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

[DaKahuna]

13 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

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

 

 It depends on how much traffic you hit because with taxi's the meter keeps ticking even when stopped and Uber/Lyft is a fixed fee.  We almost always go the Uber/Lyft route. 

 

[cruisetonowhere10]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

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.

That is awful.  

[mchell810]

3 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

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.

 

What a sad story (and pretty much my worst nightmare.)  Maybe they will find the wayward passport tucked into a random slot in a bag.  I sure hope so.

 

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, AZCruisergirl said:

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”. 

 

I was wondering the same thing.  Last month, I took a look at the Port of Miami schedule and I think it was Beyond that would continue to sail from Miami this year.  Maybe this is the last year?

[dreamer321]

4 minutes ago, AZCruisergirl said:

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”. 

Beyond is schedule to sail from Miami in early 2026 so this may be the last for this season but not forever.

[mahdnc]

We have to go to dinner.  We always have chosen main seating (aka early seating).  For this cruise, early seating starts at 5:30 pm.  That's the earliest that I can remember over our 18 cruises with Celebrity.

 

I will do more catch up posts later tonight.

[fshepinc]

I met some gentleman from Germany who said their friends who traveled with them from Germany were denied boarding because one had lost a passport. I wonder if they were the same??

[Arzeena]

Just caught up on the reading.

Enjoying this review.

[mahdnc]

32 minutes ago, fshepinc said:

I met some gentleman from Germany who said their friends who traveled with them from Germany were denied boarding because one had lost a passport. I wonder if they were the same??

The couple we met flew in from their home in Oregon. It doesn’t sound like them. 

[wrk2cruise]

I believe that because this is not a closed loop sailing that passports are required and they would not have been allowed to board.

 

@mahdnc  If you run into Jacky in the MDR (asst Maitre'd) please say hi from Royce and Robin.  She is the best.

[fshepinc]

I definitely feel bad for both parties. 😢

[mahdnc]

At 10:47 am, we arrived at Terminal G and we said goodbye to the couple from Oregon.  We were directed to walk to Column 11 and make a right.  There was no check of passengers for boarding times it was first come, first served.  

 

At 10:54 am we entered the check in area and the whole process was very quick and simple as usual.

 

At 10:59 am, we step foot onto Summit!  Easy-peasy.

 

At 11:04 am we arrived at our cabin.  We are in 8166 which is one of the 12 Ultra Deluxe Veranda cabins (aka Family Veranda) at the back of the ship.

[hcat]

4 hours ago, dreamer321 said:

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

thank you...I will have some nice reading to do. 

 

I loved the "Path Between the Seas" about the orig canal ..long book but was very complete...We enjoyed our partial transit but thinking about a full...e to w.

[hcat]

14 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

At 10:47 am, we arrived at Terminal G and we said goodbye to the couple from Oregon.  We were directed to walk to Column 11 and make a right.  There was no check of passengers for boarding times it was first come, first served.  

 

At 10:54 am we entered the check in area and the whole process was very quick and simple as usual.

 

At 10:59 am, we step foot onto Summit!  Easy-peasy.

 

At 11:04 am we arrived at our cabin.  We are in 8166 which is one of the 12 Ultra Deluxe Veranda cabins (aka Family Veranda) at the back of the ship.

can't wait to hear about this cabin!

[mahdnc]

When we got on board, the first order of business was to get our specialty restaurant reservations squared away.  One thing that I observed was that there was no waiting line at Tuscan Grill (Deck 3) while there was a fairly long line at the specialty reservation desk at Guest Relations (also on Deck 3).

[mahdnc]

We signed up for the Chef's Table for the very first time ever.  I did it through our Cruise Planner for a total of $307.  Through a very confusing sequence of events (details which I will leave out), I found out that our dinner was scheduled for the first night of the cruise.  There was one other dinner scheduled and that was set for Day 4 of the cruise (Cartagena).  It still had openings, but we ended up keeping our original time as strange as that felt.

 

[raudacruise]

7 hours ago, hasentreelake said:

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

Me too!  Here’s a link to the roll call for our 2025 cruise.  (Don’t know how to trim the text below the link.  Have to say computers are not my forté.)

 

[mahdnc]

I have read on Cruise Critic that the Chef's Table experience is heavily dependent on the group of passengers that you are with for good or bad.  I would agree.  Fortunately we had a good group of 10 for our dinner.

 

Here was the dinner menu:

 

[mahdnc]

Here was the gang.  We had couples from Wisconsin, Illinois (us), Washington, Georgia, and Texas.  The couple from Georgia said they booked the Chef's Table after they boarded!

 

[mahdnc]

We first met at Cellar Masters to take care of the introductions, a group photo, a toast, and a little starter.

 

 

[mahdnc]

The whole affair lasted 3 hours.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Four of the guests requested the wine pairing option.

 

[mahdnc]

Each course was given an introduction by the Executive Chef.  The first course was Curried Cauliflower Soup.  The soup was creamy and very good.

 

Edited April 22 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

The second course was a delicious Mushroom Risotto Persillade.  There was a very light layer of foam on top.  I think this was my favorite dish of the night.  The only problem was after this course, I started to become a bit full.

 

 

Edited April 22 by mahdnc

[raudacruise]

I generally despise cauliflower but that soup turned out to be my favorite course.  I couldn’t believe it.