16th June on The Equinox: Operation Warm & Happy

Hello, folks! I wanted to give a recap & review of our recent cruise out of Miami. The intent:

1. Tell what when right on the cruise (spoiler alert: a lot),
   
2. Tell what could have been better on the cruise (spoiler alert: very little),
   
3. Highlight some of the crew who helped us enjoy the cruise (spoiler alert: I'll never get them all),
   
4. Post the dailies,
   
5. Avoid food porn pictures (just to be different),
   
6. Include some wine porn pictures (just to be different), and
   
7. Hopefully bring you some entertainment value!
   

Why was it "Operation Warm & Happy"? More on that in a bit, but first...

THE REASON FOR THE CRUISE

I'm the caregiver for my mentally disabled older brother Mark. The cruise left Miami on the 16th - and his birthday was on the 17th. A nice birthday surprise, if I do say so m'self! I was able to keep it a surprise until the Sunday before, when we went to his favorite Mexican restaurant. He opened his presents there, but he couldn't understand at first why I gave him a luggage tag. Then he read it, and realization kicked in:

So, I had a happy camper and I could look forward to a relaxing week to prepare for departure! (Please remember those fateful words.)

But, I need to provide a little bit of background on the "Warm & Happy" part first... (next post)

what a lovely start, looking forward to reading the rest

What a wonderful younger brother you are, being a caregiver is an amazing and often thankless job...he's lucky to have you!!

Great start to the review, looking forward to reading more!

I thought your CC name was familiar!

Will be reading your review with great interest for our cruise in August.

BACKGROUND: THE CRUISE FROM HELL

The Equinox cruise was actually our third - the first was on Summit in 2015 (Bermuda), and the second was last September on Anthem of the Seas to New England and Canada. Summit was great! The Anthem cruise... not so much. The first part of the cruise was fogged in - if you look carefully, you can see the Anthem in Portland:

...and the end of the cruise found us sailing through what was left of Hurricane Jose:

The captain did a magnificent job of steering around the worst of the storm (photo taken on the bridge):

But we ended up with seas as high as 16' (the video is much more impressive).

Add to all of this the fact that we were cruising with my aunt and her friends - seniors who were all not feeling well and more than a bit cranky. At the end of that cruise, I kind of felt like this kingfisher that into my veranda, and was so tired he stayed there and shook for about 4 hours:

I came away from that cruise exhausted, and was pretty convinced that it was our last. But them came "Warm & Happy"... (next post)

POST-CRUISE FROM HELL

The reason why we started cruising? Our aunt.

Not to get too morbid, but Mark and I lost our parents in 2010 - two and a half days apart. My aunt stepped in to pick up the slack and helped me keep Mark grounded, and gave Mark and I someone to talk to every day (even if it was over the phone).

Aunt Sister (LOL- yes, that's what we called her) was a truly magnificent lady, who was not feeling well on the Anthem cruise... and within a month or so after returning, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. As she finished up her diagnostic tests and prepared for treatment, we talked multiple times a day. Several times, we offered to come up to NY and visit her - and she begged off each time, saying that she'd rather wait until she was finished with her treatment (translation: she didn't want Mark to see her sick). We agreed that we'd wait... and that to celebrate her completing her treatment, we'd all go somewhere "Warm & Happy".

She passed away suddenly and shockingly at the beginning of February - days before her first treatment. But in retrospect... she was done with her treatments. I decided that Mark and I would honor her last request, and cruise somewhere "Warm & Happy".

"No one is dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away."

--Sir Terry Pratchett

Love that Terry P. and am really enjoying your posts. I have a temporary summer position caring for mentally low students and am looking forward to Monday when the new week starts. You are a good brother. Keep on posting.

Scanditaly

A RELAXING PRE-CRUISE WEEK

So, I now had 7 days to prepare! Packing for Mark is an adventure - there is no concept of either packing light or wearing anything other than jeans. Add to that the fact that he's a messy eater - so we had to pack extras of everything. Anyone care to guess how much 8 pairs of 48x36 Levi's weigh, and how much room they take up in a duffel bag? Answer: a lot! Extra jeans, extra shirts, 11 DVDs, etc. filled up two bags for him. But, I had him packed by Wednesday night!

As I was finishing up his packing, we had a thunderstorm come through. No big deal, right? Until **CRASH**.

Even then, who knows - maybe I was lucky! A quick climb up onto the roof showed me that I caught what my father's military aviator friends refer to as "a golden BB" - a perfect shot.

FUN FACT: That roof is only 6 month old! I had to replace it because of Hurricane Harvey. Think of how you feel when your new car gets it's first ding in the supermarket parking lot, and multiply that by 1,000.

So, now I have a 2+ inch hole in my roof 48 hours before cruising - and oh, yeah, the minor detail of up to 8" of rain in the forecast. This might be a good time to panic! The next morning, I started working the phone to find a roofer. Local roofers are still busy from Harvey! My best hope was to find someone who would come out and do temporary repairs, & put a tarp over it until I got back. But miracles do happen: I found a local business with someone who was kind enough to listen to my tale of woe... and by 1pm, they were up on the roof sawing and banging away! So, I was able to leave for the cruise knowing that I didn't have to work about tarp leaks, etc. The even gave me a piece of the 2" wide branch that poked through the roof; at first I thought of taking it with me and throwing it in the ocean on the cruise, but then I realized that it might be a little hard to explain why I had it packed in my luggage. It's on my desk at home.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: I realize that commercial plugs aren't necessarily allowed on this forum, but if you're needing some roof work done in Houston you could do a lot worse than looking for a company that might rhyme with "Glandy Schmickels".

So, Mark packed and roof repaired - all I had to do is get the dogs into the PetHotel on Friday, and we were ready to leave on Saturday morning!

GOING BACK TO MIAMI

Aaaaaaaaaand we're off!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was born in Miami Beach, and grew up in Hollywood, FL. Normally, I would have flown in the day before; in this case; literally everyone I would want to visit with was unavailable or out of town the night before, so I decided to fly in the morning of the cruise. This would be fine with me... except, Mark is not a morning person. Knowing that he'd have a 4:30a wake up with no chance for breakfast, I decided to splurge on First Class tickets so he could eat a breakfast-like substance (and I might be able to catch a nap). I booked the outbound tickets through Flights by Celebrity, and opted for the airport transfer. IMHO, a good decision! (more to come)

We left for the airport a few minutes to 5, and got to The Parking Spot by 5:30. PRO TIP FOR HOUSTON: If you have to drive anywhere in Houston, 5a is the best time to leave to avoid traffic. Even if you're going out to dinner, leave at 5a. :D We loaded everything into the parking shuttle (with everything that Mark had forgot plus my bag and carry ons, we were up to 7 bags), and were at the terminal in no time. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Houston, IAH is a major airport hub. There were lots of people flying out early. Why not see if you can get some skycaps there before 6a? They'd definitely have some business... I would have much preferred doing a curbside check-in, then parked. Oh well...

Check-in was painless, and off to the security line we went. Mark and I have had TSA Pre-Check almost since it came out, and love the faster screening. EDITORIAL COMMENT: TSA, I love keeping my shoes on... but what's the point of keeping my belt on if you always ask me to remove it after I set off the magnetometer and try again? I've gotten to the point where I just take the belt off anyway. So, through the magnetometer I go, trying to hold up my shorts to prevent an episode of public nudity. In the meantime, Mark is in line for the body scanner - he has a bunch of metal in his leg plus his suspenders with metal clips, and we've found the scanner to be easier for him.

So I round the corner from the magnetometer, tell the TSA agent that he's mentally disabled and have to wait for him (and they are always polite and understanding about this), and turn around to find our carry on bags and... no belt. Really? RANT: I wear a size 42 belt. Did you honestly think that was your belt? Did you need one that badly? I would have chipped in a couple of bucks!

Fortunately, I had a spare belt... lovingly packed away in my luggage. So, I am now cursed with walking through IAH to the United Club (about 27 miles) holding my shorts up with one hand while carrying a bag with the other. Do they have stores that sell belts at IAH? Of course! Are they open at 6am? Not so much. After 40 minutes in the club, we left for the gate (another 13 miles). On the way, I stopped at every open store looking for a luggage strap, piece of rope, bungee cord... with no joy.

Our flight left on time, and it was great! I got us bulkhead seats, which gave Mark a little more legroom. The flight attendant showed up at the appropriate time with something that resembled an omelet like substance, which I immediately handed to Mark (he's a growing boy). I enjoyed my 4 grapes, 5 cantaloupe cubes, and two slices of orange... and before we knew it, we were on final approach.

Ahhhhh, Miami International. Like I said, I'm from Miami. I love Miami and South Florida. That being said, there is only one airport in the world that I hate more than MIA. La Guardia can't help it - it's the best airport that the 1960's has to offer - but it continues to amaze me that MIA can provide LGA levels of service despite having gone through multiple $billion in renovations. Again, if I could have I would have flown in the day before - and that would have been to Ft. Lauderdale. But, time was limited and we had First Class tickets so we could get our luggage quickly... except we were at MIA, and nothing happens quickly if there's a good opportunity to delay it.

So, we're down in Baggage Claim waiting for our bags. I see people with Carnival, Norwegian, MSC, Royal Caribbean signs... but no Celebrity rep as reassured by the friendly reservations agent on the phone. Not that big of a deal... unless you're travelling with a mentally disabled brother. You could see the waves of anxiety radiating from his body as he asked every 30 seconds what we would do if nobody from Celebrity showed up. It's a little hard to be reassuring while you're trying to manage three carry on bags while trying to keep my shorts from dropping to my ankles... but wonder of wonders, when our bags arrived there was a person standing about 15 feet away with a Celebrity sign and looking somewhat befuddled.

I did a quick dive into my mad - and of course, I couldn't find my belt - then it was time to follow our friendly Celebrity rep ("I was expecting a lot more people on your flight?"). She took us to a set of chairs about 50 feet from a very poorly identified Royal Caribbean transfer desk. There, we sat - and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally - by a remarkable coincidence - when they had enough people to fill a bus, a bus magically appeared. I pulled my shorts up and walked another 12 miles to our bus. RANT: C'mon, Celebrity, you can do better than that! Are you really saving that much on bus runs? And there was no bus staging area closer? I saw buses stopping literally at the next set of doors...

So, we leave MIA - and fortunately, traffic was pretty good! A little congestion on the Dolphin Expressway due to some construction, and then we pass by Miami's latest malignant growth (not my photo):

Yep, it was Marlins Stadium. This was the first time that I had seen it in person. RANT: This is what you tore down the Orange Bowl for?

But enough about that. I can't let this get me down, because we're almost at...

DAY 1 - MIAMI

We arrived at the Port of Miami in one piece (and with shorts on), and there I saw the spectacle that is curb-side. As an engineer, I had to ccall it what it was - brownian motion, which is defined as "the erratic random movement of microscopic particles in a fluid, as a result of continuous bombardment from molecules of the surrounding medium". Only in this case, the microscopic particles were people and their buses / cabs / Ubers / etc., and the bombarding molecules were carry on bags, kids, scooter chairs, etc. What a zoo! I guess they do the best with what they have, but somebody oughta spend a while doing some time/motion analysis and see if they could organize & lay things out a little better.

We got into the terminal building, and here is where Celebrity came through for me. Mark gets uncomfortable and anxious in crowds, long lines, and crowded long lines. I had reached out to Celebrity's Special Needs desk to let them know about Mark - and they arranged for priority boarding. After one misdirected wrong turn (at the instruction of a terminal employee, not Celebrity), we found ourselves next in line to check in at the Elite Plus / Zenith desk. KUDOS: Alyson at the Celebrity Special Needs Desk, our check-in agent (I think his name was Michael), and to the couple who arrived in line after us for being patient.

Within a few minutes, we went up and escalator and across a ramp to find...

"Mark, we're here! We made it!! We're gonna have a great week!!"

"Ok. Are we going to the buffet?"

"Mark, stop and take a picture!"

"I'm really hungry."

(a recurring theme in our house)

On the ship by 11:45! So, off we went to find some food. Since we were Concierge Class, we could have gone to the restaurant - but being an accomplished cruise feeding veteran, Mark was having none of that. So, up to OceanView we went. After one lap around the room, we found a table that had just been vacated - making Mark a very happy camper. He went off for Round 1 while I watched the carry on bags, then we traded off. I had a slice of pizza, then beef stew (not bad!) and rice. Mark had... a lot of almost everything. Dad (a doctor) used to joke that he was like a premature baby - he needs to be fed every hour or 2 to stay happy. You can see why he likes OceanView. KUDOS: our server was Gail (from Jamaica). Very friendly, and very pleasant with Mark. She told us she worked the OceanView in the morning and Silhouette Select dining in the evening; we had the Early assigned seating, but I told her we were looking forward to seeing her in the mornings.

After lunch, we sat there and relaxed for a bit. Well, I relaxed - Mark wanted to get to our rooms. I reminded him that we had to wait until they were ready... and sure enough, at 1pm they announcement was made. I got him to sit still for a few more minutes until the stampede subsided then we were off to Deck 9.

You are a good brother.

I'm a lucky brother. He's a great guy, and he's well controlled on his medications. He has a mental age of about 11 or 12, and genuinely loves people. My standard line: "Mark is a pain in the ass - but he's my pain in the ass, and you can't have him!"

--bruce T.

I did a quick dive into my mad

That would be "bag". Interesting how some posts give me an edit button and some don't...

--bruce T.

I can’t see your photos [emoji51]

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Loving your review! What a great trip to take with Mark, I’m sure Aunt Sister was watching and enjoying.

Earlier today I could see your first photo...but now I can’t see any of them either.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Great start to your review, and I'm looking forward to more. Also eagerly awaiting our first Celebrity cruise.

You're a very patient brother; have to give you lots of props. I worry if my husband becomes incapacitated in any way, I'll have a hard time being patient (and I'm a lot more patient with my 2-yo-old grandsons then I was with their mothers!).

Earlier today I could see your first photo...but now I can’t see any of them either.

OK, I can see them now - can you?

There was a nationwide internet outage for Comcast earlier today - maybe Flikr was affected. In any case, I hope you can see them now!

--bruce T.

DAY 1 - MIAMI (CONTINUED)

Mark and I had two Concierge Class cabins on Deck 9 - 9344 and 9346. These are port side aft cabins, and are just past the inside cabins on the way to the stern. Why two cabins? Lets just say one of us snores. Loudly. We never met Mark's neighbor in 9348, but if you're reading this... my apologies.

The cabins were not connecting - which is exactly what I wanted! Why? Well, Mark gets anxious at night... and if he had that unlocked connecting door, he would open it several times a night to check on me (waking me up every time). My plan was to get the cabin steward to open the veranda partition between the two rooms... except they weren't around? I'm guessing that they were starting to get the luggage organized below decks - or maybe taking a well deserved break. In any case, we were able to drop off our our carry ons and visit our bathrooms in the dark (because the engineer in the house couldn't figure out how the master light switch worked).

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Let's address the elephant in the room. I grew up near the beach, and spent a lot of time on the beach, around the water, on boats, etc. The sea is not your friend - it will rust, peel, flake, discolor, streak, encrust, and otherwise make nice things look less pretty. When I get on any boat, I expect a few things to look not-so-new. When you consider that this is a boat that runs continually 7 days a week and sails thousands of miles per month - rotating thousands of passengers every week - why wouldn't anyone consider that it might not look perfect? But, I see people complain about this - loudly - with, Equinox, Anthem, Summit, and I daresay any other cruise ship. As far as I'm concerned, I just can't get worked up when I see something like this:

Is the ship showing a little age? Yep, and it goes into dry dock for refurb next May. Is something like this gonna ruin your vacation? I sure hope not... but I definitely heard the complaints during the cruise! I'd recommend that folks like this lighten up and enjoy their vacation... and chances are, things might look a little more spiffier in the high end suites if it's that important to you.

Sorry, still can’t see the pictures. But enjoying your great review nonetheless!

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DAY 1 - MIAMI (STILL CONTINUED)

I dragged out my new camera to take a quick picture of Miami from the veranda:

...and discovered that I had taken the strap off of my old camera, but forgot to put it on my new one. Now, I had no belt and no camera strap! With no luggage, it was time to explore... so off we went, droopy shorts in hand.

First stop: Canyon Ranch Spa. I wanted to reconfirm my reservations for the following day (massage) and for Wednesday (face maintenance - as a Florida kid in my middle age, my face is somewhere between a burned-out Iraqi oil field and Moonbase Alpha). I also signed up for the Persian Garden.

EDITORIAL COMMENT #1: I found the desk staff at the spa... well, kind of aloof. After I saw them a few times, they seemed to warm up a bit... but it was definitely different from what I saw on the Summit and Anthem. For now, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to their being very busy.

EDITORIAL COMMENT #2: This is the second time I paid for the Persian Garden pass . It was nice, but in both cases, I really underutilized it. Next time, I'll take the pass $$ and put it towards another massage - which gets me access to the Garden in any case. Or if Aquaclass cabins are available at a discount, I'll grab that.

The next stop: Cafe al Bacio. This is one of our favorite stops, between the hot chocolate and desserts (Mark) and the coffee (me). BONUS: there are plenty of comfortable chairs with tables between the coffee bar and the gelato stand. This became a favorite hiding place when I needed some "me time".

On the way back to the room, we stopped to look at my favorite piece of artwork on the ship. It impressed me so much, it was the only one that I took a picture of:

We got back to our rooms to find our luggage waiting! The first thing I did was open my suitcase and find my spare belt in approximately 0.0017 seconds. Why I couldn't find it at the airport, I don't know - but I almost wept with joy. The next very pleasant surprise was the under-bed stowage:

Unlike the past two ships, my duffel bag fit completely under the bed! I didn't have to leave the (ahem) ass-end sticking out for me to stub my toe. It's amazing how happy you can be with an extra inch or two. (insert inappropriate joke here)

As far as the storage in the rest of the cabin... the over bed storage was great. I had packed four collapsible storage cubes, and they fit & worked perfectly. I had felt real good about the $3 price I paid for them, until I saw people on the boards here talk about $1 each at Dollar Tree. Sigh... the cost of insufficient research.

Great story thus far! Love your family and very excited about the belt.

The pictures are back!! Perhaps TPTB were protecting you until you found that belt...

Enjoying this review and looking forward to future installments. You are a great story-teller!

I'm enjoying your review. Love your writing style and your pictures Thanks for sharing.

I'm a lucky brother. He's a great guy, and he's well controlled on his medications. He has a mental age of about 11 or 12, and genuinely loves people. My standard line: "Mark is a pain in the ass - but he's my pain in the ass, and you can't have him!"

 

--bruce T.

You're both lucky Bruce! I read your Summit review prior to our Bermuda 2016 trip on Summit and found it really helpful. Looking forward to the rest of your Equinox reviw as we are sailing her for 10 days to the Southern Caribbean on 9/14.

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