Celebrity Summit

Great Trip

The Summit had been in drydock to be refurbished so 99.9% of the ship's interior was new. Nothing wrong with the ship. Pool deck on sea days was crowded. Disembarkation on shore days was very smooth. Orchestra was exceptional as were the performers. Staff was very friendly and did their jobs extremely well in the cafeteria and our cabin attendant was EXCEPTIONAL. We had anytime dining but always had a window table at 5:00 PM. Embarkation was very smooth but the lady that tok our credit card information messed up so we had to redo later on the ship. Not many children on the cruise so difficult to rate how things went for them. Really enjoyed Old San Juan and although apprehensive based on past reviews we wandered all over downtown Nassau and the locals were extremely friendly as they passed us by. Celebrity is always a notch above the competition.

VERY ENJOYABLE CRUISE

We enjoyed the cruise very much. The demographic was elderly, more of a gravitational thing rather than efforts of the ship. The crew was friendly and accommodating. Fellow passengers seemed especially convivial. Food was very good. Soups and appetizers especially. French Onion soup is excellent. On the last day, they served a massive amount of excellent shrimp along with chocolate fondue so I would not miss that. Service was slow when we had reservations at 5:45. Much better is you enter at 8:00 or so. Waiters are a bit more relaxed. Some might complain about slowness of service if reservation is at 5:30-6:30. One suggestion is to match the port with the food. No Key Lime Pie when visiting port of Key West or Mexican food in the two Mexican ports. Activities; I like the idea of lectures. They had these on octopuses, sharks, Mayan Cultures etc. One can learn from the Mexican Ambassadors how to do the Salsa, Cha Cha Lots of trivia. Adult arts and crafts. Bingo. Contests between crew and guests, Lounge chairs always filled. Maybe a lottery or an odd-even cabin number or enforce rules that one can only leave a chair for 30 minutes. There is an area near the hamburger/hot dog snack area with tables, but not enough chairs. Suggestion 4 chairs at each table and not two. Entertainment: I note that other reviewers have not been impressed but we were. Enjoyed the vioinist Tetiana Sapozhnikova (spelling?). Julian Colte: He had two performances spaced apart, Elton John and Billy Joel. Very energetic, talented pianist. Sit on the left side as you are enter to see his fingers pound and glide on the piano ( especially if you took piano lessons). Chloe Lowery singer also gave two performances. She has a great voice, obviously loves to perform and please her audience. First performance was great second not as much but that was due to a choice of songs. The magician Wes Barker was very good and he too gave two performances one at night and the other afternoon. Has good timing and sense of humor. One night the four singers in the performers sang. All English, nice voices and expressions. Emma stood out as the best. The production show was very good too. I appreciated the live band, since some cruises now use canned music. Two suggestions: a few times, especially on the production show, the drummer drowned out the voices of the singer, especially on the Harold Arlen (from Buffalo) number. Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and even more so on Julie Styne's cynical song A Diamond's A Girls Best Friend. The lighting director needs to be told DO NOT SHINE THE BRIGHT LIGHT INTO THE AUDIENCE. It gave us headaches and I had to close my eyes during the Production number. Other Entertainment: Nice to hear Caribbean music. The steel drum player David was excellent. I cannot figure why so many cruise ships do not play reggae or Soco music on Caribbean cruises. The Lucky Band was very good and the lead performer very versatile. Dyckeside was a group from Barbados and they too were enjoyable. RJ Replay acoustic Duo seemed plesant and tried hard but not as enjoyable. Did not hear the guitar. EXCURSIONS: We went on two: Key West trolley tour which was fine as it gave us a good view of Key West. Later we walked on a similar route. Saw the Hemmingway House and Truman's Little White House. Would have liked a good recommendation on key lime pie. The second excursion the glass bottom boat in Grand Cayman was not that good. If you want to see two shipwrecks it is recommended but the coral reefs were destroyed in the hurricane and basically one school of fish. Most of the excursions are over priced. I would recommend getting off the ship in Costa Maya. There is a small park with gorgeous flamingos and a few other birds and a dolphin pool with a few dolphins trying to play volleyball. ( Although I did feel sorry for the dolphins penned up in a small area. EXERCISE ROOM: Very adequate. Typical of others on a ship. Strongly recommend small lesser pound weights being added. Older crowd and less likely to toss iron than younger more muscular passengers. Also, only three recumbent bikes. Had to wait. Tip: there are five channels for music. If they are playing some of that awful music we often hear nowadays they can switch to instrumentals with a pounding beat. Others: Cruise director Manual grows on you and is quite entertaining. Bethany the Activities Manager is wonderful.

Celebrity Summit Panama Canal

Celebrity has two trans-Panama Canal cruises per year as they move one ship from the Caribbean season to the Alaska season run and back again in April and September. As TAs, my sister and I had toured Summit when she was stopped in San Francisco in April on her way to Vancouver, BC, and we liked the ship as we had sailed on sister ship Millennium in 2022 to Alaska. We started looking at the return LA to Ft. Lauderdale cruise in September as a possibility for our elderly parents to see the Panama Canal. As the second of two annual PC cruises offered by Celebrity, cabins sold quickly, especially the accessible ones that we would need for our Dad, who uses a wheelchair. So we kept watching and in August several aft cabins became available, so we grabbed one of the Ultra Deluxe Family Verandas that sleeps 5+. We had 4 in the spacious cabin, which has a partition between sleeping areas, and a 10'x 16' veranda that turned out to be perfect for a person with a rollator. It was the next best thing to an accessible cabin! The 15 night transcanal route has a lot of sea days, so the huge veranda was the greatest thing and we all enjoyed it very much, with the sound of the ship's wake creating a constant waterfall effect. We were close to the aft elevators and, of course, all the dining is aft so we didn't have to push the wheelchair the length of the ship this time, except when we went to the Sky Lounge all the way forward a few times. Food was good, as usual, and the Tuscan Grill was outstanding for our first night dinner. Our cabin steward, Apollo, was wonderful and took great care of us and my Dad's special needs. My sister and I enjoyed our shore excursions in Puerto Vallarta, Costa Rica, Cartagena and Aruba, and sea days filled with trivia, mixology class, wine tasting, indoor curling, the pools, and hanging out on the veranda. We did miss one port: Huatulco, Mexico, due to having to avoid cat 3 Pacific hurricane John. And after Cartagena we were supposed to head to Georgetown, Grand Cayman, but had to divert to Aruba instead, to avoid what would in a few days become Hurricane Milton. That is the only drawback to a cruise in that region at the end of hurricane season - you might definitely have a change of port calls. But since I had never been to Grand Cayman or Aruba, either one was fine with me and I still got to do my Atlantis mini-sub excursion! The Captain kept us well-informed and safety was the top priority, along with assuring we all still had a good time. Good job, Celebrity!

Panama Canal cruise - a lot to see!

Celebrity Summit, LA to Ft Lauderdale via Panama Canal (full transit). Celebrity did a good job on this 15 day cruise. Activities included the normal line dancing and trivia but, due to the length and number of sea days, it included three enrichment speakers. Unfortunately I only appreciated one of them, the naturalist. There was a speaker on the Panama Canal, who was, in my opinion, disorganized and lacking in knowledge. The speaker on movies simply cobbled together a number of Youtube clips of a subject (John Wayne, Romantic Comedies, etc) and hit play. The service at Celebrity shines above the completion. From cabin attendants to Main Dining room, they aim to please and will do what they can to make your vacation memorable. We chose an inside cabin for this cruise and we pleased with it. Service in the dining room was great, the food, not really inspiring. This is an area they could improve on. We did not eat at specialty dining. We did not have Children with us and there were very few children on this cruise, likely owing to school just starting and the length. Entertainment was great, there were the broadway shows, as well as various entertainers. A different show every night. The weather played havoc on the route and we missed two ports due to a storm, however these things happen. They did add another port though, which shows a commitment to passenger satisfaction as adding a port with one days notice is pretty tough and needs a lot of logistical help from head office.