Summit Photo Review - June 29, 2014 to Bermuda in Aqua Class

[prim8keeper]

Did you find the waters to be a bit rougher leaving from New York and returning??

 

 

Nope! I thought overall it was very smooth. The only day we had some rough seas was coming back from Bermuda because of the hurricane. Even that though wasn't as bad as they made it sound. We both agreed we experienced rougher seas down by Coasta Maya and Roatan a few years ago on Solstice.

[fitters]

What about a glass of wine? :) In rough seas my tip is to drink enough so you move with the ship. Then while everyone else is stumbling around you can just walk normally.

 

 

Nope! I thought overall it was very smooth. The only day we had some rough seas was coming back from Bermuda because of the hurricane. Even that though wasn't as bad as they made it sound. We both agreed we experienced rougher seas down by Coasta Maya and Roatan a few years ago on Solstice.

 

 

Wine works too! :D Maybe it was the wine instead of the apple that helped me.

 

Good to hear about the roughness...looking at booking this cruise while on our next cruise in Nov....I think you just helped me decide...along with the great review you are putting on.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share!

[prim8keeper]

 

On a recent cruise, we had AQ 1132 and my bother and wife had 1140. I looked at those apples everyday and my stomach would turn. How could I think about eating an apple after all of the food that we get elsewhere on the ship. :rolleyes: By the middle of the cruise, I asked my stewardess for a pear, thinking that I could stomach a pear in the early morning while getting ready for an excursion. She complied with a pear that was so hard, it took 4 days to ripen! In the meantime, I felt bad that I had not touched the fruit, so we took some with us on an excursion (even though you are not suppose to :eek:). My brother and SIL ate them one day while in Germany.

 

 

 

I love that you felt obligated to eat the fruit you asked for! That would be something I would do. I think next time I'll ask for bananas. It will look weird but at least then there is a chance I'll eat it. I used I to eat that and the grapes out of the bowl.

[colombiangirl]

We are in 1141 on the 20th to Bermuda. Wow!!!!

[prim8keeper]

So this is what it looks like if you stand out on the balcony and look up. Obviously people can see you and you can see them. That being said there seemed to be very few people who used the sun deck above us and only once die we hear some noise. Not surprisingly the sea days where when there were people up there.

 

 

These next two photos show the staircase (there is one on each side) that goes from deck 11 down to deck 10. It is right by the ocean view bar and the back entrance to the buffet which makes them very handy. The first picture also gives you a good idea about the depth of the other balconies. 1140 is the largest one in the middle.

 

 

 

So what is this photo below?

 

 

This is what you see if you look down from the edge of the balcony for 1140. There is a about a foot between the balcony and the awning that covers the back of the ocean view bar. This is also right in front of the bar. I feel like X is missing out on an obvious revenue stream here. Clearly they should provide a bucket for this cabin that can be used to obtain drinks.

 

This last photo serves as a public service announcement for those who travel with kids of their husbands. HA! This is the first time I saw this on a Celebrity cruise.

 

 

As you can see from the picture there are a few boxes and then smallest can of Pringles known to man. Each box contained a different food although they all fell into the junk food category. My issue with these boxes is that they are $5 each, plus 15% gratuity. What bothers me even more though is that you can get most of the items down in the shop for a cheaper price, some are considerably cheaper. I will admit that X won and I went down and bought gummy bears. X 1, Tom 0. Either way though this just seemed kind of cheap. If they want to sell snacks in the cabin I don't necessarily have a problem with that but arrange them in a nice basket or something. What happened to all those fruit baskets? Maybe we could reuse those.

[prim8keeper]

I just wanted to mention a few more pluses/minuses or changes we noticed.

 

In terms of the cabin I really liked having a light on the balcony since it meant we could use it at night.

 

A few things have been removed from the cabins that were there previously. In Aqua you still get all three bags. Personally I wish they would get rid of the white bag. Does anyone actually use that? They are no longer giving you the slippers though. This isn't a huge deal for us since they were always too small. There was also no face spray in the bag but we didn't use that either. We did get two lip balms which is better than the old lip balm.

 

There are no longer flowers in the cabins. We actually didn't notice this but someone else pointed it out. I could go either way on this one. I would like to have real flowers in the cabin as I found it to be a nice touch. Obviously not nice enough though that I didn't notice when it went missing.

 

On our last cruise on Equinox we had an ice bucket in the cabin, but it was left empty unless you asked to have it filled which I thought worked pretty well. This past cruise there was no ice bucket in the cabin. I suspect they did this since not everyone uses them so its less for the cabin stewards to have to clean. While I'm sure we could have asked for one, I do find it odd that they still give you the tea but no ice. If they want to leave the buckets out of the other cabins I think that's fine, but I think they should still provide them with the tea.

 

The last thing that we did not get this cruise that we have always received in the past was the card holder. It took me three cruises to realize I should use this for my sea pass so I was kind of sad we didn't get one. I'm a slow learner, what can I say? I guess I'll just have to bring my old ones in the future.

[prim8keeper]

While I was in the cabin taking photos our first bag showed up. We couldn't believe it. We had three bags, over pack much? We got all three before the muster drill. We even managed to unpack everything before we had to go to the muster drill. So far so good! During this time we also met our room steward.

 

Our muster station was the Rendezvous lounge. I get why they use the lounge as a muster station but there was just too many people in the lounge. What was even worse was that the staff seemed to be paying little attention to what people were doing. We were standing in the back near the bar. They had blocked off one side of the bar but not the other side. So what happened, people went back there, a lot of people. At one point one of the crew members noticed but just looked at them, made a face, and then walked away. I couldn't believe it. All I could do was stand there and watch various people touch everything back there including the glassware. Having been on cruises with noro that is all I could think about. One couple eventually had a glass of wine which I have to assume they got from back there since everything was closed and they didn't come with it. Needless to say we didn't visit that bar on the first night. The whole thing just felt very disorganized compared to previous muster drills we have attended.

 

After muster we headed up onto the pool deck and then our balcony for sail away. It was at this point where I took way too many photos of NYC. It was really nice though being able to grab a drink at the bar and then heading up to our own balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

[prim8keeper]

I'm not sure exactly what this first photo is of. If someone knows please share. This was on the same side as the port.

 

 

Hey, were leaving! I bet you thought at the rate this review was moving that would never happen.

 

 

The tear drop memorial. This seemed like an odd place for it since its not really all that easy to get too.

 

 

Looking back the pier as we pushed off. The building that is being constructed at the end there is the new terminal for Quantum of the Seas. You can also see where the tear drop memorial is placed.

 

 

A great shot of NYC that includes the Staten Island Ferry as we headed out to sea. It was not a particularly clear day but we could see Breakaway in the distance which leaves out of Manhattan.

 

[Iamthesea]

Beautiful NYC photos! :)

 

I love that you felt obligated to eat the fruit you asked for! That would be something I would do. I think next time I'll ask for bananas. It will look weird but at least then there is a chance I'll eat it. I used I to eat that and the grapes out of the bowl.

 

Both DH and I love bananas and would have asked for those, but we didn't because they were not the correct shape for the plate squares. :D

 

I feel like X is missing out on an obvious revenue stream here. Clearly they should provide a bucket for this cabin that can be used to obtain drinks.

 

My brother actually asked a bartender if he could drop a bucket down and get a beer. the BT didn't think it too funny. He must have been asked that question a lot.

 

This last photo serves as a public service announcement for those who travel with kids of their husbands. HA! This is the first time I saw this on a Celebrity cruise.

 

I do not like that the cruiseline is selling food in the staterooms. Just like the apples, if I want some more food, I'll go get it elsewhere...and free!

 

I just wanted to mention a few more pluses/minuses or changes we noticed.

 

In terms of the cabin I really liked having a light on the balcony since it meant we could use it at night.

 

A few things have been removed from the cabins that were there previously. In Aqua you still get all three bags. Personally I wish they would get rid of the white bag. Does anyone actually use that? They are no longer giving you the slippers though. This isn't a huge deal for us since they were always too small. There was also no face spray in the bag but we didn't use that either. We did get two lip balms which is better than the old lip balm.

 

There are no longer flowers in the cabins. We actually didn't notice this but someone else pointed it out. I could go either way on this one. I would like to have real flowers in the cabin as I found it to be a nice touch. Obviously not nice enough though that I didn't notice when it went missing.

 

The last thing that we did not get this cruise that we have always received in the past was the card holder. It took me three cruises to realize I should use this for my sea pass so I was kind of sad we didn't get one. I'm a slow learner, what can I say? I guess I'll just have to bring my old ones in the future.

 

We had the 3 bags (could also do without the white), lip balm, and slippers. Wait...that's face spray? I sprayed it around the stateroom. :eek:

 

We also received the fresh flowers, and later some roses. Card holders, too!...although I brought mine from home. ;)

Edited July 10, 2014 by Iamthesea

[Member123]

I'm not sure exactly what this first photo is of. If someone knows please share. This was on the same side as the port.

 

<snip>

 

This is the Bayonne Golf Club.

 

Your pictures are quite artistic and I thank you for posting them. Enjoying your review. I was interested to read your statement that you are prone to seasickness and you still enjoyed the aft stateroom! Great to hear as we have the same stateroom booked in December! yeah!

[prim8keeper]

This is the Bayonne Golf Club.

 

Your pictures are quite artistic and I thank you for posting them. Enjoying your review. I was interested to read your statement that you are prone to seasickness and you still enjoyed the aft stateroom! Great to hear as we have the same stateroom booked in December! yeah!

 

Thank you for both the information and compliment! Looking closer I now see the putting green in front of the building.

 

We didn't really feel much movement in the aft except for the last day when the seas were rough and you could feel the movement every where.

[prim8keeper]

Here is a better picture of the Breakaway off in the distance. We could see her the entire time.

 

 

Another photo of the Staten Island Ferry with the Bayonne Golf Club in the background.

 

 

Looking back at NYC. I never realized how green Brooklyn was.

 

 

Going under the Verrazano Bridge! This was pretty neat.

 

 

[Newsbuff16]

Loving your review...never tire of seeing pictures of the NY skyline.

[prim8keeper]

Another view of the bridge as we were sailing out to sea.

 

 

The bridge and what would be our view for the next two days as we sailed towards Bermuda.

 

 

A small sail boat which was in the channel.

 

 

After sail away and a few cocktails we decided we should get changed and go to dinner. On our way to dinner we stopped off at Cellar Masters for a glass of wine. This would become our hang out for the rest of the cruise. The sommelier there, Dmitry, was wonderful. I would tell everyone on a future sailing to stop by and visiting him but he will be going on vacation after the sailing next week.

 

Even though they often run discounts for specialty dining on the first night we always make a point of going to Blu. We have found that the menu on the first night in Blu tends to be one of the better ones. Once again, we were not wrong. Not only did they have the filet that night but they also had the corn veloute with chorizo. I could just eat that soup for 7 days and be happy. Its like getting a warm hug. Yum!

 

 

 

After dinner we went back to Cellar Masters. Since we always get the premium drink package I consider that to be my entertainment. We did however attend two of the shows (a first for us!), but I'll get to that later. After such a long day and four, or five, or was it six glasses of wine we decided to call it a day. After all I did have a busy day of napping and eating cake to rest up for.

 

More to come tomorrow including the new Bistro on Five menu! I also hear we make it to Bermuda at some point.

[Candiaccruiser]

Thank you so much for this review. We are leaving for Bermuda on the Summit on Sunday, so it is really putting us in the right mood!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[prim8keeper]

Thank you so much for this review. We are leaving for Bermuda on the Summit on Sunday, so it is really putting us in the right mood!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Your going to love the Bermuda photos! Looking at them now I realize I don't think I took in how beautiful the island truly was while we were there. Since we didn't do much on the sea days I should hopefully get to Bermuda by tomorrow.

[Ld92599]

What a great review! We're on the same ship in August, can't wait!

[acoupleofcruisers]

My dh was analyzing you pictures and said (or should I say whining) about how good your camera is compared to his. So it is nice that he can look at your pictures and enjoy the moment:)

We went to Bermuda on the Explorer just before your trip.

Maureen

[prim8keeper]

My dh was analyzing you pictures and said (or should I say whining) about how good your camera is compared to his. So it is nice that he can look at your pictures and enjoy the moment:)

We went to Bermuda on the Explorer just before your trip.

Maureen

 

I got the camera I used for most of the photos right before this cruise. It is a Canon PowerShot SX510. It has a 30x zoom on it but is still small which is why I wanted it. The zoom on our other camera that can get wet, etc. is pretty worthless. I found it Target and I think I ended up paying less than $200 since it was on sale and came with a gift card. :)

[prim8keeper]

So I don't know about you but I always go into a cruise with all these grand ideas/plans for what I will do with my sea days. It always follows the same pattern. First, I'm going to get up nice and early and work out at the gym or run laps. Then I'm going to have a light and healthy breakfast since I know I'll eat a lot during the day. After that I'll find a quite place to read.... Lets just stop there as I'm sure you get the picture.

 

Reality: we slept in so late we missed breakfast in Blu. Since it was around 10 am by the time we actually got up we decided we would just grab a smoothie from the Aqua Spa Cafe. These are great. They do charge for them, but if you have the drink package they are included. I will caution you though to avoid the juices. We juice at home and the juice they make is not the same. They basically take some fruit and put it into a blender. Then they add green tea. I guess technically that is juice but its not what I think most people would expect. My DH went and got the smoothies while I sat in bed. Around 11 am I decided I should probably get out of bed. Baby steps! Since it was too early to eat lunch we decided to wonder the ship a little until it was time to eat. We were planning on going to Bistro on Five today to give the new menu a try.

 

Since the Aqua class cabins on deck 11 were added on later you have this weird seating area on each side as you head towards the aft. I never saw anyone sitting there. The only thing I saw people do was pile up plates from room service or the buffet on the tables. It seems like such a wasted space. Maybe if they added some bookshelves it could be turned into a quiet place to read?

 

 

Outside of the buffet on deck 10 was some of my favorite art on the ship. They had all these glass birds in cases. They were really neat.

 

 

 

After a little more wondering we decided to go to lunch. I was excited to try the new menu. I was starting to get bored with the old one. Cruise too much?

 

Here is the new menu. I took two photos since it was so long in an attempt to make it easier to read. I didn't do anything to these photos since nothing I did seemed to make them easier to read. Without thinking I took a photo of the menu out in front which has the glass over it instead of the one I looked at.

 

 

 

Now, for those of you who loved the old menu I have good news! If you go before 11 am (I think it was 11 am) they still offer the old menu which has the breakfast crepes. The cover charge for Bistro on Five is now $7 which seemed reasonable given the new offerings. There also seemed to be more people eating lunch and dinner here than I have ever seen on any of our previous cruises. While we were eating lunch there was actually a wait because they ran out of tables!

 

My DH started with the warm goat cheese and caramelized onion tart which he thoroughly enjoyed. I had the beef consomme with dumplings. It was ok. I was expecting the dumplings to be filled with shredded beef, no idea why, but it was filled with ground beef. I don't remember which crepe my DH had, but it was the same one he always orders and likes. I decided to try the new steak. I ordered it medium and it came well done. I wasn't too surprised though since it really wasn't that thick so there was probably no way to not over cook it. It didn't seem special though which was weird since they call it their "signature" steak. Again, it was ok, but not great. I probably wouldn't order this again. The peppercorn sauce and gratin potatoes that came with the steak though ware fantastic! I'm pretty sure the potatoes were the same ones they do in Tuscan. Don't they do gratin potatoes there? Anyone? For dessert I got the Italian crepe and my DH got the Spanish crepe because he doesn't like bananas. Otherwise everyone should be ordering the Italian crepe. They shouldn't even offer anything else. I mean what kind of person hates bananas and nutella? Oh, that's right, my DH.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Love your pictures and review. We've been to Bermuda three times, twice on Zenith which allowed us to dock in Hamilton and St. Georges which we much preferred to the Royal Dock Yards.

 

I got the same camera earlier this year and can't wait to see how our Alaska pictures turn out this time.

 

Mary Lou

[prim8keeper]

After lunch we decided to wonder the ship some more.

 

 

I also took a quick photo of Blu for those of you who are not familiar with what it looks like. This was taken from the entrance.

 

 

I was hoping I could get some photos of the MDR today but they were serving breakfast and lunch there and then after that they closed the doors. During the 7 days we actually never went into the MDR which was a shame. Oh well, another reason to book another cruise on an M class ship.

 

After some more wondering we made our way to Cafe al Bacio for our afternoon coffee/cake/cookie break. Our friends who we cruise with often know that if you can't find us during the day odds are this is where we are if we aren't in the solarium. I can't remember if it was this sea day or the next sea day but Jordan was playing there (see the various cc threads about him). While he was good I do wish they would have him play somewhere else. There just isn't enough space in the Cafe area and you end up with people sitting and standing everywhere. If you just wanted a drink you would probably be out of luck.

 

After our stop at the Cafe we decided to check out the stores. We had a sizable OBC since we had booked this cruise on a previous cruise and our TA had given us some additional OBC on top of that. We bought our obligatory ship magnet and mug as well as a few random other things in the X store for our parents. We also browsed the other stores just to kill some time.

 

Finally we stopped by the future cruise sales office to find out if they were still doing the Bermuda All In offer I had seen mentioned here on cc. Since they were, we got pricing just in case. It never hurts to browse. After that we decided to go back to cabin and run some numbers since we had already booked Oasis for next summer under the BOGOHO sale. Basically we wanted to see which was a better offer. It was also during this time that I started emailing back and forth with our TA as well. It is really nice that you can just sign up for internet in the cabin now. It also seemed pretty fast considering I was on a ship. After I sent a few emails to our TA I decided to take a nap while we waited and my DH read out on the balcony with a drink.

 

When I woke up we went downstairs to hang out at the ocean view bar. This photo was taken from the edge looking down on the other aft cabins. As you can see while you can see the balconies a good portion of them is covered.

 

 

After a few drinks we decided to go back inside and get ready for dinner. I also checked my emails. We had 7:30 pm dinner reservations for tonight at Q-sine. I heard back from our TA and they offered additional OBC and a few other things so we were now leaning towards just booking the Summit and canceling Oasis. We decided to think about it some more and headed to Cellar Masters for pre-dinner glass of wine. At this point you are probably starting to wonder why I'm mentioning all this, but I promise it has a point! After a glass of wine I was feeling pretty good and ready to book anything (those that know me will say it doesn't take much). So we decided to just go and book Summit.

 

The way you book future cruises has now changed. See I told you there was a point! Your deposit amount is now equal to the OBC they give you and is non-refundable. Under the old system when we booked this cruise on board Equinox we paid a $100 per person deposit (refundable) and got a $250 OBC and one category upgrade for this cruise plus our choice from the 123Go. Under the new system you still get the one category upgrade but you get your OBC instantly. Now here is where it gets confusing, the OBC they give you instantly is refundable. So while the deposit amount is technically not refundable if you don't spend the OBC they give you on the ship that will get refunded to your credit card. This is a brilliant move by X. I bet most cruisers don't know the different between refundable and nonrefundable OBC. So they are going to get that OBC and either spend it all, and most likely some more, or not spend all of it. Either way X will be making money. For the Bermuda All In we got our one category upgrade (A2 to A1), the instant $250 OBC, pre-paid gratuities and the classic drink package for out Summit cruise next year. Since we get additional OBC from our TA the fact that we wont have OBC from X is not a huge loss to me. We actually got a refund of $825 from X after this cruise from unused OBC. If any of this is unclear or confusing please just ask! I tried to be very clear here, but I know the new system can be confusing.

 

Now on to dinner! I was honestly prepared to hate Q-sine. The whole concept just seemed rather gimmicky to me and we have always been disappointed when we have gone to similar restaurants on land. As an FYI there are two entrances to Q-sine. There is the main entrance (pictured below) and a side entrance that's just confusing. The main entrance can only be reached via the mid elevators. However, if you walk up the stairs you just come upon a weird side entrance. This is what we did. We actually didn't even realize the other entrance existed until we were disembarking and they sent us to those elevators. I thought the other entrance was weird. FAIL!

 

 

The restaurant, obviously not set up for dinner.

 

 

We were warned ahead of time with just the two of us it would be too much food and they were correct. We tried to be really smart about what we ordered and mostly stuck to things that were seafood or that we could tell from the menu wouldn't be super filling. Overall I thought the food was pretty good. I wasn't really blown away by anything, but it wasn't the disaster I was expecting either. I think my favorite thing was the disco shrimp. The biggest disappointment was easily the martini glasses with various types of Chinese food. All and all we would probably do this again if we had a group to go with, but I probably wouldn't go on our own. Personally I prefer Silk Harvest to Q-Sine and wish they would have worked harder at improving Silk Harvest over adding Q-sine to every ship. On Equinox it was obvious they had been revamping the Silk Harvest menu and it was easily the best meal we had on the ship.

 

After dinner we went to Cafe al Bacio to have an after dinner coffee. We were also going to stop by the martini bar but there were too many people and the music the DJ was playing way too loud. This was the first time we encountered the DJ's and I agree with others, turn the music down. I'm not against the DJ's, but add in the level of the music with the noise from people talking and its just really loud. Because of all this we decided to go back to Cellar Masters. It was at this point that we decided this would be our bar during the cruise. It was quite, they often had a jazz trio playing there and since we were almost always the only ones sitting there the service was great. After a few glasses of wine we decided to head to bed.

[prim8keeper]

Love your pictures and review. We've been to Bermuda three times, twice on Zenith which allowed us to dock in Hamilton and St. Georges which we much preferred to the Royal Dock Yards.

 

I got the same camera earlier this year and can't wait to see how our Alaska pictures turn out this time.

 

Mary Lou

 

The zoom on it is great. I'm sure it will be great for Alaska.

 

On the first day when we did an island tour the guide told us they are working hard to find ships that can dock in Hamilton and St. George's. Apparently St. George's isn't doing as well anymore now that the cruise ships aren't docking there.

[Barwick Cruiser]

Loving your review, thanks for all the pics!! We've sailed twice on Summit and really like her. Quick question for you, when you booked your future cruise how did you get two perks? You say you got the prepaid grats as well as the drink package. We were just on Silhouette and booked a future cruise, got the instant OBC, one cat upgrade and just one perk. I thought only Europe cruises get two perks....what's your secret??

[prim8keeper]

Loving your review, thanks for all the pics!! We've sailed twice on Summit and really like her. Quick question for you, when you booked your future cruise how did you get two perks? You say you got the prepaid grats as well as the drink package. We were just on Silhouette and booked a future cruise, got the instant OBC, one cat upgrade and just one perk. I thought only Europe cruises get two perks....what's your secret??

 

It is the "Bermuda All In" offer they are currently running for certain sailings next year to Bermuda if you book on board your Bermuda cruise this year. Its on sailings from June through August, aka the busy season. On the first page I posted the flyer for it, but basically it gives you every choice from the 123Go and a one category upgrade.

 

I wish I knew the secret for getting more perks when you just book a regular cruise! :)