Here's my review of our trip on the Summit, April 16th through 26th, 2004. You will see some cross references to Holland America in this review, as I had only been on one other cruise line RCCL (7 days), which happened to be my first cruise. Holland America was my 2nd cruise and was my favorite. So, this was my 3rd cruise. The reason for the comparison between Holland and Celebrity was because they were both 10 day cruises.

Embarkation was a breeze. I could not believe how quickly we got on the ship. We arrived at 11:15 am and were on the ship by 11:30 am. A lot quicker than when we sailed on Holland America last year. The champagne welcome when you entered the ship was a very nice touch. Holland America also had the champagne welcome. They were still getting our stateroom ready when we boarded, so we walked around the ship, made spa appointments and had lunch, then it was off to see if the room was ready for our arrival. They were done and we dropped off our carry on. The room was adequate, but not as large as Holland America. For the money, Holland America does have a much larger room and verandah as well as additional special services with their Deluxe Verandah Suite which included, free laundry, dry cleaning and pressing, in room VCR, hors d'oeuvres every evening. The room that would have been equivalent in money and space to Holland America's Deluxe Verandah Suite was Celebrity's Celebrity Suite, which did not have a balcony or verandah. Therefore, we chose the 1A which turned into the Concierge Class because of the balcony. We would have had to go up to the Royal Suite which would have been a little larger, but would have had a large verandah, in order to get equivalent to what we had at Holland in the Deluxe Verandah Suite. The money difference would have been approximately $2,500.00 more per person going into the Royal Suite. We had breakfast a few times on our balcony, but found it to be quite small compared to Holland America which had a table with 4 chairs and 2 lounge chairs on its verandah and still room to walk around without bumping into one another. We also had dinner a couple times and had to be very creative with the placement of the dishes and lids.

One thing that Celebrity doesn't do that was a very nice touch on Holland America was that Holland Americas room attendant or butler brought your luggage in from the hall and placed it on your beds. With Celebrity, you were on your own to retrieve your luggage from the hall. We unpacked our clothes and put them in the drawers and closet and discovered that the shower had quite a bit of mildew in it and looked as though it had not been cleaned in a month. As soon as we brought it to the Chief Housekeeper, Yani's, attention, it was taken care of and cleaned . We had a new Cabin Attendant, Edwin. It was his first trip, but once he realized what we wanted, which basically consisted of ice, everything was handled and he was very accommodating. When Edwin wasn't around, his Assistant, Bijoy was right there to answer our needs. Read more