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First cruise - did it live up to expectations?
Reviewed By: Goldman, Edgware on 20th Aug 2008
Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises	Times cruised before: 0
Cruise Ship: Summit	Sailed: August, 2008
Destination: Mediterranean	Age: 46-55

Our first cruise - and our friends that have cruised before said that we would never do any other kind of holiday again!! Well we did thoroughly enjoy ourselves and will cruise again - but not every year. The Summit was a good ship and, although a little old in cruising circles, is in good shape, few signs of wear and tear and with a pleasant and helpful crew. Our cruise was round the Mediterranean - going from Venice to Barcelona was, with hindsight, perhaps the wrong direction as stopping in Naples, Rome, Florence and the South of France on 3 consecutive days at the end of the cruise wore us out. Probably one major stop too many although as fist time cruisers maybe we tried to do too much in trying to visit all the major cities - Rome and Florence are a long way from the ship. Celebrity is noted as being up-market and catering for the slightly older passenger base - well there were some 450 kids on our cruise and with the fall in the $ and the increasing ratio of Europeans to Americans, I'm not quite sure that the line has got the balance correct. Life on board seemed to stop around midnight and, although we are not great late birds, we did on a couple of occasions look for things to do around midnight. We’d heard about late night buffets and lively bars - they didn't seem to exist on the Summit. This may have also something to do with the dining arrangements - the early sitting was at 6.15 and the late sitting at 8.45 - we took the latter and rarely finished dinner before 10.30 - even if there were midnight buffets I doubt we would have wanted more food so soon - but seriously 6.15 is too early (particularly if you go on a long excursion) and 8.45 is too - there must be a way to rationalise dinners. How about cutting out the (American!) separate salad course and have late night buffets instead of desert and coffee??? Talking of excursions - we only took 1 - they are far too expensive and it was much easier to do our own thing (although you need to research carefully to get the best) - Some people must have nearly doubled the cost of their holiday with the number of excursions they took - and on some days out we saw more than they did - in less time and more detail - their major advantage was in skipping museum queues - but we met an American family who had managed to do this with little cost over the internet. Summit was a good ship - but not as good as friends who had already cruised on her said - I suspect the problem is that the company has made cutbacks which are understandable given the weakness of the dollar and the rising cost of fuel. - the added extras that made Celebrity a cut above the other lines seemed to have been the things that had been cut back - a couple of families who had cruised before said that they didn't now see the added value in Celebrity that they were paying for. We did have a few gripes - at the main eating venue outside of the main restaurant - it was a bit too cafeteria like for an upmarket ship and the coffe was awful - why should we have to go to a different eating venue and pay extra for decent coffee? No juices or smothies for breakfast - again unless you paid extra or had room service. Some of the entertainment was good - some was a little to downmarket and holiday camp style for our liking - although the entertainment staff did work hard and individually grew on you after the initial cheesiness - but not being on any other cruises we had nothing to compare with and maybe this is what it's like on all ships! But overall did we enjoy ourselves - yes! - would we cruise again - definitely! and would we recommend the Celebrity Summit - a qualified yes
Quality of Food
Quality of food was good - but sometimes tended to come up warm rather than hot
Entertainment
Some activities were a little holiday camp like - didn't like the violinist and the shows ranged form good to excellent
Shore Excursions
Generally did our own thing as the ship's excursions were exhorbitant
Staff
All very good - our cabin attendants did everything thye could to make us comfortable
Children's Facilities
Didn't cater that well for the 16 - 18 age group
Onboard Activities
Lack of activities late night - quizzes etc all seemed to follow the same format
Cabins
Excellently designed
Overall Rating

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Opinion: Agree Comment by Rodman, Ayr (25 Aug 08 11:13) about this REVIEW.

This review could have been written by myself and couldn't agree more. We have cruised before, Royal Caribbean and Princess, and can assure you the standard of these ships was far superior to the Summit which we found to be tired and in need of a major makeover.The visits to these destinations did test the stamina and my patience almost snapped when they announced we were making a slight route diversion to visit a leather factory on the way to Florence, I assume you were subjected to the same 'added extra'? Your observation regarding the quality of food is spot on and we were disappointed with the buffet which we found to be repetitive and bland when compared to the other ships, especially the Caribbean Princess. Another major concern of ours, was the relaxed attitude to smoking which added to the rather musty smell in some of the lounges and other parts of the ship. I realise that this is a personal opinion and will not be shared by others but we were not quite so aware of this situation on the previous ships. We will certainly cruise again but not with Celebrity. Might I suggest you try a cruise on the Caribbean Princess!

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Comment by Goldman, London (25 Aug 08 19:54) about a COMMENT by Rodman (25 Aug 08 11:13)

I have to say that we had no problems with the condition of the ship, but yes - you are quite right we did have the slight route diversion on a trip - to a cameo factory out side of Naples - one must however be positive and it did provide a good toilet stop!! I agree with your comments about the buffet - my wife particularly remarked about the lack of variety of fruit - especially as we were in the Mediterranean and the best time of the season (if you liked melon you were OK) and as a non smoker the you again are right about the musty smell - but since Celebrity's policy is changing and smoking is to be banned anywhere in the ship (from October I believe) I think this problem will solve itself. Overall however we did enjoy the experience although maybe we would be better to cruise out of school holidays which is easier said than done since my wife works in a school!

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Comment by Rodman, AYR (26 Aug 08 10:10) about a COMMENT by Goldman (25 Aug 08 19:54)

Both you and I will be cruising with children for a few years to come as my wife also works in education. Should maybe take off the Victor Meldrew hat and concentrate on the good moments, which were many. We had a great holiday, visited fabulous ports, paticularly Santorini and Dubrovnik and were really impressed by Villefranche where I managed a quick dip in the med! Met some really nice and interesting people and put the world to rights mainly over a cocktail as the ship set sail. I was unaware of the pending smoking ban and this could lead to a reappraisal of Celebrity if they are the pioneers of this policy. Thanks for that! We will give it a miss next year but have a family cruise to celebrate another big birthday in 2010. They keep coming 'thick and fast' Enjoy your next cruise.

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