Summit AQ 3/25/13

[BURNSMN]

Brief review of our first Celebrity Cruise on the Summit 3/25/13 out of San Juan.

 

Pre-Cruise

Flew into SJU two nights early and stayed at the Marriott Stellaris in Condado.

Enjoyed the hotel, beach, casino, and easy access to many restaurants in the Ashford Avenue area. One Warning. The lower floors of this hotel are extremely noisy as a result of the band in the lobby playing till 12:00 am on weeknights and 1:00 am on weekends.

 

Embarkation

Quickest by far of the seven cruises we have been on. We were on board in less than twenty minutes.

 

Ship

Public areas all were in good shape. Very easy to get around.

 

Aqua Class 9th floor Cabin

Enjoyed the layout of the room and balcony but did have problems. I had read on Cruise Critic that there were plumbing problems and sure enough when I checked out the toilet it did not flush. Took three calls to customer service to get the plumber to come. Probably took about two hours. After it was fixed no more problems the rest of the week with toilet. However, every time that you took a shower it flooded the bathroom floor. This is another problem that has been mentioned on Cruise Critic. And because of this we also had some mold in the grout of the shower. Just put up with it and used lots of towels. Bed and pillows and everything else in the room were fine.

 

Aqua Class Amenities

Enjoyed then all: bottle of champagne, plush robes, fresh fruit, four bottles of water every day, afternoon canapes (switched to cheese and crackers), and iced tea. Went to Persian Gardens on the sea day, quite small but still enjoyable.

 

Blu Restaurant

This was the highlight of our time on the ship. Ate all our dinners and most of our breakfasts here. The food was wonderful. Service was outstanding and the maitre d Marcel was great. Best food we have ever had on a ship.

 

Entertainment

Went to all the shows in the Celebrity Theatre. Hypnotist and Comedian were both very funny and the production shows were o.k.

 

Shore Excursions

Barbados-Glory Tours Harrsions Cave and Carlisle Beach (Copacabana)

Mix up on time tour started but once we got going great day.

 

St. Lucia-Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break

Fantastic time between the Pitons. No problems. Good food and drink.

 

Antigua-Lawrence of Antigua Island Tour and Beach.

Highly recommend. Informative land tour and then afternoon at Valley Church Beach. Spectacular Beach.

 

St Maarten-Bernard Tour #2.

Island tour with time at Orient and Maho Beaches. We really liked our time at Orient Beach but thought Maho was crowded. Would have preferred more time at Orient.

 

St Thomas-Celebrity St John Ferry and Shopping

Booked our excursion and only used the ferry portion to get to St. John.

Took a cab to Caneel Bay Resort and then hiked to Honeymoon Beach.

We had rain at the beach but then it cleared out for a couple of hours before we had to leave. Very beautiful beach with access only from the water or by hiking.

 

Disembarkation

This also went very smoothly. Took the Celebrity Old and New San Juan Tour and were dropped off at the airport.

 

San Juan Aiport

Third time flying out of this airport and it always amazes me how people crowd into Terminal Concourse B.

Each time there it has been wall to wall people. We always use the other Concourses for Agriculture Check, Restaurants, Shopping, and relaxing before we move over to B for our flight.

 

Summary

We had a great time on the Summit and truly enjoyed the Blu Restaurant and the great Southern Caribbean itinerary. Met many nice people and can't wait to cruise AQ again.

[jakeman]

Thanks for the review my wife and I will be traveling in May 2013 on the Summit and we can't wait - what room were you in? was it very noisy?

[chill6x6]

Enjoyed your review!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Lady Arwen]

Thanks for your review. Our turn on the Summit in 3 weeks and can't wait!

[El_aurens]

Thanks for your review!

[BURNSMN]

Thanks for the review my wife and I will be traveling in May 2013 on the Summit and we can't wait - what room were you in? was it very noisy?

We were in 9131. It was very quiet. I did a lot of research on AQ 9th Deck cabins and paid close attention to what was above. Other AQ 9th Deck people that we talked to said their rooms were very noisy. We were close to the library mid ship.

[jakeman]

Thanks for the information - looking forward to our trip.