Celebrity Summit Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,477 reviews

Nice Cruise on Celebrity Summit

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Summit
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popovova
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Apr 2011

This was our seventh cruise overall, the second on Celebrity, and the first without our children. We are in our 40's and our children are all in college, so we were looking for a nice getaway for the two of us. Once again, we felt that Celebrity delivered a fine product with overall excellent service. We departed from San Juan on April 9. We were on board within 10 minutes of arriving at the pier. After a nice lunch, we were able to get into our room and enjoying the sun by the pool shortly thereafter. After the efficient lifeboat drill we went to dinner. We had requested a table for two, but were assigned a table for 8 in the early sitting. While initially disappointed, our table mates proved to be a pleasure to dine with throughout the cruise, and we didn't feel the need to change. After dinner, we were up on deck for the departure from San Juan harbor.Our overall impression of the Summit was very favorable. While there may have been some minor wear on the carpets, the overall feel of the ship was elegant, modern, and cozy. Our room was on the 9th deck while it was a fine room with plenty of space, we discovered that it was just under the Waterfall cafe and an area of ceramic tile where carts were constantly rolled, especially early in the morning. So, next time, I would avoid a cabin directly below such a heavy traffic area. Otherwise, Vickson did a fine job of keeping the cabin spotless and happily fulfilled our few minor requests. The meals in the main dining room were generally good, with some dishes very good. Our servers, Luis and Gizem were attentive and helpful in making selections. We don't do formal nights, just don't like dealing with getting dressed up in the Caribbean, but the other 5 nights were very good. One of the women at our table was from England and the topic of dessert came up. She described a Banofee pie that she assumed was American...the other Americans had never heard of it. But the next day, the staff served it to our table, after searching to find a recipe and making it special. That was a very nice touch.We had a great experience with the entire staff, always greeted with a pleasant "good morning, afternoon, evening." We also found the officers engaging and friendly. One in particular, Amanda, the assistant food and beverage manager, had several conversations with us and ran into us several times on the voyage. She was such a pleasant person.The only part of the staff that we found not up to par was the art auction department. They were awful! We've actually bought a ton of art on other cruises, but these two were just awful. They didn't even know the size of some of the editions offered.We enjoyed the ports. We rented cars in St. Thomas and St. Martin, having spent several weeks on each in the past and knowing what we wanted to do. We spent most of the stop at Antigua enjoying a nearly vacant ship. We took the Cosul tour on St. Lucia, which was excellent (despite the awful woman from Minnesota in our van...), and enjoyed the day on the beach in Barbados. It was a very good itinerary and a pleasant mix of islands.We thought the Summit was a very well designed ship. It never felt crowded and there was always a place to go if you wanted to be on your own. We enjoyed the Cova cafe, where the service from the young Thai women was outstanding. The entertainment was hit and miss. The band at the pool was excellent; the duet was good; the comedian was excellent; the husband/wife comic/singing team was just weird; and the one production show we saw was well done. A couple of other nice touches: the Cruise critic get together hosted by the cruise director and some of the other officers in the Observatory was well done; the bridge tour was very interesting. We like the minimal numbers of announcements on Celebrity. The drinks waiters were always available, but never overbearing. We liked the way the breakfast was set up; lots of choices and rarely crowded.Only a few minor annoyances: the smokers were everywhere and the designated areas were not enforced; the chair hogs that draped towels or books or hats or whatever on pool lounges at 7:00AM and never bothered to show up until noon despite the posted "prohibition" of doing so. Several of the ice machines in the Waterfall Cafe were broken for the entire trip.Net, we had a great time and we really like Celebrity and the Summit.

Cabin Review

Cabin CC

9175 was very noisy, with a tile floor above in the waterfall cafe and carts rolling over noisily especially early in the morning.

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