While the food at Luminae was excellent and the service there was generally excellent and our cabin was very nice, we didn't feel like the overall experience on Summit was worth the price tag that we paid. The price tag for a cruise in The Retreat on Celebrity creates significant expectations for the experience. Some of those expectations were definitely met while others were sadly missing this time. I wouldn't recommend spending the extra money on Summit.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
We embarked in Vancouver and were booked in The Retreat. Prior embarkation experiences as a Retreat customer were excellent. This one was terrible. No priority lines, poorly organized, and very long waits to get onboard the ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
As Retreat guests, we were able to dine in Luminae. Luminae was generally excellent, but the service level was not quite what we had experienced in the past. It was not unusual for a water glass to remain empty for 10 minutes or longer. The food in Luminae was great but we did dine in the Main Dining room a couple of times and in the Oceanview Cafe a couple of times and the food was average at best.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We did a couple of the onboard activities and enjoyed them. The trivia game in the Retreat Lounge was very good.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The entertainment was generally very good. The magician/comedian was outstanding. The Celebrity troop was very good. The comedian on night one was disappointing.
Children's Programs
We didn't travel with children.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Ida and Reymond in Luminae were outstanding. Our room steward, Rodim, was also very good. Most of the service personnel were excellent, with only a couple of exceptions.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
We had sailed on a Celebrity Millennium series ship 5 years ago in Alaska and on the new Beyond in the Mediterranean 2 years ago. The Summit was showing its age and wasn't as well cleaned and maintained as we would have expected. Virtually every porthole/window was dirty and the view somewhat obscured because of it. The porthole windows in Luminae were showing very noticeable corrsosion and rust on the inside and the paint work that had been done was very sloppy.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The bed was comfortable. The cabin was roomy enough and well-appointed. The bathroom was not quite up to the price of The Retreat experience. The bathrooms on the newer and larger ships are noticeably nicer.
Ship tip
Don't waste the calories on any of the desserts in the Oceanview Cafe. Definitely try the hot chocolate at Cafe Albacio.
Juneau offered more than any of the other ports during the cruise. We did a Segway tour and enjoyed it. We ate luch at the Hangar restaurant on the waterfront and the halibut was excellent.
We have been whale watching at Icy Strait Point twice and it did not disappoint either time. This is the one excursion that I would say is a don't miss experience. There is nothing else worth doing in Icy Strait Point, though.
We were able to eat breakfast and then relax in the Retreat Lounge until time to disembark for our shuttle to Anchorage. Since we were some of the last guests off the ship, it was quick and easy to find our luggage.
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