Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/7/15 Southern Caribbean (with 2 days in San Juan)

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

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[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

The free shuttle...

 

[HeatherC430]

Forgot to mention, it was free admission to the forts for President's Day weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Looking forward to reading your review. I'm on the fence about booking this cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You can't go wrong with either of the port intensive itineraries on the Summit! We booked onboard for the Silohouette for next year's cruise, but will return to the Summit in 2017 :D

[cavdad78]

Thank You Heather for the great review, awesome pictures. My lovely wife and I were to do this cruise in April 2014, but health issues caused us to postpone, and Celebrity was more then willing to accommodate. Too bad that U.S. Air doesn't share the same customer relations department. We did in fact though, switch to the other Southern, on-board the Summit, December 2014. We too, spent and extra day in San Juan. Your pictures of Old San Juan and St. Thomas (the only port that was shared by the 2 different cruises), brought back a lot of fun memories. And 1 last note, we also had cabin 9001 and loved the extra room. It did seem to be a bit "rockier", being so far forward I guess, but never posed a problem. Now, my brother and sister in law, had 9000, and she begged to differ.

 

Going back on the Silhouette December 2016, Western Caribbean again. Can't wait.

[HeatherC430]

Really enjoyed your first summit review. That was the first review that I found when I was getting ready to book celebrity when carnival canceled the valor out of San Juan.

 

Here I am 35 days from sailing and you're posting up an updated review. Woot!

 

 

How is celebrity compared to carnival at disembarking people?

 

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed reading my Summit reviews.

 

Compared to Carnival, Celebrity does a much better job of getting everyone off in a timely fashion, specifically the days in port. The lines are significantly less than what I've experienced on Carnival. We never waited in a line to disembark more than 5 minutes or so on port days. When we disembarked in San Juan on the last morning, we had zero wait time for self debarkation. We literally just walked right off the ship. Enjoy your upcoming cruise on the Summit. :)

[LzyCruiser_NWA]

Heather,

Did they ever offer the pack the bag challenge for laundry special? If so what day?

 

Thanks.

[grhokie]

I am wondering where to get some drinks for the kids to take on board. If that store is still there and sells sodas/drinks, I think that would be easier than asking an airport to cabbie to take a detour on the way to the ship but I want to make sure the store is still there and they aren't gouging, at least not too much. Thanks!

[HeatherC430]

Heather,

Did they ever offer the pack the bag challenge for laundry special? If so what day?

 

Thanks.

 

I haven't seen the pack the bag laundry special at all on any of my Celebrity Cruise. I'm one that leafs through all the flyers they put in your mailbox and inside the room at turndown too, so I'm sure I would have seen it. We did receive pretty much an invitation per day for the Art Auction though! lol

[HeatherC430]

I am wondering where to get some drinks for the kids to take on board. If that store is still there and sells sodas/drinks, I think that would be easier than asking an airport to cabbie to take a detour on the way to the ship but I want to make sure the store is still there and they aren't gouging, at least not too much. Thanks!

 

I don't believe there are any stores within walking distance of the port, at least I didn't see any. We've had the classic drink package on all our Celebrity sailings and haven't taken drinks onboard with us.

[Jiminy1955]

That night was formal night (which we don’t partake in) so we decided to go to Bistro on Five for dinner. It’s $7 per person coverage charge. It was pretty much empty the entire time we were there other than a few members of the crew eating there. We’ve eaten there in the past and really enjoyed it, and this time was no exception. There were a few things added to the menu since last year’s visit. I got the caramelized onion tart with goat cheese as my appetizer. It was really good! My DH didn’t see anything that appealed to him, so our waitress talked him into some fancy meat/cheese platter – I can’t remember the proper name of it. It was a bit strange with pickles and apricot jam on the side. I at least tried a few things from his plate, so at least it appeared to be half way eaten. The crepes were great as usual. I had the cowboy crepe, and my DH had the hot n’ spicy. We were stuff after eating them, and couldn’t even make room for dessert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We don't care to participate in formal nights either so this answered my question. Sounds like this is the place to go.

[I_r_a]

Thanx for a terrific trip report, Heather

 

 

Ira

[CruisinCrow]

We'll be on Summit (same itinerary) next month so I loved reading all about your trip and seeing the pictures.

 

Just a couple of questions:

Was it hard to get all that mud off after the mud baths? :)

Where did you find all your cute cover-up dresses?

Do you remember which night was the Top Chef night in the dining room?

[HeatherC430]

We'll be on Summit (same itinerary) next month so I loved reading all about your trip and seeing the pictures.

 

Just a couple of questions:

Was it hard to get all that mud off after the mud baths? :)

Where did you find all your cute cover-up dresses?

Do you remember which night was the Top Chef night in the dining room?

 

Funny, they do have an outdoor shower at the mudbath, which you can just generally rinse off. After all day long on the excursion, at the beach, etc by the time we made our way back to the room, I couldn't help but laugh when I found mud completely underneath my bathing suit. It's hard to believe it "got stuck" in there even after being at the beach and swimming. Really it was a non-issue though.

 

Most of my day coverup dresses are Columbia brand although I did have a North Face and Patagonia one on this trip as well. I'm obsessed with the outdoor dresses. At home, I wear them all summer. They're perfect for boating because the material tends to dry quickly. I pretty much buy every style I can get my hands on. Let me know if you want me to post links to any online.

 

I don't recall. We only ate in the main dining room once all week.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[CruisinCrow]

Most of my day coverup dresses are Columbia brand although I did have a North Face and Patagonia one on this trip as well. I'm obsessed with the outdoor dresses. At home, I wear them all summer. They're perfect for boating because the material tends to dry quickly. I pretty much buy every style I can get my hands on. Let me know if you want me to post links to any online.

 

 

Thanks! Would love to see the links. We have a boat too so I'm always looking for good coverups. So many of them have long sleeves - totally inappropriate for Florida and the Caribbean! :)

 

The mud bath pictures were really funny.

[HeatherC430]

Thanks! Would love to see the links. We have a boat too so I'm always looking for good coverups. So many of them have long sleeves - totally inappropriate for Florida and the Caribbean! :)

 

The mud bath pictures were really funny.

 

Having a boat, material that dries quickly really is a must in a coverup. I've found all the brands Columbia, the North Face, Patagonia to have great active dresses/coverups. I feel like I buy every style they have each season (in multiple colors nonetheless).

 

Columbia Sportswear Women's Prima Agua Dress - I have in both the black atari print (worn in Barbados)& red hibiscus atari print (worn in Antigua).

 

http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Sportswear-Womens-Prima-Medium/dp/B00DIF65ZI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1429056417&sr=8-4&keywords=columbia+dresses

 

Columbia Sportswear Women's Armadale Halter-Top Dress - I have this in the color Razzle (worn in St. Maarten) and a coral multi print that no longer seems to be available/same style (worn in St. John).

 

http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Sportswear-Womens-Armadale-Halter/dp/B00DIIT3F4/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1429056589&sr=1-1&keywords=halter+dress

 

Patagonia Iliana Halter Dress - They don't have the print I purchases anymore, but this is the same style (worn in St. Lucia).

 

http://www.amazon.com/Patagonia-Iliana-Halter-Dress-X-Small/dp/B004I6ECBU/ref=sr_1_2?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1429056869&sr=1-2&keywords=iliana+halter+dress

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for the links!

[wendycook22]

First off - thank you once again for taking the time to inform all of us on your experiences. I find it both informative and helpful in planning upcoming cruises to get the feedback and experience from those willing to provide it in such detail.

 

My Question: Fortaleza Suites - I am currently booked at the hotel for our upcoming cruise in November. We are staying in a two bedroom "suite" San Sabasten Suite - it is listed like a two bedroom apartment. We decided we really wanted to stay in Old San Juan. We have been to San Juan twice but friends of ours have never been - so we wanted them close Old San Juan so we could spend the day and evening walking around showing them all the history and culture.

 

I am now a bit concerned about staying here based on your reviews and experience. I am hoping maybe since ours was a two bedroom "suite" that perhaps it may be in a bit better condition? I am not looking for up scale. But it has to be clean. It works out to be approx 150.00 per couple (300.00 total for the two bedroom apartment). It states it has a kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, sitting area)

 

On their sites it lists "rooms" and "suites" Do you happen to recall what "room" or "suite" you may have had?

 

We have a reasonable flight time 4:00 in the afternoon - so we shouldn't have an issue with our departure (its s shame you had to go through that after such a lovely vacation).

 

Thanks again for your input and information.

Edited April 15, 2015 by wendycook22