Celebrity Summit Trip Report - 3/7/15 - With Pictures

Food: Cafe al Bacio

I loved this place. Loved, loved, loved this place. It was a comfortable, beautiful place to sit and read. The service was prompt and polite. The drinks were tasty. The food was delicious. Cafe al Bacio alone made the beverage package worthwhile.

One could order at the counter and get something to go, or if seated there was tableside service usually in under a minute, as shown here. The tea provided was Tea Forte, and we've decided that we'll be ordering more of it for enjoyment at home.

I must admit I didn't care for the coffee a whole lot - my mocha in particular - but I am not a coffee drinker in general and can count on one hand the number of times I've truly enjoyed coffee. I did find one coffee drink I liked (the carabico) but that's mostly syrup that hides the taste of the coffee. The coffee drinkers I talked to enjoyed the more standard offerings.

The desserts at Cafe al Bacio are complimentary, whether or not one gets a beverage, and while I did see someone come up once to get a dessert but no drink it happened only that one time. That said, the desserts are sublime. The lemon tart in particular shown above was my favorite dessert over the entire cruise.

Food: Aquaspa Cafe

I wanted to like this place. I really did. The descriptions of the food sounded wonderful, and healthy food can taste good. That said...

The main thing Aquaspa Cafe pushes are the smoothies. I tried two of them at different points in the cruise and found them grainy and unpleasant. They tasted like something you drink because it's good for you, not because you actually enjoy it.

We tried the fruit and breads for breakfast which were okay but we went to the Oceanview about two minutes after this picture was taken. The poached fruits were decent enough but everything else just tasted virtuous, not delicious.

I will say that Aquaspa Cafe did one thing very, very well and I regret that I don't have a picture of it: they host afternoon tea at 4:00 with an absolutely wonderful arrangement of sandwiches and pastries (as well as the ship's standard tea). These were delicious and extremely well done. My only regret was that I had to limit myself in order to leave room for dinner.

Food: Other Mentions

Lastly, I want to return to the two specialty restaurants we visited, Normandie and Bistro on 5.

We attended the Normandie sea day lunch. This was listed as $30 per person but they were offering it at $25 each. There was a special, limited menu:

I had the scallops which I enjoyed though, again, they were simply scallops. Well done and competent, but if I did it again I'd probably go for the crab salad.

On the advice of our previous night's server, TA had the celery soup which was divine. I didn't know one could get such flavor out of celery. I suspect a great deal of butter may have been involved.

For my main course I had the loup de mer. It was a marvelous texture and flavor, avoiding the fishiness that comes from poorly done fish. I had been worried (as I said previously, I'm paranoid about ordering fish in most restaurants) but I need not have been. A superb meal.

For her part, TA ordered the fillet mignon. It was one of the best steaks either of us had ever had, and one of the few cases I've come across where the sauce enhanced rather than disguised the flavor of the meat.

The desserts we had were good though not as memorable. Regardless, a lovely way to enjoy a day at sea.

Our other memorable return was to Bistro on 5 for another lunch. This time TA had the goat cheese tart (she was quite jealous of me that first time), while I had this:

The beef tartare. I'd never had it before - it's not something I feel comfortable trying at home - and I was curious. It was wonderful. The texture of the beef was creamy like a pudding, the flavor spicy but still undeniably meaty. It may have been my favorite dish on the trip.

For a main courses TA had the bouliabaise while I had the cowboy crepe. Both were excellent and TA has informed me that we now need to learn to make bouliabaise. For dessert we shared a French crepe (grande marnier, candied orange), both of us being too full for something of our own, and which we both enjoyed. Fitzroy appeared again at the end of the meal and we got to chat with him a bit.

Entertainment

One of the reasons we were able to do our previous cruises is that they needed enrichment instructors to keep passengers entertained. Our previous cruises were from local ports with several sea days to get anywhere fun. We'd never been on a port-intensive cruise before and weren't quite sure what it would be like.

One of the consequences of so many ports is that while there was programming it wasn't as omnipresent as we were used to. That's not a bad thing, and having read other reviews we weren't surprised by it (did you see the stack of books I brought?) but it was different. Fortunately, I'm okay with doing nothing.

The cruise director was Ken Mills. I find that most such entertainers develop personas. John Blair, for example, presents himself as The Host. Ken presents himself as The Clown. I don't say this to be disparaging; it's the same persona that my boss has developed. This is to say, he jokes around a lot with the staff and the guests, often at his own expense, in order to keep a lighthearted atmosphere. In point of fact, the man's a very hard worker and keeps a watchful eye on everything. I can't recall an event or activity on the ship where he didn't at least pop in, and several times I caught him silently watching from the back of the room. Despite the carefree appearance, this is a man who is orchestrating a very careful plan for everyone's vacation. And it works.

Most of the activities were standard shipboard activities: there was trivia twice a day, a surprisingly well-taught dance class taught by the ship's dancers (I say surprising as most such dancers know how to dance and are clueless how to teach. While these dancers had room for improvement, particularly when it came to the pacing of the class, they provided good explanations and demonstrations, and most of the class was able to follow along quite well), water color painting (TA went and said there were materials provided but no instruction), and so on. A few of the events we went to included:

Dancing with the Strips, Celebrity's answer to Dancing With the Stars. We both wanted to see this, though TA wanted to participate and I decidedly did not (these things never work our for teachers. Either you win and people get upset at you for entering or you lose and hope no one ever finds out). Names were randomly drawn from volunteers and unfortunately she didn't get selected. The show itself was quite entertaining. Volunteers are randomly paired with crew members and then prompted to dance tango, salsa, Bollywood, or some other style with each other. The "judges" read off pre-written critiques, then the audience chooses which of the couples continue to the next round.

I'm normally not a fan of, "watch people be bad at stuff" entertainment but this was all done with such a light-hearted and loving attitude that one couldn't help but love it. And I'm happy to say that the best couple did actually win (go Ashley and Scott!).

We did get to do some dancing of our own. The Rendez-Vous lounge was our preferred venue and DJ Krazy-Prince played a very good selection of music. The floor was small and yet everyone was kind and courteous about sharing it. The experienced dancers (usually) practiced good floorcraft and the less experienced dancers were able to share the floor. We also made friends with one of the waiters, Joseph, who had grown up dancing competitive ballroom in the Philippines.

Now I'm going to go on a small rant about dancing on ships here. While I love ballroom dancing, I also acknowledge that shipboard dancing is and will always be limited. A large dance floor (and regulation size floor is 60' x 36') takes up an awful lot of space, produces no revenue for the ship, and is only used by a small percentage of passengers. Unless one is traveling on one of the few ships specifically built for such things (the Queen Mary 2 advertises the fact they have the largest dance floor at sea for a reason) one should not expect to be dancing "big." I'm okay with that.

I wish more dancers were. We met several kind and wonderful dancers on the ship who were fun to share the floor with for the Latin dances but who refused to dance the standard dances because they couldn't dance big. This is, of course, their choice, but I wish more dancers would learn to adjust their technique and even learn to use "crush" dancing in order to continue to enjoy dancing under conditions like these. Small floors don't have to mean no dancing, and small dancing doesn't have to mean bad dancing.

Okay, rant over.

Another fun activity was the galley tour. Or at least, the Q&A before the galley tour, as we couldn't actually hear our guide during the tour itself. Beforehand, however, we got to have a great Q&A with Chef Paul.

In addition to the activities we also took in several shows. Well, I took them in. TA tended to head to bed after dinner. There was:

- A newlywed style game show. We've seen this on other cruises and always enjoyed it. The questions are designed to get a rise out of the audience no matter what the contestants do or say, but it's still a hoot.

- A magician. Much more innovative than the standard fare with a lot of illusions I've never seen before, including some cool tricks with lasers.

- A female singer who did impressions of other female singers.

- A comedian. I thought his first show was hilarious but his second show did nothing for me and I walked out.

- Several production shows by the ship's dancers and singers. While not particularly well-written, the singing was great and the dancing much better than I'm used to seeing.

Overall, we were highly entertained.

The only entertainment that fell flat for us was the in-room movies were very lackluster. While we don't go on vacation to lie in bed and watch TV, sometimes after a long day you just want to lie in bed and watch TV. Ah well.

Quick question, did you have dance shoes or just regular dress shoes? DH and I are hoping to be able to dance and I will have my dance shoes with me but he will just be bringing his regular dress shoes.

snow bunny

Quick question, did you have dance shoes or just regular dress shoes? DH and I are hoping to be able to dance and I will have my dance shoes with me but he will just be bringing his regular dress shoes.

 

snow bunny

We both brought our dance shoes, though our most heavily used shoes.

Congratulations on your engagement. What excitement! I appreciate your detailed writing and the beautiful photos.

Congratulations on your engagement, and thank you for your review really looking foward our Time on the Summit

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Congratulations!! I was so surprised! Your review is well written and the photos are wonderful. We were on the Summit last year and are looking forward to our sailing on her again in May. I forgot how much I enjoyed the food!

Trip Report: Flights

Finally we get to the actual experience of the trip. Let's start with the unpleasant quagmire that was getting there.

All our previous cruises were from ports we could drive to. This was our first time flying and while that meant some inconveniences, like limiting the number and size of our bags (no tuxedo for me this trip), my main concern was missed flights. When we booked a March '15 cruise back in January '14 we decided we'd fly in two days before the cruise to explore San Juan and so we'd have a bit of wiggle room if there were any delays. But it's not like there was going to be some freak blizzard canceling flights in March, right?

Oh.

As I reported in our Roll Call, we got a call on Wednesday that our flight had been canceled and that pretty much every flight in the DC area was canceled. We considered a lot of options: driving to Richmond and trying to catch a flight there, taking Amtrak to Miami and grabbing a puddle jumper to San Juan. The problem was even the connecting flights were booked, and all the outgoing flights were being canceled. Things were not looking good for us.

I finally found a flight from Philadelphia at 9:30 AM on Thursday, direct to San Juan, on United/American Airlines (they'd merged apparently). We decided this was our best bet on the basis that A) Philadelphia is much better equipped to deal with snow than any of the DC airports and B) Philadelphia is a hub for United so even if the flight is canceled we had a better chance at getting on another flight that would make the cruise. We left DC about 8:00 PM Wednesday and arrived in Philly about Midnight. It was a very unpleasant drive given the wet snow and frozen rain we got to enjoy on that drive. The one upside is my family's from Philly so we were able to crash with my Dad rather than paying for a hotel, and he was able to give us a ride to the airport in the morning.

Thursday morning we woke up early and checked the flight. It was still listed as on time. We got to the airport 2 1/2 hours early. Still listed as on time. We get to the gate and settle in to wait. Everything's good.

Half an hour before take off we board the plane. Oh wow, it looks like this is really going to happen, we beat the weather!

They de-ice the plane. We taxi to the end of the runway. We did it! The engines power up, they start going full speed and-

- the entire cabin fills with smoke.

I'm reading my book. TA taps me and points at the smoke, asking, "Is that supposed to be doing that."

"Probably not I reply."

The engines shut off. The pilot gets on the intercom and says something to the effect of, "We are aware of the smoke in the cabin and the cockpit. Please standby." Great, the smoke's in the cockpit too.

In a few seconds the air scrubbers kick in and suck up all the smoke. We taxi back to the gate, they de-board the plane, and everyone stands around in terminal while a mechanic checks everything out. When it's announced that the plane will not be flying no one is surprised or inclined to argue. When it's announced that customer service agents are standing by to help people re-book it's what we expect except for the announcement that there only a handful of seats available before Saturday and most of us will have to wait until then.

The cruise leaves Saturday.

Everyone hightails it to the customer service desk. We're about tenth in line and get a flight that should, theoretically, get us in by 1:00 PM on Saturday, but then again the first two flights were supposed to get us in on Thursday, so this still doesn't feel like enough leeway if anything else should go wrong. We take the Saturday flight but also insist on being put on standby for the only remaining flight today, at 5:55 PM flight to San Juan. So do most other people.

It's a 164 seat plane with 73 people on standby. Good luck.

Now I could go on about waiting in the airport, how we were afraid to even get a drink because we wanted to be clearheaded in case we had to deal with more disruptions. And don't think the bar didn't look like the best place to be in that entire airport.

I could talk about calling our travel insurance company and trying to figure out what resources we had at our disposal if we had to cancel or make alternate travel arrangements. I could talk about people frantically checking their phones to see how many people had checked in and where they were in the standby queue. I could talk about when the plane arrived and all of the standby passengers waiting by the gate, counting every single ticketed passenger getting on the plane and wondering how many spaces would be left.

In short, I could talk about how it was a rather stressful day.

I will, however, simply say that because 11 connecting flights were also canceled, everyone on standby got on that flight (if just barely). The missed connections meant there was space for everyone at the airport and many of the standby people never made it.

Getting on that plane was an enormous relief. Once we were airborn the flight attendants even gave out free drinks to everyone due to the late departure. I've never found a beer so comforting.

We landed in San Juan a bit after midnight local time. Our bags arrived without any incident - shocking since our two carry-ons had been gate-checked and our checked baggage had been on a canceled flight then had to be sent to us on a standby flight, but it all worked out. We got a taxi from the airport to the Tres Palmas Inn ($26 for the two of us and our bags, plus tip), checked in, and gratefully went to bed.

Two canceled flights. Driving through snow. A plane on fire. A six hour wait on standby, but we'd made it.

We were here.

We were on vacation.

Wow!!! That was a nail-biter. So glad you made it!!!

A Day in San Juan

When we booked the trip we were looking to enjoy some time in San Juan but we had to be budget conscious. The best bet seemed a place I found on Yelp called The Tres Palmas Inn. A two night stay ran us about $250 after all taxes and fees and included breakfast.

The hotel itself is a sprawling affair built in the colonial style. It has lovely shaded areas where one can sit and read. Because of the layout there's usually a slight breeze through the complex that makes it very comfortable to sit around outside.

Rooms are rather simple, though we did go for room 4 which was the cheapest room on the property, but again we don't go on vacation just to hang out in a hotel room.

The three palms out front, for which the hotel is named, marked the beach. While the hotel provides beach gear for the guests, TA and I decided to start our day simply by going for a walk on the beach.

Next: exploring San Juan

San Juan (part 2)

We'd been to San Juan once before on a previous cruise, but we'd only had time to tour the Bacardi factory and then, at TA's insistence, we had lunch at Senor Frog's (she wanted to see what the big deal was. Conclusion: not much). This time we really wanted to see the old city. After our walk we took a taxi to Old San Juan and the forts.

There were a number of school children there, many engaged in kite flying.

My father is a preservation architect and growing up on the eastern seaboard most of my childhood was spent visiting two locations: old forts from the Revolutionary War and Civil War, and old churches. So this felt a lot like going home. We contented ourselves with touring El Morro, as the larger of the two forts, deciding we didn't need to see San Cristobal as well. The site is fantastic to walk around in, with some great educational displays, and the park rangers were very knowledgeable and informative.

After touring the fort we had lunch.

And then, of course, we toured a church.

San Juan Cathedral is just a short walk from El Morro. It doesn't take a long time to talk through and see what's there but it's worthwhile. I was particularly amused at the painted on filigrees and decorations on the dome. It reminded me of some of my father's stories.

And then I made a friend.

After exploring the Old San Juan we took a taxi back to the hotel. I tried to lounge in the hotel's hot tub but it was, unfortunately, broken. Instead we read in the hammocks until dinner, then walked to a local barbecue joint (see: food post). After dinner we headed back to the hotel. TA fell asleep nearly right awy while I stayed up and watched National Geographic and The Simpsons until sleep overcame me.

Absolutely wonderful review. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!.

One clarification, you were on America which merged with U.S. Air. United's hub in that area is actually Dulles and Newark. I know very little about dancing, but know travel ;)

Happy sailing,

Jenna

I get to board Summit in April. Thanks for doing this and congratulations.

Embarkation Day

We woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. We'd met another couple who would be on the Summit (Michael and Karin, I believe) who were staying there and offered to split a taxi. I know that people have talked about getting calls, texts, and e-mails from Celebrity confirming boarding time, but we hadn't gotten any of those. That said, our boarding time was printed on our reservation for 2:00 PM, but based on all the reports of people being able to board whenever they showed up we decided to try that and if we were turned away we were okay with that.

It turned out to be a non-issue. The taxi driver took us to the port (we told him the wrong port but he knew better. The lesson: listen to the locals) where we checked in very quickly. We hadn't known about printing out express passes, but it didn't make a difference. We showed up at about 11:00 AM and by 11:15 we were onboard.

As we boarded we were each given a welcome mimosa which finally dispelled all the tension from Wednesday. We decided to explore the ship, but first there was a band playing in the lobby. They were called the Band Mates and played cover songs. They were very good, especially the vocalist. We took advantage of the empty lobby and danced a little foxtrot to celebrate being on vacation, then set off to explore.

We started from the top deck and worked our way down. It was pretty bare up top, but we found the sports court, which we'd never see again this trip, and a quite secluded sun bathing deck with loungers up by the bow on deck 12. This area made a nice hidden place to get some sun or enjoy a drink in the evening when we wanted to be out doors but away from the noise of the pool deck.

And the view was beautiful.

Continued exploring revealed Qsine. As I stated previously, we were intrigued but want to save it to do with a larger group. We're hoping to lure a few friends into our next cruise. I wouldn't call any of us gourmets or oenophiles so much as fans of good food and wine. I don't think it'll be too difficult.

We continued down to the fitness center which was having its open house and toured the Persian gardens. TA was intrigued more than I was and later in the cruise bought the day pass ($25) to try them out. More on that later.

Embarkation Day (continued)

From the fitness center we traveled through the solarium and then across the pool deck.

Crossing the pool deck lead to the Oceanview Cafe. Neither of us were ready for lunch yet, and as I said earlier, I had my heart set on Bistro on 5, but we gave it a once-over to see what they had on display. As I said in the food section, we were very impressed by the food available in the Oceanview.

There were also the specialty restaurant displays set up outside the Oceanview. We were pitched the lunches for our sea day in Normandie and Qsine, and we quickly signed up for Normandie. They did not appear to be offering any special discounts for the restaurants, though we didn't ask. I'd read that because Luminae was still under construction that suite guests were being given complimentary reservations in the specialty restaurants; this seemed likely since when I made our reservations online there were only very late reservations available, so I suspect they weren't offering deals to drum up additional business. No worries, we were already set.

We continued on through the library on deck 7 and 6, the shops on deck 6, and further down.

We found the theater on deck 5.

Bistro on 5 on, well, 5 of course. TA looked at the menu and agreed to give it a shot, after we finished our self-guided tour.

Next to Bistro on 5 is Cellar Masters. I agree with the general assessment: this is a wildly underused space. The wines seemed interesting but with the beverage package there was no motivation to try it, and the area doesn't really feel comfortable as a place just to relax and read or chat. The servers were pleasant, but there was no draw here. We had been told that the beer selection that was previously in Michael's Club had been moved here, but the bartender told us that it had mostly been used up and had not been replaced. Largely it was the same beer selection available everywhere else on the ship.

Blu on deck 5. We wouldn't eat here, of course, since we weren't suite guests but it was a beautiful space.

The casino on deck 4. We'd pass through it quite often, and even got drinks at the bar a couple of times (fantastic mudslides, TA reports), but we're not gamblers so there wasn't much draw for us.

Embarkation Day (continued)

We continued to explore the ship, including the Cafe al Bacio, Rendez-Vous Lounge, the Reflections Lounge, the Cosmopolitan Restaurant (main dining room), and Normandie, then headed up to Bistro on 5 for lunch. As I reported in the food section, this was a fantastic meal and was one of the highlights of the trip.

After lunch we headed up to the spa/fitness center for a drawing. We didn't win anything but we weren't expecting to. Next we found baggage had already been delivered so we changed into swim suits and headed up to the solarium. After lounging in the hot tubs I read for a bit while TA napped. Eventually we headed back to the cabin to change for the evening.

Normandie has a smart-casual dress code but I wanted to look good in pictures so I still put on a sports coat and tie. TA didn't know what was coming (though she suspected for reasons I'll get into later) but still wore a nice blouse and dress pants combination. We grabbed a drink at one of the bars, then headed up to our muster station for muster drill. Finally, it was sail away time.

The sail away party was held out on the pool deck. We arrived a few minutes late while there were line dances going on and jumped in immediately to take part in the Cha Cha Slide and then the Cupid Shuffle. The Summit dancers were there and put on a good show with a bit of salsa; it was very easy to tell which ones were the ballroom dancers and which ones were the ballet/jazz/hip hop dancers who'd just learned some ballroom, but all of them were very good. As the party became a bit less structured we were able to do a bit of salsa, cha cha, and merengue, then it was time for our dinner at Normandie.

As I said in the food section, the Normandie meal was fantastic. In fact, even just based on the food alone I would count it as one of the best meals of my life (other contenders: Morimoto in Philadelphia, Mohonk Mountain House in New York Hudson Valley, Ruth's Chris in Indianapolis). So having talked about the food, let's talk about the experience.

TA and I had been talking about getting married for the past year or so, so this wasn't a complete surprise. Then there's the fact that when I asked her father's blessing he thought I'd already asked her and called her later that day to congratulate her. So this wasn't a complete surprise. The one thing that I thought I could do for her was make sure we got some good pictures. As you may be able to tell from this report, TA loves pictures and I wanted to make sure she had them.

I'd e-mailed Celebrity before the trip and after going through a bunch of dead links and bad e-mail addresses, finally managed to get through with someone from the photography company. They wanted nearly as much as our cruise tickets were - and remember, it took us 18 months to save up for this trip - and for us to hire a photographer for an hour for staged photographs. Not only did I not have the money for something like that, it was the exact opposite of what I wanted: a few shots to document the moment as it happens, not an artificial recreation. We went back and forth and... well, I was not happy with the result.

Fortunately, one of my other e-mails finally went through to the Normandie maitre'd who replied that whenever someone proposed in the restaurant, if they knew in advance, they always made sure to have one of the ship's photographers on hand and we'd be able to simply purchase the pictures from the onboard shop. Wonderful! I'd checked when we got onboard that everything was still set up. The maitre'd confirmed. I gave them the ring and the plan was that they'd bring the ring out on a covered tray during the cheese course. All I had to do was show up.

And show up I did. We had a wonderful meal, at the end of which they brought out a covered dish and revealed an napkin folded into a flower with the ring box in the middle. I got down on my knee and told TA how my life was better and happier with her than it had ever been without her, how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, and wanted to spend that life making her as happy as she made me.

She said yes.

The rest of the meal is a bit of a blur. We enjoyed cheese and dessert and tea. The sommelier had provided wine that was part of our beverage package that, well, I don't know it's objective quality but we both enjoyed it and now we could both feel it working. Shortly after dinner we retired for the night.

We were well-fed. We were relaxed. And the woman I love had just promised to spend the rest of her life with me.

Not a bad day.

Sea Day

Our one sea day was languid and relaxed, exactly as it should be. We tried breakfast from the Aquaspa Cafe, didn't care for it, then finished breakfast out at the Oceanview. Our first activity was the Meet and Mingle where we met one couple, but unfortunately we had to cut our time short since TA wanted to do the galley tour which overlapped with the M&M. To everyone from our Roll Call we missed, my apologies. You seemed like wonderful people online, and I hope I get to meet you another time.

The galley tour had two parts: a talk/q-and-a with Chef Paul, and a guided tour of the galley. We were in one of the last groups to be called into the galley, so we got to hear quite a bit from Chef Paul. His first meal at the end of a tour onboard: a pint of Guinness at the Dublin airport.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hear anything during the tour so I have no idea if it's good or bad. I would say if you do the tour, try and stay as close to the chef who guides you through as possible.

The tour ended through Normandie where there was another pitch for the specialty restaurants (though no deals offered other than lunch that day for $25 rather than $30, but since they'd been quoting $25 yesterday this didn't seem like a deal, really), displays of vegetable and fruit art, and a few performers from Indulgence. We'd considered doing Indulgence but decided we'd do the lunch instead for (almost) the same price. Budgeting our fun and all that.

I believe after that we read until it was time for lunch. As you can see, I love to read. One of my favorite things on vacation is that I give myself the time to read that I don't in everyday life.

Lunch at Normandie was delightful. The staff remembered us from the previous night and even gave us the same table. The meal was superb (see: Normandie lunch) and I would do it again in a moment. I will say that while it was better than Bistro on 5 I don't know if it was three times better (the difference in price); while I definitely wanted to do Bistro on 5 again I was happy to do the Normandie lunch as just once per cruise.

After lunch, TA went to an art class held in the conference lounge. It was supposedly a water color class, though she says there was no actual instruction provided, just materials. Nonetheless, I think she did a pretty fantastic job. For my part, I went up to the hot tubs, then read.

There was ballroom dancing that night in the Rendez-Vous lounge, though our late-seating dinner cut into it so we only got about half an hour. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the dancing and thought the DJ was very good. Dinner was in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant - our first meal in the ship's main dining room - and was excellent. I had the buffalo frog legs (excellent!), chilled pair honey soup (very good), and pistachio-crusted lamb chops (excellent!). TA had chicken liver parfait (she liked it but I can't stand chicken liver, though I do like other types), salmon tartare (very good), shrimp scampi (very good). For dessert I had the apple crumble ala mode, though I asked for the coconut gelatto rather than vanilla ice cream (crumble very good, gelatto excellent), while TA had um...

This thing. Some type of fruit pastry. It was fine but not as good as it looks. We both enjoyed the dessert wines offered - I have very fond memories of Sauternes but normally can't afford it, so having it on the beverage package was a delight - while she found some other wine she liked better (she doesn't care for the pitch flavor in Sauternes. To each their own). After dinner the wine started to get to her so TA went to bed while I went to Cafe al Bacio, got a mug of tea, and read until I was ready to turn in.

A perfect, relaxing day at sea.

Barbados

The previous night we'd looked over shore excursions and decided on a beach break. TA suggested that we aim to do morning excursions so we can have our active fun, then use the rest of the day to relax. Blimey if it wasn't a good plan. We woke up reasonably early (hey, I'm a dance teacher. I work nights so to me waking up any time before 10:00 AM is early), had lunch in the Oceanview, then headed off ship.

From the ship we headed through a terminal filled with all the usual tourist shops. While we waited for our bus I turned my phone on to make one roaming, international call so I could tell my dad that TA had said yes. Then we boarded the bus.

This was a great production. The bus was clean and well-air conditioned. The drive through town showed some good sites and the tour guide talked about life in Barbados. At last we reached the beach.

My only dissatisfaction is that I'm not back there right now.

The beach break came with a chair, umbrella, and drink coupon. I don't usually swim in the ocean, but I wanted to change that this trip.

Mission accomplished.

After we swam, we both lounged around for a bit. We got our rum punch which was a lot of rum and not a whole lot of punch and made it difficult to concentrate on my book, so instead I got out my iPod and listened to Harry Potter (don't judge me).

The beach break lasted about 3 hours which, in my opinion, is just the right time. Just as we were getting hungry it was time to head back to the ship.

We had lunch in the Oceanview, then TA went to take a nap while I went back ashore for some souvenir shopping. I picked up a tropical hat for my dad, then went back to the ship, read, and did trivia. I also saw the maitre'd from the restaurant since we wanted to go dancing that night but again it interfered with our dining times. She was very accommodating and moved us to the 5:30 flexible time for that evening.

Dinner was good though not as good as the previous night. We both had the braised short rib appetizer (absolutely fantastic!), then I had the Caesar salad (very good), and the flank steak (just okay). TA had braised short rib, the shrimp cocktail (just okay), and the veal chop (very good). For dessert I had the tres leches cake while she had the the chocolate lava cake. Both were good but not exceptional.

After dinner we both decided we wanted a drink before the show so we headed to the casino bar for confuzzled face contortions.

This is a drink that a friend of mine challenged me to create back when I worked as a bartender. Taking the fact most drinks are remembered by acronyms (a "white russian" is a "very kind communist," or VKC, becomes vodka, kalhua, and cream), I simply considered CFC, keeping in mind that the last item is usually the balance of the drink. That suggested creme de cacao, Frangelico, and cream, actually a fairly standard combination. I usually ask for it by saying something like, "Can you make a brandy Alexander but with Frangelico instead of brandy?" The answer's usually yes.

At any rate, he did a bang up job and it makes for a very nice after dinner drink. It's basically an alcoholic milkshake.

We enjoyed the show, then TA went back to the cabin to sleep while I read until my bed time. Another lovely day on the Summit.

St. Lucia

Again, we decided on our excursion the night before. TA really wanted to see the Pitons, and while I was more inclined for a slow, relaxing day I'd just promised two days ago that I wanted to spend the rest of my life making her happy and this seemed like a good opportunity, so we signed up for a tour that would approach the pitons and drive into the soulfrie volcano.

We got another early breakfast at the Oceanview, this time realizing that we could get mimosas, which we would continue to do everyday for the rest of the trip.

After breakfast we deboarded and found our tour group. The bus meandered through town, very slowly due to a strike of some kind, though we did get to see a few sites. I hoped we'd have time to tour the cathedral later, but it turned out we wouldn't have an opportunity. Next time!

The drive was over the mountains of St. Lucia and at times was mildly terrifying. The kind of drive that reminds you why the cruise lines discourage passengers from renting cars and scooters.

Eventually we reached a village that had some of the usual tourist chochkees for sale. I considered buying a bottle of banana wine for my boss but wasn't happy about the price. The tour guide provided fantastic narration about the history of the island, the culture, the industry, and the citizens. We made one more stop where locals tried to "give" us palm tree weavings and then ask for donations. Don't be polite, just say no and walk away. Do not engage.

As we got closer we saw the pitons in the distance. They really are majestic and seeing them like this I was glad we did the tour.

We reached the soulfrie visitor center, watched a five minute video about the history of the volcano, had about 3 minutes to explore a geology display (not enough time!), then got to see the pits.

Another tour guide provided narration and talked about how they were formed, the underground reactions, the history of the area, and so on. It was surprisingly fascinating and again, I was glad we went.

During the drive back we stopped first at a prayer garden that had beautiful paths and flowers, then at a restaurant for a brief snack. One drink was included and a food sampler was available for $5.

The restaurant also had a cat. I made another friend. Actually, she found a mark. Her whole purpose in life seems to be to wheedle scraps of chicken from gullible tourists. And yes, I gave in.

We got back to the ship too late for lunch in the Oceanview, so we grabbed burgers from the Mast Grill (decent burgers, lousy fries). TA napped for a bit while I read. There was more dancing this night and we asked to have our dining time permanently changed to the early seating, which was easily accomplished.

For dinner I had the duck terrine (wonderful with exceptional seasoning), the wedge salad (one of the best salads I've ever had), and the braised beef cheeks (very good texture but surprisingly little flavor). TA also had the duck terrine, butternut squash soup (very good but nothing I can't make at home), and the lamb in phyllo dough (outstanding). For dessert I had the creme brulee (very good custard but the bruleed sugar on top was too thick), while TA had the peach clafoutis (surprisingly dry).

After dinner we danced a bit, then she went to bed while I stayed up and listened to one of the bands perform. Eventually I went off to read, then to bed.

 

 

 

The beef tartare. I'd never had it before - it's not something I feel comfortable trying at home - and I was curious. It was wonderful. The texture of the beef was creamy like a pudding, the flavor spicy but still undeniably meaty. It may have been my favorite dish on the trip.

 

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This was served in Tuscan on the Equinox last Nov, and my taste buds agree 100%! And we have not found anything to compare in Dallas. Thanks for reminding my mouth of wonderful memories!

EW

Food Day 1: Bistro on 5 Lunch (part 1)

 

Based on the advice we'd seen on the boards regarding crowding in the Oceanview for lunch on embarkation day, we'd decided to consider lunch at Bistro on 5. I really wanted it (I love food!) but TA wanted to see what the options were. Happily, the new menu was on offer:

 

 

 

Thanks for your write up. Are the Plats du Jour and entreé’s new to the menu? I don’t recall them on my last cruise (last fall on the Silhouette). I just remember the crepes and paninis.

Monica

Cruise Dancer and TA,

Congratulations to you both! It must have been a wonderful evening, and such a romantic setting to begin your engagement!

I also wanted to thank you for all of the pictures and descriptive storytelling you have provided for us here on the boards. My fiancée and I will be celebrating our honeymoon on a 7 day trip to the western Caribbean on the Infinity and seeing all of the details of her sister ship has been really exciting!

I also love that we are pretty nerdy as well, and your stack of books looks about right for what my wife-to-be will be bringing for her trip ;) I think we will be following in many of your footsteps, from arriving early, touring the ship top t bottom, Galley tour and all (though I am not much of a dancer...actually a terrible dancer!)

Its been a great read this far and I cant wait to finish it up and follow in your footsteps yet again with a review of my own, I only hope its as good as yours.

Thanks again, and congratulations!

Derek

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement everyone. I should have more later.

Thanks for your write up. Are the Plats du Jour and entreé’s new to the menu? I don’t recall them on my last cruise (last fall on the Silhouette). I just remember the crepes and paninis.

Monica

The new Bistro on 5 menu with the entrees and specials is just on the Summit at the moment. According to some of the other threads it will go fleet wide in April and according to others each ship gets it when they go into dry dock

PS.

I also want very badly to travel on the Summit, the Normandie restaurant looks so elegant in the photos I have seen and, like you I LOVE French cuisine (it was my focus when I was a Chef, even if I never really got to get as deep into it as I would have liked)