Beyond Beauty

We traveled on Celebrity before and was disappointed when we traveled on Princess and Carnival. This time we did 11 days on Summit, and we were not disappointed in the least. Celebrity delivers!! That's all there is to it. The service was fantastic. The meals were incredible. In fact, we didn't do the pay restaurant (as a lot of cruise ships are doing) because we did not have a bad meal. Breakfasts were fantastic (not the same everyday), lunches were wonderful as were the dinners. Two of the sea days were very hot. The waiters came out with free beverages for those sun bathing. The free drinks (tea, punch, lemonade and water) were thoughtful. It was nice that they didn't push us to buy drinks. Twice, the waiters came out in a grand celebration with long white sleeve shirts and gloves to offer everyone sorbet and sherbet. I felt bad for the waiters but I enjoyed a cool, refreshing treat. The cool towel is something new. On hot pool days, & after your excursions, you are treated with a nice cool small towel. On the Panama Canal, we did the ferry boat into the canal; and that was extremely interesting. Aruba, we took a local taxi for $10 bucks and got an island tour. Costa Rica was the ski lift tram thru the rain forest. We were fortunate to get a guide that loved his job. He pointed out everything to us. The meal at the park was very good. In Cozumel we took the Passion Island escape and walked around on our own in Grand Cayman. Key West was lots of fun, and what a treat! But the best part was the cruise itself. We felt everything was perfect. This was our first time to have a balcony. Although we thoroughly enjoyed it...we didn't use it as much as I thought we would. We like to rise early and get our coffee on our own and watch the Sunrise on the decks. You never saw any dirty dishes laying around anywhere! (Carnival, trays lay around outside cabins all day. You saw room service trays in the hallways all the time.) Everything was immaculate all the time on Celebrity. On the last sea day, the waiters served lobster and baked United States and they did a big presentation. We found the waiters were very proud, and ours told us that Celebrity treats them well. This was important to us because we had heard that some cruise ships do not treat their staff too well. Tips are done on the last day and not added to your bill. I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not; but the service was fabulous. We are definitely travel on Celebrity the next time. It felt like being back home again. In fact we have already booked our next cruise on www.SmartCruiser.com and got a $300 Shipboard credit and Free Trip Insurance. I love that site. they are the best.

San Miguel de Cozumel, Mexico