Summit - What a rust bucket!

[tomcruiser1234]

I thought Summit got revelutionalized at the same time as the Milli. Or was it another?

 

All i know is that the Milli was great after getting the upgrade. 

 

 

[2flacruisers]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:02 AM, George C said:

We had a great cruise on summit two weeks ago and have her booked next year.

All ships have problems.  We have had no air, toilet problems.  It is just that these days, with social media readily available, you hear most of the worst of what might happen, not the best. We sailed on the Summit in November last year, and booked her again for October of this year.  There were no problems with the condition of the ship, nor anything else for that matter. 

[2flacruisers]

On 4/5/2024 at 11:02 AM, George C said:

We had a great cruise on summit two weeks ago and have her booked next year.

All ships have problems.  We have had no air, toilet problems.  It is just that these days, with social media readily available, you hear most of the worst of what might happen, not the best. We sailed on the Summit in November last year, and booked her again for October of this year.  There were no problems with the condition of the ship, nor anything else for that matter during the time we sailed. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

12 minutes ago, 2flacruisers said:

All ships have problems.  We have had no air

So true!  We lost A/C in our cabin on the brand new Ascent on the last night.  For perspective, we were the first passengers to sail in our cabin...ever.

Edited April 6 by Georgia_Peaches

[hcat]

12 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

So true!  We lost A/C in our cabin on the brand new Ascent on the last night.  For perspective, we were the first passengers to sail in our cabin...ever.

oh no.. hope it gets fixed and stays fixed!   Enjoy your cruise..we loved ASCENT.

[jwlane]

9 minutes ago, hcat said:

 Enjoy your cruise.

Key words---"we were the first passengers to sail in our cabin...ever."

[Hawkstar33]

2001 built, 2019 some refurbishment....Things break, and being out at sea does not offer all fixing options as when you are in port.  Ship runs nonstop.  Things are gonna fail.   Not what we want, but it happens.   Paint gets done on the fly when the conditions enable it.  When folks smell the paint, or stain, or an area is blocked off for sanding , and staining rails, people complain.. Shabby, soiled,  chair cushions, and chairs should be changed, and is a terrible appearance, warranting complaints.  Sewage issues are 95% caused by fellow passengers thinking anything can go in the toilet.  Which in turn leads to disaster for some unfortunate neighbors..2 engines, one for electric etc, one for propulsion..That is major and needs to be addressed immediately as possible. Pilot not docking, power losses, floating around, would make me a bit nervous too, as control of the ship is vital Summit is old, but we love it.. We go again next Feb..sorry to hear these issues and hope for better results...

[kd1224]

Now off the Summit and the remainder of the cruise held no further surprises.  
 

Truly hoping that the next and future cruises do not experience the same or other issues

 

To give some context about my comments regarding Summit - We’ve been sailing with Celebrity for 32 years.  Our first ever was the Meridian when our children were 4 and 7 and we continued to thoroughly enjoy every moment for many vacations, milestone events, and family celebrations.  First trip to Europe when they were teens, engagement celebration with the whole family, honeymoons, anniversaries, etc. Our grown kids also have sailed celebrity as their preferred choice throughout their adult life.  
 

This trip on the Summit was the whole family together to celebrate my recent milestone birthday.   It was the first ever cruise for our 4 grandchildren.  As you might imagine, we were so excited to be back on celebrity again as a family.  Overall, it was a bit of a disappointment mainly due to the poor condition of the ship and the repeated incidents of concern.  The worst part was the lack of timely communications.  
 

However, I will say again that the crew was amazing.  True to form they exceeded expectations each and every day with their warmth, care and graciousness.  
 

Will we be back on celebrity?  Still to be determined.  I hope so, but definitley not on the Summit.  

[Gracie115]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:53 PM, tomcruiser1234 said:

I thought Summit got revelutionalized at the same time as the Milli. Or was it another?

 

All i know is that the Milli was great after getting the upgrade. 

 

 

 

No, it WAS Summit so not sure I would call it a "rust bucket."  Stuff happens...  We were on Summit 3 months after she first sailed in 2001 and we lost power for about 1/2 hour then on our way to Colon.  No big deal, it came back on and we continued a wonderful cruise.  

[Stratford1950]

We are sailing on April 20…this will be our 3rd time on the Summit. The last cruise was in February 2020 and then Covid shut everything down. In 2016 the ship had gone through some updates and we loved it but we could see some wear and tear. In 2020 it had been revolutionized and what a difference it made. So don’t know what to expect this time but it’s 14 nights and we’re cruising and you can’t beat that 😎

[Liao]

16 minutes ago, Stratford1950 said:

We are sailing on April 20…this will be our 3rd time on the Summit. The last cruise was in February 2020 and then Covid shut everything down. In 2016 the ship had gone through some updates and we loved it but we could see some wear and tear. In 2020 it had been revolutionized and what a difference it made. So don’t know what to expect this time but it’s 14 nights and we’re cruising and you can’t beat that 😎

I was on for 9 nights in Dec. and it was in very good shape.  Had a fantastic cruise.

[kd1224]

7 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

No, it WAS Summit so not sure I would call it a "rust bucket."  Stuff happens...  We were on Summit 3 months after she first sailed in 2001 and we lost power for about 1/2 hour then on our way to Colon.  No big deal, it came back on and we continued a wonderful cruise.  

Good for you.  Happy the summit meets your expectations.  To each his own when “stuff happens”.   

[Volk9048]

I love the Summit and h Ave sailed on it 3 times. Sorry for the issues on your cruise and especially the the missed stops.  Just wondering if they gave you any extra cabin credit or future credits.  
 

Lot of power discussion on here.  Most cruise ships today including the Summit are all electric. The propulsion is by electric motors as well. Newer bigger ships usually have 4 main power units but in normal operations use just 2-3 but the Summit is smaller and older and might just have 2 plus a  back up generator.

[TheGinBoy]

Yeah, Millennium-Class ships have only two gas-turbine electric generators - so less to fallback on than most ships which will have four or more engines.

She also has a diesel-electric generator for use in port when using the big gas-turbine generators make less economical sense. 

Edited April 7 by TheGinBoy

[Purplsmurf]

Sorry to bring up an old thread,  but had to respond. We just got off of the Summit yesterday. I don’t understand why the OP calls it as “rust bucket”. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! The cabins were wonderful, food was fantastic, all common areas were great. We saw nothing wrong. We were first on Summit in 2012 and have to say, the ship looked in much better condition now 🤷🏻‍♀️ While we much prefer S class ships, I wouldn’t hesitate to book the Summit again.

[Peteymil]

Loved the Summit last September.  So much charm.  

 

Unforeseen things can happen, but I don't think it always can taint the ship.

 

Recently on Apex, and the toilet flooded into our room.  Things can just happen, but it didn't ruin the trip or our impression of Apex.

[Stratford1950]

On 4/21/2024 at 10:42 AM, Purplsmurf said:

Sorry to bring up an old thread,  but had to respond. We just got off of the Summit yesterday. I don’t understand why the OP calls it as “rust bucket”. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! The cabins were wonderful, food was fantastic, all common areas were great. We saw nothing wrong. We were first on Summit in 2012 and have to say, the ship looked in much better condition now 🤷🏻‍♀️ While we much prefer S class ships, I wouldn’t hesitate to book the Summit again.

We are currently on the Summit going thru the Panama Canal in a couple of days…heading to LA.

Our cabin has been freshly decorated and the Solarium is in great shape. The staff is very accommodating especially helping us with the burial at sea of my BIL…we’d sail this ship again in a heartbeat.

[wrk2cruise]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:38 AM, TheGinBoy said:

Yeah, Millennium-Class ships have only two gas-turbine electric generators - so less to fallback on than most ships which will have four or more engines.

She also has a diesel-electric generator for use in port when using the big gas-turbine generators make less economical sense. 

 

You are correct that they have 2 gas turbine engines.  The additional diesel generator was installed around 2010 when the ships were Solsticized.  The fuel for the gas turbine engines is very expensive so they generally run on diesel and 1 turbine unless they need to make close to top speed when they will add the 2nd turbine.  In port they use the diesel.

[cruise47]

The M Class ships IMHO, are more classy and elegant then some of these so called large modern cruise ships.

[Liao]

13 minutes ago, cruise47 said:

The M Class ships IMHO, are more classy and elegant then some of these so called large modern cruise ships.

Well they are not “so called” large modern cruise ships, they really are large modern cruise ships.

[mahdnc]

On 4/4/2024 at 5:35 PM, kd1224 said:

Currently sailing on the Summit 5 day from MIA that left Monday April 1.  We are a family of 11 sailing in 4 separate cabins on deck 7.  
 

I won’t bore you with the minor, but numerous issues encountered Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday there were 2 blackouts for over an hour each time.  The first occurred at around 4:30.  We were in our cabin and lost lights, TV, AC and internet.  The captain made an announcement and told us “don’t worry I am here with you”. ?did he think we assumed he had abandoned ship?

 

Power was restored in a little less than a hour, but the second blackout happened at 6 PM when we were in the martini bar.  Lots of commotion everywhere and soon they had to stop serving drinks because there was no clean water to wash glasses. If you had a glass and were willing to use the same dirty glass, you could get refills, but nothing that needed a shaker or any utensils in the preparation.  Again, only aux lights, no AC,etc.   However, it was interesting that the registers still worked to swipe cards for refillls.  Power restored around 7 I think.

Suffice it to say that there were a lot of very agitated people making their thoughts known.

 

Now, this evening sometime before 5 PM on Chic night, there’s a main water line issue so there’s no running water anywhere except decks 2 and 3.  
 

Our cabin steward reported “it’s an environmental issue”.  The front desk has zero information except to say they are aware and working on it. Almost an hour later have yet to hear from the captain. Hopefully he didn’t abandon ship this time…..🙄

 

I could not really comment on your post until now because I am on the ship.  I think the use of the words "rust bucket" aren't consistent with the electrical outages that you suffered--I would not be happy about extended or multiple outages of power either however.

 

I have been on Summit for 3 days now with another 12 days to go.  I have seen about 2/3 of the ship by now and I am very impressed with her physical condition so far.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Summit underwent her extensive Revolution makeover which took a month to perform back in 2019.  So she doesn't look like a 25 year old ship at all but rather a 5 year old ship because of her makeover.

 

Now I have seen some rust out on our balcony:  

 

But that is a closeup view (1 foot way). here is the same rust from 10 feet:

 

My wife and I are quite satisfied with our balcony.  I have seen only two other issues:

 

1. minor water leak in the utility corridor that connects our cabin to the hallway.  We pointed it out to our room steward and maintenance came out to fix it immediately.

 

2. One of the mirrored panels in the hallway ceiling had a crack in it with duct tape over it.  These mirrored panels are clearly part of the original ship.

 

 

The ship's passenger elevator interiors--which are one of the first things on a ship to take a beating (and sometimes vandalism)--are in immaculate shape.

Edited April 22 by mahdnc

[CardowMD]

@mahdnc These are my favorite cabins on Summit, the outside space is spectacular. Will really be a treat going thru the canal. Was on a 10 day deck 7 port side corner last May. Best cabin on board. Could see the action behind and check out what was happening on the dock when in port. An extra closet at the entrance and the private hallway into the cabin.  Enjoy!

[81Zoomie]

I have been reading with interest since we sailed Summit in late Dec 23.   First off, the crew was great, and did their best with big smiles as always!  The Captain was very visible, not just for photo sessions.  We adored the forward looking Skyview lounge❤️.
 

To us, it was a range of Summits, almost like sailing several different ships.  The cosmetic interior appearance, the structure/bones, and the exterior.  It’s all subjective, these are our thoughts.

 

Ship #1 - The interior of the public spaces was lovely.  It looked modern, sleek, and sophisticated.  IMHO, the decor created a soothing atmosphere.  Our updated verandah cabin had more storage than our sky suite on a recent Edge sailing!  And, the new layout in the Oceanview Cafe is a huge improvement in space, improves traffic flow, and reduces congestion.

 

 

 

Ship #2 - The bathroom looked nice and updated at a glance.  It had very good storage for its size.  However, the “bones” were tired.  The toilet bowl had been painted at some point in its life and was peeling.  The shower floor needed a good scrub with some bleach, and there was a persistent leak under the sink.  The leak was gradual, but after three maintenance visits, the source was never found nor fixed.  We had to leave a washcloth on the floor to keep the area around the toilet dry. I would call this an inconvenience.  Note to self… sometimes it’s better not to wear your glasses in the bathroom 😂.

 

 

 
 

 

 

Ship - 3. Then there was the exterior.  I would call it tired.  The steel panels making up the ceiling over our verandah were split apart.  There was peeling paint and paint chips in many exterior locations.  We had to wedge a towel in our sliding glass door to prevent it from whistling (in calm seas).  The exterior decks, paint, etc. just left us feeling like Celebrity 🎶…lost that loving feeling…🎶 with Summit.

 

 

 

 

We have sailed on lots of ships over the years, including the Millennium in 2022.  Summit does not compare favorably.  Unfortunately, the food in the MDR was subpar as well.  While we love our Vitamin Sea, Summit is the first Celebrity ship where we have said, “One and done.”  YMMV.

 

Edited April 23 by 81Zoomie

[Germancruiser]

Thank you for all those pictures- very interessting- I almost did not recognize the shop area on the revolutionized Summit. Pictures one and two I  do not even know where that on board is???Looks nice though. I sailed Summit twice but in er Original livery.

[81Zoomie]

10 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Thank you for all those pictures- very interessting- I almost did not recognize the shop area on the revolutionized Summit. Pictures one and two I  do not even know where that on board is???Looks nice though. I sailed Summit twice but in er Original livery.

Guten Morgan @Germancruiser!  Ich denke… the first picture is from near the theater entrance. The picture of the 2 chairs is from the sitting area outside Cellar Masters.  The furnishings and the color schemes combine to give the public spaces a very nice appearance.