Live from Celebrity Summit: 3/15/08

[Amlee]

I am going to try to keep this up and going during the cruise. So if you have any questions while I'm on board let me know.

 

 

Day 1: San Juan

I flew into San Juan yesterday on US Airways. Today I’m sailing out on the Celebrity Summit for the next 7 days. This was my first time flying with this company. I would not fly this company coach at all. No food, no drinks, zip, nada, zero was served. It was an hour flights from Birmingham to Charlotte(sp) N.C. and then a 3 hour flight from N.C. to San Juan. I flew first class this time, so we did have drinks and such. But I now know not to fly US Airways if I’m flying coach.

 

I get here and it’s beautiful here. 80F outside and humid. I had the one night at the Caribe Hilton. This place is great. Older, but great. It was refurbed in 98 and you can tell it’s in the need of some new stuff. But the grounds is amazing! I would come back here in a heart beat!

 

I did have an UH OH moment this morning. I went to take some meds that I have to take daily and I thought I had put a new pack in, but when I went to take it. It was an older pack. Not enough meds to get me through my trip. I called my local CVS to see what my options where and they told me to find a local pharmacy and they would transfer the meds to them. I knew there was a Wal-greens in San Juan and called them. They said it wasn’t possible. Which I find strange and I have had these UH OH moments before and transfered things before. She suggested to me that I go to a "local pharmacy and get what I needed. That I would have to pay cash, but I could easily get what I needed." I then asked if I could get my doctor to call in a prep and was told no.

I jumped up to get my Blue-Cross card and found the new pack of meds. But I was in OH SNIT mode.

 

Well I have had my breakfast, sitting out watching the waves crash into the rocky shores. Watched families play in the little lagoon. That is one of the great things about this hotel. They have built a reef to stop the waves from coming ashore. Which has made a great lagoon to play in with the kids.

 

Ok, I’m off of here for now. Going to finish repacking and head toward the ship. Going to check in, toss my bags and head back out to Old San Juan for the day. My ship doesn’t leave until 11pm tonight. All aboard is 8pm or 9pm.

 

More later!

[parrothead1]

Have a great trip. We sail next week, and can't wait to hear live info!! :D

 

BTW - please tell Texed I said Hi!! He will be the one with waffles 24/7 in his hands!!! :)

[Host Anne]

Do you mind if I change the title of your thread to LIVE FROM SUMMIT so folks know that you are going to try and report from the ship?

[Amlee]

Do you mind if I change the title of your thread to LIVE FROM SUMMIT so folks know that you are going to try and report from the ship?

 

 

No I don't mind, if you will also correct my spelling mistake in the title. :p

[nps001]

Thanks for taking time from your cruise to tell us about your experience. I am eager to hear all about it.

 

Host Anne, as usual, you are so thoughtful to think of the title change.

 

Joe

[usha]

Amlee, have a great cruise on Summit! I look forward to vicariously enjoying the week with you.:)

[Amlee]

Thanks everyone! I'll post more tonight. I wouldn't have come back so soon, but I wanted to post about that girl, while it was still fresh in my head.

 

Also let me add that this is my 5th sailing with Celebrity since Sept and there are more kids on this ship then all of my other sailings combined. Spring break is in full swing. The ship is just about full. Another thing I haven't seen on these ships before, is packs of college kids. Usually there are one or two families, a young couple or two, but most of the people on board has been 40ish and up.

 

This is going to be INTERESTING! :cool:

[Host Anne]

Amlee ~ Title has been updated (and I hadn't even noticed the typo :) ). I think appealing to college groups is a growing market for the cruise lines. I'll be anxious to hear how it goes so I'll be checking back in. Have a great cruise and thanks for posting!

 

Joe ~ I try to help out whenever possible! If we can help make something on the boards easier to use, we're happy to do it!

[FinelyCruising]

****sigh**** young people and all, I wish I were there. :)

[Bobblsc]

Yes, Host Anne is really great at this stuff, but I am so disappointed that she did not find the misspelled word to make the correction.

 

Bob :D

[Eddie1]

Hi Amlee

 

My daughter a tall slim red head ( Caroline), and her two male freinds are sailing with you. They are college kids and hoping to find more 20 something people sailing with them.

 

They were worried that there may not be many people their age sailing on Celebrity.

 

Can you tell me if they have some people their own age on board and how is the weather.

 

Thanks for taking the time to tell us whats going on with the Summit.

[Amlee]

St. Maarten:

 

The weather here is great! It's about 80F out side, nice steady wind and a partly cloudy sky. We cleared customs right on time this morning and most everyone made a mad dash for the door.

 

Last night we were a little late leaving, because of the storms in the southeast delayed planes coming in from all over. Many people didn't get their luggage until late in the night/early this morning. So clothing in the dining room was very mixed.

 

There are a ton of newbies on this cruise. Yesterday as I was sitting posting to you yall, the Matir'D(sp) was changing people tables a few feet down from me. Some of the request made to him was amazing. People who didn't want to sit with people who couldn't speak English, or no one under a certain age. demanding to get in the dining room to see their table location. It just confirmed to me, there is no way I would work on a cruise ship.

 

I am amazed at the number of people who can't read and/or listen to directions. I am currently sitting the bar outside the dinning room, and I can't tell you the number of people who have come by and asked me how to get off the ship.

 

The ship is full of Spanish speaking people. Many from San Juan, but surprisingly many from Spain. I know a group from Madrid were the last ones on last night. They came on board as we were doing the Muster drill. I guess I thought it would be more spring break Americans.

 

Speaking of Muster Drill, this ship did something last not that none of the other Celebrity ships that I have been on had done. I have a metal brace attached to a shoe that is then attached to me just below the knee. So I usually sit in the HC during muster drills. On the other ships, they have all made us go out and stand in line. But not this time around. Once the area was cleared of the regular folks, we were allowed to return back to our cabin a head of the others. Which was so nice!

 

Well I got to walk around the ship some last night, being mindful of some of the comments about the ship. Yes, there is some wear and tear in places. I did have plumbing issues in my cabin this morning also. It took forever and several tries for the toilet to flush. Also I never could get any hot water to come from the shower. It was like taking an ice shower. I told them about the toilet and I'm going to see if getting up earlier tomorrow doesn't fix the hot water issue before I report that to them.

 

But all in all, the ship is in really good shape. I was surprised after reading some of the comments on here.

 

Eddie, I don't think your daughter and her friends will have any trouble finding others their age on here. I am excited because usually at 32, I'm one of the youngest on these ships. I saw several come through the disco early to check it out and make sure they knew where it was.

 

I don't plan to get off the ship today. I was just in St. Maarten in Nov and it's my 4th time here in 2 years. So it's a been there done that several times over type of thing. The next port of calls are all going to be new to me, so they are the ones I'm really interested in doing. My only booked excursion is the whale watching in Grenada.

 

Last night was very casual. Tonight is our first formal night.

 

Oh also just a heads up to anyone reading this and booked. The ships stores do not open until the ship leaves St. Maarten on the 2nd night. So make sure you pack all your going to need. That has been a huge complaint among people that they can't get into the stores to make some much need purchases.

 

Thanks Anne for fixing my spelling!

 

More later!

[barryod]

Hi Amlee,

 

Thanks for thinking of us.:D Will you be able to take some pictures to post on your return? If not, the daily reviews will do just fine. Have a great cruise!!!!!

 

Barry

[xXbreboiXx]

St. Maarten:

Well I got to walk around the ship some last night, being mindful of some of the comments about the ship. Yes, there is some wear and tear in places. I did have plumbing issues in my cabin this morning also. It took forever and several tries for the toilet to flush. Also I never could get any hot water to come from the shower. It was like taking an ice shower. I told them about the toilet and I'm going to see if getting up earlier tomorrow doesn't fix the hot water issue before I report that to them.

 

But all in all, the ship is in really good shape. I was surprised after reading some of the comments on here.

quote]

I was just on the summit about 2 weeks ago and me and my parents had the same shower problem however. It is not a problem of getting the heat, its actually how to do it. If you notice on your shower knob there is a gray button (I believe there is a green one on the knob that turn the water on as well) To change the water temperature you need to press in the gray button while turning the temperature control. If the button won't go in, just turn the controller until it will go in. I hope that helps your problem. As for your toilet we only had that problem once. Just press it a couple of times and it will work again.

 

BTW: Being 15 and being on during an "off" week. There are plenty of options for me as well as there were options for college students including a college night and the teen center, and a college meet on the first or second night.

 

~Brian~

[Amlee]

Hi Amlee,

 

Thanks for thinking of us.:D Will you be able to take some pictures to post on your return? If not, the daily reviews will do just fine. Have a great cruise!!!!!

 

Barry

 

I have my stuff to upload pictures with me. So I'll try to upload them ever few days. I'm not sure what I'll be doing at each port, with the exception of the whale watching.

 

quote]

I was just on the summit about 2 weeks ago and me and my parents had the same shower problem however. It is not a problem of getting the heat, its actually how to do it. If you notice on your shower knob there is a gray button (I believe there is a green one on the knob that turn the water on as well) To change the water temperature you need to press in the gray button while turning the temperature control. If the button won't go in, just turn the controller until it will go in. I hope that helps your problem. As for your toilet we only had that problem once. Just press it a couple of times and it will work again.

 

BTW: Being 15 and being on during an "off" week. There are plenty of options for me as well as there were options for college students including a college night and the teen center, and a college meet on the first or second night.

 

~Brian~

 

 

My first thought was of the buttons. I push and turned them several times, never getting anything. I'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

Yeah, the trick is to press it and hold the button in for a few moments.

 

Oh, I've always found something to do on Celebrity. I have found that some of their ships had more going than others. So far so good with this one.

[Eddie1]

Amlee

 

Thanks for keeping us updated. I actually saw the ship on the Web Cam at St Martin. I also saw the ship from the Costa Atlanica's web-cam as she was docked next to Summit, looked like you had great weather.

 

I wonder if you have seen many college age kids today, I'm concerned because I suggested Summit to my daughter and knew it was usually an older crowd, but was hoping with spring break they would have more of the 20 something crowd.

 

Thanks for keeping us informed.

 

Ed

[Amlee]

Dominica:

 

The weather is again beautiful! It reminds me of St. Lucia with the mountains. I've heard several people mention how much it looks like Hawaii.

 

Several of us have got together and have decided to take a taxi tour of the island. So I'll have some pictures to put up in the next few days.

 

I did have hot water this morning, it seems when there is a mad rush for showers, that the hot water goes. It was mentioned at dinner last night that many couldn't get hot showers to get ready for formal night.

 

Last night the show was a mixture of broadway show tunes. It was ok, not the best thing I've seen, but not the worse either. Some times the music was too loud and you couldn't hear the song being sung. Tonight is Matilda. It was so funny as, I knew who the CD was talking about the minute he started talking. Now if you have seen Matilda, you know what I'm talking about. If not, everyone should have to see her at least once in their life.

 

Last night was the first formal night. As I said in an earlier post, there are many first timers on here. Several people showed up for dinner last night with their t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. Those people were turned away at the door andd not allowed to enter the dinning room.

 

But I have seen several rules not being enforced. Kids in the T-pool and T-pool hot tubs. That is the first time I have ever seen that on Celebrity. Smokers in non-smoking areas. Cigar smoking in non-smoking areas. I guess those are the 3 things that I have seen that really just jumped out at me and bothered me.

 

Eddie, rest easy as there are TONS of college age kids on here. You have no worries.

 

Ok, that's all for now. I'll try to post some later, but today looks to be like a busy day for me.

 

Oh the team I was with yesterday one the CD's Trivia Game yesterday! w00t! w00t!

[barryod]

Thanks Amlee for the continued updates. They actually turned people away for not observing the dress code....how refreshing. That's just my opinion folks, not meant to start a dress code discussion here.

 

No rush on the photos Amlee, I can wait til you get back.

 

Barry

[Eddie1]

Amlee

 

You are a wonderful person to take time and give us updates on the Summit.

 

I also agree, if it's formal night, people should be forced to wear appropriate attire. There are other options and lots of food availible if people don't want to dress up. Good for Celebrity.

 

Thanks again Amlee we are anxiously awaiting your photos.

 

One other question what are you using to access the net, are you using your laptop or on board computers. Also how is the access speed. THANKS

[xXbreboiXx]

Amlee

One other question what are you using to access the net, are you using your laptop or on board computers. Also how is the access speed. THANKS

 

I can actually answer this for you. I used the on board computers and they are really slow. But you shouldn't expect much considering your using satallite(sp?) in the middle of the ocean. More than likely it would get faster the closer to land you got. But a quick email check will take more than 3 minutes probably.

 

 

~Brian~

[OnlyMe]

Amlee, thank you so much for keeping us updated! I sail Summit next week so am particularly interested on the happenings onboard. I really hope they sort the hot water issue ... I haven't read about that before so maybe it's a 'new' glitch and hopefully they'll be able to sort it soon.

 

Can I ask, have there been many bugs on the islands?? Did you need mossie spray?? Just trying to figure out what I need to pack!

 

Thanks again for posting!

[xXbreboiXx]

OnlyMe: When we went to the islands we never had a problem with bugs even in the rainforest which I had found quite surprising at the time. Also if you check out my other post I talked about the hot water issue that had arose on the ship.

 

~Brian~ (am i getting to annoying answering questions for you Amlee?)

[Amlee]

I can actually answer this for you. I used the on board computers and they are really slow. But you shouldn't expect much considering your using satallite(sp?) in the middle of the ocean. More than likely it would get faster the closer to land you got. But a quick email check will take more than 3 minutes probably.

 

 

~Brian~

 

I have to disagree with you on the speed. As I have found the speed to be about equal with my DSL at home.

 

While it's not as fast, it's no were near as slow as you have found it to be. My emails (all 100) of them downloaded within about 2 minutes of signing on.

 

The difference might be in that I'm using my laptop, instead of the ships computers.

[Amlee]

Amlee, thank you so much for keeping us updated! I sail Summit next week so am particularly interested on the happenings onboard. I really hope they sort the hot water issue ... I haven't read about that before so maybe it's a 'new' glitch and hopefully they'll be able to sort it soon.

 

Can I ask, have there been many bugs on the islands?? Did you need mossie spray?? Just trying to figure out what I need to pack!

 

Thanks again for posting!

 

I have learned to take my showers either very late at night, or very early in the mornings. If I do that, I have found no problem with the hot water. It seems if everyone is trying to take a shower at the same time, it's used up!

 

Nope, no mossie spray needed. I did an island tour yesterday on Dominca, and that was a question that come up. The island has no standing water so there is no place for the mossie's to lay their eggs. So they have none.

 

OnlyMe: When we went to the islands we never had a problem with bugs even in the rainforest which I had found quite surprising at the time. Also if you check out my other post I talked about the hot water issue that had arose on the ship.

 

~Brian~ (am i getting to annoying answering questions for you Amlee?)

 

Nope, not annoying at all. :p

[Amlee]

Today we stopped in Grenada (pronounced gr NAY da) and I did the whale and dolphin watching tour.

 

The people of the island are really friendly and respectful. I was very impressed. There is shopping right off the ship or a little market just inside town.

 

Ok, now for the watching tour. I really and truly have mixed feelings about this. We left the dock a little after 9am. Now were were suppose to have left at 9, but the boat to pick us up was late. When it pulled up, I noticed right away that there was only one engine working. HMMMM! Well they putt putt us about 7 miles from the coast and we start going around and around looking for something, anything! At 11am we are still looking for something, ANYTHING! Well one of the guys starts working on a second engine with the capt of the boat giving orders from the wheel house. I'm sitting watching them try to fix the engine, when finally a pod of dolphins come up. There must have been 50 of these beautiful creatures playing all around us. Running under the boat, jumping and twisting in the air. It was amazing! It was so what I had paid $85 for. You could follow them under the water and see them race deep under the water and then shoot out of the water like a bullet. It's mating season down here and they were really putting on the show for each other, but it was kind of nice to think they were doing it just for us. We spent about 45 minutes watching them. Truely stunning!!

 

By now your wondering where is the mixed feeling coming from!? Well while we were all watching the dolphins, our one and only working engine bit the dust! So here we all sit (about 15 of us) in the baking sun, 7 miles from shore, with no engine to get us back. Those men worked for over 2 hours trying to get us back up and running. It did start, but we would never make it back in time to make the ship before it left. It just wasn't happening. Our group was great though. Many would have been having a fit at this point, but we all took it in stride. There was many jokes cracked about the men rowing us back, or the ship stopping to pick us up as it sailed out. Finally the owner called his second boat (that had been out with us, but full of people from the Crown Princess) to come get us. But by that time, we are all starting to wilt and boil. No lie! We all got off the boat, looking like a well done lobster!

 

They had just transfered us to the 2nd boat and pulled us away from it, when a HUGE puff of black smoke comes blowing out of the one remaining engine. I'm like there she blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, the might boat is now dead in the water. So that group takes us to shore and then turns around to go back and get the 1st ship.

 

So my mixed feelings are in all honestly that boat shouldn't have gone out at all. Not with just the one working engine. I would have been crushed to not have seen what I saw. But being out like that really wasn't fun. I have told Celebrity about what happened. Just so they have a heads up about it. Because my thinking is I saw what I paid for. End of story. But from some of the post on here from some people, something like that could turn ugly.

 

Another thing, if you are planning on taking kids on this. Bring them something to play with until there is something to see. We sat for what seemed like HOURS waiting. Also and this was a big thing for some. We had good size waves. So there was ALOT of motion. I'm usually not bothered, but I tried reading and the motion sickness hit me hard. Some people laid down not too long after leaving the dock and didn't move until we got back to shore.

 

They did have free water, coke, dt. coke, and ginger ale to drink. They also served out little sandwiches. But I would advise anyone to bring some kind of little snack with you.

 

Tonight is white night. Your suppose to dress in all white. It's also informal night.

 

I guess that's all for not, I've got to run back to the room and get dressed for dinner.