rstackjd

We've never taken a post-cruise shore-ex but I'm thinking about one after our March cruise ending in Fort Lauderdale.    Looking at a 9:00 PM flight home so lots to time to cool our heals.   The added benefit is that the excursion drops you off at FLL.    Some questions:

1) what do you do with your luggage?   Does it stay with you during the excursion?  

2) what time do these usually leave the port?   The listings on the Celebrity site show duration but not start and end times.

Thanks!

thanks for the links to the CC article.

2 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Hubby is on "home hemo".....but when we're out of town, he utilizes a dialysis center....just way too much stuff to either bring along or store in a hotel room or small condo.

I would be interested in his experiece with home Hemo.   It sounds like a lot less time hooked up to the machine and fewer days a week than PD.   if he can share some thoughts I'd be grateful for an e-mail   rstackjd@gmail.com

thanks

I am very close to having to start dialysis.   I am still debating between HD and PD.    There are pros and cons to each.   We typically cruise at least once per year.   With PD we can take the machine and supplies with us, but It will severely limit our Night times.    I’ve been told that many ships have on board HD facilities.   
 

Has anyone cruised with either PD or HD.   Are you willing to share your experiences?   I’m really torn at the moment which way to go but will have to decide soon.   FYI I’m 61 and aside from having ***** kidneys am in pretty good shape and very active.  
 

if you’re not comfortable sharing here, my email is rstackjd@gmail.com 

Thank you 

Bob Stack

5 hours ago, PATRLR said:

You should be returning today - would love to know if you did this excursion and how it went.  We're on Encore in April, thinking of doing the same excursion.

Sorry for the delay.  Got back and swept into the holidays.   Short answer we loved the morning at White Bay.   Plenty of time for pain killers and swimming.   Due to the timing of our tender we opted not to try and eat, though there was food service at a few of the bars.   We hung at Soggy (where we always do) and it was a nice morning.  Honestly if your not concerned about the food issue, don't mind breakfast drinking and are ok with a short excursion, you're rewarded with a less than packed beach, so that was nice.   Of course it's always hard to leave JVD, especially at noon, but it was well worth it. 

3 hours ago, EatonDoolittle said:

Ummm yum, Painkillers for breakfast. 

I can't answer your questions specifically - tho if Disney is like every other cruise line - 12:15 means back to the ship time. 

 

I just checked their webcam (9 AM on a Saturday), and there are people on the beach, and a few boats moored in the bay. 

There is a message feature on their FB page, you could ask there if they will have a Painkiller waiting for you. 

Looks like you would arrive 9ish. 

Enjoy, I love that place. 

yeah I’ve sent a couple FB messages and emails.  No responses.    
 

that’s ok.  We will just head over.  I’m sure even if SG isn’t serving Hendos or another will be 

We are booked for the Soggy Dollar Bar excursion off the Disney Magic on Sunday 11/17.   We've been to Soggy several times but this excursion is 7:45 AM to 12:15 PM.   

Has anyone done this specific excursion?   Do we LEAVE JVD at 12:15 or are we back at the ship at 12:15?   Is Soggy Dollar even serving in the morning?

From other ships we've always arrived early to mid-morning but weren't headed back to the ship until mid to late afternoon.

Anyone who has done this and can give insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bob

1 minute ago, gometros said:

You might also try asking this question in the port of call section. Not sure if the excursion is exclusive to DCL.

great point - thanks

We are booked for the Soggy Dollar Bar excursion off the Magic on Sunday 11/17.   We've been to Soggy several times but this excursion is 7:45 AM to 12:15 PM.   

Has anyone done this specific excursion?   Do we LEAVE JVD at 12:15 or are we back at the ship at 12:15?   Is Soggy Dollar even serving in the morning?

From other ships we've always arrived early to mid-morning but weren't headed back to the ship until mid to late afternoon.

Anyone who has done this and can give insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bob

2 hours ago, paul58 said:

You may want to contact the operator of the train about securing a reservation. The train has agreements with most cruise lines and if there are many of those cruise ships in port the same day as you are in port it may be booked up. try this to contact them:

 http://www.stkittsscenicrailway.com/contact-us.html, when are you scheduled to be in Basseterre? 

we are there Saturday 11/16.  Yes I've already sent an inquiry to them - now we wait!   lol

We are cruising in on the Magic 11/16/19   The Magic does not offer a shore excursion to the railway.   Anyone ever do this independently of the cruise line?   easy or hard to do?

Thanks!

Following - we will be in St. Kitts for the first time in November off the Magic.   Trying to decide whether to do a shore ex or just wing it.   Cruieathon - did you taxi from the town area to Frigate Bay?

8 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Most likely wont be the last sea day if that's the last day before your return to port, but it would be the night before that.

ok thanks for the clarification

3 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

The Evening Chic nights will never be the first or last night of the cruise. On a 9 night you will have 2 Evening Chic nights. They'll most likely be nights 2 and 8, but that's just an educated guess.

thanks - that's consistent with what others have said - first and last full sea days

Bob

3 minutes ago, Alakegirl said:

No formal night.....they have downgraded to elegant chic or some such wording.  Many do still dress formally, however.  There should be two, on sea days.

Ok thank you 

Good morning all.

We have a large group booked for a nine night cruise on the Equinox to the ABC's.   I am starting to work on the "social schedule" for the group and like to try and coordinate it with ship special events.  This is our first time on Celebrity in 7 years.   

Does Celebrity still have "formal night"?    On a 9 nighter is there more than one "formal night"?   Any ideas on which night(s) that would occur?

Any other special events on the cruise I should be aware of (ie. Disney has Pirate Night, NCL has the GLOW party, etc etc)

I realize itineraries change all the time, but it's a place to start at least.

Thanks in advance!

2 hours ago, greenan2 said:

We sailed on the Equinox in May 2018 and will be back onboard in June 2019. We have also loved Century, Infinity and Constellation over the years. We found the Equinox relaxing with excellent food and service. Not overly heavy on entertainment. DJ and one appearance at the pool daily. Pool did get very busy. There was a daily game organised by the entertainment team. House band and a duo performed at various venues from late afternoon. Disco late at night. A theme party. Nightly show. Daily trivia. Bingo. Gym, exercise classes and spa. These are the things that we noticed. Having sailed NCL Epic which we enjoyed for other reasons, mainly food options, you just can't compare the two. Our preference is Celebrity. It sounds like Equinox and Celebrity would be too sedate for your party and I would agree with others. Perhaps another NCL or a large Royal Carribean ship if plenty of entertainment is your preference?

I'd love to hear more bout the Epic!  Most people that I hear from hate it, but it seems like an interesting ship to me. 

3 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Thanks for the feedback.  We sailed on NCL once about 25 years ago and had some service related issue that I don't remember any more and we never went back.  We have sailed a lot on Royal and Celebrity.  I've been watching the NCL ads on television and I'm thinking of giving them a try again.  It appears that the ships have a lot of new and interesting activities.  I'm trying to sort out if the ships are good or if the ads are just very well done.

That's the part of this that sucks, the ships are great, active, beautiful, never a boring time.  The food has become first class, where once it as, well, so-so.  And the service is generally very very good.  We are a mere points away from Platimnum level, so,switching is no small decision.   Without the group I'd cruise them in a heartbeat 

Thank you everyone for your comments!  Very helpful! 

3 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

If nightlife and entertainment are a concern, I think you will find the Equinox to be too dull and will be disappointed.  What are the issues that you are having with NCL?

The NCL are all related to grief and difficulty in dealing with its "groups" department which more or less seems to have disappeared.  In twelve months our travel agent could talk to the same person twice in that department and many times we got conflicting information and "chnaged" deals.  Very frustrating.   Frankly we love the product, but they seem to have decided that groups are of no interest to them. 

Greetings all.  

We we corrdinate a group cruise and have historically cruised NCL with the group,mthough we did one on the Summit about 6 years ago.    For a variety of reasons we are thinking about changing away from NCL.   We are interested in a 9 nighter on the Eqinox.   The problem I'm having is that universally the group was unimpressed with the Summit and I'll have work to do to convince them to try Celebrity again.   The members of the group are professionals and range in age from mid 30s to mid 60s.   On the Summit the things we all liked were the food, the sevice and the overall quality of the ship.   Honestly the food was better than NCL, certainly on par at least and the service was probably better on Celebrity.   Comparing ship to NCL ships of the same age and size I'd say they were similar.  

The he problem was the night life, or lack there of.   This group has gotten accustomed to the very active NCL "big ships".  While the Equinox is smaller than the Breakaway class ships, I think it's actually a good size and at least "looks" to be a ship with plenty to do.  But our experience on Summit was that the ship was VERY subdued, and frankly boring after say 8:00 at night.  Other than the casino and main theater shows there seemed to be nothing to do.

so, for those with Equinox experience, how's the night life?   Are there enough clubs with live entertainment?   What about things during the day?  This cruise has 4 seas days, so an active ship will be important.   Bingo? Art auctions?  Programs? (Wine, beer, whiskey tasting?)  how crowded or not crowded are the pool areas?  

Thanks for your insight.   I really want to try this line again. But I don't want 100 disappointed, or worse, pissed off, people on my hands. 

Cheers! 

We cruise on the Getaway in 24 days.   Looking at internet packages on the planning site and all they seem to have are either the "unlimited" Social Media package, the 250 min.  internet package, and the unlimited internet package.

Seems to me there used to be a 100 minute package.   Is this still offered?  

Does anyone know what the prices are for the packages if purchased on-board.

Thanks

Thanks  everyone, all very helpful

35 minutes ago, hop2it said:

I'll let the message board experts answer your other questions, but can say emphatically there is absolutely nothing undesirable about the Vancouver to Anchorage route and cannot imagine why anyone would think there is. And if you've never been to Vancouver, it's a great place to spend a few days prior to departure..

36 minutes ago, hop2it said:

I'll let the message board experts answer your other questions, but can say emphatically there is absolutely nothing undesirable about the Vancouver to Anchorage route and cannot imagine why anyone would think there is. And if you've never been to Vancouver, it's a great place to spend a few days prior to departure..

Thank you!