MisterMet

Saturday 8/12 Sea Day 2

It’s funny about sea days for us.  We wake up with grand plans of what we want to do for the day and only accomplish about half or 1/4 of what we had set out to do. Maybe we both suffer from adult ADHD?  We just never stick to our plan.
 

The original plan was to get up and walk the decks for exercise. We start on the deck where our cabin is walk the entire length from forward to aft, and then ascend to the outer decks. We then put in our time outside. Plans made, and plans followed.

We then wanted to grab something to eat. We had plans to go to the OVC, but bagged it for the elite coffee lounge at the Tuscan Grill. We both agreed that exercising before breakfast would be healthier.  However, it doesn’t really matter how much exercise you do prior to eating a plate full of danishes and pastries, a cheese plate, a smoothie, and have some of your wife’s salmon and bagels.  At that rate, I would’ve had to have exercised for about five hours!  😆😆

Breakfast was excellent and we went about what we thought were our plans for the day. Lounging and relaxing seem to be on our mind, but all we did was run from activity to activity all day long. It seemed like we didn’t want to miss anything, even though we would be on the ship for another week!

Trivia contests  won, slot, tournaments, lost, and lots of shopping to kill our OBC took up the majority of the day.

We had an early dinner reservations at Murano with our friends. The food in Murano is always excellent. We have been there many times. However, they service this time seemed to be lacking.  The extra attention to detail was definitely missing. Perhaps it was because this was the last night of the cruise and we had already paid for the meal with our dining package?  They even told us not to pay attention to the à la carte menu with the wine pairing because we probably weren’t going to order from it anyway. I do not know a whole lot about up selling, but that didn’t seem to be the way to do it.  All said, the meal was excellent, but the experience was maybe a B minus.

After dinner, we participated in the Naughty Games.  This is an adult version of the Family Feud.  It was totally hilarious adult fun.  If you are not easily offended, or have a personality a bit on the raunchy side, this is the game for you! It was totally fun.  

53 minutes ago, 39august said:

Glad to hear Yanessa is still on EQ. We have sailed with her several times. 

she is so nice and took great care of us

Friday 8/11 Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 

We had originally signed up for the ship excursion to Damajagua Falls, but for some reason neither one of us was terribly excited about it. I initially was just tired of feeling like I was running from event to event and excursion to excursion.  I found out later from my wife, some information that sealed the deal for me.  
 

After speaking with one of these ships officers, who had done this excursion, she mentioned to my wife that there were snakes in the water at the falls swimming around after you jump in.

I am totally snake-phobic, and even though the snakes are not poisonous, I didn’t really see the need to bring my anxiety levels up. We informed the shore excursion desk that we would not be attending.  We did not get our money back nor did we ask for it as we canceled well inside the 24 hour cancellation period. We were fine eating the money.

We decided just to go into the port area of Taino Bay with our friend.  As port areas in the Caribbean go, this might be the nicest.  Right up there with Costa Maya.  Fun vibes with a few restaurants, pools, lazy river, and nice shops.  We had lunch there and bought some great local chocolate and souvenirs.

Dinner with out team of Mardika(waiter), Julina (asst waiter) Yanessa (hostess) and Annie (sommelier) was very good👍.  We always had a 8:15 reservation I made for Select Dining and rarely waited more than a minute to be seated. Do it on the Cruise Planner or app to save you from waiting in line.  
 

The adult comedy show (Sean Terry I think his name was) was a hoot.  
 

My wife’s hot streak on the slots came to an end. so we turned in knowing we could sleep in as sea day 2 was awaiting us.

7 minutes ago, 39august said:

Any vaping inside the ship?  Your comments on food are directly opposite of what several others are posting for both EQ and other ships. Glad to hear your take on it. 

Saw some vaping but not much.  Didn’t really spend much time in the casino however.  I thought the food was very good overall.  It’s subjective.  I’m also not really picky.

Thursday 8/9 Tortola 

We arrived in Tortola early so we did room service breakfast. Continental room service breakfast is still no charge. Any other room service order gets charged a $9.95 service fee.  Danishes, muffins, yogurt, granola, and coffee, made up our a little personal menu..  We booked a ship excursion to Virgin Gorda for snorkeling and a hike to and through The Baths.  We had a rough ride on the Catamaran out to Virgin Gorda, but once we got there, it was incredible. The snorkeling was OK, but the hike to and through The Baths was the true highlight.  
 

The hike through The Baths would remind one of hiking through Arches National Park, but with gorgeous blue waters all around you.  There’s a beach and great bar/restaurant and a few vendors selling trinkets and tee shirts.  We had a blast.  We ate lunch locally at Bamboushay in town.  It was nice and relaxing.

We had a meet and greet with the officers when we got back.  It’s always interesting to find out a bit about them and thank them for taking such good care of us.

Thank You!  Lots more to come.😀

Wednesday 8/8

We had a late excursion so we went to the OVC for breakfast.  The food was pretty good and it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it might be( maybe timing is everything)?  
 

We had booked the America’s Cup sailing experience through the ship.  I used to own a sailboat, but haven’t been sailing since I sold it nearly 25 years ago.  It was something that, personally,  really wanted to do.  My wife was a little less excited about it, but afterward she would tell me how much she really loved it.

Team Canada raced Stars and Striped in 12 meter boats exactly like the ones used in 1987.

It was a wonderful day for sailing and great fun, even though I was just a passenger. You could participate in anything and everything if you wanted, or do nothing at all.  My wife helped out a little bit, while I was mainly just ballast.😆

Stars and Stripes nipped us at the line, but it was great being back out on the water.

We then hopped in a cab and headed over to Maho Beach for some plane, spotting, lunch, and, of course, new T-shirts!  (Tremendous!) The food at the Sunset Grill is always good, and the atmosphere at the beach cannot be beat. We highly recommend getting over there anytime you are in St Maarten.

We were back on the ship with enough time to take a nap (remember we’re in our late 50’s and early 60’s and nap often  😆) 

before we would dine in the Tuscan Grill. We found this to be the best of all of the specialty restaurants we visited during the first week. They service and food were both excellent. 

We highly recommend trying this wonderful spot at least once during your cruise.

Tues 8/8 St Thomas

DW and I booked a ship excursion for snorkeling at Buck Island and a beach stop at Water Island.    The excursion was great.  We saw some colorful fish and even some sea turtles at Buck Island.  The beach stop at Dinghy’s on Water Island was fun.  The whole excursion only lasted 3 to 4 hours, but it was well worth it.
 

We got back on the ship and immediately headed to the cabin for a nap!  We weren’t used to such activity lol! 😆

That evening our friends went to Le Petit Chef at Q Sine and really enjoyed the experience , while we went to the main dining room for dinner. We found the food in the main dining room to be quite good, especially the steaks. A quick trip to the casino netted me about $40 I know, living large, right?  
 

The ABBA sing along in the foyer capped a great night. 

Monday 8/6

since we would not be arriving in San Juan until 4 PM, we spent most of the day just hanging around the solarium pool for some excellent relaxation. As concierge class guests, we were invited to see the sail in to San Juan from the helipad.  We have done this many times before on sale Waze from different ports, but this was the first time we had ever done this on a sail  into a port.  It is always a great experience.
 

We did not have an excursion planned, and wanted to eat at a local restaurant on our own with our friends.  We settled on Yeyos.  The food was great, and the owner actually gave our friend who has mobility issues, a ride back to port in his personal car.  It poured rain on us as we waited to get on the ship, but it was not enough to dampen our spirits (pardon the pun).

Sunday, August 6 was our first sea day.  We tried to sleep in as much as we could.  We walked the decks for about an hour before trying out the Tuscan Grill for the Elite coffee lounge. We thought the experience was very nice. The menu is limited, but more than enough to get you going.
 

We spent most of the day doing onboard activities, (mainly trivia, shopping, eating at the Mast Grille, and lounging at the Solarium pool.

it was also the first evening chic night. We had reservations with our friends at sushi on five. We bought the three night specialty dining package. We had never been to sushi on five before on any of our other Celebrity Cruises. I had never noticed the restaurant was ever busy. When we arrived, the place was packed to the gills.  They were seriously overbooked, and we waited, almost an hour and a half for our appetizers. The experience was not great, and really the only totally negative one of our 14 nights on the ship. The four of us walked out. We went to guest relations, and they gladly refunded the specialty dining cost to our onboard credit accounts.  both the hostess and guest relations people were very apologetic about the situation and rectified it in a prompt manner.
 

We then went to see the comedian for the 9 o’clock PG rated show he was very good. 

After a fine dinner in the MDR (Select Dining) we roamed the ship that was brimming with all sorts of fun activities.  A late visit to the OVC for some pizza and sweets capped a great first night.

We did our sail away from my friends balcony in the aft. We were able to see ourselves on the port, Everglades WebCam.

After an early riser on Saturday, 8/5, we decided to walk to the Fort Lauderdale marina to burn some calories and excess energy as we were getting excited for our trip. We arrived at the pier at 10:45. I dropped the DW off and parked the car.  
 

The terminal was not busy and we were on board by 11:35.  We dropped our bags in our cabin, and went down to the concierge lunch with our friends who would be sailing with us for the entire two weeks.
 

The concierge lunch was good and hit the spot as we had skipped breakfast knowing we would be able to lunch in the main dining room. I had the grilled chicken breast and the DW had the braised short ribs. We both agreed they were yummy.

Just now, MisterMet said:

Hello everyone!  This would be our third and fourth cruises on the Equinox having done a 10 night southern Caribbean through the ABC islands in 2018, and a western Caribbean in 2019.    we have also sailed on the summit to Bermuda in 2016, and on the Reflection in 2022 through Italy, Turkey and Greece.

We reached elite status earlier this year by doing as many captains club power up activities as we could.  We sailed in and aft facing concierge’s class cabin number 9376on the starboard side.

We love looking at the wake while sailing.  It is so peaceful and provides great 180° views.

 

We like to begin our cruise with a pre-departure stay in Fort Lauderdale. It is easy for us to travel there because we live in Naples on the other side of the state. We have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina to be an excellent place to stay pre-cruise. We use credit card points. For the room it is a nice place to stay, and a very easy drive to PE.

 

We stayed in a corner suite facing north along the intercoastal. We did an early check-in and went right to the pool to relax. After some lounging time, we changed and went to dinner at the Boatyard.  It was really great. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was fun.

Hello everyone!  This would be our third and fourth cruises on the Equinox having done a 10 night southern Caribbean through the ABC islands in 2018, and a western Caribbean in 2019.    we have also sailed on the summit to Bermuda in 2016, and on the Reflection in 2022 through Italy, Turkey and Greece.

We reached elite status earlier this year by doing as many captains club power up activities as we could.  We sailed in and aft facing concierge’s class cabin number 9376on the starboard side.

We love looking at the wake while sailing.  It is so peaceful and provides great 180° views.

We like to begin our cruise with a pre-departure stay in Fort Lauderdale. It is easy for us to travel there because we live in Naples on the other side of the state. We have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina to be an excellent place to stay pre-cruise. We use credit card points. For the room it is a nice place to stay, and a very easy drive to PE.

We stayed in a corner suite facing north along the intercoastal. We did an early check-in and went right to the pool to relax. After some lounging time, we changed and went to dinner at the Boatyard.  It was really great. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was fun.

4 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Our previous X cruise was 4 years ago, Silly to the Norwegian Fjords. Between then and now we have sailed Azamara and Princess. All 3 are in the mix when it comes to new bookings.

Once we got home on June 20 we started thinking about a future cruise. Istanbul is on our bucket list. We chose to search X first and found  a Beyond for October 2024 which fit the bill. Within a couple of days I found that X were yanking the Beyond from the Med to send her to the Caribbean!

People who had already booked the Beyond were left high and dry and not considered. That and the Beverage Package price deception on the Memorial Day sale has made me doubt the integrity of X. If you recall I was considering the bev pkg at "50% off" the $109 price. Then they extended that sale and the regular price now became $149 then 50% off -that would have cost us an extra $480 for two if we had bought on the Wednesday vs the Tuesday. So X cannot be trusted to do the right thing in my opinion.

So unless I want to sail on the Infinity or Constellation or Eclipse to Istanbul I am out of luck. I don't want to sail any of those. Ascent avoids Istanbul so not an option.

Azamara can do us a 13 day Med Icons cruise that starts with 2 days in Istanbul (negating a hotel on those days) and an overnight in Athens plus Santorini, Crete, Chania and so on. Disembarking in Venice (really the closest port to V). We haven't been in Venice since 2014 (Ocean Princess)

$12K for a small but cosy aft cabin. Not a spacious Sunset Verandah. (We'll never sail the misleadingly named "Infinite (ha!) Verandah which is "infinite" until you get to the end of your cabin.

 

X and Azamara are enough "luxury" for me. I don't look to Silversea or Regent or Seabourn. None are perfect anyway. Princess would currently be my 3rd choice for the ship experience, following disappointing food and service on our last in December but noting that the Diamond was just getting back to sea after 2 years off and with a pulled-together inexperienced crew, so I can cut them some slack. They go to Istanbul but only for 10 hours and then they are gone. We need at least an overnight

We usually cruise for the Itinerary but now that we have sailed Apex want to factor in the ship too. We can be happy sailing Azamara and a medium size ship like Apex or Ruby. Az has no bells or whistles and negligible entertainment but their intensive port stops don't leave a lot of time for the latter. Food and service are good. The Itinerary we are looking at can't be beat!

 

OK, thanks to everyone who has followed and special thanks to those who have commented and kept me on Page 1 for the past  3 plus weeks (even though I lost 5 days in hospital).

Not my longest GSJ but with Amsterdam, the Apex and the itinerary one of my most enjoyable.

Hope to see you all again on January 1 2024!

Best wishes,

Norris

 

Excellent as always.  Glad you're back home.  Hi to Carol.

 

11 nights on her in July 2022 and all was wonderful.

Great review!  Honest, entertaining, and informative.  Excellent pics too.  Thanks for doing.

11 hours ago, Deck Chair Queen said:

This is Carol. Norris’s cold became worse and his doctor sent him to the ER today. He has pneumonia and will be in the hospital for a couple of days for treatment. He wanted me to explain to you all why there is a hiatus in the GSJ. All will be well. 

Oh man Carol!  That sucks.  Wish him well from Trip and Pam.  Hope you are doing well.  Take care of the both of you.🙏

4 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Before I went to dinner I took care of a couple of pieces of business;

I changed our luggage tags to the latest disembarkation @ 9.15 as we had a car picking us up at the Port of Rotterdam.

I also put down a deposit ($100 each) for a future cruise which would get us $300 OBC.

I have until December 19 to book so am hoping to see the 2025 schedules before then.

Norris

How did you hold out so long putting down a deposit?  Lol!  I’m usually in the Future Cruise office before dinner the first night!   Great stuff Norris!  Been lurking in the shadows.  Easy to do as I’m only 5’3””😆

On 7/5/2023 at 2:15 PM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

This will be my last narrative post in this thread! I wanted to wrap it up with a little review/reflection. After getting off the ship, I have had a whirlwind of the last few days. We had moved before the vacation but saved the unpacking and decorating for after. Now that we have that all done, I can make this post! 

 

Overall my review is extremely positive. I also sailed the Equinox last summer, so I have a decently even comparison. The service on this trip was much better. Nothing was super lacking last year besides a really poor Tuscan experience, our stateroom attendant was slow in making up our room, and main dining was super slow. The opposite was true here! Our Tuscan experience was great, our stateroom attendant was fast and fantastic, and MDR was fast and good quality. Maybe it was the luck of the draw, but maybe it's a trend. 

 

Now I know some of you are already reacting to me saying the MDR was good quality. Here is what I think. The menu trial on the Equinox was not great because it was a limited menu. However, the dishes they did prepare were still really nicely done. I hope they return to the normal menu permanently because I missed some favorites.

 

Bar service was also much faster and better this year than last (same capacity). The servers were super attentive, and they were personable too. As for the casino, yes, there was the vaping change. No, it was not noticeable. I imagine it would be unpleasant if someone sitting beside you were vaping. I was sure to leave strong comments in my survey because I recommend Celebrity often to friends and family because of the no vaping rule. Alas, as @Georgia_Peaches mentioned in her live report going on now, surveys likely won't matter, as revenue is the bottom line. 

 

Now I want to say something that might be a strong opinion or not well-received. I've been browsing the boards and the last few months while on board. When doing that, you might think that Celebrity has gone downhill, and it's similar to a line like NCL or Carnival. Similarly, there have been several mentions that you won't be satisfied on X unless you go suite class, and that's what these changes are intended to push you towards. I really do not think that is the case. I had a perfect vacation and felt well taken care of on board. This is my third cruise with X, and I've previously sailed in an IV room and an inside room, this time in a balcony. My level of service has not felt different across the different room types, nor did I ever feel neglected/looked down upon since I was not in a suite. All of the crew were friendly, helpful, and just the best. I recognize that people's tastes and opinions differ, but these are just my two cents. So with that being said, go enjoy your next cruise without too much worry. I think most everything is just fine on board. 

 

Thank you to everyone that has read this far and followed along! I'm still happy to answer any lingering questions. For those interested, I am sailing on the Majestic Princess to Alaska on a family trip at the end of July. Because it is a family trip, I will have less free time and won't do a live thread over on the Princess boards, but I am thinking of doing a post here comparing this Equinox sailing to the Majestic. Happy sailing! 

Great review!  Thanks for taking the time to do it.

4 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

The walkers

including my young sister Joyce and husband Tim

 

 

 

 

The CC photo software is often not up to snuff

 

 

 

 

More

great that you got to see family and friends.  Must’ve been nice to be back home.

26 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Uptown

 

 

 

 

 

 

later in Eden-the Silent Disco

 

Norris

Excellent as always.  Pictures are gorgeous and the GSJ rocks.  It sounds like you really like the E class ships.  Been kicking around jumping on Beyond in 2024 for a summer ABC 8 nighter.
 

Pam and I really enjoy the Silent Disco.  So fun.  Never have missed a chance to do it since our first time on Equinox in 2018.  I recommend it to everyone I know sailing Celebrity. 😊😊

3 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

It’s so interesting how they choose who will get which marketing emails. No sign of this one in our inbox🤔

ours either

16 hours ago, Deck Chair Queen said:

Not only the best meal at sea, but also on a par with any fine meal we have consumed on land. Then you throw in the sea view, the gentle rocking, maybe a hint of a sunset, and by Jove you are at the apex of dining! Please don’t bring back The Dancers. 
 

Carol

Thank Carol.  Always love your perspective too.