We were worried that we would not like a larger ship such as the Summit since all our other cruises have been on traditional sizes ships, but bigger was better. The ship dwarfed the nearby ships in port. Lines were short; checkin was a breeze. Even disembarkation at the end of the cruise was painless; only a 15 minute wait. We choose the cruise because of the Southern Caribbean itinerary and it did not disappoint. This was our fourh cruise and it was by far the best.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food was great. We have been on Celebrity twice and Norwegian twice and the Summit's food was the best. However we do enjoy the freestyle dining on Norwegian rather than the set seatings in the evening. Even room service was great, on time every day with coffee or breakfast. One evening we could not make dinner and we were able to order room service from the main dining room menu.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The entertainment was usual cruise ship fare good but not headline. Most of the activities were also the usual, plenty of them but still the usual.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Every staff member was helpful, answered each question, and did their job well. But the real measure of a staff is how they handle problems. In Bonaire while in port the Summit experienced an complete power failure, no electricity, water, or sewer. That meant manual reboarding the ship, only 4 at a time. the line to board soon had hundreds of people in it. Very soon the ships officers (about 8 of them) were going down the line explaining the problem. Staff began rolling out carts full of bottled water and the officers themselves took full boxes of water and began handing out the water to everyone. After power was returned the line began to move very fast, but one "portly" officer coat over his arm stayed on the dock until the last person was on board. Dinners were one hour late but up to standard, the Summit left on time, and everyone had a story about where they were when the power went out. Oh we were on our balcony watching it all happen.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was laid out like most cruise ships so it was very easy to find everything. The difference was that it was larger. You did not feel like everything was shoehorned in to fit. The Summit was well maintained, clean, beautifully decorated with art and photographs. The aqua spa pool was worth the trip.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had a room on the 8th deck with a balcony which made the very comfortable room even feel larger. The bath and shower were large by ship standards. But don't expect any amenities in the bathroom though other than a bar of soap and a shampoo dispenser on the wall of the shower. The stateroom was great with room for everything (push the bags under the bed) and very clean and the cabin steward was very attentive.
Grenada was a larger version of Dominica, but you can still see lots of damage from the last hurricane and lots of construction. Cab drivers are very pushy trying to get you to hire them for a tour; all pricing is very negotiable. After making our "deal" we set off for a great tour of the island.
What a wonderful site to see waking up in the morning. A picturesque village with the mountains behind. We took a walk around and looked at all the usual tourist fare in about 50 or so vendor booths. After that we took on of the ships excursions into the rain forest to see the twin water falls. Very nice. We ate lunch upon our return onboard the ship; did not really feel adventurous enough to try any of the local restaurants.
Of course this is the place to shop on this cruise. It being Sunday only the Dutch side is open on Sunday, but with its hundreds of jewelry and designer shops who needs the French side. After tiring of shopping just go to the beach which is next to the main downtown shopping area. Plenty of good restaurants in the downtown and alone the boardwalk. We ate at one on the boardwalk. Take a shared cab or water taxi from the ship's dock to the downtown area.
Aruba is certainly the most tourist oriented stop. Lots of casinos, hotels, and shopping malls. But with the Natalie Holloway thing we did not what to spend much money there. Departing at night the view was very pretty.
Very nice port town. But since we don't snorkel or dive we did not hit the water. We tried to hire a cab to see the flamingos but they were very inflexible with their high pricing.
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