Just returned from two cruises aboard the Celebrity Summit. The first cruise departed from San Juan and went to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Martin and St. Thomas and back to San Juan. Later that night we departed from San Juan and went on to St. Croix, St.Kitts, Dominica, Tortola, St. Thomas and back to San Juan. It thought it a good idea to do back to back cruises on the Summit because of the different Itineraries offered by both cruises on the same ship. Accordingly, we got to see a lot of islands by combining the two and making the hell of flying from Denver to San Juan worth the trouble.

A bit of caution: Because the cruises depart from San Juan, the ship is often heavily booked by locals. The first cruise was the cheaper of the two cruises and carried far more local cruisers. For those of us from North America, it takes a bit to get accustomed to the style of the locals, who seemed to this writer, not as polite and observant of lines. The 2nd cruise was filled with far more Americans and Canadians willing to pay a bit more to enjoy a cruise over Christmas week.

EMBARCATION: The ship left San Juan at 8:30PM on both cruises. We arrived in San Juan early in the morning after taking a "red eye" flight from Denver. We retrieved our luggage and had breakfast at the airport. The Summit docks at the Pan American pier which isn't too far from the airport so we arrived around noon and was promptly processed for boarding by the Celebrity staff. Embarcation at San Juan is one of the easiest I've ever experienced compared to the horrible embarcation process on Norwegian in New Orleans and Carnival in Los Angeles. Lunch was available at the buffet located on deck 10. The lifeboat drill is at 7:45PM so either eat early or wait until after the lifeboat drill is over so your dinner isn't interrupted. During embarcation, I was offered a reservation at the Normandie restaurant (speciality restaurant) for 20% off during the first two days so I booked a reservation for the 2nd night. Read more