Summit 042614

 

8 night repo cruise on Summit #55/56. Cabin 6138 Sky Suite.

San Juan 1 additional nite, St. M, St T, Tortola, Sea, Bermuda overnight, Sea and NJ. Captain Leonardos Palaiokrassas; Hotel Dir.: Raffaele Bernardini, GRM.: Cristian Comirla, Cruise Dir.: Lisa Richard, Capt. Club.: Raluca Rizescu, Butler: Dominik, Room Steward: Anthony, Asst: Johnathan; Waiter: Gwen; Asst, Waiter: Sophia.

We started off on a new airline for us- Jet Blue. We had an eight AM flight from Newark, non stop to San Juan Puerto Rico. Randi had the car pick us up at 430. I thought we got some pretty good airfare, $160 per person plus 1 bag free. Ooops, I almost forgot, we upgraded for $30, which got us additional leg room and security "easy on," which was pretty good. Jet blue was nice; no problems except for the TVs that didn't work but the people behind us were nice enough to switch with us.

Got to SJ on time. While we were getting our bags, Randi realized her phone wasn't working. After what seemed like hours on the phone with many Verizon reps, a girl got it going. "Girl power" I think was the phrase, Randi shouted when the girl at the other end got the phone going.. Turned out later that the phone had to be replaced when we got home due to the mouthpiece not working.

Headed to El Convento and dropped out bags off while we headed for lunch and cocktails at Marilyn's place, did some pocketbook shopping and started the beginning of a relaxation vacation.

We had dinner at the hotel's tappas bar and called it an early night. Little did we know what was going to happen next.

I woke up around 2am hearing the crackle of a plastic water bottle and the next thing I heard was a terrible thump. I called out to Randi but there was no answer. As I rushed to turn the light on to see what was going on, I found Randi on the tile floor, face down and unresponsive. As I grabbed her in my arms and shouted her name for what seemed to be an hour, it really was only about 10 or 15 seconds before she came around from a fainting spell. She thought she had made it back to the bed and didn't know why I was 'waking her up.' Soon thereafter, I realized she was bleeding from the mouth area. We surmise when she hit the floor with her face, she bit her lip, knocked her teeth, bruised a cheek and bumped her eye which turned colors. I cleaned her up and got her back to bed trying to keep her awake for a while to make sure she was OK. Very scary.

In the morning she realized that her teeth slightly shifted. I said that maybe we should go home but she said no, made an appointment with the dentist for when we got home, then proceeded to have some breakfast before leaving for the ship.





 
Once aboard, we met up with Roger and Cil, Gail, Jeff and Kevin. Had some lunch in the bistro on five and went to see our stateroom.

On the way we bumped into an old friend, Anita du Bruyn, the cruise sales manager from South Africa. She helped us book our next two cruises while on this cruise. She looked great and Randi looked fabulous!

We then arrived at the Royal Suite. It wasn't the original stateroom that we booked but we found that its price became comparable to our room so we upgraded ourselves. We had this suite once before. It has a large living room that combines with the dining room.

 

There is a separate bedroom and great bath with glass stall shower doors.

Randi mentioned that she didn't like to run through the hallway to get from the bedroom to the bathroom. We also had some great attendants to take care of us: Dominic the Butler who we have met before and Anthony and Johnathan.

The one nice thing about being in a Celebrity suite and above is that there is a Concierge to help with anything. His name was Cesar. He hosts Michael's club which is now exclusively a lounge for those suites with free drinks and snacks, most anytime of the day.

We spent most of our cocktail hours at the regular captains club cocktail hour in the Revelations Bar deck 11 fwd with many new and old friends like Paul and Christine, Frank and Marilyn, Larry and Nancy, Cil and Roger and our close friend Gail.

Our table in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant was 206, to the right of the Captains table. Each night we dined with Gail, Jeff and Kevin, Mike and Allison. It was a good cross mix to make lively dinner conversation. Gwen and Sophia turned out to be a good wait staff; Unfortunately, Celebrity removed the bar servers from the main restaurant so they have less time to interject with the passengers. There were other reductions in staff for a total I was told of about 50.

At our first port, St. Martin, Randi stopped in at Ultimate Jewelers and traded up a few old items and I got a thicker chain for my old one. We also ordered some liquor from Gulmohrs to take home with us.

That evening we were invited to the Captains table with Gail for Dinner. We never had this before but at this table, there was a different menu then at all the other tables and it consisted of many dishes from the other restaurants on the ship. Dinner and the company was a very nice time.


 
In St. Thomas we walked around the shops in Havensight near the cruise ship and got back on board.

In Tortola, BVI., 7 of us cabbed with a few more to Gail's favorite beach in the world, Cane Garden Bay. While we had a good time there, Gail was disappointed that the place she used to patronize, the Big Banana, was sold and not open and Judith, her favorite bartender was no longer there either, but Gail managed to have a "local" call her on their phone just to say hello.

Wednesday, Randi and I hosted a small get together in the Royal Suite with our table mates and our cocktail friends. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful spread with champagne, wine, cheeses, shrimp cocktail and grilled shrimp. We enjoyed until about 8:20.

That night Randi and I took Gail and the boys for a birthday dinner at Normandie restaurant. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening which lasted from 830 to about midnight. Unfortunately they forgot to bring over the cheese cart but Jordan, the restaurant matre'd from NJ, made it good for us. He invited us another evening to enjoy wine and cheese, and we did, in the wine cellar room. A very nice aperitif before that evening's dinner.

As we sailed into Bermuda, Jeff & Kevin hosted a lunch at Bistro on Five for Gail, Randi and me which was very nice. We arrived in Bermuda at about 1pm. We waited for the next day to disembark, when we took the trolley to the shops with everyone including Roger.


Our last day at sea was a packing day but we were able to do that fairly quickly and still have almost the whole day to enjoy the ship.

Some notes:

There is a new alliance of Celebrity and Sin City Comedy. The show has been getting a preview on this cruise. Some say that it is too much on the ‘wild’ side and they didn’t like it. I have also heard that it has packed out on the scheduled nights and they have added one extra night to accommodate more audiences.

We had an additional scheduled formal on this cruise and we are not sure why. We've done this cruise for about the last 4 or 5 years and it has always been 2 formal nights which is what it is scheduled to be on an eight night cruise.

One disappointment was that the brunch in the main dining room was discontinued. This was a favorite event which we enjoyed attending in the past. Hopefully it will be restarted.

As I mentioned before there have been some personnel cuts for the crew, which have been impacting the crew to pax relationship. More would be detrimental, so my plea is for no more.

Captain Leo did a great job meeting and greeting all his passengers on this cruise. We need more outgoing Masters like him.



Lastly, sorry for little pictures on this cruise but my picture taking motivation simply was not there this cruise as we have done it may times before.

The disembarkation in Bayonne went really smoothly as we were suite VIPs and moved right though. Back in the house at 10:30 that Sunday morning. Another nice cruise!

To see all the pictures, click here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/markdegennaro/Summit042614?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMHRvpXp3tmJPA&feat=directlink

Infinity 112213

15 night panama canal. cruise 52, 53 & 54. Cabin 6131 Sky Suite.

San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Cruising the Panama Canal; Colon, Panama; Cartagena, Columbia; Ft Lauderdale; and seven sea days. Captain Michael Sympouras; Hotel Dir.: Paul Kelley, GRM.: Mario Tavares, Cruise Dir.: Pete Baker, Capt. Club.: Jenny Cerezo, Butler: Rogilio, Room Steward: Newman Asst: Mohamed; Waiter: Gilberto; Asst, Waiter: Asep.

 

The car picked us up at 4 am for a 8:10am Delta NS flight from JFK to SAN. The fact that we got to JFK in record time, in 60 minutes, we could have left a little later. Sometime before sailing day, Randi decided to upgrade us so we traveled in comfort and had nice omelets for breakfast. Six hours later we arrived in San Diego and took a quick 5 minute cab ride to the pier.

 

We dropped our bags off and headed to Ralphs, a supermarket / wine store to pick up coffee creamers and wine. It was a short 15 minute walk from the ship. When we got on board, we made reservations for the SS United States restaurant at 6 pm since we were still on NY time. That worked out well.

 

 

We've been in this cabin before, so there was no new surprises for us here.

 

Our stateroom attendants, Mohammad and Newman were great and always had our room done in the snap of a finger. Along the trip, we met a former Butler, Santoso and a former cabin stewardess, Marta.

As we began cruising down the coast of Mexico toward Cabo, the seas were smooth seas and the cool temps in the high 60s; Nice and relaxing. We strolled to the SS United States specialty restaurant.

Joanie have would love the Lobster cooked table side in a cream sauce.  It was superb as was the double appetizers that we had. After having part of a delicious bottle of Fantinel Prosecco and a Macon Villages with dinner we went back to the room to fall out. They leftover wine went to our table the next night.

 

 

DAY 2 was a sea day and during that day we upgraded our Nov 23, 2014 cruise to a suite since Celebrity was having a 85% on, 15% off promo that ended the next day. It is a 14 night RT Miami through the carib on the Celebrity Eclipse. While booking with Tomo, we saw Anita, a veteran cruise sales manager, who we knew of before. Celebrity now has a staff of three future cruise agents working. It’s nice not having to wait.

 

We had lunch with some nice folks from Canada; Bernie and Ann from Nova Scotia and Peter and Meg from Vancouver Canada. For dinner our table mates were Ralph and Donna from Sacramento CA., and Andrew and Gail from Carefree, Arizona; nice name for a town, right?  This was the first formal evening of the cruise.

 

ON DAY 3 We tendered In Cabo san Lucas and walked around the boardwalk surrounding the marina area.

While taking our little walk, Randi found a little friend.

DAY 4  The next day we enjoyed Puerto Vallarta. We took a 20 minute walk to the mall where Randi was able to use the hi-speed Internet and check her office email.

 

 

 

 

Once done there, we strolled Wal-Mart to buy a belt for that new slim waist, that she forgot to put in the suitcase.

 

 

 

 

On DAY 5 the next sea day, we attended the officers party, enjoyed the company of Andrew and Gail.

 

   That evening we went to Qsine, the funky restaurant where you can never finish the food.

 

 

 

DAY 6/7 After another sea day we called in the port of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, Randi and I booked the auto safari nature park and zoo tour. After the hour drive, it was like going through the great adventure safari. It was enjoyable except for the long ride. We came back to port and bought some colorful scarves. That evening we had our turkey dinners for Thanksgiving in the Trellis restaurant.

 

 DAY 8 Black Friday was a sea day and the stores were crowed on ship. We picked up a few items on discount.

 

This may be a good time to make some observations and changes on Celebrity.

1. The new 3 person staff at the future cruise desk works well and was needed badly
2. Pastries and desserts were not up to par on this cruise. In fact although asking many times, a cheese danish was not to be found anywhere.
3. Blue towels near the pool were frequently stained and discolored.
4. The Captains club has added 2 new tiers while we were on this cruise. We’ll see how that plays out.
5. Dining room service was slightly less then normal and we noticed that at the Captain’s table the bread was presented in baskets and was not delivered individually by the waiter.
6. The Captain’s Club Party had very little food, with no carving stations, sushi or crepes. Most of what was served was the same finger food and canapés as the evening Social Hour.
7. The canned music on the ship was terrible. It was too loud outside and in the public rooms and too mod, like rap, for the Celebrity crowd. What happened to the standard Jimmy Buffet and such? The congo/dj duo was terrible too. All of the other entertainment was better then average for Celebrity.
8. You cant beat the staff. They are the friendliest ever!

 

 

DAY 9 Our next port before the canal was Costa Rica. We first saw an artist working on some sculptures in the sand. We walked through town had a cold drink since it was hot.

 On the way back, we walked through a market. By the time we got back to the ship, the sand sculptures were finished. That evening we dined again in Qsine.

 

 

 

DAY 10 While we were at sea, Jenny, the Captains club hostess, led the Captains club party along with the officers, the Captain and other cruisers. The buffet tables of food were eliminated. Now there were only food trays.

 

 

 

DAY 11 The Panama Canal was the big event. We got up early and witnessed the Panama Canal crossing which started about 7 am and ended about 5 pm. The crossing began at the bridge, crossed through 3 sets of locks, a few more bridges, and cruised the cut and the lake at about 13-14 knots.

 

 

 

 

From the angled out balcony that we have on the port side, you can witness everything including many ships, go by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 12 In Colon Panama we opted to stay in the little square to avoid the bad surrounding element.

 

 

 

 

Randi found a place to work from which was slow Internet so we moved on to a restaurant where it was much faster, ordered 2 beers and a large sandwich which we spilt and paid $15 with tip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somewhere along the way we saw Andrew and Gail and took a quick snap.

 

 

 

Day 13 Cartagena Columbia was our last port before the cruise ended in Lauderdale. The port area was set up nicely, with shops of course but also a small natural zoo with parrots toucans, red squirrels, and I petted a deer.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 14 / 15 were beautiful sea days. The first of which was the last formal night where Randi dressed up like a model as we were invited to the Hotel Director's table for dinner..

We dined with Paul Kelley the Hotel Director and Mario Tavares, the Guest Relations Manager, along with Harry and Bev, Nick and Nancy, Larry and David. This was one of the best Captain tables we've ever attended. The host and guest were so natural, easygoing and not forced. And then they started buying shots of Jägermeister; a first for Randi. She didn’t know what is. It is a German 70-proof digestive made with 56 herbs and spices. She enjoyed and so did Nancy.

 

 

We met our new friends from last night’s table at the cocktail party.

 

 

 

We had more fun with them tonight.

 

Great time, till next time.

If you would like to see all the rest of the pictures, go here:

the Infinity 112213 pictures

 

 

 

 

Summit 042713

8 night repo plus 1 day prior in SJU.
Cruise 50 & 51. Cabin 6106 CS.

1 day in San Juan, Puerto Rico then St.M; St.T. Tortola, Bermuda overnight and ending in NJ. Captain Leonardos Palaiokrassas; Hotel Dir.: Niina Hautaniemi, GRM.: Marisa Rebelo, Cruise Dir.: Alexander Yepremian, Capt Club.: Ti-An, Butler: Dominic, Waiter: Wawan.

We've done this cruise for about 3 springs in a row now. I got a great price of $149 on our American Airlines flight. Only this time we were flying out of JFK. The ride there was not bad; only 70 minutes but that's because we left the house at 3AM. 

We splurged this time and booked our pre stay at El Convento, a luxurious hotel in Old San Juan. When we got there around 11:30AM, and I inquired about our early check in request, the hotel desk person looked concerned. She said your room will be ready in 10 minutes, or if you want to wait until this afternoon, we would like to offer you the Presidential Suite.

Well, we wanted our room now, so we took the Standard room...Only kidding! We decided to walk in Old SJU & come back later for our suite.

So we dropped our bags with George, we strolled around to the side of the hotel and found the outdoor Tapas bar. We picked some delicious tidbits and had a few adult beverages, then on for our walk in Old San Juan. Randi did her usual stops in Dooney and Coach Outlets, but I don’t believe they had anything for her this time. So we walked into the square and into the superette to check out the wine beer and soda prices for the cruise. We also tried to find Oriental Mix for our friend Gail, who was on board already, since she was also on the previous cruise. We will join up with her tomorrow. We couldn’t find the mix there so we strolled down to CVS along the water but couldn't find it there either. Time to go back to the hotel.

When we picked up our key, we walked through the open air, center courtyard of the hotel where the main restaurant is and picked up the elevator to room 307. One small door? How nice could it be inside?

 Well the door opened into a large vestibule, were we stored our suitcases. To the left and through the French doors was the

living room, dining room combination that had to be at least 25' x 50'.

Behind the living room was a small bathroom, but there was also the master bathroom, shown here with beautiful tile, a full bath with a wonderful shower...Just right for el Presidente!

To the right was a master bedroom with a King size bed for my princess. Shutters on all the windows worked so well to keep the light in or out as you wanted.

Randi crashed on the couch for about an hour and a half and then it was time for complimentary

wine and cheese on the deck. All guests of El Convento are invited. It was a nice hour or so of outdoor relaxing,

plus they were having a historical reenactment across the street at the church steps that we could view from the deck.

While we were enjoying the wine and cheese, we couldn't help to notice, that maybe cousin Larry snuck his way into the festivities. It turned out not to be him.

After a nice dinner in the hotel's courtyard, and after being up from 2am, we were ready to sleep, presidential style.

Because the room was so fully blacked out with the great wooden shutters, we slept later than normal but managed to get our act together for breakfast.

Afterwards we took a morning stroll in the delicious early day sun and picked up the wine, beer and soda. After packing it all up we cabbed over to the Summit on the Pan American pier where we hooked up with Rob and Michelle.


Boarding was trouble free and easy, and before you knew it we were back "home." As we slinked past Bistro on 5,

we spotted our good friend Gail, perhaps you know her as Tuggers on Cruise Critic. We were so excited when she told us that she was booking this particular cruise. It had been a very long time since we saw each other and we had a lot of catching up to do. She's a fantastic person with a fabulous attitude and we love and enjoy her company and witty insight.

She was having lunch with Cil and Roger from Providence, RI. We promised to meet at the Martini bar for drinks later.

It turned out to be a large crowd gasping for martinis. Joan and Al had met up with us and a few more friends made it around a dozen. Before you knew it the Muster drill sounded at 7:45 and the first party was over. The drill was quite painless and quick and so we were off to select dining, a first for us and for a variety of reasons, a last.

After a slight wait to be seated we enjoyed a nice dinner at a table for eight, set for seven. Everyone was tired though and afterwards, we called it a night and when back to the cabin.

We had the same cabin as the last spring cruise, the celebrity suite. It included a living room with floor to ceiling windows, eating area, bedroom, bath and

balcony. Dominic was more than happy to take care of us. He even set up a nice party to share with our friends.

Randi wore my favorite new orange dress and she looked beautiful in it.

St. Martin was our first port of call. Known to some as the shopping island... that is what we did. We stopped in Ultimate jewelry and saw Sam. Randi got a new bracelet and we bought for cousin Joanie some gold pearl earrings. I had some rings of mine sized. Michelle got some stuff for the kids. Joan surprised us all and walked out empty handed. I think a first! I also got 12 bottles of liquor at Gulmohrs including Pomegranate Vodka for Joanie, but wound up having, for the first time to pay tax on it when we went back through customs.

Now back to select dining. Tonight was formal night and Gail, Randi and I were invited to the captain’s table. Gail accepted, and that is no problem. We declined as we decided to stay with

our group. Because we were at select seating, we were showed to our table upstairs with a different waiter. Having another waiter is not necessarily a bad thing; as long as he is a good waiter and in fact

our new waiter was very good, however, when you have one waiter, everyone becomes familiar with each other and their likes and dislikes. Meanwhile, the menu is still missing some favorites. Escargot, one of my favorite apps and Strip Steak are still off the menu. I wish they would keep items like these available as it is a way to keep Celebrity a notch above, as a premium cruise line.

On St Thomas Rob and Michelle, Randi and I headed to Megan’s Bay, as the locals say, one of the ten best beaches in the world. While it was indeed nice, I am thinking to myself that Gail had the right idea on this one, to stay on the ship and enjoy. You miss the 30 minute taxi ride both ways and let’s not forget the fare. The sun would have been the same on the ship and we would have had a more relaxing time. Will keep this in mind for next time.

Ahhh Tortola. We love the beach at Cane Garden Bay. Gail and Jeff turned us on to this a few years back. Around 8AM, the five of us taxied at $8 per person to visit the Big Banana, a place

where you can get a chair, a beautiful beach and 2 for 1 painkillers, from smiling bartender, Judith. Painkillers are rum based drinks with coconut and nutmeg. They go down very smoothly and before you know it there is no pain any more.

Everybody was having fun. I found Cosmo, a beach bum dog, Randi read, Rob walked the beach and Michelle and

Gail found a seat at the bar. Now I had 2 painkillers myself and because they were so strong, decided to quit at that. Michelle and Gail enjoyed a couple more than I. To make a long story short, it was good that they were with us or they would have missed the ship. As it was we got there with only minutes to spare.

 Everybody went back to their cabins to get ready for the Captain's club celebration, where Gail was being honored as the top cruiser, with 78 Celebrity Cruises. Randi and I showered and changed. I called Gail to see if she needed help going up but since there was no answer, I assumed she was up there already, so we headed up to Revelations where the party was being held. When we saw the captain’s club hostess, Ti-Ann, we asked if she saw Gail. When she said no, Randi explained she may be asleep in her cabin. Ti-Ann arranged for the room steward to open the door when we arrived. Randi found her sleeping like a baby.

Kudos to Gail. She was up, dressed and at her party within 20 minutes and looking pretty good at that! She enjoyed her introduction and a bouquet of roses from the Captain. All’s well that ends well.

We had a beautiful sea day as we headed to Bermuda. When we got there though, I decided that in the future, Bermuda is in the same category as St Thomas. I think I will stay on the

ship. How many times can you visit the shops at Kings Wharf or see the Maritime museum? The good thing about the museum is that it is

where the dolphins are penned if you want to swim with them.

The second night in Bermuda, we, along with

Gail treated all nine of us to a dinner at Normandy, one of the specialty restaurants on board that is class all the way. Sean the Matre'd placed us at a beautiful oval table.

Some food was prepared table side and some just brought to the table but one thing is for sure, there were no complaints. Everyone seemed to enjoy each others company and wonderful food.

On the last formal night, the festivities seemed to be pared down for the baked Alaska parade. It could have been because we were on select dining though. This reminds me, that was a reason that I didn’t get a picture of our wait staff as I usually do. They were a pretty good team.

The last day is always a little melancholy. You need to say goodbye to old friends and new ones too. You thank everyone on board who made things fantastic for you on another great cruise.

We plan to see at least Gail on the next one as we sail the Panama Canal but this one had to come to an end. The good thing though about sailing back to beautiful Bayonne NJ is that we were home by 10am and Randi had the laundry done by 1.
PS. Did I tell you she loves to do laundry?!

Smooth sailing!

To view all the cruise pictures,
Click here:
summit 042713