Celebrity Summit Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our 12th cruise with Celebrity, 5th on the Summit. Obviously, we are fond of her. There was a lot of weird going on with this cruise as it was out of San Juan. I made hotel reservations months before the hurricane with the intent of spending a couple nights pre-cruise in San Juan. I read a lot of reports of the various hotels with regards to opening dates, etc; our hotel was to reopen on the 1st of December, which it did.
I know this is supposed to be a ship review, but details on San Juan night be of value. We had no trouble getting a cab to our hotel; the only wrinkle was that normally, I can get early check in, but on this occasion, we weren't able to check in until an hour after the normal time. Street lights weren't powered, but drivers exercised remarkable restraint with regard to letting people in, and traffic flow was surprisingly smooth. The power was on in most places in Condado and old San Juan. The only obvious sign of problems was at night, you didn't see all the lights on in tall buildings. There are also a lot of damaged cars. As we drove through the city, you could see areas with significant damage, and there appeared to be heightened security. I'm aware that the situation is much more dire outside of that area.
I think it important to mention that numerous local people thanked us for being there. I had a few people give me grief prior to the cruise, such as "Those people are rebuilding their lives, they don't have time to amuse you", which I found rather insulting, and, as it turned out, completely false. I mean at pretty much every restaurant and shop we went to, people said to tell our friends that they welcomed the return of tourists.
Cabin Review
Aqua Class
Cabin: We were Aqua class and had a cabin on the 11th deck, toward the aft section of the ship. These cabins have no overhang, so if it's raining, the veranda isn't of much use. And if you "shun the sun', also not the best. You also get a lot of motion in that area, so not a good choice if you are susceptible to sea sickness. The cabin was pretty normal, decent mattress, plenty of storage, etc, etc. My only complaint was water pressure in the shower. It was abysmal, which isn't surprising seeing as you are on the top deck with cabins. Aqua class showers have jets that shoot the water sideway, which were useless as there wasn't enough pressure. The water pretty much drained out of the shower head. We had friends in the next cabin and they had the same issue.
Port Reviews
Antigua
We went to Jolly Beach. There is a resort called Jolly Harbor where you can pay a fee for chairs, drinks, and maybe food, or you can cheap out like we always do and go to Jolly Beach. Two chairs and an umbrella at $20. Beers are $5, or $20 for a bucket of 6. It's a great beach, the vendors are mild, the sea very calm, although there was more flotsam in the form of sea weed, I would guess form the hurricanes. This was our 4th time there, and we will go again.