Summit Photo Review - June 29, 2014 to Bermuda in Aqua Class

[Smilinheart]

 

 

Below is the description for the event:

 

Prepare to awake your sense at our newest entertainment event-Indulgence.

*smirk*

 

I've a question for you... do you know whether or not you can prebook Indulgence?

 

Sailing Summit in August and looking forward to sailing M class again!

 

 

Thanks

[prim8keeper]

I've a question for you... do you know whether or not you can prebook Indulgence?

 

Sailing Summit in August and looking forward to sailing M class again!

 

 

Thanks

 

To my knowledge you can not. You book it at guest services though, so you could just go and book it as soon as you board. They don't hand out flyers for it until the second or third day of the cruise. There is a commercial for it no the Celebrity channel on the tv, but I doubt a lot of people watch that.

[MillbrookMom]

 

It was just me and my DH on this cruise. We are the "target" market right now for X (more on that later). I am 31 and my DH is 28.

 

 

You mentioned this in your 1st post and you might have addressed it already ( came along late and so have just scanned through your posts), but what were you referring to with this?

[prim8keeper]

You mentioned this in your 1st post and you might have addressed it already ( came along late and so have just scanned through your posts), but what were you referring to with this?

 

I talk about it in more detail in post #144 here. It also lead to this thread.

[prim8keeper]

So I thought I would end the review by just doing a final wrap up and giving some final thoughts about various things we experienced that did not really fit into the photo review. All and all I would probably give this cruise an 8 out of 10 in terms of what we were looking for. The main reason it is only an 8 is because we did run into some service issues.

 

Room Steward

 

I don't really expect much from my room steward and I'm not really looking to interact with them or have them do a bunch of things for me. All I honestly ask for is everything I should receive in my cabin and a clean room. Outside of that anything else is a bonus. For whatever reason on this cruise we did not get several things that I felt should have been supplied or replaced by the room steward. The first thing we did not receive was our captain's club coupons. We were also missing laundry bags and room service menus. No big deal, I just asked and they were promptly delivered. They also did not replace our beach towels which we used on the second day and they removed for the third day. This was the first time that had ever happened. Towards the end again we did not receive a final statement or a customs form. While none of these are big things it did cause us to have to make a trip to the captain's club hostess to obtain our coupons and then we had to wait in guest relations on the last night to get our final statement. Guest relations was very confused as to why we had not received one. Our final statement from the steward was delivered on the morning of disembarkation. Not what I would call great service since the last thing I want to spend doing on the final morning is trying to get any mistakes fixed at guest relations. It was just a lot of little stuff that added up over time. Maybe we just got lucky on our past three cruises but this is the first time we have ever encountered an issue like this.

 

Service/Guest Relations

 

For the most part the service we received on the ship was very good, however there definitely are places for improvement. They made a mistake on two of our free pressed items and ended up charging us for them. No worries a quick trip to guest relations and they said it was all taken care of. Three days later we still had not been credited back the $10 to our account. So back to guest relations service we went. It wasn't the initial mistake that bothered me, but the fact that it took two trips to guest relations to get it resolved. That is not modern luxury.

 

Blu

 

Overall we really enjoyed Blu. We have been in Aqua class for all of our cruises on X so we know what to expect. For the most part the food quality was excellent. It seems like this is one area where they are continuing to improve the product. My only suggestion to them would be to add a few more waiters. It was obvious they were understaffed. They also had a few waiters serving as main waiters that I personally didn't think were ready. While they were obviously trying it was equally obvious that they didn't really understand enough English or the menu yet. The one waiter we had on the final day for breakfast still seemed confused by what was on the breakfast menu. I'm all for promoting people, but if you are going to pride yourself on service make sure you staff is trained properly and help support them so they excel.

 

Cafe Al Bacio

 

To the Celebrity rep if you are still reading this, please help your wait staff here by giving your cakes a greater variety of names! Some of them were basically the same name and for whatever reason every time my DH ordered a piece of cake he got the wrong one or two or even three pieces since they weren't sure which one he wanted.

 

Micheal's Club

 

On the S-class we never used this venue or thought it looked particularly inviting. Having now seen the Micheal's club on the M-class I see why people liked going there and were upset it was converted into an area for suite guests. It looked really cool on the M-class. I think once during the entire 7 days did we see someone sitting in there. We also thought the M-class could have really benefited from another bar which it originally had.

 

Dress Code

 

Always a hot topic. From what we saw everyone in the specialty restaurants or Blu was following the dress code. Sitting in Cellar Master's so much we also saw people waiting for anytime dining in the MDR. We did see some people who were obviously not following the dress code. I would say overall this was much more casual all around than previous X cruises we had been on. We did not participate in formal night.

 

Random Questions & Thoughts

 

What kind of deal with the devil did Bermuda make to not have a Diamond's International?

 

Why are there jars of apples at guest relations? Equally odd were the napkins and tongs sitting next to said jar for the staff to get said apples with. Exactly who is going to guest relations to ask for an apple that they felt like this was needed?

 

Did I talk about the chocolates? I don't remember. In case I didn't we only received one chocolate during the cruise. It was a milk chocolate covered Oreo that we got on the first formal night. It was pretty good. I would rather get one of these than the generic Belgian chocolates we received on Equinox. My favorite though would have to be the assorted X branded chocolates you used to get.

 

If anyone has any additional questions I'll be happy to answer them!

[prim8keeper]

On previous cruises we had visited the Eastern, Southern and Western Caribbean. I honestly, despite what I was told by various people, just kind of assumed that Bermuda was like a nicer version of a Caribbean island. I almost don't know how to describe the beauty that is Bermuda, but what I thought wasn't an accurate depiction at all. I hope by sharing some of my photos that the beauty and magic of Bermuda came through. If you enjoy cruising the Caribbean or are a beach person I would recommend a visit to Bermuda. One other thing I loved about just going to Bermuda was that the cruise felt more relaxed. You didn't have to worry about getting back to the ship on time so you could truly relax and enjoy the island.

 

My tip for any first timer to Bermuda would be to invest in an island tour. There is so much to Bermuda and an island tour is the only way to see it all. I also felt like it really helped give us a better idea of what we did and did not want to do.

 

So you are probably wondering what we could possibly be doing next year considering how much we did this year. This is the list of things we came up based on what we saw this year. It will come as no to surprise to those who know me that I have already starting planing out the trip, and before you ask, no, its not in a spreadsheet yet!

 

Day 1

 

Botanical Gardens

Crystal & Fantasy Caves

Swizzle Inn & Bailey's Ice Cream

Break

Harbour Nights

 

Day 2

 

Fort St. Catherine

Bermuda Zoo & Aquarium

Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute

Possibly actually climb Gibb's Hill Lighthouse

 

Day 3

 

Boston Whaler (aka a 3 hour tour when we get lost...) or Beaches

 

I would also like to check out the Maritime Museum which is actually located at the Dockyard or get back to Coopers Island if possible. Who knows! We have a year to change our mind. :)

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thanks again for your great review.

 

Interesting that you found your cabin attendant lacking. Fortunately, I've never had one that bad and have mostly had exceptional ones, but the worst one I ever had was in aqua class. There seems to be a pattern here.

 

I've noticed the lack of training for waiters and butlers lately. Celebrity really needs to pick up the pace on this if they want to maintain their reputation for great service. It's not acceptable to ask someone to re-use a piece of silverware (and I refused to do so). It's not acceptable for a butler to deliver the dinner all at once (including the ice cream dessert :eek:), no matter how nice and willing to please he may be. That clearly is a lack of training.

[prim8keeper]

Since I have been asked a few times what equipment I was using and how I processed my photos I thought I would put all that information here at the end so its easy to find. I took two cameras with me on this trip and also used my iPhone 5 to take a few photos.

 

For the bulk of the photos I used a Canon Powershot SX510 HS. You can find this camera all over the place now. I got mine at Target on sale. For anyone who is interested in the camera here is a great review of it. Personally I really like this camera and find it easy to use. Its basically one of the nicer point and shoots you can get before you have to go up to an SLR. The 30x optical zoom lens is great. The camera is also small enough that its pretty easy to carry around in a backpack or bag. Note: It will not fit in your pocket.

 

The other camera we used is our old Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10. This is a waterproof digital camera. We got it for our very first cruise in 2011. I like this camera since we can take it in the water, it takes great photos and it can do panoramas. It also fits in a pocket so I can easily just take this camera if I don't plan on taking a lot of photos. My only complaint about this camera is the zoom is completely worthless which is why I bought the other camera.

 

I processed most of my photos using an app I have on my iPhone and iPad. While I have access to photoshop at work it takes too long and I'm impatient. So I do it the quick and dirty way. The app I use is called VSCOcam. I believe the actual app is free, but you have to pay if you want a lot of filters. I have all of them. Shocking, I know! What I like about this app is that in addition to the filters it also lets you edit photos in a manner similar to photoshop, but its much faster. I just upload all my photos into dropbox and then pull them through the app on my iPhone or iPad. The only downside to doing things this way is that depending on how big your photos are, it will lower the quality of them. That said I still think the end result is pretty good for FB or CC which is where I post all my photos. I would probably think twice about doing it this way if I was going to blow them up or print them out. For those of you who are really into photography you can buy VSCOkeys that works with Adobe Lightroom for your computer. The problem for me is even with my educational discount Adobe Lightroom will run me $238 a year plus buying VSCOkeys. However, this will probably be my next step as I continue to take photographs.

[phoenix_dream]

Loved your review as I will be sailing the Summit this fall (for the 4th time).

 

Were the apples green? If so, then people would be asking for them for seasickness as they are known for helping with that, although personally have never tried that remedy. If they were not green, then I have no idea either:)

[prim8keeper]

Thanks again for your great review.

 

Interesting that you found your cabin attendant lacking. Fortunately, I've never had one that bad and have mostly had exceptional ones, but the worst one I ever had was in aqua class. There seems to be a pattern here.

 

I've noticed the lack of training for waiters and butlers lately. Celebrity really needs to pick up the pace on this if they want to maintain their reputation for great service. It's not acceptable to ask someone to re-use a piece of silverware (and I refused to do so). It's not acceptable for a butler to deliver the dinner all at once (including the ice cream dessert :eek:), no matter how nice and willing to please he may be. That clearly is a lack of training.

 

On our previous cruises in Aqua we always great service so I don't know what happened this time. I saw someone else post about having this stateroom attendant and how great he was, almost like having a butler. I have to admit my first thought was that maybe he identifies people who he thinks may give him a larger tip and then gives them a more personalized service at the expense of his other cabins. Who really knows though?

 

I agree though, bringing ice cream with a meal is indeed not ok! Our last cruise on Equinox in February was perfect all around, probably our best X cruise, so I kind of knew going in it was doubtful we would have another perfect experience, nor did I expect it. Interesting enough our cruise on Equinox the year before in 2013 was our worst cruise ever. Its amazing how fast things on these ships can go up or down!

[prim8keeper]

Loved your review as I will be sailing the Summit this fall (for the 4th time).

 

Were the apples green? If so, then people would be asking for them for seasickness as they are known for helping with that, although personally have never tried that remedy. If they were not green, then I have no idea either:)

 

They were green and red! I agree, I could understand the green ones, but it was still odd. At first I just thought it was decorative but then once I saw the tongs and napkins I realized they were there to actually give out.

[prim8keeper]

Thank you to everyone for reading my review and I hope you all enjoyed it. I've learned so much from CC over the years so hopefully this too well help my fellow cruisers.

 

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is about my sn and if I actually work with primates. Since this is a photo review lets got to the photo, shall we...

 

 

That is me training an adult male Orangutan back when I worked as a primate keeper, hence the sn. I'm now in management and do primate research. So I'm just training a different type of primate. ;)

 

And just in case you were wondering who spends this much time on cc doing a photo review I have a photo for that as well! This is me and my DH at 2,800 feet at the summit of Mount Liamuiga in St. Kitts. The photo was taken this past February on our Equinox cruise. Believe it or not not only two of our cruising friends wanted to go on this hike with us! I'm in the back in the grey shirt.

 

 

Finally, just so I don't leave you in suspense, we are going to the Galapagos! YAY! We did decide to cut our trip back a little to just the 11 night package that spends two nights pre and post cruise in Quito. My DH decided it would be better to go the Machu Picchu on a separate trip so we would have more time to spend in the Sacred Valley/Lima. As I'm sure you can tell by now we have a bit of an adventurous streak.

 

My dear cruising friend Sharon (BigHairTexan) accused little old me of booking the 15 night trip so my DH would only see red making the 10 or 11 night option seem reasonable. While I wish I was smart enough to have come up with that plan, I thought I would pass along this idea to my fellow cruisers. If you see either of us on a future cruise you can just thank us for this brilliant idea at the molecular bar. Happy cruising!

 

Tom

[chamima]

 

Blu

 

Overall we really enjoyed Blu. We have been in Aqua class for all of our cruises on X so we know what to expect. For the most part the food quality was excellent. It seems like this is one area where they are continuing to improve the product. My only suggestion to them would be to add a few more waiters. It was obvious they were understaffed. They also had a few waiters serving as main waiters that I personally didn't think were ready. While they were obviously trying it was equally obvious that they didn't really understand enough English or the menu yet. The one waiter we had on the final day for breakfast still seemed confused by what was on the breakfast menu. I'm all for promoting people, but if you are going to pride yourself on service make sure you staff is trained properly and help support them so they excel.

 

If anyone has any additional questions I'll be happy to answer them!

 

 

Tom,

This really concerns me.

We are on the Eclipse with you this coming February and I'm sure you remember my saying that we encountered this on our Eclipse cruise last year.

We are/were hoping it was just a one off and that this year would be different.

If it's the same this truly will be our last Celebrity cruise.

This isn't a threat - we love to have long, slow relaxed dinners and the tumult of stressed, overworked, rushing waiters is the opposite of that. I can have stress at home. I go on vacation for the opposite.

I REALLY hope this changes by next winter!

[prim8keeper]

Tom,

This really concerns me.

We are on the Eclipse with you this coming February and I'm sure you remember my saying that we encountered this on our Eclipse cruise last year.

We are/were hoping it was just a one off and that this year would be different.

If it's the same this truly will be our last Celebrity cruise.

This isn't a threat - we love to have long, slow relaxed dinners and the tumult of stressed, overworked, rushing waiters is the opposite of that. I can have stress at home. I go on vacation for the opposite.

I REALLY hope this changes by next winter!

 

I'm hoping the same. I don't think they need much more extra help, just a little. It seemed like maybe just adding two or three more people would be enough. We will be on Silhouette in December, but unfortunately for that cruise we are not in Aqua class. We are leaning towards doing the ultimate specialty dining plan as our alternative since its cheaper than upgrading. Maybe that would be an option for you as well.

[ChrisJH]

Thanks very much,Tom, for a great review and great information about Bermuda! We're looking forward to the pleasure of meeting you and your DH in Person in February.

[crazygirl!]

Just like your last review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I felt like I was on the cruise with you. It was fun, informative, and such great photos. I look forward to your next one. Thanks for sharing!

[prim8keeper]

Thanks very much,Tom, for a great review and great information about Bermuda! We're looking forward to the pleasure of meeting you and your DH in Person in February.

 

Thanks Chris! If only our Eclipse cruise could come sooner.

 

Just like your last review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I felt like I was on the cruise with you. It was fun, informative, and such great photos. I look forward to your next one. Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks! I've been trying to debate what my next one should be... :) I'm definitely going to do Galapagos though. It will be just one more reason to buy yet another camera.

[bighairtexan]

TOM you can PRETEND you didn't book the 15 night Galapagos HOPING to get the 11 night w/o poor Pete having a heart attack. PRETEND AWAY KIDDO. I'm on to you (now where did I put Pete's email address?) ;)

 

Excellent review. Seriously. As you know many of our roll call have been following along and we're even more excited. One gal was taking notes! (hoping there will not be a quiz :eek: )

[Boxerlover2]

Shortly after leaving Revelations we heard the announcement that informed us that the cabins were now ready. It was shortly after 1 pm. With great excitement we headed towards our cabin. I did all my research and had seen all the photos but you never really know if its going to be what you expected until you are there.

 

You can see we had our complimentary sparkling wine and our three apples. Now is this considered a fruit plate? Art? I was never a huge fan of the fruit bowl since we didn't each much of it, but I'm even less of a fan of the 3 pieces of fruit on a plate. When I'm on a cruise the last thing I think to myself is, "I could really go for a granny smith apple right about now!" I think they should just get rid of this. I would be really interested to hear how many apples they throw away each week from people who didn't eat them. At least I hope they are throwing them away after each cruise.

 

 

 

 

So I thought I would end the review by just doing a final wrap up and giving some final thoughts about various things we experienced that did not really fit into the photo review. All and all I would probably give this cruise an 8 out of 10 in terms of what we were looking for. The main reason it is only an 8 is because we did run into some service issues.

 

 

Why are there jars of apples at guest relations? Equally odd were the napkins and tongs sitting next to said jar for the staff to get said apples with. Exactly who is going to guest relations to ask for an apple that they felt like this was needed?

 

If anyone has any additional questions I'll be happy to answer them!

 

Tom, those may be the same green apples that Aqua or Concierge cabin guests did not end up eating! :)

[prim8keeper]

 

Tom, those may be the same green apples that Aqua or Concierge cabin guests did not end up eating! :)

 

haha, That would be too funny. Either way sea sick of not an apple is not what I want to eat on a cruise. Pass the cake please! :rolleyes:

[Boxerlover2]

So I thought I would end the review by just doing a final wrap up and giving some final thoughts about various things we experienced that did not really fit into the photo review. All and all I would probably give this cruise an 8 out of 10 in terms of what we were looking for. The main reason it is only an 8 is because we did run into some service issues.

 

Room Steward

 

I don't really expect much from my room steward and I'm not really looking to interact with them or have them do a bunch of things for me. All I honestly ask for is everything I should receive in my cabin and a clean room. Outside of that anything else is a bonus. For whatever reason on this cruise we did not get several things that I felt should have been supplied or replaced by the room steward. The first thing we did not receive was our captain's club coupons. We were also missing laundry bags and room service menus. No big deal, I just asked and they were promptly delivered. They also did not replace our beach towels which we used on the second day and they removed for the third day. This was the first time that had ever happened. Towards the end again we did not receive a final statement or a customs form. While none of these are big things it did cause us to have to make a trip to the captain's club hostess to obtain our coupons and then we had to wait in guest relations on the last night to get our final statement. Guest relations was very confused as to why we had not received one. Our final statement from the steward was delivered on the morning of disembarkation. Not what I would call great service since the last thing I want to spend doing on the final morning is trying to get any mistakes fixed at guest relations. It was just a lot of little stuff that added up over time. Maybe we just got lucky on our past three cruises but this is the first time we have ever encountered an issue like this.

 

Service/Guest Relations

 

For the most part the service we received on the ship was very good, however there definitely are places for improvement. They made a mistake on two of our free pressed items and ended up charging us for them. No worries a quick trip to guest relations and they said it was all taken care of. Three days later we still had not been credited back the $10 to our account. So back to guest relations service we went. It wasn't the initial mistake that bothered me, but the fact that it took two trips to guest relations to get it resolved. That is not modern luxury.

 

Blu

 

Overall we really enjoyed Blu. We have been in Aqua class for all of our cruises on X so we know what to expect. For the most part the food quality was excellent. It seems like this is one area where they are continuing to improve the product. My only suggestion to them would be to add a few more waiters. It was obvious they were understaffed. They also had a few waiters serving as main waiters that I personally didn't think were ready. While they were obviously trying it was equally obvious that they didn't really understand enough English or the menu yet. The one waiter we had on the final day for breakfast still seemed confused by what was on the breakfast menu. I'm all for promoting people, but if you are going to pride yourself on service make sure you staff is trained properly and help support them so they excel.

 

Cafe Al Bacio

 

To the Celebrity rep if you are still reading this, please help your wait staff here by giving your cakes a greater variety of names! Some of them were basically the same name and for whatever reason every time my DH ordered a piece of cake he got the wrong one or two or even three pieces since they weren't sure which one he wanted.

 

Micheal's Club

 

On the S-class we never used this venue or thought it looked particularly inviting. Having now seen the Micheal's club on the M-class I see why people liked going there and were upset it was converted into an area for suite guests. It looked really cool on the M-class. I think once during the entire 7 days did we see someone sitting in there. We also thought the M-class could have really benefited from another bar which it originally had.

 

Dress Code

 

Always a hot topic. From what we saw everyone in the specialty restaurants or Blu was following the dress code. Sitting in Cellar Master's so much we also saw people waiting for anytime dining in the MDR. We did see some people who were obviously not following the dress code. I would say overall this was much more casual all around than previous X cruises we had been on. We did not participate in formal night.

 

Random Questions & Thoughts

 

What kind of deal with the devil did Bermuda make to not have a Diamond's International?

 

Why are there jars of apples at guest relations? Equally odd were the napkins and tongs sitting next to said jar for the staff to get said apples with. Exactly who is going to guest relations to ask for an apple that they felt like this was needed?

 

Did I talk about the chocolates? I don't remember. In case I didn't we only received one chocolate during the cruise. It was a milk chocolate covered Oreo that we got on the first formal night. It was pretty good. I would rather get one of these than the generic Belgian chocolates we received on Equinox. My favorite though would have to be the assorted X branded chocolates you used to get.

 

If anyone has any additional questions I'll be happy to answer them!

 

 

I agree with most of your observations based on our last cruise in May sailing in AQ on the Solstice:

- We too did not receive CC coupons; had to ask for them.

- The day before our excursion (booked online through Celebrity way in advance), we still didn't receive our tour information and when I checked with Shore Excursions desk, the gentleman who was helping me said they were delivered and he was puzzled as to what I really need. Finally, he re-issued our tour tickets, but no apology was given... I felt like he blamed me for not receiving the tickets.

- We also felt that Blu was understaffed, both in the mornings and evenings.

- Lastly, I agree about the dress code.

[G&L in WPG]

Great review, thanks for sharing!

[need2bespoiled]

SNIP

 

The second formal night is also a night we usually skip in Blu because they have decided to do this terrible orange sauce on the lobster. I'm not sure how others feel about it but we, along with our friends, find that it doesn't work. This is one thing I really wish they would change. Sometimes preparing things the classic way is the best. It became a classic for a reason!

 

We even order our lobster tails in Murano/Oceanliners/Normandie, plain and simply broiled thought I guess I could ask for really tradditional and have it steamed, with lemon (usually as a side to our main). We're from Maine, any other way is simply just a waste, but Lobster here is available at every grocery store, sandwhich shop and even McDonalds, Walmart, drug stores and such, price is 3.99 for culls on the waterfront to 5.99 at the high end :D

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Edited July 15, 2014 by need2bespoiled

[WS80]

Great review, thanks!

My BF and I are boarding the Infinity next week and have 1140 booked, thanks to Cruise Critic :-)

Great to see so many pictures of the ship.

Think in marketing terms we have about the same profile as you guys (male couple in early 30's). Have only taken one Celebrity cruise before but absolutely loved the ship and atmosphere. Already decided what cruise we'll book on board :-)

[sunor]

Tom, thanks for the great picture review, you put in a lot of details which is great, made me feel like we were there with you.

 

Looking forward to seeing you both in Feb 2015.

 

Suz