Just back from summit, happy to answer questions

[crazidude1400]

any questions? anyone want a review? if so, I will write one.

[susan.l.reeves]

A "bunch" of us are going on the Summit to Alaska on 9-16-05.

 

We would be very interested to hear what you have to say!

 

Thanks!

[judiek]

we will be on the Summit 9/30 for the Mexican Riviera...would love to hear your impressions of the ship,food and service

[FortyNinerLiz]

A "bunch" of us are going on the Summit to Alaska on 9-16-05.

 

We would be very interested to hear what you have to say!

 

Thanks!

Ditto!!

[Conanc]

On the Summit and X for the first time on Oct. 10. Would love to read your review. :)

Thanks!

[crazidude1400]

Summit Review:

 

 

Embarkation:

 

We got to Canada Place at 3:00 PM, and there was no wait at all. However, it did take about 20 minutes to get on the ship, as there we didn’t want to set up an onboard account, but we did anyway. We DID do the Xpress pass. We got on the ship.

 

 

A crewmembers lead us to our room, however we weren’t greeted with champagne.

 

 

Our room steward, Lawrence came and greeted us personally. He was great. He would be cleaning a toilet, and then when we were walking by the room he was cleaning, he would personally come out and greet us. We were on deck two, category 11.

 

 

THE SHIP ITSELF:

 

The ship is a very nice ship. The glass elevators were really cool. Everything is wonderful. I saw no wear and tear, except in the bathroom of my cabin. The toilet and a couple of tiles were chipped, but not that I cared so much that it ruined my vacation. Exterior and interior cleaning was constant.

 

 

Service:

 

Excellent. Nothing could be better, or at least with the crew members who I were with. I saw some staff who weren’t as friendly as others. I had table 425 in the cosmopolitan restaurant. My wait team was excellent. Radovan and a guy from Honduras were excellent. I would highly request them. They were great. However I went to breakfast one morning, and there was a waiter who couldn’t wait to get off the ship…

 

 

Food:

 

Hit or miss everywhere. Not what celebrity or anyone tells it to be. Personally, Carnival is better in this.

 

 

Entertainment: The entertainment is fair. Most shows are worth going to, especially the ladder man. Night of the stars I would recommend, and also the guy who does only magic. (although he was weird) Carnival still better here.

 

 

The pools are heated, but with salt water, and the hot tubs could be a little bit hotter…

 

 

Weather: Rain, rain, and more rain, 55 degrees. Bring a winter hat, and winter gloves, and an umbrella, they come in handy alright!

 

 

Ports:

 

Inside passage: Great scenery, all day long.

 

Ketchikan: I did the totem bight state park. Interesting in terms of learning about other cultures and seeing some totem poles.

 

 

Skagway: Yukon Jeep tour: Excellent. Going into the Yukon was great.

 

 

Juneau: Helicopter tour to the glacier. Bought this one on the dock. I saved about 50 percent. It is 300 dollars on the ship! I payed 170. They will say they can only do 185, but they can really do 170, no lower.

 

 

Icy Straight Point: Waste of a port. DO NOT do Hoonah sightseening. I did this. The tour guide is a pair of kids who just graduated from the high school, and they were immature. After this, I took the ATV tour. This was great. They gave the tour that Honnah sightseening did in 5 minutes!

 

 

Hubbard Glacier. Excellent. Get up at 7:00 Am, and go to deck 4 forward. They will open up an enterance to the helicopter pad, and the bow of the ship. BRING YOUR OWN HOT CHOCOLATE. They charge ten bucks for one.

 

 

At the end of normal ports, they provide hot chocolate complementary upon arrival of the ship.

 

 

Debarkation:

 

The whole ship must have left the boat at 6:00 AM. The buffet was open. I woke up at 7:00, and left at about nine. We must have been one of the last people.

 

 

If you are renting a car from hertz, just walk, don’t wait for the shuttle. Walking is faster.

 

 

Overall:

 

 

This was a cruise for people in their 60’s. I had a great time. Any questions???

 

 

Ask me!

 

[florisdekort]

Carnival food better then Celebrity food? You must be joking? That's like saying that McDonalds beats Ruth Chris?

[Belle]

How was the inside room?

Was it comfortable? Enough storage?

 

Thanks.

[dszrew]

Did they show movies?

What types of things were on TV? (anything good late night?)

[crazidude1400]

How was the inside room?

Was it comfortable? Enough storage?

 

Thanks.

 

There was an adequate amount of room for three people in an inside cabin, but there was not much closet space. In terms of food, I personally did NOT like the food in the dining room, for the reason I do not know , but I feel carnival was better. Service was excellent. In terms of TV, I only watched CNN, as I was interested in the hurricane, late at night.

[HeatherInFlorida]

This thing about the food worries me. May I ask what kind of food you like? Because I have never heard anyone every say they prefer Carnival food. But I've not cruised Carnival. But I have cruised Celebrity as recently as 2 years ago and loved their food.

 

So, if you could, can you tell us what you didn't like about it? Thanks.

[crazidude1400]

I had about two entrees each night. Both of those each night I did not find great, nor even good. It was fair to OK. I chose something from each category of food before the main meal, and that was hit or miss, mostly hit. yes, hit. Service was great. Also, steaks tended to be dry, as for why, I am unsure of. Any other questions feel free to ask. If you are worried, it didn't stop me from eating, I just didn't look forward to eating as much as I did on Carnival.

[Lois R]

Hi Heather:) Food is a VERY subjective topic.

 

In my opinion, I think Celebrity offers excellent choices and excellent food.

 

Please don't worry. (again, this is just my opinion). Of course, I have not

sailed Carnival in more than 12 years so I cannot give you true comparison.

But I have cruised on X 5 times in the last 2 years and 95% of the time

everything has been wonderful. I won't say 100% due to the fact nothing

is ever perfect but 95% is close to it.:)

[Texed]

I have sailed Carnival 3 times. Although they have improved their food a BUNCH from the first time I cruised them. Their food, IMO, is nowhere near as good as Celebrity's. :)

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Also, steaks tended to be dry, as for why, I am unsure of.

 

May I ask how those steaks were prepared? Well done = dry, medium = medium dry, medium rare = moist/tender, rare = very moist, chewy. Considering the meat is good to start with. That's my opinion.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Also, steaks tended to be dry, as for why, I am unsure of.

 

May I ask how those steaks were prepared? Well done = dry, medium = medium dry, medium rare = moist/tender, rare = very moist, chewy. That's my opinion.

[hermang]

Summit Review:

 

 

Embarkation:

 

We got to Canada Place at 3:00 PM, and there was no wait at all. However, it did take about 20 minutes to get on the ship, as there we didn’t want to set up an onboard account, but we did anyway. We DID do the Xpress pass. We got on the ship.

 

 

A crewmembers lead us to our room, however we weren’t greeted with champagne.

 

 

Our room steward, Lawrence came and greeted us personally. He was great. He would be cleaning a toilet, and then when we were walking by the room he was cleaning, he would personally come out and greet us. We were on deck two, category 11.

 

 

THE SHIP ITSELF:

 

The ship is a very nice ship. The glass elevators were really cool. Everything is wonderful. I saw no wear and tear, except in the bathroom of my cabin. The toilet and a couple of tiles were chipped, but not that I cared so much that it ruined my vacation. Exterior and interior cleaning was constant.

 

 

Service:

 

Excellent. Nothing could be better, or at least with the crew members who I were with. I saw some staff who weren’t as friendly as others. I had table 425 in the cosmopolitan restaurant. My wait team was excellent. Radovan and a guy from Honduras were excellent. I would highly request them. They were great. However I went to breakfast one morning, and there was a waiter who couldn’t wait to get off the ship…

 

 

Food:

 

Hit or miss everywhere. Not what celebrity or anyone tells it to be. Personally, Carnival is better in this.

 

 

Entertainment: The entertainment is fair. Most shows are worth going to, especially the ladder man. Night of the stars I would recommend, and also the guy who does only magic. (although he was weird) Carnival still better here.

 

 

The pools are heated, but with salt water, and the hot tubs could be a little bit hotter…

 

 

Weather: Rain, rain, and more rain, 55 degrees. Bring a winter hat, and winter gloves, and an umbrella, they come in handy alright!

 

 

Ports:

 

Inside passage: Great scenery, all day long.

 

Ketchikan: I did the totem bight state park. Interesting in terms of learning about other cultures and seeing some totem poles.

 

 

Skagway: Yukon Jeep tour: Excellent. Going into the Yukon was great.

 

 

Juneau: Helicopter tour to the glacier. Bought this one on the dock. I saved about 50 percent. It is 300 dollars on the ship! I payed 170. They will say they can only do 185, but they can really do 170, no lower.

 

 

Icy Straight Point: Waste of a port. DO NOT do Hoonah sightseening. I did this. The tour guide is a pair of kids who just graduated from the high school, and they were immature. After this, I took the ATV tour. This was great. They gave the tour that Honnah sightseening did in 5 minutes!

 

 

Hubbard Glacier. Excellent. Get up at 7:00 Am, and go to deck 4 forward. They will open up an enterance to the helicopter pad, and the bow of the ship. BRING YOUR OWN HOT CHOCOLATE. They charge ten bucks for one.

 

 

At the end of normal ports, they provide hot chocolate complementary upon arrival of the ship.

 

 

Debarkation:

 

The whole ship must have left the boat at 6:00 AM. The buffet was open. I woke up at 7:00, and left at about nine. We must have been one of the last people.

 

 

If you are renting a car from hertz, just walk, don’t wait for the shuttle. Walking is faster.

 

 

Overall:

 

 

This was a cruise for people in their 60’s. I had a great time. Any questions???

 

 

Ask me!

 

We sailed the 19th Southbound and found the food excellent.

Sounds like the same entertainers though - ladder guy, magician etc.

At least RCCL changes the acts - but other than a few shopworn chairs and crud in the shower it was a fantastic cruise.

Dinner in the Normandie was a 15 on a scale of 10.

[crazidude1400]

I was on alaska northbound out of vancouver...Food is a very subjective subject. I know carnival isn't as "classy" but I just didn't like the food. It wasn't terrible just, ok, sometimes bad. Maybe it is just overrated? The steaks were "well done".

[floridakeith]

We have sailed on a lot of different cruise lines. While Celebrity is our top choice we will happily sail on others based on itinerary and/or price. Many people are surprised when we say that while the best food we have ever had was on Celebrity Horizon, the second best to this date was on Carnival Inspiration, with third place held by Sun Princess. Celebrity Galaxy this summer came in 4th. Like many things food choice, quality and taste can vary from one cruise to another never mind one ship or one cruise line to another. So I am not at all surprised that on this occasion it didn't meet someone's expectations. Celebrity food is built up by many to be so much better than any other mainstream cruise line. On occasions it is but not every time. Others can be outstanding on occasions as well. That's why we still enjoy cruising on a variety of cruise lines. Sure they are all different but as cruise addicts we revel in the differences rather than letting them upset us. Just got a bargain cruise on Carnival Glory for November. A nice new ship, one of our favourite itineraries and another experience to enjoy. That's what cruising is about. We haven't had a bad one yet.....

[AFT_LOVER]

for the one steak I had on Infinity. It was extremely juicy and wonderful! I have had -0- complaints on the food Roux choses for us to eat, all is cooked perfectly from the filet mignon which was incredible, to the chateubrian (sp) for 2 which we enjoy the huge plate filled with beef & veggies to share.

 

November 20th we sail Summit for 2 weeks Transcanal, the May 20 for Alaska fun with Captains Club Reunion party. Wasn't she in drydock not long ago, for prop system?

[bremmerh]

Just wondering if anyone had their hair done for formal nights? I love to have mine done and was just wondering if you were pleased with the results or not and who did your hair. Thanks so much

[Mysteryreader]

I agree with Lois that taste in food is subjective, but I suspect that many on the Celebrity board don't have recent experience with Carnival food. We were on Summit 8/04 and Carnival Miracle 11/04. I was anticipating the food on CM to be significantly poorer than on X, but I was pleasantly surprised. On the whole, I thought the two were very comparable.

 

With one exception. The eggs benedict on Carnival must have been inspired by the Egg McMuffin; it was that bad. All the other food we had on Carnival inc lobster on formal night was really good, and our waiter and asst waiter were excellent. In fact, the asst waiter was much superior to the one we had on Summit.

 

It isn't that X food is inferior. It's that Carnival's food is better than many think.

 

M/R

[JessKess]

I agree with Lois that taste in food is subjective, but I suspect that many on the Celebrity board don't have recent experience with Carnival food. We were on Summit 8/04 and Carnival Miracle 11/04. I was anticipating the food on CM to be significantly poorer than on X, but I was pleasantly surprised. On the whole, I thought the two were very comparable.

 

With one exception. The eggs benedict on Carnival must have been inspired by the Egg McMuffin; it was that bad. All the other food we had on Carnival inc lobster on formal night was really good, and our waiter and asst waiter were excellent. In fact, the asst waiter was much superior to the one we had on Summit.

 

It isn't that X food is inferior. It's that Carnival's food is better than many think.

 

M/R

 

I absolutely agree! We were on Summit 8/04, and Carnival Holiday 8/05 and had pretty much the same experience. Celebrity definitely does better in the breakfast category, though. I really missed the waffle station and Cova Cafe pastries!

[benjamins]

This thing about the food worries me. May I ask what kind of food you like? Because I have never heard anyone every say they prefer Carnival food. .

 

Actually, for the last 2 or so years, it's been pretty common. Lots of experienced cruisers who sail both lines have, in a higher percentage, have reported back that both buffet and main dining food on Carnival is better than Celebrity. Specialty dining seems to be about equal.

[tomatopa]

did they serve crab legs any where on the ship? what cabin were you in? how was the shampoo, soap, and such? did the hair dryer work good? where there many electrical outlets in the cabin? thanks.