Celebrity Summit - Repositioning Cruise - 10/26/17 - Review

This is extremely late but thought I would share my experience on here. Life got in the way and I finally got around to finishing up the review. I'll be posting a link to my blog and the text of our day-by-day adventures. You'll find additional information and pictures (including food pictures) on the blog.

For pictures and more info, visit https://www.techietravels.com/intro-celebrity-repositioning/

In October, we took a repositioning cruise on the Celebrity Summit from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unlike most trips, we didn’t plan this cruise extremely far in advance. We booked shortly after final payment which was about 90 days before the cruise due to a good sale on cabins.

The run up to the cruise was very stressful. With hurricanes Irma and Maria destroying all of the ports we were supposed to visit, there were many questions about whether the cruise would even be sailing. To Celebrity’s credit, they announced the change to the ports of call about a month before the cruise. However, questions remained about our disembarkation of San Juan, Puerto Rico all the way up to the sail date. I was watching CruiseCritic and other news sources like a hawk trying to figure out if we needed to change flights. I figured Miami/Ft Lauderdale would have been the most likely candidates. In the end, we did end up going to Puerto Rico.

Our original itinerary was to visit St Thomas, St Maarten, and end in San Juan. It was quickly announced that we would be visiting Antigua and St Kitts instead. I had never been to Antigua so that was a welcome change. In addition, we had just been to St Kitts, but had spent all of our time on Nevis on that trip. So we figured this would be a good opportunity to explore St Kitts instead.

I ended up deciding to change our flight to leave the day of disembarkation due to much uncertainty about hotel reservations. There were many reports of people turning up to hotels only to be told that the hotel was full due to relief workers. I didn’t want to fight this battle nor take the place of a relief worker. American Airlines was allowing free changes to flights due to the hurricane. In addition, because of the fare caps to and from the island, we were able to upgrade to first class for only $6 per person which was an incredible deal. We then spent the morning and afternoon in Chicago.

Due to all the uncertainty, it seemed as though many people cancelled their cruises which meant prices dropped by about half of what we paid leading up to the date of sail. Because of this, we were able to upgrade to an Aqua class guarantee at no cost which got us an A1 cabin all the way up on one of the highest decks. I’ll have more comments about the cabin in future posts, but suffice to say, the cabin and location were excellent.

Following your review.

Keith

Appreciate the feedback, looking forward to the rest.:)

Day 1 - Embarkation

For pictures and more info, visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-embarkation/

We drove to Loewe’s Hotel ORD for a park-sleep-fly package the night before the cruise. This is my favorite hotel to stay or park at by O’Hare. Parking is only $5 per day for an inside spot in the garage if you book in advance – Loews O’Hare Parking. In addition, the shuttle runs 24/7 every 15 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes at night. The hotel and room were in good condition. We did not explore the hotel any further than our room and the parking garage but there was not anything else especially remarkable.

In the morning, we headed over to the airport. We went through pre-check (courtesy of our Global Entry membership) and arrived at gate but there was no plane. As seems to be normal with American Airlines, it was obvious that we were going to be delayed, but no announcement was made until it was time for boarding. Cascading delays began and we started to get a little worried given that we had a cruise to catch. Eventually, we moved to a different gate and left with about a 1 hour delay.

Upon arriving at Newark, we collected our bags and hopped in an Uber to the port in Bayonne, NJ which cost about $20. At this point, it was about 11:30am and there was no wait for security, check-in, or boarding even though we arrived at what is normally prime time. We explored the ship while we were waiting for our cabin to be ready. We also got our beverage packages squared away as they did not carry over after purchasing online. As a quick aside, the Celebrity online interface is the absolute worst I have ever experienced. There are frequent logouts, past purchases do not show up sometimes, and unexplained errors. So when the drink packages did not carry over, I was not especially surprised.

About 1:00pm, they announced the cabins were ready. We were in an A1 Aqua Class cabin. Due to the uncertainty with Puerto Rico, there must have been many cancellations and difficulty selling cabins which led to massive price cuts. We were able to upgrade from an obstructed balcony to an Aqua Class guarantee and we were assigned our cabin up on the 11th deck aft. The location is absolutely perfect for this cabin. The buffet is directly below along with the pool. We did feel more vibration at this part of the ship compared with other places, but the side to side and up and down motion was better.

After coming back from muster, we went up to the top deck to watch sailaway which was beautiful out of New York. When we returned to our room, our luggage had arrived so we unpacked and got ready for dinner. In Aqua class, your assigned dining room is the Blu restaurant which they say specializes in more “Mediterranean” cuisine. I really liked the concept. It also was much smaller than the main dining room and had a lot more tables for 2.

After dinner, we went to the welcome aboard show which was not well attended. The comedian, however, was good.

Thanks for posting. I was on the same cruise, and I’m enjoying reading someone else’s take on the experience. I was extremely frustrated with Celebrity over the decision to keep disembarkation in Puerto Rico and the lack of communication about that decision, but otherwise, I enjoyed the cruise.

Thanx for sharing, TT

Ira

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 1

For pictures and more information visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-1/

We had breakfast in Blu this morning. I had the eggs benedict and Sam had an omelette. Both were good and very fresh. We then went up on deck and found a place to read and get some sun by the pool. Mid-afternoon, we came back to the room to get out of the sun and Sam took a nap while I went to the gym to work out. The gym was well appointed with many cardio machines, weight training machines, and free weights. Overall, it was a very lazy, but relaxing day.

We then went to find some music to listen to before dinner. We found a piano player in the coffee shop who was very good. I really appreciate all of the live music all over the ship and all of them were very talented. Then we went to the Martini bar to try out a few of the creations there. I had a blue wave and a very masculine appletini, both of which were very tasty.

Next up was dinner in Blu. It was “Modern Chic” night but not many people dressed up beyond a dress shirt and pants. That was not too surprising given there is only one more formal night on a 6 day cruise so packing formal clothes just is not worth it.

After dinner, we went up for Family Feud and trivia in the Sky lounge. There weren’t many people for either but we still did not win. The show this evening was “Chandelier” which featured modern music loosely tied to a story line. The story and music just were not very captivating to me. There also was late night adult comedy by the same comedian as the first night, and he was pretty good again.

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 2

For more information and pictures visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-2/

We got breakfast at the buffet today which was your standard cruise fare. They did have a poached egg station which was nice to see. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, we lazed by the pool and swam a bit.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the coffee shop for afternoon tea. I had a specialty cappuccino and Sam had iced tea. That cappuccino was not the greatest, but Sam thought the iced tea was good. Afterwards, we went to the gym and then got ready for the evening. We went to the martini bar for a drink and then to Blu for dinner. There was a 20 minute wait, so we got some drinks in Cellar Masters.

The show this evening was “Hard Day’s Night” which was a Beatles tribute band. They were actually very good and played all the standard hits. Afterwards, we went to the Sunset bar on the back of the ship to listen to some music by a very talented guitarist/singer. She had this foot peddle device that sounded like a cajon. I had not seen anything like that before and it really added to her performance.

Celebrity Summit - Sea Day 3

For more information and pictures visit https://www.techietravels.com/celebrity-summit-sea-day-3/

We decided to return to Blu for breakfast this morning. I had a really good parfait and Sam had an omelette that she said was better than at the buffet. We then spent the morning and afternoon relaxing by the pool.

Lunch was at the buffet again and your standard fare. The Beatles tribute band, Hard Day’s Night, did a poolside concert which was very fun and lots of people were listening and dancing. We read on the balcony for a little while and then got ready for dinner. We went to listen to some music in some various lounges before dinner, stopping for drinks along the way.

The show was called “Soundtrack” this evening. Most of the songs were from movies and had some acrobat dancers as well. It must have been brand new because it had music from “Skyfall” and “La La Land”. I thought it was very well done and was my favorite show of the trip.