Summit Mardch 23 Cruise Review

[Keith1010]

My wife and I sailed on the March 23 Hawaii cruise on-board the Celebrity Summit. After having sailed with Celebrity six times starting in 1993, this was our first cruise on Celebrity since 1998. My wife and I have wonderful memories of all of our Celebrity cruises and over the years have recommended Celebrity to friends. We always found Celebrity to have excellent ships, service and food.

 

I wanted to briefly provide our comments about the cruise.

 

In terms of accommodations we did stay in the Penthouse Suite and I would have to say that there is probably no better suite on the high seas in terms of size, décor and overall beauty.

 

We were very pleased with the level of service throughout the ship. We had an outstanding waiter and assistant waiter in the dining room. The cabin steward was good fine and the butler was outstanding in every way. We found the other staff who we talked with from those at the reception desk, to the Captain’s Club Hostess to the bar staff to the Hotel Manager to those in the stores, etc. to be very helpful and very pleasant.

 

We were pleased with the on-board entertainment and with the other activities offered not only at sea days but when the ship was in port. We also enjoyed the on-board exercise facilities along with the various exercise classes offered throughout the cruise.

 

We also enjoyed the ship itself. It probably is in need of updating at this point though given wear and tear.

 

The itinerary was wonderful from all of the sea days to and from Hawaii to the five Hawaiian Islands that we visited. We were fortunate to have very nice weather in Hawaii.

 

We met some very nice people, especially those from Cruise Critic.

 

Disembarkation was very organized and very timely.

 

There are two areas that Celebrity needs to improve in my opinion.

 

Embarkation, at least in Los Angeles needs improving. There was confusion as to where to stand to first enter the security area. Many of us ended up standing on three different lines. While some of the blame for this goes to those who operate the port, I do think it would have been helpful if Celebrity had a few representatives outside to ensure that the passenger’s were on the correct line and given some guidance to the passenger’s in terms of boarding times and the boarding procedure.

 

The other area of improvement is with the food, particularly at lunch and in the dining room at dinner. We always thought this was strength of Celebrity, which clearly placed them ahead of their competitors in these areas. However, this appears no longer to be the case. We thought the lunches were disappointing from the limited choices in the restaurant to the small portions and were also disappointed with the meals at dinner. The salads are way too small and lack quality and the entrees were disappointing in terms of quality and presentation. Our experience with Celebrity in the 1990’s was that presentation and the quality of ingredients were areas in which they really emphasized. This appears to not be the case today.

 

With that said, we ate in the Normandy restaurant on two evenings and greatly enjoyed dining in this restaurant. The décor of the restaurant, the service and the food is the best on any cruise line that we have sailed to date, including those that are found on the luxury cruise lines.

 

After a few days, we also found a place where we could enjoy lunch. This is the aqua spa where they served both healthy breakfasts and healthy lunches. We wish we would have discovered this area from the beginning of the cruise.

 

The final area in which some improvement would be nice is in the area of room amenities. To our surprise, slippers, and a small sewing kit are no longer provided, nor even a shoehorn. These are items that one expects to find in a premium hotel and therefore one should expect to find on a premium cruise line such as Celebrity.

 

In summary, we enjoyed our cruise a great deal. We sailed with many nice passengers, visited wonderful ports of call in Hawaii, and greatly enjoyed our accommodations along with the entertainment and the wonderful service provided by the Celebrity staff throughout the ship. Again, the area that Celebrity disappointed related to the overall food quality in both the main restaurant and in their buffets.

 

Keith

[Lois R]

Hi Keith, welcome back and nice to hear a positive cruise experience

lately;) :) And the Penthouse Suite! How nice!!!

 

My sis and brother-in-law were on your sailing too!

 

Food is always such a subjective topic. I was on Summit in

October and enjoyed all my meals. Then again, I didn't sail

Celebrity in the 90s...I didn't cruise back then...I keep asking

myself "why not" LOL...anyway, I agree, the Aqua Spa Cafe

was great but I also loved all my meals in the dining room.

 

Again, glad you had an overall good time:)