DAY 0 San Juan
We were up around 3am to get ready for 4:30 car to get to EWR airport. No alarm, just excitement. With the car slightly early, we got to the airport just after 5. There are no porters at jet blue anymore. The passenger now does it all- dragging bags in, checking in, printing boarding and luggage tags and scaling up bags. All in all, it was a quick process, as was going through TSA. After breakfast, our flight, JB1289 left on time at 7:33 and we were smoothly delivered to the San Juan terminal by 11:20 am.
After some traffic El Convento was a $26 taxi ride away. Our room was ready so we dropped our bags and lunched
at St. Germain, a little lunch bistro two blocks away. The tapas bar where we typically lunch at the hotel was still closed due to the hurricane.
Afterward we took a few laps around town and ended up in polo, as Randi had a 30% coupon in her phone that she just had to use, that is after the 40% store wide sale.
We enjoyed the wine and cheese reception at 6. Dinner at the hotel was calamari mac and cheese in a red sauce and a meat / cheese cutting board. Our long day's adventure had come to a sleepy ending around 9pm.
DAY 1 Embarkation
We woke up at 7:30 to a beautiful San Juan morning; temps in the low 80s and relatively low humidity for this time of year. We walked to the top floor to see if the ship was in port but couldn’t see through the buildings so we went down to courtyard to have a leisurely breakfast. I had the french toast and Randi had eggs with bacon and fruit. By 11, we checked out and were on our way to Summit.
As our taxi pulled up to Summit we noticed Randy and Connie from London, Ontario were in the taxi in front. We said hello and got on line. By the time we got to the head of the line, cousins Gary and Joan arrived.
Check in was a breeze. Joanna, the events coordinator, escorted us to Michael's Club, which from this point on, I will refer to as now as, Mike's. We had a drink or two then Cheryl and Sommer from the Cypress section of Houston walked in. That completed our crew of eight but soon we were making new friends. Rob and Cindy from Bellaire, also within the Houston area,
joined us. Previous cruisers, Marilyn and Frank from South Jersey were there and were talking to Gary. Mr. Albert who lives aboard Summit, came into Michael's.
We meandered to lunch in Luminae and were happy to see old friends Charles the Maitre d’, as well as Dominic and Fauzi who we're waiters. We sat at a table for four. I had a burger while Randi had the chicken. By the time we finished lunch our bags were in hallway. It was an easy unpack for this veteran cruise team. Here are some pictures of the Royal Suite that was ours for the week.
Muster drill for this cruise was at 5:15pm rather then 7:45 as it was last time. It seemed long and drawn out. But soon, everyone headed to Mike’s where we met Alexandra the bartender/server doing both jobs and slowing service down, not because she was bad at what she does but because this was a two-person operation and it worked very well that way in the past. This time it was only one person.
Dinner was set table for 10 which is a bit too big in my estimation. I much prefer six or eight for table conversation and quality service. Most other times it was Joan, Gary, Randi and myself. I ordered the duck but it was very fatty so I ordered the beef filet which was perfect.
Cheryl had many parties planned in the Penthouse. The first was the sail away party which included bubbly drinks, real bubbles and more! We hit the hay about 11 and slept till about 7
DAY 2 St Thomas
I called Chip, our butler for coffee and croissants at 7 and we enjoyed them on the deck as we maneuvered into the Crown Bay pier, in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. The weather was a perfect 82 degrees and low humidity.
The four jersey boys and girls, decided to stay on board and enjoy the ship, the hot tub and the pool with no one on board to bother us
.Lunch today was at Sushi on Five where we met Daisy. She was very nice and thorough, and served us a wonderful lunch. We were relaxing on our deck till the "single ladies" Penthouse party at 4:45. Why I was there, I don't know, except I was invited by Cheryl. LOL
We met Joanie and Gary at Mike's for drinks before the show and bumped into Sir Clive, an elder statesmen, from Saint Thomas, who was knighted by the Queen of England for all his volunteer work. In addition, his cruising history on all waters, all over the globe began in 1955 and is too extensive to list it all. The production show at 7 was titled, “Soundtrack.” I rated it a 5 while Randi only gave it a 3.
Dinner at Luminae- everybody had the Halibut except for me. I had the first of my many meals I previously requested from "around the world." It was spicy curry beef from India and it was very good. Gary and Joan went to next show while we went to sleep.
DAY 3 St. Martin.
It was cool and began as an overcast day but Randi has many plans for today! After the four of us enjoyed breakfast in Luminae, we grabbed a taxi at 10am and dropped us at the center of front street.
There is very little nap time available on this cruise! Cheryl rang our bell to invite us to a to a 4:45 party which turned out to be rather nice. We are back at Mike's by 5:45 then off to the
Tuscan Grill, an Italian steakhouse at 7. The whole gang is here.. Since I ate there before I decided to order something other then the rib eye steak which Randi had, so I went with the Bronzino which was good but honestly I probably would have enjoyed the steak more.
DAY 4 Sea 1
During our Luminae breakfast Randi met the folks from New Hampshire who we sailed with previously, and finally found out their names- Julie & Ken. Randi wanted to go to the Cruise critic party to meet Pattycakes, which is her screen name, from Brooklyn and did get to find her. Other then that I remember why I avoid these parties. They are not the most exciting events to attend.
We next took a rest by the indoor pool but soon it was time for sushi so we visited Daisy again. Later in Mike's we went to our 3pm appointment with the future cruise manager and booked three new cruises.
Afterwards Randi went to the casino for a bit we went back to the Stateroom for a short rest and found an invitation to attend the officer’s luncheon tomorrow afternoon in the Blu restaurant. But the day was still young, so we went to Mike's to imbibe and enjoyed Clive's company while there.
Next was the 7 o’clock show, starring illusionists, Kyle and Misty, the two on the far outside. I always enjoy these kind of shows and some of the things they performed on stage were just amazing.
Now this Luminae dinner was a little bit of a mix-up for myself and Gary. This is Dominic on the right. I thought that Charles said he was going to make us chicken marsala. Instead it wasn't an Italian dish at all. It was an Indian dish with a name very similar to chicken marsala which I can’t remember. Anyway it was very good we both enjoyed it.
After dinner while Randi played slots in the casino, I went up to the Revelation night club, and watched their version of the newlywed game which is always fun.
DAY 5 Sea 2
Chip brought us coffee then we had a small breakfast since we knew we would be having lunch with the captain in Blu.
Lunch was a very nice and elegant set up. They were tables lined up 3 x 3 forming a large rectangular shape with about 25 people including about five officers. I had the pleasure of
sitting next to Angeliki Iladou, the ships financial officer or what used to be called, The Purser. Lunch was fabulous starting with burrata and tomatoes, Greek salad and a cheese and meat plate. If I remember correctly I had a lamb chops as an entree. It was really nicely done with good conversation, good wine, and good food.
We met in Mike's as usual at six and then had dinner for ten people including Rob and Cindy. I just want to mention here, before I forget, that the internet was problematic this cruise compared to being great last time. It was slow and sporadic and knocked us off line from time to time.
DAY 6 Bermuda 1
During breakfast Gary was lavished with a shirt with one of those funny sayings from you know who....Cheryl. After that, we were on the Hamilton ferry at 10:30.
We walked up and down the town buying a shirt here and a trinket there. We also found a big poopie for Cheryl and a funnel so she could pour her a liquor into empty water bottles. We sat down for some drinks and snacks in a restaurant
called Bullisocial, set in a nice flower filled, little park.
We were back at Mike's at seven and gave Cheryl the stuff we bought today. Her eyes lit up when she saw the size of the poopie and the funnel went over well also. Now, off we go to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Lumanae.
DAY 7 Bermuda 2
We decided on Mike's for breakfast. If you like a continental breakfast and coffee, cappuccino or an eye opener, it's for you. I had a bialy, lox, cream cheese, onion, and capers. Randi had cereal. Next was some well needed sunshine by the pool. Although temperatures were in the 70s, the sun felt strong and good on your body. We spent some time up there until lunch at Sushi on Five; then a little
more pool time. Finally, we went to a crazy sale-away party in Cheryl's Penthouse where she handed out socks with two footed sayings her guests.
Back in our cabin, I phoned Anastasia, our concierge, and asked her to ask a future cruise person to meet with us in Michael's club to go over some paperwork. She told us there would be no problem and there wasn't. In 15 minutes it was done.
DAY 8 Sea 3
Today was wrapping and packing day. We got through most of the packing pretty easily and were able to spend some time on the ship having fun. Randi tried her luck in the casino while I went to see the comedian at the special 3pm show. It was a rescheduled performance from two evenings ago. He was pretty good and the show lasted an hour.
We also had a tour of the bridge today. Here Gary is driving and Joanie is watching.
Cheryl was up to one last trick in Michael’s club tonight. She passed out slippers. Yes, slippers, with animal sayings and animal pictures on them.
Everyone got a kick out of them. We said our goodbyes, just in case, but eventually strolled down the corridor for our last supper in Luminae. No pun intended. Here is another great waiter we had in Luminae, Fauzi.
DAY 9 Disembarkation
I was up early today, way before our scheduled wake up time 6:30. We met up with Joanie and Gary for breakfast. We gave our remaining creamers to the crew in Luminae and said goodbye to the boys.
The bed in our room was already converted to double twins. We headed down to Michael's and weren't there but only a few minutes when Presilla, the sweet, suite manager asked us if we were ready to leave. We disembarked at 9am, and got a porter soon thereafter. He picked up all our bags and liquor except for one shoe bag, but at this point neither of the Hert’s knew that it was left behind. We went to customs and found it a little odd since this was the first time we did not have to fill out a customs form. We passed over our passports and had a short conversation with the officer and we were on our way.
Randi was already in touch with Airbrook Limo so by the time we got out to position six he was just about there. But this was also the time that Gary discovered that the dreaded shoe bag was missing. He decided to go back later to the port to pick it up.
I don’t remember ever getting home this early. By 10 o’clock we were walking in through the front door. Another great cruise has come to an end. We are already looking forward to the next one which is in November.
Some thoughts I provided Celebrity via the survey.
Positive
All the suite staff including in Michaels, Precilla, Anastasia, Alexandra; in our room, Chip Madie; in Lumanae, Charles Dominic and Fauzzi and others.
Negative
Michaels club should have two people serving, a bartender and a server as it used to be. If not, doing both jobs and slows things down. This was a two-ßperson operation,
Positive
Daisy in Sushi on Five. She was very nice and thorough, and served us a wonderful lunch.
Positive
Illusionists, Kyle and Misty. I always enjoy these kind of shows and some of the things they performed were just amazing.
Negative
I just want to mention here before I forget that the Internet was problematic during this cruise compared to being great last time. It was slow and sporadic and knocked us off line from time to time. Others on this cruise as well as some on the previous cruise whom we know, complained about the same problem.
