Eileen G

16 minutes ago, Blizzard54 said:

Interesting that she is on her way already.   She could easily get here a couple weeks before her first sailing.  I wonder where she will hang out on the west coast.  

I have read that it costs less to transit the canal if you don't need to make a reservation. She might just be getting in line so to speak.

I am so glad to hear that. She has plenty of time to get to Seattle for the first cruise.

I have done all three of those cruises, north and south bound on the Coral Princess and RT Vancouver on the Volendam. All of them were fantastic. If you can't spend extra time in Alaska I wouldn't go up to Anchorage. The flights are much longer and the port is far from Anchorage. You can't just get a cab to take you to or from Anchorage. Make sure to fly in the day before your cruise. You don't want to miss the ship and Vancouver is a beautiful city.

27 minutes ago, mvaughan said:

Its really too bad that deck 15 is only for suite guests now...how is access restricted? 

There is a gate at the bottom of the stairs.

2 hours ago, NickPenn said:

Thanks for the great review and photos!  We set sail tomorrow! 

 

When did you learn that the stop in Key West was changed?  

The change of Key West was made before I booked the cruise. I never found out why it was changed. Some people on the roll call weren't happy about it preferring a sea day for the last day. We did have to go through immigration in Key West before we could leave the ship. That meant we could just walk off the ship in Fort Lauderdale.

21 minutes ago, Silvery Seas Cruiser said:

Thanks for your photos and reviews. Love your  idea of the camp footstools, although I am still smarting at the idea of having to bring my own footstool when they used to be provided as part of Concierge Class.

If your sofa was soiled, I take that to mean the "revolutionized" Equinox does not have new furniture in the cabin. 

Was struck that you had two formal nights. Was your cruise seven nights? Ours on Sept 7 is only six nights. I was thinking we would have only one formal night.

Also hoping we don't dock at Key West's Outer Mole pier. It is so much more convenient at the Margaritaville Hotel pier and affords better views of downtown Key West too.  

I'm really glad that you enjoyed Equinox and look forward to any future reviews you will do.

I believe the Equinox docked at the outter mole dock because a ship crashed into the b dock and they were still finishing up the repairs. It looks like the Equinox is scheduled to be at the b dock for your cruise. I do know we had a new mattress.

Another thing I wanted to mention. At disembarkation a lot of people were leaving the ship before their number was called. This really caused a back up in the hall way because their luggage was not off the ship yet. There were employees of the port telling them to line up against  the wall until their number was called. Some people even disregarded this and were standing around a very crowded luggage area waiting for their luggage to be off loaded. We received #35 which was supposed to be called at 9:30 but wanted to get off earlier so we just went to customer services and got #13 for 8:00. We have done this often and never had a problem switching times.

1 hour ago, hcat said:

very nice review with photos,  thanks for posting it

 

Where did you buy these? Do you know their weight?

 

Looks like the deck loungers were situated very close together along the walking path...kind of tight. Wonder how folks get in and out,  and manage to have a drink and beach bag with them,?   They should move some to the balconies,

We got that little camping chair years ago so I don't remember where we bought it. It is very light and easy to pack.

Those lounge chairs are packed tight. There are no little tables to put drinks on or anywhere to put stuff. People just had to climb across them to sit down. We don't sit on the pool decks so I'm not sure how people managed. That picture was taken while the ship was docked in Key West.

9 hours ago, nimiq said:

How was the MDR food and did you have select dining or fix ?

 

thanks

sea ya 

Eric

We had select but only ate in the MDR on the two formal nights. We went at about 6:30 and never had to wait for a table for two. The food was OK but didn't really impress us.

Just now, takemewithyou said:

What type of cabin?  Were you in Aqua Class?  If so, how was Blu?

We just had a regular balcony.

46 minutes ago, miched said:

How were the cabins and balcony furniture?

 

thanks 

 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Our cabin was comfortable but we did notice that the couch was dirty. The chairs on the balcony did recline and looked new but there was no foot rest. I had read about the missing footrests so we bought little camping chairs with us. They fit easily in our luggage and worked great.

We thought the ship was lovely and a step up from the cruise lines we usually cruise on. Service was also great. About the only thing we didn’t like was that there was a very small promenade deck. Only about 15 loungers per side and one side was for smokers. We very much enjoy walking around the promenade deck on sea days and we were not able to do that. This seems to be a trend on the newer ships and would not keep us from sailing on the Equinox again.

Tuesday was Cozumel and we took a taxi to the Money Bar to go snorkeling. We were able to get two lounge chairs in the shade and there was a nice breeze off the water. There were several snorkel boats right off the shore a bit but there was also a pretty good current so we kept closer to the shore. Snorkeling was OK with a bit of coral and a lot of different kinds of fish. All in all it was a nice relaxing day. Getting a taxi back to the ship was no problem although he did drop us off across the street from the port.

Wednesday was Grand Caymen. This is a tender port and the Equinox handled the tendering very well. We left the ship at 10:30 and had no wait. We walked to Eden Rock Dive Center and snorkeled off the shore. The best snorkeling is quite a swim off shore but we have been here many times so we know what to expect. There is also some large inflatable water toys that is separate from the dive center.

Thursday was our second sea day and we had the elite theater tour. It was led by three members of the cast, two of which were getting off when we arrived in FL. They told us how someone gets to be a singer or dancer on Celebrity and of course took us back stage.

On Friday at Key West we were docked at the Outter Mole so we had to take shuttles into town. The drivers did give a little tour so that was nice. We walked down Duval St stopping in a few stores when we got hot. We made it to the Southern Most Point where there was a ridiculously long line to get a picture. We knew about the free loop bus so we took that back to Malory Square area. The bus worked great and gave us a little 20 minute rest in A/C. We wandered around a little more than took the shuttle back to the ship.  Key West is a great place to walk around but due to the heat and the fact that we have been there many times we didn’t spend too much time in town.

On Monday we were in Costa Maya and being August it was hot! We have done two different Mayan ruins in the past so we just walked around the port area for a bit. We stopped to watch the people swimming with the dolphins and did a little shopping. We went back to the ship for lunch and sat by the pool in the solarium for a while and went for a swim. Since the solarium has A/C it was very pleasant.

Just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Equinox to the Western Caribbean. We live in Florida and cruise the Caribbean often so we like to change up ships and cruise lines. I can see why so many people sail the Equinox frequently. This was Captain Kate’s last cruise and CD Carlos’ first cruise. It was also the change over cruise for the singers and dancers. We only had one production show so the cast could fine tune each show. We also had a switch in itinerary with Key West the last stop on Friday.

 We usually don’t cruise when school is out but have found it is OK on ships that don’t have all the bells and whistles that attract kids. There were plenty of kids but all were well behaved and didn’t impact our cruise. I also noticed a very wide range of ages and ethnic groups so there wasn’t really a majority of any group. This made for a lovely mix of passengers.

Sunday was a sea day and we had our Cruise Critic meeting. There were a lot of the Officers attending along with Capt. Kate and CD Carlos Torres. There was plenty of time to chat with everyone. There was plenty of stuff going on around the ship to keep you busy. I was surprised that the outdoor movie screen was in such a small location. It really seems like an afterthought. There weren’t very many lawn loungers so a lot of people were sitting on the wood benches for the glass blowing area. It really didn’t look too comfortable to watch a 2 hour movie.

I was just in Costa Maya last week. There are two pharmacies in the port area and one just outside the port gate down the street just a short walk. I do know the one outside the port area had retin-A as there is a sign outside that says it has it. You could check the price inside the port then go outside and check that price.

The new CD is Carlos who was great. He was all over the place, very energetic and friendly. 

We used their transport in May and we rented a car for the day. We left our luggage at the airport in the secure room. We had to claim it by 7 PM. It worked great.

We did George Inlet in May. We booked on line so it was much cheaper than through the ship. It was by far the best crab I ever had. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the lodge and the ride from the dock area was nice too. They provide transportation from the docks. If you book on line and it says it's full give them a call they may be able to fit you in.

In order to get to the ruins in Costa Maya you have to go on a tour. The bus ride is an hour each way and your boys would need to sit quietly because the guide talks about the local history and culture on the ride. The actual tour of the ruins is 2-3 hours long with stops at the difference structures with more talks of 10-15 minutes at each structure. You really need to consider the other people on the tour and weather your energetic boys will be an annoyance and disrupt their tour. We have done a tour with Native Choice where we were able to climb to the top of one of the temples but I wouldn't want to see small boys climb that high. The reason the ruins are roped off is that they are dangerous.

You might want to take an island tour of Cozemul. They have smaller ruins I think the boys could climb on and a much shorter time at the ruins. The tour would also stop on the west side of Cozemul where there are blow holes and a natural bridge that I think they would really enjoy climbing over. It is really quite beautiful on the west side. The tours then usually include a stop at the beach on the way back. Most cab drivers at the port would be happy to take you on a tour and you will have control of how long you spend at each place. You could also prearrange a tour with a known tour guide.

5 minutes ago, puppymama1 said:

Eileen G - thanks for making me feel better!  We booked the Coral Princess for June 10... and are very much looking forward to this trip!  Can you tell me how far in advance you were able to reserve your Avis rental car for Juneau?  I have tried to do it now, but the website says the location is closed, because it is only showing it open from 4/28/19-10/2/19.  I assume they will reopen next year in April, but I don't want to wait until then to make the reservation and then not have any cars available... Did you make your reservation online or would they be able to do it now if I call them?  Thanks for your help!

I'm so glad you booked the Coral. I looked up our reservations and we booked our Juneau rental car through the Avis website in late February. 

1 hour ago, milolii said:

Eileen,  thanks again. Where is that thread that you posted the menus? 

Here is a link. 

puppymama1, I know how it is when trying a new cruise line. The Serenade was our first RC ship and we loved her. She is still one of our favorites. We were hesitant when first trying Princess but we really love Princess now. Our very favorite ship is the Coral Princess which is very similar to the Serenade. We just did the Northbound cruise with Glacier Bay and College Fjords on the Coral and we have previously sailed the southbound on her. You can't go wrong with either itinerary. Here is a link to my trip report on our May 15 sailing. 

Read as many trip reports you can and decide what you want to do. A must do for one person is not always a must do for someone else. Read about the experience to see if it is something you will enjoy. We have never done the 8 hour bus ride into Denali because sitting on an uncomfortable bus seat would be torture for us.  

We used the front deck a few times in May when we were on the Coral but we really prefer the two back decks on the Carib and Baja decks that have the lounge chairs. They are covered too so that really makes them useful.

Actually the Volendam RT out of Vancouver is one of the only itineraries that does both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm. End of August has a good price for OV.