Summit Panama Canal 1/5/08 thoughts

[Joby]

Hi,

 

we just returned from our 5th Celebrity cruise. It was our first on the Summit, the others being Century, Horizon, Constellation, and the Galaxy.

 

This was a very special cruise for us as our Mom has recurrent lung cancer and special it was!!!

 

I was travelling with my sister and our 78 year old Mom. We stayed in cabin #6103, a handicapped balcony cabin--our first balcony too :) We had a great room steward, Soccorro. Very soft spoken and quite cute if I may say so :) he was so kind and thoughtful to Mom.

 

We had a wonderful cruise! The ship was great, the itinerary was perfectly paced for us with about every other day being a sea day with interesting ports in between.

 

We had a nice Cruise Critic group. We ran into some of the group frequently and others we didn't see after the first CC Connections party.

 

We had early dinner seating at table #412 and our waiter Sirri and his assistant were wonderful. Our tablemates were fabulous, a couple from near Philadelphia and another couple from NY state. We hit it off from the first night. In all five of our cruises, we have never had bad tablemates--how the heck does Celebrity do that???

 

We have never been through the Panama Canal, but had seen it before. It was really awesome to actually go through it! Not so much the sight of it, but actually passing through something of such magnitude. Knowing the history and the hardships that it took to build it gave me goosebumps!

 

Besides the Canal, the other highlight of the cruise was being invited to the Captain's table for our last formal night! We dined with Donald Beard, the Food and Beverage Manager.

 

We had a grand time at the Captain's table--pre-dinner drinks, parading down the dining room staircase to the table, a beautiful table and very nice tablemates, great conversation, great wines, a rose for each lady and finally a picture of the table delivered to our cabin the next day. We felt like Cinderella's that evening :)

 

We were also invited for a bridge tour. It was really interesting and WOW, all of those very young and handsome Greek officers! Captain Yannis was friendly and very open to pictures. We had a great time.

 

As for the ports: we left from Los Angeles and went to Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Huatulco, Puntarenas Costa Rica, Panama Canal, Aruba, Curacao and finally landed in San Juan.

 

All of the ports were new to us except Aruba and Curacao. We enjoyed all of them for different reasons.

 

In Cabo, we did a whale watching tour with the Rissalena (http://www.rissalena.com ).

 

It was FANTASTIC. Eduardo takes only up to 18 people, we saw many Humpback whales, had a great homemade lunch with open bar and great company. It was a fantastic day. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Acapulco--we did a private tour with Ismael Silva

( ismael_silva1772@yahoo.com ).

 

Ismael was prompt, friendly, very accomodating and is an Acapulco native. We spent 7 hours with him and saw all of the major sights, went to a couple of grocery stores (my favorite places to buy souviners), a couple of liquor stores looking for a Mexican liqueur and just had a great time. We wouldn't hesitiate to go with Ismael again!

 

Huatulco--we went on a private tour with Hurricane Diver's (http://www.hurricanedivers.com ) .

 

Roberto runs a top notch business. We spent 7 hours on a comfortable boat with just 5 of us onboard and 3 crew members. We toured all of the bays, saw a school of thousands of rays with some "flying", saw turtles, dolphins, snorkeled and had a delicious homemade lunch on a deserted beach. One of the crew even went so far as to carry Mom on and off the boat to the beach for our picnic lunch! This is another excursion we would do again.

 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica we did a private tour with Leonardo Rodriguez who came well reccommended from another travel board.

 

This tour we would NOT do again.

 

Leo was supposed to be our guide as he is a native of CR and knows the flora and fauna of the area. He supposedly had car trouble and sent Carlos instead. Carlos was very nice, but didn't know the flora or fauna of the area and was bascially just a driver for the day. We went to Carrera National Park, did a crocodile boat tour, ate at a good resaturant, and stopped at a grocery. The tour lasted 8 hours and was pretty expensive for what we got. DEFINETLY not a do again tour with Leo.

 

In Aruba we had a daypass to the Amsterdam Manor hotel (http://www.amsterdammanor.com ) .

 

The hotel, pool area and beach were beautiful. The service was great and it's a place we would stay at if we ever get to Aruba for a land vacation.

 

The ship didn't leave Aruba until 11 pm, so in the evening after dinner on the Summit, my sister and I and a couple from our table went to the Crystal Casino. I spent my whole wad of 3 dollar bills (yes, that's right three -3-dollars) in a matter of minutes on nickle slot machines and I was done. I just don't see the appeal of gambling. My sister on the other hand enjoys the slots. I'm too tight to throw my $$ down the drain and also waaay too unlucky :)

 

Curacao, my sister and Mom went on a private tour with Cheraldine Osepa (http://www.coast2coastcuracao.com).

 

We toured with Cheraldine last year on Curacao. She's a gem of a person. We love her and she is so knowledgable fo the island. You can't go wrong with Cheraldine!

 

I dove again while on Curacao. I always dive with Suzy and Mark, owners of the Dive Bus Hut (http://www.the-dive-bus.com ).

 

The Dive Bus is top notch! I dove with only another woman and Mark, owner and Divemaster extraordinare. They are very safety conscious, FUN and run a very personalized S.C.U.B.A shop.

 

We saw flying Gernard fish, eels (one with a chunk out of him--must have lost a battle with a meaner eel :) beautiful soft and hard corals, tons of beautiful fish, a Scorpian fish ( a new one for me), etc. It was just a wonderful dive! Try the Dive Bus, you'll like them!

 

We ended in San Juan. We tried the Celebrity Luggage Valet program as our flight didn't leave until 2:45 pm and we wanted to wander around San Juan for a while. The Valet cost was $20/person.

 

The Luggage Valet worked pretty well for us. A little disorganised in the beginning, but overall a good choice for us not to have to lug around luggage and wait in long lines a SJU.

 

It was a wonderful cruise with very special memories and wonderful people who have become friends. Isn't that what it's all about :)