Summit Review - May 27th

[cms204]

My wife and I as well as another couple just got home from a week aboard the Summit, and it was an excellent cruise. We have cruised on NCL and Royal in the past, but this was our first cruise on Celebrity and our first time to Bermuda. We did purchase the premium alcohol package before the cruise, which I'll go into.

 

Embarkation

What a breeze. We drove to Bayonne and got there around 10:45. After parking and dropping off our bags, we went through security, got our sea passes, and were on the first shuttle over to the boat. When all was said and done, we were on the boat around 11:15.

 

Main Dining Room

Well, we certainly did not go hungry. The food in the MDR was the best that I have had personally. I can't think of a single thing that we didn't enjoy, and the service at our table was excellent. We had no problems getting glasses of wine, drinks from the bar, or sparkling water. Once the servers knew we had the premium package, we had sparkling water waiting for us each night.

 

Normandie

We weren't convinced that it was worth another $40/pp for a specialty restaurant, and were we ever wrong. You won't find anything featured on the Normandie menu anywhere else on the ship, and each dish was fresh and unique. The cheese course after the main course was a nice touch as well, with about 15 specialty cheeses to choose from.

 

Bistro on Five

We stopped in for brunch about halfway through the cruise, looking for something different, and we were not disappointed. Between the 4 of us we had 4-5 savory crepes and 3 dessert crepes over the course of about an hour and a half. The whole time, we were one of two groups in there, and our feeling was that the $5 charge exists so that it is kept uncrowded.

 

Martini Bar

This was definitely one of our favorite spots on the ship. The bartenders get very into it and really put on a show, especially if someone orders the martini flight. They'll make 12 martinis and pour them all at once, which always gathered a crowd. The bar top itself freezes over for a snowy look, which was a lot of fun and a good way to cool off.

 

Cellar Masters

Cellar Masters was never too crowded, but I can't understand why. After sitting at the bar one night before dinner, this quickly became our favorite spot. The service was awesome, and Laurentiu behind the bar was very knowledgeable and interactive. We felt that there were more than enough wines by the glass under $12, as well as options for sparkling wine, port, madeira, and sherry.

 

Michael's Club

I was very excited for this space pre-cruise, but we were pretty disappointed in it. First of all, if you want a craft beer before 5PM, you're out of luck. They do have guinness, stella, sam adams, and a few other decent beers at other bars, but no crafts. Also, almost every time we tried to get into Michael's they were using it for a private event. I understand they need a space for this, but it was disheartening not being able to get a craft beer most days. When we did finally get in, the first 5 beers we tried to order they had run out of. We got over that pretty quickly, and had a few beers/ciders that were new to us. We would have stayed longer, except that they had about a 45 minute loop of music, that really did not suggest that it was a pub. After listening to Endless love and When a Man Love's a Woman for the 3rd time, we had to go elsewhere.

 

Cafe al Bacio

This is a great space that we spent a lot of time at. They had great espresso based coffees, hot and ices teas, and coffees with alcohol. The Aspen was a group favorite. Additionally, they would serve pastries in the morning, bite size sandwiches mid-day, and small cakes starting in the late afternoon - all free of charge.

 

Service

We found the service to be very good. Our cabin steward was excellent. On the first day a circuit must have blown on our hall, as 3/4 of the lights in our room were not working. One phone call and about 5 minutes later we had lights, and they were fine the rest of the cruise. Our waiter in the MDR was very entertaining, and really I have nothing negative to say about the service in any of the bars.

 

Drink Package

Loved it. Not having to worry about a final bill really enhanced out vacation. We would start off the day with a coffee from al Bacio, maybe a mimosa with breakfast, and a bottle of water by the pool. Then after a few frozen drinks and a lot more water, we would go to one of the bars for pre-dinner drinks (usually the martini bar or cellar masters), and take a glass with us to dinner. A few glasses of wine with dinner, typically followed by a glass of port, we would head back to one of the bars or to the casino, and finish with a few glasses of perrier. Back in the room we stocked up on Vitamin Waters to keep us hydrated. Overall, we drank a lot more (water, coffee, alcohol) than we would have without the package on a cruise, but never felt pressured to drink more because of the package. I can tell you that if we had to pay for each individual drinks, our bill at the end would have been well over the cost of the package.

 

Bermuda

We spent the first two days in Bermuda snorkeling at Tobacco Bay and Church Bay. These beaches are not real big and they got crowded pretty quickly, but they both had pretty decent snorkeling. Tobacco is very calm and easy to snorkel. Church was probably the better snorkeling, but the waters were very rough - I would recommend fins.

 

Overall, it was an excellent trip. I would definitely recommend the Summit, and don't know how we will be able to sail any other line going forward. If anyone has any questions while everything is fresh in my mind, I'm more than happy to respond.

[erinpdx]

I just booked a trip on the Summit today. It will be our first time on Celebrity. I was wondering if you did a concierge room? I have heard differeing opinions on whether it was worth the extra $.

How were the shows/entertainment?

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for the review!

[CateW]

We just got back from teh 5/27 sailing as well; this was our 3rd time on Summit on this itinerary. I agree CMS204 on most of what was said; this was our first time in Aqua Class and there will be no going back; Blu was fantastic - both food and service. Normandie is a favorite and did not disappoint this time ether. We also did Quisine which we enjoyed much more than when we went on Silhouette probably because they didn't have to roll us out the door and we tempored our ordering with what we really liked best from the last time.

 

I do have a few not so positive comments. The coffee in the Oceanview is undrinkable, this certainly didn't ruin the trip but it shouldn't be that hard to get a decent cup of office; sludge comes to mind!

 

As I mentioned above, this was our third time on Summit and I kinda felt like service has slipped a bit; some of the staff was disengaged and some surley; it didn't ruin our cruise it it isn't what it was.

 

We were in one of the new AQ cabins on deck 11. Our cabin door also didn't close by itself, you had to push it closed from the inside or pull it closed from the outside. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it - again not really a big deal in the scheme of things. Also, there was a real issue with water on the balcony; I'm no engineer but if you have a drain on the balcony (and there was one) the water should actually drain, and it doesn't it just sits there until it evaporates, that was annoying, not really for me because I just hopped over it but my husband has a bad hip and he had some issues with that puddle.

 

All in all, we had a great time but it wasn't as perfect as it was the last 2 years.

[cms204]

We were in the cheap rooms :) so I can't comment on Concierge Class or Aqua.

 

We had the 8:30 seating for dinner, so the shows for us would have been pre-dinner. We instead took advantage of the empty chairs by the pool and the wine/martini bars. We did attend "Dancing with the Stripes" one night as one of our table mates was competing and it was a lot of fun.

 

As for the coffee, we stopped at Cafe al Bacio each morning before heading to breakfast, so we did not have the coffee in the MDR.

[wbrumel]

I agree with the OP that this was a wonderful cruise. I found the food and service to be terrific, and the ship (other than the floor tiles and shower stall of my bathroom, which were grimy and moldy) looked brand new. We ate in both Qsine and Normandie and found both to be worthy of the additional cost - in different ways. Normandie is fine dining at its finest; Qsine is funky food fun.

Found the staff to be very friendly, courteous, efficient and helpful. Really had no complaints and will not hesitate to cruise with Celebrity (and on the Summit) again.

Also recommend my cabin 7175: not one of the "sweet 16" but has an extra large balcony and great location.

Getting on/off the ship was quite easy ... only wish I didn't leave some clothes on board (I was using the small closet above the TV and forgot to pack that stuff).

Of course, it did help that we had mostly glorious days weather-wise, with the exception of two mornings of rain. Bermuda is simply a botanical garden, and a joy to visit - even for the tenth time! P.S. to the OP: you really should go to the lesser known south shore beaches to experience the true beauty of the pink sands.

[emileg]

I just booked a trip on the Summit today. It will be our first time on Celebrity. I was wondering if you did a concierge room? I have heard differing opinions on whether it was worth the extra $.

How were the shows/entertainment?

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for the review!

On M(Millennium)-Class ships, of which the Summit is one, the Concierge and Aqua staterooms are somewhat larger (longer) than ordinary verandah cabins. This is not true on the S(Solstice)-Class ships where all verandah cabins are the same size.

 

Now, if you really want a very large Concierge cabin, I would choose 6143 or 6144. While only about a foot wider, it really makes a difference, especially when walking around a bed. Of course these cabins are gobbled up pretty quickly.

 

Sometimes the Aqua cabins are priced around the same price as some of the Concierge staterooms. You might want to consider that option because it includes dining in the Blu restaurant.

[emileg]

My wife and I as well as another couple just got home from a week aboard the Summit, and it was an excellent cruise. We have cruised on NCL and Royal in the past, but this was our first cruise on Celebrity and our first time to Bermuda. We did purchase the premium alcohol package before the cruise, which I'll go into....

Thank you for your informative review. If I drank a third of what you had, I would have been passed out for the remainder of the voyage;):D.

[cms204]

Thank you for your informative review. If I drank a third of what you had, I would have been passed out for the remainder of the voyage;):D.

 

Haha. We found that it was easy to handle with all of the food we ate to soak it up, as well as the water and vitamin waters sprinkled in.

[cms204]

P.S. to the OP: you really should go to the lesser known south shore beaches to experience the true beauty of the pink sands.

 

We were thinking about heading there on the third day, but when busses were not running in the morning, we decided to save it for a future trip.

[richard1s]

Thank you for taking the time to write a very informative overview of the Summit. The beverage package sounds like a good value overall. I am glad that you had a good time. We are booked on the Summit later in the year and your positive comments give us a lot to look forward too. Thanks again for sharing.

[TheOne]

Great review, sounds like you had planned my exact cruise.. "cheap room" 830 dinner and drink package. I pretty much will follow your exact drinking pattern lol!!!

 

How was the weather in Bermuda, how was the water temp?

[cms204]

We had awesome weather in Bermuda. I'd say it was high 70s and sunny the entire time. The water was plenty warm for us. I don't want to speculate as to the temperature, but I'd say it was about NJ shore in August - very refreshing on a hot day.

[TheOne]

Oh thats awesome, we are going next Sunday, and had no idea what to expect? Any of the on board activities come off as a "cant miss"?

[cms204]

Oh thats awesome, we are going next Sunday, and had no idea what to expect? Any of the on board activities come off as a "cant miss"?

 

Most of our "entertainment" came from listening to different performers in the lounges, or making our own "wine tasting" with the drink package. Partly because a lot of the events that sounded interesting to us came with an extra fee, and we were already having such a great time that we didn't feel the need to spend more money on an organized event.

 

I will say that as someone who does not like to spend much extra money on a cruise, Bistro on Five and Normandie were totally worth it. I can't speak to QSine as we did not fit it in. We had a VERY good time with our table for 8 (which was usually 6) in the MDR .

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the review. We are looking forward to enjoying the premium be enrage packages on our Summit cruise. We already know from our last crUise on Eclipse that this is the way to go - for us.

 

Hope they get their act together in Michaels as DH will be quite disappointed if he doesn't get to spend much time there. We have found on all our cruises that they do not have many of the beers listed on the menu. I think it's an issue of local distribution. Craft beers are often distributed in a limited area. I'm sure we will find plenty of drink choices anyway.

[flyingv4me]

Thank you for your review. Very disappointed with Micheal's. I was VERY much looking forward to the craft beers, and not just for a short period some evenings. Micheal's should be open throughout the day and available to everyone. Selfish, I know! ;) Here's hoping that they have things worked out in October!

[cms204]

So to go into it with a little more detail, there were several wedding parties and other groups on our sailing, which always seemed to be in Michael's. Also, with hockey and basketball playoffs, there were some large gatherings at night that drank them out of a lot of their stuff.

 

When we finally got in there to actually sit down and try some beers on Thursday, they were out of blue moon (didn't care too much), Magners Cider (they had Strongbow), Hoegaarden, and the Sam Adams Imperial White. So if you wanted a belgian white/hefeweisen on the drink package, the only option was the Sierra Nevada Hefeweisen... which was just ok.

 

The real deterrent was the music. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was on a 45 minute to 1 hour loop, and it was 90% sappy love songs. It just got to the point where we got tired of laughing at it and went elsewhere. After that we would only get a beer to go and sit somewhere else.

[flyingv4me]

Thanks for elaborating. I'm an IPA and Belgian kind of guy, so hopefully I'll have a good selection! :D Again, thanks for the post. I can't wait to try them out!

[DPurcell58]

Beverage pkg is on sale right now, 10% off, till June 15. Saw the Summit sale out tonight, beautiful.

[ColNan]

Loved your review! We disembarked Summit on May 20th....and I agree with everything you said about your experiences onboard. It was a fabulous vacation!

[ColNan]

HI again! forgot to say this!

 

cms204: You`ve got to be kidding me!....You have to admit after all of your complaints (90% of the music...... sappy love songs!!??) you had a lovely vacation and would do the whole thing again in a minute!

[cms204]

HI again! forgot to say this!

 

cms204: You`ve got to be kidding me!....You have to admit after all of your complaints (90% of the music...... sappy love songs!!??) you had a lovely vacation and would do the whole thing again in a minute!

 

Haha, I got over it real quickly. It just became the running joke of our group, so I thought it was worth mentioning - it's a great space, I just think it could be managed better. And really, there is no shortage of awesome bars/lounges.

 

I would certainly do it again!

[librarylady19]

Thanks for elaborating. I'm an IPA and Belgian kind of guy, so hopefully I'll have a good selection! :D Again, thanks for the post. I can't wait to try them out!

 

DH too. I'm sure he will find something to his liking! Good idea to get a beer "to-go"

[grammaof8]

We just got back from teh 5/27 sailing as well; this was our 3rd time on Summit on this itinerary. I agree CMS204 on most of what was said; this was our first time in Aqua Class and there will be no going back; Blu was fantastic - both food and service. Normandie is a favorite and did not disappoint this time ether. We also did Quisine which we enjoyed much more than when we went on Silhouette probably because they didn't have to roll us out the door and we tempored our ordering with what we really liked best from the last time.

 

I do have a few not so positive comments. The coffee in the Oceanview is undrinkable, this certainly didn't ruin the trip but it shouldn't be that hard to get a decent cup of office; sludge comes to mind!

 

As I mentioned above, this was our third time on Summit and I kinda felt like service has slipped a bit; some of the staff was disengaged and some surley; it didn't ruin our cruise it it isn't what it was.

 

We were in one of the new AQ cabins on deck 11. Our cabin door also didn't close by itself, you had to push it closed from the inside or pull it closed from the outside. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with it - again not really a big deal in the scheme of things. Also, there was a real issue with water on the balcony; I'm no engineer but if you have a drain on the balcony (and there was one) the water should actually drain, and it doesn't it just sits there until it evaporates, that was annoying, not really for me because I just hopped over it but my husband has a bad hip and he had some issues with that puddle.

 

All in all, we had a great time but it wasn't as perfect as it was the last 2 years.

 

This is our first Celebrity cruise and we booked an AquaClass on Deck 11, 1107. Anyone know any specifics/pictures of this room?

Purchased the beverage packages today while they are on sale. Premium for me as I enjoy the varieties of martinis and hope to work my way through the offerings, and a Classic for DH as he is more of a Jack/Coke guy.

Looking forward to Blu, the reviews have been mixed but I believe it will be worth it! Anyone have hints about what not to miss on the Blu menu?

Marilyn

[wbrumel]

Interesting that you mentioned the music in Michael's as I forgot some comments on the music generally. First, that awful new age/techno crap that they play in the dining room has to go. Really made me think of our Bermuda trip last year on HAL's Veendam, where a string quartet serenaded us every evening.

Second, don't miss Doug Cameron, jazz violinist. You may not think it's something you'll enjoy, but you will ... very entertaining showman.

Also, we went to the Jamison's whiskey tasting in Michaels ... a great bargain and very informative and fun.