Celebrity Summit Day 1 - San Juan

Although Ron and I have taken a lot of weekend cruises in the past few years, we usually prefer to stay at a land-based resort for our “big vacation”. But this year I really wanted to spend some time with Mama and Daddy and they like to cruise. So a cruise it was! We chose a 7-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Summit. I was excited about the itinerary – only one sea day and five different islands, including Barbados which we hadn’t visited before.

In all our cruises, this was actually the first time we’ve had to fly to the embarkation port. I was a little nervous about flying on the same day but we found an early, direct flight to San Juan on Jet Blue, and since the ship didn’t leave port until 8:30 that night, we had some wiggle room for emergencies. Fortunately, there weren’t any. Our flight even got in 20 minutes early. It was a short cab ride to the port, and we practically walked onto the ship. It was the fastest, smoothest check-in we’ve ever had.

Our first stop onboard was the Oceanview Café for lunch. We made a lap around the restaurant looking for Mama and Daddy but didn’t see them so I headed to the pasta bar for some spaghetti Bolognese. Yum! I have to say that Summit’s buffet was awesome. I loved the pasta bar, of course, but there was also lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and hand dipped ice cream, even a different dessert theme every day at lunch. Everything was presented nicely and tasted fresh. A+

By the time I finished my pasta, Mama and Daddy had arrived so we sat together while they ate and then went to check out our cabins. We had a Verandah cabin on deck 7. It was on the small side but was attractive and had plenty of storage spaces. The balcony made the cabin feel more open. Mama and Daddy had a Concierge Class cabin two decks up. It was basically the same as ours except it was a little larger and had a love seat instead of an armchair. They also had a personal Concierge but he didn’t seem to do more than a regular steward, other than bring a plate of canapés every afternoon. Mama really enjoyed those canapés.

San Juan

Next we were off to explore the ship. We’d taken a 2-day cruise on Summit’s sister ship, Constellation, a couple of years ago so Summit seemed very familiar. It had the same 3-deck Grand Foyer with a backlit marble staircase and long, flowing white curtains. On one deck of the foyer there was an ice-topped martini bar. A deck up was a coffee and pastry shop called Café Al Bacio. Between the martini bar and the coffee shop, the foyer was a great place to hang out, day or night. There were also two outdoor pools and an adults-only pool inside the Solarium. Summit didn’t have all the bells and whistles of the newer ships, but I thought it had a classic, understated sort of elegance.

Grand Foyer

Crush

Fortunes Casino

Cosmopolitan Restaurant

Since the muster drill was scheduled for 7:45, we met Mama and Daddy for dinner at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant at 6. The Cosmopolitan was a pretty 2-story dining room with windows all the way across the back. We were seated at a table near the railing on the upper level, a very nice location since we could people-watch but it wasn’t noisy. Service was slow, which I attributed to the usual first-night disorganization. But then I realized that Daddy didn’t know that the waiters wouldn’t clear our plates until we had all stopped eating. And he just kept eating! :-)  We had to rush to finish our dessert.
 
After the muster drill, Mama and Daddy opted to watch the sail away from their balcony while Ron and I went to the Oceanview Bar at the back of the ship. We followed Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas past the lights of San Juan and out into the ocean. Bon Voyage!


Day 2 - Sea Day