Summit - Bermuda - 9th Aug 2015

We just got off of this cruise! I realize that the end of the Bermuda cruise season for Celebrity is rapidly approaching, but I wanted to get this out for those who may be taking the cruise before the end of the month. I also tried to focus on the areas where I had the most questions. I'll break the posts into general categories to make it easier to navigate.

BACKGROUND

First time cruisers, my older mentally disabled brother Mark (54 YO) and myself (very quickly known on the ship as "Mark's younger brother" :) ). We were the youngest in a party of 10 - two primary aunts, one primary uncle, and 6 other "emergency backup" aunts & uncles. They have all been on cruises before. If you saw us and were (un?)lucky enough to be sitting by us, you probably knew us - a little loud (from a little hearing loss in some of the crowd), a little obnoxious, but lots of fun.

TRAVEL TO PORT

We went with Seaman Radio Dispatch, which had a van meet us in Riverdale (The Bronx) on time. The driver wasn't familiar with the route, but we talked him through it based on directions from the Cape Liberty website... it's A bit more of a drive to get there, but road signage was very clear in directing us to the port. The fare (with tolls) was $135 each way. We were happy enough with them that we may use them for airport trips going forward.

CHECK-IN

I had read good things here about the new terminal facilities in Bayonne, and they were accurate. On entering the building, we went to the wheelchair security line (three of the party were in chairs). After security, I identified my brother to the Celebrity rep (we had arranged special needs boarding in advance for my brother). We were immediately taken to the CC Zenith (!) line. The other 4 pax in the line were very friendly and understanding when they realized why we were there. We completed our check-in after a few extra minutes (the agent had to walk down to get our sea passes), and then we immediately boarded. It was funny to watch the ladies get roses; Mark asked me if we could get one for our Aunt, and I told him that I was sure we'd have plenty of opportunities to buy one on board. :-)

EMBARKATION

Very nice! Escalators to the gangways, with tables set up along the gangway for several helpful and friendly Celebrity crew members who were more than happy to sell you something before you even hit the ship. :-) Having never done this before, we didn't realize that this was going to be a recurring theme. In any case, directly off the gangway onto deck 4, where we were immediately greeted with a mimosa (me) and an OJ (Mark).

We then went to the buffet... which was crowded, but not as bad as I thought it would be based on some of the comments I've read here. We found two tables next to one another, a corner for our (too) many carry-ons, and were grazing by noon.

CABINS

They called us to our cabins at (I believe) about 1:30. We each had our own inside connecting cabin - 9002 and 9006, all the way forward on the starboard side of deck 9. The family had three veranda cabins right down the hall (9016, 9020, 9022), and one on the starboard side (9029).

About the cabins:

• 9002 and 9006 are connecting cabins. The only disadvantage is that 1) the connecting door can't be locked without a key (we didn't bother asking), and 2) the door is located where the table and chair are in the room - which means that when the door is open, you kind of have to push them out into the center of a very small room. I'm sure they would have taken the chair and tables away if we asked, but we wanted to keep them - so we dodged them for the rest of the trip.
  
• No observed problems with the air conditioning in the cabins. The air was a *little* warm when we first entered the cabin. I immediately turned down the thermostats, and the rooms quickly cooled off. As far as 9016, it actually got too cold in their room!
  
• No musty smell, mildew, slime mold, kelp, or any other issues with the bathrooms. I realize that this could be hit or miss with any cabin, but from the comments here I had wondered if this would be an issue. Out of 6 cabins, none of us had any problems with bathroom flora or aura.
  
• The door on 9006 did not latch & lock unless it was slammed HARD. They didn't notice this for the first couple of days (scary). I believe it was fixed immediately when the aunts noticed it and contacted Guest Services.
  
• 9022 was across from the crew service stairs / elevators. The noise from that door opening and closing during the night really got to them.
  
• Interestingly, the connecting door between 9002 / 9006 had been duct taped shut at some time in the past - both sides. You could see the leftover residue from the tape. That gave a couple of our group enough material for several non-compliant and sometimes disgusting jokes involving disease outbreaks, dead passengers, etc. :D
  

CABIN STAFF

Let me be very clear here: SOCURRO (our cabin steward, from India) and MICHAEL (his assistant, Philippines) were AWESOME. Yes, I did do a pre-emptive tip for each of them - and took the time to explain that Mark might be a little higher maintenance. They genuinely listened, and genuinely reassured me - and through the week, I saw that played out over and over again. They took the time to talk to Mark, listen to him, reassure him, help him find my aunts' rooms down the hall, and generally helped with his anxiety - and in doing so, helped me relax that much more. They received a nice tip at the end, with my sincere thanks. Celebrity, if you're reading this you need to light these two guys up!

More to follow in a bit...

SHIP LAYOUT

I found it to be fine, and Mark actually did pretty well with it (although he got port and starboard mixed up a bit). The rest of the party? Not so well. I ended up being the designated shipboard escort, tour guide, and in at least a couple of cases search and rescue. We did like the proximity to the pools (one deck above) and being one deck below the buffet (aft of the pools), but the seniors definitely got tired with the long walks.

SHIP STAFF

Great! We were always met with a smile and a genuine greeting. Celebrity has put a string focus on guest interaction, and it definitely seems to work well. In a conversation later in the week with a passenger from the NCL Breakaway, they pointed out that the staff there could be kind of distant / distracted.

CRUISE DIRECTOR

OK, I'll be honest - based on this board, I did not have high expectations for KEN MILLS (cruise director, USA). While it was certainly fun to express annoyance with him, what I found was somebody who truly and consistently busted his @ss. I saw him out and about multiple times - say what you want, but he remains engaged with his pax. OK, so he can be a little annoying sometimes - but for the amount of effort he put into the cruise, I can live with an announcement a day plus his post-show cheerleading and MC’ing of other events. Ken, don't let the @ssholes get you down.

FELLOW PAX

Definitely an older crowd, but a LOT of kids. We later learned that there were hundreds of kids 15 or younger on board... compare that to the first Canada sailing in a few weeks, which currently only has two passengers under the age of 50 booked! In my opinion, these kids were remarkably well behaved. There was some definite bleed-over into the outside adults-only pool... but not into the solarium pool.

As far as adult behaviour - well, we saw a little of everything. I will say that there were some people there who looked at the cruise as an opportunity to be rude to "the help" (I actually heard that term mentioned). It was not pleasant to watch.

SAIL OUT

We did the pass by the Statue of Liberty! We also had a FDNY fireboat salute as we went past the statue - I don't know if that's standard or not. Unfortunately, the fire boat turned to port as we went by, so I couldn't frame the statue between the streams.

From there, it was under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (full disclosure: my grandfather was one of the engineers that helped design & build it), and out to sea.

More to follow later...

THE RIDE

Per the captain, there was a system further off in the Atlantic that gave us moderate seas. I knew that was coming from seeing the weather forecast that morning (6 - 8 foot swells), but I was surprised that it lasted almost all of the way into Bermuda. The ship handled it well, but the rocking and rolling as noticeable. Nobody in our group got sick, but the seniors had a more difficult time walking.

SHIP ACTIVITIES

I'm gonna be very blunt here, but CelebrityLife activities were largely infomercials. Shocking, I know. :eek: But there were a couple of standouts in my opinion:

• the "Behind the Scenes" tour was excellent if you enjoy "geeking out", and with the included lunch in Normandie was WELL worth the high price ($150). Our 3 hour tour was conducted by senior staff; the staff captain, HR manager, Guest Relations manager, second engineer, executive sous chef, production and stage manager, etc. Lots of questions answered, and some surprisingly frank opinions about challenges that they face on every cruise.
  
• I enjoyed the Reidel wine tasting clinic. OK, it was a little pricey... but hey, you get to drink a bunch of wine *and* you can get some good crystal for the cost of shipping only (the no longer let you take the glasses off the ship).
  

OCEANVIEW CAFE (buffet dining)

Not bad! We really enjoyed the food, with good taste and variety.

Standouts for our group:

• the blintzes in the morning (smart move by Celebrity based on where the ship sails from)
  
• the turkey at the carving station
  
• the soup
  
• the pizza
  
• the pasta
  

Negatives:

• the orange-juice-like substance that came out of the juice machines (it always seemed to be either too concentrated or too watery)
  
• the oatmeal (some said it just didn't taste quite right)
  
• some of the lunch / dinner sausage selections
  
• the tacos
  

The buffet layout was a little confusing for the older folks, and a couple of them didn't have the stamina to make it all the way to the back stations. At that point, I added waiter to my responsibilities. :-) Fortunately, that was only for food items - Celebrity has one of their best in the Oceanview. ROY (waiter, Jamaica) was always quick with the coffee and drinks, with generous side orders of smiles, conversation, and laughter. Look for him - you won't be disappointed.

COSMOPOLITAN (main dining room)

Lots of material here!

• We had Select Dining, and had already been advised in the Cruise Critic briefing that a large proportion of the diners all wanted to eat at 7pm. This was introducing a logistical issue for all concerned. :-) We decided to shoot for 5:30 - 6pm every night that we wanted to eat in the MDR; there were absolutely no problems at all in not just getting a table for 10, but the SAME table every night (!). I was shocked at this – I
  
• thought we would end up breaking up the band at least once during the cruise.
  
• Of course, keeping the same table meant keeping the same staff... who were exceptional. VENEGAS (waiter, Peru), GABRIELLA (assistant, Romania), ALEXA (bar steward, Ukraine?), and ALBERT (sommelier, unknown) were incredible. After one visit we were known by name, along with our favorite drinks and individual "preferences" (French for "quirks"). By the end of the second meal, Venegas was familiar enough with us to make menu recommendations based on what we liked. Celebrity: Venegas should be fast tracked into a leadership role and/or a specialty restaurant, and Gabriella will be a great waitress for you once you put her in that role.
  

Oh, yeah, a minor detail: the food! A few things here:

• every soup and every piece of bread we had was outstanding. 100% hits, regardless of what it was.
  
• other than the filet mignons, the steak would sometimes be slightly overcooked. We had a lot of people eating steak, and ran into this at least three or four times. Most of the time it wasn't that bad, but one time a medium-rare arrived as medium-well; Venegas took care of that immediately. After we called it to his attention, it never happened again.
  
• a couple of the lobsters on lobster night were a little dry. Again, nothing too out of control, just noticeable.
  

NORMANDIE (specialty dining)

Two of us had lunch there on the last sea day as part of a ship tour. Very, very nice - but a little too much for lunch? I'm sorry that we didn’t have this earlier… based on lunch, I’m sure the dinner here would have been outstanding.

POOL GRILL

Surprisingly good burgers, hot dogs, and fries! I actually saw people bringing food from the grill into Oceanview Cafe for lunch.

CAFE AL BACIO

Great coffee and munchies, with a great staff. By the second day, they were greeting "Mister Mark" by name - which gave me an indication of how many times he was going back there for snack time. :rolleyes:

Thank you for a very nice review and am glad to hear you enjoyed your first cruise!

Regarding the tape on the adjoining door, I have stayed in cabins with adjoining doors and some passengers will tape around the doors, thinking that will shut out any noise from the adjacent cabin! Of course it doesn't, but it sure does make a mess when the tape is removed. Celebrity should really try and remove the residue as it is not pleasant to look at.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts - it's a well written, enjoyable read. Looking forward to the next installment!

Great review, was on Summit a few weeks ago one thing a little perplexed about, do not believe the Summit has an outdoor Adults only pool.

Great review, was on Summit a few weeks ago one thing a little perplexed about, do not believe the Summit has an outdoor Adults only pool.

Hi dkj... the forward outdoor pool had signage saying adults only, but it definitely wasn't obvious! A quick Google found a couple of posts referring to it going back a few years.

I can understand some of the concern... I know my aunts didn't get in a couple of times because the pool had so many kids in it with the adults. At the same time, more kids on the boat means less adult competition for the pool space... and with the thalassotherapy pool steps away, I think it made sense for the pool butlers to look the other way.

ENTERTAINMENT

• The first night's introduction was kind of a waste; we attended for the comedian, who was very good - but only got 20 minutes at the end. Pheh.
  
• We went to the Tuesday comedy show, wanting more - and got about 45 minutes. It was his last night on the boat - maybe he had to rush back to the room to pack his bags and get them in the hallway by 11pm. :D
  
• iMagic was very well produced, and had some great sleight of hand tricks.
  
• Sirens dragged a bit at the beginning, but finished OK.
  
• iHollywood seemed to be the most popular with our group. Of course, it was on the last night of the cruise and I had added butler to my responsibilities, so I was packing and missed it.
  

BERMUDA

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

1. The island is beautiful.
   
2. It was expensive.
   
3. The people were wonderful, right down to the kids.
   
4. Boy, was it expensive there.
   
5. The weather couldn't have been better (I don't mind the humidity).
   
6. We're talking expensive here.
   

You get the picture.

BERMUDA ACTIVITIES / SHORE EXCURSIONS

Day 1: Mark and I went "self-guided", getting transit pass and taking the Ferry to Hamilton and then the bus to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo. This was actually pretty good - and I think it was worth the price of admission. Mark really enjoyed this stop.

From there, we took the bus to Crystal Caverns. I went into both the caves; Mark backed out after the first. The price here at the Caverns seemed a little high, but they were pretty. Note that the Fantasy Cave is much warmer than the Crystal Cave!

From the caverns, we hiked back to the road and had lunch at the Swizzle Inn - very tasty, but pricy. Mark had fish & chips. As for me... why be normal? The nachos were as good as I had been told that they were! Made with their chili recipe, which has huge chunks of beef. OK, maybe I did fly from Texas to NYC, then traveled 800 miles into the Atlantic to have nachos - so sue me. :D

We then took the bus north to St. George, but by that time Mark was tired... so it was back on the ferry to return to the Dockyard.

Yet more to follow...

BERMUDA ACTIVITIES / SHORE EXCURSIONS (CNT’D)

Day 2: The seniors were concerned about mobility, so we took Celebrity's island bus tour. It was everything I expected - 5 hours of sitting on a bus, with only a few short breaks... but it was great family time. The driver / guide, BENJY (L. E. Benjamin) was great - but I think a minibus or cab tour would have been MUCH better. By the end of 5 hours, I was beeping at cars as they went by (apparently a Bermudian tradition) and conducting my own tour for my aunts. “On the right is a church... on the left is another church... on the right is a grocery store... on the left is a church... on the right is another church..."

The breaks were:

• Gibbs Hill lighthouse (20 minutes, but ended up being 30). Unless you had the energy of a 12 year old, no chance of having enough time to climb the lighthouse without running right back down the steps. A special note to the charming lady sitting behind me on the bus who made fun of my aunts and uncle slowly coming down the steps from the lighthouse: I enjoyed calling you out on it, and truly meant it when I told you I'd rather have them on the bus that you. The fact that you repeated EVERYTHING that the driver said to your daughter contributed to my joy in seeing your discomfort. Karma can be a b*tch, and I sincerely hope you don't find people snarking at you when you're older. Which looking at you, probably isn't that far away.
  

• Hamilton: 25 minutes. Really?
  
• St. George: 15 minutes. Really? Barely enough time to walk to the frozen yogurt place.
  
• John Smith's Beach (I think): 10 minutes. Enough time to run off and grab a couple of pictures.
  

Day 3: A slow start, and I couldn't convince Mark to go hiking with me. So, we were off for a self-booked glass bottom boat ride. It was a little windy that day, which churned up the water and cut visibility a bit, but we still got a good view of the HMS Vixen and the reef life. The price was OK for self-booking ($45 ea. plus $5 booking fee), but I would have hated to pay the Celebrity price for this one!

More to follow tomorrow...

Enjoying your posts

Thank you for your review. We are looking forward to our August 2016 trip on the Summit to Bermuda and found your review entertaining and helpful.:)

FUTURE CRUISE OFFICE

We did book a future cruise on the last night. Some thoughts:

• The "default" price quoted was the "Go Best" without any kind of explanation. A couple of the seniors almost had heart attacks at the price! Fortunately I was there to assume additional responsibilities as travel consultant, and I made the cruise rep explain the pricing structure and quote the "Go Big" price.
  
• I wanted ocean view cabins for Mark and I. After I got back to my room, I found that we had been cheerfully booked two single rooms under the casino (my bad for not asking). If I couldn’t change that to the forward-looking rooms on decks 7 or 8, we may not end up going... but earlier today, I called and got the last two adjoining ocean view rooms on Deck 7. (phew)
  

DISEMBARK

• I know there's probably no better way to do it... but the late night packing scramble and early morning cattle call is just NOT a nice way to end a vacation. If there was one thing that would have made life easier, it would have been to let pax store their carry-offs in their rooms until 9am or so. IN any case, we were able to disembark about 10 minutes early, and found our luggage waiting for us.
  
• The facilities and personnel at Bayonne were as good as they were at departure - with the exception of the wheelchair porters. As I said before, we had three in chairs. One porter pushed my aunt down to the luggage area, and then asked her if he could have the chair back. She replied "Fine - but then where do I sit?" The porter then pushed her the rest of the way, and got tipped nicely. The second porter? Well, he just disappeared, leaving my uncle parked in the middle of the baggage claim area; I threw my carry-ons on top of the luggage cart and took over driving the chair. We had no issues with the third, and he got a nice tip as well.
  
• ERIC (baggage porter, NJ) was excellent. He was very patient with the seniors - who had a veritable mountain of luggage - and was very patient while we went back to find two garment bags that had been forgotten. He stayed with us all the way to the curbside and the arrival of the cabs and private car, and helped the drivers organize the bags in each. We took very good care of this guy.
  

FINAL RANDOM THOUGHTS

• We really met some outstanding people on this cruise. If you think that all NY and NJ people are rude and/or don't ant to have anything to do with them... well, it sucks to be you. I particularly liked seeing some of the other pax interact with Mark - he's really a nice guy, and more that a few were willing to sit back and listen to him talk about his basset hound, our family, his basset hound, our deceased parents, his basset hound, our vacations over the past few years (I had to think twice about travelling to the grocery store while Mom & Dad were sick), and his basset hound. One couple got to talking with him in the buffet, then saw me walk up and tell him to stay put & I'd be right back... when he moved immediately afterwards, stayed and looked for me to tell me where he went (he had relocated from the pizza bar to the ice cream bar). People like all of you are what keep me going.
  
• Without dragging up nastiness, there was a security incident onboard (you can search other posts if you want to learn more). IMHO, ship's security handled it very well... and from what I heard, a fellow passenger intervened to keep it from getting worse. Kudos to all involved (except the @sshole that started it).
  
• I can't let this end without recognizing two people who make this happen. KIM BIRD (Guest Relations manager) and MARY (HR Manager) clearly love their jobs - and their enthusiasm shows in the quality they bring to their areas of responsibility. It was great meeting them as part of the behind the scenes tour, and I'd encourage future Summit pax to search them out and complement them on jobs very well done.
  

SUMMARY

A great time. As I said, we went ahead and booked - with almost all of the rest of the famned damily - for the Equinox "Ultimate Caribbean" cruise next year. I hope to see some of you on the boat!

THE ABSOLUTE LAST WORD

Mom, Dad - Mark had a blast. If you were watching, I hope you enjoyed the show.

=============================

I've started scanning the dailies, and I'll post them in a separate thread tomorrow to make them easier to find.

To Mark's younger brother -- No one could ask for a better brother. Your parents are proud of you.

This review was so cute. I think it is helpful for families with special needs members to see that travelling is possible albeit a little more complicated at times....but so worth it.

I wish you guys were on my next cruise:)

I loved the part about the Lady at Gibbs Lighthouse......some people are just beyond words......

You are a superhero!!!!!

Great review, hope you and your family enjoy many more vacations together. I do hope you got some "you" time, you deserve it.

Sent from my 710C using Tapatalk

Thanks, gang - I appreciate the kind words. I always tell people that he's a pain in the ass... but he's my pain in the ass, and they can't have him. :D And yes, I stole a few hours to myself!

Here's an action shot from the last morning when Mark realized that the Magical Fountain O' Food was almost over. He was trying to figure out if he had time for one last breakfast buffet run before they shut it down. :rolleyes:

The dailies are posted at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2250023 and http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2250024!

Thanks for the review.

Thank you for the well written review.

Keith

OP: And we sort of did just the opposite regarding which ship/when. We were on a Caribbean cruise on the Equinox this past winter and on the Summit to Bermuda in June. Loved them both! In fact, we enjoyed the Bermuda/Summit cruise so much, we're going again next month! And I'm sure you will enjoy the Equinox.

Thank you for this very well-written review. Great to hear that your first cruise led to directly booking the next one - always a good sign!

As for your brother, should we ever cruise together I would love to hear his stories, especially about his basset hound! :)

Thank you for a beautifully written (and formatted) review. I second that emotion - you and Brother Mark would be delightful shipmates!

Thanks for the review. We are on her 2nd Canada/New England cruise in September.

Where did you get the statistic on the make up of passengers on the 1st Canada/New England cruise?

I truly enjoyed your review and hope to meet both Mark and you on a cruise!

Thanks for the review. We are on her 2nd Canada/New England cruise in September.

 

Where did you get the statistic on the make up of passengers on the 1st Canada/New England cruise?

The first Celebrity Canada/New England cruise we took back in 2007 someone tapped my husband on the shoulder and asked us how it felt to be the youngest people on the ship. At the time I was 49 and my DH was 54. We both (at time time) looked younger than our ages, but you get the gist of it.