LIVE from Summit - 1/5/19 - 12nt Lesser Antilles Caribbean - Penthouse

[WonderMan3]

Here is the Daily from today and debarkation information.

[goldsmip115]

Wow!  That is far more suites than our butler had on our last cruise on the Summit.  The penthouse suites were handled individually by separate butlers.

[WonderMan3]

Today was the final day for our cruise, a sea day. I had hoped it to be a lazy day of relaxing but it turned out to be busier than expected. Mike was up first this morning as had a 9am massage appointment with Lydia at the spa. He left early so he could grab something light to eat at Oceanview. Tina and I had Chip deliver our final balcony breakfast at 9. We are really going to miss those! It was especially nice to today being able to have breakfast while at sea watching the waves go by. Apparently some of the cabins near us saw dolphins off the side of the ship this morning but by the time we got out there to see they had gone.

 

After breakfast we had a brief amount of relax time before Tina and I met up with John at 10:15 to join the bridge tour we were invited to. I had done one on Silhouette last year so it was nothing new but it was a first for Tina and John so they were excited. It was nice to see two female officers in the bridge area. One of them named Ionna, who gave us the tour, said that Celebrity had a process in place to bring more women into the ship navigation area, so hopefully one day soon we will see another female captain alongside Captain Kate. After that tour, Tina and I headed back to the cabin to wait for Mike to return from his massage. The three of us had a second invitation that day for a special lunch with the Captain and some of the ship’s officers at Blu. Tina wound up seated right next to Captain Ioannis and got to have a lot of conversation with him. When she mentioned that Mike and I had just been on Edge recently he asked us how we liked it. We said we had a good cruise and that it was an interesting ship. He said he saw it getting a majority of negative reviews and was wondering why. We told him the ship suffers from form over function. We cited a few examples from our Sky Suite like the lack of coffee table, missing footrests, the giant rocker, the water from the shower going everywhere, etc. but he got a blank look on his face so I don’t think he clearly understood what we were talking about so I switched the conversation back to Summit. The lunch itself was tasty and overall it was a nice experience as I’d never gotten to interact with a captain like that before.

[WonderMan3]

35 minutes ago, goldsmip115 said:

Wow!  That is far more suites than our butler had on our last cruise on the Summit.  The penthouse suites were handled individually by separate butlers.

 

Celebrity has been doing cutbacks. The butler managed 12 cabins while the room attendant had 10 including our Penthouse which is massive. While they gave fantastic service it is clear that they are being overworked. We noticed differences all over the ship like next to no bathroom attendants, no one squirting hand sanitizer as you enter Oceanview, among other things. Service was great on this cruise though and the ship is clean so we were not negatively impacted by these cuts but I know it must be a strain on the staff.

[wrk2cruise]

That's all the high end (high touch) suites for one butler.  I would think they would split port and starboard and give them a few sky suites.  We will just seek him out to say hi or see him in MC at tea time.

[WonderMan3]

Finishing off Wednesday’s activities...

 

After our officer’s lunch, Mike and I met up with John at the casino in order to be present for a raffle for some free play prizes. None of us won unfortunately and then we stayed on and played slots for a bit. I hit a downward streak but then had some nice hits and wound up breaking even for the afternoon. Tina has gone back to the cabin to pack and then we later joined her. The rest of our afternoon was spent relaxing and packing in the cabin except for one brief moment when Mike came rushing back to the cabin from the smoking deck to announce that there was some emergency situation going on as the ship had suddenly made a hard reverse turn. We looked out and saw the ship was indeed going back the way we came. Mike also said he saw a staff member getting into a lifeboat. The ship sailed on for about 10-15 minutes before reversing back to our original course again. The Captain then came on the speaker to explain what happened. Apparently they had seen an object in the water that they had concern about (i.e. potentially a person in the water) and reversed to check it out. It turned out to be a life ring just floating by itself.

 

After we finished our packing we said our goodbyes to Chip and Adhy, our room attendant and tipped each of them as they took care of us very well. Chip said not to worry about putting bags out; he would come in and retrieve them if we left them in the foyer of the suite. We headed off to our final dinner at Luminae. It was just the three of us this time. We enjoyed another nice dinner with Fauzi as our server once again. Photos show the Kataifi Shrimp, Cobb and Caesar salads from the MDR menu, vadouvan chicken, fettuccine, passion fruit soufflé and biscuit crouistillant from the MDR menu. We tipped Fauzi on the way out to thank him for the wonderful service he gave us through the cruise.

 

We then headed to Michael’s Club to say goodbye to Pavel but he was off-shift at that point so we hoped to catch him in the morning. We finished off the evening with our final play at the casino. We needed to play off our remaining players points. I played through mine and then they got a little bit more of my own money before I headed off to bed.

[WonderMan3]

Our debarkation today was pretty relaxed. We woke up this morning around 6 and had a leisurely time getting ready. Mike, Tina and I said goodbye to our lovely suite and to Chip and headed off to Luminae for breakfast at 7:45. Fauzi served our breakfast quickly but we were in no rush as our driver wasn’t meeting us until 9am. After breakfast we stopped in at Michael’s Club to say goodbye to Pavel but he was not there so we left a tip and thank you note with another staff member. Then it was off to debark with our other companions. It was around 8:45 by this time and there was no line to exit the ship. Once down at the terminal we retrieved bags right away and were into a suites/Zenith line for customs. That took all of maybe 2 minutes and then we were outside where our driver was waiting for us. He packed us up and it was off to the airport.

 

Things were a little different at San Juan airport than we’re used to. You have to check all your baggage through a USDA inspection before going to check-in with the airline. There was barely a line there and none of us had any inspection issues. At check-in we had no waiting and we got TSA pre-check for security. Here is where there was some delays. Three of our party’s bags got pulled out for extra inspection. Apparently here in San Juan you have to take out all food items from your bags and have them scanned separately but the agent prior to the scan did not tell us that. He did tell us to remove any electronics larger than a phone from our bags. It will be interesting to see if these increased security regulations show up at other US airports. After security we went off to find a place to sit and that’s where we are now waiting for our flight which is not just after 2pm so we have a lengthy wait.

 

So that wraps up my coverage of this Summit cruise. We had a wonderful time. The Penthouse suite was amazing and so comfortable and we had fantastic service from staff all over the ship, with a few minor exceptions. We actually didn’t explore a good portion of the ship as we were so comfy in our suite and were so active on most port days. What we did experience though we really liked. Summit is a great ship and should get even better after the renovations. We look forward to traveling on her again in the future. Hope those who are still reading my updates enjoyed following along with me. Next Celebrity cruises for us as of now are not until next January on Equinox. Until then, happy cruising all!

[lola2013]

Thanks for the great review and wonderful pictures.

Safe travels home.

Susan

[garda]

Thanks for taking the time off you vacation for a wonderful review and beautiful pictures.  Anxiously awaiting your next cruise!!

[hcat]

Thanks for another wonderful review!

We look forward to our Summit cruise in 2020..

[Zigster]

Thank you for your review.   I looked forward to reading it everyday!  Safe travels!

[woldridge]

Celebrity actually named a second female captain the end of October. Her name is Wendy Williams and she is being mentored by Captain Kate. 

 

Thank you for your review!

[mchell810]

Thanks for the review (and your prior on Edge); all the details are really helpful.

 

FYI: Many airports in the US are requiring that ALL food items in carry-on luggage be removed from bags for screening. 

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, woldridge said:

Celebrity actually named a second female captain the end of October. Her name is Wendy Williams and she is being mentored by Captain Kate. 

 

Thank you for your review!

 

Good to know! Thanks.

[WonderMan3]

45 minutes ago, mchell810 said:

Thanks for the review (and your prior on Edge); all the details are really helpful.

 

FYI: Many airports in the US are requiring that ALL food items in carry-on luggage be removed from bags for screening. 

 

I had food items in my bag last month in Boston and Ft. Lauderdale and from Boston on the way out for this cruise and they didn’t pull my bag aside so I wasn’t aware of this new rule.

[ZiggyGA]

Enjoyed your review.  Thank you  for taking us along.   Picked up some very good ideas for things to do on our January 2020 Summit cruise with similar itinerary 

 

Hope to see more reviews of your adventures

Edited January 18, 2019 by ZiggyGA

[Galaxy2004]

We'll be boarding the Summit on the 29th!!! We'll be in 7203 peeking down on that wonderful Penthouse Suite balcony and dreaming of the day we can enjoy that extra luxury. Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us and for including so many positive comments as well as being honest about some things that were not so good.

[Want2Cruise 701]

Thank you Adam for another great review.  I've been following your reviews since you posted your Penthouse review on the Eclipse with George as your Butler.  We too had George on one of our Eclipse sailings.  I'm very sorry to hear about Mom and she wouldn't be joining you.  My condolences.  

 

Would you do the cruise and waterfall excursion again in St. Vincent?  We have that one booked but now thinking of changing it to the hike.  That long bus ride didn't seen to appeal to me.  The hike excursion is less expensive so it would leave more obc for other things.  

 

Thanks again.  P.S.  We're former Bostonians.  My FIL used to live in Ptown.  Love it there.  Big game on Sunday.  Go Pats.

[Lisamn]

Thanks so much for your helpful posts. They have been wonderful to read. I'm using this thread for much of my planning for my Summit cruise coming up in March.

[youwash]

We also will be sailing Summit on the 29th. I eagerly awaited each days report. I am hoping (and praying) that our itinerary is not changed as yours was-I have 8 private tours booked for our group of 8. 

[PhoenixCruiser]

Thanks for letting us tag along on your cruise!

We are staying in a Sky Suite, do you think we will make an 11:00 flight?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[WonderMan3]

13 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

Thanks for letting us tag along on your cruise!

We are staying in a Sky Suite, do you think we will make an 11:00 flight?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

 

You should be able to. Walk off on our cruise started between 7:15 and 7:30. And since you are in a suite your bags will be in the terminal first and you get a priority customs line which speeds thing along.

[WonderMan3]

16 hours ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

Thank you Adam for another great review.  I've been following your reviews since you posted your Penthouse review on the Eclipse with George as your Butler.  We too had George on one of our Eclipse sailings.  I'm very sorry to hear about Mom and she wouldn't be joining you.  My condolences.  

 

Would you do the cruise and waterfall excursion again in St. Vincent?  We have that one booked but now thinking of changing it to the hike.  That long bus ride didn't seen to appeal to me.  The hike excursion is less expensive so it would leave more obc for other things.  

 

Thanks again.  P.S.  We're former Bostonians.  My FIL used to live in Ptown.  Love it there.  Big game on Sunday.  Go Pats.

 

I’m not sure about that excursion. It was a long ride but the waterfall was very nice as was the catamaran cruise. I’d just try to make sure you sit in the front of the bus near the guide so you can hear what he is saying. That is what made the bus ride annoying for us.

[The Mommy]

What a great review - thank you for spending the time to share your experience.

 

We sailed Summit to Hawaii in 2007 and we have booked our return visit for 2020 on the 11 night Dutch Antilles Cruise.

I am so pleased you were impressed and we are hoping she wont disappoint after our last few cruises being in Solstice Class.

We love the Penthouse and it brought back some nice memories for us - here is a lovely story for you.

 

In 2007 we had only just started cruising and we  met a lovely couple who we chatted to most days on the deck at the back of the ship. In those early cruising days we were 6 couples all in inside cabins. We had planned to watch the volcano from a good vantage point on the deck.

On the morning of the volcano sail-by the lovely couple invited us for drinks in their cabin - I thanked them but declined and explained we were a group of 12 so would stay with our friends. They said of they understood and would we bring them along just for a drink. We accepted and were given a cabin number. We eventually found the cabin and knocked on the door and imagine our surprise - it was the penthouse!!! we had no idea what a balcony cabin looked like - let alone a suite so we all entered and were given lovely nibbles and champagne served by their butler and we all watched the sail-by from the fantastic balcony.

What a wonderful evening we had and we are forever thankful to Sandy for the kind invitation. We have remained friends ever since however we have never met again.

 

We have still not been able to book suites but we always take Balcony cabins now and we will always remember our wonderful evening in the penthouse.

 

[I_r_a]

Thanx for a great review, WM3

 

Ira