amscene1

*If their ships are not sold off to other lines. 

yes I just ordered some...

 

www.ship-eez.com

 

I have been using their seasickness patches for years. Everything they make is made for cruisers and top quality.

Could this happen? Has this ever happened in the past?

Escape is coming up on 5 years old with no announcement for drydock yet. I do see a gap in from April 4 2019 to April 15th 2019 where it appears in NYC after leaving Miami from its previous cruise.

 

one would have to assume its spending 8-9 days at grand Bahamas ship yard but that seems a bit short for a dry dock considering getaway was just in for 2 weeks.

 

I'm sailing May 3rd out of Rome so that would be a bonus for me. 

$3000 for 2 people interior including drinks and grats for 12 night Rome to England. Now that’s a steal

Any one know the earliest time for embarkation. I am diamond and they gave me noon as the earliest....

 

does the embarkation start any earlier there? 

On board carnival victory returning to Miami tomorrow and there is a “mandatory” safety briefing because of “newly changed rules” in the recent weeks.

 

has as anyone else heard of this? 

19 hours ago, spankym13 said:

Port Everglades.  The itinerary:

San Juan 

St Thomas 

Tortola 

Nassau.  

Most stops are 7-10hrs.

We looked  at MSC good ports but short times. RCCL/NCL had only 3 stops so more sea days. Carnival  has one itenery  thats not bad but we have been to 2 stops already. 

Nassau 

Amber Cover ( Least favorite )

San Juan 

St Thomas

The thing is on these bigger mega ships is the ship become the destination. My wife was pretty bored on our celebrity cruise last week. It’s just not a great choice especially if you are the active type. 

 

My my wife has been on NCL Getaway, NCL Bliss, Harmony OTS and Symphony OTS. The Celebrity Equinox was just not up to par entertainment wise. 

 

If if you went on Bliss, you would have a go kart race track, laser tag, escape room, fun amazing slides, amazing Irish bar, H2O outdoor bar on the back of the ship and a ton more. 

 

Not to mention all inclusive drinks and specialty restaurants. 

 

Trust me. Celebrity is not for you guys. 

21 minutes ago, like2cruise said:

Thanks for your review.  Just curious what days did you get the discounts?  How much haggling...I am comfortable with doing some, but not a ton :).  

Day 3 for sushi and day 5 for Murano. It was not hard haggling, he told me special price, I said how much he said 20% off and I said ok and motioned to walk away and he shouted “ok 30 percent” I could have got more but 30% was more than fair. 

10 minutes ago, Angeltyker26 said:

We are booked on Equinox in December, so I appreciate your candid review!  I'll be curious to see what changes after dry docking And as our December sailing is our first cruise, I don't have a lot to compare it to.  How did you find out about the discounts on Murano and Sushi on 5?  I'm a sucker for a good bargain and especially when food is involved! 😉  

 

They had sales associates standing outside the buffet every day for lunch asking us if we had dining booked. When I inquired they told me they have a special price for “tonight only” although they had that special for every night. So I took advantage to save money. 

 

Murano was $35 per person and sushi on 5 was $20 all you can eat. This was of course after some haggling.

18 minutes ago, spankym13 said:

The biggest  thing that has drawn us to this cruise is the ports. No other lines seem to have as good of itenery. 

That’s understandable, could you elaborate on itenery and embarkation port?

30 minutes ago, spankym13 said:

Hello  everyone.  My wife (33) and I (32) are looking at booking our first cruise  with celebrity.  We have only done  1 Carnival  and 1 Norwegian  in the past so we are still new to the cruise game. We were just curious about the nightly  entertainment  on board. A few people have told us they cater to older crowds and younger  people should stick to Carnival.. while we arent huge party people we do enjoy having drinks  and dancing  the night away. Does celebrity  do these things as well?

I just wrote and posted a review on Equinox from my experience last week. Me and my wife are both 33. I would recommend you try NCL’s newer ships first before you try celebrity. 

 

Background: 

 

Me and my wife, both 33 had chosen the equinox since we had previously done symphony and bliss late last year. Although the dry dock was soon coming I knew (or thought) the food and service would shift our expectations to a positive light. This my wife’s 5th cruise and my... well I stopped counting a while ago. 

 

Embarkation:

 

We arrived late at the port, closer to 2pm. As expected, embarkation was a breeze. Maybe 15 minutes taxi to ship.

 

Ship Appearance: (pre dry dock) 

 

The ship looked good, I had sailed the silhouette in 2014 and everything was basically the same. There were some independent contractors on board doing some repair work to various doors and parts of the ship but this was kept to one area at a time and did not really effect anyone. 

 

Room:

 

6291 (2C) balcony was great size wise. It had a little extra space do to its position on the ship but some people would call it an obstructive view. We were directly above blu restaurant and at midnight and 4am there would be a ton of noise for about 5-10 minutes and then stop. Since I booked a gty category this is something I had to live with albeit not a deal breaker. 

 

The bed was bad and the pillows even worse. The bed was hard as a rock and the pillows were as thin as crackers.

 

Stateroom Attendant:

 

Leroy, was fantastic. A true highlight of our cruise. Every request was made and he was a true ninja. I don’t know where he was hiding but everyday like clockwork our rooms were turned over twice. Some days we did not even leave the room until 1pm and it would still get done.  

 

Demographic:

 

If I had to say the average age on this ship was 47 years old. Not too old but this is a weeklong Caribbean cruise so that is expected. Less then 15 kids under 18 and 1 infant. I did notice half of the people were from Canada and a lot of people from England as well. Maybe 5-6 sets of lgbt.

 

Captain:

 

To be honest I was a little skeptical of captain Kate to begin with. Not at all because she was a woman but because how interactive she is known to be with guests. She made me coffee and wished me goodbye of the gangway during disembarkation and I was the 3rd guest off. I personally did enjoy those touches. Her  announcements were comical and informative.  She was also the most punctual and clear speaking captain I have ever heard, she could be a radio host.

 

Gym: 

 

Perfect setup, never busy and relatively new machines. 

 

Buffet: 

 

Well laid out but busy on sea days. This was the first time I can remember having to circle the dining room 2 times to actually find a seat. On port days it was manageable. The food quality in the buffet was hit and miss which did not reflect my 2014 experience on silhouette where all the food all the time was flawless. 

 

Food lowlights:

Most desserts (sad) cheesecake in MDR was the only thing I liked the first night. The rest of the cruise it was not as sweet as the first. 

Meat carving stations 

Pasta station 

Room service food and selection

French fries everywhere are undercooked

Sushi on 5 was mediocre but I’m a huge sushi snob. My wife loved it

Regular coffee is basically coffee flavored water

 

Food highlights:

Murano, excellent as before

Most MDR dishes were good, portions were smaller then last time I believe

Indian station in buffet 

Pizza station in buffet 

Ice cream in buffet 

I had 3 burgers, one was amazing and the other 2 were like rubber ducks between bread

 

Beverage selection:

 

Me and my wife had the classic package and maybe spent an additional $25 on drinks so for us it was not worth the $140 for both of us to upgrade to the premium package. The beers were abundant and they would usually go in the back to get what they did not have. 

 

Bartenders and Bar service: (detailed) 

 

Sunset bar: While visiting here nightly, the 2 Jamaican bartenders were downright rude and even drunk on several occasions. The closing time was posted at 1am, at around 12:04 on the first night I asked for 2 drinks and was hit with a rude “ We are about to close but I’ll make you some”

 

The next night the same thing, they were very cold, distant and again drunk. It was only when I asked for a receipt and tipped $5 did this change things (as expected) 

 

Although they would still seem to “forget” me every night until they were paid to remember me again. This was probably the sour spot of the cruise just because how much I enjoyed the aft view of the ship. 

 

Sky observation lounge: 

 

Our other favorite spot. Bartenders were hit and miss. Most did not know how to make the special drinks in the bar menu and would reference flash cards. Service overall was quick. 

 

Ensemble lounge:

 

Impossible to grab attention of a waiter. I had to go to the bar and tell them to bring it to me each time. Did not go here more than 3 times. The drinks in the bar book here are yummy though. 

 

Quasar: (“the nightclub”)

 

Probably the worst nightclub on a ship I’ve been to. It’s not really a nightclub or a bar or a lounge. It is a weird space and hopefully will be turned into something different during the dry dock. 

 

Mast bar:

 

Again, they closed the bar at 8pm instead of the posted 9pm. The bartender offered us beer but was counting the liquor before putting it away so he could not make us a cocktail. Also this place gets way to smoky during the day. 

 

Gastropub:

 

Like many others before me we missed out on trying the food here. Drinks were good but service was slow! 

 

Passport bar:

 

Best drinks and best service winner overall. 

 

Overall bar experience.

 

Was fair, not poor. Bartenders in passport and 2 bartenders in sky saved the cruise. I just don’t think they were motivated to be there, Be it the tips that week were poor or the end of their contracts, the bar staff was not motivated and did not do a good job. I did not visit the world class bar, casino and martini bar so I can not comment 

 

Entertainment:

 

Comedian was good and marriage show was just okay. Im not big on cruise ship plays and musicals except for Disney so I’m kind of partial. 

 

Ports: (San Juan, St Thomas Nassau and  Punta Cana)

 

I won’t comment on San Juan St Thomas and Nassau as I have been there a bunch. I was super excited for PC and we missed it as all the previous cruises here from celebrity have. In the back of my mind I expected this to happen

 

Punta Cana sticks out on the edge of the Dominican Republic so the water is always rough. Only a few voyages have been able to successfully tender here. We pulled up and anchored, you can feel the ship rocking more than the whole cruise. Captain Kate announced that the tenders were unsafe to board from the ship. So we pulled away.

 

With the late call in San Juan it was like 4 sea days. Quite a bunch for a 7 day cruise IMHO. 

 

 

Casino:

 

Terrible payout on slots that’s all I will say. 

 

Internet: 

 

Very quick, not as fast as royals but second best among cruise lines.

 

Debarkation: 

 

Easiest debarkation ever! Room to taxi literally 8 minute walk through. 

 

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:

 

I liked the ship, a lot more toned down then what we are used too. It will be a while before we try celebrity again to be honest. I like all the lines and am not loyal to any, they all have there good and bad. 

 

It is safe say there has been cutbacks in the last 5 years. The MDR was spectacular last time and left no reason to venture to specialty restaurants. I was asked 8 times if I had a dining package or reservation. I did get great discounts (they were negotiating) on Murano and sushi on 5. Since we had a lot of OBC we decided why not. Murano I would go back to and pay full price no problem. 

 

IMHO NCL has a better buffet product and RCCL has better MDR food. Although that might be skewed because we were on their newest ships. But I swear, noticeably better. 

 

The age for us was a tad older which is not a problem but I think it is suited better to an older crowd. Less to do in general and everything is closed by 1am. The edge might be our next celebrity ship in a few years but I still have to show the wife Carnival, Disney Princess and possibly try Oceania. 

 

  

 

So with tomorrow being the first BIG week for spring break, what do you think the crowds will be like? 

 

Mostly collage kids? Half? Some? 

 

I sail from Miami tomorrow on the equinox for 7 nights. 

Celebrity towels are all my guest towels at my house lol

I cruise a lot, but what I can say is variety is key. I could never go on celebrity 3 cruises in a row, I have to constantly try new lines, ships and experiences. 

 

Every cruise line has its own pros and cons. There are some things about Carnival that  is done way better than Celebrity and vice versa. 

 

 

So you can’t smoke by the sunset bar?

This is why I never stay loyal to just one cruise line and make my bookings within 15-45 days out. I have almost never had a price go down on me after booking and I love something about all the cruise lines. No need to confine yourself to just one. They all have positives and negatives.

 

 

Going on the EQ Saturday. I saw some older threads so I wanted to create a newer one about all the secrets and rips there is to know. 

 

Any and all insights are appreciated! 

15 hours ago, yorky said:

Overall reviews on this site would suggest otherwise. The ship is scoring way lower than any other ship in the Celebrity fleet even now when any teething problems should be rectified. The design of the ship, those IV balconies, spaces, flow of passengers, lifts, dining rooms, lack of true shade around the pool area, all continue to be highlighted. An awful lot of individuals living in the 1950s continue to “whine”

 

Well the folks from the “1950’s” are 80% of celebrity’s cruiser base. 

I get 💩 faced and pass out. Works every time. 

2 hours ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

I tend to be a bit antisocial. But I have learned... One recent cruise, table for 6 in the MDR. First night, nice young couple at the table with us. Clear we would never see them again, they couldn’t wait to be gone from us. And then the second couple was an older couple, with an attitude. Hoped we would never see them again. But second night, the older couple was back. By the end of dinner we had warmed up. Became good friends, shared several excursions and free time ashore with them, would be happy to link up again on another cruise or whatever. So, (1) first impressions shouldn’t count, and (2) if you never associate with people you don’t already know, then you must know very few people. That is sad. 😟

I have a good group of friends, although I am open to more, a cruise ship dining table is not the place for me to find them. 

2 hours ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

I tend to be a bit antisocial. But I have learned... One recent cruise, table for 6 in the MDR. First night, nice young couple at the table with us. Clear we would never see them again, they couldn’t wait to be gone from us. And then the second couple was an older couple, with an attitude. Hoped we would never see them again. But second night, the older couple was back. By the end of dinner we had warmed up. Became good friends, shared several excursions and free time ashore with them, would be happy to link up again on another cruise or whatever. So, (1) first impressions shouldn’t count, and (2) if you never associate with people you don’t already know, then you must know very few people. That is sad. 😟

I have a good group of friends, although I am open to more, a cruise ship dining table is not the place for me to find them. 

I would personally never dine with people I don’t know. It amazes me that someone is willing to risk those people ruining the meal (paid for or not) 

 

 

25 minutes ago, horatio123 said:

Unless I am reading the website incorrectly, not too please about forecasted wave heights this coming week.  6 ft plus?  I thought this was supposed to be a more serene situation.  Got the Bonine situation figured out.... help me with this.  Might be my first and last cruise  😞

6 foot waves are quite common in the gulf.