellent other than our drink service in the dining room. After that the rest of the trip when we arrived to our dining table there was a bucket of ice w/ chilling beer. Once we sat down this cruise he instantly recognized us even down to the beer we drank last year! Every night we had a bucket of chilled beer for me, DH, and my parents. We never once had to ask for a refill. He was just EXCEPTIONAL!!!

The food this cruise was just amazing. We never once had a bad meal. Some of our favorites were the Coco Vaun, Celebrity Signature Filet (TO DIE FOR!!!!!), Seared Tuna Steak, French Onion Soup, Shrimp Cocktail, Spinach Turnover, Mommas Pork Chop, Spring Rolls, and the Blackened Grouper. We ate lunches on sea days in the dining room as well and it did not disappoint either.

 

We had planned to eat at The Normandie 2 evenings, however the first night which was day 2 of cruise the weather/sea was so bad I ended up getting sea sick and eventually left to lay down. They did comp my meal and actually sent it to my room which I thought was a nice touch. The funny part is the ship was moving and rocking so bad that when my room steward went to hand me my dessert course later in the evening it knocked to the ground and went SPLAT all over the carpet lol.

 

The Fun Factory was great but also evil lol. There were times my son literally would drop to the floor crying when we said it was time to leave. First thing in the morning he would jump out of bed and say “ok let’s go to the Fun Factory” The girls in there were great with him. I do have to complaints 1) The VIP kids’ package. The first day they went over this with us explaining that for $105 it would cover ALL of the $6 service charges i.e.: lunches, dinners, late evening. What they didn’t tell us was that on sea days they are closed for lunches. We more than likely would not have purchased the VIP package seeing as we calculated those lunches when making our decision to purchase it. That right there was $36. 2) The first ¾ of the cruise it was kind of a free play set up in the fun factory they would have craft time, reading time, etc… if your child wanted to participate they could if they decided not too then they could play the video games, go in the ball pit, watch a movie, etc… however the last 2 days of the cruise they stopped doing this. So there were several instances when I received a call from them that my son wanted to get picked up. One occasion was 10 minutes before formal night dinner, when I arrived I was told that they are doing story time and he did not want to participate and wanted to go w/ us since he couldn’t do anything else. We took him w/ us and he was fine but I just don’t see how you can implement changes to the program when children are halfway through the cruise and are accustomed to it being one way already. But he had a blast and loved it there, and that did give us several hours to ourselves which we enjoyed.

Bermuda was of course WONDERFUL, AMAZING, And FANTASTIC!! If only I could control the weather lol.

The first day we arrived it was overcast and they had a storm the evening before so we were a little disappointed that after taking the ferry all the way to St George followed by a taxi to get to Tobacco Bay that it was closed. The storm had caused a lot of debris on the beach and hundreds of Man O War jellyfish, although we only saw maybe 2 or 3 in the water. The kids did go out and swim for a bit but one of the employees at the shack said that the beach was closed until they could get someone out to clean it which would take a few hours. We ended up walking to St Catherine’s Fort/Beach and spent our first day there. The beach was nice but it wasn’t Tobacco Bay :( the place we fell in love with last year. After a few hours we decided to head back to the boat. They have cut the ferries to and from St George drastically so keep that in mind if you go that way via ferry. Also I highly suggest that you DO NOT take the larger ferry to or from St George. The smaller ferry took roughly 45 minutes while the larger one took us about 1 ½ hours.

 

Our second day the weather again was wishy washy. It would rain for 10 minutes then stop only to start up an hour later or so. We took the bus to Horseshoe Bay and spent the entire day snorkeling and swimming (hey we are already wet what do we care if it rains right lmao) I cannot tell you what an amazing day we had. The snorkeling was wonderful and I am so thankful I was able to share the experience w/ my children. They were even brave enough to climb the rocks and do a little cliff diving!:eek:

 

The third and final day I had promised DH that he could fish. He had brought all his own tackle and gear to fish from shore at the Dockyard. He and the boys ended up catching 30+ fish ranging from Bermuda Chubb, Parrot Fish, to Angel Fish. Unfortunately he did not bring the camera with him so we don’t have any pictures. But they had a blast. While they were fishing my parents and I headed to the Sea Glass Beach which is just outside of the Dockyard. We were able to fill 2 huge freezer size Ziploc bags in about 30 minutes. I found a gorgeous rare red piece of sea glass and my father actually found a small piece of a gun. We took a taxi over there which cost $10 each way for all of us. The driver dropped us off and said he would pick us up 45 minutes later. NOTE when it is VERY breezy do not bring a purse to this spot. All of my money, sea pass cards, and driver’s license flew out of my purse and I had to search for them!:eek:

 

Over all this was a wonderful cruise. Much different w/ the kids, mainly my 4 year old. I think that when we were with him we both were so concerned that him being too noisy, silly, etc… would disrupt someone else’s vacation that it stressed us out a bit. The older boys I am very happy to report were VERY well behaved. I was a bit nervous that this freedom to come and go as they pleased around the ship would be too much of a temptation for them to be silly & mischievous. They were quite the opposite very polite, well mannered and behaved.

My parents I am happy to say are Celebrity cheerleaders now and plan to cruise w/ them exclusively from now on.

 

We love Celebrity & The Summit and I hope we can take this same cruise again w/the kids next year.

I am attaching a few pictures for you all to enjoy. I hope you enjoyed the review and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

[sarahc78]

Our rooms 8176

[sarahc78]

the 3 older boys rooms 8174

[sarahc78]

nom nom nom foooooood!!!

[sarahc78]

more food nom nom :)

[sarahc78]

Bermuda

[sarahc78]

"You die and go to heaven, I'll stay here in Bermuda". :D

[mbw1024]

Thank you for the report. We are departing on Sunday and I appreciate this first group of Bermuda goers getting some reports out quickly!

 

Wow, sorry to hear about the sea sickness. I hadn't even thought about roughness. We've done this sail (Ny/NJ to Bermuda) 3 times before around the same time of year and don't recall having issues. This bad weather isn't helping anything either!

[sarahc78]

I should have looked before I posted the font I used makes it a little difficult to read :eek:

 

Thank you for the report. We are departing on Sunday and I appreciate this first group of Bermuda goers getting some reports out quickly!

 

Wow, sorry to hear about the sea sickness. I hadn't even thought about roughness. We've done this sail (Ny/NJ to Bermuda) 3 times before around the same time of year and don't recall having issues. This bad weather isn't helping anything either!

 

On the second day the weather was REALLY bad! We had 40mph winds and waves 12-15 ft. I got sea sick even while on 2 dramamine pills.

 

I didnt get any shots when it was really bad cause like I said I was down for the count! If I laid w/ my eyes closed I was fine but once I opened them barf!

[osborne66]

I should have looked before I posted the font I used makes it a little difficult to read :eek:

 

 

 

On the second day the weather was REALLY bad! We had 40mph winds and waves 12-15 ft. I got sea sick even while on 2 dramamine pills.

 

I didnt get any shots when it was really bad cause like I said I was down for the count! If I laid w/ my eyes closed I was fine but once I opened them barf!

 

Sarah,

 

Sorry to hear about the rough seas. My wife doesn't do good in it as well - won't tell her about the 2nd day - we sail on the 12th June - so hopefully will be smooth by then but it is the atlantic so you never know. Are you able to download the dailies or some of them o nhere from those of us who are going down to Bermuda in the coming weeks - that would be great - you write up was great. My kids will be onboard as well - they are 15 and 11 respectively and they have both got 15+ cruises under their belts

 

Thanks

 

Scouser David

[sarahc78]

Sarah,

 

Sorry to hear about the rough seas. My wife doesn't do good in it as well - won't tell her about the 2nd day - we sail on the 12th June - so hopefully will be smooth by then but it is the atlantic so you never know. Are you able to download the dailies or some of them o nhere from those of us who are going down to Bermuda in the coming weeks - that would be great - you write up was great. My kids will be onboard as well - they are 15 and 11 respectively and they have both got 15+ cruises under their belts

 

Thanks

 

Scouser David

 

Unfortunately I didnt save any of the dailies :o We had our 4 year old w/ us which really threw me for a loop lol If you know what you are interested in I can give you an idea. I remember the tour of the galley was held on the first and the last day immediately following was the cooking demonstrations. They had a lot of trivia if you are into that I highly suggest going to the final trivia held in the Revelations. We went and actually won and received Celebrity Tshirts which were the best prizes of the cruise. The normal prizes were pens.

[CruisinCandy]

Did your 4 year old go to the Fun Factory? If so, did they like it as much as your 10 year old?

 

We'll be on the Summit this fall and the first time cruising with children. (either it will be an awsome vacation or the kids will hate it) So I'm curious how our 14, 10 and 6 year old will like the Fun Factory.

[Pandot]

And very exciting for me... we are travelling on the Summit next May (same sailing a year later). We have 7208 (C1 Aft - not accessible) and my parents are in 7210 (inside across the hall). They booked that one specifically because they want to be close to us (they don't live near me and my little one).

 

I heard rumors that the insides 7210 and 8174 were not the standard size (i.e. smaller) however your pics seem to show them as typical. Any feedback related to that (feel guilty that my parents would have booked a "sub-standard" cabin only to be near us).

 

Other question: how comfortable was the balcony with 8-10 people on it?

Could we squeeze a few more in standing if we used the cabin too? (we are travelling as part of my sister's wedding so thinking of hosting some events)

 

Any other feedback directly related to cabin size, layout and such is so appreciated. Thanks for the great photos!

 

BTW - my grandmother is booked into the 7212 (C1 aft - accessible) on our cruise, but she isn't planning on socializing... LOL.

 

Take care and thanks again for the great review!

 

Andrea

[cujosmom]

They have cut the ferries to and from St George drastically so keep that in mind if you go that way via ferry. Also I highly suggest that you DO NOT take the larger ferry to or from St George. The smaller ferry took roughly 45 minutes while the larger one took us about 1 ½ hours.

 

Which ferry did you take TO St. George (the big or small) and what time did you leave the dockyards? On your return, again, did you take the big or small ferry and what time did you leave St. George? Is there any way to find out which ferry is used at a particular time?

 

About how long did it take you to walk to St Catherine's Beach?

 

Regarding your kids' room (8174). I have "read" that sometimes this cabin is treated the same as a Concierge Class cabin (since it surrounded by CC cabins) and it sometimes receives the upgraded linens, bathroom products, breakfast menu, etc. Any comment on this?

 

Do they still have the wonderful bread sticks in the dining room?

[miched]

How was parking at the dock? I read on another report that they wanted to charge extra for an over size vehicle that was just a regular or small truck.

 

I will be driving an Explorer and wonder if they will charge extra?

 

Thanks

[grammax3]

Summit Review May 8th – 15th

This was our second sailing on the Summit to Bermuda. We had such an exceptional time last year that we decided to book again this time bringing 4 of our children & my parents. They are diamond on RCL and this was their first trip on Celebrity. I had to BEG them to come on this cruise. After their last RCL cruise in January my father had sworn off crusiing. He said “if this is what cruising has become I will have to figure a new way to vacation”

 

Our family drove from Maryland to New Jersey May 7th staying the night at the Embassy Suites Secaucus hotel. We were quite disappointed in this hotel. When we travel we almost always stay w/ Embassy Suites and this particular hotel was probably the worst we had stayed at. The hotel wasn’t very clean (empty glasses from patrons the night before, trash, etc… littered the hallways) after the nearly 6 hour drive because of all the traffic the first thing the kids wanted to do was jump in the pool. However when we walked into the pool area there was 30 kids that’s right 30 kids in the pool and roughly 8 in the jaquizi. You could barely see the water there was so many kids in there not only that imagine the noise level w/ 30 kids screaming. It was awful. We went to the front desk to let them know the situation in the pool area and they just seemed to shrug it off. So we just skipped the pool.

 

The next morning after a quick 15 minute drive we arrived in Bayonne. We dropped off our luggage then continued to long term parking. We were CC the line was short and check in was practically pain free, other than them not having keys/on board cards for my room(but after boarding we received those from the pursers desk)

 

Ahhhh it felt so great to be back on board the Summit! Our kids were so excited and marveled at the ships size. We all headed to the buffet area to get a bite to eat and as usually the food was just excellent and there were tons of choices. Once we were finished eating the announcement was made that all rooms were available. Our family had rooms 8176 (an aft accessible cabin) & 8174 an interior room directly across from 8176. Both rooms were clean and wonderful…but I have to admit our aft balcony room was DIVINE! The balcony was just enormous. The kids were slightly jealous ha!

 

Our Room Steward was Rolando and he was great. He actually serviced both of our rooms which was perfect. My youngest son just loved him, and each evening would look for him to give him a hug goodnight.

We had purchased one premium beverage package and on classic beverage package so after getting our luggage unpacked we headed to the aft bar to grab a drink and start our cruise. The beverage packages worked out great. The bartender even allowed us to order virgin daiquiris, virgin mudslides, etc… for our children which I thought was just wonderful. We never had a problem w/ service re: the packages in fact we rarely ever had to ask for additional drinks they were often just brought to us when the others were low. Talk about FANTASTIC service! We often tipped cash over top of the already included gratuity from the package because we were so pleased w/ service & the bartender’s waiter seemed to really appreciate this. I hate to admit this :o but between the 2 drink packages we consumed 246 drinks the entire cruise!!!! However 40 or so of those were virgin drinks or red bulls for the kids. We definitely came out ahead w/ the packages. It was roughly $725 for both of the packages. If you were to average each drink at $5 it would have cost us $1230. I loved the fact that I could order drinks especially the coffee drinks to experiment and see if I liked them. We most certainly will order the packages in the future.

 

The muster drill was the fastest we had ever experienced. It took maybe 5 minutes!

Our family had the first seating for dinner @ table 485 w/ Allen as our waiter & Jose as the assistant waiter. Service in the dining room was superb! Best we have had to date. Allen would bring additional items for our table to sample, extras of items we enjoyed, etc… One evening my 10 year old arrived late to dinner (he was in the Fun Factory and had lost track of time) within a few minutes of him arriving Allen showed up w/ 2 steaks for him knowing he loved steak. TOP NOTCH I tell ya! But I must say the star of this cruise for us was our sommelier Eliyas (pronounced Elwiss) Last year when my DH and I sailed the first few nights at dinner we had poor service in regards to our drinks. When we went to lunch in the dining room Eliyas had asked us how our cruise was so far, we said it was excellent other than our drink service in the dining room. After that the rest of the trip when we arrived to our dining table there was a bucket of ice w/ chilling beer. Once we sat down this cruise he instantly recognized us even down to the beer we drank last year! Every night we had a bucket of chilled beer for me, DH, and my parents. We never once had to ask for a refill. He was just EXCEPTIONAL!!!

The food this cruise was just amazing. We never once had a bad meal. Some of our favorites were the Coco Vaun, Celebrity Signature Filet (TO DIE FOR!!!!!), Seared Tuna Steak, French Onion Soup, Shrimp Cocktail, Spinach Turnover, Mommas Pork Chop, Spring Rolls, and the Blackened Grouper. We ate lunches on sea days in the dining room as well and it did not disappoint either.

 

We had planned to eat at The Normandie 2 evenings, however the first night which was day 2 of cruise the weather/sea was so bad I ended up getting sea sick and eventually left to lay down. They did comp my meal and actually sent it to my room which I thought was a nice touch. The funny part is the ship was moving and rocking so bad that when my room steward went to hand me my dessert course later in the evening it knocked to the ground and went SPLAT all over the carpet lol.

 

The Fun Factory was great but also evil lol. There were times my son literally would drop to the floor crying when we said it was time to leave. First thing in the morning he would jump out of bed and say “ok let’s go to the Fun Factory” The girls in there were great with him. I do have to complaints 1) The VIP kids’ package. The first day they went over this with us explaining that for $105 it would cover ALL of the $6 service charges i.e.: lunches, dinners, late evening. What they didn’t tell us was that on sea days they are closed for lunches. We more than likely would not have purchased the VIP package seeing as we calculated those lunches when making our decision to purchase it. That right there was $36. 2) The first ¾ of the cruise it was kind of a free play set up in the fun factory they would have craft time, reading time, etc… if your child wanted to participate they could if they decided not too then they could play the video games, go in the ball pit, watch a movie, etc… however the last 2 days of the cruise they stopped doing this. So there were several instances when I received a call from them that my son wanted to get picked up. One occasion was 10 minutes before formal night dinner, when I arrived I was told that they are doing story time and he did not want to participate and wanted to go w/ us since he couldn’t do anything else. We took him w/ us and he was fine but I just don’t see how you can implement changes to the program when children are halfway through the cruise and are accustomed to it being one way already. But he had a blast and loved it there, and that did give us several hours to ourselves which we enjoyed.

Bermuda was of course WONDERFUL, AMAZING, And FANTASTIC!! If only I could control the weather lol.

The first day we arrived it was overcast and they had a storm the evening before so we were a little disappointed that after taking the ferry all the way to St George followed by a taxi to get to Tobacco Bay that it was closed. The storm had caused a lot of debris on the beach and hundreds of Man O War jellyfish, although we only saw maybe 2 or 3 in the water. The kids did go out and swim for a bit but one of the employees at the shack said that the beach was closed until they could get someone out to clean it which would take a few hours. We ended up walking to St Catherine’s Fort/Beach and spent our first day there. The beach was nice but it wasn’t Tobacco Bay :( the place we fell in love with last year. After a few hours we decided to head back to the boat. They have cut the ferries to and from St George drastically so keep that in mind if you go that way via ferry. Also I highly suggest that you DO NOT take the larger ferry to or from St George. The smaller ferry took roughly 45 minutes while the larger one took us about 1 ½ hours.

 

Our second day the weather again was wishy washy. It would rain for 10 minutes then stop only to start up an hour later or so. We took the bus to Horseshoe Bay and spent the entire day snorkeling and swimming (hey we are already wet what do we care if it rains right lmao) I cannot tell you what an amazing day we had. The snorkeling was wonderful and I am so thankful I was able to share the experience w/ my children. They were even brave enough to climb the rocks and do a little cliff diving!:eek:

 

The third and final day I had promised DH that he could fish. He had brought all his own tackle and gear to fish from shore at the Dockyard. He and the boys ended up catching 30+ fish ranging from Bermuda Chubb, Parrot Fish, to Angel Fish. Unfortunately he did not bring the camera with him so we don’t have any pictures. But they had a blast. While they were fishing my parents and I headed to the Sea Glass Beach which is just outside of the Dockyard. We were able to fill 2 huge freezer size Ziploc bags in about 30 minutes. I found a gorgeous rare red piece of sea glass and my father actually found a small piece of a gun. We took a taxi over there which cost $10 each way for all of us. The driver dropped us off and said he would pick us up 45 minutes later. NOTE when it is VERY breezy do not bring a purse to this spot. All of my money, sea pass cards, and driver’s license flew out of my purse and I had to search for them!:eek:

 

 

Over all this was a wonderful cruise. Much different w/ the kids, mainly my 4 year old. I think that when we were with him we both were so concerned that him being too noisy, silly, etc… would disrupt someone else’s vacation that it stressed us out a bit. The older boys I am very happy to report were VERY well behaved. I was a bit nervous that this freedom to come and go as they pleased around the ship would be too much of a temptation for them to be silly & mischievous. They were quite the opposite very polite, well mannered and behaved.

My parents I am happy to say are Celebrity cheerleaders now and plan to cruise w/ them exclusively from now on.

 

We love Celebrity & The Summit and I hope we can take this same cruise again w/the kids next year.

 

I am attaching a few pictures for you all to enjoy. I hope you enjoyed the review and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Good review, but I have 2 comments. 1) Why would you have taken a handicap accessible cabin when you didn't need it, and 2) isn't it the cruiseline policy that an adult be in the cabin with anyone under the age of 18? Apparently you disregarded both these rules.

 

We had rain on the days in port, but it didn't last more than 10 minutes where we were, apparently it was different on different parts of the Island.

[jerseygirl3]

Thanks for your review. We also love the M-class Celebrity ships, especially those fabulous aft cabins. Glad your parents were happy to be cruising again.

 

Having said that, I do have one concern about the beverage package you speak of. It sounds like (and correct me if I'm wrong) that you shared the cards? I thought that was strictly prohibited. I'm wondering if more and more people do this, it may be the cause of prices of the beverage packages rising?

 

I'm not trying to sound judgmental, but just curious.

 

Can't comment on your having a handicap accessible cabin because either 1) you had a need for it, or 2) it was available and if no one else needs it, you are entitled to it.

 

As far as the other poster's comment about the kids in a cabin by themselves, Celebrity allows this as long as they are booked in a cabin directly across the hall from the parents.

[sarahc78]

Which ferry did you take TO St. George (the big or small) and what time did you leave the dockyards? On your return, again, did you take the big or small ferry and what time did you leave St. George? Is there any way to find out which ferry is used at a particular time?

 

About how long did it take you to walk to St Catherine's Beach?

 

Regarding your kids' room (8174). I have "read" that sometimes this cabin is treated the same as a Concierge Class cabin (since it surrounded by CC cabins) and it sometimes receives the upgraded linens, bathroom products, breakfast menu, etc. Any comment on this?

 

Do they still have the wonderful bread sticks in the dining room?

 

We took the smaller faster ferry over at 10am getting to the St George at 10:45. When we went to leave it was 2pm and there was no ferry until 3:30, around 2:45 though a man from the Bermuda welcome center came over and said that bigger ferry across the way was making a run to the Dockyard in 15 minutes so we hoped on it. We didnt get to the Dockyard until 4:15 right as the smaller ferry was arriving. The only plus about the bigger ferry is that it is airconditioned on the bottom floor and they have a tv playing movies.

From Tobacco Bay to St Catherine's it was only a 10 minute walk, would have been less if we didnt have all the bags and kids lol.

I am not sure about the breakfast menu but my kids did have the upgraded linens and towels.

 

How was parking at the dock? I read on another report that they wanted to charge extra for an over size vehicle that was just a regular or small truck.

 

I will be driving an Explorer and wonder if they will charge extra?

 

Thanks

We had a Dodge Grand Caravan and had no problem.

Good review, but I have 2 comments. 1) Why would you have taken a handicap accessible cabin when you didn't need it, and 2) isn't it the cruiseline policy that an adult be in the cabin with anyone under the age of 18? Apparently you disregarded both these rules.

 

We had rain on the days in port, but it didn't last more than 10 minutes where we were, apparently it was different on different parts of the Island.

I actually had to have my Dr sign off for the accessible cabin. I have issues w/ my leg, ankle, & heel that requires me to where a brace most of the time. Luckily I was able to have several cortizone shots in those area before the trip which only had me wearing the braces in the evening and while sleeping.

In regards to the cabin policy when we boarded we went directly to the pursers desk we were given permission since the rooms were directly across from each other to have the three older children in the rooms. They were able to make seperate keys for DH and I so we could access both rooms. They had to call our room steward and his assistant to give them the heads up as well.

[CruisinCandy]

Good review, but I have 2 comments. 1) Why would you have taken a handicap accessible cabin when you didn't need it, and 2) isn't it the cruiseline policy that an adult be in the cabin with anyone under the age of 18? Apparently you disregarded both these rules.

 

We had rain on the days in port, but it didn't last more than 10 minutes where we were, apparently it was different on different parts of the Island.

 

You are incorrect about the under 18 policy. I just booked a trip directly with Celebrity and policy must have changed.

[CruisinCandy]

by the way Sarah - love the review and the pix.

Thanks

[madelinerose]

Thanks for the review, Sarah. ;)

[CPT Trips]

Good review, but I have 2 comments. 1) Why would you have taken a handicap accessible cabin when you didn't need it, and 2) isn't it the cruiseline policy that an adult be in the cabin with anyone under the age of 18? Apparently you disregarded both these rules.

 

We had rain on the days in port, but it didn't last more than 10 minutes where we were, apparently it was different on different parts of the Island.

 

Gosh, I missed where did OP said anything about "needing" accessibility. Is it really necessary to have people document personal information? If this thread was anything more than a review, I can see "warning" TABs* that they might get bumped from an accessible cabin for someone with a disability.

 

* Temporarily Able Bodied

[durberville]

..."Apparently you disregarded both these rules."

 

 

Apparently not. Some people are very quick to judge.

 

Anyhoo.....thank you so much for your review sarah!! We're leaving on the Summit this Sunday! (This was very helpful) :)

[sarahc78]

Did your 4 year old go to the Fun Factory? If so, did they like it as much as your 10 year old?

 

We'll be on the Summit this fall and the first time cruising with children. (either it will be an awsome vacation or the kids will hate it) So I'm curious how our 14, 10 and 6 year old will like the Fun Factory.

Yes he did go to the Fun Factory and he loved it! Every morning he would wake up and want to go there immediately, and when we would pick him up he would bawl. The only issue I really had was the structure. At the begining of the cruise it was kinda a free for all. The kids could do an activity or play a game or do the ball pit etc... pretty much whatever they wanted to do they could do. Towards the end they started to structure it more where they HAD to do the activity or story time etc... My feeling is you cant try to change structure mid way when the kids are used to having free time.

My 13 and 12 year old did not enjoy the teen club but that was more so because there really werent many kids there age on board.

And very exciting for me... we are travelling on the Summit next May (same sailing a year later). We have 7208 (C1 Aft - not accessible) and my parents are in 7210 (inside across the hall). They booked that one specifically because they want to be close to us (they don't live near me and my little one).

 

I heard rumors that the insides 7210 and 8174 were not the standard size (i.e. smaller) however your pics seem to show them as typical. Any feedback related to that (feel guilty that my parents would have booked a "sub-standard" cabin only to be near us).

 

Other question: how comfortable was the balcony with 8-10 people on it?

Could we squeeze a few more in standing if we used the cabin too? (we are travelling as part of my sister's wedding so thinking of hosting some events)

 

Any other feedback directly related to cabin size, layout and such is so appreciated. Thanks for the great photos!

 

BTW - my grandmother is booked into the 7212 (C1 aft - accessible) on our cruise, but she isn't planning on socializing... LOL.

 

Take care and thanks again for the great review!

 

Andrea

The balcony was huge! We had 8 people on there w/ plenty of room. The kids room was perfect size I didnt think it was smaller than any of the other rooms.

 

Thanks for your review. We also love the M-class Celebrity ships, especially those fabulous aft cabins. Glad your parents were happy to be cruising again.

 

Having said that, I do have one concern about the beverage package you speak of. It sounds like (and correct me if I'm wrong) that you shared the cards? I thought that was strictly prohibited. I'm wondering if more and more people do this, it may be the cause of prices of the beverage packages rising?

 

I'm not trying to sound judgmental, but just curious.

 

Can't comment on your having a handicap accessible cabin because either 1) you had a need for it, or 2) it was available and if no one else needs it, you are entitled to it.

 

As far as the other poster's comment about the kids in a cabin by themselves, Celebrity allows this as long as they are booked in a cabin directly across the hall from the parents.

The bartender actually made a virgin daquiri for our 4 year old the very first time we sat in the Aft Bar, I looked at him like we didnt order that and he responded "I just charged it to your package" I thanked him and of course the older boys said I want one so I said see you've opened a can of worms now lol. He said that it was no problem for the kids to get beverages on my card as long as I was ordering one at a time & I wasnt drinking. He said that they are mainly watching for adults in the same room sharing alcohol. Not sure if that is Celebritys stand or just some of the bartenders. I didnt want to abuse it so we normally allowed the kids to each get one a day.

Our handicapped room became availble after final payment I want to say 45 days or so before sailing so we took the room and then faxed paper work to my dr to sign re: my heel, tendonitis, & leg. I was told that since I didnt require a wheelchair or scooter there was a possibility I could still be bumped if someone who required those needed the room but that did not happen.

[sarahc78]

Gosh, I missed where did OP said anything about "needing" accessibility. Is it really necessary to have people document personal information? If this thread was anything more than a review, I can see "warning" TABs* that they might get bumped from an accessible cabin for someone with a disability.

 

* Temporarily Able Bodied

 

Apparently not. Some people are very quick to judge.

 

Anyhoo.....thank you so much for your review sarah!! We're leaving on the Summit this Sunday! (This was very helpful) :)

 

Lol no worries. They were on this same sailing as us so they probably *gasp* saw me w/ out my brace on at some point. Busy bodies I swear!

 

Like I said previously I booked the room after it was released, had my Dr fill out the required forms, and luckily was able to get cortizone injections 2 days before the cruise ;)

 

Duberville you are going to have a FANTASTIC time! I am very excited for you. DH and I were just discussing if we would book her again for next year after being Solsticised or head to the carribean (we have never been) I am leaning towards the Summit again :D