Live (sort of) from the Summit - 7/31 mid summer cruise

[dazey]

TourDeCruise, I looked at the deck and there certainly is an elevator and stairwell for direct access to Tuscan Grille so you should have no issues with noise.  We only accessed from our Cabin 3125 through your corridor.  We will pass through quietly!

[abbydancer2003]

Greetings.  Today worked out a bit differently then I thought, so I didn't have time to post about yesterday.  Here goes.

 

It was a pretty slow day.  We went to breakfast at Luminae, and when we got there there was a text that Mike had just woken up.  He thought he could make it by 9:30, so I asked if I could order anything for him.  I did, and the staff was more than happy to oblige.  We spent the later part of the morning hanging out at Al Baccio, and then went to lunch.  Beth and Kath had spa appointments after that, so they went up there, and I cleared a bunch of emails.  At about 3:30 we went up to the pool deck, where Kath was waiting for her next appointment, and did nothing for a while.  We did learn that the wife of the bartender in the Retreat lounge (she works in Al Baccio) has her birthday on Tuesday, so Kath decided we should give her a gift.  So she and Beth bought her a little something.

 

After that it was time to get ready for evening chic  night and the officers reception.  We joined it a few minutes after it started, and met most of the officers.  It was fun and at the end, I spoke to the Concierge to find out about the August/September sailings.  Again, they didn't have much information.

 

After that dinner, and then up to the room.  As I said, a slow day.  Beth had an early excursion, so we didn't do anything else.

 

 

[lhsail]

6 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Greetings.  Today worked out a bit differently then I thought, so I didn't have time to post about yesterday.  Here goes.

 

It was a pretty slow day.  We went to breakfast at Luminae, and when we got there there was a text that Mike had just woken up.  He thought he could make it by 9:30, so I asked if I could order anything for him.  I did, and the staff was more than happy to oblige.  We spent the later part of the morning hanging out at Al Baccio, and then went to lunch.  Beth and Kath had spa appointments after that, so they went up there, and I cleared a bunch of emails.  At about 3:30 we went up to the pool deck, where Kath was waiting for her next appointment, and did nothing for a while.  We did learn that the wife of the bartender in the Retreat lounge (she works in Al Baccio) has her birthday on Tuesday, so Kath decided we should give her a gift.  So she and Beth bought her a little something.

 

After that it was time to get ready for evening chic  night and the officers reception.  We joined it a few minutes after it started, and met most of the officers.  It was fun and at the end, I spoke to the Concierge to find out about the August/September sailings.  Again, they didn't have much information.

 

After that dinner, and then up to the room.  As I said, a slow day.  Beth had an early excursion, so we didn't do anything else.

 

 

A slow day on a ship sounds incredible. No apologies needed.

 

[abbydancer2003]

Monday August 2 part 1

We're in Barbados today.  It's the only port in Caribbean where the only option is ship curated tours.  I was told that they have Curated Taxis and a list of places you could go.  I thought that sounded interesting and thought that perhaps I could go to the George Washington house, and slave museum.

 

Beth and Mike & Kath left early for their excursion, and I  scooted down for breakfast, getting there two minutes before they closed.  After breakfast, I went back up to the room to grab my stuff and head off the ship to see if there was somewhere I could actually go.  At about then, I heard from my friends that they were not happy at the beach excursion, and wanted to go back early.  They asked I could help from the ship.  I'll leave it at  we ended up working it out.

 

When they got back, I met Beth at Al Baccio and soon after got a text that M&K were having lunch on the pool deck and we were welcome to join them.  

 

I see my internet is failing so I'll pick this up later.

 

 

[Projunior]

I was on the Summit July 17-24 and had such a fabulous time that, once home, I booked an encore for August 21. The crew did not wear masks July 17-24, are you saying they have gone back to wearing them?

[lhsail]

Abbydancer, do you remember what you put on the form for departure information?  It asks for Departure Country, Departure Airport, Flight Number, etc.  Did you enter the information for the end of the cruise?  

[abbydancer2003]

The crew are required to wear masks, although they can pull them down to talk.  I've got some hearing issues, so that was appreciated.

 

On the St. Maarten form, I listed the information for the end of the cruise, and they seemed to like that.

 

On to yesterday ..

 

We headed up to the pool deck to find them on deck chairs enjoying a nice lunch.  We said we'd join them and go swimming,   We headed into the buffet for indian food, grabbed a quick lunch followed by a quick change of cloths, and then we went swimming for a while.  

 

Next major event was the helipad sailaway from Barbados for Concierge and Elite.  On our first cruise we got the helipad sailaway on the first day for being in concierge, but since we left St. Maarten at night, I'm guessing they didn't do it, and there are so few people here that it was easy to combine them.

We spent a lot of time there talking to the officers.  We ended up talking to the HR manager, who said her job is being a mom to 790 people.  It was a nice chat.

 

Following that, we dressed for dinner and headed to the lounge.  We had a long chat with Sylvia, one of the Retreat concierges, and then headed to dinner at Luminae. 

 

Nothing much else to report for today.

 

[Host Anne]

Abbydancer ~ thanks so very much for continuing to post.  For those of us sailing soon, we are loving being able to follow along with you.  

 

Hoping that the repositioning cruise and early September cruises are only undergoing "simple" changes (funny, I know).  

 

Can't wait to be onboard on August 21!  THANKS again and keep on enjoying!

[zonacruiser25]

Like several others, we are booked on the 10/9 sailing out of Miami and would love any info if you hear anything.  It is great to hear an ONBOARD account of a cruise!!   Thank you for sharing and I look forward to hearing more!

[Host Anne]

I will definitely post a LIVE FROM once we board.  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

[TeaBag]

Thanks Anne, I'm really looking forward to this since we don't feel we can cruise at this time.  So, we cruise vicariously through the goodness of people like you.

[abbydancer2003]

I thought I did a post about the first part of our sea day yesterday, but I guess I didn't. 

 

Here's a brief summary.  We slept in a bit,  and headed to Tuscan for breakfast.  They have their Elite continental breakfast, and it's open later than the dining room.  It was Ok, I like the location of Tuscan on S class ships better.  After breakfast, we decided to head to Al Baccio with one of the games we brought and played a game of Spendor (I won, which rarely happens).    After lunch we decided to walk around for a bit.  

 

We were meeting M&K for lunch and we had about 15 minutes to kill so we decided to wait for them in the Rendevous lounge.  As we arrived we realized it was the Captain's Circle meet the Officers gathering.  We took a seat, and soon Captain Matt came over.  

 

We learned that his 9 year old son was driving the ship.  We did seriously talk about the current situation.  First, no bridge tours.  Also, that right now, the cruise lines are less concerned with being profitable (I have know idea if the current sailings are helping or hurting their bottom line), and more concerned with proving they can safely sail.

 

He also mentioned that nobody considered, when the Diamond Princess disaster happened, that there were over 1,000,000 passengers sailing.  

 

It was an interesting and enjoyable conversation.

 

After that, lunch in Luminae.  

 

In the afternoon, we went swimming at the Solerium, and then met with some people the group had met in Barbados.

 

Following that, we did our birthday surprise.  It was Daniel's wife's birthday and we'd bought her. a little gift.  Kath had written a poem, and we'd put that on a postcard and signed it.  We really wanted her husband to be there so we worked out a plan.

 

We dropped Kath off at Al Baccio with the gift.  Then, Mike, Beth and I went down to the lounge and asked Daniel to bring us coffee drinks from Al Baccio.  We followed him out, and to stay out of sight, we took the outside deck over to Al Baccio (outside and up one set of stairs).  Daniel was surprised to see us there, so we called him and Tayla over, and gave her the gift.  We think they liked it, and we were pleased that our plan worked.

 

We then headed to the lounge until it was time for our Tuscan dinner.  

 

We had a lovely dinner there.  Our server was Paul from Romania, and he was great to talk to.  We thought we should get him a girlfriend as he was cute and personable.  We suggested the housekeeping manager, since they were both Romanian, but later we found out she's married and has children, so that's not going to work.

 

To bed after dinner and another nice day is a wrap.  Tomorrow, Curaçao, a first for me.

[abbydancer2003]

Cruise Critic has been a bit wonky for me, ie I hit save and it doesn't but that could be the internet here.

 

[Host Anne]

Thanks for continuing to post, Abbydancer.....can't wait to be onboard!

[Arzeena]

21 hours ago, Host Anne said:

Abbydancer ~ thanks so very much for continuing to post.  For those of us sailing soon, we are loving being able to follow along with you.  

 

Hoping that the repositioning cruise and early September cruises are only undergoing "simple" changes (funny, I know).  

 

Can't wait to be onboard on August 21!  THANKS again and keep on enjoying!

I am enjoying this review and do not want to start anything, but please, have to mention something about the Aug 28 Repo :

We went to the Future cruise desk on the Edge on our 7/17 cruise. We were very interested in the repo cruise from St Martin on Aug 28. We asked about it. The rep at the desk told us it was not happening. I asked for details and he did not have any at that moment. So we booked another ship and sailing for next year as a place holder. You should not rely on this info to be 100% accurate......I got the feeling that he may not be the best rep to deal with and I should have waited for the other girl who seemed to know a lot. But we didn't want to challenge him and call shoreside and hold up everybody behind us..... it was the last evening with a significant line of checked in people. Was just posting this info when I read "Repo". We would have loved to go since we love repo cruises.  Did the Summit's repo from San Juan to NJ back when Captain Kate was on it. Anyway, I hope they are just working out some details and the repo does happen.

[Arzeena]

Abbey can you tell me more about the Curated Taxis in Barbados, and your "excursion" please?

Thanks.

[abbydancer2003]

15 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Abbey can you tell me more about the Curated Taxis in Barbados, and your "excursion" please?

Thanks.

I wish I could.  I went through the terminal and saw nothing to indicate where I could get a curated taxi.  So sorry!

 

[minniegidget]

Any chance Abby that you could ask if they can tell you how full the Sept 11 2021 cruise will sail at? 50% 75% capacity?

[abbydancer2003]

Let's see, we're up to Curacao.  We had breakfast in Luminae, and headed off the ship.  Here we were allowed to go off on our own.    Beth and I decided to visit the synagogue in downtown Willimstad (however you spell it) because it's the oldest in the Americas.

 

We stopped at the information booth, and the worker there told us. that we had to follow the shoreline, and cross the pedestrian pontoon bridge to the older part of town.  We had their provided map and it was easy to follow.  The synagogue was open, but the museum within was closed, but we decided to visit anyway.  The main room, where services happen, had a sand floor (common in the Caribbean) and a central bema (pulpit in other religions), meaning it was a Sephardic temple.  We also stopped in the gift shop so Beth could buy a book.

 

From there, we went to the "Floating Market" which was actually produce and souvenir stands  along the water.  It's listed as where vendors from Venezuela sell, and I suspect that's true, as they were speaking Spanish.  Next stop was the gallery of a local artist, and Beth got a couple of prints.  We then stopped for ice tea at a restaurant on the side street. 

 

About then, we got messages from Mike that he was in the area looking for a pharmacy.  We'd already been, so we met him and took him there.  

 

After that, back to the ship and lunch in the buffet.  

 

After lunch we all went for a swim.  

 

Following that, we had the retreat sailaway from the helipad, and spent a lot of time chatting with Jess, the retreat manager (I haven't seen her there much) and Clare, the HR manager.  

 

Following that, dinner at Luminae.  After dinner, I got a text from DH saying "my new car".  Yup he bought a car.  So far since I've been gone he bought a microwave, air cleaner and now a car.  I'm hoping when I call him after finishing this, he hasn't bought something like an airplane.

 

Nice day overall - in October we'll be here until 10pm, so maybe I'll find something else to do, or at least visit the synagogue museum.

[lovecruzin]

Hey Abby, Im a bit late in finding this. Thanks for the blog!

I’m happy you and Beth and once again on your sister cruise! 

Danna

[5:00_Somewhere]

Abbeydancer, I also want to thank you for your travelogue. We board the Summit 2 weeks from today and cannot wait.  I hope things continue to go smoothly for you the rest of your vacation.

 

I must admit, I'd also be interested to hear about your end-of-trip experiences, such as how the on-board Covid testing worked, disembarkation experience at the pier and your experience at the airport for your return trip, especially if you're flying home today.  Happy trails! 

[abbydancer2003]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently in New York, and will try to get the last couple of days worth of information in later today.  (Hopefully I can remember everything!).

 

I will include how the testing worked, and the exit, etc.

 

By the way, around 2pm (I think) on Friday Captain Matt announced the happy news that all tests were negative.

[abbydancer2003]

Well, crap.  I did two posts and CC ate them.

[abbydancer2003]

Let's try  again.

Aruba!

 

After breakfast, we headed out.  Our plan was to try to find something to see, and then have lunch there, since the food in Aruba gets great reviews.  We met up with our friend Mike and so we wandered around the port area with him for a while.  We did buy some souvenirs, and possibly saw a synagogue in a shopping mall.  We then went to a mall near the Renaissance resort and went to Starbucks (air conditioned).  

 

After that, Mike headed back to the ship, and we decided to have lunch at the Dutch Pancake House, which gets great reviews.  We took a walk over to the Renaissance to look at it (It’s gorgeous), and then waited our turn to have Dutch Pancakes.  They did not disappoint.

 

After lunch back to the ship via one of the terminal shops for some really cute masks.

 

Back on the ship, I don’t think we did anything particularly interesting.  I think we did go for a swim in the Solarium pool - I like that on port days.

 

It was evening chic night, so back to Luminae for dinner.  It was rather windy that night, is we did notice, as we walked around after dinner, that they had drained most of the pools.

 

Another fun day in the books.

[abbydancer2003]

Friday was our last sea day.  Our adventures started after breakfast, when we attended the Captain’s Club wine tasting.  It was a small group event, with four tasted wines.  They included a Savignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet.  Our hostess was a sommelier, and she gave us tips on how to taste wine, as well as information about the wine.

 

Following that, it was time for our Covid test, required both to get back to Sint Maarten and to get back to the US.  It turned out that our butler could bring us down there at our convenience, so we were able to go a bit early and skip some of the line.

 

After testing, it was relax until our last lunch.

 

After lunch, we had an appointment with a future cruise consultant.  Simone from Brazil met us the Retreat Lounge.  We ended up booking a 2023 Caribbean on the Equinox (which we will probably do) and a Baltic (which we will probably push out to 2023 or 2024).  

 

Our next event was Friday night services.  We took M&K with us to the sky lounge.  Normally, that venue would not be used, as it’s the regular venue for the Elite cocktail party.  However, since the cocktail party is not happening they can use it for other things.  The service was led by the only American on the ship, the head of the Security.  He did a good job and finished by telling us about his experiences.

 

We then watched the sunset from the lounge until dinner.

 

Earlier in the week, we’d talked to  our waiter from the Mauritius about Indian food.  He offered us Chicken Korma for the last night.  I don’t particularly like Korma, but the rest do, so they asked for it.  It looked good, and I tried it, and confirmed I don’t like Korma.  (Chicken tikka masala, yes, Korma no).

 

After dinner, we went to the shops, and used up some of our OBC.  

 

Then the bags went out.  After that we took a final walk around.  Walking back, we noticed one of Beth’s bag tags on the floor.  We called Guest Services, and she described the bags.  They were grateful they weren’t black.  About 10 minutes later they called back, saying they had the bag and had retagged it.  

 

After that, to bed for our last night.