Just back from Summit, 4/1 - 4/11

[ScouserInAZ]

We have just completed our first Celebrity cruise and had a wonderful time! Rather than ramble on about about the entire 10 day cruise, here are some brief highlights and comments about our time on the Summit.

 

We arrived at the terminal at 11:10am, we were in our cabin at 11:35am. Cabin was almost ready, but not quite, so we wandered around the ship and grabbed a bite to eat. Cabin ready shortly after 12.

 

Where were we? Cabin 8150, CC, starboard/aft. Very nice cabin, quiet, very clean. Gabriella was our stateroom attendant and did an exceptional job. Bed was very comfortable, A/C did its job, always seemed to have clean towels.

 

We had late seating (8:30pm), table 431 lower level (table for two, as requested). Cosmopolitan restaurant is very nice. Wait staff (Jimmy and Christopher) excellent. Food was very good, I think the best we have had compared to RCCL and Holland America. It's a five course menu and I don't remember turning our noses at any course! Highlights: Rack of lamb (twice), hake, sea bream, veal oscar, filet mignon. Thought the lobster was a bit on the "soft" side. Soups excellent. Wine selection is good, we typically chose by the glass ($7 -$9 range).

 

We ate at Normandie on the Monday evening (8:30pm). Booked this shortly after boarding. We originally wanted Tuesday evening, but it was already fully booked. We got the last but one table for two for Monday, so if you want to try Normandie, and haven't already booked it in advance, do it ASAP when you get aboard. Meal was excellent, we opted for the 6 course "Menu Exceptional". The 6 courses consist of appetizer, soup, intermezzo, entree, dessert, cheese plate. Wine was served with each of these courses. Tip: request port for the cheese course, the menu states Zinfandel. You also get amuse-bouche and petit fours (no vino with these!). I had the rack of lamb (superb) and my girlfriend had the sole. She was a little disappointed with the fish, thinking it rather bland. Overall a very enjoyable experience.

 

Shore excursions were pretty typical. We did the St. Barts "lifestyles" trip, we both thought it a waste of the day and wished we had stayed on St. Maarten. Lots of nice shops but not enough time to do much else, so we ate a long, and very good, lunch at a French restaurant. Excellent nougat for desert. St. John as pretty as ever.

 

Entertainment was very good, better then previous cruises. We liked the mixup of times for late seating, some shows at 7pm, others at 10:45pm. We did think the shows were not as well attended as other cruises. Is this because the Celebrity Theatre is larger, or because the turnout was less? Not sure, but no problems getting good seats right up to show start time.

 

Comments:

 

We did see the fashion police in effect a couple of times. Once a guy was asked to put on a jacket as he attempted to enter the restaurant on formal night wearing only an open neck shirt. He declined and left abruptly, the thing is his friends had already proceeded in WEARING THE SAME ATTIRE! A liitle inconsistency here. We also saw this in Normandie, a couple of tables had men dressed fairly casually (e.g. crew neck style shirt, no jacket). The biggest gripe I had was at the first "formal" afternoon tea. A lady wearing nice shorts was refused admittance ("No shorts, ma'dam, please change"). OK, so that's what they require for formal tea, however, the actual tea was far from formal. Celebrity really needs to work on this, maybe pay a visit to Holland America. If they want to lay down the formal dress code, then they should also adhere to formal tea presentation. Tea bags and pots of hot water, cream instead of milk (when you could get it), sweet whipped cream instead of clotted cream, jelly instead of preserves (or at least jam), scones that had the consistency of cake, pretty poor sandwiches and total confusion as to any order in serving do not make a formal afternoon cream tea. We were very disappointed with this, and it was then repeated the following Sunday at the "by invite only" formal tea for CC guests. The sandwiches were a little better though.

 

Overall, an excellent cruise. We love the Summit and will definitely cruise with Celebrity again.

[WeBeCruisin']

Shore excursions were pretty typical. We did the St. Barts "lifestyles" trip, we both thought it a waste of the day and wished we had stayed on St. Maarten. Lots of nice shops but not enough time to do much else, so we ate a long, and very good, lunch at a French restaurant. Excellent nougat for desert.

.

 

We spent a week in St. Barths a couple of years ago. Be prepared for some "sticker shock" at most of the restaurants. It's not unusual to be presented with a bill for lunch which is $100 or more.

 

Allen

[WeBeCruisin']

The biggest gripe I had was at the first "formal" afternoon tea. Tea bags and pots of hot water, cream instead of milk (when you could get it), sweet whipped cream instead of clotted cream, jelly instead of preserves (or at least jam), scones that had the consistency of cake, pretty poor sandwiches and total confusion as to any order in serving do not make a formal afternoon cream tea. We were very disappointed with this.

 

OMG!!!!!!! How tacky! That is absolutely atrocious! :rolleyes:

 

Allen

[SoCalGal]

High tea was one of the highlights on the Summit last May to Alaska...we loved it! Looking forward to it again this year. Glad to hear about the "fashion police"....apparently some folks can't read...there are dress codes people!

[JoeKwonDo]

We were also on 4/1 to 4/11 Summit cruise. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time, though it has ruined 7 day cruises for us in the future. 5 island days in a row is too much for me, I would drop ugly Barbados and add another sea day right in the middle.

 

We had main seating dinner, table 534 upstairs with Mario and Sasha. These two were remenicent of the old days when service was always stellar. The food was consistently good and we enjoyed the dining experience. Robert Green our bar service waiter was great also and had a nice word for us everywhere we ran into him on the ship.

 

Our cabin was 7206 off of the stern, located in the Concierge Service section. We received fresh fruit, flowers and canapes everyday as part of the service and our room steward Julio was excellent.

 

For entertainment we went to several shows and I think this is where Celebrity struggles the most (this was our 4th Celebrity cruise out of 18 total), as they were routine at best. They have the Bar on the Edge of the Earth, which we thought was an excellent name, but the Cirque-de-Soleil experience is very lacking and they totally ruin turning what could have been a great venue to a waste of space.

 

We did turn up quite a bit at the Michaels Piano Bar (the reviews still call it a cigar lounge, it is not). Roger Carr the singer pianist was very engaging. He got the crowd involved in his shows and he is a talented fellow. Though some of the patrons were very rude and constantly talked loud enough to affect other guests enjoyment.

 

The casino was mostly very quiet except right before and immediately after second seating dinner. The casino staff is a pretty quiet bunch not showing much emotion or fun with about 4 notable exceptions.

 

The pool area was well kept and getting chairs was easy enough. They could have more fun and entertainment around the pool for our taste, but others may have liked it quiet. Sometimes they had piped in music, but it was all very random.

 

The therapy pool in the back had limited seating and seemed to draw an odd crowd. The pool itself was excellent and they worked hard to keep the area clean and inviting. It also had it's own food service area that served things like sushi or specialty plates.

 

I would recommend this cruise in a minute and would not hesitate to take it again.

[toban]

Bravo to the fashion police !!

[rjack22]

We were also on the April 1 Summit sailing. What a wonderful cruise!

 

We were onboard the ship by 11:15 am. Our cabin, 7176, wasn't quite ready so we dropped off our carry-ons and proceeded to explore the ship until lunch was ready at noon. Our cabin was a 2B that had an extra large balcony and it was great! Easily held a lounge chair, even two if you removed the regular chairs. The location was GREAT! Yes, it was right across from the elevator, but it was not a problem. But those same elevators made it very easy to go up to deck 10 to the Waterfall Cafe and pool, or down to deck 4 for dinner.

 

We had a mix up about linking our table request with some friends. Despite having them linked up for 8 months and with two TA's verifying, Celebrity still messed it up. We were at a table on level 4 and our friends were assigned a table on level 5. We got it fixed right away and were at the same table, 468, for all nights.

 

I thought the entertainment in the Celebrity Theater very good! I think there were three nights when the show wasn't to our tastes. The Celebrity singers and dancers were very good.

 

The food was good to excellent, no complaints other than I personally would have preferred more "American" choices for lunch. But that is me personally.

 

I took the four Adobe Photoshop computer classes and enjoyed them very much. These classes have an extra charge of $20 per lesson but worth it.

 

We docked in every port, despite being scheduled to tender in two of them, which was very nice.

 

The weather couldn't have been better! No rain and plenty of sunshine!

 

My only complaint was that it went by too fast!

[twobluecats]

Joe--was your dining room server, Mario, from Croatia by chance? We had the very best server in the world, Mario, in May last year. His Assistant, Demcha from Macedonia, was the sweetest fellow ever. I wanted to pack both of them up and bring them home with me! I keep praying that we'll run into them on our Summit cruise to Hawaii next April!