Over my time as a cruise traveler, I’ve consistently praised one line over all others. Until now, I’ve only taken short three-day jaunts, all on the newer Edge class ships, but I was so impressed by what they offered that I immediately called them my favorite line. It was inevitable that I would go on a longer itinerary – and I thought that would be the 10-day cruise sailing in Australia from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef and back this November.

But that didn’t work out, because both of RAS’s parents started to have health issues this past summer. Another reason to delay: we didn’t want to leave the day after the midterm elections and see what the current administration might do. Honestly, there's a lot to worry about, whether the results are positive or negative. I wanted to make sure that we would be here in case my kids needed support.

Since we needed to use the canceled credit for a cruise within the year, we chose somewhere outside the Caribbean or Mexico but close enough to return home if needed. So, we chose the West Coast on the Celebrity Summit, even though it’s ultra-familiar to me. The places we visited, Victoria and San Francisco, were fine. But the ship? That was another story.

Concierge Stateroom

I’m only going to review our stateroom, not extrapolate about the other rooms, since I didn’t visit them. Summit has all the usual types of rooms on a cruise ship (interior, ocean view, balcony and suites), and we stayed in the Concierge balcony, which is part of that subcategory. The others are regular and Aqua class, which offers wellness amenities and access to an exclusive restaurant, Blu.

Our room was slightly more spacious than a standard balcony room, with a snug loveseat and plenty of storage space. Being in Concierge allowed some special privileges, like invitation to the welcome lunch and Captain’s Club cocktail hours, access to the helipad to view the Golden Gate Bridge and priority booking for excursions. But we didn’t take advantage of any of these extras, except the lunch. I guess the best part here was enjoying a larger space.

Activities and entertainment

RAS and I noticed that this Summit sailing didn’t seem completely full. That may be because the destinations are familiar to many travelers already (and more about them later). But this was most evident in the onboard activities. We would check the Celebrity app and the printed schedule, find something like a trivia contest or game show, then go and find only about a dozen people for most of them. Other programs included live music, spa samplers and jewelry giveaways, to name a few.

The entertainment, held mostly in the main theater, was a better option. We went to two musical programs, one with movie songs and the other with classic rock. I should say we only saw one and a half shows because the rock program ended abruptly due to technical issues. One that was more successful was the magician/comedian who performed illusion tricks that made us wonder how he did (fooled) us. RAS went to see another comedian who was entertaining. We missed one show, but only because we were tired.

Ports

On a West Coast cruise, you can stop at anywhere from two to six ports, depending on the itinerary length and where you start and end. We did the minimum, going only to Victoria, BC, and San Francisco. Of course, if you’ve read my blog for any length, the latter is practically my home, and I’ve been to the former nearly a half dozen times. So, to make it appealing to RAS, we kept it simple and walked along the Inner Harbour, past the provincial capital building and the Empress Hotel, both prominent landmarks, to Chinatown before we shared some excellent poutine at L’Authentique, owned and run by a Quebec native.

In San Francisco, we spent two days, which gave us enough time to do what we wanted. That meant I went to Oracle Park to buy a new Giants jersey and to Graffeo in North Beach to get some coffee beans. RAS headed to Chinatown to explore, and we met up for dinner at New Thai Elephant near Fisherman’s Wharf. We also stopped at Pier 39 to watch the sea lions (alas, Chonkers wasn’t there). The next day, we took a Muni out to Ocean Beach and walked (and walked) nearly ten miles through Land’s End, the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge. It turned out to be a much harder trek than I thought, but I made it, bum knee and all.

Food and drink

This cruise was probably the most disappointing culinary experience I’ve had on a ship. It wasn’t because of the quality; that was perfectly adequate and, in some cases, good. But the lack of variety with the main dining room, buffet and casual dining was glaring. The only extra places to eat were a burger/hot dog stand and a coffee bar. Even the bars didn’t offer much in terms of cocktails. I was surprised that Summit just did the bare minimum. No drink was worth mentioning.

When the included food doesn’t excite me on a cruise ship, I’ll usually turn to the specialty dining. But that wasn’t an option here, because the three offered- the Italian Tuscan Grille, the Japanese Sushi on Five, and the French Le Petit Chef- weren't worth the extra price. There was also a Chef’s Table, like the one I did on Royal Caribbean, but at over $150 per person, we also didn’t want to shell out that kind of money. Since we got tired of the dull meals, we gave in and had an à la carte lunch at Sushi on Five, which saved us from culinary mediocrity. Unfortunately, slow service marred the experience.

So, would I recommend sailing on the Celebrity Summit? I think most people who we talked to enjoyed their cruise. Maybe I’ve become too picky or spoiled, but since I know Celebrity has newer, better ships, I'd probably encourage you to try those instead.