Summit to Bermuda August 9th – 16th 2015 Photo Review

Great review! I am just eating up because I'm on the 8/30 last sailing. Can't wait and this is just making me so anxious to leave!

enjoying your review and pictures immensely! We sail Oct 18th and 24th ...a B2B...

Marsha

Wow Sarah.....what a great review! Your pictures were stunning! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful vacation with us! We are planning on cruising to Bermuda in the Summer of 2017. :D

She didn't - see page 2 post 36 :)

Hey Wendy, thanks for pointing that out. I realized I missed a bunch of posts, busy organizing & packing? Leaving Sunday, YAHOO! Can't wait to taste all those delicious foods and desserts OMG.

Hey Wendy, thanks for pointing that out. I realized I missed a bunch of posts, busy organizing & packing? Leaving Sunday, YAHOO! Can't wait to taste all those delicious foods and desserts OMG.

No problem! Have a blast! We don't sail on the Summit until November 21, Southern Caribbean. These reviews help bridge the gap. We sailed on her last year and loved the layout of the ship. We are bringing a couple friends along for their first cruise on November. I think they will enjoy the itinerary, and not be too overwhelmed with the size and layout of the ship.

In the meantime we head to Vegas September 6th, our semi-annual trip!

My parents were lucky this cruise to be visited by the upgrade fairy. They originally booked a veranda guarantee & were upgraded to Aqua class. (not fair!) So tonight we were on our own in the MDR as they were in BLU.

I’ve heard the food there is really good so I was a little jealous…but more so that they would be dining w/ the wonderful sommelier Elwis! We’ve had the pleasure of cruising w/ Elwis our 4 previous sailings to Bermuda. He is such a great person. Elwis was recently promoted to the sommelier in BLU. Luckily we were able to spend some time w/ him throughout our time on the ship. So if you are lucky enough to be in BLU w/ Elwis please tell him we said hello!

Now on to dinner!

I haven’t mentioned this before but on the first night of the cruise we had asked for a cheese plate… every night afterwards we had one of these beauties waiting for us at the table!

Crab Cake (being from Maryland this is not a crab cake LOL but it is still pretty tasty)

Beef Carpaccio (LOVE this appetizer! The arugula is so peppery & gives it such a nice bite!)

Cream of Broccoli Soup (not sure if they added lemon oil or something to this but the soup was very good…until that taste of lemon oil came through in the end)

Grilled New York Sirloin (cooked perfectly rare as requested)

I can’t remember the name of this dish but it was excellent. Almost as good as the short ribs from the previous night.

We opted not to get dessert tonight but to head to Café Al Bacio for Gelato Sandwiches!

We called it an early night so we’d be rested for our last day in Bermuda. This little guy was waiting for us when we got to our room!

August 15th, 2015

I can’t believe this is our last day in Bermuda is the first thought that popped into my head when I woke up this morning. How come the work week drags on and feels like an eternity but vacation is gone in the blink of an eye?!?!?

DH & I couldn’t decide what we wanted to do today…should we go to Horseshoe Bay for some swimming or snorkeling or head over to Sea Glass Beach…we eventually let the kids decide. Of course they wanted to hit Sea Glass Beach! They had never been before and really wanted to see it.

My only concern was with it being the last day I really wanted to secure a taxi to either drop us off, then return for pick up in a few hours or to pay to have the taxi wait for us while we spent time there. I definitely did not want to be dropped off and struggle to find a taxi back…been there done that before and it’s too much for this anxious girl!

So once we got off the ship we headed over to the taxi tent and asked the lovely ladies there if a taxi would be able to accommodate one of those options… she said it would be very difficult w/ it being the last day to have someone drop us off then return at a specific time. UGH! Not what I wanted to hear…luckily the taxi driver who came over was friend of hers, she said that she would be willing to wait for us (with the meter running) while we swam & explored the beach. Perfect that would work! So off we went.

Sea Glass Beach is about a 5 minute drive out of the Dockyard (roughly $10-15 taxi fare each way w/ out tip) it’s completely covered in sea glass in the water & on the beach itself.

The tide must get pretty high there because when we were exploring the cliff area it also was covered w/ sea glass. Pretty neat!

I never would’ve guessed it (but we brought our snorkel gear just in case) but the snorkeling here was amazing! TONS of fish everywhere!

Even this bad boy just sitting out in the open!

After about 1 ½ hours we were ready to head back to the Dockyard. We brought some empty water bottles w/ us so we could fill them up w/ ocean water & rinse our feet/shoes off of sand. We also brought extra towels so we could dry off once we got out of the water…but also so we could place them on the seats in the taxi.

They really do not want you getting on any transportation (taxi, bus, or ferry) in Bermuda if you are wet or sandy. Also it’s very disrespectful to not be covered up once you leave the beach area so be sure to bring a cover up or clothing of some sort. Those seemed to be the major gripes we’ve heard from our taxi drivers over the years. It makes sense though a lot of the Bermudians also use the buses, taxis, & ferries to get to work so if the seats are wet or sandy it gets their work clothes wet or dirty.

Once we were cleaned off & dry we headed back to the Dockyard.

On the way back our taxi driver asked us if we had been to Calico Jack’s yet…now I had seen Calico Jack’s from our ship… but I snubbed my nose at it. I thought humpf that looks like a place more so the speed of NCL passengers…I know wow pretty bitchy huh! Anyways I told her we had seen it but didn’t think it was the type of environment for the kids…look at me I blamed my close mindedness on my kids THE SHAME!!!!

She said “oh no honey, you’ve got to go! The kids will absolutely love it! Everyone loves Calico Jacks” DH looked at me; we both looked at the kids and said sure take us to Calico Jacks!

Now I’m the type of person who admits when they are wrong…so here I am apologizing and saying I was wrong…I stereo typed & it wasn’t cool…that being said…

O M G!!! I am so thankful she convinced us to go! Calico Jacks is AWESOME! It’s a boat they’ve converted to a floating bar… but the best thing is they have a plank…that’s right I walked the plank at Calico Jacks!

So did the kids!

For $2 per person you can walk the plank & then swim over to climb the rock wall then slide down…the kids did that…there is no way my fat butt could’ve pulled myself up that thing LOL They also sell day passes its $10 for unlimited plank walks/jumps. (If you are drinking however its unlimited jumps while you’re there…that doesn’t sound too safe but hey!)

After all that fun & excitement we headed back to the ship…I was in need of a nap big time! I needed my beauty sleep of The Normandie tonight!

I love love love the Normandie! Its the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion or just to have a quiet lovely meal. The food is always superb! Tonight was no exception! One of the best meals we've had on land or sea.

We started w/ an amuse bouche to get our palates ready

We asked for our cheese course at the beginning vs. having it towards the end of the meal

We all each chose a different appetizer so we could each try a bite

Phyllo Baked Anjou Pear w/ Roquefort ( the sweet pear & salty cheese was a delicious combination)

Creamy Maine Lobster Bisque (excellent as usually)

Goat Cheese Souffle (creamy & slightly tart we loved it!)

The Normandie cont...

Diver Scallop Wellington Style (very yummy)

Porcini & Morel Risotto (by far the best risotto I have ever had! This was the highlight of the entire meal...my second favorite dish of the entire cruise)

Now on to the entrees

Filet Mignon (cooked perfectly! but I was dreaming I had another dish of the risotto!)

Lobster Normandie prepared tableside (fantastic. I was skeptical about the sauce but it was very good)

Five Spice Venison Loin

The Normandie cont...

Muscovy Duck Breast (I don't like duck but the guys raved about this)

Now onto dessert...

We were all full at this point but we still got dessert LOL

Dessert for two

They also brought us a tier of petit fours & truffles

We were all fat & happy afterwards. We headed off to Café Al Bacio for a night cap then off to bed!

Looks like a great cruise! Did you notice if both outdoor pools were open to the kids or only the smaller one you posted earlier in your review. I thought I saw after our last Summit cruise that the larger/deeper pool was converted to adults only.

Looks like a great cruise! Did you notice if both outdoor pools were open to the kids or only the smaller one you posted earlier in your review. I thought I saw after our last Summit cruise that the larger/deeper pool was converted to adults only.

Yes unfortunately there are signs up saying that pool is for adults only. I don't know why they did that.

The thing that irks me is adults w/ out kids would come to the kid pool then bitch & complain about the kids splashing...its like hello then get out of the kids pool!!! DUH!

Yes unfortunately there are signs up saying that pool is for adults only. I don't know why they did that.

 

 

 

The thing that irks me is adults w/ out kids would come to the kid pool then bitch & complain about the kids splashing...its like hello then get out of the kids pool!!! DUH!

I know adults like that pool because it is shallow so they can stand, but kids need somewhere to swim. But if I remember correctly it had a ridiculously small capacity like 12 or 15 people. So it wasn't really big enough to accommodate all the families on the Bermuda sailings.

Now on to dinner!

 

I can’t remember the name of this dish but it was excellent. Almost as good as the short ribs from the previous night.

 

 

 

 

 

Based on our trip last year, these might have been the Beef Cheeks. Some of the other ladies at the table were like, "Ewww, beef checks, who would ever order beef checks, gross." (and yes, these were adults - senior adults). So I being the rebel that I am, ordered them. They were very good, tender and not fatty and a great flavour.

Based on our trip last year, these might have been the Beef Cheeks. Some of the other ladies at the table were like, "Ewww, beef checks, who would ever order beef checks, gross." (and yes, these were adults - senior adults). So I being the rebel that I am, ordered them. They were very good, tender and not fatty and a great flavour.

Great review and I remember having Beef Cheeks and it was absolutely delicious. I'll have to order on our cruise next week.

Theresa

The thing that irks me is adults w/ out kids would come to the kid pool then bitch & complain about the kids splashing...its like hello then get out of the kids pool!!! DUH!

Yep, I saw that happen on another cruise line. It was a port day and the pool wasn't that crowded with some kids splashing and having fun. A miserable lady comes pointing her finger and saying something to the Father (I couldn't hear it all), but he told her there's an adults only area in the back. He handled it well and once the crabby lady got out of the pool he did a couple of nice cannonballs with applause and the kids could finally have some fun. By afternoon the pool was crowded with lots of young people having fun and she sat in her lounger the rest of the day. This is the kind of people watching I enjoy:D

My parents were lucky this cruise to be visited by the upgrade fairy. They originally booked a veranda guarantee & were upgraded to Aqua class. (not fair!) So tonight we were on our own in the MDR as they were in BLU.

 

 

 

I’ve heard the food there is really good so I was a little jealous…but more so that they would be dining w/ the wonderful sommelier Elwis! We’ve had the pleasure of cruising w/ Elwis our 4 previous sailings to Bermuda. He is such a great person. Elwis was recently promoted to the sommelier in BLU. Luckily we were able to spend some time w/ him throughout our time on the ship. So if you are lucky enough to be in BLU w/ Elwis please tell him we said hello!

Sarah, why am I not surprised that your favorite Sommelier is my favorite as well:) We had Elwis in Blu again this April and he told us that he would be on Board through our sailing and would be returning home after our cruise, as his wife was expecting. Do you happen to know if he knows now what the gender of the baby will be. We wanted to bring him a small (light weight lol) present.

Seriously why is it the exception now a days for people to have well behaved children or watch thier own offspring... I mean you would think the child's well being is of some concern to them???

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

No problem! Have a blast! We don't sail on the Summit until November 21, Southern Caribbean. These reviews help bridge the gap. We sailed on her last year and loved the layout of the ship. We are bringing a couple friends along for their first cruise on November. I think they will enjoy the itinerary, and not be too overwhelmed with the size and layout of the ship.

 

In the meantime we head to Vegas September 6th, our semi-annual trip!

I'm on the November 7th southern Caribbean cruise... loving the little details and tips in this review [emoji7]

After eating we asked our waitress to call us a cab and within minutes we were on our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

We were lucky enough again to have a wonderful taxi driver. Miss Norma was her name and she was very friendly also. She talked a lot about what it’s like to live in Bermuda and how prices just seem to keep going up for food. She said they no longer buy milk because it is so expensive. I think she said a box of fruit loops was something like $10.

 

 

 

Halfway through the ride she mentioned how well behaved our children were and that we’d be surprised the way some of the tourist allows their kids to act in her taxi. She also told us that the fare she had picked up before us was a woman on board the NCL Breakaway…apparently the children aboard that ship were getting so out of hand the captain actually had to make an announcement about parents keeping a better eye on their children etc… so yea that sounds not fun!

 

 

 

Luckily there weren’t too many situations like that on Celebrity…but there were moments. One family in particular was celebrating their grandfather’s 80th or 90th birthday. They probably had 10-12 kids in their group but NONE of the parents ever watched them. It was crazy. They literally ran around the ship pretty much the entire cruise. One of the kids actually rode a scooter around the ship. We were lucky enough to be sitting right near them every night in the MDR…so just imagine how lovely that was the nights they were all there…NOT! In fact the last night of the cruise they were in the buffet area unsupervised (mind you some of these kids were 3 or 4 years old) running around screaming and carrying on. They all got ice cream then literally no lie sat down right in front of the ice cream area on the carpet to eat. It was crazy. I heard several people complaining about their behavior but I didn’t stick around to see what if anything happened.

 

 

 

Ok rant about bad ass kids over…

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

love you review! can you tell me what the charge pp was for day trip pass to Coco Reef? it sounds lovely! :)

love you review! can you tell me what the charge pp was for day trip pass to Coco Reef? it sounds lovely! :)

For 2015, the pass is $69.00 PP, adult (over 12 yo).

SBtS