Live from Summit 4/14-4/21

[ljk76]

So enjoyed your postings. We are vacationing in St. Thomas, today's our last day. Look up from my morning coffee sitting on the balcony at our condo at Secret Harbour. The Summit is gliding by! Love the beach here, but nothing beats the service on the Summit. Enjoy your last day too!

[cruiseacecat]

Wow, the shark photo is amazing. :eek::D You are a brave person indeed.

 

Anne

[EithneMay]

Where are you doing the shark dive on St.Maarten??? Would love to do this next year.

 

 

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[Tiki_Man]

Wow, again - great photo's and great info. Thank you for taking the time to do this review. We sail on the Summit in 8 days (repositioning to NYC through Bermuda so we don't get to go to your fun ports). Good luck gettting your gear dry before you fly home:)

 

Tiki

[sunny days]

gmros, Thank you so much for the posts!! I have really enjoyed checking this thread for updates. I love your pictures. It looks like you are having a wonderful time. I believe I am gaining weight just looking at your food pictures. :-) 16 more days and I will be on the Summit - Yay!!

[gmros]

Ljk, have a safe trip home!

 

Anne, I was so nervous going in, but the divemasters made us feel safe.

 

Eithnemay, we went with Ocean Explorers Dive Center. It's a small operation, but a very good one. Jeff, the one who feeds the shark is great!

 

Tiki - I like your itinerary too! Thinking of booking the repo next year. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Sunny days, thank you! Enjoy your cruise!

[cruisefan2009]

Your updates are amazing! Makes us very excited for our Bermuda cruise on the Summit this summer! By any chance, have you taken any pics of the Solarium? Would love to see what it looks like. Many thanks and enjoy the rest of your vacation!!!

[EithneMay]

Ljk, have a safe trip home!

 

Anne, I was so nervous going in, but the divemasters made us feel safe.

 

Eithnemay, we went with Ocean Explorers Dive Center. It's a small operation, but a very good one. Jeff, the one who feeds the shark is great!

 

Tiki - I like your itinerary too! Thinking of booking the repo next year. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Sunny days, thank you! Enjoy your cruise!

 

Thanks! How long was the dive? How deep? How much!?

 

 

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[jl24]

Did you get a chance to check out the gym?? Hubby wants to know if they have elipticals. He uses the one at home everyday.

We check your review everynight. Cant wait to sail in december.

[gmros]

Hi everyone! I won't be doing my daily trip report tonight. The internet is so slow tonight, maybe because we're disembarking tomorrow. I'll try to post tomorrow when I get my local cell service back. I have taken notes of the new requests and I'll try to answer them tomorrow.

 

Have a great night!

[rupertfrog]

Hi everyone! I won't be doing my daily trip report tonight. The internet is so slow tonight, maybe because we're disembarking tomorrow. I'll try to post tomorrow when I get my local cell service back. I have taken notes of the new requests and I'll try to answer them tomorrow.

 

Have a great night!

 

Thank you for all the pictures & information you provided!!! It was a big help for someone who's never been on Celebrity or the Summit specifically.

Where in NY are you from?

[fiero]

Loved your live Summit reviews and pictures - thank you so much for sharing them with us. I would love to see some of the daily papers that list the activities on board the Summit. This will be our first time on Celebrity (2/13) and we have learned so much from your thread and photos. The summit looks beautiful. We have sailed on Princess and Carnival and enjoyed those lines very much, but we are hoping for a more low key relaxing experience and also heard the food is very good on Celebrity. Did you find the buffet lines to be long or not too bad, and any problems getting chairs by the pool?

[cherylroslyn]

Did you get a chance to check out the gym?? Hubby wants to know if they have elipticals. He uses the one at home everyday.

We check your review everynight. Cant wait to sail in december.

Yes they definitely have them......and their are no coats hanging on them like I have hanging on mine in my living room........

[powelweb]

really enjoyed the rest of your review- how nice of you to take the time while on vacation!

 

thanks so much for sharing.....

 

made me feel like I was back onboard again.

 

Loved the shot of the helipad at sailaway. did they still have the tiny helicopter out there?

 

Sounds like you had a great cruise.

 

Wendy

[cketz1]

I just got on the summit today and talked to Robert. He said his contract got extended and he'll be on the summit for another 2 1/2 months!! Hope that helps. He's really enjoyable.

[Cruzoholic]

Thank you for such great news. Tell him Evie will see him the 27th.

 

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[Cruzoholic]

Of May.

 

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[cruzingduo]

I am interested in the new Aqua cabins on Deck 11. We would like to know if every other cabin has the bed by the balcony like the other Solstice ships. Any info would be appreciated.

[avid]

I am interested in the new Aqua cabins on Deck 11. We would like to know if every other cabin has the bed by the balcony like the other Solstice ships. Any info would be appreciated.

 

This has been discussed and answered on another thread at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1613953

All the new Summit Aqua beds are by the baths and couches by the balconies as are all M class staterooms

[gmros]

Our US Air flight is delayed so we're stuck at the airport till 7:45pm and won't get home until tomorrow :mad:. I'm glad I have you guys and CC to keep me occupied :). I'm just glad that Puerto Rico is local so I can use my cellphone's data service.

 

Now on to the trip report…

 

 

 

APRIL 19 - ST. MAARTEN

 

• We booked a 2-tank dive with Ocean Explorers Dive Center, one of the 2 was a shark dive. It cost $144 ($138 if you bring your own gear). The dive shop was a small operation, but they took good care of us. There was no dock, so you had to go to the beach and get wet to board the boat. The boat was tiny. There were 8 divers and 2 divemasters which was a great ratio. The best part of our first dive was that a wild dolphin decided to stay and swam with us! It was just great. Our divemaster was so excited coz that rarely happens in St. Maarten.
   
  Sorry for the crappy photos. That's me with the dolphin swimming behind me!
  
   
  Our 2nd dive was a shark dive. As soon as we got in the water, we could see sharks swimming below!
  
   
  We had to follow a line to where they feed the shark. There were 10 of us on the sand surrounding divemaster Jeff and a box of shark food. Here he is feeding one of the sharks (there were 4 sharks on our dive).
  
   
  It was an awesome experience. The sharks get so close to you! DH was bumped a few times by the sharks.
  
   
  I was nervous at first, but as soon as we got down, I felt very safe. Highly recommend the dive shop. If you get cold easily, wear a full suit. One of the I was trembling down there after 20 minutes.
  .
  
• If you want your passport stamped, make a right when you get out of the cruise terminal, then make a right again. It looked like a secluded area with containers everywhere. The office is in a building on the right.
  

[gmros]

• The show today at the theater was "iHollywood". Everybody seemed to have fun. They sang songs that people tend to sing and/or dance to.
  
   
  
   
  
  .
  
• I remember a thread regarding hearing announcements in the hallway and not in cabins. Actually, the cabin soundproofing is not very good that I could easily hear the announcements coming from the hallway in my cabin. If you can't hear it, you can hear the announcement in the Bridge View channel (channel 16).
  

 

 

 

DINNER - 2ND FORMAL NIGHT

 

Our Signature Lobster Bisque 2/5

-it didn't taste like lobster bisque that we were used to

 

Wild Mushroom Vol-au-Vent 3.5/5

[gmros]

Dinner 2nd formal night continued...

 

Lamb Shank "Tagine Style" 3.5/5

-huge portion, but a little bland

 

Classic Chateaubriand Brillat-Savarin 3.5/5

 

Broiled Caribbean Lobster Tail 3/5

-it was bigger than the tails we've had on other cruise lines, but it was overcooked

 

Celebrity Signature Baked Alaska 3.5/5

 

New York Cheesecake 4/5

[gmros]

QUESTIONS / REQUESTS

 

Activities til 1am

I'm sorry I didn't really get to check out the lounges late at night. I usually end up hanging out in the cabin or asleep coz of exhaustion. I did get to walk around the ship (not in the lounges) once late at night and it was quiet.

 

Minibar Prices

 

Shark Dive

We booked it with Ocean Explorers Dive Center stmaartendiving dot com. We were at 57ft below and we were at the shark feeding area for about 40 minutes. For the 2-tank dive, it cost us $144 ($138 if you bring your own gear).

 

Thalassotherapy Pool (Solarium?)

 

 

 

[gmros]

QUESTIONS / REQUESTS continued...

 

 

Gym - Ellipticals

Yes, there were about 8 ellipticals

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffet Line

Most of the times we were there, there were no lines. The only time we experienced a line (but not very long) were at breakfast around 8am.

 

Chairs by the pools

We were always able to find a chair when we go there. Our cabin is forward and we always go to deck 10 and pass by the pools to go to Waterfall Cafe and I always saw empty chairs.

[gmros]

QUESTIONS / REQUESTS continued...

 

 

Tiny helicopter on the helipad

Yes! It was cute :)

 

Robert Symons on for another 2 1/2 months

Thank you Christy for answering! I wasn't able to catch him at the 2nd half of our cruise.

 

Delayed debarkation

The ship arrived around 6am. People started heading out at 8:10am. I am not sure if this is delayed coz we were told to meet at the Rendezvous lounge at 7:45am (we had an excursion scheduled).

 

Guest entertainer

One of them was Matilda (puppet) and I forgot the other one. I'll report back with the name.

 

Bar options

I'm sorry Sandi, I wasn't really able to visit the bars. I don't drink often and I was usually too exhausted at the end of the day that I end up parking my butt in our cabin at night. I have photos tho :)

 

Sommelier Elwiss and bartender Ivan and little dude :)

I'm sorry Sarah I didn't see them. Maybe part of the reason was that I didn't really drink this vacation, I got too exhausted.

 

Dailies

I'll post them when I get home

 

Aqua Cabin beds

I'm sorry I wasn't in an AQ cabin. Thank you Avid for answering the question.

 

 

 

UP NEXT - ST. THOMAS