Live: Apr 20, 2024 Summit 14 Night Panama Canal Westbound Cruise!

[hcat]

Enjoy your day!. 

 

PV was one of our all time fav ports..Did a long tour..old and new  and a great Tequila tasting!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

12 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Tuscan Grille is located at the space formerly occupied by the Normandie Restaurant.  All four Millennium class ships had Celebrity's first specialty restaurant--each of them with a classic cruise liner theme.  Michel Roux supervised the installation of these specialty restaurants. 

 

As I mentioned, Summit had the Normandie Restaurant and she was adorned with some of the beautiful original wood panelling that was on the iconic French oceanliner, SS Normandie.  I believe that it was in 2016 that the Normandie Restaurant was discontinued--re-decorated and given a different menu.  Here are some photos of the Normandie Restaurant when we were on Summit in Aug 2010:

 

 

I fondly remember those old specialty restaurants.  Was sad when they disappeared.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I fondly remember those old specialty restaurants.  Was sad when they disappeared.

us as well..definitely a loss!

 

.We got lost trying to find the Tuscan's " new" location and entry way.

[DaKahuna]

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

We got lost trying to find the Tuscan's " new" location and entry way.

 

 Ha Ha.  Been there, done that. 

 

[mahdnc]

10 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

Favor Request!

If anyone has the time, could you please find out if there is a complete MahJongg set aboard?

We are on Summit's next cruise. I just bought a travel set that I am bringing aboard, but we have a total of 8 possible players so another set would be wonderful!

Thanks!

 

I went to Guest Relations twenty minutes ago and asked them if they had mahjongg sets.  They brought one out for me thinking that I wanted one, but I told them I just wanted to know how many they had.  Answer: 3-4 sets 

[mahdnc]

I went up to Deck 11 to photograph today's sunset:

 

Earlier I took a self-portrait:

[mahdnc]

 

We took this sail and snorkel tour this morning.  The tour started at 9:15 am in the Celebrity Theatre and we were back at the cruise terminal by 2:15 pm so it was a 5 hour tour from pickup to drop off.  There were approximately 13-15 passengers for this "Small Group" tour.  This tour is offered by the tour operator listed in the above photo on their website.

 

We arrived at the Celebrity Theatre at about 9:12 am and I was told that we could go ahead and disembark as our group number (28) was called.   We got onto a small boat that was docked at the pier next to Summit.  The boat took from the cruise pier to the marina which is on the other side of the harbor where our 50 foot catamaran was waiting for us. 

 

Here is a photo taken of the boat marina from Summit as it was docked in Puerto Vallarta:

 

Our walk to the shuttle boat and the ride on it gave us nice morning views of Summit.  The day was just beautiful--warm but not hot and no humidity.

 

 

 

 

Here is a photo of the catamaran which was taken at the end of the tour:

Edited May 2 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

 

The sailboat ride was awesome.  The crew was friendly and attentive.  Drinks and food was served pretty much during the whole time.  I do not have a photo of the shrimp ceviche that was served.

 

 

 

 

There was covered seating up on deck for about 6 people. Everyone else was seated out toward the bow of the boat (photo) or in the 1-2 person co-pilot's bench at the back of the boat.

 

 

Edited May 2 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

We sailed along the coast line towards Los Arcos.  The rocky islands that make up Los Arcos were a nesting site for pelicans and consequently when we got there we saw hundreds of them on the rocky cliff or soaring above us.  Kinda reminded me of our Galapagos trip from November.

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

The snorkeling on the other hand was abysmal because of poor visibility.  My wife said that the viz was about 5 feet which is not good.  Consequently there was little to see.  You would hear reports from the other passengers that they saw "a fish".  When I heard that report, I decided not to even bother going in the water partly because it was so comfortable on the sailboat.

 

But again, the sailboat ride was very pleasant and there were many nice views of the developed coastline and the surrounding mountains.

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

While sailing back to the marina, we saw Summit practicing their lifeboat drills.

 

 

After getting off the sailboat at the marina, we boarded a mini-bus to drive us back to the cruise terminal.  A crocodile was on hand to say goodbye to us.

 

 

 

 

The cruise terminal has a lot of shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Purplsmurf]

Love Happy in the casino. His girlfriend works there too. We were on the cruise before you and the casino was always full. There were a lot of casino comped passengers, so that is likely why.

[mahdnc]

Here is a photo that I took of Happy tonight:

[hcat]

6 hours ago, mahdnc said:

The snorkeling on the other hand was abysmal because of poor visibility.  My wife said that the viz was about 5 feet which is not good.  Consequently there was little to see.  You would hear reports from the other passengers that they saw "a fish".  When I heard that report, I decided not to even bother going in the water partly because it was so comfortable on the sailboat.

 

But again, the sailboat ride was very pleasant and there were many nice views of the developed coastline and the surrounding mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

one  memory of our stop at  PV (way back when),  was that our tender to port had a female Captain...

 

Back then it was big news! (had to endure  more than a few snide comments about women drivers) 

 

Now,  there are more than one at Cap level, & Capt Kate is THE Captain of the ship!

 

Glad you enjoyed the sailboat..food looks good..Sorry the snorkelling was disappointing!

[TMLAalum]

11 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I went to Guest Relations twenty minutes ago and asked them if they had mahjongg sets.  They brought one out for me thinking that I wanted one, but I told them I just wanted to know how many they had.  Answer: 3-4 sets 

Thanks so much! 

[mahdnc]

We received our disembarkation instructions and luggage tags last night and I have included the scan of that document below as well as the Celebrity Today for today.

 

Disembarkation Information

Celebrity Today Day 13 At Sea 7 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 12 Puerto Vallarta

Celebrity Today Day 11 At Sea 6 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 10 At Sea 5 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 9 At Sea 4 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 8 Puntarenas

Celebrity Today Day 7 At Sea 3 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 6 Panama Canal Transit

Celebrity Today Day 5 Colon

Celebrity Today Day 4 Cartagena

Celebrity Today Day 3 At Sea 2 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 2 At Sea 1 of 8

Celebrity Today Day 1 Miami

[mahdnc]

Today's weather turned decidedly cool and windy--perhaps to get any back to back to back passengers ready for their Alaska leg.  During his 9:45 am bridge report, the captain said it was 64 degF outside.  And the steady wind is not helping things either.  We can hear a constant low volume howl coming from our balcony door.  The bright side of this is that I get to wear my long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt--I thought bringing both items was a waste until today.  And I am on a cruise, so there's that!

 

 

 

Edited May 2 by mahdnc

[Galaxy2004]

 

Great picture. This view is why I have always loved the aft cabins on the Millennium class ships. 

[Oceansaway17]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:40 PM, mahdnc said:

 

In 2005, we took a cruise on board Horizon out of Tampa for a Western Caribbean sailing.  During its stop at Colon we took the ferry tour of the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks.  You get a much different perspective of the locks than from a large cruise ship.  For example, we were allowed to touch the walls of the locks from our small ferry boat.  A motorcoach took us from the pier at Colon and drove us to the Pacific side of the canal where we boarded our ferry boat.  After we sailed through both sets of Pacific side locks, the bus picked us up somewhere at a pier at Gatun Lake and then the it took us back to the ship.  It made for a very long and grueling day.  This shore excursion is still offered by Celebrity and was available for our cruise.  If you are a hard core Panama Canal enthusiast, I would highly recommend taking this excursion even on a cruise that crosses the canal simply because of the different perspective and experience that you get.  

 

Here are some photos from our 2005 canal shore excursion:

 

 

Yup that is why I shared my photo as we all could touch the walls

[mahdnc]

I learned something about the basic physics that creates the green flash during Kelly Beatty's lecture this morning.  Marcia and I seen it twice, once from the Los Angeles coast and once on a cruise--but not this cruise.  

 

[mahdnc]

Summit in 2010 at King's Wharf:

 

Summit at Cartagena nine days ago:

 

Edited May 2 by mahdnc

[Fly and Sail]

On 4/30/2024 at 1:09 AM, DaKahuna said:

 

 You can count on it.  The one you kept winning on never treated me well the whole cruise.  Then again, I did not fare any better on any of the others.  The roulette wheel was the only one that paid off for me. 

 

 

Fu Dao Le & Dragon Lights. The only paying machines on the vessel.

[Fly and Sail]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We received our disembarkation instructions and luggage tags last night and I have included the scan of that document below as well as the Celebrity Today for today.

 

Last year we had to go through FULL immigration at Long Beach and the line of passengers was endless. It took forever. Try to get off as soon as possible!

[mahdnc]

In 2010, when we sailed on Summit, Deck 11 had the children's club (aka Fun Factory) at the back of the ship.

 

 

Today the Fun Factory (now called Camp At Sea) resides on Deck 11 but at the bow of the ship (port side).  AquaClass balcony cabins were installed where the kids club used to be (Deck. aft).  This change was made in 2012.

 

[mahdnc]

Just now, Fly and Sail said:

 

Last year we had to go through FULL immigration at Long Beach and the line of passengers was endless. It took forever. Try to get off as soon as possible!

 

Thank you.