Darkwolfe

Met up with most of the folks we were traveling with at this hotel as well. Dirtgirl, my long running friend on this board and that "social page that shall not be named" was leading the mayhem. Almost ten years of trading jokes quips and various yarns and we finally wind up on the same ship.

Bemusedly, myself, my girlfriend, and two others were the only US residents in that group. Naturally, given this past World Series, there was a little baseball humor batted around. Good humor in the group was the rule. I'd sail with these folks again anytime!

I'd set up a van transport for us from the hotel to the port for Monday the 9th. Our driver was early, good humoured, and not once acted like we were anything but his best guests for the week. Cheers John and thank you very much!

Outside the Sonesta, about 20 minutes before we left for the ship.

P1000877 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

This was the last day for the boat show. Once again, traffic was unreal. So were the prices on parking spaces. I saw one lot, that's usually $5 for the day, selling spots for $100.:eek:

Eventually however, we found our way to the ship. Port Everglades had Equinox assigned to Terminal 18, which I was quite curious about. I've boarded at a different terminal every time I've sailed from PE, so seeing the newest one was of interest. It worked well, even more so considering that boarding actually started relatively on time! And after a TA no less! Still we did have to wait for some extra time while the cabins were completed. I'm not entirely sure of the time but we did get to the cabins between 2 and 3pm.

Celebrity Equinox (Note- Picture taken at Grand Caymen. Had a bit too much rush going on to get one at Port Everglades)

DSCF0082 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

I never quite remember to get a cabin picture until we've looked at all the papers left on the bed and dropped gear everywhere. This is 7282 on the aft hump. Quite comfortable for two, but three might find the storage limited.

P1000881 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

One of everyone's most common and favorite scenes in Fort Lauderdale. They way out!

P1000885 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Next up, some notable spaces aboard the Equinox!

I'm reading David! Hoping to hear about some of the antics I was not involved in!

Some of the antics can't be posted here. "Happens on the ship, stays on the ship" ya know. Must keep professional reputations relatively intact after all. ;)

A quick look at a few things near the hotel.....

Boat Show yachts moored all over the ICW. This is actually a less crowded location...

P1000858 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

State Park

P1000863 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Spider in the park (lots of these)

P1000867 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

And the weather continued to be very good. If humid.

P1000869 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Next up.. Equinox!

Our single full day in Fort Lauderdale was my GF's birthday so we had some beach time in the morning, went to PF Chang's in the Galleria Mall for lunch, and walked around Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.

Great beach weather!

P1000849 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1000850 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Somebody was getting on the fancy side with a very cool ride at the hotel.

P1000853 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

The pool de.. area at the Sonesta. Quiet when I took this, but it got pretty busy later in the day.

P1000855 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

We'd met up with some friends also staying at the hotel by now. Had a few drinks and then late that evening, cheerfully ambushed long time CC member Dirtgirl when she arrived. Time for some sleep and a cruise the next day!

Hello folks! This will be my first ever photo review for a Celebrity ship. Hopefully, it will give a little back to this part of CC as I have scooped much information from various peoples here for some months now. May you find a few laughs as well. On we go!

After some 18 months of planning and waiting, our trip began with flights on Delta from Kansas City International airport. Frankly I hate flying with a passion, but I have to say Delta did a very good job with our flights out this time. Return flights were even better. On three of the four flights we were aboard the newer 737-900 series aircraft that have MUCH better pressure control than the older 700 and 800 series. That left me with only one flight that really hurt ( yes I use all the tricks, gum, yawn, swallow etc etc ).

Delta not only left on time on the way out, they were early on arrival. Given that we had to change flights in Atlanta, that made the outbound flights that much easier. Take the good where you can get it!

P1000827 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

No complaints about the weather. Just about as nice as you could ask for.

P1000838 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Fort Lauderdale as we came in for landing. After we left the plane, we had our bags in hand in under 15 minutes. I call that a good start.

Got a cab and headed for the Sonesta hotel. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was in full swing so the traffic was really bad. Lots of lane cutting in and out, impatient drivers, etc. Took twice as long as normal, but we got there soon enough.

The Sonesta hotel is very nice. The pool is quite warm. All white room decor for linens and such. Great views of the beach from every single room.

P1000839 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

P1000840 by Wulfgar28, on Flickr

Food was not tried there as the prices were extremely high. Go the less than 100 feet to Primanti Brothers Pizza 24 hours a day for excellent by the slice pizza and sandwiches. They also do straight-forward American style breakfast from 8am to 10am. Coffee is also very good. Crew has to hustle a lot as they are never empty. One fellow we saw there, (Dillon) worked two twelve hours shifts in two days. We were in there five times over the weekend and he was there every single time except the last. If you go in there now, tell him he's famous! ;)

On Royal's Vision OTS June 2014, the first cruise to Bermuda had 1500 C&A members on board. Ship staff handled it near to perfection. They simply did two parties. One was for Gold and one was for everyone else.

Nobody got left out and the overall attitude of the passengers about it was quite good. It certainly made good sense to me. They actually had to use the main theater for the parties.

Great aerial shots on the way out of FLL. It is fun to see places you have been through other eyes at times.

The kicker on this plan is what day of the week. Weekends are NUTS around Port Everglades. You can literally get near 50,000 passengers passing through on each weekend day. Trying to do a walk off and catch an early flight can get dicey fast.

However, during the rest of the week, it's pretty much effortless. Most of your longer cruises will have turnover days that are not on the weekends.

Thank you very much for the info. I hoping a smaller ship with less passengers puts less strain on CBP. Of course they may just cut the number of agents!

You shouldn't have any problems. Especially if you have a non-weekend begin and end to your cruise. You should have that on a 10 nighter. I've gone out of FLL on Vision twice for 10 and 11 night trips. Both sailed on Mondays and back on Thursday or Friday. Made it to the airport by 8:30am both times.

10:45am for a FLL departure is completely doable. As has been said, just self-debark and you're good.

steveru621- As an educated guess, Serenade could be berthed at Terminals, 4, 21, 22, 23, or 24. Those are the most common locations for Royal ships. You might go through Terminal 18, but I haven't seen anything but Freedom and Oasis ships there in quite a while. YMMV of course. :)

Here's a handy map of the port. Enjoy!

Great review Nicole! My GF is really looking forward to going to Europe and I'm certain you are feeding that fire lol.

We've been on Vision twice in the last couple of years and have a third scheduled for this coming January. She keeps getting interesting itineraries!

We will be going to Costa Rica in Nov. and were wondering about Celebrity tours. Anyone taken any of their excursions?

I believe you are on the same sailing we are since there's only one X visit to Puerto Limon the entire month. There's a LOT of excursion planning going on the roll call thread. You are more than welcome to join in! :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2053198

YMMV as one put it already. I've arrived as late as 1pm and as early as 8:30am. :eek: Obviously the latter was unplanned, but we had simply awesome weather that day so no one really minded hanging out on the pier for a while.

Preference for me is about 11am on normal sailings. Usually, boarding is in process by then and the lines are moving reasonably well. Been on board by 11:45am more than once.

I think it boils down to when your hotel chases you out the door really. Once that point hits, might as well head to the pier.

Thanks to the OP for a very informative bit of research! :)

We're regular Royal cruisers but taking a cruise on Equinox in November. Cheating like all get out with that reciprocal Diamond-Elite thing. We have the Classic and from all appearances it will meet our needs very well.

Again much thanks to the OP and those who have contributed handy tips on this thread!

Hello,

 

My husband and I have booked this cruise and were wondering if anyone out there has been on this cruise and could comment on the low energy excursions like the carriage rides, how much walking at the Miyan Ruins (?) and then helicopter rides. We are not beach people so not really interested in those low energy excursions unless there is one where you can ride a horse along the beach - I've always wanted to do that. LOL

 

Would love to get some feedback. Have a wonderful evening!

If I may, what is your sail date? You will probably want to join your roll call thread if you haven't already. :)

We sail 8/31/15. Since this is not the only ship with the cancellation I hope you make it on 9/21/15.

That's what I was afraid of. Our 11/9 sailing has a second itinerary showing up now that drops Belize, reverses the entire cruise and does an overnight in Cartegena.

Worse, you JUST got the notification and you are sailing in less than a week. Extra fun rescheduling those excursions. Ugh!

Oh well, make lemonade with those lemons. Still on a cruise and not at work!

A nice concise review! I must admit I found a bit of humor in the phrase "similar to the smaller RCI ships like Navigator". First time I've seen a Voyager class called a smaller ship! :D

Have fun cruising!

Is that a sailing past final or one for next summer? I'm curious because there is a potential change on our November cruise that may drop a port and add an overnight. They were originally not going to start this until next year, now I'm starting to wonder.

Heh, Celebrity uses the same basic computer system Royal does. All the emails come in with my GF's name and I've been cruising a good bit longer than she has!

Laugh and go cruise. :D

Excellent review indeed! But I must tell you that your feedback form has developed a bit of an issue. Possibly too many people playing with it today.

That gave me some things to think about as we're planning a Europe/Med adventure in the next few years from the US. Even be a bit of time in Germany since I have unmet family there to go see. Ahh, TRAVEL!! :D

Nice! I'll be watching this thread for certain. GF wants to go to Europe and I do not want to fly home at the end of the trip so we're planning to start from London and take the train from there to Hamburg, then on to whatever port we decide to sail from for Trans Atlantic back to the States.

I've heard some stories about those "post-TA" embarkation days so I'm mildly wary. That being said, our first trip on Equinox is going to be one of those "post-TA" cruises.

Way I figure on something like this, I'm going to expect an extra delay and be quite happy if it's a relatively normal embarkation otherwise. We have a pretty good party going so I'd not be surprised if the wait goes by quickly in any case.

Most entertaining! Keep up the good work. :D

I'm so excited to get so much information in one review, since we are doing the same itinerary I have some additional questions if you don't mind...

1. We are staying at Hampton Inn and suites on convention center blvd... how far and where do we get street system pass? Also, do they have a group rate if 6-8 people (family)? Where all in the city does the street car take you?

2.where is the ice cream location and is it complimentary?

3. How much is chops & Giovanni's for dinner? Can you ask for seconds on entree if you want from either of these restsurants? I have seen on CC tht Giovanni's is 25% off first nigbt, is this so?

4. You said you got text on your phone about delays... how did you go about being able to receive those messages?

That's all I can think of for now but sure I'll have more questions if you don't mind...

 

I am sooooo thankful for this review!

Oops I see this one hit while my notifications were not working. My apologies for the miss. Hope you had a good trip.

I will be staying in the Prytania Park as well. Did you call your own cab to the pier or did they front desk do it for you? How long did it take them to get there and how long is the ride to the pier..

 

Thanks

They called as soon as we asked. Maybe ten minutes until they arrived. Ride to the pier is not even ten minutes. Super Easy.