Summit Review 8/12-8/19

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I love Celebrity and just came off Infinity on 7/12/12- so I wanted to see how Summit would compare.

 

Captain

 

The Captain was fantastic. He circumnavigated the island of Bermuda upon arrival (6:00AM-7:00AM) and it was wonderful. He was very nice and I enjoyed him. Make sure you're up for the sail-in to NYC around 6AM.

 

Ship Condition

 

The Summit and Infinity are virtually identical. I really couldn't find much difference in them at all- carpeting and decor are almost (if not) identical. They are both in excellent condition.

 

Room

 

On Infinity we had an outside on deck 2 midship. On this cruise we had a balcony on deck 9 (9029) on the port side close to the bow. Of course a balcony is nice. I got a good deal on it but I am glad we are going back to deck 2 for next year's cruise on Millenium. The ship vibrates at the bow on deck 9 and I tossed and turned not really able to get a good night sleep there. The stateroom attendants Glorio and Bogdan were fantastic and the room was always clean. Our "Happy Birthday" decorations were nice (it was an early birthday gift for my son's 12th on September 2)

 

Pool

 

Typical of warm weather summer cruises- the pool was mobbed and for the first two days I was starting to rethink my cruise.

 

Spa

 

Got a great pedicure on Day One! Loved my girl from Zimbabwe.

 

Food

 

We did Bistro on Five on embarkation for lunch and on day 2 for breakfast- was great. Highlights are the "Italian"- banana, nutella, pistachio crepe and the "Mediterranean" chicken, pesto, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella. Food was the same as on Infinity.

 

Buffet almost always seemed more crowded than on Infinity- perhaps because it is a more casual cruise and people want to eat by the pool rather than use the MDR or Bistro on Five. Or maybe there were just more people onboard.

 

Qsine- we love it there and I have now tried most of the dishes. I like the Disco Shrimp, the Qsine Greens (my favorite!) and the Persian Kabob the best. I didn't care for the Lava crab because it is a bit heavy. The Escargo is heavy too but good. The Indian tower is really good. M's favorites is good. The Popcorn Fish and Chips is heavy but good. The Vegetable du jour is like baby food puree (yuck). The Painter's Mignon is fabulous. We also had the Tacos on the Infinity and the "make your own guacamole" is yummy! They need to serve it with chips though. The desserts were all great! The chocolate one is the best.

 

Never did the main dining room or Normandy so can't comment.

 

Activities

 

They have one of the best dance groups in the Revelations after 11PM (before that it is a teen hangout).

 

Trivia- I won twice (TV theme songs and General) so that was good. But it was only offered once or twice a day- except the last day. So that was disappointing but I have a new sun visor and t-shirt now to add to my playing cards, lanyard and two medals from my Infinity cruise. The activities staff was polite but not very funny like on Infinity.

 

Guest versus Crew water Volleyball was great! The guests won and they were all men- shirtless and buff. The crew were all men and kept their shirts on in the pool... so I was looking forward to seeing them shirtless.. oh, well.

 

The shows were good. The Comedian, Troy Thirdgill was funny. We bought his DVD. Having said that, I did not see the adult only show on Friday night and was told that it wasn't good. Also Troy was putting the move on lots of ladies- some married and as young as 17! So I'm not sure he will be asked back next year.

 

The Crew Talent show was good- although I really liked the one on Infinity better. On Infinity the CD and his staff came out dancing to Thriller and it was fantastic. This one the CD just introduced the crew (who were very talented) with none of the pizzazz on Infinity.

 

Bermuda

 

Loved it there! We did the Aquarium and Crystal Caves excursion. It was 4.5 hours and I enjoyed the guided tour, the wonderful aquarium and zoo and the caves. If I had to pick one to DIY- do the Aquarium. The Caves was small but nice.

 

We did the Bermuda Triangle Shipwreck Excursion and there were lots of beautiful Parrot fish among others. Well worth it.

 

The Dolphin Quest I have mixed feelings about. We loved interacting with the Dolphins who are playful and seem happy but I felt badly that they are in such small pools.

 

I didn't do the Segway Tours but those that did it- loved it. You can just book the tour at the end of the pier.

 

Overall- every person loved their tour and the one's that did the 5 hour island tour raved about St. George's.

 

Weather

 

Hot and sunny pretty much the entire trip and smooth sailing. We had beautiful cumulus cloud formations coming and going- which made for exquisite sunsets IMO.

 

Passengers

 

Most of the passengers were from the East Coast. There were plenty of kids onboard (400) but they were well-behaved IMO. I noticed less polite kids on Infinity in Alaska than on this cruise- where no child bothered me at all.

 

Youth Program

 

My son had mixed feelings about the youth program. At first he thought it was boring but as the week went on-he met more kids and said that the activities were better on Summit than on Infinity! That says a lot because he loved the Infinity. This was his last year in the FF. Next year he'll be 12 and in the x-club. We checked that out and there were lots of teens participating in that. One thing they did with the Ensigns (9-11) was they did take them one evening to the pool- for pool games. That was really a fun thing to do with them and I wish the kids had more opportunities like that to swim with the FF.

 

Overall- what started out as a pretty mediocre cruise (namely because of the overcrowding at the pool) turned out to be fantastic and I'm so glad we went. We had an incredible experience in Bermuda. Just a wonderful island with so much to offer. Nice people, beautiful homes and scenery, clean and safe.

[DPurcell58]

Thanks, looking forward to boarding this Sunday. Glad you enjoyed your trip!

[Diane Rose]

Thank you for taking time to write a review. Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Looking forward to mine in less than 2 weeks.

 

Diane

[vivavegas]

Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for sharing!:)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[dln929]

You don't know how much I am breathing a sigh of relief now! We're on the Summit in just about a week or so and I have to admit I was getting a little bit anxious about some things that have been said about her. No more worries now. I know that we're going have a great time, just like you did. Thanks a million for your lovely review.

[iCruise49]

You don't know how much I am breathing a sigh of relief now! We're on the Summit in just about a week or so and I have to admit I was getting a little bit anxious about some things that have been said about her. No more worries now. I know that we're going have a great time, just like you did. Thanks a million for your lovely review.

 

No need to worry! It was a wonderful cruise!

[Eightydays]

We were on the Summit 8/5 to 8/12 and also had a great time. I was a bit nervous about our cruise because a couple of reviews suggests fellow cruisers might be discourteous, etc. but everyone, including the children, were great.

 

This was our first short cruise in some time (usually try for at least 10 nights). Really missed the buffet stations on the Solstice Class ships because everything is pretty spread out. There were people on our cruise who only discovered the waffles a couple of days before the cruise ended. Also, despite having been on a lot of Celebrity cruises, I only discovered the wonderful Caribbean food buffet towards the back of Oceanview Cafe the day before the cruise ended.:confused: Tried Select for dinner and will probably stick with it for our Med. cruise next year. All of our waiters and assistants were great (as usual). Ass't M'D Mazy was outstanding, as was the restaurant manager, both ouf whom worked really hard to resolve our initial dining screw-up.

 

We had a Concierge Class cabin and not sure it's worth the extra money on a short cruise, but the midship location was great. Inside the cabin felt a bit like the Solstice class ships -- but with more storage.:)

 

Did not go to any of the pools because they were too crowded. I had such high hopes for the T-pool, but even that was crowded. It may have been better when the ship was docked in Bermuda but the beaches in Bermdua are so wonderful we didn't even think of staying on the ship. We had been to Bermuda before so we just focused on getting in some serious beach time. Went to Tobacco Bay but the snorkeling was pretty dismal so we might try Church Bay next time. My husband and daughter discovered cliff diving at Tobacco Bay.

 

I am sorry the comedian had issues on the 8/12 cruise because on our cruise he was really, really good. The other shows were good -- typical Celebrity. The singers were really good and for the first time ever, the band was not too loud. This made for an enjoyable experience.

 

Really enjoyed the band (Fusion??)(very good) and the late evening dancing. Wish there were more late night poolside events.

 

Did not do any Captain's Club evening activities -- too tired after all that sun -- but the morning "breakfast" was held in the Normandie restaurant.

 

I think I will definitely do this cruise again soon because we live in NJ and it was super convenient and lots of fun. Only downer was the night I walked into a glass door -- still recovering.

 

One last note -- the ship rocked and rolled a lot the first night out and I was glad we were midship. Coming back the rocking and rolling was constant for the last day and last 2 nights. I actually had sea legs for my first day back and was still a bit disoriented at work on Monday.

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[Lois R]

You don't know how much I am breathing a sigh of relief now! We're on the Summit in just about a week or so and I have to admit I was getting a little bit anxious about some things that have been said about her. No more worries now. I know that we're going have a great time, just like you did. Thanks a million for your lovely review.

 

Plus, you get to sail with 2 of my favorite people:D Sandi and Don:D

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise:)

[dln929]

Plus, you get to sail with 2 of my favorite people:D Sandi and Don:D

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise:)

 

 

Thanks, Lois, I agree with you! And thanks to all the extra comments on this thread. Now I'm back in my "out to conquer the world" mode. Bermuda here we come! :)

 

____________________

Deirdre