Returned yesterday... Summit So. Caribbean, any questions?

[JLind]

We returned yesterday from the Summit's Southern Caribbean itinerary (San Juan, St Thomas, St Croix, St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia).

 

Happy to give back to the cruise critic website by offering to answer any questions while the experience is fresh in our minds and those "Celebrity Today" daily cruise newsletters are at hand with specific daily schedules.

 

Packing hindsight, dining insight, excursions with the best feedback...

 

Stayed in San Juan 2 nights prior to embarkation, took advantage of the fairly new luggage valet program...

 

Anything on your mind?

[mykel67]

Thanks for the offer! :D. We board on Saturday, so I have a few questions.

 

1. We haven't booked any shore excursions yet, but would like to enjoy shopping, beaches/resorts, and cultural tours during the week. Do you have any recommendations for particular islands?

 

2. What events, activities or experiences did you enjoy most on the ship?

 

3. Any menu items to recommend or dissuade us from trying?

 

4. We have one night in San Juan upon our return. Anything not to miss?

 

I hope you enjoyed your cruise and aren't suffering too much from post-vacation blues (I immediately have to begin planning the next trip or there's no living with me)!

[JLind]

1. We too booked our excursions at the last minute- I joked on the last day that now I’ve done the research and am now ready to take the cruise! This is what I wished I’d known etc:

In St Thomas, we spent the morning on the beach called Megan’s Bay Beach rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and we drove around the island with another couple. When we got to town at 1pm, everything was closed! It was a Sunday as it will be when you go, and the ship never printed in the daily newsletter, that those wishing to shop in St Thomas should go in the morning! So, for St. Thomas what I’d recommend after being there last week, and chatting with others onboard would be… if you want to shop, shop in the morning. If there is something specific you want to buy, pre-shop it at home so you have a clue as to what is a good price, and know that the shop salespeople are used to negotiating on the prices. If you want a beach, consider hopping a ferry to St Johns, (but don’t rent a car because we did and then we learned that there was no room for another car on the ferry and waiting for the next one would not give us enough time on St John to make it worth going). I heard great things about the ship excursion to turtle cove for snorkeling.

 

St Croix: we booked the Buck Island snorkel tour through the ship. We loved this – the fish were fantastic and we were very glad that we took advice from another couple and went on the later group, meeting at 11:30am instead of the 8:30am group. When we got back, right at the ship there were little kiosks set up with vendors, and though it wasn’t town, there were things to buy like beach cover-ups, shell things, island jewelry, and knock-off designer bags (same price as on the street in nyc). We did run into others who grabbed taxis to a beach when they got off the ship and they did like just hanging out on the beach.

 

St Kitts: The thing I absolutely recommend most here is going to the Marriott. They were very friendly and accepting of Celebrity folks coming into their resort for the day. We suggested this to several people who were not asked to pay a day rate- they enjoyed beach chairs, umbrella, and the full services of this resort. It is only about a 10 minute taxi ride from the ship. I’d suggest taking towels from the ship’s pool – plain yellow- as opposed to the ones with the Celebrity logo that your steward leaves for you each day for the excursions. Even though the people at Marriott didn’t ask for a day rate to be there, I don’t think I’d bring something so obvious as a towel from the ship. I must note two other things- my husband played golf on this island, it was a special treat, and he loved it- it’s right at that Marriott. On the last morning I met a woman who purchased the most beautiful earrings (black and white diamonds) on St Kitts, and she loved the shopping there.

 

Antigua: we went on a private tour with Gordon as recommended on these boards. He was a nice guide, and well worth the $40/pp. In retrospect we felt like we’d spent more time in a van riding around than we really wanted, and would have liked to have done something else. There were a few private little boat excursions that sounded like people really enjoyed – suggested on these boards- but we had thought that we didn’t want to snorkel every day and did the van tour looking for variety. Oh well.

 

St Lucia: we had booked another van tour with Spencer (another guide recommended on these boards) and left him a message that we would not be able to go with him. Later we met others from our Gordon tour who said that Spencer was much like Gordon the day before. The people who went on their own on this island had a very strong reaction to the poverty here. We hopped onto a private boat going to a low key private resort where we spent the day- learned about it through new ship friends who had prearranged this from doing this same thing last year.

 

2. Events and activities on the ship….

Last day at sea: got to the pool at 8am and all pool chairs had been saved! It seems that you’d have to have gotten there around 6am to save a chair. In retrospect I’d have stayed away from all of the pool frenzy in the morning- get a massage, pack, and get to the pool around 1 or 2pm when the early birds are having lunch and leaving the pool area to attend the onboard afternoon activities. Though you might want to attend some of those afternoon activities: wine tasting, art auction (pre-shop at home if you’re interested in art- they are big on Peter Max on this ship), lecture (not very good), massages at the spa (fabulous).

Experiences we most enjoyed on the ship: we loved the sail-aways on deck 10 aft bar area with sushi and bottles of wine and champagne shared with new friends we had met on the ship. We also loved having coffee and breakfast on our verandah as we sailed into ports in the mornings. We also enjoyed the Thalassotherapy Pool after returning from shore excursions (less crowded) and a refreshing way to transition from the hot islands to the ship experience.

 

3. Menu recommendations… In the MDR there is no main meal in particular that stands out in our memories. We did have one dinner as part of our Amex package, in the Normandie specialty restaurant, and that truly was the most memorable meal in every way. In the MDR we had the Select Dining which we loved- it is fairly new on the ship and we were impressed that we didn’t have to wait for a table and how beautifully the select dining hostess Farrha handled the flow. It was fun to meet people on the ship during the day, and they’d ask do you want to dine together for dinner and what time are you eating? We had the option to eat each night either alone, or with new friends and that was fun. My favorite of the appetizers was the escargot on the “available every night” menu, and lots of people enjoyed the shrimp cocktail frequently too.

 

4. In Puerto Rico, we stayed at the Caribe Hilton which I had gotten on Priceline for around $100/nt. I think that the Marriott Stellaris in Condado would have been the absolute ideal hotel and wish I’d used “points” to try to get that. That Marriott Stellaris is the ideal location in my opinion because you have the beach and resort facilities, are close to Old San Juan, and best restaurant called “Rope Vieja” was our favorite restaurant on the trip, and located in Condado. Owner Luiz took great care of us and is a truly wonderful man. We rented a car and went to El Yunque rain forest and loved that. It was a lot of walking and I had the wrong shoes (rubber sole but no back and they were slipping). But it was beautiful and memorable. In San Juan, it was mostly raining when we were there. In Old San Juan I highly recommend restaurants “Puerto Rico Café” in or “Parrot Club” for lovely local color and dining experiences. If it hadn’t been pouring rain we’d have taken the free trolley around to exploring the different forts. We ran into a couple from the ship at the airport who went to the art museum between disembarking and catching their flight, and they said that it was a great way to spend that time. In Old San Juan it was fun to walk around- lots of galleries and shopping and great restaurants along with those forts.

 

5. A word of caution… I put this into the post reluctantly. I am hoping that we get a call from Celebrity main offices and even that acknowledgement would go a long way toward healing our frustrations… If you have any prearranged amenities (ship board credits, bon voyage flowers, amenities pre-arranged) have everything in writing. If you have anything promised by your Travel Agent or pre-booked online having it in writing will save you from having to scramble to prove this to Guest Relations once you are on the ship. (This may seem small, but after other issues, a shock in the salon almost put me over the edge so ask for specific-to-my-hair prices in the salon before having anything done to your hair- exactly how much will this cost- to save yourself shock on the back end of the service.) Guest relations did apologize for the succession of blunders- they did- but we experienced frustration and wasted vacation time with logistics that we had never experienced cruising Celebrity and other cruise lines in the past. Having every expected ammenity confirmation in writing could possibly spare some frustration. One would hope to do the "work" before you leave home and just enjoy cruising once you are onboard, right? There were several people onboard who were dismayed about this same thing- it was a common conversation topic, and we were deliberate in our commitment to stay positive and not to let conversation stay and dwell there. There appears to be a limit to problem solving capability on board the ship among the staff- deferring to the offices on shore, and whose M-F hours were insufficient without someone onboard to cover. We thought that concierge Pierre was terriffic, massage therapist Abby was amazing, waiters and cabin steward were friendly and efficient, anti-virus efforts were evident and admirable, shore excursion staff were very available, knowledgeable and friendly, poolside music and service was fabulous... The cruise was fun because of the people we met onboard, and we have many happy memories.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Bon voyage…

[stipmom]

When I was on the Summit in Jan. they did not serve a full breakfast in the main dining room on departure day. Did they serve one on your cruise?

[JLind]

Hi there...

 

Looking at the daily newsletter "Celebrity Today" from the first and last day to answer your question:

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you ask about departure day... if that would be departure from San Juan (embarkation day) or departure from the ship at the end of the cruise...

 

On the first day, embarkation day, we arrived to the pier at about noon, and we were on the ship in about 10 minutes from being dropped off by taxi! Champagne waiting for us as we embarked, and lunch buffet on deck 10, the Waterfall cafe.

 

On the last day, disembarkation day, there was a full buffet served upstairs on deck 10 from 5:30am to 8:30am, AquaSpa Cafe ("light & healthy breakfast") from 6am - 8am. Main Dining Room, the Cosmopolitan restaurant served "Express" breakfast on the Port side from 6:30am-8:30am and served a full menu breakfast on the Starboard side of the dining room also from 6:30am to 8:30am. I can see that someone might enter on the port side and not realize that on the other side of the room the dining option was different.

[mom2jax]

Thanks for the great advice!

 

Did you hear about anyone have noro?

[JLind]

Hi again-

 

From the moment we boarded, it was evident that they were on extreme precaution level of virus control. We were proactively greeted by Purell squirters everytime we entered any eating area, and most all food was served, even from buffet type areas.

 

There were staff cleaning the railings of the stairways almost constantly- and i also noticed that there were very few people on the stairs holding onto the railings. Almost everyone seemed to take the stairs right in the middle and didn't hold onto anything.

 

I personally did not hear of one person getting sick.

[rmchunter]

Hi there...

 

Looking at the daily newsletter "Celebrity Today" from the first and last day to answer your question:

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you ask about departure day... if that would be departure from San Juan (embarkation day) or departure from the ship at the end of the cruise...

 

On the first day, embarkation day, we arrived to the pier at about noon, and we were on the ship in about 10 minutes from being dropped off by taxi! Champagne waiting for us as we embarked, and lunch buffet on deck 10, the Waterfall cafe.

 

On the last day, disembarkation day, there was a full buffet served upstairs on deck 10 from 5:30am to 8:30am, AquaSpa Cafe ("light & healthy breakfast") from 6am - 8am. Main Dining Room, the Cosmopolitan restaurant served "Express" breakfast on the Port side from 6:30am-8:30am and served a full menu breakfast on the Starboard side of the dining room also from 6:30am to 8:30am. I can see that someone might enter on the port side and not realize that on the other side of the room the dining option was different.

 

Did they post the smoking areas of the ship in the Celebrity today news letter? You seem to have kept your copies. Could you post the areas here please.

Thanks

[JLind]

Yes, I do have the daily newsletters-

 

On the first day, there is an insert "Useful Celebrity Summit Information", and there is a bit about smoking.

This is what it says:

"SMOKING POLICY: Cigarette smoking is not permitted in staterooms or on verandas and is only permitted in designated areas of the ship. Cigar and pipe smoking is only permitted in designated outdoor areas. Violation of the smoking policy will result in a $250 fine and disembarkation from the vessel. All smoking materials must be properly disposed of and never thrown overboard. Please refer to the policy listed in the I-TV System in your stateroom."

 

I'm not a smoker but I did notice that smoking was permitted on one side of the aft deck 10 Waterfall Cafe bar. It was a nice place to be during the sailaways. It was clear that there were ashtrays on the tables on one side of the area.

[Lois R]

Hi there...

 

Looking at the daily newsletter "Celebrity Today" from the first and last day to answer your question:

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you ask about departure day... if that would be departure from San Juan (embarkation day) or departure from the ship at the end of the cruise...

 

On the first day, embarkation day, we arrived to the pier at about noon, and we were on the ship in about 10 minutes from being dropped off by taxi! Champagne waiting for us as we embarked, and lunch buffet on deck 10, the Waterfall cafe.

 

On the last day, disembarkation day, there was a full buffet served upstairs on deck 10 from 5:30am to 8:30am, AquaSpa Cafe ("light & healthy breakfast") from 6am - 8am. Main Dining Room, the Cosmopolitan restaurant served "Express" breakfast on the Port side from 6:30am-8:30am and served a full menu breakfast on the Starboard side of the dining room also from 6:30am to 8:30am. I can see that someone might enter on the port side and not realize that on the other side of the room the dining option was different.

 

Hi, I sailed in January and your last paragraph was the exact same thing we had:)..Starboard in the dining room they had a full breakfast and

portside was express and it was very good. It was eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, toast, juice and coffee. Plenty of food and it was quick too.

[dilacruiser]

We were also on that cruise; quick summary:

 

Tours: On our last cruise, we did mostly private tours, but I did not have time to organize anything this time, so we took ship tours.

 

We went on the St. Kitts Scenic Rail trip (big mistake). The train broke down and they brought us onboard and said they would give us some drinks while they fixed it. I was on the top deck, right next to the blender. I was there for 45 minutes before the drink server came and took the blender out of the machine and then proceeded to add some cold banana juice to the 2 inches of banana juice that was left in the blender. Since I saw this, I asked for a bottle of water instead. She kept insisting that she had just poured the juice when we boarded, but that was 45 minutes earlier.

 

We did a ship excursion on St. Thomas: Kayak, Snorkel, Hike. We were one of only 2 couples on the whole ship who signed up. It was great. There were two other couples on the tour not from the ship. We kayaked 1 mile out through the mangrove preserve, hiked on a small island, swam some distance (without flippers) and snorkeled - saw sting ray, jelly fish, baracuda, turtle, and many fish. It was a great tour.

On St. Croix, we did the Christiansted Walking Tour, again a very well run tour. The guide was excellent.

On Antigua, we just did a beach escape - probably could have saved some money and taken a taxi instead, but the beach was beautiful and the water was warm.

On St. Lucia, we got off for a few minutes and got back on the ship. I know there are some wonderful things to see, but I am afraid of heights and did not want to travel to the sights. It was a nice day to spend on an empty ship. Took advantage of the spa special.

Many of the islands were overrun with garbage. That was a bit dissappointing.

Caught the last act of the crew talent show on the final sea day. All I know is that the last act should not be missed!

Full breakfast on the departure day - in and out in about 30 minutes.

[Eleris]

I realize this will probably change before we sail in April but do you remember who the captain, cruise director, cc hostess or any of the great staff were onboard? :)

[Lois R]

I realize this will probably change before we sail in April but do you remember who the captain, cruise director, cc hostess or any of the great staff were onboard? :)

 

Hi Ellen:Dhave a great time.

[Texed]

J and Dil,

Thanks for posting. 4 days! :)

[Eleris]

Lois - still wish you were coming on this one too! It would be great to see you again it was so nice meeting you in person after reading all your great info and comments over the years.

 

If your plans change we can save you a seat at the martini bar!:D

[Lois R]

Lois - still wish you were coming on this one too! It would be great to see you again it was so nice meeting you in person after reading all your great info and comments over the years.

 

If your plans change we can save you a seat at the martini bar!:D

 

Thanks Ellen:)wish I could but I just made my final payment

for my May cruise. No way can I go in April too;)

Maybe one day we can sail together again:)

[mueller]

JLind,

How was Megans in St. Thomas? Can you use the pool at the Marriot too and how rough were the waves? Luggage valet service on disembarkation day go smooth? $20 per bag correct?

Thanks

Andrew

[mueller]

1 more, do you know who the ship used for their Buck Island tour?

[dtraveler2006]

"In the MDR we had the Select Dining which we loved"

 

To get Select Dining, did you prepay gratuities? If so, did the gratuities cover both your cabin and dining staff?

[icare2000]

Hi there,

 

This is my first cruise and first time posting on Cruise Critic. I was pleasantly surprised to see that you had just come back from the same cruise that I will be going on, and that you were so willing to offer advice. It's very kind of you.

 

You mentioned "packing insight" and "dining insight"... any advice?

 

How cool does it get on the ship? Will I need long sleeves? Long pants? A jacket?

 

Best way of getting from airport to ship and cost?

 

Can you give me a rough idea of the cost for pop and alcoholic drinks (e.g., cost of a pina colada?) on the cruise so that I can decide if the beverage packages are worthwhile?

 

When did you book your excursions? Is it true that if you want to book excursions in advance, then you have to do it no less than 4 days before the start of the cruise? Do you recommend sticking with the excursions offered through the cruise, or exploring tours offered through private operators?

 

My husband and I absolutely love to snorkel, and so we are planning all our excursions around snorkeling.

 

Can you recommend the best snorkeling in St. Thomas/St. John?

 

Which tour did you take to Buck Island? You mentioned being glad about taking the later tour. What are the advantages over the morning tour?

 

You recommended spending the day at the Mariott on St. Kitts and enjoying the "full services" of the resort. What services at the Mariott did you enjoy?

 

Thanks in advance for answering my questions! :)

[dalitos]

Thank you so much for all the information.

Could you tell me if you saw some families with toddlers/children on board?

[JLind]

Wow, lots of new questions to answer this morning- here are my responses to your answers:

Andrew-

 

Megan’s Bay in St. Thomas…It was good although it was not empty, probably because it was a Sunday and local people were there- but it was not crowded either. It was beautiful with open beach restaurant, and facilities. The 4 of us had really wanted to go to St John and had rented a car right at the pier, but the car couldn’t make it onto the ferry, so Megan’s was a second choice for us. Don’t know why it’s rated a top 10 beach in the world, but it was an enjoyable place to spend time and one of the nicest beaches of our trip.

 

Marriott St Kitts: we were on the golf course which is right there. I have a family member who is sometimes a guest artist on ships and told me that the ‘insider’ place to go is the Marriott, and I shared that with some new friends on the ship who did go there and said it was their favorite day of the cruise. So I don’t know how the waves specifically were, but I do believe that they just walked in, were known to be from the ship, and were treated royally. One new ship friend told me that they had chairs, a cabana, bought drinks, lunch, even had a massage on the beach and loved the experience. I don’t know if they went to the pool, but would imagine that if they were this welcome at the beach, they’d have been welcome at the pool (?). Another option is to pay $65 for a day rate- you could share with others you meet on your cc role call or on the ship, and that way you would have a room if you wish for those hours. It was only a 10 minute taxi ride from the ship.

 

Luggage Valet: It was $20 per person, not per bag. We had checked 2 bags each so after we disembarked, we claimed our bags to walk them through customs, easy- and I quickly threw a little bag with our toiletries etc in there and we didn’t have to carry anything. We were a little concerned after everyone else had gotten their luggage tags and we had not. But part of luggage valet is that they print your boarding passes, and they cannot print those until 24hours before your flight home. So don’t expect to see your luggage tags until 24hours before your flight home. Once we understood that logic, we were fine and patient. It worked without a hitch. It is a fairly new service and they have worked out the glitches now-

 

Buck Island Tour: Funny you should ask… I took a photo of the little boat when we hopped off to get the phone number of the company. It is “Glass Bottom Caribbean Sea Adventures 340.773.BOAT”. But I also called another company direct before the trip. The prices were so similar, that we decided to go with the ship tour. There were 20 people on the air conditioned van waiting outside the ship, 2 vans, each one unloaded onto a separate waiting boat. So though it was a ship tour, we were with one group of about 20. If you do the excursion from Fredrickstad where the ship docks, there are catamaran snorkeling excursions from there- and we hear that the snorkeling is good, but the Buck Island tour is a 30 minute ride to Christenstad and then a motor boat out to Buck Island and the snorkeling was fantastic. We went for the 30 minute drive and motor boat for the exceptional fish. We were happy.

 

Note to dtraveler2006 and icare2000: I will answer your questions in a bit. As you can see my answers are long-winded, and I need to handle a few things here and will answer your questions in a few hours- :)

 

-Jill

[cruisnuts]

We are a party of 12 on the 3/27 sailing of Summit to the Southern Carribean - St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua, Gaudeloupe and I was wondering if you can tell us the answers to the following questions?

• When is the chocolate buffet?
  
• When is the brunch buffet in the MDR?
  
• What day was the Reidel Wine tasting?
  

We are trying to coordinate all of the activities that we would like to do and don't want to miss any of these great buffets! :eek: __________________

[JLind]

Have a moment for a few quick answers and will get to others later today...

 

Dalitos: we saw very few families with kids on board. But we figured it was due to the fact that our week was not really a spring break week. One family had six (!) children from about 2years to 12years (I'm guessing). They were so well behaved it was something that we noticed and several friends also commented on... I saw a couple of sisters maybe 7 & 9 running around the pool deck on the last day at sea with those island braids flying in the wind. Finally on the last day at sea, we were at the concierge desk trying to resolve those ongoing hassles we had, and 3 cute kids came running up with a list- they were on a scavenger hunt through the "kid club" or whatever they call it on this ship- their list was of the different staff on the ship and they were going around in teams to learn what country each staff person was from. While they were waiting for Pierre the concierge to get off the phone one of the little boys maybe 5 years old said "I love this cruise!!" . It was so heart-warming to hear him so purely happy. But if you want to know, it is a question you can call Celebrity to ask- we did when we cruised with our kids on Princess and on Cunard- how many children and what ages will be on my cruise? They can tell you a pretty finite answer.

 

dtraveler2006: Select Dining was that option we liked, and yes we did have to prepay gratuities, and yes it did cover everything, but we did give our cabin steward $10 on the first day and he got us a few little things we asked for, and then we gave him $20 when we left the ship. (our next door neighbors did exactly the same- we discussed over dinner with them the last night)

 

icare2000, I'll answer your great questions a bit later, and cruisnuts, I'll look in my "Celebrity Today" daily newsletters and give you specific answers later too. :)

 

 

-Jill

[dalitos]

Jill,

Thank you so much for your through answer, and the suggestion to call Celebrity is great, it would have never crossed my mind. :o

We are going with the Summit on April 17th due to departure date (DH has very specific time off and we can't waste days), itinerary and price, and although I would love to see some families with kids on boards, I'm not up for a cruise full of kids running around... since our son is not even 2, he's most happy with us and will not be doing much 'socializing' on his own. :) So I think we can manage even with little families on board.