Trip Report: Summit to Bermuda, 31/07/16 - 07/08/16, Newbie perspective

[Dreamer68]

This is what did not quite work with Gifts by Celebrity. The photo on the left is what is advertised and described on their website. What I got was on the right. At the very least though, the chocolates were delicious, as were the strawberries.

 

[Dreamer68]

Here are some sights en-route to our reef fishing trip on the first day

 

 

and this one

 

 

and here is the collage of our fishing trip. 5 star rating on Tripadvisor well-deserved.

 

[Dreamer68]

We started with St. George's. These were taken from the ferry

 

 

 

And this is the unfinished church.

 

 

and this one is inside the oldest church, St. Peter's, over 400 years old.

 

[Bery]

Thank you. We love your review. Next May will be our 9th Bermuda visit and you have described some new adventures we had not considered and we would love to try. Was Overproof Charter in Somerset Village the fishing outing you enjoyed?

[Dreamer68]

After St. George's, we did the walking trail connecting the South shore beaches from Warwick Long Bay to Horseshoe Bay. Here's a collage.

 

 

and here are some close ups where we stopped. Stunning views.

 

 

and still at Warwick....

[jb008]

I read the FAQ guidelines....this is what you find under "Tour Guide Recommendations", hence my efforts to do the right thing when writing my report :) I am only posting names IN RESPONSE to a request for that specific info so if anybody wants specifics, ask, so I may tell. LOL!!:

 

 

Tour Guide Recommendations

 

We welcome the legitimate review or recommendation of tour operators, guides, property & business owners in ports of call. You must post your recommendation in response to a request for that specific information or your post will be removed without notice.

 

As far as I know, you can post the name in your reviews - I think the "recommendation in response to a request" is meant to try to help reduce the forums being used as a giant unsolicited advertisement.

 

Thanks for the review and pictures, it was a fun read!

[Dreamer68]

Thank you. We love your review. Next May will be our 9th Bermuda visit and you have described some new adventures we had not considered and we would love to try. Was Overproof Charter in Somerset Village the fishing outing you enjoyed?

 

So glad you enjoyed the review...as you can see, I am still posting photos. :D We fished with Capt. Baxter and his son, of Bermuda Reef Fishing. Knowing that there would be the megaship Breakaway docking before us in Bermuda, and that we only had 2.5 days, I reserved a month in advance, and even then, my preferred day, which was Thursday, was already fully booked. We e-mailed several times and I called in my credit card to guarantee the reservations (hate sending such secured information by internet, y'know?). Capt. Baxter requested we call him on day of arrival/booking just to confirm that the weather would be fine for the outing. There was rain forecasted during our days in Bermuda. A lovely man. The price is similar to all such outings that we've been on in Thailand, Jamaica etc. Splurge for us but oh so worth it. Kids were THRILLED and so was the hubby who is the one who loves fishing. :)

[Dreamer68]

So we kept moving along the trail, in search of another beach to play at and the kids chose this one....past Jobson Cove which was full of people...yeah, all 8 of them, hahaha....it's so small... I have no idea what this one is called but frequent visitors will know it. Felt like our own private beach....

 

 

Another view of the rocks surrounding it...

 

And here is the main beach view...

 

 

Did I not say it felt like a private beach?? Awesome!!

 

The 3 of them frolicking...

 

 

We spent so much time on the second stop that nobody felt like stopping by the time we got to Horseshoe Bay. Yep. Horrors! But here's a few other collages of our walk.

 

[Dreamer68]

I do have photographic proof that we made it to Horseshoe Bay. If we return to Bermuda, we will be intentional in spending more time here. :)

 

[CruiserN1]

Thanks for your review. We're sailing Summit in November, our first time on Celebrity. You mentioned getting the MDR menus to post, but I didn't see them attached anywhere. Would you be able to post them? I would sure appreciate it.

[Dreamer68]

So these are closer-ups of our Day 3 activity, we rented a Boston Whaler for 4 hours. Got to say a leisurely goodbye to Bermuda from the water....

 

 

Photos of snorkeling on the island we chose.... a few other snorkel tours chose the same island! LOL!!

 

 

And more fish....

 

 

....and this one passed quite close by....

 

...what an absolute treat!

 

[biegens]

Sailing this Sunday on the Summit. Your review has me even more excited. Thank you for all of the valuable information.

[Dreamer68]

Last few collages from our Boston Whaler trip....it was a great choice for my family!

 

 

Seeing these ships from the sea, just beside them left me awestruck!

 

[Dreamer68]

Thanks for your review. We're sailing Summit in November, our first time on Celebrity. You mentioned getting the MDR menus to post, but I didn't see them attached anywhere. Would you be able to post them? I would sure appreciate it.

 

Ooh yes....there was so much to talk about....sorry, I forgot to post the link to my Google doc....will do that a bit further down, with a title so people can find it easily. :)

[Dreamer68]

This one's for you, CruiserN1.... I absolutely enjoy eating. Our waiter was nice enough to gather a copy of all the menus for the MDR as a souvenir for me.

 

Here's the link to my Google doc - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B54UuJHl8HiZdEdlSUM5VkpwdkU

 

And here are some photo collages of my food choices for the week....oh joy...somebody else cooking for me....yabbadabbadooooo!!!

 

PS - since I have the names of everything, if you REALLY want to know, I can tell you specifically which dish is what if you are not able to figure it out from the menu. LOL!!

 

 

And collage 2 - the dishes on the right were for the 2nd Evening Chic - all the "blockbusters" in my opinion - the lobster, the Beef Wellington, the duck a l'orange, the Bombe Alaska for dessert...y'know what I mean, right?

 

 

And collage 3 at the MDR -

 

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[Dreamer68]

And not to forget the yummies at Oceanview Café

 

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One last thing, the chefs came out to rousing applause on the last evening. The big guy is Chef Tiny (I was in his group for the galley tour)

 

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[Dreamer68]

Sailing this Sunday on the Summit. Your review has me even more excited. Thank you for all of the valuable information.

 

Thank you, biegens! Have a great time on your cruise!

[Dreamer68]

A few more bigger-than-thumbnails of some fave moments...

 

Pool Volleyballl with the Capt. and his officers.

 

 

Another shot...

 

 

Last one from the game...I wonder if Capt. Kate participates in this one...I was sorry not to have experienced her at the helm but the cruise was still quite wonderful.

 

And us with our board games ...the kids played mainly in their cabins but we did use several public spaces a few times....

 

[Dreamer68]

I shared a lot of photos in my thumbnails and if anybody wants a bigger version just let me know. I don't want to prolong this review but I had to share some of these faves in bigger-than-thumbnail version. Thanks for letting me. :)

 

This one was the sign at St. George's on a sweltering hot day. "Wata".. LOL!!!

 

 

Beautiful...

 

 

Hubby remarked the lack of seagulls in Bermuda and then we saw one! LOL!! Out on our fishing trip.

 

 

Did I post this one? Information is like gold to me...

 

 

Sunset....

 

 

Thanks for reading my review. Sorry it was so long *wink*

[jobu]

Hi jobu,

 

The other couple traveling with us are drinkers. What with the 4 cabins between our party of 8, our group carried 7 bottles of wine onboard. That plus the 1 or 2 cocktails/beer per adult in their group was plenty fine for them. You'd really have to drink lots to completely enjoy the package....PLUS, the packages are quite specific about what alcohol is included so, do browse the forum for some fancy schmancy calculations frequent cruisers have made.

 

That said, I do not recall discounts on the packages the first few days. I just know that they would pro-rate your days if you bought your package later. Like if you decided on Day 4 of your cruise to get it, you'd be paying half, I believe. The internet package though was discounted during the 2nd half of the cruise. Half off 2nd user.

The daily cocktail (you can see it on my Summit daily), is about USD8. I was interested in the coffees at Café Al Bacio and they ranged between USD4 and USD6...more for the ones with alcohol. I thought that was actually quite decent, considering I am very frugal. :)

 

Thanks Dreamer 68. Probably makes more sense for me to pay as I go as well. Since I plan to attend the Elite cocktail hour before dinner, some additional cocktails and coffee won't even come close to the daily cost for beverage package.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[trbarton]

Thanks for the review & posting the larger photos. Much easier to view than the thumbnails.

 

Tom😎

[Dreamer68]

Thanks Dreamer 68. Probably makes more sense for me to pay as I go as well. Since I plan to attend the Elite cocktail hour before dinner, some additional cocktails and coffee won't even come close to the daily cost for beverage package.

 

My girlfriend and I had looked through this list before she decided NOT to take the package . https://secure.celebritycruises.com/celebrity/media/celebrity/shared_assets/pdf/Classic-Premium-Bev-Pckgs.pdf

 

Honestly, unless you can hold your booze pretty well, AND drink quite a bit, even she did not think she could drink enough to make it worth while. Plus, I often worry about people overdoing it at All-You-Can-Whatevers, y'know? Who wants to be drunk on their vacation, do something stupid and not even remember it? LOL!!

 

For the non-drinkers, there was very decent apple/orange/guava juice plus lemonade and ice tea plus water every day, pretty much ALL day on Deck 10. And coffee, teas (at least 6 choices) and hot chocolate mixes.... I made my own iced mocha every afternoon. Sweet! :D

 

Have a great cruise, jobu! :)

[Dreamer68]

Thanks for the review & posting the larger photos. Much easier to view than the thumbnails.

 

Tom😎

 

You're welcome, Tom. I would have shared ALL the thumbnails again in larger format but I didn't want the review to go too long. I do however, LOVE my photos and my memories of our trip. I have some great ones of the Martini Bar at lunch time when nobody was around...thinking of posting those. Had no idea there were so many kinds of vodka :) Have a great trip later this year on the Summit!

[jimbri]

Great photos!!!