First time Celebrity cruisers on Summit

[NCteacherlovescruising]

This is our 11th Cruise, our first with celebrity. We are in Concierge Class. Our cruise got off to a great start!  While being escorted to the priority waiting area for Concierge Class, I saw one of my friends sitting in the suite waiting area. I asked if it was okay to go say hello to her and they said we could just join them so we were first group on the ship!  We went to the embarkation lunch in the MDR, which we enjoyed.  We both had the short ribs and they were quite tasty. We were invited to the helipad upon arrival and departure in Bermuda, which was a nice treat.  My husband ate some of the canapés they brought to our room, nothing looked appealing to me, but it’s not like there wasn’t plenty of food available on the ship. Next time I think I would ask for them to bring us fresh fruit or cheese instead. 

 

We had assigned dining, but after the first night we asked to be moved to Select so we could go whenever we wanted.  Besides, we were assigned to a table for two. I have to say, Celebrity does a better job of making sure our wine glasses were never empty than any cruise-line we’ve sailed with!  We also found their buffet food the best. We have been on Carnival, Royal, NCL, and Princess.  We ate at Tuscan Grille for our Anniversary dinner and loved it!  We both had the filet and it was delicious and paired quite nicely with our bottle of wine, Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I also got the crab cakes, a Caesar salad, and the best garlic mashed potatoes I’ve ever had!  The lemon (I don’t recall the exact name) cheesecake was amazing!  I wish I could order it without going back. Another night we joined friends from our roll call at Q’sine. We had a wonderful evening and enjoyed most of the food. We left completely stuffed!  If it were just the two of us and choosing between the two, I we would definitely choose Tuscan Grille. Speaking of Tuscan Grille, we were surprised they allowed a man in there wearing shorts and flip flops. It didn’t bother us in the least, just surprised because we did see them turn away a man trying to enter the MDR in shorts and most were dressed nicer in Tuscany Grille. 

 

We were blessed with an extra day in Bermuda, which was a nice treat. It made it very relaxing and we never felt rushed.

 

I got to know two ladies from our roll call before the cruise and we have hung out with them quite a bit on this sailing. It has made our trip even more fun!  I would love to sail with them again!  The other two couples are in suites and we are all celebrating Anniversaries.  Janice and Patrick have made reservations for 6 and invited us to join them in Luminai tonight to celebrate their Anniversary.  We are really looking forward to that!  Speaking of them being suite guests, they showed us their rooms (a Sky Suite and a Celebrity Suite), and their lounge and sun deck on our first day here. After seeing all that, we decided to splurge on our next Celebrity Cruise and booked a Sky suite. 😁 I hear once you do that you never go back...  I don’t know, we could sail twice in Concierge class for the same cruise, but I do want to try it once. 

 

We are are awaiting an update from Captain Matt about tomorrow’s arrival in Bayonne. Last night he announced we would arrive about two hours late, hoping today he says we will be on time. Poor planning on our part, our flights home are at noon tomorrow. After his update, which is expected any minute, we will visit guest services to see if they can call our airline and try to get us in a later flight. I will say we have learned our lesson and will never book a return flight that early again. 

 

Kudos to the ships sommelier!  We wanted to order the Châteauneuf-du-Pape in Celler Masters that we had at Tuscan Grille, but they didn’t have it, although it was on their wine list. It took him a while to track us down a bottle, but he did and then didn’t charge us the upcharge for our first glass, I assume because of the wait.  Service has been excellent our entire cruise and I would highly recommend Celebrity to anyone traveling without children. 

 

Finally I would like to thank all of you that helped us in the planning of our cruise. I would say my only disappointment is that I was so looking forward to the Riedel Comparative Wine Tasting. We decided to wait and book it onboard so someone could get credit for it. However, I assume nobody booked it because it wasn’t offered once we were on. Next time I won’t wait if there’s something I really want to do. I almost forgot, there was one other disappointment as well. My husband and I booked a foot/leg massage because we were in a lot of pain from walking around NYC the day before we embarked. While the massage was great and we have felt better since, it was described as 50 minutes, but was only 35!  That’s quite a big difference and we wouldn’t have paid $106 (or something like that) for such a short massage. 

 

I almost forgot, we have enjoyed the entertainment in the theater. Both comedians were hilarious and the singers and dancers were fabulous!  It sounded cheesy, but we had a blast at the silent disco. There’s not much going on around the ship, at least not what we’re used to, but always managed to find something to do until today. I would have spent it by the pool, but it’s closed because of the rough seas. Of course, that’s for our safety and no fault to anyone. 

[ChiSloop]

Tami,

 

We were on the Summit last week. We had a 1:15pm flight home.  We disembarked at 8:30am, found our luggage, went through customs (facial recognition), got a Lyft to EWR, and were at check in at 9:12am. We were even able to take a 10:30am flight home.  I would wait to switch your flight until you have a better idea of when you will arrive. The Summit really is beautiful now, as is Bermuda.  Have a safe journey home. Good luck.

Edited September 7, 2019 by ChiSloop

[NCteacherlovescruising]

14 minutes ago, ChiSloop said:

Tami,

 

We were on the Summit last week. We had a 1:15pm flight home.  We disembarked at 8:30am, found our luggage, went through customs (facial recognition), got a Lyft to EWR, and were at check in at 9:12am. We were even able to take a 10:30am flight home.  I would wait to switch your flight until you have a better idea of when you will arrive. The Summit really is beautiful now, as is Bermuda.  Have a safe journey home. Good luck.

 

They said we will get there at 9:15 tomorrow. That’s an awful tight timeline, especially if customs holds up the ship. 

[Hatteras51]

We were on Summit last week. We had a flight for 3:15. We had planned on doing a ship excursion on the last day to the outlet mall. It was not something that we really wanted to do, just a way to kill time. They said that it was cancelled because there wasn't enough interest. There was an earlier flight that we could take at 11:30 from EWR. The excursions person told us that we could get a private escort off of the ship, and that they would have a private car waiting for us. The price was $150.00 but we had that much left in onboard credit that we were going to spend on the other excursion anyway. Long story short, I changed my flight online, used the private escort,  and was at the airport before 9:00. We didn't start walking off of the ship until 8:15. It couldn't have gone any better. We probably could have made it to the airport not long after that if we had done the walk off on our own and had waited for a taxi. If you are interested in the private escort,  see Jason today at the excursions desk.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We called the airline and they changed our flight to a later one free of charge. 

[hcat]

Sounds like you had a great cruise that exceeded  your expectations. Also seems you felt you fit in just fine.

 

Welcome to X!

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We called the airline and they changed our flight to a later one free of charge. 

 

Excellent!  And so glad you enjoyed your cruise!  We are boarding the Summit tomorrow, and just received an email from Celebrity saying that you’ll be arriving at 9 am, and that our boarding has been pushed back to noon and our departure to 5pm. That’s just a one-hour delay, which isn’t too bad, all things considered. 

 

Enjoy your last day at sea! 

[hurwitz5]

We are also boarding the Summit tomorrow.  Dorian is heading to Nova Scotia this evening.  Hope there isn’t much damage there.  OP:  what are the seas like - how high are the waves?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

5 hours ago, hurwitz5 said:

We are also boarding the Summit tomorrow.  Dorian is heading to Nova Scotia this evening.  Hope there isn’t much damage there.  OP:  what are the seas like - how high are the waves?

 

Not bad at all, I believe they said the highest we experienced was 15’.  Some people, us included,  looked drunk while walking because of the ship rocking, but besides that we didn’t have any difficulty. I did see a woman getting sick in a sink in the Oceanview Cafe during breakfast today. 

 

6 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Excellent!  And so glad you enjoyed your cruise!  We are boarding the Summit tomorrow, and just received an email from Celebrity saying that you’ll be arriving at 9 am, and that our boarding has been pushed back to noon and our departure to 5pm. That’s just a one-hour delay, which isn’t too bad, all things considered. 

 

Enjoy your last day at sea! 

 

Thank you!  We did. Enjoy your cruise!! 

 

7 hours ago, hcat said:

Sounds like you had a great cruise that exceeded  your expectations. Also seems you felt you fit in just fine.

 

Welcome to X!

 

We did. 😊 Thank you!

[DENIE]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, and welcome to Celebrity!  Your experience is on par with what we have found.  Have been on 2 X cruises so far, and will be on 3rd in 11/2019 and 4th in 11/2020. 

[hcat]

7 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Not bad at all, I believe they said the highest we experienced was 15’.  Some people, us included,  looked drunk while walking because of the ship rocking, but besides that we didn’t have any difficulty. I did see a woman getting sick in a sink in the Oceanview Cafe during breakfast today. 

 

 

Thank you!  We did. Enjoy your cruise!! 

 

 

We did. 😊 Thank you!

Just have to ask..did you wear your fav jeans?

[Turtles06]

I am watching the Summit right now on the New York Harbor Webcam backing into Cape Liberty.  Welcome home!  We got next! 

[CruisesRMe]

Thank you for the review, we are considering trying Celebrity.

[PistolPete13]

46 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

I am watching the Summit right now on the New York Harbor Webcam backing into Cape Liberty.  Welcome home!  We got next! 

 

Remember to wear something bright and wave towards the Fort as you're going under the bridge today!  I'll try my best to be there this afternoon photographing the Summit.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

20 hours ago, ChiSloop said:

Tami,

 

We were on the Summit last week. We had a 1:15pm flight home.  We disembarked at 8:30am, found our luggage, went through customs (facial recognition), got a Lyft to EWR, and were at check in at 9:12am. We were even able to take a 10:30am flight home.  I would wait to switch your flight until you have a better idea of when you will arrive. The Summit really is beautiful now, as is Bermuda.  Have a safe journey home. Good luck.

 

They just started self assist (almost 9AM), so we would have made the early flight. Based on the announcement yesterday we were afraid we wouldn’t have made that. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Just have to ask..did you wear your fav jeans?

 

I did.  I wore them yesterday around the ship, but changed for dinner since we were invited to Luminai. I noticed the women in Luninai were dressed up more than those in the main dining room, especially considering it was the last night. I saw others wearing similar jeans 

around the ship, and some were even in yoga pants. 

 

57 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

I am watching the Summit right now on the New York Harbor Webcam backing into Cape Liberty.  Welcome home!  We got next! 

 

Thanks!  Enjoy your cruise!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

38 minutes ago, CruisesRMe said:

Thank you for the review, we are considering trying Celebrity.

 

You’re welcome!  If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer any I can.