LIVE! Review from Celebrity Summit - January 6, 2018

[sheltielover1973]

Assuming you've been enjoying your last days on the Summit! and off today :( can't wait to hear about the end of your trip! we fly down this thurs to San Juan-- so excited to board!

p.s. hope your ankle's better!

[mit429]

Joel dropped us off and put us in the care of a lovely woman whose name I forgot. She took us right over to Mike and Jeff, she remembered them from when they arrived. We ended up in front of Sandra’s Beach Shack, which was a little barebones, but pretty good. They took credit cards for tabs over USD$20, but they seemed very confused each time we used one.

 

 

 

 

When we first arrived the beach looked extremely crowded and I was a little nervous that it would be overwhelming. It was totally fine, people were just relaxing and not really making that much of a scene or noise. There were a few people coming around inquiring as to our desire to ride a jet ski, which was also annoying - I always dislike that.

 

I got a dark and stormy, 2 cans of Club Soda, and a chicken & avocado wrap from Sandra’s, I think it was just over $20, which satisfied the credit card minimum. In the future, I’d probably just use cash, credit cards did not seem to be their forte.

 

There were showers and decent toilet facilities available, which is always nice! We were told that they are sometimes free and sometimes cost $2, today they seemed to be free. 🤷🏻*♀️

 

The nice thing about castaways/Sandra’s is that they keep track of who you are, when your pick up time is, and who your driver is. I’ve never had an issue with a taxi not coming back, but this definitely seemed quite organized, which I appreciated.

 

We got back to the ship around 330pm for a 430pm all-aboard. We quickly changed out of our beach clothes and headed down to tea!

 

 

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[mit429]

Update: Sorry for the delay and lack of posts over the past few days. We just got off the ship and had a bit of a whirlwind of a last day (and my WiFi wasn’t working for half the day). I’ll hopefully be able to get the review wrapped up in the next day or so.

 

So yes, back from the beach in Antigua, we headed down to tea. Pavel was there to greet us, along with another Butler, and of course Ilya. I always loved seeing Pavel at tea, he was always so kind and attentive, it just made the experience that much better. Also today one of the tea sandwiches was a BLT, I’m not kidding you when I tell you that I had 8 of them, lol. They were so good. I was consistently really wowed with the quality of the tea service in Michael’s. My only complaint (or suggestion I suppose is a better term) is that they don’t have Fields & Select in Michael’s Club. I know Tea Forte is the “better” tea, but F&S really does make a better iced tea, but I digress.

 

I never thought to take pictures during tea, but maybe I should have. Then again I imagine the tea sandwiches photograph poorly, so maybe it’s best - they’re delicious!

 

I know this next paragraph won’t be the most popular, as people have differing opinions as to what you should or shouldn’t ask for... Last night I had heard some people talking about a helipad sail-away, and that was curious as I hadn’t heard of one. I’m not yet Elite Plus, so my only chance of being invited would be because we were in a suite. So, during tea I asked Anastasia if there was going to be a sail-away on the helipad, to which she said she wasn’t organizing one, but would check with Captain’s Club. She went on to explain that a guest had been on the helipad a few weeks ago, tripped while holding a champagne glass, and quite severely cut himself, so she didn’t think there would be any this sailing.

 

As she was saying that, I turned to the TV in Michael’s which had the bridge cam on, and sure enough ... there was a sail-away going on. I had a little chuckle to myself.

 

 

After tea we went up to the Solarium for a bit in hopes that it would be less crowded than it had been the previous days - it wasn’t. That said, we managed to find ourselves a hot tub, had a drink, and enjoyed a few minutes of total relaxation. We then slowly started getting changed for our evening. We planned to stop by the Captain’s Club Officer’s Social in Revelations, then head to Michael’s Club before dinner.

 

The CC Officer’s Social was very well attended and as always a lot of fun. It was only my second time seeing the cruise director, as I hadn’t been to any shows. He seemed like a lot of fun and the entire team jived very well. Captain Kate pointed out that the Summit was the only ship that has a majority female senior officers - awesome!!

 

And, of course, it was great to see Marlon and Connor up at the bar, during daylight hours for a change! Marlon saw me coming up to the bar and had my drink waiting for me by the time I got there - I love this guy!

 

 

 

After the Officer’s Party we stopped into Michael’s for a drink. Anastasia said she has heard back from the Captain’s Club Host and we would be welcome to join the helipad sail-away tomorrow evening, leaving St. Kitts. YAY!

 

I was really looking forward to dinner tonight, as Dennis had a special treat in store for us. Every night he would come to the table and plead as to if there is anything else we would like, etc, to please let him know. Last night I asked whether there was any possibility of getting some Indian food one night. He said - of course and told us he’d make it happen tonight. I always love Indian on cruise ships, especially on Celebrity, as I think it’s top notch. A lot of the chefs and sous chefs are from India - and this was the case with Luminae’s chef, so I knew we were in for a real treat! I wish more menus around the ship featured Indian dishes, though it is usually available in the Oceanview, which is nice!

 

 

The pizzette, which was delicious and very rich. (I removed the arugula)

 

The Chicken Tikka Masala!! So amazingly good. Dennis and the Luminae team prepared a plate for each of us, and it was delicious. Spicy, but the right amount of spice. My mouth is watering thinking about it.

 

Maybe I’ll have started a trend and we can get something like this on the menu at least once a cruise! Or I’ll never be allowed to make a special request again - haha.

 

I also had some of the half chicken, which was also quite delicious, but the tikka masala couldn’t be topped! It also helped turn my frown upside down a bit - it had been a long day, I was exhausted, and the table next to us was being exceptionally loud.

 

Which brings me to another point, I believe Luminae on the M-Class ships is slightly too small. I feel as though it’s definitely smaller, and therefore louder than the S-Class Luminae. Dennis wasn’t able to seat us tonight until about 9pm due to most of the Luminae guests attending the CC Officer’s Social and then coming to dinner. I understand that Celebrity wouldn’t want to build out unnecessary excess capacity in the restaurant, but there shouldn’t be an issue with getting everyone seated. Dennis was super nice and super apologetic about the delay, which wasn’t a big deal to us, there was a great guitarist in Rendezvous across the hall who we listened to while we waited. Not a big deal at all, just a minor observation. That and that others should be more respectful of those dining around them, we all don’t want to hear your entire conversation.

 

 

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[mit429]

I got a few pictures of our beautiful sail-away from Antigua. We did a complete 180 while leaving the harbor, which Captain Kate described as a “donut,” I believe. It was really cool to watch from the promenade, and then beautiful from our balcony as well.

 

 

 

 

 

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[mit429]

Oh I forgot I had a picture of the dessert, it’s a fairly bad picture, but it was quite good. The pretzel ice cream was delicious (despite me being a skeptic beforehand)

 

 

After dinner we stopped by Michael’s, gave the casino some more money, and stopped by Revelations. The scene in Revelations didn’t seem all that fun, though the people there were definitely having fun, lol, so we called it an early night. I wanted to mention one of the casino bartenders, Keisha ... she was awesome. Always extremely attentive and going out of her way to make sure you got what you needed.

 

Off to bed, tomorrow is St. Kitts!

 

 

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[mit429]

Again sorry for the delay, I was exhausted getting off the ship, and then the jarring reality of cold NYC hit me like a ton of bricks! I know I sound like a broken record!

 

Day 6: St. Kitts

 

You may remember that Cole and I had chatted with Captain Kate about the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, as we had seen she had just been there on her Instagram and we had sort of considered it. You’ll remember that we were quoted a $250pp price which included transportation, full access to the resort, and a 2-course lunch; which we felt was just too much. Well, last night after our day on the beach in Antigua we discussed doing something really nice for the next day and decided to call the PHSK again to inquire about pricing. We were then given a price of $150pp which included full access to the resort and a 2-course lunch, but not transportation.

 

We decided to discuss it over dinner leaving Antigua, which we did and decided why not! We knew it would be about 80-100 roundtrip for the 5 of us to get there, so there was no reason to use their transportation. We “justified” it to ourselves by saying that we’d stay on the ship on the last day, St. Thomas, and save some cash. Plus, it would be nice to end the cruise with a “sea day” of our own. I should have included all this background in last nights post, but I felt it more pertained to this day.

 

As you may have noticed, getting up early isn’t exactly our forte in this group, but when you’re spending that much money on a beach day that helps to motivate people. We had agreed to try to be off the ship by 930am, which seemed early, but reasonable. Yes, I know the more logical thing would’ve been to go to bed right after dinner, but where’s the fun in that - haha!

 

I actually got up super early, at like 730am, and after lying in bed for a bit and thinking about going back to sleep, I decided that I’d hit up Luminae for breakfast. I like to try to get breakfast in Luminae or Blu (that table side muesli can’t be beat), at least once per cruise. It’s usually easiest on a sea day when I can get up eat, and head back to bed for a nap a few hours later.

 

I sent a picture of myself at Luminae to the rest of the group because no one believed I made it!

 

I digress ... I got to Luminae around 845am after showering and getting all my things ready for our day in St. Kitts. Denis and JP were shocked to see me, as by this point I’m sure they knew we weren’t early risers, lol. I sat at a lovely table along the banquet, which is my favorite spot in Luminae in the M-Class ships. I ordered a smoothie, my iced tea, some ice water, and a glass of fresh OJ to start with. I love the fresh juices in Luminae and Blu, I know a long time ago they used to have a station in the Oceanview for fresh OJ, but I haven’t seen it since 2013, or so. I much prefer the table-side muesli in Blu, but I ordered Luminae’s version and it was quite good. I also ordered the heuvos rancheros, which I’ve had before and find to be quite tasty, albeit a little confusing to eat (I just ended up using my hands). Overall the service was lovely, I thanked JP for his great and attentive service and headed back to check the status of the rest of the group.

 

 

 

 

 

As you might have guessed, 930am didn’t happen, but we were off by 10! We headed up to the taxi area, and asked for a cab. I’m not really sure what ensued, but there was a lot of arguing about our ride, I’m not really sure why, but eventually we were assigned a driver and off we went. I know some people feel that St. Maarten has a bit of a mess of a taxi line, but I actually prefer it, the drivers and their vans come to you, and the staff on the ground just tells you to line up in a different place, it’s so much more organized.

 

 

It took us about 20-25 minutes to get to the PHSK, which is right next to Cockleshell Beach, for those of you who are familiar. We passed by the Marriott and the Carambola Beach Club, which ChicagoPaul mentioned a few weeks ago, on our way. Both of those were our original plans before we had this YOLO moment and went to the PHSK. I always love the drive to Cockleshell, it’s such beautiful scenery, and the roads in St. Kitts are soooooo smooth. Our all-aboard time was 430pm and we had originally requested a 330pm pick-up, but our driver was insistent there would be bad traffic and that we do 3pm - we eventually settled on 315pm.

 

 

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[SeaWatch12]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for all of the posts and pictures of your trip.

Have enjoyed reading about your time on the Summit.

I love that ship and am a big fan of Captain Kate.

She made our New England/Canada cruise in 2016 extra special.

I see you booked the Edge preview voyage for 12/6,

so did my partner and I and some of our friends.

Hope to meet you on that sailing.

Mark

[mit429]

We stepped out of the van to two Bellhops and this view ... we immediately knew we had made the correct choice. Cole snapped these two amazing pictures of the lobby and entryway.

 

 

 

We were walked by one of the bellmen through this amazing entryway/lobby to the reception area at the end of the hallway. I had called from the ship that morning to make a reservation for the day passes, but I assume you could just show up and if they had space they’d let you buy one on the spot. They set you up with a “room” for the day to apply charges to, but you don’t actually have a room. After we had put our credit card down and gotten all checked in, a bellhop came in and offered to take us on a golf cart ride of the property - yay!

 

I grabbed a screenshot of Google Maps satellite view and took the liberty of identifying some of the highlights of the property. I wish I had taken more pictures while walking around, and sadly I didn’t get any images of the menu.

 

 

Right off the lobby there is a store, typical of a hotel, with sundries, beach items, etc. Off of the store is a dock which has a boat available for fishing or day trips, we didn’t inquire as to the cost.

 

There are two pools, the Rampart Pool, which is adults-only, and the Lagoon Pool, which is right along the beach (with an infinity edge overlooking) and has its own sandy lounging area, as well as a sloped walk-in, similar to an actual beach.

 

There are three restaurants, The Great House, Fisherman’s Village, and The Stone Barn. The Great House and Fisherman’s Village are open for lunch and that is where we were able to do our 2-course lunch. The pool bar also has an extensive food menu.

 

I wish I had gotten a picture of the drink menus, but it doesn’t seem like I did. The cocktails were all $15, they had mocktails for $9, and beers were $9, I believe. The cocktails were all deliciously crafted with fresh ingredients, so while expensive.

 

I also forgot to mention, WiFi is included with your day pass.

 

We decided to set up camp on the sandy area leading into the Lagoon Pool, introduced ourselves to the bartender, Julian, and started enjoying our day. Overall the resort seemed fairly empty, and that was confirmed with the staff.

 

The Lagoon Pool

 

Me taking a quick dip in the Lagoon Pool, drink in hand, hat on head.

 

Neither the Rampart Pool nor the Lagoon Pool are heated, which probably isn’t a problem on most days. It happened to be extremely windy and fairly overcast the morning we were there, so a heated pool would’ve been nice. There is no hot tub, but there is a plunge pool in the spa, which also is unheated, but definitely warmer.

 

We lounged by the Lagoon Pool for a while, Mike and I swam around it, and explored the different areas (it’s a big pool!). Throughout our swimming and lounging, Julian was extremely attentive and watching our drinks from afar making sure they didn’t stay empty long. There didn’t seem to be any other waiters, which I thought was odd, but maybe that’s because the resort was so empty. There were a few additional pool butlers around to help with chairs, umbrellas, and towels. Additionally, sporadically around both pools there were tables equipped with iced citrus water, cups, sunscreen, towels, eye glass cleaner and an eye glass cleaner cloth (I thought the cleaner and cloth were a really nice touch!).

 

Mike had wanted to check out the spa, so I went up there with him to see what that was all about.

 

 

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[mit429]

The spa was beautiful and is open to guests with day passes to book services or just utilize its lounge space. It has a lovely co-ed plunge pool and shower area, and then locker rooms separated by gender. The showers are absolutely beautiful, open air, with a waterfall as the shower head.

 

The plunge pool

 

Hammocks for relaxing either before or after your service

 

There are private rooms in which massages can take place, or you can opt to have your service outside in an open-air hut (much classier than a hut, but for lack of a better term, it’ll have to do). There is also a lovely nail salon with beautiful tables for manicures and awesome looking pedicure chairs. Also, attached to the spa is a huge fitness center that looks amazing. There is also an open air yoga studio, in a tower meant to resemble an old mill - really awesome.

 

I’m really berating myself for not having taken more pictures, I was a little out of it all week due to my foot injury. But honestly, this place is beautiful.

 

The Rampart Pool

 

After the spa tour we went back down to the Lagoon Pool, so here are a few more pictures of that. By this point in the day there were a few more people out by the pool, who we chatted with - everyone was extremely friendly.

 

Can I just stay here forever?

 

 

That is The Great House in the background, as you can see this section of the pool has a very large wading area, which I found myself walking through a lot. It’s the type of area that you might find those in-water loungers.

 

After Mike and I got back from the spa, we met up with the rest of the group and decided that it was time for lunch, as it was around 1230pm. We discussed a bit and decided that The Great House would be nice, as it has a greater variety. Fisherman’s Village sounded nice, but is mainly seafood - mostly fresh caught - and we wanted some more variety. In hindsight, we should have inquired as to if we could do our “2-course lunch” by the pool rather than in either of the restaurants, as our time was so short.

 

 

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[mit429]

The Great House is BEAUTIFUL, pictures wouldn’t do it justice. You walk in through a massive and heavy door (which I love) into a lobby that is used for the hotel’s concierge and general offices. Off to the left is the bar area, which is set up more like a living room, with a bar area off to the side. The bar/living room opens out onto a beautiful porch that had ash trays for cigar smoking. If you continue down the hallway, you enter into the restaurant, which is a massive room with what had to be 25-foot ceilings.

 

Cole got a great picture of the massive door, looking out towards the pool. You can see the arches of the Rampart Pool in the background, which Chad seems to be looking at

 

We had originally intended to eat outside, but there were no tables under umbrellas and it had gotten a little sunny at this point, so we opted to sit inside.

 

Service was a little and it was evident they were still training some of the staff, but everyone was extremely friendly. I noticed throughout the day that it seemed like we may have been one the staff’s first encounters with day pass guests.

 

I did get a picture of the menu, my appetizer, and my entree! Yay! It became sort of a running joke throughout every meal, where I’d be halfway through eating and suddenly pause and exclaim, “oh ...”, everyone would look at me, and say, “you forgot to take a picture, right?”

 

 

Chicken Roulade

 

Ham and Cheese, which was quite dry, but had delicious bread

 

Jeff or Chad’s Turkey Club, with the restaurant the background

 

I had the Native Jerked Chicken Roulade, which was amazing, and the Kurobuto Ham and Cheese sandwich, which the server had recommended to me. The general consensus was that the appetizers were all delicious and the entrees fell flat. Several of us asked the server for suggestions, but she hadn’t tried much of the menu, which we all found a little strange. I generally find that restaurants make sure new staff have tried most meal options, so they’re able to make honest recommendations to guests.

 

The meal took about an hour and a half, so we were back outside by 2pm. This is when we had our realization that we should’ve tried to eat poolside, instead of spending that time inside - but you live and you learn. I’m glad we tried The Great House, but if we ever come back, it’ll poolside lunch for us! After lunch we decided it was time to go check out the Rampart Pool.

 

I love the name Rampart Pool, it just sounds classy and high end. I believe a rampart is a wall of some kind, (Google confirms I’m correct, it’s a castle wall) so I’m not sure of the context here, but I like it none the less.

 

 

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[mit429]

The Rampart Pool is beautiful, an absolutely stunning and quiet oasis at which to enjoy your day. My only issue was that there were no waiters or a way to contact one, so if you wanted a drink ... down the windy path to the Lagoon pool it was for you. As you can sort of see in my photos, each “pool area” has like a roof structure in front of it. Those are the cabanas behind the Lagoon Pool, which are beautiful, but IMO their roofs severely detract from the views from the Rampart.

 

If my smile looks a tad fake it’s because I hate cold water

 

I love the scenery here!!

 

 

Mike and Jeff had gone up to the spa to check out the plunge pool and lounge around for a bit. Chad, Cole, and I sat around the Rampart Pool and swam our way through most of it, checking out the views from each of the different “pods.” About halfway through this swimming I realized that I shouldn’t be using my foot as much as I was, as the cool water was dulling my pain, so I started hobbling around the pool. Around 3pm, we realized it was time to go and I went up to the spa to fetch Mike and Jeff and ask the spa staff to call us a golf cart back to the lobby. It’s totally walkable, but my suspicions were right and my foot was definitely aching more than it had earlier in the day.

 

The view looking out from the entrance of the spa towards the Rampart Pool

 

Looking from the top of the stairs down towards the Rampart Pool and beyond

 

Mike decided to take a final swim before we headed back to the ship

 

The checkout process was fairly painless and we said our goodbyes to everyone. Our cab was there around 320pm and we were back to the ship by 350pm, no traffic.

 

 

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[mit429]

I realized that I forgot to mention something quite exciting! On the evening of Barbados, while we were taking tea, I noticed that there was a family booking a future cruise in Michael’s Club. I didn’t know this was something they did, but you could make an appointment through the MC Concierge or your Butler to have someone from the Future Cruise office come to talk to you in Michael’s Club! Well it just so happened that was convenient timing, as a sailing we had been debating became available for booking that day.

 

Me, Chad, Cole, and our friend Kyle, who wasn’t on this sailing, are booked on the Edge Inaugural. We made that booking while on the Reflection last March - I was sitting in the future cruise office at a desk counting down the minutes until booking was available. We were able to secure 2 aft-facing Sky Suites on that sailing, December 16, 2018.

 

For those of you keeping track of the Edge’s launch, you’ll know that as of a few weeks ago Celebrity pushed up its launch and moved the inaugural sailing to December 9, 2018. They offered all guests on the original inaugural the option of switching sailings with no change in price, and also offered to cover any airfare changes, if applicable. The December 9th itinerary is not as good as the 16th’s, but it was never about the itinerary, it was about the inaugural.

 

When Celebrity announced the new inaugural, they also announced 4 3-night preview sailings before the inaugural. Kyle, Chad, Cole, and I quasi-joked about booking the preview on December 6th, giving us a true B2B experience. Well that joke turned into me asking Anastasia to see if someone from the Future Cruise office was available to come down to Michael’s to price it out with us.

 

Suites on the December 6th sailing were already ridiculously expensive, plus we figured we should try something different. We knew we’d wonder what infinite verandahs were like and eventually have to sail in one, so why not do it before the inaugural! We ended up with two connecting Concierge Class infinite verandahs, as they were just a little more than regular IV’s and points always matter!

 

It was also a really nice experience having the Future Cruise office come to you - they bring a laptop so they can access their network and their iPad Pro with all deck plans. It was a lovely experience, plus Ilya had champagne in our hands at the completion of booking!

 

 

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[mit429]

Beautiful view of the Summit and the Serenade of the Seas as we headed back towards the ship

 

I know I got a little carried away talking about the Park Hyatt St. Kitts, but it was an impressive experience. For those of you who can remember back a few posts, this evening Anastasia was able to secure us a spot at the helipad sail away.

 

After we got back to the ship, I laid down on the couch and shut my eyes for about 10 minutes and then quickly switched into something a tad more classy, and we headed to the meeting point. After a few minutes of waiting, the group headed up to the helipad. This was definitely a smaller group than I’ve seen in the past, but from talking to people I couldn’t quite get a read on the criteria for invites - there were a few Elite Plus, which makes sense, but also a few first time cruisers, in Concierge rooms. Maybe Celebrity is trying to roll out the red carpet for first-timers in hopes that they’ll return. I’m no expert, but it seems to me that those people would come back with very high expectations, only to be disappointed in the future.

 

As I mentioned, I was told that a guest had injured themselves, slipping while holding a glass of sparkling wine and cutting themselves with it a few weeks back. Well, clearly that was a true story, as there was no sparklingly wine, just bottled water. In all honesty, the bottle of water was fine, the sparklingly wine is often Celebrity Vintages, which is a little rough on the palette. And a bottle of water can fit easily in my pocket as I’m trying to take 10000000000 pictures.

 

On our way back to the ship I was actually worried that the sail-away would be cancelled. It had been extremely windy all day and was still quite windy in port. Thankfully the wind seemed to die down right before sail-away, it really wasn’t all that bad up on the helipad.

 

Captain Kate is up on the bridge, you can’t really see her, but she’s standing in the starboard bridge wing

 

Having some fun with portrait mode and my hat

 

The Serenade left before we did, and they were having a very small helipad sail-away party it seemed

 

The sky was beautiful as she sailed off

 

 

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[mit429]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[mit429]

That’s the Seabourne Odyssey in front of The Serenade, she was also leaving St. Kitts this evening from her anchorage

 

Me, Mike, Chad, and Cole as we leave (Jeff decided to take a nap) - not sure why the caption is “bars & lounges”

 

Another successful helipad sail-away for the books. I couldn’t thank Anastasia enough for making it happen!

 

 

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[cltnccruisers]

Great review - many thanks.

[trucker den]

Does the ship dock starboard side to the pier every port? Or is a mix? Just booked a southern on the summit for next year and I’m wondering if I made the right choice of what side of the ship I wanted.

[mit429]

Does the ship dock starboard side to the pier every port? Or is a mix? Just booked a southern on the summit for next year and I’m wondering if I made the right choice of what side of the ship I wanted.

 

 

They switch it up, most days we were on the pier side, but in St. Thomas, we were not.

 

 

 

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[mit429]

After sail-away we stopped into the Solarium for a bit to relax before getting ready for dinner. This was our second, and final, formal night ... which means the cruise was coming to an end :(

 

On our way to dinner, we stopped by Michael’s Club to listen to Chris on the guitar. On our way to dinner, we took a slightly different route and went through the far side of rendezvous, which brought us out in front of the MDR. As chance would have it, our assistant waitress from Luminae on the Reflection in March, Milena, had gotten a promotion and was now an assistant maitre’d in the MDR on the Summit! She was our savior in Luminae on the Reflection, along with the maitre’d Nenad. She immediately remembered us, based on our large group and the fact that I ordered vodka and ginger beer all the time. We chatted a bit and she said she is loving the new job and ship, but would love to get back to the Reflection at some point, as that was her first ship.

 

The angle and lighting are a bit off, but I was excited to see her

 

I didn’t write a review, so you’d have know way of knowing, but our experience in a Luminae last March really left something to be desired. Our waiter was downright mean the entire time we were there, and frequently snickered at us based on our choices. Our sommelier was fine, but not someone to be remembered. But it was Milena and Nenad, the maitre’d, who really made our experience in Luminae memorable. Without those two, we probably would’ve really shunned Luminae.

 

It’s been amazing on the Summit how awesome the entire team is in Luminae. They all clearly get along with each other and work well with each other - it’s amazing to see. And because of that they provide amazing service, from Denis, to JP and Alex, to Maggie ... we have an amazing team every night. When we had booked this cruise, we had discussed doing both Tuscan at least once, maybe one of them twice, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving them again after our night away. I know it sounds corny, but this team could easily run a 5-star restaurant in any major city.

 

Anyway ... our last formal night in Luminae (for now :P) was amazing! Maggie had convinced Chad, Cole, and I to do a Champagne tasting in Cellar Masters as 10pm, so we had a strict schedule for dinner. Denis did his best to accommodate us, squeezing us into a four-top table and pacing our meal a little quicker than usual. I didn’t mind the fast pace, especially since we had to get to an event.

 

Tonight’s menu

 

I had the wedge, the scallops, and the gnocchi, all of which were delicious. The risotto, lamb, and lobster were also ordered by others at the table.

 

The iceberg wedge. After this picture was taken JP brought out some more dressing, which was delicious.

 

The scallops - yum

 

The gnocchi, very different from those ordered in Tuscan, but I thought they were absolutely delicious.

 

 

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[champagne123]

Scallops PLEASE!!!!

[jimbri]

Great review and photos!

[stinsowm]

Hi Tim

 

Really enjoying your review and photos. I hope to meet you guys on the Edge preview sailing. : )

 

Walter

[lola2013]

Great review and pictures. As I read, I was hoping that you were going to say you had booked one of the Edge preview cruises. My friend and I booked that last week when it became available...would like to have met you! Maybe another time!

P.S. Love the hat!

Edited January 17, 2018 by lola2013
typo

[mit429]

Here are the lamb and the lobster as well.

 

There is an au jus that goes with the lamp as well, but I thought it was more photogenic without it on

 

The lamb with the champagne sauce

 

When we had stopped into Michael’s Club before the sail-away, Ilya had made special mention of the Lobster in Luminae tonight. He said it was absolutely delicious and couldn’t be missed, and that the champagne sauce was out of this world. Our table definitely agreed - wow!

 

After dinner we were treated to Luminae’s chocolate dessert cart - yay! We also ordered a Baked Alaska and a chocolate bar for the table, both of which were delicious. The peanut gelato with the caramelized bananas ... so, so good! Once again the team at Luminae absolutely outdid themselves, we walked away stuffed and super happy.

 

 

 

 

We wrapped up dinner right before 10pm and Chad, Cole, and I rushed upstairs to Cellar Masters for our Champagne Tasting.

 

 

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[dana5150]

You mentioned your friends were in the sky suite. Do you have any pics of their suite?

 

 

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