Just back from the craziest Summit cruise

Here's how to cruise in luxury on a budget.

We did the Summit Nov 15-22 (SJ, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Maarten, St Thomas, SJ). Stayed at the SJ Marriott/Stellaris Casino. Really liked this hotel.

On cruise day, we arrived at the pier at 11:15 and was on board by 11:30. We had room 8112 (C2). Room was nice, clean, decent size. Only complaint was location of closet. Made it impossible for 2 people to use it at once, or to get in bathroom. We were in the room by 1pm, luggage came around 4pm.

Since this trip was port intensive, we planned to use the first day as we would a sea day and enjoy the solarium, pool, bars, etc. And we did. Had lunch in buffet. Food was decent. Some food was in small containers, some was served by staff, and some was self serve. Trays are available, but not at all stations. Drink service was SLOW. We also decided to take advantage of the 20% discount the first day for Qsine. We booked it for 9pm so we could join the sailaway party.

8:30 came and went, and we finally left port about 8:45, but no sailaway party :( Oh well, off to Qsine for our first time. We really liked the food and service there. While there, we noticed a somewhat odd looking couple (hot girl, not so hot guy), but w/e, we're all different, lol.

Later that night I went to the casino and played craps. The guy from dinner, introduced himself as J. He and I played for a couple hours, and I ended up winning him about $12k. I only won about $1k, but I wasn't throwing the money around like he was. I went back to our room about 2:30am and told my wife, but I don't think she believed my story.

Next morning, we did the same routine again (pools, eat, drink, etc). We went to Martini Bar around 6pm, and J shows up with his wife, P, and we all introduce ourselves. We went our seperate ways, us goinf to MDR for formal night. Had a good meal, decent service. Afterwards, went to the show. Left partway through as the musical wasn't exactly my thing. Hit the casino again, and J showed up again, winning big again, and tossing a couple thousand in tips to the staff.

Next day, wife and I depart to explore Barbados. After we made it through the duty free shops, I hear someone yelling my name. It was J and P. We decided to hang out that morning at the Boatyard. They took off later for lunch, and we headed back to the ship. We made plans to meet at Martini at 6 again. On our way back, I picked up a small gift for J. At 6, we met, and they invited us to dinner at Qsine again, and they picked up the tab. Now is when everything really started getting crazy. We went back to the casino, and my wife went with P to their stateroom (penthouse suite). J and I won big again. After playing, we found our wives, and P was hungry and wanted the sliders at Qsine. However it was 11pm and they were closed. We went up anyway, J gave the Matre D' and servers big tips, and we got a couple orders of sliders :).

In St Lucia, we went our seperate ways, and neither really enjoyed ourselves, so we met up again at Martini, and made good friends with the bartender, Sergei. He was great the rest of the trip. We all ate in the MDR that night, and after dinner I got to see their suite. I guess having a jacuzzi on the deck would be nice, but they don't have those in C2 rooms.

I went to the concierge the next morning to get tips on where to go in Antigua, and Nadia sent us in the right direction. We went to Jolly Harbour and had a great time. The best looking beach of the trip, very good drinks too. Food wasn't good, but we had a great time. Different routine when we got to the ship. Martini, Blu, Casino. They didn't want to let my wife and I in since we were in concierge. But J convinced them it wasn't in their financial intrests to do so. The food was good except for the steaks. I don't remember a whole lot about it as Sergei had given me many, many strong martinis. We had been talking about birthdays that night, and I said mine was in January. So J and P said lets meet in Chicago. Again, we're thinking, sure, w/e, because we were thinking it's not going to happen.

In St Maarten, the Suite Concierge, Jole, made reservations at a resort called The Cliffs. OMG! This place had an amazing view, great staff, and the best food of the entire cruise. The owner had caught the yellowfin tuna that was used for the sashimi himself that morning. J and P liked the place so much they booked the 5 BR penthouse for a weekend in March, and asked us if we wanted to join them. We jokingly said sure, as we didn't take them seriously. We spent the day there drinking and eating and laying in the sun. J picked up the tab again. And again that night, Martini, Qsine, Casino.

Finally the last day was St Thomas. J asked the cab driver to take us to a quiet beach and we ended up at Secret Harbour on the SE side of the island. This place was quiet, although the beach wasn't all that great. The drinks and food were great for beachside. Back to the ship, and we changed our routine! They took us to Normandie tonight, after Martini of course. They ordered caviar, and lots of wine and champagne. The cheapest thing he ordered was a bottle of Cristal. They actually had emptied the ship of the wine they had been drinking, and it was $675/bottle. We spent about 3 hrs there that night and had a fantastic time. I appologize to anyone that was in there if we got a little loud or obnoxious, lol. During dinner, J called the Ritz in Chicago and booked the top suite and the adjoining room, and said, ok, we'll see you in Chicago!

Each of these nights we also spent a lot of time in Michael's, event though we weren't in a suite. This place was empty all the time.

On disembarkment, we all decided to meet at Michael's, and Jole escorted us off the ship. She was a fantastic concierge. Very sweet and helpful. J had arranged a private car to take us to the airport, but only after stopping at the Ritz for breakfast, lol. We got off at the aiport, and went our separate ways, however we've been in contact via phone, text, and facebook ever since.

Not sure how any of this happened to us, but it was truly a trip of a lifetime. BTW, I'm looking into airfare to St Maarten :)

Hi WAHLCT,

Looking forward to reading your Criuse Review... But have to admit it is difficult

Any chance you could go back in and edit it to add more white space / paragraph spacing ? Would dfinitely make it an easier read.

You can edit a post for about 20 minutes here on CC

Cheers!

Sorry, I had copy/pasted and all of the whitespace had disappeared. Should be better now. Forgot to add this is our 4th cruise, 3rd on Celebrity. Have been on Eclipse, Century, and Allure of the Seas.

Thanks for the review.

Kind of sounds like the cruising version of the Penthouse forums of the old days... "There was a knock on my door and the most gorgeous woman in a fed ex uniform was standing there all sweaty asking if she could cool off inside for a minute..." ;)

Glad you had a great time! LOL

Sounds kinda kooky if you ask me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Kind of sounds like the cruising version of the Penthouse forums of the old days... "There was a knock on my door and the most gorgeous woman in a fed ex uniform was standing there all sweaty asking if she could cool off inside for a minute..." ;)

 

Glad you had a great time! LOL

As I was reading this I got the same vibe. :cool:

As I was reading this I got the same vibe. :cool:

And who knows how it will end??

Please keep us informed.:rolleyes:

Is this for real?....so basically, you met a very, very, very rich couple

who invited you on vacation with them in very, very expensive

places? And they were so wealthy, you got to go to Michael's with them

even though you were not "Zenith Members" or suite passengers?

This review sounds quite strange to me.:rolleyes::eek::confused:

Kind of sounds like the cruising version of the Penthouse forums of the old days... "There was a knock on my door and the most gorgeous woman in a fed ex uniform was standing there all sweaty asking if she could cool off inside for a minute..." ;)

 

Glad you had a great time! LOL

That was our thoughts at first too, lol. However, after talking with his wife, and doing some background checking at home, the stories are true. Basically the guy has had many people take advantage of him, or want to be friends just for his money. So when we genuinely showed that didn't matter to us, he was happy to be around us.

Interesting Review / Post... Thanks for editing it to make it easier to read.

However I will say that sometimes things that sound too good to be true... Often are.

That was our thoughts at first too, lol. However, after talking with his wife, and doing some background checking at home, the stories are true. Basically the guy has had many people take advantage of him, or want to be friends just for his money. So when we genuinely showed that didn't matter to us, he was happy to be around us.

If this is true...

Then I doubt he would appreciate you now publicizing this on the Internet

Looks like it matters more to you now knowing him, than you may have portrayed on the cruise to him at that time

So I would not count your chickens before they hatch on future holiday plans...

Just saying

Cheers!

That was our thoughts at first too, lol. However, after talking with his wife, and doing some background checking at home, the stories are true. Basically the guy has had many people take advantage of him, or want to be friends just for his money. So when we genuinely showed that didn't matter to us, he was happy to be around us.

Be very careful

Is this for real?....so basically, you met a very, very, very rich couple

who invited you on vacation with them in very, very expensive

places? And they were so wealthy, you got to go to Michael's with them

even though you were not "Zenith Members" or suite passengers?

 

This review sounds quite strange to me.:rolleyes::eek::confused:

I agree, Lois. You and I know enough folks who get to breathe the rarefied air of Michael's Lounge, and none of them has ever reported anyone in there who was not Zenith, or actually traveling in a suite. And, I'm pretty sure that the Michael's Concierge has an advance list of everyone who's authorized to be there. I would be very surprised to find that exceptions would be made for folks waving around pictures of Mr. Frankin! :rolleyes:

Is this for real?....so basically, you met a very, very, very rich couple

who invited you on vacation with them in very, very expensive

places? And they were so wealthy, you got to go to Michael's with them

even though you were not "Zenith Members" or suite passengers?

 

This review sounds quite strange to me.:rolleyes::eek::confused:

me too, Lois....:eek::rolleyes:

I can believe the story. I've met folks like J and P and they have been sincerely nice people who just enjoy sharing the wealth. They are, of course, few and far between...so caution, of course. The Michael's club bit is a bit suspicious although if this guy is betting thousands a night, the casino really has a great deal of power, so I'll take the poster at his word.

I too expected the section on wife swapping or such, but sounds like it never got to that (or it didn't get to print).

If true, I think the OP is lucky to have met these folks...and doesn't take advantage or rely on them.

In any case, I'm going to hang in there for the next installment :)

Hi WAHLCT,

 

Looking forward to reading your Criuse Review... But have to admit it is difficult

 

Any chance you could go back in and edit it to add more white space / paragraph spacing ? Would dfinitely make it an easier read.

 

You can edit a post for about 20 minutes here on CC

 

Cheers!

I found it easy to read.

I think the rules on these boards is that we are not supposed to critiquing writing styles, punctuation, spelling or grammar. At least he had periods at the end of each sentence.

I found it easy to read.

 

I think the rules on these boards is that we are not supposed to critiquing writing styles, punctuation, spelling or grammar. At least he had periods at the end of each sentence.

lol

Interesting...thanks for your review and ideas on port activities.

I believe every word of it, including PH occupants having guests in Michaels. Glad you had a great time.

Sounds like true friendship was develop only on a Celebrity Cruise ship.

We met friends like this on Silver Seas. Great time thanks to their generosity.

That was our thoughts at first too, lol. However, after talking with his wife, and doing some background checking at home, the stories are true. Basically the guy has had many people take advantage of him, or want to be friends just for his money. So when we genuinely showed that didn't matter to us, he was happy to be around us.

Personally I would not be happy with someone throwing their money at me, I like to pay my own way. I would have felt very uncomfortable.

I found it easy to read.

 

I think the rules on these boards is that we are not supposed to critiquing writing styles, punctuation, spelling or grammar. At least he had periods at the end of each sentence.

I'm glad Sloop-JohnB asked for some white space or I wouldn't of bothered reading it. Nothing wrong with a few polite and constructive pointers.

Hey i bet those casino craps workers were very happy with you guys. The week before casino was always empty buy the way who was ya favorite craps worker.

Hey i bet those casino craps workers were very happy with you guys. The week before casino was always empty buy the way who was ya favorite craps worker.

I was on this cruise and when we went through the casino usually around 8:00 after the show as we were late seating for dinner. I almost felt sorry for the casino employees at that time because they looked to be totally bored! I can only assume that the casino got livelier later on in the evening. LOL, we hit the bed after dinner!

Thanks for the review, glad you had a great time...

Many(more than 20) years ago we were on a 3 day cruise that went to Nassau for the night, met a couple onboard and between the limo, drinks, dinner and playing at the Crystal Palace we almost did not make it back onboard... The other couple picked up so much, tried to grab some of tabs but he was quicker. I won big but not as much as they did.

We woke up in the afternoon, never left the room til late and sadly never saw the other couple again. Looked for them as we got off. We still talk about that night.