Our 2019 7-Night Celebrity Summit Southern Caribbean Cruise
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Accredited Cruise Counselor and Ocean Cruise Specialist
Our last ocean cruise was on the Celebrity Summit in 2019. It was an awesome trip!
We got to celebrate Anne’s Birthday on 26 April, the last day of our 7 day cruise.
Who knew we would not travel in 2020 due to a pandemic but things are slowly returning to normal. Our first clients are traveling in April of this year—it’s been 14 months since our last client traveled.
The big trip for one client couple is to celebrate their 30 year anniversary at a Sandals Resort in St. Lucia. Since this cruise also visited St. Lucia (it was our first time to visit this wonderful island), it inspired me to get our pictures together and tell about this cool vacation celebration.
It made me realize, that even though most of our business nowadays is river cruising and European travel, I had not written much about ocean cruising in a long time.
In many ways, the best way to get introduced to several different countries is on an ocean cruise. While most of our recent ocean cruises business is in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, or around the coastal areas of Europe, we also have helped many sail to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central American ports.
So, I’m taking this opportunity to write about our wonderful trip in 2019, where we both got to visit 3 new island nations. It might surprise you that along with the 50 European City guides and 51 European River Port guides we have written, that we have also written 13 Caribbean Port guides.
Ready—let’s enjoy island life together.
Our Ship—the Celebrity Summit
We were excited to try the Summit after it was updated on March 23, 2019. We were very pleased with the results—please join us as you can see her changes from our viewpoint.
A good look at just how big our ship was.
Celebrity Summit ported
We had balcony cabin 9048. Celebrity does a good job with the cabins. Here are some pictures of our balcony stateroom:
Stateroom 9048
Our comfortable bed
A nice desk area
Our bathroom
So, here is where we spend a lot of time before our meals—the Martini Bar is a favorite of many. Perhaps you can see from this picture why we like this venue so much:
The Martini Bar. You can see the ice covering on the bar. Great drinks here! The bartenders are also performers—stacked glasses (we have seen 18 drinks pored at once—quite a spectacle) on occasion or just other flair techniques.
One of our favorite places on the entire ship was Cafe al Bacio. The coffee drinks and tea were our favorites and a daily visit or 2 were always in our routine.
Great view —our favorite seating place
An iced delight
Celebrity does a very good job with their dining options.
Sushi on Five is a modern take on traditional Japanese cuisine. It allowed us to enjoy some great food. Anne had udon noodles with shrimp tempura; I had ramen with lobster.
A Kobe beef slider
One of the best surprises was dinner at the Oceanside Cafe. Here was one of my meals:
What a platter from Ocean’s. This was Hank’s meal!
The main dining rooms also had good food. Here is one of my meals:
A great presentation and it was delicious! This was from one of the included dining rooms.
Celebrity is known for their wines, which are very reasonable. I attended a wine tasting on our sea day.
Port # 1—Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 21 April
On our 3rd visit to Charlotte Amalie, on a Sunday, with many shops closed, we decided not to make the long walk to the town. It was fun to just relax.
Here is a report from our 2014 visit: We wandered in Charlotte Amalie, after a long walk from the docking location to the city. It was our second visit to this vibrant town. On our first visit, we snorkeled and then visited Charlotte Amalie.
The harbor in 2001
The harbor in 2014
A great experience here, near some villas overlooking the bay, is the tram to the top of a great lookout. Here are some pictures:
St. Thomas Villas
Tram Station takes you to Paradise Point 700 feet above Charlotte Amalie on Flag Hill. There is a observation deck with the best views of the city.
Part of the tram line
So, please join us as we visited this interesting port city, well designed for shopping and eating and drinking establishments.
Shopping in Charlotte Amalie
A list of shops on this sign on Hibiscus Alley
The cruise lines don’t miss a beat—they have their own shops in port!
As responsible folks, they even had a place for me—husband day care!
Hank’s hang out!
Port # 2—Basseterre, St. Kitts 22 April
I thought you might like to see some pictures from a previous visit to St. Kitts:
The port of Basseterre
The port entrance
The Berkeley Memorial clock tower . There are 4 clock faces at the intersection of 4 roads that converge at this intersection .
Independence Square fountain . This historic square was renamed when St. Kitts & Nevis gained political independence on 19 September 1983. It has always been an important gathering place.
In St. Kitts, on our second visit to this island, I took the Scenic Railway tour. It was on a narrow gauge railroad, once used to get the sugar cane crop from the fields to mils. It started by bus, and then the train for 18 miles on the rails, to complete a loop of the whole island.
Come ride the train with me—it was fun and they provided rum drinks! This was a good tour for those who like a great overview of St. Kitts—I would recommend it.
Part of the tour was on this bus
The front of the scenic train
The rear portion of the train
Old Sugar Mills dot the landscape
A close up of the sugar mill
Rail bridge on the train route
Mount Liamuiga, the tallest point on St. Kitts is a dormant volcano. On the right peak is Brimstone Fortress.
Black Rocks—these are the lava remains from the dormant Mt. Liamuiga volcano eruption. Some of these lava remains at the sea have created dramatic coastlines on part of St. Kitts.
A good view of Nevis
Port # 3--St. John’s, Antigua 23 April
I had considered taking the Amazing Antigua tour, but it was sold out, so I didn’t get to visit the famous Nelson’s Dockyard, the world’s only Georgian-era dockyard still in use today.
We decided to chill on the ship, as we were not in a shopping mood and didn’t want to go to the beach.
Here are 5 pictures we took from the Summit of the port, the main cathedral and Fort James ruins, which once protected the harbor entrance. We need to come back to visit with more time in the future.
The harbor
Another harbor view
At John’s Cathedral
Fort James ruins—it was built to defend the harbor entrance
Another view of Fort James
Port #4—Castries, St. Lucia 24 April
We next sailed into St. Lucia. Here are some sights in Castries from the Summit:
The harbor
Another view of the harbor
A tourist pirate ship already sailing when we arrived
Government House—it is the official residence of the governor-general of St. Lucia
On what was certainly the highlight of the cruise, we took a Captain’s Club Exclusive tour to Eudovic’s Art Studio, for a wood carving demonstration and to view their creations and then to Fond Latisab Creole Park, where we learned about traditional life on St. Lucia.
We learned about the art of wood carving
The studio had an amazing display of wood art.
What a great display of carved art works!
At the Creole park, we had a demonstration of how cassava bread is made and got to sample the finished product.
Scrapping the cassava root—the Creole adapted and even used old wreckage from ships to make the scraping board.
Kneading the mix
Ready to bake
Then a tour of the organic gardens, full of lush plants and spice bushes and trees.
Part of the gardens
Fresh nutmeg. Only the red covered seed is used in cooking.
A cashew nut
We then learned how timber was cut for buildings using a two-person saw.
The 2 person saw. It was difficult work but according to our hosts, the bottom guy had to work the hardest
Last was a dance and music performance, where we learned to “Chak-Chak”.
We learned how to dance the “Chak Chak”
As we sailed away towards Barbados, we saw two interesting coastal sights—the Sandals resort and the most famous peaks in St. Lucia, the Grand Pitons:
Sandals Regency La Toc—great vacation resort
The most famous landmark in St. Lucia—the pitons
Port #5—Bridgetown, Barbados 25 April
In Barbados, I took the Best of Barbados tour. There were 3 stops on this scenic tour by bus. Our first stop was St. John’s Church on the island’s east coast.
St John’s Cathedral
The side and rear of the cathedral
Inside the Cathedral
Next, I visited Orchid World, which had some amazing gardens.
Last stop was to visit Gun Hill Signal Station in St. George, to learn about the warning system the British devised to protect the island. This was the largest and most important outpost that consisted of 4 outposts. These were established in 1818 to 1819.
The lookout and observation tower has excellent views of the island and served its purpose as a early warning station in the defense of the island
The purpose of these stations were to let the British rulers know of approaching enemy ships, approaching cargo ships, hurricanes and even civil unrest. They used an interesting system of semaphore flags, and the cannons to spread early warnings. It was very detailed—they could even tell the type of vessels approaching the island and the system worked well according to the historical British records from that time.
A cannon firing point
Today, this obsolete system is an interesting look back in time and the views are spectacular.
A guard shack with model of a soldier at his post.
We even got to see a little of their daily life.
Cooking utensils
Other cooking items
Another cannon
The British were always big on symbols, so it is no surprise they built a British Lion Statue. One of the officers stationed here carved this statue. I have told the story in the picture caption below.
The British Lion was carved from a single piece of coral stone. Very hard to see in my picture, the left front paw dominates a large red globe—it represents the dominance of the British Empire over the world. It was completed in 1868 by Captain Henry Wilkinson, who was stationed at the Gun Hill.
Our Day at Sea 26 April
Our day at sea was wonderful for Anne—it was her birthday. She got to visit the casino and relax and then a great meal for us as the Tuscan Grille. It is our favorite Celebrity Dining option and never disappoints—4 sailings on Celebrity and we always include at least one visit to the Tuscan Grill—usually we visit twice—it’s that good.
Creamy Burrata marinated tomatoe, pistachio pesto, shallots with toasted bread was Anne’s appitizer—she loved it!
A wonderful meatball appetizer—it is one of my favorites.
Shortrib Pappardelle
Come join our celebration—it was a memorable way to celebrate.
The lovely birthday girl—am I a lucky man!
My Final Thoughts
What a great adventure—a unique Caribbean cruise—just another reason we love travel so much! We hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as we enjoyed seeing them during our travels.
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
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Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 49 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
