Sunfinder Vacations

Writers John and Sally Macdonald based this independent review on their 6-night Western Caribbean cruise departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Commissioned in 2001, Summit was designed to raise the bar on large-ship cruising. One of Celebrity’s four Millennium-class ships, Summit recalls the days when ocean liners catered to the rich and stylish, yet she still provides the nonstop action today’s passengers expect. Service is gracious and attentive, though not as white-glove impeccable as the line promises. Décor throughout the ship is in the sleek art deco style that marked some grand ocean liners before air travel.

Summit’s spa is larger than most at sea, with private rooms for steaming, soaking, and relaxing, and a saltwater whirlpool that’s big enough to swim in. There’s a glass conservatory filled with lush vines and tropical plants. The ship has undergone recent innovations that keep her at the front of the large-ship pack: A lounge has been renovated to accommodate acts from the weird and other-worldly Cirque du Soleil, an acupuncture clinic has been installed midships, and an expanded computer program offers high-tech classroom instruction for students at all levels.

Why Summit?

• Tradition: Dining in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant is a sophisticated experience, with service based on European tradition and classical music playing in the background. Cuisine leans heavily toward French, with lots of silverware. Bars and lounges suggest a more glamorous time and place, with martinis and champagne cocktails favored over beer and mixers.
• Art: Summit showcases works by recognized contemporary artists. The midships stairwell is a gallery of whimsical glass-bead busts of brazen beauties created by Liza Lou, a California-based artist. Celebrity boasts that a bronze sculpture by Fernando Botero -- of a bodaciously plump bather overlooking the salt-water pool -- cost $800,000.
• Music: There’s a music style for everyone in Summit’s lounges and eateries. Don’t be surprised to hear arias at the breakfast buffet, strings at the espresso bar, and country by the pool. Pre-dinner music is sedate in most lounges, but night owls keep the ship rocking to a pounding beat in Revelations, the main deejay lounge.

Who should go
Summit is a good choice for people who want a more sophisticated cruise experience than many mass-market ships provide. Most of the passengers on shorter itineraries are couples 30-50 (a bit older on longer cruises). That said, there’s lots for kids to do and the pool games can be as goofy as on any ship.

Who shouldn’t go
People who want a more hands-on, small-ship experience, or those who don’t like to dress for occasions, would be better off on another ship.

Hits and misses

• Don't miss: The surreal Cirque de Soleil entertainment -- fanciful characters engage cruisers in the make-believe “The Bar at the Edge of the Earth,” a show performed in Summit's observation lounge.
• Best part of the ship: The Thalassotherapy Pool, an enormous indoor saltwater whirlpool, is both elegant and relaxing. It’s under glass and decorated with dwarf orange trees, so you’ll think you’re outside. But you don’t have to worry about sunburn.
• Best experience: Dance before dinner in the romantic Rendez-Vous Lounge. Or watch the dance floor from a circular balcony above in the equally classy bars specializing in fruity martinis and champagne cocktails.
• Best shipboard activities: The head chef’s cooking demonstration offers a chance to learn to prepare the perfect filet mignon, blend the most popular martini, sculpt a rose from marzipan, and set a traditional European-style table with special utensils for everything from soup to nuts. Everyone gets a tidbit of steak and a martini sample after the demonstration.
• Needs improvement: The food was tasty, but passengers wondered what happened to the gourmet touches -- the drizzle of this and the sprinkle of that -- you’d expect from a galley that’s advertised as a notch above the competition with a menu planned by a top French chef.
• Activities to skip: Avoid the Waterfall Pool afternoons unless you like silly pool games. Take your book to the quiet Thalassotherapy pool instead.

How to meet the captain
Summit’s captain greets everyone and introduces the ship’s officers from the stage of the Celebrity Theater on the first formal night, just before show time. If you have cruised with Celebrity before, you’ll be invited to a party for members of the cruise line’s Captain’s Club. If you’ve taken 11 or more trips with the line, you’ll get an invitation to dine at an officer’s table and a chance to be introduced to the boss himself.

Heard on the deck: “It’s a good thing I’m on a boat, ’cause with all these waves I’m walking like a drunken sailor.”

Cosmopolitan Restaurant
Summit’s two-story, U-shaped main dining room takes passengers back to a more elegant time and place with crisp white linens, soft red chairs, classical dinner music, and lighting that mimics candlelight. Dining is most intimate upstairs, where the room narrows into the legs of the U. The larger area downstairs is distinguished by a clear two-story glass wall that looks out to the stern and a larger-than-life, art deco statue of a woman in Greek dress, leaning against an apple arbor. The statue was taken from the Grand Salon of the S.S. Normandie, which cruised the Atlantic in glamorous style in the 1930s, carrying such notables as Bob Hope, Marlene Dietrich, and the young Kennedy clan. Vegetarian menus are available, but you’ll have to ask.

Normandie Restaurant
Summit’s specialty dining room looks much like drawings of the stylish Grand Salon of its namesake, the S.S. Normandie (the drawings are among memorabilia displayed in the restaurant’s foyer). A visit to the Normandie is a must for fabulous food and polished service. A harpist provides a romantic and angelic ambience, and gold-leafed columns and red velvet settees surround the room. A three-course meal planned by French Chef Michel Roux is offered for $30. But it looks pretty plain-Jane beside a new Roux plan: pay another $27.95 and get six courses (appetizer, soup, sorbet, entrée, cheese, and dessert), each with a supporting wine. Plan on 2½ hours for the experience. Jackets are required for men and guests must be 12 or older.

Other dining options

• Waterfall Café: Casual buffet breakfast and lunch is found in the Waterfall. Pizza and pasta are available mid-afternoon to late night, and in the evening, the café becomes a casual dining venue, with a sushi bar, a salad bar, and a waiter taking orders for entrées. Reservations are required in the evening, and a gratuity of $2 per person is suggested.
• Waterfall Grill: The grill has two locations -- one indoors in the café and the other poolside. The daytime fare is pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Don’t miss the breakfast waffles at the indoor grill; light and crispy florets with a choice of toppings. And don’t fret the line -- the waffle chef has three irons going so you’ll get yours shortly.
• AquaSpa Café: This is the place to eat light and healthy from morning to night. There’s yogurt, cereal, and muffins for breakfast, and entrées like poached salmon or baked tuna with cold vegetables for lunch. Order a smoothie for $3.95 or a fresh-squeezed veggie- or fruit-juice cocktail for $2.95 (food is no charge).
• Cova Café di Milano: For an afternoon pick-me-up, there’s coffee and pastries at Cova, which also serves as a wine-by-the-glass bar. Espresso drinks cost $2.95; the lavishly decorated dainties served from the pastry case are free.
• Room service: Room service is always available. During mealtimes, you may select from the main menu. Other times, the choice is narrowed to continental breakfast, soup, sandwich, salad, or pizza.

Heard on the deck (from an exasperated dad trying to keep up with the kids): “Okay, gang. Tomorrow for breakfast we meet right here in this corner of the Waterfall Café so at least we all start from the same place.”

Best dining

• Dish: Try at least two smashing appetizers -- the smooth-as-butter goat cheese soufflé in the Normandie Restaurant and the complicated Cassolet de Vineyard Escargots (snails and mushrooms encased in a little puff-pastry “pan”) from Cosmopolitan.
• Dessert: The rice pudding doused in coconut milk with a whisper of nutmeg may be low-fat healthy, but it tastes as decadent as the fare served at the midnight buffet. It’s served up by the AquaSpa Café.
• Restaurant: Normandie’s menu is not unlike that which greeted the celebrities aboard the S.S. Normandie in the very chic 1930s. Try the rack of lamb topped with a duxelle (mushrooms and shallots sautéed in wine) and cloaked in pastry. It’s fork tender and done to perfection.

How to…

• Get a table for two: Ask the maître d’ for a table for two, although it’s not guaranteed you’ll get your wish if the ship is full.
• Celebrate a birthday/anniversary: Honeymoon and anniversary packages include flowers and matching bathrobes for $150. Or celebrate all day with a champagne breakfast for two, dinner canapés, and a photograph for $75 to $350 (the most expensive package includes bathrobes and a trip to the spa).
• Change seating: Lodge a request with the maître d’ early on. There’s no guarantee anything will change, though, even if there is room at another table during your seating. Two extra spaces at our table for six remained unused throughout the cruise even though we said we’d love to have someone sit there.
• Dress for formal night: Ladies are expected to wear their glitziest evening gowns or fanciest dresses. Men are urged to wear tuxedoes or dinner jackets, but many stick to dark suits (ties are required). If your cruise is for more than seven nights, you’ll need three formal outfits.
• Dress for informal night: Most women dress up a bit. Men get by with a jacket and tie with slacks.
• Dress for casual night: Women wear sporty pantsuits (not denim) or a skirt and blouse. Men can skip the tie and wear a sports shirt and slacks.

Heard on the deck (from a passenger leaving the Celebrity Theater after the show): “We’ve got a choice. So… do we eat again or do we just go to bed?”

Tips:

• Jeans, T-shirts, tank tops, swimsuits, robes, and bare feet are never permitted in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant, and shorts are not permitted during dinner.
• If you’ve been on Summit or one of her sister ships at least one other time, you can reserve a place in the Normandie Restaurant online when you book your cruise -- a plus since the restaurant is small and reservations for some nights are gone by the time many guests board.
• Reserve a table for six at the Normandie Restaurant and you may be seated in the tres chic and private wine room, where the walls are lined with bottles from all over the globe.
• Hours vary at some eateries, and late-night eating is hit or miss. Some evenings there’s a midnight buffet; other nights waiters deliver gourmet tidbits to the lounges, bars, and casino. One late evening we couldn’t find a thing to eat except pizza. Check the daily schedule before you stay up for nothing.
• Look down at your feet in the stern seating area of the Waterfall Café. The room is bumped out over the ocean and large portholes in the floor give you a view of the water.

Heard on the deck (from a woman leaving the disembarkation lecture): “That list of what all everybody ate on the cruise says we ate 450 pounds of jelly. I can’t believe that. I don’t even eat jelly.”

More than half of Summit’s cabins have balconies or ocean views. Standard cabins are smaller than those on other ships (170 square feet each), but they’re laid out well so there’s room for two to get around easily. Décor is understated, with cherry wood trim and sunny textiles. There’s a comfy chair or small sofa, coffee table, desk, bedside tables, refrigerator, interactive TV, and a good-sized closet stocked with complimentary bathrobes. Some cabins feature a wall of mirrors at the foot of the bed, which makes the room seem more spacious. The bath is small but not cramped and the mirrors are placed so you can see the back of your hairdo. The hair dryer has only one setting: Tropical hurricane. It’ll blow in cowlicks you didn’t know you had.

Premium oceanview cabins in Summit’s Concierge Class are small -- 191 square feet -- but they come with a host of extras, including complimentary champagne and fresh flowers and fruit upon boarding. Suites range from 251 square feet to two lavish penthouses measuring in at 2,530 square feet each. They carry out the understated décor of more inexpensive cabins, but the art is original. They have separate dining areas with hutches stocked with ceramics, and large flat-screen TVs in the living room and bedroom. Some have dressing areas that look out onto the balcony. Bathrooms feature double sinks and whirlpool tubs.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Summit has 26 wheelchair-accessible cabins with five-foot turning areas, including five inside cabins ranging from 272 to 381 square feet. Bathroom thresholds are ramped; sinks, vanities, and closet rods are lower; and showers are large enough to roll into. Some, but not all, have accessible balconies. Public hallways are spacious enough to turn a wheelchair or scooter around. Most decks are accessible through automatic doorways, some public restrooms have sinks that can be raised or lowered with a lever, and hydraulic lifts for one pool and one whirlpool are available on request. Special services for guests with wheelchairs include early boarding, lifts to help with boarding tenders, and room at the blackjack tables. Shower stools, bed extensions, and raised toilet seats are also available.

Tips:

• For the visually impaired, cabins and elevators are marked with Braille numbers, Braille menus are offered in the dining room, and the daily program is available in large print and Braille. There’s early boarding so you learn the ship before everyone else. Service animals are accommodated.
• For the hearing impaired, there are strobe alarms, amplified telephones, closed-caption TVs in all cabins, and American Sign Language interpreters on request.
• Passengers who require ambulatory dialysis or oxygen can be accommodated if the ship is notified ahead of time.

Summit’s hallways and lounges are uncluttered and spacious. Whimsical artwork, including life-size bronzes and molded chairs, decorate corners. The centerpiece of the ship is a lovely staircase leading from the Grand Foyer midships. It’s made of a golden onyx-like material that’s lighted from behind, casting a glow over the entire area. Diners don’t congregate at the door to the main dining room waiting for the doors to open. Instead, they gather in the Champagne or Martini bars and listen to dinner-dance music floating up through the atrium. Quite civilized!

Bars, lounges, and casino
When the sun goes down, party-lovers gather in Revelations Lounge. The room is spacious, with two dance floors and plenty of comfortable seating. It has a different persona in the daytime, when it serves as Summit’s observation lounge, with a wraparound view of the bow and sea. The bar is styled like a stainless steel space ship, studded with twinkling lights. The place for more intimate ballroom action is the Rendez-Vous Lounge, with dark red décor and a dance floor. The Martini Bar has 34 recipes beyond the ordinary dry vermouth potion. The adjoining Champagne Bar has a menu of sparkling wine and caviar to order before dinner. Michael’s Bar is clubby, dark, and intimate, with overstuffed furniture and a white piano for after-dinner listening.

When the ship sails, Fortune’s Casino opens to the lucky and the not-so. It’s jam-packed with clanging slots and busy blackjack tables. Since it’s on a main route to the Celebrity Theater, it becomes a bottleneck near show time. To avoid getting tangled up in the crowd, you can always step aside, put a coin in a slot machine, and wait for the mob to thin. There’s a small nonsmoking area in one corner of the casino, but the room is well ventilated and it’s not necessary. Anytime a table is empty the dealer will be glad to give beginners a lesson.

Heard on the deck: “They’ll front you $2,000 a day at the casino, guys, so we’ve got a long way to go.”

Swimming pools
The Waterfall Pool is divided by a teak sunning deck and flanked by four whirlpools. Most of the surrounding decks are a sandy-colored, non-slip composite. Attendants keep the padded deck chairs equipped with fresh yellow beach towels, and reserving deck chairs is verboten. Bring a cover-up to wear over your swimsuit as other public areas are off limits for swimwear and bare feet.

Shows
Summit’s song-and-dance troupe performs several Broadway-type shows in the Celebrity Theater. Plush red seats sweep up three stories to the back of the house and there’s not a bad seat to be found. If you sit in the upper seats near the wings you might see some of the singers up close as they perform from the balcony.

Heard on the deck (from one of the ship’s show dancers who joined passengers learning funky freestyle steps from the party band in Revelations Lounge): “I never even heard of the rocka-rocka before, but it was fun.”

Shore excursions
There are tours for young and old, from swimming with stingrays, snorkeling among undersea ruins, and town tours by trolley in the Caribbean -- to whale watching, sport fishing, and exploring glaciers (via kayak or helicopter) in Alaska. You can save standing in line at the shore excursion office by booking tours online up to 10 days before sailing. If you wait until sailing to decide what to do ashore, you can accomplish the same thing by using the interactive TV in your cabin.

Weddings and vow renewals
Weddings are not performed at sea, but can be solemnized ashore or on the ship when it’s docked in several ports. A valid marriage license must be obtained from the location where the wedding will be performed. Basic wedding packages are arranged through Celebrity Cruises and include an officiant, bridal bouquet, boutonniere, cake that serves up to eight guests, bottle of champagne, and decorative certificate of marriage. Up to 98 guests can be accommodated with an additional reception ashore in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, New York, Tampa, or Vancouver.

Ceremonies to renew vows take place onboard during a sea day. A celebratory package includes an officiant, champagne, a rose and matching boutonniere, certificate, and portrait by the ship’s photographer.

Looking for…

• Quietest spot: The glass Conservatory garden is a great place to take a book for a bit of down time. It’s off the beaten path and the lush plants create a hushed atmosphere that most visitors automatically honor.
• Liveliest spot: Revelations Lounge is where fans will find the amazing and astonishing Cirque de Soleil performers. After hours the funk takes over.
• Most popular activity: Shaded lounge chairs beside the pool are filled most afternoons by people deep in a good book or trying to catch up on sleep forfeited the night before.
• Best view: Glass screens protect folks in the deck chairs high up on the Sports Deck from wind, but not from that 180-degree view.
• Best show: Encore! features a tour of Broadway favorites, classical dance, and feats of aerial beauty. Dancers switch effortlessly from jazzy pop to classy ballet and back again. Aerialists blend brawn and grace in a performance that leaves audiences in awe. And the soprano hits glass-shattering heights in a closer of songs from Les Miserables.
• Best drink: Blueberry martini -- plump blueberries float atop a pool of vodka, blue curacao, and lime juice.

Tips:

• Smoking is allowed on the port (left) side of the ship, outside, and in some public areas. It’s never allowed in restaurants, the library, the theater, or on the starboard (right) side. Like a cigar or pipe? It’s okay to light up poolside from 8:30 PM until midnight.
• Looking for freebies? You’ll be given a welcome-aboard glass of champagne or a mimosa as soon as you step onto the ship. Champagne is poured again for the captain’s toast in the Celebrity Theater after the first day at sea. One afternoon waiters surprised sunbathers at the pool with fruity mini-martinis. Another afternoon, everyone near the art auction was offered a glass of bubbly, whether they intended to bid or not.
• For drinks that are almost free, head for the Martini Bar during cocktail hour the first evening where they’ll serve you five mini-martinis of varying flavors for $5.
• For $10 per day, iPods can be rented from the library.
• Prizes for joining the word games and pool relays are worth the effort if not the embarrassment. There were lunch coolers or sports towels with the ship’s logo for winners at trivia, and champagne and T-shirts for the fastest paddlers in the pool.
• Internet access is available in all cabins for passengers who bring laptops. It’s free in suites but costs $10 in standard cabins. Online, the Internet café, is open 24 hours a day, and expanded services include classroom instruction. Internet access is 75¢ per minute, or you can buy packages ranging from 100 minutes for $70 to 500 minutes for $250. There’s no refund for unused minutes. There is no charge for checking if you have e-mail, but if you get or send one through your shipboard address, it’ll cost you $2 for the first 100KB, and $1 for each 100KB of messages after that.
• Phone calls from the room cost $7.95 a minute. Phone cards aren’t honored onboard.
• Buy unlimited soft drinks for $5 a day from the poolside bar. The cool to-go cup is free.
• Bring along an insulated lunch carrier on the cruise and call room service for sandwiches to take along on excursions. But check to make sure you have time to get your order before your tour group is scheduled to leave the ship.

Heard on the deck (by a man whose team just got trounced at trivia): “Tomorrow we don’t try to think. We take our first guesses, and maybe then we’ll win.”

Spa and salon
Let Summit’s beauty therapists exorcise the kinks in your body and soul with experiences that will last long after you’ve gone back to the daily grind. The spa, with its salt-water Thalassotherapy Pool and AquaSpa Café, is among the most exotic and innovative at sea, with tranquil private chambers and public places to steam, soak, and relax as the ancients did. Massage classes are offered for the masses and high-tech relaxation contraptions abound. The best part is the Persian Garden, a shared co-ed suite with a heated mosaic bench, two steam rooms, a sauna, and showers with multiple heads that mimic a tropical waterfall or a gentle rain. A day pass is affordable at $17. For more private (and expensive) bath rituals, rent the Etruscan Chamber, where couples can slather each other in healing mud and then wash it off; or take Cleopatra’s Bath, an herbal soak. Just for kicks, take the couple’s massage class. The massage students get a $49 hands-on lesson and a bottle of expensive massage oil to take home. Or climb into the Alpha Pod for 25 minutes in a state of near coma. For $40, couples can be transported into an alpha state (it’s supposed to equal a three-hour nap) in side-by-side one-person pods that look like space ships. Once you climb inside and shut the top (you can see out a small opening, so there’s no claustrophobia) you’re cocooned in a contoured vibrating lounge that’s heated to 90 degrees while your face is bathed in blue light and a cool scented breeze.

Fitness areas
Gym rats will love Summit’s fitness room, which is as large as many on land. It’s well equipped with a bank of treadmills overlooking the bow and a full complement of weights and fitness balls. Trainers perform metabolism checks and lead classes in yoga, spinning, fitball, Pilates, and nutrition. Upstairs, Sports Deck has a full court for basketball and a net to keep paddle-tennis balls in check. The golf simulator enables players to play a virtual game on world-championship courses. Or hire the golf pro, who shows you what you’re doing wrong on video.

Tips:

• The spa and fitness programs include makeup seminars and nutrition and workout classes most days. Some sessions are free, although most of the fitness classes cost $10. For workout-aholics, there’s a $99 pass for unlimited classes.
• Kids must be accompanied by parents in the spa, and the Thalassotherapy Pool is for grownups only.
• Book spa appointments the first day to get your choice of times later in the week. For bargains, make appointments for the days Summit is in port.
• Athletic shoes and shirts are required in the fitness room.
• Keep up your jogging routine on the track on Summit’s upper deck. Three times around is 5/8 mile.

Summit’s Emporium shopping mall offers the usual duty-free jewels, liquor, photos taken by the ship’s photographers, and cruise-logo mementos. But the ship also has a boutique in the Conservatory where you can buy silk or fresh arrangements by floral artist Emilio Robba, whose works decorate most of Summit’s public areas. You can get a corsage or boutonniere for formal night. Or order the $65 rose-y romance package which includes a dozen red roses in a vase, as well as a single wrapped rosebud for carrying and petals strewn on your bed. If you choose to buy an arrangement or cactus garden for the house, it can be shipped to you after the cruise.

Tip: If you don’t trust your luck at bingo or the casino, attend one of Summit’s shopping seminars. Only 20 people showed up for the diamond and tanzanite talk, vying for a door prize of a bracelet said to be worth $100.

Heard on the deck: (from a woman who just found her photo in the gallery): “This photo doesn’t look like me. It looks like Aunt Margaret.”

Summit may not cater specifically to children, but there’s plenty going on especially for them. Supervised programs are designed for four age groups: 3-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13-17. The Tower, the teens’ party room, is a two-story disco with rooms connected by a glass staircase. There’s a big-screen TV, foosball table, and space to dance. Eye-popping colors, a bank of PlayStations, and a video arcade mark Fun Factory, the hangout for the younger set. Little kids will love learning about the life of a pirate and his buccaneer bounty in the science program, while older kids may find sessions on wacky weather and the solar system irresistible. Outside is a wading pool for toddlers, decorated with a mural of little green space critters leaping into an orange sea. Nearby is a make-believe UFO to climb on.

On port days, parents who need time for shopping or a tour can enroll kids in an afternoon party for $6. Formal night slumber parties last until 1 AM. Group babysitting is $6 an hour for each child, $8 if the sitter comes to your cabin.

Tips:

• Drinking age is 21 or older while the ship is in port. Passengers 18 or older can order beer or wine while the ship is in international waters, as long as it’s been okayed by a parent or responsible adult over 25. Ship cards used to charge extras onboard and identify passengers are color-coded to indicate who gets to drink and who doesn’t.
• The $18 kids’ bon voyage package features a roller bag with ship logo and a coloring book with crayons.

Summit cruises several Caribbean routes January through April 2005, starting and ending at Fort Lauderdale. In late April, she cruises through the Panama Canal for summer Alaska sailings out of Vancouver. That fall, she cruises Mexico’s Baja Peninsula out of Los Angeles, while her winter will be spent sailing roundtrip from Los Angeles or San Diego to the Hawaiian Islands.

Tip: If you hire a taxi to take you to a secluded beach for the day, don’t let the driver leave you until you’ve arranged a time for him to pick you up for the return trip to the ship.

• Cruise line - Celebrity
• Ship name - Summit
• Type of cruise - Sophisticated
• Total cabins - 969
• Private balcony cabins - 536
• Decks - 11
• Passenger capacity - 1950
• Total crew - 999
• Officers nationality - Greek
• Ship size - Large
• Year entered service - 2001
• Tonnage - 91000
• Ship length - 969
• Registry - Liberia