Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/1/14 Southern Caribbean

[#1packerfan]

I can't wait to read more! We are leaving next week for a B2B on the Summit for our first Celebrity cruise also. We are diamond on Royal Caribbean and have done a couple Princess as well.

 

Love the pictures also. Makes me want to go now when I look at all our snow/cold/wind!

[jimbug]

I know I already commented once today, but I'm loving this! My sister-in-law has booked #9000 (identical to your room), so this will be great to share with her!

[HeatherC430]

Let me preface the review of ports & excursions with the notion that we’ve always booked our excursions through the cruise line. I realize that one can save money, etc by booking directly through the local tour operators, but personally I like having the added piece of mind associated with booking through the cruise line. However, for this cruise there was one tour/place I wanted to visit in particular that was not offered through the Cruise line – the Tidal Pools in St. Croix. So, after much discussion with my DH, we decided to book through a local tour company for this one specific tour in St. Croix. Then, we decided to be adventurous and book all with local tour companies for this cruise.

Ok, so the last pictures above were all from our walking around the port area in St. Croix while awaiting our tour company to arrive. We booked with Tan Tan Tours with their half day scenic tour to the west end. This half day tour goes to the Tidal Pool. The description stated it’s a west end only tour of St. Croix that carries you through the rain forest, jeep trails, nature trails, Domino Club & Tidal Pool. The description stated there were 2 swimming stops (but we only did one – the tidal pools – on the tour). I had emailed the owner Wave several times in the year prior to the cruise to confirm the tour, details, etc. The tour was $120 per person and we were told that if it was only the two of us, we’d have to pay a third person surcharge of an extra $120 if no one else booked. While we did find this to be expensive, this was the ONLY tour company in St. Croix going to the tide pools. The only other way to get there from what I read on the message boards was to hike from one of the resorts – which people recommended not doing without a tour guide. Luckily in the week prior to the cruise, Wave emailed me stating that another couple would be joining us. The tour was scheduled for 4 hours from 9am-1pm.

So, not knowing exactly where we’re meeting our tour guide, my DH & I get off the ship around 8:30 to ensure we have plenty of time to go to the meeting area. There were plenty of tour operators and taxi drivers trying to sell us on their services. One guy did tell us to wait on the corner – that was apparently where Tan Tan picks up. Well, 9 o’clock comes and goes and it’s about 9:15 when we see another couple getting anxious like we were, calling someone on their cell phone. We asked if they were waiting for Tan Tan like we were and indeed they were. Eventually he made contact via cell phone and the tour guide was running late. It was about 9:20 when he came to pick us up (20 minutes late). Here we are in the jeep when starting off…

[HeatherC430]

WOW...as I look out over the snow in my yard the the thermometer reading ZERO I really look forward to seeing your pics!

 

I wonder whey they always park the ship soooo far out on the dock in St. Croix!

 

I guess the figure you need the exercise.

 

Have a great rest of the week!

 

Trust me...I Know! It was minus 20, below freezing the week before we left! It's rough coming back to snow and temperatures in the teens! I keep telling myself only a few more weeks of winter left (hopefully)!

[HeatherC430]

I can't wait to read more! We are leaving next week for a B2B on the Summit for our first Celebrity cruise also. We are diamond on Royal Caribbean and have done a couple Princess as well.

 

Love the pictures also. Makes me want to go now when I look at all our snow/cold/wind!

 

I loved Celebrity! I'm already looking forward to my next 2 cruises booked on the Summit! It was a great ship - and while some of the reviews I read weren't great, I was impressed by it! There were only a few signs of wear n' tear that I saw. Overall, it was great! I'm jealous! I kept telling my DH that we should have booked a backed to back! The week flew by!

[HeatherC430]

 

And...we're off! I was on the back behind the driver and got pretty dirty/splattered with mudd as we drove.

 

 

The following pics are all as we were driving in the jeep...

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Then we get to the off-roading trails in the rainforest...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Everything was going great until we tried to tackle this...

 

 

Then drifted backwards after we heard a snap... crackle... pop from underneath the jeep! And drift backwards down the hill...

 

[HeatherC430]

Then our tour guide (followed by my DH) goes to check things out. Apparently it wore the axel (or something like that) off the bottom of the jeep. There we were…stranded. Our guide left us with his cell phone to go to the top of the hill or until his cell phone had service. About 45 minutes later, he returns. During this time, we joke and make light of the situation of perhaps being stranded in the rainforest with our travel companions (Gayle and Randy). Eventually our tour guide (Ritchie) comes back and waits with us, the tour company was sending another jeep to come pick us up.

There's my DH & the broken thing that fell off the bottom of the jeep - sorry, but I don't have the terminology :)

[HeatherC430]

me & Gayle "patiently" waiting in the jeep :D

 

[miched]

We were also about the same stage in crusing experience as you are when we took our first cruise on X.

 

We had over 15 cruises on Carnival and enough on Pricess to be Platinum. We booked a cruise on X and we were sold. About a year ago we sailed a B2B on the Ruby Princess and then the Carnival Dream. Dont like the changes in Carnival or the smoking on both of them. Enjoyed all of them

and still keep looking just in case there is something worth taking but it would take something really extraordinary to make me change from X.

 

 

🌅🚢🍸🍻

[sheila77]

I was a little concerned myself about the "nightlife" onboard the ship on Celebrity compared to what we've experienced on Carnival. On Carnival, there's always something going on in the evenings and there's always alot of people all over the ship. I must admit, we didn't attend any of the "evening events" other than the Super Bowl viewing party. We didn't do any shows, comedians, music, etc in the evening hours. We found ourselves walking around the ship and having drinks, then retiring back to our cabin at a reasonable time in the evening. Several nights we were happy to just rent a movie on demand (12.95 each) in our room and go to bed early. With it being a port intensive itinerary and us having to be up early each day for excursions, we didn't find ourselves staying up late. There did seem to always be people in the martini bar or other social venues in the evening hour. It being more relaxed in the evening was less of an issue that what I initially though.

 

 

Thanks for your input! I think you are right about not staying out too late with it being a port intensive itinerary - good point! I usually don't stay up really late anyway - but i guess I want to try and do it all when I am on the ship! - In reality - I know that I can't! -I was mostly curious because of another post that I read that said the ship was 'dead' in the evening -

Seems to me there is something going on if I want to do something!

 

Can't wait to hear about what happens on your excursion!!

[Cruisingislandgirl]

Greetings! My hubby and I are boarding the Summit this Saturday! We are very excited, this is our first cruise together (I was on a Carnival Cruise last summer to celebrate a BFF's Birthday); You photos are great and it is fun to have an idea of what is in store! Stay Warm!

[wallie5446]

Great look at your cruise, keep it coming! Were you involved with the CC Roll Call? We had friends from our Nov Reflection cruise on this one too, and they enjoyed it so much they booked it for next Feb on board. We just finished looking at their pics on FB.

 

But:eek: ~~~~~~drum roll~~~~~

we can already see why you had a wonderful cruise, your smile says it all!

[HeatherC430]

Great look at your cruise, keep it coming! Were you involved with the CC Roll Call? We had friends from our Nov Reflection cruise on this one too, and they enjoyed it so much they booked it for next Feb on board. We just finished looking at their pics on FB.

 

But:eek: ~~~~~~drum roll~~~~~

we can already see why you had a wonderful cruise, your smile says it all!

 

I posted a few times on the roll call but didn't attend the Celebrity party (I forget what it's called). We booked another cruise on the Summit for next February while onboard too (we also enjoyed it that much). Feb 7th sailing with the other itinerary offered! By booking onboard it was only $200 deposit ($100 per person), we still qualified for the 123go promo on that cruise AND we got $125 onboard credit for that sailing. We liked the room so much we booked the exact same one for that sailing as well!

 

Thank you for the compliment & yes...we really did have a wonderful cruise! :)

[CruisingYiayia]

I posted a few times on the roll call but didn't attend the Celebrity party (I forget what it's called). We booked another cruise on the Summit for next February while onboard too (we also enjoyed it that much). Feb 7th sailing with the other itinerary offered! By booking onboard it was only $200 deposit ($100 per person), we still qualified for the 123go promo on that cruise AND we got $125 onboard credit for that sailing. We liked the room so much we booked the exact same one for that sailing as well!

 

Thank you for the compliment & yes...we really did have a wonderful cruise! :)

 

We were also on this cruise and had a wonderful time. We, and 3 other couples, booked the alternate itinerary for February 21st.

[HeatherC430]

After about another 30 minutes of waiting, another jeep came to pick us up. I asked Ritchie what happens if we don’t make it in this jeep too (and this one breaks down). He smiled and simply said we’re out of luck! Comforting! Lol - Luckily it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to the tidal pools (smooth sailing in that we didn’t run into any other issues). I must make a note that these rainforest trails are true off-roading in every sense of the word. I wasn’t prepared for how bumpy of a ride it would be, getting splattered with dirt, etc. We were pretty much filthy (those of us in the back anyways) by the time we made it to the tidal pool.

Once the jeep arrived to the beach area, it was a relatively short (5-10 minute) walk to the tidal pool. I was prepared to walk over rocks to get the pools after reading many reviews. Water shoes were a must IMO so I was glad I had brought mine along. It was definitely more intense than I had expected at points actually getting to the pools. At one point you were literally scaling the side of a rock/cliff while the waves were crashing in on you from the ocean. You had to be careful and very mindful of every step you took during the trek to the pools. My DH carried my camera until we were in the pools because there were points where you needed both hands to maneuver.

The tidal pools themselves were pretty awesome. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. We didn’t hesitate to get right into the pools once we were there. Ritchie was sitting on the top of rocks at the top of the pools and every 5-10 minutes while we were there he’d let us know another wave of water was about to come over the top of the pools, then it would poor over the side of the tidal pools into where we were.

Disclaimer: all my pictures are taken with a water camera, so some of the photos will have some blurs or watermarks from water on the lenses. Typically I’ll try to only include those where I didn’t get a picture of something without the watermark.

 

 

 

There's Ritchie on top of the rocks...

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

And then the waves came over the top...

 

 

Randy & Gayle enjoying us getting crashed with the waves...

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]