Just Off The Celebrity Summit!!

Hello All -

We returned today from a 9 day cruise on The Summit. I'm not going to do a full review and I'm not going to sail Celebrity again, BUT.... Be clear...that isn't because there were no positives as there were and I'll briefly share below.

Pros:

* AMAZING on board service staff (dining, lounges, staterooms, etc..)

* Amazing other passengers (Most)

* Ports were fun (Bermuda, Newport, Boston)

* Ship was clean with fun pool areas

* Cafe al Bacio - AWESOME Desserts

* You won't go hungry - Plenty of choices and most are really good

Cons:

*Guest RELATIONS - #1 Reason we won't return

* Scheduled Activities ---

Not many especially on Sea Days - Bring a book or 6

* Shows are average and repetitive in nature -

New singer, same music genre as 2 nights before

In short, if you're booked...you'll have fun! I mean it's a cruise to great ports with good food and amazing staff. It will be what you make it!

However, it's a premium cruise line or advertised as such with terrible guest relations, average to below average entertainment, and few scheduled activities that last more than 20 minutes. I didn't find those aspects "Premium" nor did many other guests.

So, if you're going on the Summit...be ready to make it entertaining for yourself! We found friends and we had coffee and desserts at night before and/or after shows. We went for walks or sat around talking and laughing. All good stuff!!

As for us, we are back to other cruise lines pronto! Happy Sailing to All!!

Nice review. I guess I am curious as to the customer service problems. Can you share your issue(s)?

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Great review. I am book for Summit as of now (hasn't been chartered yet...). I feel we would share the same perspective, although I haven't sailed w/ X yet. Can you please explain why this didn't live up to your ideal of a premium CL. What are you looking for in a cruise to make it premium. Everyone has such a diff opinion and i would love to hear yours.

Great review. I am book for Summit as of now (hasn't been chartered yet...). I feel we would share the same perspective, although I haven't sailed w/ X yet. Can you please explain why this didn't live up to your ideal of a premium CL. What are you looking for in a cruise to make it premium. Everyone has such a diff opinion and i would love to hear yours.

Hi There!

I guess when I think of 'premium', I think of exceptional customer service which I never got even from DAY 1 of booking! Once they had our money, I felt like both on the phone and then sadly in person, they really didn't want to deal with even the most minor issues (which ours were minor). We didn't want anything extra, but simply needed assistance with issues we had paid for months prior. Instead we got eye rolling and really very crappy attitudes. NOW, be clear this was ONLY at Guest Relations, but it put a very bad taste in our mouths for traveling with them! What if we had BIG problems and needed their help?

In addition, we kept hoping that on Sea Days, we'd see more activities, but most every decent activity came with an extra fee. If you wanted to play 20 minutes of trivia 3 times a day or sit around and listen to music, you were set...but otherwise even with 2 full sea days back to back there just wasn't much to do!

The shows at night were OK until it became apparent that you were going to hear the same Frank Sinatra type tunes from various singers. Once was ok, but the 2nd time was ehhhh!!

And there wasn't one big late night buffet or chocolate dessert bar or something that just said ..."Now that's awesome!" We kept waiting for that "WOW" thing on board and it never came! Things were fine, but for the price we paid and knowing what we have seen on other cruises, for us, we are going out to seek "WOW" and better Customer service!

Truly, it was Customer Relations that made us say..."Nope...we won't risk it! Who wants to worry abut a bigger problem when the ship is so ineffective with minor things?"

We met great people, ate great food and saw great ports...so all in all it is a win, but not really because of anything special done by Celebrity (except their service crew!! They were AMAZING!!)

Sorry you were disappointed and I would be too if customer service was as "crappy" as described.

Not sure where you got the idea that Celebrity was a "premium"cruise line, it's not. Perhaps they're considered more upscale than CarnivaL, Royal and Princess, but they are still mainstream and fall in a category with HAL (and maybe Princess). The two lines that come to mind that are labeled as "premium" are Oceania and Viking.

Again, sorry for you bad experience.

Thanks so much!

I got the impression from their website!! Right on the homepage at the bottom, it mentions "Premium" at least 3 times and I know I've seen it other places in their literature!

Bermuda was premium!! :-)

According to one of the major travel magazines (the name slips my mind right now), Celebrity, HAL, and Princess are considered premium lines. RCCL, NCL, and Carnival are more mainstream. In my opinion, the Summit is in a class of it's own and is NOT premium.

According to one of the major travel magazines (the name slips my mind right now), Celebrity, HAL, and Princess are considered premium lines. RCCL, NCL, and Carnival are more mainstream. In my opinion, the Summit is in a class of it's own and is NOT premium.

I had no issue with the ship itself! Older..perhaps! Smaller...maybe! However, I knew it was both of those things and it was very clean and maintained in my opinion!

Again, my issues were with Guest Relations and a bit with the activities!! Just be prepared if something major happens, you may not get the help or reaction one might expect from a 'guest relations' desk!! We didn't....and our problems weren't really major, but we still needed some help!

:-)

Would you care to tell what your minor issues were?

We had two reasons to go to guest relations - I needed a new key, and our biggie was we were overcharged for some wine. It took a couple of days to get the overcharging resolved, and impressively they called our cabin and left a message that it had been finally fixed.

I even recall the two people who helped us in GS - one was Joiao (or something like that), I recall because he said his name was pronounced J-WOW, and the other was a guy who sort of looked like Sammy Davis, Jr., and they were both polite and professional at all times.

Wondering what issues would have caused eye-rolling? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks so much!

 

I got the impression from their website!! Right on the homepage at the bottom, it mentions "Premium" at least 3 times and I know I've seen it other places in their literature!

 

Bermuda was premium!! :-)

Celebrity is a Mass Market cruise line.

Btw, which cruise lines still have Dessert Extravaganzas or midnight buffets? I haven't seen anything like that in years.

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Actually I sailed on Celestyal in February they still had the one night over the top buffet. And Norwegian still did it on night on the sun . I can understand not having it every night but once a cruise does make for a nice expierdnce

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Hello All -

 

We returned today from a 9 day cruise on The Summit. I'm not going to do a full review and I'm not going to sail Celebrity again, BUT.... Be clear...that isn't because there were no positives as there were and I'll briefly share below.

 

Pros:

 

* AMAZING on board service staff (dining, lounges, staterooms, etc..)

* Amazing other passengers (Most)

* Ports were fun (Bermuda, Newport, Boston)

* Ship was clean with fun pool areas

* Cafe al Bacio - AWESOME Desserts

* You won't go hungry - Plenty of choices and most are really good

 

Cons:

 

*Guest RELATIONS - #1 Reason we won't return

* Scheduled Activities ---

Not many especially on Sea Days - Bring a book or 6

* Shows are average and repetitive in nature -

New singer, same music genre as 2 nights before

We also just got off Summit yesterday morning. I agree with most of what you have said. But what was wrong with Guest Relations?

We did meet a lot of nice people. Service was overall good, but still not up to the Celebrity of old and our Assistant Waiter was either new or something was going on making more work for our waiter. The last 3 nights of our cruise she "disappeared". We were told it was a family emergency.

Overall felt food in MDR was good to very good but desserts lacking. Thank goodness for the desserts in Cafe al Bacio, but I shouldn't have to go there for good desserts.

And on the good news/bad news front - good news: Summit finally has new productions shows; bad news is they are not that good. Life was the first one and my DH liked it but I did not. Soundtrack was the second. I thought it was just okay and so did DH.

Best entertainment of the cruise was singer Lou Gazzara. We had one evening entertainer twice - Travis Turpin. I guess because they still have not finalized the 3rd production show which should debut this week or next. I hope it's better than the other two.

All in all it was a good cruise.

Some people are never happy I was also on that 9 day cruise and experienced the exact opposite of what you described. What planet are you from anyway?

What planet are you from anyway?

Wow! Where did you learn your manners from? Your 1st post on CC and you insult the OP, with your rude comment!

Everyone here has a right to their opinion, so I suggest you find a nicer way to disagree with posters.

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Wow! Where did you learn your manners from? Your 1st post on CC and you insult the OP, with your rude comment!

Everyone here has a right to their opinion, so I suggest you find a nicer way to disagree with posters.

 

 

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Thank you! I agree that it's ok to disagree, but found that to be a bit much! As for complaining, I really felt I was just being honest and giving as much or more positive as I did negative!

My issues with guest relations were unnecessary and not created by me or solved by them. That's a problem. The 1st one happened to MANY as they boarded the Summit on the 7th and found out that their "Traditional Dining" had been changed to Select without any notice. Not being familiar with Celebrity and having an email showing back in February we were set for Traditional, I went to Guest Relations. After waiting in line, they sent us to the MDR to get it solved and they sent us back to Guest Relations. By this time, I really just wanted to go enjoy the cruise making sure that we had the dining time and setup that we had paid for and received confirmation for...Guest Services was not helpful and quite dismissive that it wasn't their problem. We did get it solved by the poor staff in the MDR who realized that over 2 pages of people had the same thing done by Celebrity without notice. To me mistakes happen, but being unwilling to help new passengers with the mistake is NOT Acceptable!

On we went to enjoy the cruise and in our stateroom, they told us we were going to need to have an IT person come in when we returned. No problem, they told us to give a call. We did and were told someone would be up! At Midnight when I finally called again (not wanting to be a nuisance), we were told, "Ohhh yeah, sorry I didn't call you they aren't coming tonight!" When I asked if this meant we were going to need to wait the next day? The lady said, "I don't know. Goodnight!" Again not our issue..seemed minor enough, but abrupt and rude once they realized they hadn't let us know they weren't coming.

So we get to Bermuda and book the Dolphin Swim (AMAZING - BTW). The tickets given to us by the cruise say to report at 9:00 for a 9:30 swim. No problem...we wander over about 8:45. Suddenly a lady comes out and says, "Your Cruise gave you the wrong time and you need to hurry so we can get started on time." She was very frustrated by the cruise and kind of took it out on us! We still loved the Dolphin Swim, but I decided the excursion desk should be aware so they could fix it with them for the next cruise. When I got to the excursion desk, it said, "Please go to guest relations" I did - I shouldn't have.... The man rolled his eyes and stated, "Well, did you swim with dolphins?" I explained we had a great time and thank goodness we were early, but thought they'd like the feedback for future guests... Response: If you feel the need, the excursion desk opens at 5PM. and he walked away! I didn't feel the need...sadly another guest can let them know if it happens next cruise! I WAS DONE with guest relations!

These are all minor at face value in my mind, but their behavior is not ok! People pay a lot of money to cruise and chose their line! I didn't want anything from them other than being treated with a professional attitude. I wasn't...and that made me sad because I will NOT use them again. Guest relations is the face of ship/company...

Anyway...we had some great lifetime adventures! I wasn't complaining or needing anyone to be rude, so I appreciate those of you that just wanted my honest feedback! Wherever you sail, may you find new friends and great adventures! For us that won't be with Celebrity and that's OK!

It does seem like things could have easily been taken care of, by people whose job it is to do just that. I think I might send a email to Celebrity and let them know.

And it is no surprise the two people are on the same cruise, but have different experiences.

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Not sure that your experience is a one off, but -

Our last cruise (3 weeks ago) was incredible on the summit, one of the best we have had. I guess it's different folks, different strokes, but the entertainment we experienced was incredible. We are not 'show' ppl, but there was live music at almost every venue we went to, and top rate in my opinion (I have a BFA in Fine Arts). Service was outstanding, and the staff was incredible. It sounds like you may have had some issues with guest services, which IMO should always be an outstanding, but then, I was not standing behind, and can not comment.

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to kmeeker. sorry to hear things didn't go well for you at GS.we cruised 3 wks ago for Americas cup. I agree with Inuzzo that it was a great cruise with outstanding service. We had 1 issue with GS concerning our beverage package(waste of money) we were double charged for our drinks in the beginning. The gentleman at the desk, very proper and polite assured me he would take care of it. when I got back to my cabin all the corrections were on my TV account. We were very pleased. We have cruised the X many times and continue to do so. I do hope you give them a second shot, they truly are worth it. The best part about this is that you posted on Cruise Critic. Celebrity DOES read these posts. I wish for you that your future cruises have no minor glitches to them.

to kmeeker. sorry to hear things didn't go well for you at GS.we cruised 3 wks ago for Americas cup. I agree with Inuzzo that it was a great cruise with outstanding service. .

watson50 we were also on the America's Cup sailing. Excellent!

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to kmeeker. sorry to hear things didn't go well for you at GS.we cruised 3 wks ago for Americas cup. I agree with Inuzzo that it was a great cruise with outstanding service. We had 1 issue with GS concerning our beverage package(waste of money) we were double charged for our drinks in the beginning. The gentleman at the desk, very proper and polite assured me he would take care of it. when I got back to my cabin all the corrections were on my TV account. We were very pleased. We have cruised the X many times and continue to do so. I do hope you give them a second shot, they truly are worth it. The best part about this is that you posted on Cruise Critic. Celebrity DOES read these posts. I wish for you that your future cruises have no minor glitches to them.

Thanks! We were talking today that one thing that would make us 'consider' another cruise with them is to hear from them! We filled out a survey on the ship and turned it in as well a the email survey after the cruise. We expressed things just as I have here. If they were to reach out and make us some assurances, we'd at least listen to them!

They'd better do it soon as we are already ready to find our next cruise! As I said, there were many pro's and some con's....We love to cruise as does our extended family and friends. We were the 1st to try Celebrity...so we will see!

Thanks again and happy sailing!

Those are 2 biggies but one needed to be handled by the Maitre D' and the other by the Shore excursions office - I can understand not knowing this, and blaming the "catch-all" guest services.

But to say you would NOT (edit) sail with X again because of GS makes no sense...so if you had a horrible cabin, crappy food, the worst cruise ever, but GS was competent and helpful, you'd sail on that ship again? But not the one where, as you say, everything was great but GS was dismissive? (since it was not their area of expertise, anyway?) - makes no sense.

Captain Leo needs to get back on Summit. He was such a great entertainer himself! :)

Summit is a wonderful ship.

I also was on the July 7th nine night cruise. I agree the activities during the day could be improved. That being said my wife and I had a great time. This was my 5th straight July cruise on the Summit and believe me it was refreshing that they finally dropped the previous production shows. Our opinion of the shows was they were much improved. This 9 day cruise had two different comedians who did two shows each. Two different singers one of which did two different shows and two new productions shows. The only show left over from previous years was Imagic. I sat in the first row and watched really closely and still cannot figure out how stuff was done. Not sure what some people expect to see on a cruise ship. As far as the Celebrity staff is concerned I have nothing but good things to say about the service. In five years I have never been disappointed. We were also lucky enough to have great weather and smooth seas throughout the nine nights. We ate in Blu and so cannot comment on the MDR experience. The food in Blu was good just stay away from the pumpkin gnocchi. It was the only bad thing...

As a new sailer to Celebrity, I think Guest Services should have been more helpful and pleasant! Also, there was more than just the dinner aspect AND it was the attitude more than anything! I'm not going to defend what makes a cruise work for us and what doesn't just as I wouldn't ask you to...We all pay our money and deserve to be able to have an honest opinion.

I certainly read everyone's opinions and take from them what is important to me. I don't condemn anyone for wanting or expecting certain things cause I'm not there and I am not them.

We have LOVED other cruises and have felt that the GR was much better equipped to help us quickly get on to enjoying our cruise than they were on this ship!

Best wishes to all of you and happy sailing!