Epiblog - Some Observations about Celebrity Summit and Our Cruise

Just some thoughts about the ship and on our cruise experience now that the cruise has ended - 

Good

• Very smooth check-in and embarkation
• Lovely bathroom - the best we've had at sea
• Lots of storage in the cabin
• A good range of standard items on the menu in the main dining room
• Good WiFi around the ship and ours was included in the cruise fare
• The Celebrity app was very good with its daily run down
• Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body lotion, soap, shower cap were all provided
• Low night light in bathroom
• Cafe Al Bacio
• There was a good choice of food in the main buffet
• Clean flannels were provided every day
• There was a drinks station in the main buffet
• We got some good perks with our Celebrity 'Elite' loyalty status e.g. special social events, some free laundry, happy hours from 5 until 7 for those without a free drinks package, quicker tender access to shore, dry cleaning of one item per passenger and ironing of two

The Not So Good

• The dressing gowns provided were not towelling ones
• There were no themed dressing up nights
• Formal nights are quite casual
• Loyalty event: the crew members present tend to chat amongst themselves. Getting a drink or canapes can be hit and miss although we did well at the second one, perhaps because we were sitting near to where things appeared from the kitchens!
• Bar staff are quite slow. Not enough waiting staff in Rendezvous Lounge
• "Free drinks" only meant drinks for $10 or less and many drinks were over $10, e.g. 330ml bottle of Stella!
• No music channel on cabin TV
• No Sky News on cabin TV
• Bath towels are on the small side
• The food in the main dining room gets a bit repetitive and the variable items each day are quite few in number
• Immigration when returning to the US - it's disruptive to a port day; we couldn't get off the ship as soon as tenders might have been available until we had undergone immigration
• This cruise was marred by late arrival times and early departures from port stops

And, separately, we had a first cruise experience -  a nil balance on our on board account. We'd had free Wi-Fi and free drinks and had paid for all our excursions in advance.