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Celebrity Cruise Line

GTS Summit

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Sharon Davis
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip:May 6, 2005
Itinerary: Repositioning

The cruise was for a summer repositioning in Alaska, and the itinerary -- West Coast from San Diego north and Inside Passage of Alaska (2 weeks) was excellent, and the reason for the trip. Expect older group of passengers because of cruise length and time of year. Ship beautiful in appearance, excellent service, average food. Some drawbacks noted below.

We liked the public areas, though didn't use them that much. There seemed like lots of little nooks and crannies that would be fun to sit in if you wanted privacy. The Celebrity Theater was the BEST theater we've seen on any ship; loved it -- we always sat in the front row center of the balcony (Deck 5) looking down on the action; great! People usually started arriving about 20 minutes before performances vice the 45-60 minutes we've seen on some ships. Liked the Mast Bar (aft), but cooler weather prevented using it much. Casino had lots of slots (including nickels), but don't plan on winning much.

Food was very disappointing! Very average. Cheap. Main dining room served EEL (!) TWICE and NO Alaskan King Crab!! Seafood on the last formal night was talapia; they also served several other unknown fish, plus the expected cod, sole, halibut, salmon. Quality wasn't so great -- our waiter always warned us NOT to order the lamb. Wine was very expensive -- cheapest was $8 plus 15% gratuity. Too much French wine as well with little American. However, you could taste the alcohol in mixed drinks, which were generally less expensive than wine. The 10th deck cafe had soup/sandwich bar, pasta bar, burger and pizza bar, ice cream bar, plus the standard cafeteria food so lots of variety.

Extremely disappointed. We booked a year in advance on the 9th deck with a deluxe stateroom/balcony. Nowhere in any brochures is there notice that the ENTIRE 9TH DECK is obstructed view (particularly when going to mountainous/glacier areas where balcony view is important)! This is true for every Millenium-class ship (4) in their fleet!! The ship design expands the 10th deck (above) by about 10 feet on either side so that's an overhang that significantly reduces the view. Additionally, the supports for the extension all rise from the 9th deck, so side views are all of support structures. Yet they charge the higher prices. Also, particularly aft, but I'm told by the concierge also in the forward section, the noise from the cafe above from about midnight to 4 am can keep you awake -- especially light sleepers (me). I received a discount on a future cruise because I complained about the noise twice keeping me awake all night. Additionally, because of the extended deck in the cafe, people eating in the alcoves there can look down on people in the 7th and 8th deck balconies -- so privacy can be limited. If you are scheduled for a 9th deck cabin and plan to be on the balcony a lot change to the 7th or 8th deck IMMEDIATELY!! The stateroom itself was nice enough, though storage was limited for a 2 week cruise with heavy cold weather clothes. It would probably be fine for a shorter warm weather cruise. We did find it strange that even while sailing along the entire west coast we only news was CNN and CNN Headlines on TV, and sometimes we didn't get that -- no local stations (commercial) even in port.

The Celebrity Singers and Dancers were excellent; loved their shows. Selectively attended other shows with varying enjoyment. Cirque du Soleil is just plain weird -- I don't get the draw!!

Didn't see much wildlife, though started seeing whales the day after San Francisco. There were a wide variety of tours for each port. We took the city overview tours in places we hadn't been. We took more active tours in Alaska, where we'd cruised before -- 10 mile biking in Juneau, 2 mile hike of Chilkoot Trail then return rafting in Skagway, and rainforest hike and rafting in Ketchikan. Because they were more active, the tours were small -- 6, 4, and 13 people respectively. They were lots of fun and we'd do them again. However, Celebrity "people moving" for shore excursions, etc, is very disorganized. Celebrity scheduled TWO of their cruise ships in Ketchikan, and our ship had to tender in while the other (Mercury) got the pier. Both Celebrity ships caravaned to Vancouver for debarkation and arrived at the same time. Again Mercury got priority and Summit passengers suffered in time getting off the ship, luggage delivery 45 minutes late at the airport, etc.

Generally 70+ in age (we're mid 50s), and lots of foreigners. We had large groups of Australians, Japanese, British, and Germans. Of course, this repositioning cruise would be a perfect opportunity for foreigners to see more of the US than the normal cruise/land tour would provide. Enjoyed talking to everyone, but didn't make any lifetime friends on this cruise.