Summit to Bermuda

By cruisetarp

• June 8, 2013

Despite giving this cruise a less than stellar review last September, our desire to run away from it all won out and we again booked the Celebrity Summit to Bermuda - very much a last minute cruise.

Because we booked so late and the choices of cabins was so limited, we decided to book a guarantee this time. We were immediately assigned the very first cabin on the front of the ship and were not happy with that but a quick call to our TA had us moved to a better location on deck 9 about half way between the center and aft elevators.

We live only about 50 minutes from Cape Liberty so it was a quick, easy drive. We arrived at the pier at 10:45 dropped off luggage, parked the car and went right through scanning, check in and were on the shuttle with no stops along the way. By 11AM we were drinking our welcome aboard champagne and heading to the buffet for an early lunch. Buffet was standard food - some better than others but we never went hungry. All during the week never had a problem finding a clean table. We ate breakfast and most lunches at the buffet. The morning waffles while watching the sunrise is a perfect way to start any day.

Cabins were ready at 1PM and all seemed fine until we tried to put our passports and money in the safe. It would not lock. We called Guest Services and by the time we hung up the phone they were at the door. He needed to go get a new battery for it but was back within 5 minutes After that our toilet wouldn't flush and that also was fixed within 10 minutes. Our room attendant was terrific. Kept the room all nice and clean and always seemed to appear out of nowhere to open the door for us.

After the compulsory Muster drill we are off and headed to Bermuda in fog so thick we could barely see the bridge as we passed under it but by later that evening it cleared and we had absolutely picture perfect weather until about 4 hours after we left Bermuda on Friday.

We had a wonderful, fun table for 8 right at the huge back windows of the restaurant. We couldn't have asked for a better location and the food and service in the dining room was wonderful. Only the absence of Escargot made Jim and 2 others at our table slightly grumpy but they soon found other things they liked. My only complaint with the dining room was the bread. Every night 3 slices of italian bread and 4 breaksticks. Same thing every night. They had a nice variety of breads and rolls at the buffet so I don't know why it was like this but our head waiter told us this was "orders from Miami" Well Miami, we don't like this!

Celebrity has one of the best loyalty programs IMO and as Elite, the evening cocktail hour was a very nice perk. We got to meet so many lovely fellow cruisers and the Senior Staff was always popping in to say Hi. Bringing home a suitcase full of mostly clean laundry thanks to the free laundry for Elite was definatley another perk. The Loyalty Ambassador just could not do enough for you.

Show's were good - same production shows we saw last September so didn't bother going and we had already seen 2 of the guest performers. There was always a lot going on other than the shows though so we were never bored. Although their new program where they bring on a performer from Broadway was excellent

We spent most of our time in the Solarium in the Thalassotherapy pool. What a way to ease all the aches and pains we had. Never had a problem finding a lounger. I wish all the ships had this T-pool. It is so relaxing. You can also pick up a nice healthy lunch here which we did several times

The senior staff was terrific. They were out and about every evening visiting the passengers and just making sure everyone was enjoying their trip. Our Captain (who barely looked old enough to drive a car, no less pilot a ship) announced every morning during his report from the bridge when he would be at the coffee shop - usually for about an hour every day - and told everyone to stop by and say Hi. I had never in 40 cruises seen that done before. He and the Cruise Director were there every day.

Bermuda was just wonderful. I don't know why I feel so at peace and relaxed there. Other than spending time at Horseshoe Beach we didn't do a lot - just rode the ferries, did a little shopping and a lot of walking around. So clean, quiet and the lovliest people we have ever met in all our travels.

We were scheduled to disembark at 8:30 but were called off the ship as soon as we entered the lounge at 8:15.

All in all a wonderful trip - would go again tomorrow if I could.