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Just back from the Summit, 12/7/2013 Southern Caribbean


Ron_L
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We got home last night from a week on the Summit out of San Juan on 12/7/2013 to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Dominica, Grenada and St. Thomas. We also stayed three nights in San Juan before the cruise.

 

I have lots of pictures and plan on adding details and pictures into this thread over the next few days, but here is the overview...

 

San Juan

 

We stayed at the Hilton Condado Plaza (formerly called the Conrad Condado Plaza). I used Hilton points for an Ocean View room and we had a nice room with a balcony on the 8th floor. The balcony was a nice way to start and end the day and the room was very nice. The hotel in in great shape and had a small beach on a calm cove. The location is convenient to the Condado area and close to OSJ.

 

We did a snorkeling tour with East Winds Cats out of the Fajardo area on Thursday that went to a reef off of Culebra and then to a beach on Culebrita. the trip was great and the East Winds crew was fantastic!

 

On Friday we walked around Old San Juan and went to El Morro. One fort was enough so we skipped the other one We had a nice day in OSJ and a fantastic dinner at Marmalade restaurant in OSJ.

 

The Ship & Food

 

On Saturday we got to the port at 10:30am. We checked our bags with the porters and got into a short line outside. Previous cruisers said they opened the door at 10:30, but on our day they didn't open them until 11. Once inside it took 5 minutes to get our cards and we were on board. The Summit is very nice with elegant decor. She was in great shape with only a few signs of wear. We liked the size and found things easy to find, and nothing was ever crowded.

 

Food was good, but not great. Bistro on Five the first day for lunch was very good but they screwed up my wife's order. She enjoyed what they brought, so no big deal. The MDR food was OK to good depending on what we ordered. The steaks were not good (too thin and tough). The braised short ribs were the best thing on the menu. I followed our head waiter's recommendations and he never steered me wrong. We didn't have access to Blu, and we enjoyed our table mates so much that we didn't try Normandie or Q-Sine.

 

We ate at the buffet the first evening so we could be outside for sail away, one morning for breakfast, and for snacks. The buffet was good. They have eggs Benedict on the buffet and the eggs are pre-cooked and then finished to order, but the Hollandaise was lacking seasoning. Actually, our biggest complaint about the food is that almost everything was under seasoned and bland.

 

The Martini Bar is a great place to hang out. The bartenders, especially Newman from Turkey, were fantastic and did lots of flair bartending tricks with tossing bottles in the air, etc.

 

Continued in the next post...

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The Ports

 

St. Croix - The weather limited the activities. it was very windy and raining, sometimes heavily and we had some thunderstorms. The port itself is quiet, with a few local craft vendors and shops. It was Sunday so a lot was closed. It was raining most of the day and very windy so no one went to the beach and any water excursions were cancelled. We took a taxi tour for $25 that went to the Cruzan distillery (extra $5 to get in) and drove around the island to Christiansted. Cruzan was really a nice tour and included two drinks and 4 tasting shots of their rums. Christiansted has a nice boardwalk with restaurants and shops but a lot were closed. We had hope to go the the Domino Clud to visit the beer-drinking pigs but were told that the roads into the rainforest were very muddy so we didn't make it out there.

 

St. Kitts - We took a half day snorkeling cruise with Blue Water Safaris. Great trip! The boat was beautiful, the roof was great and the crew and fantastic! After that we shopped around at the port and then found a local bar with $1 beers (Carib or Stag). Watch out for the guys wanting to take your picture with the monkeys. They want a tip, of course, but asked for $20 per person! I tipped him but no where near that much!

 

Dominica - By far our favorite day! We booked the Roseau Valley Treasures wet tour with Bumpling Tours. Levi Barron was our guide and he is fantastic and he did everything he could to make our day with him great! Snorkeling at Champagne Reef was excellent. Getting in and out of the water with the waves and boulders was tough but Levi helped everyone. He took us to the outer reef and showed us all sorts of fish and coral. Titou Gorge was a fantastic experience even with the COLD water and Trafalgar Falls were beautiful. I didn't go down to the hot springs at Trafalgar Falls. It was a long way down on slippery rocks and I don't think I could have made it back up because of bad knees. I had no problems with the rest of the tour, however.

 

Grenada - We took it easy and just went to the Spice and Craft Market by Grand Anse beach and then sat on the beach. The market is 20 - 30 local vendors, most with the same stuff, but a few had hand made things link wood carvings and spice necklaces. We bought a small wood carving and three spice necklaces ($3 each). After that we got two chairs ($15 for both) at the Lazy Days Bar and sat on the beach. $2 beers and free bathrooms and freshwater showers. Beautiful beach and water. There were lots of people, but not too crowded.

 

St. Thomas - We've been to St. Thomas before but always went over to St. John. This time we did an island tour that stopped at Mountain Top and a few other places and then dropped us off at Sapphire Beach for a couple of hours and then picked us up again for $25. Sapphire is beautiful. It was choppy that day so i didn't go snorkeling but lots of folks were out there. We rented a chair ($7) had some beers and a couple of sandwiches from the Banana Cabana (beach service) and enjoyed a beautiful day.

 

Continued in the next post...

Edited by Ron_L
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Debarkation

 

We had a late flight out of SJU so we decided to take the Celebrity excursion to the Bacradi distillery which included transportation to the airport. We met in the MDR at 7:15 and were off of the ship by about 8:15. The Bacardi tour was nice and included some in person talks and a short film plus two drink tickets. We were at the airport by about 11:30am. Or flight was supposed to be at 4:00 but was delayed until 5:00pm because of snow in Chicago. We had lunch and a couple of drinks at the airport to pass the time. We were home by 10:00pm.

 

Overall Thoughts

 

Overall we had a great cruise! We loved the Summit and would cruise on her again. The staff were all great! As usual, there were some standouts, including the crew at the martini bar, our room steward, Andrew, and his assistant, Ketut (pronounced kay-toot) and out head waiter, Acensio. There were a couple of minor issues, they they really were minor and had no impact on our cruise.

 

We had a fairly small group from the CC Roll Call (about 25 people at our informal meet up at the Sunst Bar on Saturday afternoon and about the same number at the CC Connections Party, but we had a lot of fun with them and would cruise with any of them again. One thing that made us chuckle was that three or four people who were lurkers in the roll call came up to us during the cruise and said "Are you Captain Ron from Cruise Critic?". They recognized us from my profile picture and another picture that I had posted in the roll call thread :D

 

As I mentioned, I'll post more details and pictures as I get through them and I will gladly answer any questions.

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We had a late flight out of SJU so we decided to take the Celebrity excursion to the Bacradi distillery which included transportation to the airport. We met in the MDR at 7:15 and were off of the ship by about 8:15. The Bacardi tour was nice and included some in person talks and a short film plus two drink tickets. We were at the airport by about 11:30am.

Does Celebrity offer many other tours on disembarkation day? We have a 3:30 flight and I don't know what to do that day other than drop our bags and walk around old San Juan for the day.

 

The staff were all great! As usual, there were some standouts, including the crew at the martini bar, our room steward, Andrew, and his assistant, Ketut (pronounced kay-toot) and out head waiter, Acensio. There were a couple of minor issues, they they really were minor and had no impact on our cruise.

Glad you liked the staff. We have the same room, 3112, as you had for our trip in 2 weeks. What did you think of it? I will have to say hi to Andrew for you, assuming we have the same cabin steward. Glad he was good for you. I just upgraded to the premium beverage package for the selection of wines and so I can enjoy the martini bar. Any suggestions for the martini bar that I definitely have to try?

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Does Celebrity offer many other tours on disembarkation day? We have a 3:30 flight and I don't know what to do that day other than drop our bags and walk around old San Juan for the day.

 

Yep... There is also a rainforest tour and an Old San Juan tour. Both offer airport transportation. There is a restriction on the earliest flight you can have for each tour, so double check the Celebrity web site or with the Shore Excursion Desk once on board.

 

 

Glad you liked the staff. We have the same room, 3112, as you had for our trip in 2 weeks. What did you think of it? I will have to say hi to Andrew for you, assuming we have the same cabin steward. Glad he was good for you. I just upgraded to the premium beverage package for the selection of wines and so I can enjoy the martini bar. Any suggestions for the martini bar that I definitely have to try?

 

3112 was a great cabin! It has an extra 4 ft. or so pf space because of the door placement (perpendicular to the hull instead of parallel to it) and that whole bank of cabins is in a low traffic area of the ship. If you go forward from the cabin area you go to the atrium lobby area and the central elevators and if you go aft you get to the aft elevators. It is a great spot.

 

It was very quiet with the exception of when we were in port in San Juan and St. Croix. It was very windy in both locations and there was something banging against the hull. I couldn't see what it was, but it only happened during the day in those two ports, and no where else, and never at night.

 

Andrew and Ketut were both great! Andrew introduced himself within a couple of minutes of us going into the cabin for the first time, and one thing that impressed us was that he said "I am Andrew and Ketut and I will be taking care of you this week". It was clear from the start that they were a team and they worked well together.

 

For the Martini bar, everything we tried was good, but my wife liked the French Martini and the Tropitini best. I'm not a fan of very sweet drinks so the Fresca Martini and the Blue Maritini were my favorites. They also have a full bar so they can make anything. I asked Newman to make me something with Absolut Pepper one day and he made me a Blody-tini, which was a martini style Bloody Mary and was very good.

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Thanks for the review.

 

Two questions, do you know the last names of the Captain Club hostess Ashley, and Alex the CD?

 

Also when was the connections party held?

 

Doing a B2B on the Summit very soon... can't wait to see her again since her Solsticeization. :D

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Thanks for the review.

 

Two questions, do you know the last names of the Captain Club hostess Ashley, and Alex the CD?

 

Also when was the connections party held?

 

Doing a B2B on the Summit very soon... can't wait to see her again since her Solsticeization. :D

 

The Captain's Club hostess is Ashley Whitaker. The CD (I assume you meant Cruise Director) is Kyle. I can't find his last name in the dailies but I think it is Dodson and apparently he is new with Celebrity. He reminded me of a 70's game show host, but did a good job and was visible all around the ship.

 

Our connections party was on Sunday evening (St. Croix) at 5:30 in the Revelations Lounge.

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Welcome back Ron!!!!! I'll read your report soon! I hope to cruise again with you and Amy in the future :D

 

Thanks, Jodie! I gave Judy the full scoop already :D You will love this cruise! If you can do the Roseau Valley treasures tour with Levi, do it! I know that Judy and Rick have gone with Levi in the past and loved it.

Edited by Ron_L
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Can't wait to see your photos!

 

What did you do on the ship? Any activities?

 

Is the MdR open for lunch too?

 

Thanks!

 

The MDR was not open for lunch. We only had one sea day and on that day they served brunch in the MDR from 10:00am - 1:00pm

 

The only organized activities we did were a couple of shows, the men vs. women trivia one evening, and one shore excursions talk.

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Thank you so much, Ron L! It sounds like the Martini Bar was like I remember it, and that makes me happy for our February cruise! When we were on Summit in Bermuda in September, the crew at the Martini Bar was sullen and rude, and I was so disappointed, as it had been a favorite hangout previously! Glad you had a good time on your cruise!

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Thank you so much, Ron L! It sounds like the Martini Bar was like I remember it, and that makes me happy for our February cruise! When we were on Summit in Bermuda in September, the crew at the Martini Bar was sullen and rude, and I was so disappointed, as it had been a favorite hangout previously! Glad you had a good time on your cruise!

 

We did find some grumpy bartenders on the ship, and at some bars the service was shift-dependent, but in general they were great. Look for Newman (tall, thin, dark hair), Ivo (tall, sandy hair), Gede (pronounced like g'day, shorter, dark skin) or Marcos (very tall, shaved head). All made great drinks and all were very friendly and funny.

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