Celebrity Summit Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,477 reviews

Late spring in the Mediterranean

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Celebrity Summit
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k_Ogren
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009

Embarkation was as smooth as I have ever experienced.  This was our 6th cruise, our first with Celebrity.  We boarded around noon, and nearly walked straight on.  We had done the online check-in.Cabins were nice, we had Concierge class 7197 & 7203.  7203 was fantastic with it's larger aft balcony.  We traded in our two bottles of Champagne for Pinot Grigo by asking guest relations, it wasn't much hassle.  We thought the canapes were ok, took advantage of the fruit, they had an apple, banana, pear, & grapes.  Mostly just ate the large red grapes, then asked for a tropical plate, it came with a Mango, papaya, two kiwi, & two passion fruit, good fruit but kind of a hassle cutting them with a butter knife.  Our cabin Steward Peter was more than we could have expected, always opened our door for us when he saw us coming down the hall. took care of my tux when the pants were too long, he even added some food to our girls breakfast order one morning when he thought they would be hungry.  The girls has put out the menu as a wake up call for 10:00am with just tea and hot chocolate ( the wake up calls didn't work).  Fresh flowers were nice, they replaced them once during the cruise, there were some on the desk, and a rose in the bathroom.  Beds were very comfortable, good space for our 2 weeks worth of clothes.   We had some laundry done, two bags that were all you can stuff for $35, we got about $75 worth in them each, then two other bags with about $30 dollars each in them.The ship was nice and in good condition, we used the main pool a lot, it was a bit cold.  Normal trouble finding a deck lounge.  The girls loved the Ice cream and sorbet.  The worst wear and tear I saw was elevator buttons that were cracked or worn. Really a nice ship aIl thought, not a spectacular design, but nice and functional.  We tried the thalasotherapy on the last day as well as the sauna, both would be nice on a cruise with more days at sea.  Jaynie had a Massage and facial that she really enjoyed.  There were a lot of shops that we never really went in. Entertainment was ok in general, most show were short, I'm not usually into violin, but they had two different fellows that put  on a real treat of a show.  there was a classically trained singer who would have fit in well in many a broadway musical, although he tried to do some Motown that really wasn't quite there.  We left during the first late night celebrity singers and dancer, the show was late, we were getting up early, and they really weren't that good.  There was comedian juggler that was funny but not really very good.  Most were impressed with the Acapella group, I was not.Food was good, but not anything that jumped out and grabbed me.  Believe the folk that tell you to get the Waffles (Texed), and the almond croissants.  they are both better than I'd expected, even with the recommendation.  Sushi was so so.  We ate one breakfast in the main dining room that was terrible, never went back, I had a poached egg that was hard, Jaynie had the eggs benedict that she hated the hollandaise.  We did the brunch buffet in the main dining room two days at sea, it was ok.  The rest of our breakfasts were in the buffet on deck 10, we always found something to enjoy.  We had one lunch in the Main dining room (that's all that was available with the brunches and no lunch in port) it was good.  Most meals in the Main dining room were good to very good, but very few things that really impressed me.  We never ate in the Normandy.  I had one breakfast in the aqua spa, I like it quite a bit, Just a Muslix that was great, and some fruit.  I also ate lunch there the same day, it was very good.  We had a couple of Latte's it the Cova cafe, they were very good.I was quite disappointed with the shuttle situation, I was aware of some of it from the nice folks here, but still was unimpressed with Celebrity on this point.  In Venice the charged $20 per person per day for a boat ride to St Marks, we had already put out $120 dollars for the four of us for Vaporetto passes, so that was not something we wanted to add.  There was a free shuttle in Piazzale Roma the first day, which was nice, but not the second.  We ended up walking about half a mile from where the free shuttle had been.  That was about half a mile from the ship.  We could easily handle it but celebrity could make it easier to access the port they have sold you on.  I don't know how much they wanted for the shuttle in Dubrovnik, we walked right by and got the bus for about $3 bucks each round trip.  We had about an extra ¼ mile for that one.  In Athens a shuttle was provide by the port,  Naples was an easy walk, one block maybe to town, we walked about a ½ mile to the Circumvesuviana.  Civitavecchia the port provided the shuttle. then a 3 or 4 block walk to the train station.  The one that was really hard to believe was in Livorno, where I overheard a couple complaining on the train back from Florence that they had paid $36 dollars for the shuttle to the train station, they were off the ship at 7:20am but the shuttle didn't leave till 8:15am.  The train leaves at 8:11am.  We on the other hand had Cruise critic on our side, grabbed the 20 Euro taxi for the four of us (we shared with a couple on the was back so paid another 13 Euro) were off the ship by 7:10am (first off the ship) made the 7:45am train and were in Florence by 9:30am.  I really think Celebrity could work more at making thing convenient and timely for their GUESTS.The CC class priority tender tickets allowed us to be the first on board a tender that was not for Excursions in Santorini, we were in Oia at 8:15am.  We took a 15 Euro taxi, we had planned to do the bus, but took the taxi last minute.  We took the bus back.Disembarkation was also the smoothest I've experienced.  We were to meet in the theatre at 8:15am, they sent us off the ship at about 8:20am, bags were on a carousel shortly after we got there, we walked out into a line for taxi's.  That took the longest, maybe 5 minutes.  35 Euro taxi including the 1.5 Euro per bag surcharge, and we were at the airport by 9:00am for our 11:30am flight to Madrid.With that I will say we had a great vacation, and Thank You to all at Cruise Critic who helped us get the details right.  This was a complicated itinerary done all on our own, with no real glitches.I'd be happy to fill you in on any details I missed.

Cabin Review

Cabin CC

7203, fantastic.  Great aft deck, had breakfast on the deck most mornings.

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