First, the thermostat in our room never worked and was “repaired” 3 times. But food was the real problem. The cafeteria food was universally greasy, except personal omelets by Don Hyndryx. The restaurant was unable to serve the meager choices on its own menu. I ordered roasted pork loin and was served ham, and salad Nicoise with “French onion Dijon” dressing was served with the usual choices of ranch, Italian and thousand island. Neither the chef nor customer service was responsive to dissatisfaction. Also whenever I asked about fat free dressings in restaurant or dining room someone would point to one of the regular dressings and proclaim it fat free. I did get excellent service from Somalier Josip, though. They redecorated the ship recently and stateroom was adequate if the thermostat had worked. The new sinks and showers don’t drain well, but room staff Kate was attentive and very friendly. Pools were too small to swim and had unbelievably loud drains that chased me right out. I was on an Olivia Cruise, so all the entertainment was great. Read Less

We usually venture farther afield, but chose this cruise for several reasons - a very high percentage of adults, recently upgraded ship, good friends were going, and we had never done a Celebrity cruise and wanted to find out if it's a cruise line we would use again This Caribbean cruise won't be our last. We surprised ourselves by loving the whole experience, especially the beautiful waters and charming ports. The Summit docked for a crazy amount of time at St. John’s, Antigua - an appealing port with way too many people trying to sell stuff. Next time we won't even bother going ashore there. We loved all the other stops. MUST DO: Cuban cigar shopping at La Casa Del Habano in Basseterre, St. Kitts. Sit on their balcony, enjoy a balmy breeze, and watch the world go by as you drink FABULOUS coconut mojitos while the other half roams the humidor. What could be bad? My partner snorkled in Bermuda - went on a high priced inflatable boat escapade to a reef. The currents were strong, there were no fish, and a woman got swept out and almost drowned. Our friends went on the shipwreck snorkeling trip and had a fantastic experience. CABIN: we were forward on deck 7 just off the elevators in 7072. Never heard annoying noise and the convenience was great. The recent refurbishment meant our cabin felt up-to-date and clean. The showers were always hot, The bathroom was immaculately cleaned twice daily and virtually every time we returned from whatever we were doing, our room had been made up. The housekeeping was flawless. The same could not be said for dining, which was a mixed experience. At Oceanview Cafe - the casual buffet - we spent a couple of days exploring and found a few favorites, which we ate whenever we went there - the eggs benedict station, the salad bars, and the surprisingly good pizza. With a few exceptions, the food had a sameness about it that was disappointing - flavorless, factory farmed eggs didn't help. There was no reference to the flavors of the Caribbean. The desserts were flat-out horrible, mostly fake tasting sheet cakes - like something at a bad Chinese buffet in a strip mall. The breakfast pastries were poor - heavy and stodgy. Sometimes a chocolate croissant was worth having, but the danish was awful. By contrast, afternoon tea at the Oceanview was worth having, with fluffy scones, jam and cream and delicious petit-fours, buns etc. Food hygiene at many Oceanview buffet stations was poor - too many cooks handled food without gloves. Some staff appeared to have no professional skills at all. What well-trained chef would present so-called "coddled eggs" which were in fact raw - the whites only half cooked and the yolks not to safe temperature! We dined often at Sushi-on-5 in groups of 6 or more friends- reasonable prices, great noodle bowls and well-made sushi. Other than one evening of inept service, the staff were attentive and friendly and we just kept going back. We were pleased with more formal dining at the Cosmopolitan, for breakfast (much better than the Oceanview buffet), lunch and dinner. Overall the food was good and the service was excellent. We hit Qsine on lobster day- definitely not worth the extra charge. The food was dry and reheated - ugh. The restaurant was poorly ventilated, gaudy, overly warm and just plain second-rate. Maybe we hit it on a bad day. The Martini bar was a highlight - great mixology and a lot of fun! The "service" desk staff on level 3 were slow and unfriendly both times we had the misfortune to seek assistance. Example: our disembarkation day-tour of NYC was cancelled, and no one told us till the day before. So we went down to book a transfer to JFK to void being stuck with all our luggage in the city all day. We were told we could not arrange a transfer as bookings were now closed. In the end, after we persisted, she caved and booked our transfer. We then asked for change of a $100 so we could tip housekeeping and the same unhelpful woman made some excuse and said she could not do that. Incredible. On balance, we would return to Celebrity Summit without hesitation for another cruise, but would book Aqua or Concierge, at least, next time. We book suites on our favorite cruise lines but won't spend the extra $$$ without trying out the ship or cruise line at a lower cost first - as we did with this cruise. Read Less

I just went on a Celebrity Summit cruise and the bathroom had a really smelly sewage smell. We were shown several rooms that also had that same smell. The room attendant said that the pipes needed to be fixed. I also experienced the same smell in one of the whirlpools. The food in the buffet made me really sick, maybe that’s because the chefs do not wear any gloves when they prepare the food. I watched a chef make a pizza without using gloves. I had to run to the bathroom every half hour everyday until I stopped eating from the buffet. The only other food selection that I was given without a cost was the Cosmopolitan restaurant which offered different food than what I was used to because I like eating more vegetables. The basketball court needs to be updated because the rim is leaning. The only things I liked was the massage, the Solarium and the comfortable bed. Read Less

I have been on a LOT of cruises. I have been on Royal Caribbean, Princess and Norwegian. I have taken 7 cruises on Norwegian, the last 3 in the Haven Suites. After my last cruise on them I felt VERY nickle and dimed. When I found out after paying over $20,000 for my families haven vacation that my pre paid gratuities (come on, you know they are not giving those dollars up to the staff!) did not even cover all of the gratuities, I was done. There was so much more to that but I digress. We finally decided to try a small, boutique ship and I did extensive research. We just got back from a San Juan to San Juan week long vacation on the Seadream 1 and I can honestly say it was the BEST most RELAXING vacation ever!!! 1. It has the BEST service of any place in the world. The people that work on the ship LOVE their jobs and they are simply wonderful. 2. The food is truly 5 plus star. I have dined all over the world and it is simply exceptional. 3. Drinks are included. 4. You can have basically whatever you want whenever you want it. 5. The open spaces on the ship are a nice bonus. The pool is nothing but views. There is no fighting for a deck chair, no lines of any kind, you don't wait for anything at all. There were only 70 guests total and it never felt crowded. 6. It is not for kids. Leave them at home. 7. The stops are exotic and you feel more like an explorer and less like a tourist. 8. You will be pampered. The Thai massage is well worth it! 9. There is no one trying to sell you anything anywhere! Tips are included, but I actually tipped a few people because it was just so wonderful. 10. The staff are treated well and it shows. I cannot rave more about the service! 11. The cabin and ship are old, but clean. It has character. If you are looking for fancy, this isn't it. We were always on the go so I did not even miss the balcony. 12. Sleeping on the front of the ship cannot be missed! It was WONDERFUL! 13. They go out of their way to make your trip great. There are little touches like monogrammed pajamas custom made for you~! You can also jet ski (also included), banana boat, kayak or paddleboat off the back of the ship. Read Less

The Star Pride, food service and crew met all of our expectations and are the reason we continually pick Windstar. On board services were first class. Now for the cons: Since space is not available for a large swimming pool, the Swim Tub is a good idea; however, most passengers use it as a second jacuzzi and just sit there. This means that those of us wanting to swim, have no facility. Windstar needs to figure his out. We would like to see more reasonable priced ship sponsored tours that are comparable to local tours obtained through services like trip advisor. Our biggest grip and disappointment on this cruise was most port stops the first week did not met what I would call Windstar standards. We suggested to Windstar the following:(like they would listen to me.) No visits to St Thomas on Sunday , or better yet, none at all. Town completely closed down and a waste of time to visit. Folks in town that I spoke to said,” there is no way they will open on a Sunday to a 200 passenger ship”. Poor port choice. No stops in Montserrat, Little bay. Nothing, absolutely nothing to do but see the volcano.and exclusion zone. Waste of time. Roads are poorly maintained and dangerous to drive on. Taxis in poor condition. Why not cruise off shore from volcano, explain eruption and exclusion zone on speaker system and continue on to next destination. Very poor port choice Josh Van Dyke. worst port of all. Too devastated, a shanty town. White beach okay but figure out how to get tender there instead of docking on out skirts of town and then forced to take a taxi to beach. Virgin Gorda another do nothing stop. The chosen beach BBQ area was picturesque and fully functional but immediate surroundings were devastated by the hurricane. Due to rough seas we had an fabulous BBQ on the ship. Poor port choice. It feels Like no one from Windstar has really assessed the Montserrat, Jost Van Dyke or the Virgin Gorda environment. Very, very poor port choices Conclusion is Windstar must do a better job in selecting ports of call on the first week of the San Juan and Virgin Islands itinerary,especially for islands affected by Hurricane Irma. We were very displeased and disappointed. Our stops on the second week, Windward Island surf and Sunset cruise were far better than first week.In fact, if I would have known how badly devastated some areas were the first week, We would have only booked the Windward Islands segment.Shame on me, should of done my home work, I hate learning the hard way. I also feel more reasonable beverage prices would be appreciated . $7.99 for a mini bar beer is outrageous and gouging. I stopped drinking the second week. Beverage packages are not designed for those of us that have partners who do not drink or for those who have a couple drinks a day. Dress codes are hard to enforce but at times there are violations that should to be addressed. For instance every night at dinner either at Candles or Amphora, their are guests wearing shorts, or blue jeans, tee shirts and sandals. Windstar is a cut above the rest and dress code violations should not be permitted or Windstar should change the code. Overall we have graded this cruise experience as a 3 out of 5 due to the first week’s choice of ports. We have done four Windstar cruises this is our the first “3”, all the rest graded “5+”. Read Less

Overall our experience was wonderful on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas: San Juan: we flew in 2 days early to explore San Juan. We stayed at the Sheraton old San Juan and it was the perfect location. Walking distance to everything. Great food right of the street. Make sure to have the Mofango. Use uber instead of a taxi- it’s a 1/3 of the cost. The restaurant at the hotel was delicious and we ate breakfast there both mornings. If you eat ala carte it’s very affordable. They have a good happy hour at the end of the day too. Boarding: I felt like the luggage drop off area was sheer chaos with little direction. All of the tags are color coated but it’s hard to tell which color you’re supposed to be. If they switched to the deck number I think that would help. We were in a suite so once we got inside check-in we were checked in and on the ship in less than 10 minutes. The general boarding lines seemed to be moving very quickly as well. Our Room: we were in suite 8414 and in the words of my kids this place is like a house! It was plenty of room. We had two bathrooms- the master has a bathtub, two bedrooms, a nice living space, plenty of storage and a very spacious balcony. The only complaint I have is because it’s on the back of the ship it’s completely open on the top with other suites looking over too which lead to little privacy when others were out and if it rained there was nothing to shield you, there also seemed to be some sort of debris covering the deck and chairs every morning. I would prefer to be on the 7th floor in the same room type I think. It was covered and seemed to offer more privacy. The room came equipped with a play station so I brought movies for me kids to watch. They also have movies you can borrow from the concierge lounge. Windjammer- we only ate there twice- the food was good with tons of options but it was always sheer chaos. People lined up waiting for the doors to open as if they had not eaten before. Chops Grill- we ate breakfast here every morning as it’s complimentary for suite guests, it was always yummy and they were eager to accommodate. We ate dinner here as well, the food was simply amazing and a notch above what is served in the dining room. The filet melts in your mouth and the crab cake appitizer was all crab and not much filler. Simply delish! Make sure to try the bacon and the mushroom soup! The chocolate cake is a great way to finish off your meal and worth the calories. The main Dining Room- the main dining room was good and had different options every evening. They even offered lobster the last formal night to all guests. There were 6 of us and we always found things we liked in every catergory, every evening. The only complaint I have is if you order a drink from the bar make sure to do that first as they seem to take a while. Concierge Lounge- we loved it! They have continental breakfast every morning, appetizers and an open bar every night from 5:30-8:30. We always stopped and got wine on the way to dinner and had martinis after. Junior is amazing and always happy to help and accommodate. My youngest daughter is not old enough to drink but the bartender made her a virgin lemon drop martini- she felt like a princess. Sorentos- pizza is good and quick to get! You can get a whole pizza or just a slice. We had a snack there twice and it was consistent and good. Cafe Promenade- I had a caramel macchiato there every morning and it was very yummy! They were quick and even knew my name. The coffee package is very much worth it if you do not get the beverage package. We did not try any of the other restaurants. They always seemed to be pushing Sabor- annoyingly so. No one was ever in the cupcake shop and Ben and Jerry’s seemed slow at best. Entertainment: the shows were lacking. I have seen better ones. Marquee was good, but the ice show was lame and most of the skaters fell multiple times. The parades were fun and my daughter really enjoyed it. The characters are fun and add a juvenile element to the evening. Pools: We were at ports everyday and did not really use them. They were pretty to look at though. Ports: St. Marteen- we took the water taxi for $7 per person round trip to downtown and local beaches. We rented chairs and umbrellas for the day and it included wi-if. We had lunch and went to the shops behind the courthouse- found some good knock offs. It prob had the best selection of shopping. St. Kitts- we did the push pull and swim. It was so cool and worth the money. There were also random monkeys around the island, that was fun to see. Antigua- we took a taxi to the beach for $6 round trip, Dickinson beach. When you first get off they want to take you to the $16 pp round trip beach and tell you that’s where they want to take you. Just know there is another option, it’s safe, has restrooms a bar, restaurant and a gorgeous beach and only a 15 minute ride. The other one is 30-40 minutes. St. Lucia- I am not a fan of cruise ship tours so I looked offline. We booked a private tour through Cosol Tours and it was the best tour we’ve ever been on. It was just the six of us had our driver Adriane gave us the Royal treatment. We went to a banana plantation, a waterfall, beach, mud bath, a beautiful house for lunch and it included drinks! So worth it! They offer larger tours to- first rate operation! When you finish you feel like you truly got a taste of St. Lucia! Barbados- as I said above I don’t care for big cruise ship excursions. We booked through Good Times Barbados. It was our favorite day! A huge 50 ft. Luxury Catamaran, there were 13 of us, they treated us like royalty. We ate and drank to our hearts content, snorkeled, swam with turtles and just relaxed. I saw the cruise ship tours and there were at least 50 people packed on like sardines, I’m sure they had a great time but this was very much worth the upgrade. It was a picturesque day! Overall we had a fantastic time. The ship is in need of some updating and is showing its age. The room decor is out of date but it’s clean and taken care of. Read Less

I was invited to assist Seminar at Sea of Royal Caribbean beacuse Im a Travel Agent. In overall the activities onboard are good. The cordinance between Front Desk and Housekeeping its bad. I order a gift Online for delivering the first day and I received the last day. The food at night in the main dining are not good and the buffet in luch is not good at all. The only place that I enjoyed the food was on the Chef Table and I paid $85 per person. My room was very clean and the housekeeping was very friendly. The waiters in Dining Room are very pleasant. The surfrider and the waterslide are awesome, very fun. I reserved a Excusion but when we arrive at St. Marteen was canceled for the weather and the offer us another excursions. I think that Shore Excursions table are need to open early. Its a great cruise and you can have fun with your family. Read Less

By friend recomendation. the service and attendant are great. The activity during the day and night for all passenger and the security onboard. The organization are incredible. The food and drink's are delicius. The sport activity on deck 12 it's very entertaining. I recomenden to any one. In the begining I was nervous because I never be in a cruise, but when start the activities everything change. The experience is unforgettable and I said again thak's Lalu (Windjjamer Wailer), Andy and Dalicia (Housekeeping) for the compromise with the passenger. We enjoy our vacation and this is not the last, we going for more. I'm not sure if is in the same ship but I will. For next time I would like to go for more days because 5 days and one island to visit is not an off, but we enjoyed anyway. Again, thak's for all crew attendat, (pool bar, sport activities, etc.) Read Less

We booked this trip as a quick recharge vacation. The price for a balcony was perfect and being a re-positioning cruise, there were days at sea where it felt okay to do nothing but catch up on sleep, eat well, and read. We had an overall mixed experience. What was good: -Dining staff and services was fantastic. We ate in Chops and Giovanni and the main dining room and all our waiters were fantastic. The food was great, we left full and happy every night. -Our excursion in St. Marten was wonderful, we did the half day catamaran/snorkeling excursion. The staff was informative, the boat was clean, the company was good and it included lunch and beverages. I would do this again. What we disliked: -The art auction was awful purely because they masked an opportunity for a free piece of art by handing out credit card forms and not explaining what they were doing. It was very shady. I am suspicious of the art sales on board anyway, but this was the first time I had seen this happen and I was horrified at how they were taking advantage of people like that. Awful. -Our room was dated, which was fine, it was clean, however, our bed, which was two twin beds pushed together, would separate at night, we joked that there was a 'pit of despair' in the middle keeping us a part. Annoying more than anything. -Activities and entertainment was okay, but felt light, especially for a trip where most time was spent on the boat. We didn't do much because our dinner time was at a time when most evening activities took place. I think overall, it felt short staffed, but not sure if that is typical for a re-positioning cruise. It was okay. WE slept a lot, worked out, ate and drank which is what we wanted. We were happy to get off after five days though. Longer would have been too long. Read Less

We took a January cruise on the beautiful Oasis and the Adventure is every bit as beautiful but understandably smaller. I was not disappointed. I specifically chose this 5-day cruise from San Juan, PR to Bayonne, NJ to enable me to reach Diamond status. I needed 9 cruise points and the Jr. Suite was priced low enough to book which gave me double cruise points for the suite. This was my first suite and I was amazed how much storage was available. We had cabinets we didn't even use thanks to the large walk-in closet with a wall of shelves! Also a tub/shower. We flew in to San Juan from Dallas arriving around 1pm. We opted to take a taxi from the airport to the pier for $26 set fare and were able to split this cost with another couple we saw at baggage claim. Easy embarkation and departed for St. Maarten at 8pm. The cruise made only this one stop and we took a $6 cab ride from the pier to the courthouse in Philipsburg, and from there walked up the beach "boardwalk" to a bar called "Pirates 'n Paradise" and when we saw the Ohio State flag and sign, we had to stop since my wife is an alumni. We sat at the bar overlooking the boardwalk and the beautiful beach for a beer and some great people watching. The next 3-days were at sea and we enjoyed the food and entertainment provided. The ice show was spectacular and the other singers, dancers, orchestra, comedian, and juggling act were great to watch. Advertised activities were popular for the variety of guests. Food was good. We usually ate breakfast at Windjammer and coffee was excellent (strong) whereas one day, we ate breakfast at main dining room where sit-down service was slow and coffee was weak. Main Dining room dinner was good and service generally excellent. We only had two gripes. On the last sea day, we could not access our in-room TV services menu to review our bill. When it was delivered the final morning, there were two errors overcharging us $222 which required we wait in a long line at guest services to get resolved. They could have used more representatives to help. After that the walk-off disembarkation in Bayonne, NJ went smoothly until we exited the cruise terminal building for a fairly long walk to the Taxi shed in a parking lot across the potholed street. We had looked online earlier for taxi fares rather than using Royal Caribbean bus service, and the taxi was "supposed" to be about $38 from the terminal to Newark airport which would have been a good deal. There was a severe shortage of Taxis. We were told to get in the only one there and he left without us. They called for another cab and one finally arrived and as we were loading luggage we were told the fare would be $65 plus toll. We went ahead and took the ride for $70. The RCI bus would have been about $59. By the way, Uber and Lyft were also a possibility, but we never expected the complete lack of taxis and the "fare jacking". I only wish we could have had someone to share the taxi with us. Read Less

The embarkation and disembarkation was very very smoothly. Because I was traveling on previous years, I know the ship very well and it is very nice to travel on it . The cabin is spacious and well located, also, the service is pretty good. Related to the dinning room, It was exceptional located and best service is offered to guest. The maitres was very frendly with my wife and I. The are a lot of activities on the ship to entertain youth and older people, all activities well organized. I have to mentioned the good service on Windjammer and service desk were the Serv Rep were very frendly with my wife and me. Its important to mention that the ports of PR, St Marteen and Cape Liberty are great ports to visits were Royal caribbean has a lot of excursion available for all. Wit probability if we go to a cruise on next Dec 16, 2018 (4 adults and 2 children) we select the Freedom with new port in Puerto Rico. Best succcess Read Less

We traveled on Anthem last year and it was horrible, crew was rude we decided to give Royal one more chance and traveled on Adventure this time. Wow what a huge difference. Wonderful experience and crew was all about customer service The crew actually was smiling and happy which is very contagious. Keep up the good work Adventure we will definitely be back on that ship. The last night at the adult karaoke there were a group of kids heckling the performers. Many people walked out. Just when I wondered why Royal was allowing this the person in charge reminded everyone that we are there to have fun and only kind words should be used. Yay!! That put an end to the heckling without punting out the hecklers. Good job Royal. We flew to San Juan to board the ship. Stoped at St Martin (Dutch side) for a few hours then had 3 full days of sailing and the crew was a delight Read Less

My wife and I were in a junior suite, 6392, at the aft of the ship. This room is considered an obstructed view. Yes, there are things that may “hinder” your view, but I was still able to see the water and everything else that a normal balcony could see. The food was excellent and awesome how you can try multiple things at dinner in the main dining room. Room attendant was amazing and made sure to have our room service while we were out to dinner. My only gripe would be the internet and the bar service during shows or games (I.e. Bingo). The internet is expensive and out of a 5 night cruise, I waited till the 4th night to get and it still was $35 for one device (10% discount). The bar service during the theater shows and games was sparse to say the least. There were not enough bar tenders and view, if not none, attendants walking around and if you got one of the attendants, you were better off going to the bar yourself. Read Less

We choose this cruise for the affordability and because we have been wanting to try Royal Caribbean. The service from our state room attendant, Byron, and our waiter in the main dining room, Michael, were excellent and very attentive! The ship was clean and we enjoyed the shows. We were disappointed with the food - it lacked flavor and tasted like it was mass produced. The crab cakes were made with imitation crab and the pasta was undercooked. Dessert presentation was beautiful but the taste was artificial, with the exception of the apple pie which was delicious. The lamb and the beef were excellent. My husband enjoyed the roasted chicken. Breakfast in the Windjammer was the highlight. We were disappointed in breakfast in the dining room. The hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict was flavorless and the eggs were overcooked. The hash brown was soggy underneath a grilled tomato. There was only one small place to get food after 9:00 and the line was very long. The pizza was soggy and tasted like cardboard. The frozen drinks were inconsistent - we have several that were very good but for the most part they lacked flavor and tasted watered down. We did not have a drink plan and found that we did fine with water, lemonade, and iced tea. That being said, we spent a lot for one alcoholic drink and expected it to be flavorful. We enjoyed the shows on board. There was good variety and the performers were very talented. Embarkment was smooth as was disembarkation. The muster drill was tough - had to stand in rows through explanation in 2 languages. It was hot and if in the back part very clausterphobic. Would suggest dividing people by language if possible. The spa was nice but they try to sell you stuff when you leave. I had a great massage. My husband's was not as good and he was in a room where he could hear door closing and talking from other rooms; not so relaxing. We received an anniversary special for $50 off a spa treatment but it was a port day only and we had already had our port day! So it was useless. Read Less

I wanted to give Celebrity a try as they are well known for their service and food, which that did not disappoint. The ship is in need of a refurbish, and some area's were just not pleasant, and the reason for only an average review. The cabin, service, and food were exceptional. The Specialty Dining venues are by far, the best at sea and well worth the up charge. If you would pick 1 of the 3, I would recommend Qsine. It is truly a dining experience that is second to none. The food is 5-star Top Chef quality. Bermuda was a port where we booked an island tour through a private company, it was awesome. We had an overnight stay in Bermuda and there were many attractions would the visit located right at the Navy Pier. All in all, other than the outdated and old deco of the ship, it was a great cruise. Read Less

Overall I had a good time with Celebrity Summit. Although it could use room for improvement. The communication between the ground and onboard staff needs to be improved. When I booked my cruise, I explained that I needed to be able to connect my iPhone and Laptop to the internet at the same time. The sales man did research and let me know it was possible then sold me the package. However, once onboard this was not the case. The staff allowed me to have 2 account without additional costs. Regarding the restaurant Sushi 5. The sales men misrepresented that the Japanese chef Yoshi would be making authentic sushi. However, I was informed the manager that the chef was from the Philippines and not Japan. The manager made it up to me by not charging me the a la carte price. Another issue was my on board account, they charge me for items I didn't purchase. However, the guest relation rectified the situation, but it made my vacation a little stressful. The last issue has to do with the off shore excursion. when I booked my cruise I was informed that it shouldn't be an issue, and that I needed to speak with the accessibility department. The accessibility department informed me that they couldn't assist me due to liability issue. Later on the cruise manager informed me they could do a refund but I book a flight that was nonrefundable I am a blind member. I normally need a guide. For one of the excursions the driver could not get out of the bus to hold my arm. I had to rely on a good Samaritan who assisted me although she was not under any obligation to assists. They informed me that they were not in charge of off shore excursions. I would like for them to take guest disability under consideration and make more accommodations for the guest. Read Less

This cruise, I realized that what I like most about sailing on the Summit is the opportunity to encounter the wonderful culture that its crew has created/maintained. It just feels different from other ships. The vast majority of crew members appear to like each other and enjoy working on the Summit. That makes it a great place to spend a week or so. This was my 3rd sailing with them in the past 5 months. With that said, there were challenges: Embarkation was a zoo. I'd just done it in San Juan in January, so know that it can be handled better if imperfectly, but this was pretty miserable, complete chaos out front ( a well placed tip and mentioning suites did eventually get some help, though. I bring this up because it's an area some large lines are improving on-- MSC's yacht club tent for example. My hunch is that if the cruise is good enough then the beancounters assume that memories of how things went getting on board will fade. Not so. With Luminae closed on port days, and because I was mostly just staying on shp, I had opportunity to visit the buffet. I thought the food was pretty darn great up there, but the manners of many (not all) fellow passengers left a bit to be desired-- know, silently looking away when cutting in front of someone does not make you invisible; a simple "pardon me" would work wonders. While the food was tasty, the furnishing are beyond time for an overhaul. Given the way the seats are already shedding their upholstery, I can't imagine what things will look like after a summer of doing the nyc/hamilton shuttle. Oddly enough one area was already furnished in folding chairs and tables. The Luminae team on Summit is just fabulous. They seem to all work together so near perfectly that it'd be a fun place just to eat PB&J sandwiches. Although the menu is a bit long in the tooth, nothing was disappointing and several dishes proved memorable. The spa/gym were a place of various challenges/issues this trip.-- trouble with machines not working, and ship's dancers using the space as rehearsal hall combined with a little spat between canyon ranch staff and men's locker room staff member made this a bit less relaxing than normal. MC appeared pretty busy when i stuck my head in a couple of times, so I remained pretty close to my balcony most of the trip. But they do put on a nice daily spread at tea. And it is a lovely room. The two comedians and the 3 visiting musical acts I saw were all lots of fun. The comics were especially terrific. I can't say much about the ports this time around. I'd not visited Bermuda before so splurged on a night at a hotel whose reputation I'd known since my youth. That proved an enjoyable adventure, and it is a lovely island. All in all, a good trip. But the embarking issues and other mass crowd moments left me curious about trying a smaller line. I know I prefer M to S class ships on Celebrity, so think Azamara might be the Fall trip. Although they seem intimidatingly small, I am interested in really small, like SeaDream offers. So, while on this trip, I arranged for a tour of the SD1 next week while doing an 11 niter on Reflection. I still have trips booked on Summit so not looking to venture too far afield, but think it might be time to nose around a bit. Read Less

This was a group trip, we were 7 people of around 45. My mom decided to celebrate her retirement and have family time together. We did some of the typical activities such as the public beach in St. Maarten on Front Street and exploring Hamilton in Bermuda. We also took some time to enjoy snorkel park with the kids in the family and visit the Docklands. I strongly recommend the Frog and Onion Pub for traditional pub fare. Onboard Dining was amazing. Our waiters Fabian and Carlos made the experience feel luxurious and enjoyable. Each course was tasty, interesting and fun. The desserts had lots of variety for those who like to try different things each night. In St. Maarten, we went to the Star Wars Museum on Front Street. We met Mr. Yoda Man, who created all the creatures for the movies. We took the tour of his Hollywood memorabilia. He has also done work on Men in Black, the Shining and many other movies. He took a picture with the kids in the family. If you are visiting St. Maarten, I strongly suggest visiting this attraction, you will regret missing it. Read Less

Very very very last minute (booked 2 days ahead) and the only room left was an Aqua Class Balcony room on 11th floor. Great room, location was terrific and near everything (directly above the buffet). As an Aqua Class, one of the benefits I thought was the highest value proved to be of nearly no value to me, and that was access to the Thermal Suite in the Spa. My reasoning was first, the room was in the back of the ship, and to get to the front of the ship, we had to go out on deck, walk all the way to the front and then down a level. When wanting a quick warm up in the thermal suite or a relaxing sit in the steam rooms, all of that was lost as soon as you had to trek back to your room. We have done this on other ships (this is our 25th+ cruise), and you can put on your spa slippers and a robe and buzz down the hall to use the spa. This was so inconvenient that it "harshed my mellow". The thermal suite was not great anyhow. They had a eucalyptus steam room that theoretically could fit 4 people if you like facing two strangers touching knees. The heated loungers were actually more like heated chairs and none of the relaxation you get from laying back and having your legs and feet elevated. They also had a "sahara" room that was also dry heat tiles, but too hot to even sit with a towel underneath you -- skin was burning within seconds. So overall we went once, tried a second time and left within minutes. The Thassolatherapy pool was public and out of the spa area so that was not part of a relaxing experience either. The real value of Aqua Class was dining in Blu. The restaurant was exclusive to that class, and was personal, quiet, easy to get a two person window seat. I enjoy meeting other people while dining, and although we were mostly at two person tables, they were configured so you could talk to the people next to you easily. The staff was top notch, the food excellent, and all a cut above on sophistication over the other "big box" cruise lines out there. Canyon Ranch Spa despite the thermal suite was amazing. I had no intention of having spa treatments but ended up with two massages and one conditioner/blow dry treatment that all were amazing. The staff were delightful, well trained and really good. The hot stone massage was the best I have ever had (ask for Nipa...her hands are out of this world). As for the rest of the ship, the rooms were great, nice and quiet and well tended to. Carnival has started the one-with-an-optional-twice cleaning policy that I hate. I dont even like being asked if I only want one cleaning a day... it makes me feel like I am overworking the staff, however I really like having my cabin cleaned and put to rights twice a day. These folks never even asked or made any efforts to cut my cleanings down... I appreciate that they still keep the standards of cruising that we became accustomed to over the last 30 years. The ship was always being maintained, painted, cleaned etc. That was super important. The food was always fairly well staffed, not too long of lines or too many times fighting for tables... not enough to mention, so that indicates a good flow of traffic. We always got to the shows a little late but never had a problem finding a good seat even though the ship was booked to capacity. If you have not cruised before or only a few times, these will be the things that make all the difference from one cruise line/ship to another. Sea days always have a hard time getting deck chairs unless you are an early riser. With that in mind, I did not find it too difficult. Around the main pool they were gone early, however there were many other locations convenient to a quick tip in the pool that make it not too inconvenient. Hot tubs were never packed either and were easily able to join. So, in summary, Aqua Class was worth it just for the room location and for dining at Blu. All in all one of the nicest and most complete cruise experiences ever. Read Less

Greetings, One and All. By my guesstimate, this was my 12th cruise, though my first repositioning sailing. In total transparency... I readily admit it's been ten years since my last one...also on the Summit where I had 3 adjoining, balcony rooms... Kids and Godparents necessitated that togetherness. That being said, you know it's a bad omen when you show up at the cruise terminal four hours prior to departure and there's no one remotely in the vicinity to check your mountain of luggage (not all mine, mostly hers). However, we were efficiently prodded and pushed from one check point to the next (like cattle on the way to slaughter) with no one individual breathing my air, able to answer the oft repeated question, "where do we check our luggage?" It was only after we stumbled headlong into the ship with bags in tow, did I realize the all-important question would never be answered. Moving over a hundred fifty pounds of luggage up numerous elevators, and down multiple hallways made me grateful this "fat boy" works out five days a week. Evidently, the Aqua Class, to my chagrin, is in name only... most likely to insure a specific room selection, not necessarily VIP ingress and egress, per the (Aqua Class perks in Celebrity's description.) I started calling guest relations on day one to voice my displeasure and finally got a response on day four. Seems because we were there at 4:30 P.M., we fell headlong through the crevasses and cracks. Guessing we should have been there at high noon taking advantage of another Aqua Class Perk, the VIP lounge, that never crossed our path through the cattle chute. Not an acceptable answer, I'm sorry. But, moving ahead to day six, I started calling to confirm an expedited exit on Sunday to catch a noon flight out of Laguardia. It took until day eight to firm that up. I understand, I'm a small fish in a big pond, but since I'm a published author and blogger...I do come with an outlet of my opinion. In the midst of that conversation, live and in person I might add, I'd given up on a prompt return call, I asked for credit on the welcoming bottle of champagne I failed to receive the first night (too tired from the luggage fiasco...no doubt) to apply toward a bottle of red wine for a 1:00P.M. $50.00 brunch in the Tuscan Grill. Seems that wasn't possible, (the champagne was complimentary) but because they could, Guest Relations would send a bottle immediately to my room, 9:00 AM by my watch. Well, Boy Howdy...A bottle of Pinot Noir miraculously appeared in our stateroom sometime after 2:00 PM or by estimate..."long after our delicious brunch had come and gone." Select Dining is a misnomer in Aqua Class. It's spelled J O K E. Don't believe you can eat in the main dining room when you want and where you want, as well as, Blu. It doesn't happen or if it does, I'll truly never know. Multiple attempts to eat with the regular folks, fell on deaf ears. Finally, my wonderful cabin steward took matters into his own hands, and within thirty minutes, the maitre d, whose name I'll withhold, left a message and even followed up with a return call, offering to make it right. Sadly, by then, the second to last day of our cruise, we were over making it right. Heck...we even contemplated jumping ship in Bermuda, hanging around a day or two and flying home. But, thanks to the cajoling of a Beautiful, Jewish Lady from Jersey, we stuck it out. She was definitely a delight to be around and was most confident our trip would get better. If it didn't...well we could always ask for a discount on our next cruise. Really...I'm thinking Viking River Cruise. Ya think Celebrity would help us out on that one? The Food.........God Help Us All. Only today, did I receive a survey from Celebrity wanting to know if I enjoyed the "movable feast cruise." Better still, did I know it was billed as a movable feast cruise? Seriously, you ask me that one day removed from the ship? There was no inkling of that ultimate, dining experience anywhere....at anytime...ever. Best kept secret on the Summit... Best kept secret on Celebrity...you betcha, betcha, betcha. But I regress...By day three, I quickly realized all the food tastes the same...it's just reconfigured in many, creative ways. By day five...other than the specialty restaurants, we were over... eating...seriously. My palate couldn't be coaxed, prodded or diluted with alcohol to eat another bite in their primary restaurants. In days of old, I remember the food we savored in Celebrity's specialty restaurants, Q Sine and Tuscan Grill, were standard fare. Sadly, those delectable creations at every meal are now... only faded, fond memories of 'the good ole days." The good news is after three days, you may actually you start to lose weight. I surely did. Games of chance...better odds and fonder memories from submarine races. Bingo was a major waste of time. $50.00 bought you six cards...their payout by my calculations...less than 20%. Jackpots on previous cruises were $500.00 to $1200.00 I know for a fact...because we won numerous times those exact amounts. The antiquated Casino and gruff Eastern European pit bosses and managers we chose to avoid. Hats off to the Filipino's who did their best to smooth over the rudeness. The Spa... They've graciously attempted to put Dolly Parton in a training bra on the Summit. The spacious pictures of the magnificent spa that ultimately sold my significant other on Aqua Class was nowhere to be found. What we did find was a very aromatic, claustrophobic room with a few chambers, no windows and little, to no guests. Seems the pictures used in Celebrity's description came from a newer, larger ship...most definitely...not the Summit. Now....there were some positives...I'll give you that. We liked snagging a cabana on deck twelve, the rooftop terrace early in the morning. My sweetheart could embrace the sun and I could...well... hide from it. Ah...togetherness. We found the numerous entertainment venues to be professional and rewarding. The shopping diverse...the inventory a little too rich for me...except on the last cruise day. Our cabin steward, Alfredo, was attentive and efficient, truly a joy to be around. The room was spacious...the open balcony...to die for. Donovan, a roving Jamaican DJ / Waiter, made each morning at the Ocean View Cafe, memorable. The adage, joy comes in the morning, surely is exemplified in him. Bermuda....breath taking. I'd suggest you take the ferry to Hamilton and rent a scooter or a little electric car for a day or two. Roam the island at your leisure, embrace the people...the beaches...the atmosphere. Allow them to embrace you back...They most certainly will. If you've survived driving erratically on the "wrong side of the road," (don't say that above earshot) you should make your way to St. George and fall in love with Bermuda again. Turn in your transport there and ferry back to the ship. I could go on...and on. But, I won't. Along the roads of life, there are potholes...some negotiable, some not. Best to be informed as much as possible. Even then, it's still a crap shoot. Bring along your diving gear... to experience Aqua Class in its truest form...Underwater, no less. I honestly wished we did. Read Less

Ship is showing its age in places. Food is very good as are most of the staff. Would not pay full price for this ship. Embarkation on port days was awful due to insufficient and rude staff at security stations. Cruise director Patrick is not funny at all. Very few activities on board. Paper airplane contests. Same music repeated all day every day for the entire 8 night cruise. Lounge chairs around pool deck are quite old and many are very dirty. Chairs in the Oceanview Cafe at the back are worn out totally. Not a luxury look at all. Chris Hawks a singer on board was just amazing. The production shows were the best we have ever seen on any cruise. Hours go by with very little going on. Very personable captain who interacted with guests more than most. Some dining room meals were average and cold when served. Read Less

This cruise was chosen specifically for the itinerary. Summit is an older ship, introduced in 2001. Although the public areas except for the Oceanview Cafe are updated, the staterooms are tired. It is scheduled for refurbishment in early 2019 but Celebrity has a tendency to delay replacement of chairs, couches, and bathroom sinks and mirrors. Rust was prevalent on the balcony, the chairs in the Oceanview Cafe were in such poor condition, they actually substituted normal dining chairs with card table chairs. Beyond the cosmetic deficiencies, Celebrity always demonstrates consistent dining experiences and outstanding entertainment. The staff and crew exceed expectations and always make you welcome. The excursions sponsored by the ship will meet the needs of most passengers but our experience has been to seek more private tours online. The cost is significantly less and usually have only a handful of people on the tour. Viator allowed us to have multiple tours on St. Maarten and Bermuda with one in St. Maarten ending up as a totally private one. One of the highlights of the Celebrity Summit and its sister Millenium class ships is the thalassotherapy pool. This is open to all passengers and it provides a salt water pool with whirlpool type water motion. Too bad this is not a staple on the Solstice class ships. Read Less

We had an incredible time with Celebrity on our Caribbean cruise. We started in Puerto Rico, going to St Thomas St John, St Maartin, Bermuda, then back to NJ (where we live), so we only had to take one flight, which was handy. From start to finish, we had a great time with the exceptional service of the staff, beautiful ship, and tasty food and drinks. I'm a vegetarian, so I'm always a bit worried about what I'll be able to eat, but there were delicious options for every meal and both my husband and I loved it all. Dinners were our favorite as we had our sommelier Raul providing great recommendations on the wine for the night and our waiter Marvin suggesting foods we would like based on our previous meals, nailing it every time. We are already looking int our next cruise with Celebrity; I would recommend them to anyone looking to try a cruise! Read Less

This was my first cruise on Celebrity, I've previously sailed on Holland America. Thus, this review is somewhat of a comparison of my experiences on both lines. Embarking: San Juan is very accessible. Found out that Celebrity actually asked for a hard copy of my boarding pass, which I didn’t bother to print. I had to break out my laptop to show them, and even then they still had to write some information down manually. Otherwise, since the boarding time was pretty stretched from 11 AM to about 6 PM, there were no long lines and it took like 15 minutes total. Once on the ship, however, our room wasn’t ready until almost 2 PM. I prefer the more paperless approach and earlier readiness of the room on HAL, but with proper preparation it’s not a big issue. Very slight edge to HAL. Internet: Celebrity didn’t have a ship app available for the Summit. Plus to HAL. Internet Speed was decent enough, especially in public spaces, for me to connect to email and work VPN. I think SpeedTest results were about 2.5-3.0 Mbps. Generally, this is a win for Celebrity. Casual Dining: The Ocean View Café was a bit mixed compared to HAL. It’s superior to HAL in terms of grilled-to-order meats available for lunch and dinner, and drink stations are more accessible. Desserts are better on Celebrity’s buffet. HAL is far superior with its breakfast offerings and Asian foods. While HAL’s buffet has more limited hours, the 10:00 – 11:00 late night offerings are more complete on HAL than on X. HAL also wins with the Dive-In Burger, since Celebrity’s burger stand doesn’t do grill-to-order without some cajoling and the fries are nowhere as good as the Dive-In’s. Celebrity has better premium coffee and gelato stands, especially the free treats available at the coffee stand. So if you’re more of a burger-and-fries person, HAL wins the snack department. If you crave the sweet stuff for snacks, X wins. Main Dining Room experience: Celebrity had better meat-based dishes, but HAL has superior seafood and appetizers. Celebrity did offer as “always available” shrimp cocktail and escargots. The dishes were very lightly salted on my Celebrity cruise, which can be a very good or a very bad thing depending on one’s taste and health requirements. Lobsters were bigger on my HAL cruises. Even for a first-time cruiser, I noticed that while for the most part still tasting good, I can understand other reports of cutbacks on the level of offerings in the Celebrity MDR, such as serving certain types of non-premium seafood selections. Unlike HAL, Celebrity has on paper better MDR dining options for Aqua and Suite class passengers, a subject for debate at another time. Like HAL, even though I had “any-time / select” dining, I was able to secure reservations for the early 530ish time at the same table each night. My regular waiters were fantastic, able to accommodate my sometimes-rushed meal schedule while at the same time very attentive. So food-wise, HAL is better but service in MDR on both lines have been excellent for me. Shipboard Activities: No question, Celebrity beats HAL by a mile here. First of all, with about the same number of passengers, Celebrity had about 2-3 times the number of staff dedicated to passenger activities. For devout Catholics, HAL’s onboard priest would be a plus, however. Our CD Patrick and his associate manager Manuel were outstanding emcees / game show hosts. There were multiple events that included active participation from ship officers. There were like 4-6 Trivia-related events each day (including port days) and with my cabin mate and me doing well, we were able to win a nice beach tote bag and t-shirt, along with several deck of cards, a lanyard, and several of those “X” medal ribbons. A much nicer haul than the small pins we usually receive from HAL. The shows, dancers, and singers on Celebrity were of higher quality. Live music was available throughout the ship at night. HAL is better with classical music, and the BB King set is great, but it just doesn’t have the variety. For example, one night I just wandered out to the stern outdoor buffet seating area, and there was a fantastic duo performing acoustic numbers superior to main stage performances on HAL. The Summit’s activities really helped create some good memories for me. Fellow Passengers: Demographics-wise, like HAL there weren’t that many kids on the cruise (I heard there were 53 onboard). I did like that smoking was limited for most of the ship spaces. Mostly because I wasn’t sailing with a group this time, I had more personal encounters with fellow passengers. Met some really nice and sweet folk onboard, especially during dinner and trivia. Highly related to the itinerary ending in New Jersey, a lot of passengers were from the PA-NJ-NY area. A bit more blunt and pushy at times, but also more willing to chat and get raucous and energized during large game show events like 80s music night and the Marriage game. Can’t compare since passenger demographics at the upscale mass market segment are more dependent on itineraries than cruise line. Disembarkation: So much better at FLL than Bayonne. First of all, FLL has Global Entry, Bayonne doesn’t. We also had to wait in line about 20 minutes for the passenger bridge to clear, something that never happened on HAL. The long line did move somewhat decently once we were inside the terminal. I guess the powers that be wanted us to experience the “tired, poor, huddled masses” vibe at the nearby Ellis Island. Read Less

My husband and I chose this cruise because it was cheap and visited my favorite two Caribbean ports - St. Thomas and St. Martin. This was cruise 29 for us. The was our first time to visit Bermuda. We flew to Puerto Rico from Nashville, TN the day of the cruise on SW. We experienced no delays nor any problems. We took a taxi outside the airport for $27.00 to the cruise port. Because of the hurricane, the ships DO NOT dock in downtown San Juan. You are in a container port. We were able to walk almost right on (2:00 PM) and our room was ready. After some lunch, we went to our room to rest. While the Summit is older, we had no issues until the last two days - the toilet would not flush. It seemed to be a problem everywhere on the ship the last two days. We had an ocean view cabin which had plenty of storage for us. Service was excellent every where on this ship. The entertainment was very good. It had the best singers and dancers we have ever seen on a cruise ship. The areilist couple were exciting to watch. Jere Spader (broadway singer) did a show which was just wonderful. There was a group who sang Frankie V.'s music which was great. We do not spend money nor time in the casino BUT it was the first Non-smoking casino I have ever seen on a ship. We also are not into the game shows. Disembarkation was easy - we always just pull our suitcases off . We took a taxi service for $20.00 pp from cruise ship to airport. Great trip!! and YES we will cruise with CELEBRITY AGAIN. Read Less