LIVE from Summit 6/4

[hcat]

On 6/10/2023 at 12:16 AM, rxlowry said:

Tonight’s meal was more a miss than a hit. We had to wait over 40 minutes for a table. We didn’t have our usual team and missed them.  We waited 20 minutes to order and the maitre’d took the order.  Never had wine refill or water.  Left before dessert.  So service not great. 
Food wasn’t the best,  crab cake just ok, tried escargot from MDR and loved, Blu Caesar was good (brought the one from MDR and had to exchange). Lobster was ok but very salty. The rice was disgusting and tasted like iodine.  
 

What time did you go there.?   We go to BLU early...no long lines or beepers

salad looked fresh!

[rxlowry]

47 minutes ago, hcat said:

Sad   looking main course..one lonely veg stalk! How much extra was TUSCAN!

Oh I added that from the side dish bowl to make room.  The steak is served totally alone on plate.  I paid before cruise but it’s about 55pp I want to say. 

[rxlowry]

45 minutes ago, hcat said:

What time did you go there.?   We go to BLU early...no long lines or beepers

salad looked fresh!

Blu opens at 5:30 on paper but people are seated before five!  We checked in around 6:10 and got seated around 6:50.  Getting there at five is too early for us!  
The salad was very nice.  They brought the MDR first which was not as good (lettuce kind of wilted, different dressing and the Parmesan from the bottle).  
I think I’d stick to Blu or higher on Celebrity for me 

[rxlowry]

The last night dinner was back on track.  Loved the smoke trout with sweet potato fritter, summer roll was another hit!  I enjoyed the branzino and Veronica thought the veal was nice as well.  For dessert, there was a soufflé special, so we were excited to try it. They came out way under cooked.  Complete goopy mess.  Our wonderful assistant server replaced it was an amazing Apple tart.  
The comedian was pretty good although he did get heckled bad. It was a tad awkward.  Silent disco fun again.  We ended the evening with the music director playing big band hits. I read that nightlife is lacking but we found it very fun with good options. 

[mahdnc]

Thank you for posting.  What is the verdict on your first Celebrity cruise?

[AndyCapn]

Thanks for the memories.I was on this cruise too and our team (Drink Package) won trivia a couple of times, but I'm guessing it was while you were ashore. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you onboard. I do agree that Luca was a great trivia host.

[rxlowry]

48 minutes ago, AndyCapn said:

Thanks for the memories.I was on this cruise too and our team (Drink Package) won trivia a couple of times, but I'm guessing it was while you were ashore. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you onboard. I do agree that Luca was a great trivia host.

Oh we know your team!  we also won or tied trivia a few times.  I think you were on of the ties!! We also won Majority Rules!  

[rxlowry]

23 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Thank you for posting.  What is the verdict on your first Celebrity cruise?

I'll definitely sail on Celebrity again!  I will post some final thoughts here

[rxlowry]

Last day breakfast on most cruises can be so bad. Not just because you are sad the cruise is over but the quality and service is lacking.  This was not the case. It was just as good as during the cruise!!  It was sad to say goodbye to our servers.  We both got hugs from hostess and maitre’d on our way out!

[rxlowry]

Final thoughts on my first Celebrity cruise:

 

Cabin was very nice.  We both loved the decor and thought the beds were very comfortable (unlike the rock hard bed on Joy last summer).  The shower was on the small side and we both thought it awkward on how it opened in and had a grip bar where it was easy to whack yourself.  

Food was excellent.  We loved our dinners in Blu.  It definitely gives me NCL Haven or luxury line vibes.  I would also rank it above my MSC Yacht Club cruise.  Sushi on Five and Tuscan Grille also fabulous.  We did tire with the buffet at lunch but I think a big part was that we couldn't serve ourselves.  But for the most part, the buffet was nice for lunches and late night snacking.  

The cocktails at the bars were good as well.  I was really impressed with the Zodiac ones I tried in Sky Lounge which were nicely balanced drinks. The Martini Bar was good but I am not a real fan of sweet or dessert drinks but I did sample some and all were made well. The Aperol Spritzes and negronis were made very nice as well.  My daughter liked some of the zero proof drinks but did not have many as they were very sweet.  She did not reorder any that she tried.  We did not notice many servers, sometimes we were served at seats but mainly we did go to the bars.  We never saw a server in the casino.  However, the service was pretty quick even when busy unlike my last NCL cruise where we waited 20 minutes at times.  

We both enjoyed the entertainment options.  The cruise director, Manuel and his team of just two were superb!  He will go down as one of the more memorable CDs.  We loved the trivia and parties at night. The live music options were abundant and went way later than I anticipated. The theater shows were a good quality, very old school cruising (which I am a fan of since my first cruise was in the 80s) vibes. I enjoyed not needing reservations for the entertainment. 

The Persian Garden was ok.  We only used it one day. But we did like the Solarium a lot. 

We did not do much in Bermuda as the ship was our real destination.  I believe this might be my 14th trip to the lovely island and I'll be back in September trying out Oceania with the husband this time. 

Embarkation super fast and organized!!  Same for disembarkation.  

I think the only miss for us was the cooking class but we had an experience! 

Awesome trip!  I've posted three days so far of the blog and I need to finish up the remainder if you want to read more! (Alpacamybagsblog)

Any questions, please ask!  

[granddutchess]

Thank you for your post.  I am glad to hear you and your daughter enjoyed your cruise.  We leave Sunday on the Summit for Bermuda.  Looking forward to going back to this beautiful island and spending some time on the beach.  Happy to hear the food in Blu was good as we are in an Aqua Class cabin.

[SSFrance69]

1 hour ago, rxlowry said:

Final thoughts on my first Celebrity cruise:

 

Cabin was very nice.  We both loved the decor and thought the beds were very comfortable (unlike the rock hard bed on Joy last summer).  The shower was on the small side and we both thought it awkward on how it opened in and had a grip bar where it was easy to whack yourself.  

Food was excellent.  We loved our dinners in Blu.  It definitely gives me NCL Haven or luxury line vibes.  I would also rank it above my MSC Yacht Club cruise.  Sushi on Five and Tuscan Grille also fabulous.  We did tire with the buffet at lunch but I think a big part was that we couldn't serve ourselves.  But for the most part, the buffet was nice for lunches and late night snacking.  

The cocktails at the bars were good as well.  I was really impressed with the Zodiac ones I tried in Sky Lounge which were nicely balanced drinks. The Martini Bar was good but I am not a real fan of sweet or dessert drinks but I did sample some and all were made well. The Aperol Spritzes and negronis were made very nice as well.  My daughter liked some of the zero proof drinks but did not have many as they were very sweet.  She did not reorder any that she tried.  We did not notice many servers, sometimes we were served at seats but mainly we did go to the bars.  We never saw a server in the casino.  However, the service was pretty quick even when busy unlike my last NCL cruise where we waited 20 minutes at times.  

We both enjoyed the entertainment options.  The cruise director, Manuel and his team of just two were superb!  He will go down as one of the more memorable CDs.  We loved the trivia and parties at night. The live music options were abundant and went way later than I anticipated. The theater shows were a good quality, very old school cruising (which I am a fan of since my first cruise was in the 80s) vibes. I enjoyed not needing reservations for the entertainment. 

The Persian Garden was ok.  We only used it one day. But we did like the Solarium a lot. 

We did not do much in Bermuda as the ship was our real destination.  I believe this might be my 14th trip to the lovely island and I'll be back in September trying out Oceania with the husband this time. 

Embarkation super fast and organized!!  Same for disembarkation.  

I think the only miss for us was the cooking class but we had an experience! 

Awesome trip!  I've posted three days so far of the blog and I need to finish up the remainder if you want to read more! (Alpacamybagsblog)

Any questions, please ask!  

Thank you so much for posting this live review! I have really enjoyed reading it and had fun following along what you ate in Blu and seeing which menu it was on my app. I have a better idea of what I might like to order. I'm not a huge sweet potato fan, but those fritters looked really tasty, so I may have to give them a try when we sail in July. Thanks again for taking the time to post everything and your photos were fantastic!

[Sailing12Away]

Thank you for sharing. Always helps to hear first hand to manage expectations accordingly when comparing line A to B. We'll be in a Celebrity Suite, with MIL in an accessible Sky Suite across the hall, so we'll get to see 2 different perspectives on sailing. Her first time in luxury, though we're used to the Haven experience. So again, will be interesting to see her thoughts compared to ours when it's our turn to sail on Summit.

[bunnyette]

Great review!  To anyone going don’t fret about the weather, it’s very changeable.  We enjoyed a lovely day at Horseshoe Bay on Friday while it rained at Dockyard.  We golfed 2 of the days…only rained late Thursday afternoon but cleared up in time for Harbor nights…

[rxlowry]

14 hours ago, bunnyette said:

Great review!  To anyone going don’t fret about the weather, it’s very changeable.  We enjoyed a lovely day at Horseshoe Bay on Friday while it rained at Dockyard.  We golfed 2 of the days…only rained late Thursday afternoon but cleared up in time for Harbor nights…

Agreed!  The weather was not bad!  We had fun ashore!

 

 

[Sailing12Away]

Can anyone recently on Summit confirm if the Retreat elevator is working to the sun deck? MIL is in an accessible Retreat cabin and can't do stairs..... just seeing some rumblings on other sites that she won't be able to get to the sun deck at all.

[jcpc]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

Can anyone recently on Summit confirm if the Retreat elevator is working to the sun deck? MIL is in an accessible Retreat cabin and can't do stairs..... just seeing some rumblings on other sites that she won't be able to get to the sun deck at all.

I was on the ship last month.  It was not working.  I’ve sailed SM many, many times since the addition of the Retreat Sundeck and I can say it’s not working 98% of the time.  I believe it only worked during one of my sailings and you had to get someone from Guest Relations to operate it.  So unfortunately your MIL will not be able to use the Retreat Sundeck.  And be prepared….the elevator to the outdoor movie area on Deck 11 rarely works.

[hcat]

Thanks for a very infirmatuve and fun review!

We are back to AQ class on ASCENT ..looking forward to BLU and spa

[Sailing12Away]

11 hours ago, jcpc said:

I was on the ship last month.  It was not working.  I’ve sailed SM many, many times since the addition of the Retreat Sundeck and I can say it’s not working 98% of the time.  I believe it only worked during one of my sailings and you had to get someone from Guest Relations to operate it.  So unfortunately your MIL will not be able to use the Retreat Sundeck.  And be prepared….the elevator to the outdoor movie area on Deck 11 rarely works.

Well that's really unfortunate as we convinced her to go as a last hurrah before she physically can't travel at all anymore thinking that spending extra to be pampered in the Retreat would be "worth it". If she can't get up there though, this will be odd as we can't leave her on the gen pop deck alone while we enjoy the sun from the Retreat without her.

 

I'm curious to see if Celebrity will forewarn us about this since she's in an accessible room. Or if they'll let us get past final payment and then decide to send a generic "it may not be working" letter to CYA.

[rxlowry]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

Well that's really unfortunate as we convinced her to go as a last hurrah before she physically can't travel at all anymore thinking that spending extra to be pampered in the Retreat would be "worth it". If she can't get up there though, this will be odd as we can't leave her on the gen pop deck alone while we enjoy the sun from the Retreat without her.

 

I'm curious to see if Celebrity will forewarn us about this since she's in an accessible room. Or if they'll let us get past final payment and then decide to send a generic "it may not be working" letter to CYA.

I hope it’s fixed for you. It isn’t cool to be unable to access areas you pay a premium for. I did see the one working to go to Rooftop Terrace. 
But that area is for those not in protective custody or isolation. (Sorry…couldn’t resist as “gen pop” is a pet peeve of mine but not as much as using the offensive “first world” to describe a problem)

[jcpc]

3 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

 

I'm curious to see if Celebrity will forewarn us about this since she's in an accessible room. Or if they'll let us get past final payment and then decide to send a generic "it may not be working" letter to CYA.

My money is on Celebrity will neither forewarn you nor send you a generic CYA letter!  They have never done so in the past so I cannot see them starting now.  If you have not made final payment yet you have the choice of either cancelling or continuing on with your cruise knowing the restriction of Retreat Sundeck access.