Summit 12/12 Review

[Georgetown Mike]

I have posted a review of our 12/12 Southern Caribbean cruise on Summit in the Member Reviews section. If you have questions after reading I will attempt to answer..

[Lois R]

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your experience with us:)but sorry to hear

about the less than stellar dinner in Normandie:(....

I am dining there with friends next month and hoping things are more

positive.

Service is usually outstanding. Because you didn't drink wine

they didn't give you good service? That is really unacceptable:eek:....

What if one doesn't embibe?

 

Glad the rest of the cruise was fun though:)

[macaroni]

Mike, can you tell us a little about the Ports....did you do anything special? What regular dining room menus do you recommend?

[Georgetown Mike]

Lois,

 

You will enjoy outstanding food, but alas, the ambiance is not what is was. I hope you have a better experience than we.

[Georgetown Mike]

Macaroni:

 

IN the MDR the beef dishes were better than I expected: the chateaubriand was perfectly prepared and was the filet mignon. I tried the sirloin one night and it was just adequate. The second formal night I had the lobster/shrimp/scallops - a very tasty combination. There are always what I call "bail out" items available every night - sirloin, salmon, onion soup, shrimp cocktail, escargot, chicken, etc.

 

On the "doing" question: We hired taxi drivers in both Dominica and Tobago to show us around the respective islands - a good choice - and they will negotiate. The going in price is about $20(US) for each passenger. We were able to get it down to $15 (you may do better). Trafalgar Falls in Dominica is a must see. It is a national park and will cost you $5.00(US) to visit (in addition to the taxi).

 

In Barbados we went for a Celebrity excursion - Tiami Catamaran turtle and snorkel ($98). We enjoyed swimming with sea turtles, snorkeling a reef with thousands of beautiful fish, a lunch of jerk chicken, fish, etc. an open bar with everything from beer and wine to rum and bourbon and a five hour riide - a great deal.

[TRacanoUK]

Lois,

 

You will enjoy outstanding food, but alas, the ambiance is not what is was. I hope you have a better experience than we.

 

Mike--nice review. We were on that sailing as well and I wanted to clarify some of the points you made regarding Normandie though.

 

 

 

The wine pairing menu still exists, but I didn't even look at the wine selections after I saw the food offerings. For course four (entree) you have a choice of venison loin or rack of lamb. That's it! NO seafood or beef offerings.

 

I had this thought as well; however, after asking, they gladly substituted another item. Its worth noting that the course prior to the main is a full entre size course too, which is why these are probably the offerings. I couldn't finish my

 

In addition, the cheese cart is gone. It appears the bean counters have won over ambiance.

 

We were able to eat from the cheese cart, again--you just had to ask. They just weren't as forthcoming with it (not to say that is right!).

 

I really enjoyed Normandie. I found that compared to Murano on Solstice, the wine pairing was significantly cheaper (no comment on whether the wines were any better--I didn't remember the individual wines enough to make this comparison). That said, the ambiance isn't as good as I was expecting (to your point about the lack of live musicians and stuff--we endured listening to volume increasing on Christmas music the whole time), but still really enjoyed the experience.

 

Didn't mean to criticize your review, which I thought was good (except for the part that you like the buffet in the Waterfall--we thought it was horrible!), but I wanted to clarify the Normandie availability for anyone going on future cruises so they know to ask.

[Lois R]

Thanks to both of you for the information:)

Did they have a brunch on the cruise and if so, what day was it?

 

Are either of you Elite and if so, did you attend the mornings in

Michael's Club and/or afternoon drinks?

 

Thanks for the replies:)

 

Mike, sorry you thought the buffet was horrible:(

Did you try the Aqua Spa Cafe?

[TRacanoUK]

Thanks to both of you for the information:)

Did they have a brunch on the cruise and if so, what day was it?

 

Are either of you Elite and if so, did you attend the mornings in

Michael's Club and/or afternoon drinks?

 

Thanks for the replies:)

 

Mike, sorry you thought the buffet was horrible:(

Did you try the Aqua Spa Cafe?

 

Brunch was on the sea day (last day). I thought the brunch was pretty good.

 

We're not elite (we qualified for "select" with this sailing!) so I can't comment on the lounge/cocktails.

 

We typically checked out the Aqua Spa Cafe each day at lunch time but didn't eat there much. The food there is actually pretty good, but as much as I say I am going to eat healthy, well, its a cruise, so that doesn't happen (-:

 

When I say the buffet was horrible, I think its mostly that the lines really got to me and I thought the variety was poor. I really enjoyed the buffet on Solstice and usually have found the lunch buffets to be a much better variety. On this cruise, they even repeated certain dishes (for example, they had shepard's pie on the first day and the fifth), which I found odd. At the end of the day, I rather the buffet be the poor thing than something more important like the MDR.

[Lois R]

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply:) To be honest, I love the Aqua Spa

Cafe food:D...its delicious (in my opinion;))

[Mimi33]

Anybody have comments on the dance band in the Rendezvous?

Can't wait. Leaving in 2 days.

Thanks,

Mary

[Lois R]

Hi Mary, have a wonderful time:)

[Mimi33]

Thanks, Lois. I know you're anxiously awaiting your trip, too. I'll try to write a review when I get back.

 

Mary

[ChrisAndMeg]

I have posted a review of our 12/12 Southern Caribbean cruise on Summit in the Member Reviews section. If you have questions after reading I will attempt to answer..

 

We had just booked our cruise on the Summit when we read your review about the overhang! My mom would have flipped if there was no sun (or sky!) on her veranda.

 

Thank you for all the detail - we moved to the 8th deck instead!