Summit Review - Nov 29 to Dec 6 2014 - With Pictures

[poffles]

All in all this was a good beach day in Barbados and now I can say I've been to Accra beach. Didn't mention but they drive you over in a large air conditioned tour bus.

 

Our last time in Barbados we booked with Calabaza, a catamaran excursion swimming with the turtles and it was absolutely amazing and may even book that again if I were back to Barbados. Can't beat a catamaran with total 12 passengers, food and drinks included, and swimming with the turtles under sunny skies. That was one of the most memorable things of all our trips and makes me smile just thinking about it now. The crew was fantastic too.

[tnfcruise]

I'm really enjoying your review, particularly the ship photos. We're sailing Summit to Bermuda in the Spring, but I've been to all your itinerary stops so it's great to reminisce, too. Barbados is my favorite Caribbean island...I love the people. As far as those food prices go, aren't they listed in Bajan dollars? If so, it's about $2BD to $1US. Still not cheap, but cutting the cost basically in half makes it tolerable (if one were starving).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[poffles]

I'm really enjoying your review, particularly the ship photos. We're sailing Summit to Bermuda in the Spring, but I've been to all your itinerary stops so it's great to reminisce, too. Barbados is my favorite Caribbean island...I love the people. As far as those food prices go, aren't they listed in Bajan dollars? If so, it's about $2BD to $1US. Still not cheap, but cutting the cost basically in half makes it tolerable (if one were starving).

 

LMAO ... that's hilarious :D. You would be right looking at the menu again, see the BD in the top corner. That would not have crossed my mind. Thank you for pointing that out so I will be aware when looking at future menus on the islands. Oh my, glad we weren't starving because that would have sucked to know cost was not what we thought.

 

And glad you are liking the review, glad to pay back to others who take so much time and care writing them.

Edited January 2, 2015 by poffles

[Archer0749]

Wonderful review. We will be on the Summit for an almost identical cruise in just over a year, so what you are sharing is so helpful. Thank you!:D

[TeaBag]

This is a very entertaining review. I love all the pictures. Thank you for posting.

[Dancin85]

Thank you for this amazing review!

 

We are on the Summit December 2015.

I am already excited!!!!!

 

 

Sent from my BNTV600 using Forums mobile app

[shippmates]

Thank you for the great review and all the pictures. We will be on the Summit in September but sailing to Canada/New England. I was excited to be back on her but with this review I can hardly wait.

[poffles]

Thank you for the great review and all the pictures. We will be on the Summit in September but sailing to Canada/New England. I was excited to be back on her but with this review I can hardly wait.

 

I expect you are sailing to my beautiful home town of Halifax. Glad I can assist with the anticipation :) I'll add that I had a bit of worry about size and age of this ship but all for nothing as she is such a beautiful ship and seems to be weathering wonderfully. Newer and bigger is not always better.

Edited January 2, 2015 by poffles

[poffles]

Thank you for this amazing review!

 

We are on the Summit December 2015.

I am already excited!!!!!

 

Thank you ... I'm really enjoying sharing and as I write I realize how soon you forget stuff. I will try to make the next review (Reflection in April) even better by taking more pictures and jotting notes each day even if it's just for myself to reflect.

[poffles]

This is a very entertaining review. I love all the pictures. Thank you for posting.

 

Thank you ... I tend to write directly from my head without filter and my brain seldom stops so sometimes it feels like rambling. I do sometimes go back and shorten some of my sentences when I even I can see the rambling but typically if I think it then it will wind up on the page LOL

[Mazz55]

Thank you so much poffles :-) pictures and info priceless. :) was it easy to get shuttle to Trunk Bay once on St. John. The cruises excursion to trunk bay is very short. So like your idea. This is our first cruise in a long time and not sure how some things work. :rolleyes:

[poffles]

Thank you so much poffles :-) pictures and info priceless. :) was it easy to get shuttle to Trunk Bay once on St. John. The cruises excursion to trunk bay is very short. So like your idea. This is our first cruise in a long time and not sure how some things work. :rolleyes:

 

The shuttles were sitting there waiting. They had 3 or 4 sitting there and they each had their destination so you went to the one you wanted, another one went to Cinnamon Beach, not sure where else. The were the open air shuttles like they have in St. Thomas. Think it was $4 a person so it was cheap and easy, and shuttles are sitting around on the other end at the beach waiting to take people back.

 

We also had to pay to get into Trunk Bay, think it was $5.

[poffles]

Realize I jumped right over sail away but thought I'd mention that this was when we really enjoyed our balcony.

 

It started pouring rain and we were thinking of all the people that didn't have a balcony that would have to watch sail away either from behind a window, huddled somewhere under cover likely crowded with others, or standing in the rain (could be fun I guess :p). Meanwhile we were comfortably sitting on our balcony, dry, in the fresh air watching San Juan pass us by ... oh and with a beer in hand. Life is good. I have no pictures because my camera doesn't do good night shots, it's sealed away in memory only.

 

We especially loved when the Captain backed partially out from the port and then turned the ship in the harbor, we were mesmerized. We realized if he didn't turn we were on the wrong side to see the fort as we sailed out. Both of us kept saying "is he going to turn" "oh I hope he turns" "please please turn" and then he did. Thank you Captain Dimitrios Kafetzis!

Edited January 2, 2015 by poffles

[poffles]

We roamed the ship a bit more before heading back to the room for the night. We ordered room service breakfast for the next day. Loved that I could order hot items to the room, first time ever.

 

For those interested here is the menu.

 

 

It arrived at the time we selected and only issue was no cutlery which we called back and within 5 minutes there were there with apology so all good and we were eating on the balcony looking out to Sea.

[poffles]

Here's where the random thoughts are in full throttle. For our day in Barbados I forgot to mention a most magical moment upon our arrival. We saw three dolphins near the bow of the ship and if I had not stood up at that moment we would not have seen them. They were following us in and jumped a few times before they disappeared, too quick to get a picture. It made my heart melt to see this and first time ever.

 

So day two barely over and I can now say I got to order a hot breakfast to my room, witness dolphins frolicking along side the ship, and have been to Accra beach. :D

[Tim Buktoo]

Fantastic review. Love the ship photos. Please post more. Cabin pics please. and MDR

Summit to Bermuda August 2015

[poffles]

Fantastic review. Love the ship photos. Please post more. Cabin pics please. and MDR

Summit to Bermuda August 2015

 

Thanks. I've posted pretty well all the cabin pictures I have in this post

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=45087688&postcount=22

 

And unfortunately I don't have anything of the MDR. :(

[shippmates]

Poffles we will be visiting your hometown of Halifax. What would you recommend seeing besides Peggy's Cove. This will be our first visit to your area.

[poffles]

Poffles we will be visiting your hometown of Halifax. What would you recommend seeing besides Peggy's Cove. This will be our first visit to your area.

 

Peggy's Cove is a beautiful place and the trip to and from is very scenic. Aside from that, Halifax city itself has places to explore within walking distance like the Maritime Museum, Citadel Hill (challenge is the hill to walk up) which is home of Fort George and is a historical landmark with stunning views over looking the city and harbor, the boardwalk on waterfront itself is a nice place to stroll if you just want to kill a bit of time before getting back on the ship. Lunenburg is another picturesque place, about an hour outside the city, but very pretty and quaint. Hardest part would be what you can do in one day and Peggy's Cove is definitely way up there for scenery and even living here I make frequent trips down there just for this very reason.

 

You can even hop the ferry (runs from boardwalk) for the ride across the Halifax harbor to Dartmouth side for around $3, get off and hop right back on the next one to come back. Nice cheap way to get a different view of the city for a few bucks. If a nice day you can sit up top in the open seating area, I love doing this myself.

 

Have fun planning ...

Edited January 3, 2015 by poffles

[OhioDogLover]

Poffles,

 

Loving your review. Question: Do you know the details of the tram you posted pictures of in San Juan? I may have missed it. Thank you.

 

Also, DH and I did the Canada/NE cruise on Summit in 2013. One more thing to visit that we really liked in Halifax. Although it isn't nearly as good as Peggy's Cove, there is also the Nova Scotia Sport Museum. It is within walking distance of the port, and you get to see Sidney Crosby's dryer, among other things. And, you can get a Halifax Moosehead shirt. We loved Halifax.

 

Ohiodoglover

[poffles]

Poffles,

 

Loving your review. Question: Do you know the details of the tram you posted pictures of in San Juan? I may have missed it. Thank you.

 

Ohiodoglover

 

Figure this might be helpful and pretty much sums it up.

 

http://www.touroldsanjuan.com/trolley-map/

 

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/free-trolley-old-san-juan/

 

It's a hop on hop off trolley and totally free, though they have a place where you can drop a donation that I think goes to conservation.

 

This was fun to ride around the city to take in the sights and definitely a good way to get to the forts without a long uphill walk in the heat. The trolley even goes all the way up the long entry way into the fort so it even saved steps there. Hope this helps.

[youwash]

Thanks for posting great pictures. Was showing them to DH to start getting him as excited as I am. And I am excited, edocs came today and I ordered our luggage tags.

[poffles]

Guess I should continue ...

 

So Tuesday St. Lucia, first views of the island. Another wonderful day, sunny and hot, though it did threaten rain a bit and we did have a slight sprinkle at one point but that was when we were in the rain forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[poffles]

St. Lucia cont...

 

We've been to this island before and last trip we did Cosol Tours and it was more than we could have expected. Believe it was $65 US pp and was a full day island tour. Free drinks - pop, beer, rum punch flowed freely the entire day, they provided a lunch which was all local things and many stops along the way for picture taking. Was in an open air shuttle which made it even more fun to feel so close to the outside surroundings.

 

So this trip we weren't sure what to do so finally settled on the Adrena-Line excursion (SLA4 - $87 CAD pp). First time zip lining so really looking forward to it. I don't have a lot of pictures of this but I'll share what I have. I'm glad I tried it, but it really didn't wow me like I thought it would. Didn't find it scary, breathtaking or anything like I expected. Recall there were seven zip line runs in total. I think I would prefer ones with longer runs so that you have more time to enjoy the rides across, felt like you just stepped off on one end and blinked and were on other end so too much prep and landing for me. I think I would have liked it more above the trees than what they had, this one between/within the trees so felt like monkey swinging. Just sayin :D

 

 

 

 

This was one spot where they had to propel you down a rope to the ground.

 

 

Sorry I don't have more pictures of this but it's difficult to swing and take pictures at the same time so the camera was often tucked away.

 

The bus ride to and from was more an adventure than the zip line. They have very winding and narrow roads and our driver was on a mission. He would beep his horn as he approached sharp turns to warn anyone coming the other way not that they would have time to move anyway. I sat there praying there were few 'hard of hearing' people nearby :eek: The staff that led our team around the zip lines were great, very friendly and professional. All in all a good morning.

[poffles]

After returning to the ship we had the afternoon to explore the local port a bit and we didn't get to do this last time so after freshening up on the ship off we went again.