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

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I guess you are on the ship! 

[Stem to Stern]

[vicnray]

Looking for the next and greet

[fshepinc]

I never did find it

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I guess you are on the ship! 

Sorry. We did a lot of running around today after getting onboard. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

Sorry. We did a lot of running around today after getting onboard. 

I hope you weren’t running with scissors! 😱😁

[TMLAalum]

@mahdnc

Hope everything is OK with you and the Summit since you've not posted since you boarded!

[Lastdance]

Did you stay at the same hotel for your Oceania cruise?  Just curious, as I am deciding where to stay next year for our TA.  Your view is very nice!  

[Jim_Iain]

Following along on your next adventure.   Great itinerary and enjoying your Live Post.  

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

@mahdnc

Hope everything is OK with you and the Summit since you've not posted since you boarded!

 

Yes, I am still alive.  It was a very busy day yesterday and I was so exhausted and I pretty much crawled into bed after dinner and slept for 12 hours--too tired or busy to post anything!  I am back "on the job" and will resume with some catch up posts!

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/20/2024 at 3:51 AM, mahdnc said:

She took her GoPro with her. So we’ll see what she brings back. 
 

I dove Key Largo back in 2010  We took our kids to Key Largo for five nights and Key West for five nights back then. Katie and Chris got their open water testing done there which got them certified. 
 

The diving is pretty good here and Marcia has always wanted to come back. So here we are!

 

Will be interested to see how it turns out.   I recently bought a GoPro and while I enjoy it, there is a learning curve.   I've done a couple time laps that came out pretty good but have tossed out more footage than used so far.    Maybe I'm a slow learner.

[hasentreelake]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:07 PM, KEG21552 said:

Following with great interest.  We will be on this same itinerary next April.  We have been on the Summit 3 time (twice before re-do and once after).  We love the ship but have been reading some not so favorable comments lately.

Hope you have a great trip and the Summit is back up to her excellent standards.

We in the same boat!  🙂  
We're on the Summit next April for the 16N Westward Transit!
 

[mahdnc]

Here is the Celebrity Today for Day 1: link

[Purplsmurf]

We just got off of the Summit yesterday. We had a great time……especially in the casino 😂😂. Have a great cruise!

[AZCruisergirl]

We went to the Beyond the Podium talk about how the canal works. Amazing when you think about the limited technology back over a hundred years ago and the feat they accomplished

[hcat]

Curious.  do the new locks work same way as old ones.. It is fascinating...

[AZCruisergirl]

We will be transversing the canal early on April 25, here photo that shows the link to cameras

[mahdnc]

Here are a few more photos that I took from our 28th floor room before we checked out yesterday:

 

In the above photo, Icon of the Seas (docked) is partially visible all the way to the left in the photo.

 

Valiant Lady is docked next to us on the right in the above photo.

 

Refueling barge is parked alongside Summit.

[mahdnc]

The last two times we cruise out of Miami (2015, 2016), we took a taxi to the pier.  This time I tried something different, I went ahead and pre-booked an Uber XL for my wife and me.  I booked for  10:30 am pickup at the hotel.  Our check in time was 11:00 at the pier.

 

I am not sure if it would have been cheaper than getting a taxi (large enough for us and our luggage), but I liked the certainty of knowing that I had it arranged before I went to bed the night before.

 

 

My wife and I have not learned the art of travelling light.  Our ride promptly arrived at 10:30 am.

 

10:31 am  Bags are packed and we are ready to go.

Edited April 21 by mahdnc

[cruisetonowhere10]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

The last two times we cruise out of Miami (2015, 2016), we took a taxi to the pier.  This time I tried something different, I went ahead and pre-booked an Uber XL for my wife and me.  I booked for  10:30 am pickup at the hotel.  Our check in time was 11:00 at the pier.

 

I am not sure if it would have been cheaper than getting a taxi (large enough for us and our luggage), but I liked the certainty of knowing that I had it arranged before I went to bed the night before.

 

 

My wife and I have not learned the art of travelling light.  Our ride promptly arrived at 10:30 am.

 

Definitely not light…lol…but the number of nights makes it hard.

[mahdnc]

When my wife and I were leaving the hotel, we met a nice couple on our ride down the elevator.  They obviously looked like cruisers.  So I asked them what ship they were going on.  They said "Summit--ummm maybe".  This couple from Oregon explained that one of them had lost their passport on the way to Miami.  They used their passports to board their plane but found it missing after they checked into the Marriott hotel.  My heart sank for them and I felt sick as I was imagining one of my worst fears coming to life.

 

They asked if they could ride with us to the pier and offered to pay.  Of course I said yes to the ride but no to the money.  I wished them good luck when we got to the cruise port.  I told my wife that based on some similar horror stories that I have read on Cruise Critic, I didn't think they were going to be permitted to board.  Too bad.

 

10:38 am  A view of Summit as our Uber XL drove across the MacArthur Causeway. 

Edited April 21 by mahdnc

[AZCruisergirl]

I have not verified this but we were told that this cruise on Summit would be the last Celebrity cruise to set sail from Miami. Not sure about the future. The terminal is very old and were told “falling apart”. 

[dreamer321]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Curious.  do the new locks work same way as old ones.. It is fascinating...

No, the new locks partially recycles the water in the locks. If you're really curious here is an explanation of the canal expansion.

Edited April 21 by dreamer321
fixed typos