The view from the Summit, a 5 day Bahamas review.

[h20skibum]

The view from the Summit, a 5 day Bahamas review.

 

 

 

This is a trip report for a five day cruise on the Celebrity Summit. The Saga will cover more than just the cruise days. You will be taken along the days of excitement leading up to the cruise, and the post cruise, harsh realities of returning to the cold north.

 

 

 

We booked the cruise in July. It had been eight looong months since we were on a cruise, and we were looking at another 10 months to the next one we had booked, so we needed a filler to get us through the winter ahead.

 

 

 

I had been looking for about a month, when a great deal on the Summit opened up. DW keep saying "Find us a cruise that goes to Key West. I love Key West. We have to get back to Key West. Key West. Key West." So finally, I found this one that had a stop at, you guessed it, Key West.

 

 

 

This would be our first time on Celebrity, but our loyalty from RCI would transfer. I started searching for information on this itinerary for the Summit, and could not find any. Maybe because it is not done that often. In any event, that is part of the reason for doing this report. Hopefully, someone will get some useful information out of it if they plan the same itinerary.

 

 

 

It may take a while to get through this, since work still gets in the way. But follow along, and I hope you enjoy. In the meantime, here are a few photos as a teaser. I will be posting menus, Dailys, and lots of photos.

Edited January 25, 2017 by h20skibum

[caseythegr]

We booked the cruise in July. It had been eight looong months since we were on a cruise, and we were looking at another 10 months to the next one we had booked, so we needed a filler to get us through the winter ahead.

This would be our first time on Celebrity, but our loyalty from RCI would transfer.

 

Thank you! I too am looking for a "filler cruise" and I have found one on the Summit that I am very interested in. How did your loyalty cross from RCI to Celebrity? What cabin were you in? Can't wait to read all about your cruise.

Laurie

[h20skibum]

Thank you! I too am looking for a "filler cruise" and I have found one on the Summit that I am very interested in. How did your loyalty cross from RCI to Celebrity? What cabin were you in? Can't wait to read all about your cruise.

 

Laurie

 

 

Thanks for reading along. If you are Platinum or Emerald on Royal, you will receive recognition as Select on Celebrity. If you are Diamond or Diamond plus, you receive recognition as Elite. You just have to call Celebrity and have them set up a Captain's Club number so they can link it with Royal.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

So it is a couple of days before the cruise, and we are slow to get things packed. The lucky suitcases are patiently waiting for their next trip. I say they are lucky, because on the two trips we took them on last fall after we bought them, they were the first off the plane. Our old suitcases had finally bit the dust from so much airline handler abuse.

Uh oh. Looks like someone is anxious to go.

We check the forecast for our arrival in Ft. Lauderdale.

And we get our absolute necessities ready ( passports, luggage tags, xpress pass, chargers. Etc.)

Always use the Saran Wrap trick to keep your liquids from leaking.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Finally, it is time to head to the airport. We always go at least a day early, because you can never count on the winter weather here.

But we can't leave on an empty stomach. So time for a stop at BJ's

It is 5:00 somewhere, isn't it?

Time for the start of some food p*rn.

And you can't go to BJ's without having some pizookies.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

I always love it when the flight is on time.[emoji16]

And there it is waiting for us.

Come on people, it wasn't that long of a flight. Smile, you made it to Florida.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Our pre-cruise stay was at the Springhill Suites. It is one of the few hotels that have not only a free airport shuttle, but a free port shuttle.

The room was nice....

But the couch was hard as a brick.

We had originally booked the room when we booked the cruise, then someone on our roll call talked about room prices at hotels dropping just before our cruise. We checked, and we could get our room for $60 less, so we cancelled and rebooked the hotel. I guess it always pays to check.

 

 

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[easyboy]

And we get our absolute necessities ready ( passports, luggage tags, xpress pass, chargers. Etc.)

Is that a Belkin 3-outlet power adapter? If it is, it is surge protector!

 

Happy sailing. Will be following along.

[h20skibum]

Is that a Belkin 3-outlet power adapter? If it is, it is surge protector!

 

Happy sailing. Will be following along.

 

 

Right, you are. With an iPad, two iPhones, a camera to charge, plus hair dryer and DW's curlers, there is no fighting over the two outlets in the cabin.

 

We never cruise without it.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Embarkation day has arrived. Our normal routine is to hit the gym at 5:00 a.m. every morning. But since this is vacation, we waited till 6 today. The fitness center at the hotel is small, but it was not busy.

They even have a few free weights.

After the workout, we check on the Summit and see it is just making port.

The hotel does offer a free breakfast, but a word of advice - Stay away from the sausage. It was almost like eating cardboard.

We booked the 10:30 shuttle to the port, and there were very few on it, with everyone going to the Summit. Is that some Russian in the last sentence of the sign in the shuttle?

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

The trip from the hotel and the boarding process was the quickest we ever had. I think it was 15 minutes from the time we left the hotel until we were handed our glass of champagne onboard. It probably helped that the Summit sailed empty from San Juan, and there were few ships in port.

 

Our first stop after boarding was to check out the gym. Lots more equipment here than at the hotel.

For those interested, here are some of the fitness options.

They do, of course, have some free classes.

 

Someone please let me know if these are readable. I am doing all of this on a mobile device, so I am not sure how it looks on a computer.

 

 

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[disfan13]

So far so good :)

[h20skibum]

So onward. Since it was lunchtime and the cabins were not ready yet, we headed to the Oceanview Cafe. Not sure why the cabins were not ready, since they had a day to get them ready without passengers to deal with. Maybe the crew got a well deserved break.

As you can see, it wasn't very busy at 11:00.

The food was standard for what you would expect at the buffet.

Next, around the ship and down to the cabin.

 

 

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[germanyboy]

Glad to see someone inspired to do a review. We were on it with you. Assigned 12:30 check in. Got out of rental car return at airport at 12:00, and onboard eating at spa cafe by 12:45.

 

 

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[davekathy]

h20skibim...thanks for taking us along on your Cruise. Looking forward to more fun.

[h20skibum]

Glad to see someone inspired to do a review. We were on it with you. Assigned 12:30 check in. Got out of rental car return at airport at 12:00, and onboard eating at spa cafe by 12:45.

 

 

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That's right. It will probably take me a while to get to the story about our big M&G at Revelations [emoji849]

 

 

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[Kfoot]

They are readable on my iPad

[FlorenceItaly]

I am enjoying your review. Thank you very much and keep it coming.

[hcat]

Curious about assigned check in times. How did you find out your time or was that for everyone?

[Stargirl4]

Thanks for the review! We are sailing on Summit in March and your review is getting me so excited to sail!

 

Do you know if the luggage valet is back on Summit?

[h20skibum]

Curious about assigned check in times. How did you find out your time or was that for everyone?

 

 

I think the time they emailed us was from 1-3, but the last shuttle to the port from the hotel was 10:30. We usually go when we can get there, and if we have to wait, we do. Knowing they were coming in empty, we figured we could get on early.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

 

 

 

Do you know if the luggage valet is back on Summit?

 

 

Sorry, but no luggage valet on ours. We would have used it if they had it.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

After lunch, we explored a little of the pool area on the ship.

We would spend most of our pool time at the thalassotherapy pool. We thought the very warm salt water was great. Almost like a giant hot tub. I loved the sign that starts out with "Adults only", then goes on to say no swim diapers or children who are not 100% toilet trained. Maybe that will be our category when we get a little older.[emoji51]

Not sure if this was the lifeguard, or not.

We stopped by Quine to see what it was like. It looked interesting, but we didn't try it this cruise.

 

 

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[smurf1635]

Did you find the pool to be crowded? Easy to get a chair there?

 

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[h20skibum]

Did you find the pool to be crowded? Easy to get a chair there?

 

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No, it wasn't really crowded when we were there. For the size of the pool, it says it has a 20 person limit, and there were rarely that many in it. As for the chairs, we had no trouble finding some. If the chairs were filled, we would put our stuff on one on the ledges and spend time in the pool and wait for one or two to open up.

 

 

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