CAD

On 7/15/2019 at 1:57 PM, Orator said:

Were you able to see the fireworks from the ship? Did this cruise two years ago and were able to Boston fireworks from the Aft. The celebrations were shown on the screen and provided an outstanding experience. This is a don't miss cruise IMHO.

Yes, you could see fireworks all around. The Boston fireworks WERE viewable from the aft, although you couldn't really hear them. Other folks went to the Community Boating event and really enjoyed it. A nice way to get a great view and avoid the crush downtown, I guess. We were pretty pooped from all the walking that day (I think 15 miles?!?), so were happy to see them from the ship. 

On 7/15/2019 at 1:53 PM, happy cruzer said:

Wondering what lines you have sailed that have the MDR open on port days?  You reported:

 

 The only down bits I'd say are that the Oceanview gets pretty crowded at lunch time (oddly, the MDR is only open for lunch on at-sea days)

 

Celebrity seems to have the same hours/openings as other mass market lines.  Thanks for the review.

I am probably showing my age, then, haha. I am pretty sure I've seen one MDR open on port days on NCL, Royal and Princess, but it well could be quite a few years back. 

On 7/14/2019 at 4:03 PM, Sydney54 said:

Thank you CAD for your review. I am about to book a cruise on Summit next year with my budget only allowing for an inside cabin on deck 2. Where on deck 2 was your cabin located? While I was initially concerned with the age and size of the ship after reading reviews from both yourself and another lovely fellow, Jim, I have decided to go ahead.

right by the midship stairs. 

For context, I've been on more than 20 cruises on everything from the President Wilson to Lindblad, but this was just our second Celebrity cruise. The first one was a long, long time ago (25 years) and we had a really bad experience with fellow passengers unhappy about an itinerary chance that kept us away. I'm glad we gave Celebrity a second chance. 

The Summit, post-refit is lovely. There's a smart design to everything from the staterooms to the outside decks and a more refined decor palette than is typical in mass-market ships. We had an inside cabin on deck 2 and it was great. Awesome location, steward was phenomenal, even with 4 adult-sized humans in it, there was enough storage for all our stuff and we were still friends at the end. The only down bits I'd say are that the Oceanview gets pretty crowded at lunch time (oddly, the MDR is only open for lunch on at-sea days) and it can be hard to find places to be outdoors but not in full sun. The pool deck and surroundings are fine - I miss having more live music out there and the deck itself gets foot-burning hot in the sun, so be sure to have some slip-ons if you plan to use the pool. 

Food was varied and generally good, although it had a few ups and downs (skip the French Onion soup; most pastas were meh, but better than typical pasta at sea). No one in our family starved, and there were a few "Wow!" items. My kids enjoyed trying new things and wait staff was excellent. The Ocean View has a large variety of offerings, and should satisfy most diners. We usually don't do speciality dining, preferring to find treats in the ports instead. We didn't do the drinks package, but did pre-buy a sommelier package for wines in the dining room. If you do this, I'd spring for the premier one. One thing to know if you are a wine aficionado - with the packages, many, many people are enjoying wine by the glass with dinner thanks to the packages, and the sommeliers are hopping just keeping glasses full. It's in your best interest to have a look at the wine list before you go so you have an idea of what you'd like to order at least the first night. If you ask at the end of a meal, it's easier to get recommendations for subsequent nights. The sommeliers are knowledgeable, they are just extremely busy. One thing that might be of interest - it seemed like they were quite accommodating of special diets, including religious ones. Tables near us were ordering meals the night before and they came separately prepared and even served on disposable tableware for some folks for whom mixing dishes might be a problem. 

Entertainment was a mixed bag. The crowd on this voyage appeared to trend to senior cruisers and, in a nod to this, entertainment options trended earlier as well. The fly-in entertainers were pretty enjoyable, although the last comedian was so "adult" at a 7 p.m. show that I had to creatively distract my youngest at a few points. Production shows were of the energetic "singing and dancing without a plot" variety. The production cast was skilled. Live musicians were a disappointment. There was a solo guy with a guitar who was pretty good. A duo and a dance band were not my cup of tea, but your mileage may vary. The show band sounded good and I would have liked to see more of them, but with the older crowd, a lot of opportunities to do that and the gameshows and stuff were during our late-seating dinner, which was a bummer. Our youngest was slightly interested in the children's programming, but it was impossible to tell what was happening when by the schedule (which was only for 7 days on a 10-day cruise ?!?!?!), so she never participated. Their facilities looked nice. Do the silent disco. Weird, but fun. Arrive early, or you might not get in. 

We didn't use the spa or casino so no comments there except that you can't smoke in the Casino, which makes it so much more pleasant to walk through. 

The itinerary was stupendous. So much so that we were actively discussing if we should repeat this trip and bring my folks some day. 

The ports

Newport. It's Newport. We walked from the pier to the Historical Society, talked to the nice guy there who recommended The Elms, as we've seen Vanderbilt properties before. Solid recommendation - good audio tour, interesting story. We walked on the Cliff Walk a bit as well, and that was Newport. You tender there and there were no local tenders available, so it was a bit of a wait to get one back and it was hot. This led to some of the obnoxious, entitled behavior that caused us to forsake Celebrity for so many years from folks, but the ship did what it could to help with a waiter passing out infused water and another passing out icy towels. 

Syndey, NS. This is a relatively new cruise port, and we were a little concerned that we would't be able to do much without a tour. It's a lovely little place to walk around and see on your own. There's a large visitor center when you first get off (that has free WiFi) where you can get a map of the sites. We were there on a Sunday, but found the local historical society open and a great little exhibit on the history of the city you can see for a donation. There are some historic houses that were open with costumed docents who were so friendly and informative (all under $5 Canadian). If you walk all the way down the main street, there is a military reserve base that has a museum of the Canadian Military on the second floor. Just walk in and the security guard will tell you how to get up there. They have retired veterans staff it and they are so fun to talk to. Highly recommend if you have any interest in military history. The Visitor Center has quite a few local artisans selling everything from sweaters to seagrass jewelry. Look up Brent Harding's place Metal Glass Media (one of the more permanent storefronts in the building) for some beautiful fused glass pendants at a really reasonable price. I bought 4. 

Halifax, NS. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We were there on Canada Day and saw the parade, the Canada Day ceremonies with the provincial Lt. Governor and Nova Scotia's own His Worship, Mayor Mike and enjoyed free Canada Day cake at the Citadel, which was free in honor of the holiday. A quick run down the street for a Tim Horton's, and we were off to the Royal Military Tattoo, for which we bought tickets online in advance. Do not miss this. It is spectacular. So entertaining. 

Bar Harbor, ME. A trip to Acadia was a bucket list item for me. Recommend talking to the NPS rangers at their visitor center next to Village Green (just walk up Main Street from the tender dock) and they can give you a suggested itinerary, a map and schedule for the free bus. Ate a lobster roll, because that's what you do. Great day - wish we were in port longer. 

Boston. Crowded, but super fun. We downloaded a $2.99 Atlantic Audio Tours for my phone and brought headphones and a splitter to do the Freedom Trail while knowing what we were looking at. Worked well, and took just about all day (we walked 13 miles that day...). Mass transit is running on the 4th and there are Ubers, too. Don't miss the Constitution. If you want to see the reading of the Declaration, you'd have to be off the ship just as soon as they let you. We didn't. Had a slice and a cannoli in Little Italy. Nom. And a michelada and some interesting nachos on the way back to the ship. It was lobster and beef wellington night, so we went back to the ship for dinner and watched the fireworks from the top deck with a whole lot of other people. They show the Pops concert on the big outdoor screen, or there was a somewhat poorly attended line dancing and DJ party by the pool. There was a July 4 thing in the Atrium, but also during late-seating dinner, so too bad for us. Some folks went to the Community Boating fundraiser to see the fireworks and said it was really fab. 

Portland. We were super tired from the day before, so we had a pretty chill day. Wandered over to an oceanfront park in the morning, had lunch on the ship and a little WiFi time in the terminal. We then went to the Portland Museum of Art for the Free Summer Friday evening hours. It's a really nice museum - 3 buildings, varied collection. They also had a Groupon, so you could have gone during the day for half price. 

Overall - excellent service from a friendly staff on a beautiful ship. I'd go again : D

We got the group distribution - 5 people so 5 different sides. The sides were all in little dishes. They were quite small, but everyone had enough for a taste of everything. Again, didn't leave hungry (at all!) or anything like that. It just felt kind of niggly to me.

So at Cagney's you could have an appetizer, a soup and salad if you wished, plus your steak you ordered (lobster was extra, but this was no surprise), plus one side and then a dessert. They didn't say there was an option to buy extra sides, but they did give us the option to have them served on separate dishes so we could share. You can't have both corn and a potato, I think. We had plenty of food, it was more the attitude of how you only get certain things that was kind of irritating.

The coffee machine is obvious by the large, clear hopper of coffee beans that is on the top of it. They refill the beans frequently during the day.

You have wall-to-wall beds when the middle one is out. They put the end table in the closet and someone gets to sleep with the phone in bed with them (this is annoying - ask the steward to put it under the bed if you aren't going to use the phone).

The "good" coffee machine grinds actual beans. The others use the concentrate that is common on ships. Bring an insulated mug, but be prepared to make individual cups and pour them in.

CAD

We were on the Pearl at the end of July, in an inside cabin with two adults and two kids, and my parents in a different cabin on deck 4.

We are experienced NCL cruisers - spent our honeymoon on the Norwegian Sea and celebrated our 25th anniversary on this cruise, with many cruises on NCL and other in between.

There have been some recent full reviews, so I thought I'd talk about things we found that haven't been covered here.

The room was fine - we get an inside because we like the darkness at night and just don't spend enough time in our room to make it worth it to pay for more. One extra bed trundles up from under another (note that this is less room under the bed for suitcases) and the other is a bunk. It was efficiently designed and the glass shower door is always a nice touch. Our remote didn't really work - several buttons non functional. We don't really watch TV on a cruise, so it wasn't a big deal.

There has been a lot of complaining about the food, particularly in the buffet, but we found it to be fine. There were people walking around with "Fleetwide chef" and the like uniforms, so maybe they were getting some kind up upgrade? In any case, there was a wide selection, served at the right temperature and generally tasty. The Indian food was a definite highlight for us. We mostly ate at the MDRs and found the service better in Indigo than in Summer Palace, although it is extremely noisy in there (low ceiling), which made it hard to hear. We have been going to an upcharge restaurant or two on most cruises, but our experience in Cagney's this time is enough to make us stop. The food was ok, and the service was also ok, but it just didn't seem like it was enough different from/better than the MDRs to make it worth the money .I think servers have more tables in the specialty restaurants now, so it is hard to make the service as attentive. Also, we got a lengthy explanation of what our $30 did and did not include at the beginning (only one side dish per person!), which was off-putting. Generally, as I said, the food was fine - a few real treats in there. The good coffee machine is still there near the kids buffet. There is also walk-up coffee/tea in O'Sheehan's, if you don't feel like going all the way up.

Entertainment - We aren't big on the production shows. There was a comedian/violinist who was excellent. There was a magician that we heard was good, but there were never any seats to see him. Really enjoyed the crew show - they have some talented folks. We went to the gameshows most nights, and we always had a great time. Atmospheric entertainment like the string trio, lounge band, etc. was all good, although it was weird having steel drums in Alaska.

We are very happy to have time to sit and read a novel, and Spinnaker or Maltings was great for this during the day. Many of the other activities during the day are revenue-related: art auctions, "seminars" from the spa to get you to buy $600 seaweed pills, bingo, etc. An unfortunate aspect of the new NCL is that much of the interior space is dedicated to revenue, meaning that if you are not happy to sit and read, and don't want to go to talks about stuff you can buy, you are kind of out of luck, since it was too cold or rainy to sit outside most of the time. The card room was always packed.

Our cruise was completely packed and had, I think, more than 700 kids. My teen did a few things with the teen program and enjoyed much of what she did, but mostly hung out with us. My little one sprained her finger in kid's crew on the second day, and really didn't want to go back after that. They didn't ice it or try to reach us or anything, so I wasn't super delighted with that. They had a ton of kids, and some of the activities sounded really fun

With regards to Alaska itself, here are a few tips:

We only did one ship's tour, which was the sled dogs and gold panning in Skagway that my DH and youngest daughter did. They had a good time, but said it was a little unprofessional (not having enough room for the people to whom they sold tickets for example).

In Juneau, we went to the Glacier. If you have 5 or 6 people, the cheapest way to get there is to take a cab. If, after getting off the shuttle bus, go right past the Mt. Roberts tram entry station, there is a local visitor's bureau and they can call you one and give you a list of phone numbers. The cab was about $40 each way and you get to talk to a local Alaskan on the way, which was quite an experience for us (our return driver was an amateur ghost hunter). To go into the visitor's center is $3 per adult. There is a pretty cool movie in there, and, for us, it was out of the rain. We bought a national parks passport which is good for 4 people at all parks for a year (and you can use it in Ketchikan at the Alaska Discovery Center, too, if you like).

In Skagway, we did something we really enjoy - went for a hike. There is a lot of national forest land with trailheads very close to the ship. If you walk about a block into town, there is a national park service center and the ranger can give you a map. They also do free historic tours with a ranger, but you have to get a ticket. If it's important to you to do a morning one, get pup as room as the ship docks and head straight there. We did this last time we were in Skagway, so we didn't go again. The hike was great - like nothing we have done before and some nice views. It was also strenuous. We hike a lot as a family, and had this summer, but still found it quite challenging.

Glacier Bay - watch it from deck 7. Good views, much less crowded, can run up to O'Sheehan

s for coffee refills easily.

In Ketchikan, we walked around to see the salmon (and seals!), etc., and also took the funicular up to the lodge, which is run by a native group, has some interesting (free) museum exhibits and great views. We didn't have time for the discovery center after all of that, but it looked cool.

In Victoria, we went on a quest for a beaver tail pastry and some Tim Horton's. Mission accomplished. We enjoyed doing the walk along the harbor to get from the ship to the Empress Hotel area.

If I had to say the differences between NCL of our honeymoon and of today, I'd say two things. First, most of the crew seem a lot happier. They were always polite, but now they seem a little more as if they enjoy their jobs (I wonder if some of this is getting paid better/more reliably since they put in basically mandatory gratuities??). Second, the change to try to extract as much money as possible from clients is quite obvious. In fact, when they send you a survey after the end of the cruise, the first set of questions seems to boil down to "How can we best get money out of you without you objecting"? I knew this was the case, so most things didn't bother me - I'd rather pay less upfront and have choices about what other things I buy. But I can understand why some people find this irritating.

Finally, from the cheap seats a couple of money tips:

1. We took the light rail from the airport and went to the IGA on the way to the pier and bought wine to carry onboard (brought a basically empty rolling backpack for this). Even with paying the corkage, which we did, it was a good savings and a better chance to have things we liked. They will still do the set-up and everything in the dining room if you have the corkage stickers, and we got compliments on both our selection and savings from the wine stewards several times. They give you a corkscrew when you pay corkage - you don't need to bring one.

2. As has been mentioned here before, Alaska is an awesome place to dress in layers. In Juneau and Skagway both, there are many shirt stores that sell hoodies and fleeces for around $20 if you want a souvenir and something you don't have to carry. Earbands and gloves, etc. were quite reasonable as well.