Summit Caribbean review - Nov 26, 2016

[carolslc]

This is my review of our Celebrity Summit cruise November 26 – December 3, 2016. We were told by a manager that the cruise was not sold out. For the most part, the ship didn’t feel crowded.

 

San Juan Puerto Rico

 

We flew in Friday night and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Condado. It was clean, comfortable, just around the corner from Ashford and the beach. We really liked the Condado area – it felt safe, with lots of restaurants and a short taxi ride to the port. Free breakfast was basic but overall it is a reasonably priced, good option if you don’t need anything fancy.

 

Embarkation

 

We left the hotel at 11 am by taxi. The traffic was pretty heavy near the port so it was 11:45 by the time we got on the ship. The line to check in was short – maybe 5-7 minutes. We had a regular balcony room – 9167 – with no special status.

 

We went straight to the buffet and got a great corner table and enjoyed the buffet, and grabbed additional food from the aqua spa café too, until the rooms were available about 1:30.

 

Cabin

 

Our balcony cabin 9167 was on the small side compared to cabins we’ve had in the past, but it was clean and comfortable. I don’t know if it had been refurbished, but we had no issues – everything was in working order, towels were new, and it all looked nice. Our steward was fantastic. We asked for our minibar contents to be removed, extra pillows, and an ice bucket and he delivered with no problems. He kept our ice bucket filled at least twice a day without asking.

 

I didn’t mind the overhang – I like the shade and protection if it rains. However, this room is noisy. It didn’t wake us up at night as we use a white noise app on our ipad at night. But if we were awake, we heard a lot of noise above us from the buffet area. We also heard dings from the elevator. If you want a really quiet room, avoid this one. I have mixed feelings as it was wonderfully convenient to the buffet, stairs, and elevator. We never used room service for the first time this cruise because it was so easy to run up and get whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.

 

Food and drink

 

I’m mostly vegetarian although occasionally eat fish. I don’t drink alcohol.

We had Select dining in the MDR. We were a party of 4 – two couples. We arrived about 5:45 for dining the first night, and before leaving made a reservation for the same table and time the next night. We did this each day and ate at the same table or one table over – always by the window – with same waiters – every night. It worked out great. For Select, they want you to line up according to whether you had reservations or not. But we had crew at the desk tell us we could get in whichever line was shortest. We did that for the rest of the week and often the “without reservations” line went fastest. We just told them our cabin numbers and they took us to our reserved table each day.

 

In the MDR, there is a Vegetarian menu that has a few more choices than the vegetarian options on the regular MDR menu, but often I just ordered the vegetarian options from the regular menu. There is a leaf symbol that indicates them. Overall I was really pleased with the vegetarian options.

I bought the Premium Nonalcoholic package using OBC. Along with all the soda and water I wanted, my favorite use of the package was for yummy coffee and tea at Café Al Bacio, and smoothies every morning at the Aqua Spa Café.

 

We didn’t eat at any specialty restaurants. We traveled with another couple that had never sailed Celebrity before. They did the Taste of Film and really enjoyed the concept, but commented that it was a very meat-heavy offering, and the meat used was really cheap and fatty. The film was The Chef. They also went to Sushi on 5 for lunch and enjoyed it very much. They said it was almost empty, but service and food were great.

 

I was really pleased with the buffet this cruise. The offerings were all generally good, and the flow was good – no long lines. Newbies – there is part of the buffet at the very back – don’t miss it.

 

The food in the MDR was generally good but some items were a “miss”. We found that it worked best to take the waiter’s recommendation. Unfortunately, meat was inconsistent. Sometimes the beef was great, and sometimes it was tough and/or fatty. Sometimes fish was perfect, and other times it was tasteless or overcooked. Some desserts were disappointing. Crème brulee was consistently very good. Service from the same team of waiters for the week was great.

 

Entertainment

 

Highlights for us – shows in the theater - Divas, Jim Coliton comedian, Stars in their Eyes. Sirens was bad, but we were told it was retired after our cruise. We didn’t go to iMagic. iHollywood was pretty good.

 

The Muted (silent) disco was fantastic – don’t miss it. It was held a couple of times during our cruise. Motown night was fun. We attended a couple of Celebrity Life activities in the evenings after dinner and they were fun. This was a port-intensive cruise so we weren’t looking to stay up late on any night. We were disappointed in the offerings on Saturday night. With Sunday being a sea day, we did want to stay up late, but there was nothing really going on to interest us.

 

Internet

 

This was a big negative for us. There was only one option to purchase prior to the cruise, and it was the unlimited package. It was expensive – almost $250 per person, and in our room the service was horrible. It wasn’t great anywhere that we could find on the ship. Unfortunately, we both had to stay in contact with work during the week but it wasn’t easy. We shared an account – you just can’t have more than one device on at a time.

 

Ports

 

Barbados

We took a taxi to Harbour Lights on Carlisle Bay. It was busy, but has nice services and we were pleased. We snorkeled ourselves off the beach to see sea turtles and the shipwreck. Just watch out for the many boats.

 

St. Lucia

We did the Spencer Ambrose Land, Sea, and Beach Adventure tour. The weather was terrible – lots of rain, but it was worth it. I’m glad we went and I’m sure it would be stunning on a nice day. I’d recommend Spencer.

 

Antigua

We took a taxi to Darkwood Beach. Excellent chairs, drinks and food here, in addition to massages on the beach. Gorgeous beach, and I highly recommend although I’d also love to keep it a secret from everyone but us lol. Our taxi driver tried to talk us out of going and I’m glad we didn’t listen to him. No snorkeling to speak of though, but excellent swimming beach.

 

St. Maarten

We did the Celebrity Ultimate Beach and Snorkel tour in the morning. There were a lot of ships in port and I wanted something where we could stay off the roads. It rained on us but it was an okay tour. I don’t love St Maarten because I don’t like crowds or shopping. The snorkeling was interesting. At least we got out and saw a few things. Afterward, we came back to the ship for lunch. We took the water taxi in the afternoon and did some shopping for our souvenirs.

 

St. Thomas

We docked in Crown Bay. It’s not as nice as Havensight, but we weren’t sticking around anyway. We went to St. John on our own. We were off the ship a bit after 8, took a taxi to Red Hook and got on the 9 am ferry. Went to Trunk Bay (gorgeous), had lunch in Cruz Bay, and took the 2 pm ferry back. Allow 45 minutes to get from Crown Bay to Red Hook in the morning, and at least that long to get back in the afternoon.

 

Debarkation

 

We did self-assist and left our room about 7:45. It was pretty smooth although we encountered the typical busy elevators. We were through customs by about 8:30. Remember if you want to get through customs fastest, use a porter. We didn’t as we weren’t in any hurry.

Overall, it was a great cruise. I still really love the Summit and the crew. They were always so friendly and outgoing. I don’t think I met one grumpy crew member the entire cruise. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Clarea]

Nicely written report, thanks.

[lcumpire]

Thanks for the review - we are on the Summit in Feb

 

 

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[Sheeba67]

We are also from Salt lake and were on a few weeks earlier with a different itinerary. We did things a little different as we spent most of the time at the bars around the ship and chose not to go to any entertainment aside from the acoustic music in the Sunset Bar. Special shout out to Mama Keisha and crew at the Sunset bar. We had good food most of the time, although we were glad we didn't have to spend much time in the buffet as the selection was usually lacking and saw most of the same items the whole trip. We had a great meal in the Tuscan Grill and an ok meal at Qsine. We found the breakfast options at the buffet good, but the same every day and got tired of it late in the week. We had an Ocean View room on Deck 2 which was conveniently located near the Aft elevators and like you, the room was fine with everything in good working condition. The worst part about the cruise was the flight over and back from San Juan. It sucks to get to and from Salt Lake City.

[easyboy]

Glad you had a great cruise. Thanks for the review.

 

 

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Edited December 8, 2016 by easyboy

[carolslc]

The worst part about the cruise was the flight over and back from San Juan. It sucks to get to and from Salt Lake City.

 

 

So true!! That flight is awful!!!! And we flew Southwest so no real food. And then we had to come back to the cold. :-(

 

 

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[Northern Aurora]

While I often read reviews I rarely comment on them, but just wanted to thank the poster for such a well organized review. Great amount of information clearly and concisely presented.

[carolslc]

While I often read reviews I rarely comment on them, but just wanted to thank the poster for such a well organized review. Great amount of information clearly and concisely presented.

 

 

Thank you!!! Others' reviews help me so much when I'm planning. I like giving something back to the community if possible.

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[PostcardJar]

Thanks for the nice review. We are on the Summit on the Holiday Cruise (departing in 2 weeks!) so this well-written and organized review is both helpful and timely!