Disappointed with service

Celebrity Summit Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Celebrity Summit

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 16, 2016

Ship: Celebrity Summit

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8030

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

My wife and I are big fans of the Celebrity cruises;  we have been on approx. 8-9 cruises with several trips including  the Mediterranean, Baltic countries, the first wine immersion cruise Celebrity developed out of South Hampton, Ireland, Greece and the Caribbean, and we have been on the Summit before.

 

However – and this surprised us -  this cruise was not up to the standards that we come to expect out of Celebrity Cruises!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We encountered a number of issues:

 

Low water pressure making it difficult to flush toilets and weak showers On the back of the ship - level 10  - were we routinely went for breakfast and late night relaxing, the tables were not cleared off, it got to a point where guests were stacking dirty plates on one table just to have a clean one to utilize and we heard a senior officer on his phone fussing at the maître de Could not find eating utensils at the back area nor along one whole side of the buffet line.  I had to go completely to the starting area.  Typically only one side of the buffet lines were fully opened My wife upgraded her drink package so she could have better wine and large bottles of water but the areas to get water were constantly out of the larger bottles and we were routinely advised they would get some later but it never happened She requested Malbec Wine at the Rendezvous Lounge for two nights, on the third night the bartender advised they did not have and had not had that wine available and walked off..  Luckily we talked to another bartender named Marc who is great about the wine situation and he pulled a bottle out.  We came back again for some more and he advised his area did not have any more and he would have to see if the dining area had any. Wine at the pool area was left out in the sun and was extremely hot and when we advised the gentleman working the table he just shrugged his shoulders and went about helping another guest The refrigerator in our room did not keep anything cold No hot water on the morning of Saturday the 23rd ,the last day! Victoria at the front desk was not very pleasant when we asked for information about early disembarkation A lady at the security checkpoint to get back on the ship in Antiqua was also very rude. The library that we have always liked to utilize was less than half full on one level and many of the books of choice were not in English; in walking into the other floor (8) we were advised by the concierge this was now her office but hadn’t been converted yet so still appeared to be a library – with a handful of books on the shelves.

 

We talked to many people who advised that this was their first time on Celebrity and some who had utilized Celebrity many times in the past and they all were not impressed at all with the service and seemed to not be fully staffed; we also heard many comments about the dining room food not be heated properly.  We even heard some of the Celebrity senior officers heads talking amongst themselves at the coffee bar that there were issues that needed to be addressed and were not.

 

 

We have always recommended Celebrity as the best for upscale service and enjoyment but after this cruise I question whether I would continue making that statement.  Is this a one ship situation or now the norm across the Celebrity fleet line?

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Dining room food was not hot

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Marta and Dillon our room attendants were GREAT and Marc the bar tender in the Rendezvous Lounge was GREAY too The ship did not have enough workers to keep tables cleared off or keep eating utensils available in the buffet area

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The ship did not have enough workers to keep tables cleared off

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Marta and Dillon our room attendants were GREAT. The room was also super clean and done quickly. They were fun to talk with and help make that part of the trip enjoyable

Ship tip

Make sure you monitor your billings with the on line TV. Several people complained they were billed for items they did not purchase

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Bridgetown, Barbados

3 out of 5

Castries, St. Lucia

3 out of 5

St. John's, Antigua

1 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
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7 Comments

debramiele    8 years ago

I just got off the Summit, service was aweful & some were rude, but we had the best guy taking care off our room & his assistant. This is my last Repo cruise.

JusMe    8 years ago

Each cruise and staff are different.   I have done re-positioning on the Celebrity Equinox from Italy to Florida and it was great service.  You may have just had a trip with a not so good crew.

 

Best of luck on your future sailings.   I would not give up on Celebrity,  but then they are my favorite cruise line. 

deboftheseas    8 years ago

Repositioning cruises tend to be less than expected. You must have noticed the price is low for the length of time you're out there

Parisjcruisetrv    8 years ago

I have done Celebrity Summit three times. I have done the repositioning San Juan to Bayonne and it was the worst. Then I went back in November for round trip San Juan Caribbean and it was fabulous. I guess it depends when and where you go. I think this is the second or third dry dock for the Summit?

deboftheseas    8 years ago

It just came out of drydock 3rd week of March

hixonac50    8 years ago

We were on Summit last week, and had entirely different experience. Im sorry you had a issues on the Summit. Make sure you do the survey they send out.

abizyman    8 years ago

I have also cruised on the Summit last November 2015, from Bayonne to San Juan. I experienced similar situation with Malbec wine and their Chardonnay was not what a normal brand would be. I wonder if it perhaps they are downsizing the crew because they are going into drydock soon for upgrading?

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