MartinsCruise

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

 

Thankyou! With a British Isles cruise we may spend more time at the Passport Bar than at the Pool Bar!

We have a bar crawl which starts out at the Passport Bar so I'll have one for you.  Cheers!

21 minutes ago, taylortime05 said:

Me too!  Sometimes I think the sommeliers are helpful and other times not so much.  I'm putting together a list of some of the wines and cocktails I'd like to try. 

Me too.  We can compare lists when we're onboard. 🍸 🍷 🥂

3 hours ago, chemmo said:

When we were last on Equinox I asked the pool bartender to recommend something tasty but not too rich/sweet....He made me something with elderflower (wine or liqueur?). Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of it. If anyone knows the name let me know, I would love to enjoy it again when we board Silhouette shortly...

 

 

There's the Elderflower Blush made with Elderflower liqueur and Bombay Sapphire gin at the Passport Bar which is good....not sweet or heavy.  I'm not sure what other bars serve it.  

25 minutes ago, taylortime05 said:

We love getting a drink from the World Class Bar on the way to the show.  We missed that bar on the Edge.  Are you joining the bar crawl?  I think we'll join but I doubt I'll last through the whole thing.  This cruise can't come fast enough.  

Yes, we will be joining the crawl but not sure if we'll make it to the end either. 

1 hour ago, taylortime05 said:

Hi,

 

We'll be on the Equinox 9 Night ABC cruise leaving 9/17/21.   We're so excited to cruise again.  We'll both have the premium beverage package.

 

Could you please share some of your favorite types of wines & cocktails?  Which bar or restaurant did you get it?  

 

Thanks so much!

We'll be on this cruise with you.  The Martini Bar is very popular but we also really enjoy the drinks at the World Class Bar.

21 minutes ago, brockmom said:

We have enjoyed the Cherry Pie…..( seriously the wine lol)

it is also a Pinot…

please feel free to try….but please save some for us in November lol

cheers

Brockmom

That is probably the same one.  I'll be back on board at the end of November so I'll save some for you if you save some for me.  😉

6 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

For the wine drinking followers we had a very nice Cakebread Pino Noir by the glass last night for $15 and in the PDP.

Thanks!  I'll add it to my list.  They used to also serve a Cherry Tart Pino Noir that was decent.  

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

I just ordered the 6 pack this morning at 10….just got an email at 2 pm that they would be delivered tomorrow afternoon.  Do you need to sign for them?  I’ll be keeping a sharp eye out as I know they shouldn’t be left outside…just wondered if a signature was required.

That was fast.  I ordered ours from emed yesterday morning and have only received an email that our order has been approved but not shipped yet.  

4 hours ago, Reijo said:

One other thing that I noticed on Equinox.....You are served by the staff and I'm fine with that, no problem at all.  My issue was that if you get a salad you have to pick up a bottle of salad dressing that hundreds of hands have been on in order to pour your own dressing onto your salad.  The same is true if you get waffles/pancakes.....your pour your own syrup.  Just curious as to why.  

 

I hate the salad dressing carafes with the dressing dripping down the side!  It would be nicer if they could use individual reusable containers.

14 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

I have been assuming that if you buy a multi-pack of BinaxNow tests, someone else (e.g., your spouse, a friend, anyone) can use one of the tests, as long as she has registered separately with NAVICA.  This question is actually addressed on the eMed FAQ, but strangely is not answered with a clear "Yes... so long as..."    

 

Here's the FAQ:

"CAN I BUY A BINAXNOW HOME TEST AND GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE?

In order to receive a test result, digital lab report and/or health pass after participating in a virtually guided test session with an eMed Certified Guide, an individual must have registered and downloaded the NAVICA™ app while inside the U.S. and its territories."

 

I will give eMed a call, but has anyone bought a multi-pack of tests and had someone else register, use one of the tests, and receive her own results?   Thanks!

 We fly to FLL on Sept 16 so I went ahead and ordered a six pack from emed.  I haven't heard back from them regarding the expiration date but at this point, I don't want to take a chance that they will run out of tests.  When I placed the order I had to fill in both of our names, DOB's and the reason we need to be tested.  There were additional places for more names if needed.  We have another cruise in Nov and a trip to Aruba in Feb so hopefully we can use the remaining four tests. 

The 2 and 3 packs are out of stock right now on Optum.  They don't know when they will get them again.  I've sent an email to emed to see if they can give me an expiration date for their 6 pack.  

Just now, terrydtx said:

As we go along I will try to do better with my wine lists.  BTW the stream internet is slooooow, I am so use to my 5G.

We'll have our 240 minutes of faster internet but it doesn't sound like that is very good.  I know that everyone really appreciates you taking us along for the ride.

On the app, the wine list by the glass is very limited in Blu.  I know that I've had more of selection when we've dined there so I'll take your list and see what they can come up with.  

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

When you download the Celebrity app you can see all the restaurants wine lists online and so far it is very accurate to what they have. Huge difference between classic  and premium packages wine quality and offerings. 

I'll check it out.  We have the premium package and I don't mind paying a little more to try different wines.  

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

The one we had in Luminae was Mouton Cadet, my app shows no French wines available in Blu, but you may be able to ask for it. Murano has a Chateau Amour Cru Bourgeois at $15 a glass which we will try tonight. It seems every restaurant has a different wine by the glass list but plenty under $15. 

I'm starting a list to see what I can get.  Your new position on board is a pre-cruise sommelier. 😁🍷

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

I do not know if it because of the pandemic or just being a suite but the service has been like nothing before. We ordered room service for lunch after it was delivered by our butler they called to make sure everything was good. The consierge called to see if we needed anything from him. I have never had this service before. Our waiter in Luminae last night, Nicolas said he will be our waiter for every meal no matter where we sit, I like that since he knows what we like. We ordered a glass of the Bordeaux wine $15, and the sommelier opened a new bottle and our glass was never empty, no extra charge,  the wine was excellent and we love good wines. There is no reason with Premium drink package to ever order a bottle. I think we ended up drinking the whole bottle BTW.

I'll be in Blu so not sure whether the same wine will be available but would you please let me know the name of it so I can try to order it?  Thanks!  

Nevermind....I just saw the answer.

Sue

Thank you so much for the updates!  We will be on the next 9 night cruise on Sept 17 so I'll be interested to hear whether they test onboard before arrival in Bonaire.  I hope all of you have a wonderful cruise!

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Not all passengers will need to be tested, only those who intend to get off at the port requiring the tests.  For example, we have no intention of getting off in Nassau as we have no shore excursions planned and most of the shops and bars are still closed. On our cruise next week we have Canadians on board who will need to be tested to fly home. I think we may even have a few from the UK as well.

We're on the Sept 17 cruise which also goes to Bonaire so I'll be interested to hear how this works out.  I hope someone will be able to post updates about this while on board.  Our itinerary only includes the ABC islands since Nassau was eliminated so I hope Bonaire will be a go.  Either way we'll be happy to be back at sea. 

2 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Huh? There's really nothing left 'up in the air'. All of the guidelines for every port country and ship are posted (and updated) here:

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/celebrity-healthy-at-sea-protocols.pdf

 

and also here

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/travel

Bonaire has opened their port for cruise ships.   The issue I see is that they will require a PCR test for all vaccinated passengers done no more than 24 hours before the ship leaves the home port.  How is that going to work with Celebrity allowing 3 days before sailing.   Does the Equinox have the capability to test all passengers before arriving in Bonaire?

https://www.tourismbonaire.com/news-flash/the-government-and-tcb-announce-the-restart-of-cruise-tourism

24 minutes ago, aring75 said:

 

 

This has me written all over it! 😁

 

I’ll probably have to leave Mark in the casino for a while though. He would not be excited about this. 
 

Sometimes I just don’t understand that man. 

LOL...welcome to my life!  

3 hours ago, Jazzbo said:

Last night in Blu, I had the roasted tomato and fennel soup. I’m usually not a huge fan of tomato soup, but it has been really good in Blu. Larry ordered escargot for the first time. I had one — delicious, but very rich! We both had the seared filet mignon from the Clean Cuisine. It was as good as it was the first night. We are now lazing away at the Sunset Bar enjoying frozen mojitos.

I love the soups in Blu that are served with the dry ingredients in the bowl and the waiter adds the hot liquid from a small pitcher when served.  Have you had any special servers this past week?

6 hours ago, Jazzbo said:

We have already learned that Amar makes the best frozen mojitos!

It was a very difficult decision but I just decided what my first drink on board will be next month!  Thank you for taking the time to take us along on your voyage.  We'll also be in Aqua so if you have an exceptional wait team in Blu, please let me know their names.  

Sue

As of this morning the Sept 11th cruise is not showing as available either.  From what I could see the bookings were sparse so I can't believe that they reached their limit.  Yesterday we decided to cancel this one and just keep our Sept 17 Equinox cruise.  It would have been difficult getting testing done with only one day in between sailings and I wasn't comfortable spending extra time traveling around FL right now.  I hope your cruises still go through. 🤞

5 hours ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

9/11 is there.  We are booked on the 9/2 4 nighter and it also doesn't appear on the X booking site.  I had figured, based on some prior research that is was about 35% full.

 

Have you been able to select a check in time and have they sent you an email about getting tested within 72 hours of when you check in?  So far I haven't heard of anyone on these shorter cruises being able to complete their check in time. 

2 minutes ago, lovrccl said:

Maybe with the rising number of Covid cases they are keeping ships to a minimum. Works for me!

14 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

I did the same for the 9/2 sailing and it appeared to me as if they were not even attempting to sell and deck 2 or 3 cabins.  Based on the other available cabins I figured a 30-35% occupancy.  However, there may have been other blocks of rooms that they never made available to book.

It is difficult to get a percentage because it appears that large blocks of cabins on the 9/11 sailing were also blocked off.  This makes sense if they are not going to fully staffed.

33 minutes ago, lovrccl said:

9/11 wasn't showing today either.

If I do a search for Sept cruises out of Miami, it's still there but when Celebrity emails promotions for short Caribbean cruises, it doesn't show up.  If they are going to cancel these cruises, I wish they would do it sooner rather than later so everyone can adjust their plans.