Celebrity Summit Review

Disappointing Cruise from Puerto Rico!

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Summit
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kleckjd
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2017
Cabin: Sky Suite 2

This was a 7 night milestone birthday cruise we planned in July 2016 for April 2017. We had already been to 2 of the 5 islands, but were anxious to see the other 3 islands. The whole thing kind of slowly fell apart beginning in March 2017 when we were advised the cruise had been shortened to 4 nights (ship was in dry dock for Rolls Royce engine propulsion problems, common with this ship class we have learned) and we would only see one new island (Antigua). We would have been wise to cancel right then and there, but decided to go ahead because our friends still wanted to go. We spent 4 nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico to see the sights before the cruise. We were glad to have seen San Juan, but we have no need or desire to ever go back. Many parts of San Juan are not very safe and once you've seen the Bacardi factory and the rain forest, you're kind of out of things to do. Shopping in San Juan wasn't a great experience for us either. Since Celebrity had upgraded us from Aqua class to Sky 2 class (and to their credit offered us credits for the shortened 3 nights), we were excited to see our room when we boarded. The boarding experience was fairly good (not as quick as other Celebrity cruises) and our room was nice. The Summit in general is dated and all of it could use a remodel, but it is clean and well maintained, as was our room. We enjoyed drinks in Michael's and dining in Luminae that came with our suite. We tried Blu as well and determined the Blu & Luminae menus and experience were very similar and we would book Aqua class for future cruises, but the suites aren't worth the higher dollars. The gym was nice and fairly large, but not many group classes were offered. I saw two yoga classes and I took the only pilates class offered and it was marginal. After a good night's sleep the first night heading to Antigua, we were awakened at 5:45 am with the Captain telling us another ship had a man overboard and we were heading there to help look for him. Probably the right thing to do, but the result of that redirection was a very short day in St. Croix instead of Antigua. There is absolutely nothing worth seeing or doing in St. Croix and no credit was offered by Celebrity. We walked around a few blocks and went back to the ship. Our visit to St. Martin was the best experience we had. We took the America's Cup 12 Meter Sailing excursion and we would highly recommend it. Our visit to St. Thomas was fun and we always enjoy the shopping there (particularly the jewelry at Little Switzerland and Tiffany) and an Italian lunch at Virgilio's. All in all, this cruise was not a good event for us. We have two future cruises booked with Celebrity and hope they go lots better.

Cabin Review

Sky Suite 2

Cabin S2

This is a nice suite and we enjoyed it. The balcony is a good size and you have a clean line of sight forward and aft. Probably not wise, but we left the sliding door open every night and slept very comfortably. The bed is very good. There is lots of closet and storage space. The bathroom is large and has a bathtub (probably not large enough to actually use). My only concern about the room was the bathtub/shower entrance was very high (I would guess 24") to step over. There are handrails inside, but I banged my shins a couple of times and wished we had gotten just a standard, walk-in shower stall instead.

Port Reviews

San Juan

We spent 4 nights in San Juan to see the sights before the cruise. We were glad to have seen San Juan, but we have no need or desire to ever go back. Many parts of San Juan are not very safe and once you've seen the Bacardi factory and the El Yunque rain forest, you're kind of out of things to do. Shopping in San Juan wasn't a great experience for us either. We enjoyed staying at the Sheraton Old San Juan very much. Our dining experience at Marmalade was over-the-top excellent.

St. Thomas

This was our second trip to St. Thomas and we enjoyed it the second time. The main attraction is jewelry shopping and we would recommend Little Switzerland (the furthest one into town across from a park) or Tiffany if you're going to buy something. We would also recommend Virgilio's for a real good Italian lunch in a quiet and cool setting.

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