Celebrity Summit Mini Review 1/26/08

[brettlast1974]

Myself, and a group of friends were on the Summit sailing from San Juan on 1/26. I was the youngest in the group (33). The oldest was 50. Myself and my partner have cruised three times previously with all three trips being on RCCL.

 

We had a great time. The ship, while noticiably worn in some places, was clean and inviting. We enjoyed all of the ports of call (St. Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba). Grenada was our least favorite of the five. The rainforests and falls in Dominca were breathtaking, and the beach in Aruba was beautiful. We also enjoyed the casinos and shopping in Aruba.

 

As far as comparison with RCCL there were things about X that we preferred as well as things about RCCL that we preferred. X was definitely superior in terms of culinary both quality and variety. The cabins that we had were better than our previous cabins on RCCL, and the bathroom in particular was more spacious (We did not have to contort to take a shower).

 

However, the entertainment on X was well...not very entertaining in our opinion. Some of the lounge acts were more enjoyable than the shows in the main theater. There was a magician on board as well as a comedian. They were both lackluster, and we could have done without seeing either. The first production show was a bit bizarre with no theme or continuity. The second production show was a little better, and I did not go to the third.

 

X definitely wins on the solarium area. The thalassotherapy pool was wonderful. However, and this may surprise a lot of people, we thought the staff and service were better on RCCL. I think that a lot of the crew on Summit was new since the boat has just begun its caribbean sailings for the year so that may have had something to do with it. No complaints with respect to our stateroom attendant, but dinining room service was unrefined and robotic. The staff that we encountered were not very outgoing and our head waiter was simply annoying. Staff in the other public areas i.e. bars, lounges, casino were similarly a bit cold. While we have encountered some problem staff members on RCCL, we found the staff overall to be more helpful and friendly on our previous RCCL sailings.

 

As far as the demographics onboard, there was a large group on the sailing (Keystone). Therefore, the average age may have been younger than normal. The Keystone group appeared to be very blue collar, which is fine, but many of these folks lacked simple manners and courtesy. It felt more like a Nascar race than a caribbean cruise at times. I must say that prior to our sailing, I asked about Celebrity's dress code on "Informal" night and whether or not the majority of men wore suits. Our sailing must have been an anamoly because many, many people not only disregarded the dress code, but looked downright slovenly (Especially the Keystone group). Many men on informal night wore jeans and many others wore khakis and a polo shirt. We were overdressed in our suits. Much the same on formal night as many men wore neither tuxes nor dark suits. We did not see anyone refused service. This may have been because the staff was instructed not to upset the Keystone group, but that is just conjecture on my part. On casual nights men would wear jeans and even sweatpants, and not be advised that they were not in accordance with the dress code.

 

Overall, we enjoyed our trip and we would sail X again, but we would also sail RCCL.

[nps001]

I appreciate the great review

[cruiseacecat]

Thanks so much for the review. I will be on her for the ta in march, and your information is very useful. Do not know what the answer is regarding service, but I suspect you are correct that there are currently a lot of new people on board. I am looking forward to seeing my assist. waiter from Millie who is just starting on Summit.

 

Sad to hear about the lack of dress code enforcement. This really seems to be taking place now on all of the ships. Hopefully, it was as bad as it was because of the group. Probably difficult to send a large group back to their cabins to change.:)

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise anyway.

 

Anne

[wmassguy]

Would agree with most of what Brettlast1974 had to say about that particular cruise. I agree with the dining service comments. The wait staff for our table was very cold and somewhat annoying as well. She made several mistakes through out the week such as bringing the wrong dish or placing the wrong dish in front of a person at the table or not bringing apps or soup to those that ordered them.

 

However, I don't agree with the generalizations of the Keystone group. I don't think they were ant different than the rest of the cruisers. They just wore name tags all the time so they were more noticable than the rest of us.

[lvcruiser]

I can only speak for 1/8 of the passengers in the dining room - my half of deck 4 of the early seating - but I did not see anyone under dressed any night we were there, which was every night except Tuesday when we dined in the Normandie. That was the only informal evening of the cruise, so I cannot comment on how accurate your assessment is of the dress for the evening. People were, in fact, turned away at the door on various evenings for attempting to enter with shorts or t-shirts. The only times I saw jeans at dinner were the first and last evenings, when they are considered acceptable because of either not getting your luggage yet, or having already packed on the last night. Although I am one to abide by the published dress code, I, too, wore shorts on the first evening because our luggage had not arrived yet and my choices were the jeans I wore on the plane or the shorts I packed in the carry on bag along with a nice polo shirt. If I was one of the slovenly dressed individuals to which you referred, please accept my apology for offending you. On the other two casual evenings, I saw no jeans or shorts in my section of the room. In fact, I was somewhat surprised that the majority of the cruisers seemed to be abiding by the dress code or at least something in close proximity to it. Of course, I did not see any of the Keystone group, so they apparently were seated in either a different section or at a different time. At other times during the cruise, I must agree that they did not give either the appearance or demeanor of the average cruiser, and accordingly, must surmise the majority of the group does not find cruising to be their cup of tea and probably only went on the cruise due to the group nature of the vacation. There were several business and informational entities on board this cruise; more than I have seen on other cruises. However, the Keystone group definitely stood out. The greatest infractions of the dress code that I personally noticed occurred after dinner in the various public areas such as the casino when people would not stay dressed as they did for dinner. And although they may have looked out of place, I really couldn't fault them without knowing if there were extenuating circumstances of which I was unaware, such as the need to get out of dress shoes that are making you wince with pain and knowing that sandals or tennis shoes simply don't go with a tux. I've been there before, so people in that circumstance will receive my empathy.

 

Regarding your dining service comments, I must agree to some extent. Our waiter was quite distant and not very attentive. A particularly large turnoff, at least for me and other people at my table, was on the last night when he implored us to give him nothing less than "excellent" marks or else he would get in trouble and possibly get fired. I came right out and asked him if he wanted us to lie for him since he never was able to offer an explanation as to why our table was always, every night, the last to get their entrées. He acted as though the language barrier just went up and he didn't understand my question. However, I will not fault any server for placing an incorrect order in front of someone as long as it belongs to someone else at the same table. They are human beings, just like you and me, and we all make mistakes once in a while. I will, however, hold a server to task when he is asked about a particular dish and gives incorrect information about it, and this happened on the last night with my wife. It was the only time anyone on our table had their original order rescinded and requested something else during the entire cruise.

 

Having been a professional musician for much of my life, my opinions on the various acts on board are unfortunately wildly different from yours, but I got the feeling that your opinions were based more on personal taste rather than the judging of musical ability. I had to walk out of the Rendezvous Lounge during a performance of the acappella quartet because two of the four singers couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and it was making me want to howl at the moon. On the other hand, I found the choreography of the production shows to be very well rehearsed and the various lead singers to be better than most on board cruise ships, although production shows are not usually to my liking. After being in the business and living in Las Vegas for nearly two decades, it takes a lot to impress me when I watch any musical performance, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the production shows on board this cruise. I agree with your comments about the headliners - a few good laughs, but nothing sustainable. I heard a lot of people exclaiming how good the aerialists were, but if you have ever seen a Cirque de Soleil show, you'll know they were only mediocre at best.

 

Having sailed exclusively with RCCL since 2002, I can also offer comparisons between RCI and =X=. My opinion of that comparison is very simple: it depends on what you, as the individual cruiser, are looking for. The food on =X= without a doubt is better than RCI, both in terms of foodstuff quality as well as preparation, although I found many dishes on this cruise lacking taste. Overall, the service is usually better on =X=, but that depends on each cruises compliment of crew members. The entertainment is too subjective on which to make comment but I have found what I consider to be good entertainment on both lines.

[2Canucks]

Thanks...brettlast1974...for your review.

 

I was waiting for someone from this cruise to do a review...to see if your experience had been similiar to ours.

 

We were B2B on the Summit from Jan 5/08 to Jan 26/08..the two cruises just "before" yours.

 

YES...there was a major "crew/staff" changeover in San Juan on Jan 19/08. Captain changed also...from Yannis Berdos to Michial Margaritis. The following entertainer's left as well...Lindsay Hamilton...Antonio Salci (he was simply amazing!)...David Meyer and Noodles Levenstein. In my opinion the entertainment on the Panama Canal cruise was much better than the shows offered on the Southernaribbean cruise.

 

Demographics from the PC cruise to the SC cruise changed as well... younger age group on the SC cruise.

 

On the Jan 5/08...14 night Panama Canal cruise there was "No" visible disregard to the Dress Code. However on the Jan 19/08 Southern Caribbean cruise my DH and our other male tablemates all felt "overdressed" in their jackets/shirts/ties on "INFORNAL" nights. (late seating)..There were jeans...shorts...polo shirts etc on those nights with "No" dress code enforcement at the door...that we could see. On "FORMAL" nights we saw more...Dockers/polo shirts...Sport Jacket outfits...Dark Suits than Tux's and "CASUAL" nights were "really casual" as you noticed too.

 

As B2Ber's we witnessed a real difference in the Dining Room service between the two cruises...probably due to the crew/staff change on Jan 19/08. Our SC cruise waiter and assistant were "No" match to JUAN & LUIS (real sweethearts) on our PC cruise! On the SC cruise the dining room service was very poor and really slow. I like your word "robotic"...it describes the service perfectly on this cruise. The menu and food received was still up to Celebrity standards...we enjoyed "everything" we ordered on both cruises! :D We were also blessed with "great" tablemates for both cruises and enjoyed discussing our excursions with each other. SANTANA was our cabin steward for both cruises and he did a great job keeping we happy...No problem there. Our "favorite" Bar Server was...MARIA in the Champagne/Martini Bar...she gave us excellent suggestions...service with a smile and we enjoyed our many chats with her.

 

We too "Enjoyed" our time on the SUMMIT and are looking forward to our next adventure...on the CONSTELLATION!

 

Pat :)

[bcirish]

Thanks for info on the Summit and the comparison from PC to SC is interesting. We had a similar experience with HAL last year - hard to believe how much the personality of the ship changes with repositioning. I am looking forward to our cruise 3-1 and am glad to know more about the ship. I am curious about what you did not like about Grenada - what did you do there? We are doing independent on several islands and have been up in the air about Grenada - have been told to shop for spices but that can't take all day! Anything you guys liked or disliked about the various ports would be interesting to hear. They are all new to us except St Martin.

 

Hope the crew has lots of time to practice being less robotic before we get there :) Right now with the rain fog snow and impending snow storm - anything would be better than Chicago right now so I will continue to focus on the cruise and not look out the window!:)

[2Canucks]

Hi bcirish... Here's a list of what we did in each port for the SC cruise...

 

 

St Maarten...Joyce Prince Tour... www.joyceprince.com

 

Dominica...Beno Tour... www.benoadventuretours.com

 

We did a combination Tafalgar Falls and Emerald Pool tour listed under "adventure" tours on his website for a breakdown of where we went for 5+ hours.

 

Grenada...Mandoo tour...We did his Island Spice tour. He really knows his Island! www.grenadatours.com

 

Bonaire...We took a taxi to EDEN BEACH... www.edenbeach.com for a beach day...great beach and snorkeling spot.

 

Aruba...We did the Jolly Pirates...Sail, Snorkel, Swim & Swing... morning tour..5 hours included a great hot lunch....Open bar as well. www.jolly-pirates.com

 

All the above proved to be "GREAT" tours.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Pat :)

[2Canucks]

Sorry...wrong website info for Beno Tours was given in the previous post. The correct website is

 

Dominica...Beno Tours... www.benonaturetours.com

 

Pat :)

[brettlast1974]

We were at the late seating for dinner. The Keystone Group was at the late seating. Therefore, I would presume that if you were at the main seating you would not have noticed the slovenly group that I referenced. On the second formal night my friend and I actually walked around the entire second level of the dining room to see how atrocious people were dressed.

[lvcruiser]

We were at the late seating for dinner. The Keystone Group was at the late seating. Therefore, I would presume that if you were at the main seating you would not have noticed the slovenly group that I referenced. On the second formal night my friend and I actually walked around the entire second level of the dining room to see how atrocious people were dressed.

 

That is an interesting observation that I appreciate you sharing. On previous cruises, the DW and I have noticed a difference in dress code compliance between the early and late seatings, but on this cruise, did not have the chance to make that observation since we were in the theater every night during the second seating. I did notice more casual dress as the evenings wore on, but assumed it was people changing into something else after dinner. It now sounds as though what I was seeing in the public areas after dinner was the same thing they were wearing in the dining room for the second seating. I really hate to make stereotypical comments or observations, but it seems there may be a general demographical difference in who attends first seating and who attends second. I have noticed in the past that many couples with young children prefer the early seating so they can put the kids to bed at a reasonable time. I was concerned about this on this cruise, knowing we were going to early seating, and was pleasantly surprised to find there were only 60 children onboard our cruise. I have also noticed though, that an older demographic generally attends the first seating, and a younger demographic attends the second. I don't know if there is anything to be said about the varying ages having more or less respect for dress codes, but possibly there is a correlation between seasoned cruisers choosing to abide by the stated rules and those less seasoned choosing to ignore them. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

 

John