Celebrity Cruises - Summit Review

The ship is handicapped accessible. The Summit, certainly at this time of the year and for this length of time, consisted of many seniors. I'll guess that ½ were over 70 and the other half 45 and over except for the small smattering of young couples and 14 children.

Our stateroom:

Our room was a good size- 170 square feet with a 38 square foot veranda/balcony. There were a number of room options which can be seen at www.celebrity.com. We had what seemed like a larger than full-sized bed (two twins are an option); an area with a sofa bed; two end tables; a safe; a refrigerator/bar; plenty of closet and draw space and a small desk.
The bathroom wasn't the best part of the room and as I said above We had two complaints. One was that our toilet got stuffed up twice but within minutes a plumber came and fixed it and I would suggest to Celebrity that they put the lamps on the side tables closer to the bed. Bedside reading was difficult.

Amenities:

The ship has the following decks: continental, plaza, promenade, entertainment, penthouse, vista, panorama, sky, resort, sunrise and sports. We stayed on the 7th floor which is the vista deck.

The pools were on the Sunrise deck. Some of the features on this deck were the Thalassotherapy pool which was free and contained minerals; a large traditional pool; saunas and several whirlpools. The large and well equipped fitness center was on this floor. Classes such as Yoga and spinning will cost you an extra $10 per class. The AquaSpa Café, which had the healthiest food on the ship, was on this deck as was the Waterfall Grill with the best fries around.

You can get a variety of treatments from seaweed wraps to a manicure in the AquaSpa. Treatments will be less money on port days so keep that in mind because they are expensive. I had three Acupuncture treatments (found on our deck, 7) for $100 more than my acupuncturist at home.

Every afternoon a live band played and on all sea days games such as pool Olympics were played.

Other rooms:

All the shows were held in the beautiful Celebrity Theater. This is a two story room which could be a little bigger. Once or twice we were all in this room (for the debarkation talk, as an example) and some people had to stand.

There was a pretty library called Words in which you could read or take out books. There was also a card room.

The Emporium was an area of shopping - from jewelry to alcohol. There was one large room one half of it was called the Champagne Bar and the other half the Martini Bar. The Cove Café had some wonderful pastries and a nice place to hear the talented Jefferson Ang, a guitar player and singer. If you choose not to have the buffet, which we had for most breakfasts and lunches, you'll eat at the beautiful Cosmopolitan Restaurant. You will sit with the same group for dinner. Breakfast and lunch have open seating.

Fortune's Casino had all the machines and tables you could want. Michael's Club was a piano bar and the Rendezvous Lounge was the place to dance with live music nightly. Karaoke was held in this room. Revelations was another nightclub and the place to be if you don't want to be squashed outside while going through the Panama Canal.

There was a Cinema where we watched the football game and the Normandie Restaurant which people said was wonderful. For $30 you'll get a 3-hour meal.

The shows:

We thought the shows were fabulous. There was only one magician/comedian that I didn't care for (Though my husband liked him.) out of 14 shows. We heard an amazing pianist two nights; a wonderful singer named Lindsey Hamilton three nights; the Celebrity dancers and band were super and Noodles, a comedian, had us laughing hysterically.

The food:

We thought the food was excellent. I had fish two nights that I didn't care for but otherwise no matter where we ate we enjoyed our meals.

There were two midnight buffets. One was mostly elaborately carved fruit and the other was the grand buffet which was truly gorgeous though most people were too full from dinner to indulge. You can almost always get something to eat or drink and if you don't like what's around then order in food at no extra cost. Be aware though that unless you are in the Concierge Class the breakfast menu is limited.

On this 14-night cruise we had three formal nights; two informal (which is less dressy than formal) and the rest were casual nights. Pictures were taken most nights and as we got on and off the ship. On formal nights there were short lines to have pictures taken.

Our Itinerary:

This cruise stopped in Cabo San Lucas where we went whale watching; Acapulco where we went on a tour; Huatulco where we went on the beach; Costa Rica where we went on a party boat for snorkeling; Panama Canal where you could do an excursion but we chose to stay on the ship and listen to the expert narrator; Aruba where we went zip lining and crocodile hunting and Curacao where we did our own tour and went to the beach.

The service:

We were greeted after an easy embarkation with champagne and orange juice. The service was superb. Our stateroom steward knew our names after the first day and seemed always to be around to open our door for us. The pool butlers moved chairs around and the waiters were fabulous. One person at our table had to avoid certain foods. The maitre d came over each night to find out what she wanted from the menu and how they should cook it for the following night.

Other activities:

There was so much to do once in awhile I felt as if I just wanted a day at sea with nothing on the schedule. There were bingo games, water painting classes, dance classes, lectures on fitness, beauty and shopping in various ports, computer classes, art auctions and there were religious services.

Two other gripes involved getting off the ship. We had to use tenders one time and we thought that the process could have been more organized. This was true of disembarkation as well. In spite of being told to be in the Celebrity Theater by 7:45 we didn't get out until 8:30.

Answers to questions you may have:

You can change your seating time and table though on this cruise the early dining had a waiting list.

Tips can automatically be applied to your Sea Pass or you can choose to tip via envelopes on the last day.

Laundry services are available for a fee. We got the Connections Newsletter every night for the following day. Toward the end of the cruise we were told that for $29 we could have our clothes washed and dried.

The drinking age is 21; the gambling age is 18.

Phone calls to the USA $7.99 per minute. There was a computer room where you could sign up for a number of minutes (100 for $40) and use one of the many computers.

The cost was $2700 per person for a room with a balcony.

www.celebrity.com