Celebrity Equinox January 25-February 5

[Rob&Nancy]

Sadly enough, we've been home for more than a week now. It's always good to be home, but after 11 nights on the spectacular Equinox, I'm having some trouble adjusting. (the cold and 9" of snow on Tuesday didn't help much either!) I'll post some quick notes about our cruise. We are both in our mid-50's and this was our 4th cruise - our second on Celebrity. No question, we will probably not cruise again with another line - Celebrity is simply the best.

 

We flew into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday from Detroit. It was cool and windy in FLL and we called for a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Ft.Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port hotel - which was part of a package deal through Northwest/Delta. Not a good deal, nothing is close to this hotel - a cab ride to "Happy Pappy's" (I'm not kidding!) liquor store was $25.00 round trip, there is no other restaurant close by (dinner was $30.00 in the hotel)and the breakfast buffet was not included and was $16.00 each. And, they also dinged us a nice $9.00 each for transfer to the port. I don't think that the "package" rate for flight/hotel was worth it!

 

We had originally booked for a noon transfer, but while waiting in the hotel lobby, I logged on to Cruise Critic and saw that someone who had just disembarked from the Equinox had issued a warning that they would be doing a major disinfecting of the ship, and we would be late boarding. We changed our shuttle to later and watched the rain pour down on Florida. Thanks so much to whoever posted that note - you saved us a couple of hours in the terminal! Even when we arrived around 1:45, westill waited more than an hour. It was fine, and the seating was comfortable, and the staff were doing the best they could.

 

All was forgotten once we boarded. Our cabin was ready, and (again, thanks to a GREAT tip on Cruise Critic!) we headed to Bistro on Five for a late lunch. The crepes were fabulous (I had Meditteranean Chicken and my DH had hot and spicy), the dessert crepes were the best and the service was lovely. No fighting the crowds, table service, it was all good. And, the sun was coming out! More later....

[cruiseacecat]

Thanks for writing and I am patiently waiting for the next installment :) I sail on the 19th of March, so this is timely.

Can you tell me who the cd was? If it's Dru, than hopefully Melanie is there also. Also, who was the cpt. club hostess?

 

Thanks.

 

Anne

[ChazR]

Sadly enough, we've been home for more than a week now. It's always good to be home, but after 11 nights on the spectacular Equinox, I'm having some trouble adjusting. (the cold and 9" of snow on Tuesday didn't help much either!) I'll post some quick notes about our cruise. We are both in our mid-50's and this was our 4th cruise - our second on Celebrity. No question, we will probably not cruise again with another line - Celebrity is simply the best.

 

We flew into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday from Detroit. It was cool and windy in FLL and we called for a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Ft.Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port hotel - which was part of a package deal through Northwest/Delta. Not a good deal, nothing is close to this hotel - a cab ride to "Happy Pappy's" (I'm not kidding!) liquor store was $25.00 round trip, there is no other restaurant close by (dinner was $30.00 in the hotel)and the breakfast buffet was not included and was $16.00 each. And, they also dinged us a nice $9.00 each for transfer to the port. I don't think that the "package" rate for flight/hotel was worth it!

 

We had originally booked for a noon transfer, but while waiting in the hotel lobby, I logged on to Cruise Critic and saw that someone who had just disembarked from the Equinox had issued a warning that they would be doing a major disinfecting of the ship, and we would be late boarding. We changed our shuttle to later and watched the rain pour down on Florida. Thanks so much to whoever posted that note - you saved us a couple of hours in the terminal! Even when we arrived around 1:45, westill waited more than an hour. It was fine, and the seating was comfortable, and the staff were doing the best they could.

 

All was forgotten once we boarded. Our cabin was ready, and (again, thanks to a GREAT tip on Cruise Critic!) we headed to Bistro on Five for a late lunch. The crepes were fabulous (I had Meditteranean Chicken and my DH had hot and spicy), the dessert crepes were the best and the service was lovely. No fighting the crowds, table service, it was all good. And, the sun was coming out! More later....

 

 

We could not agree more regarding the Spectacular Equinox. In fact we just booked the TA from Rome Oct 31.....and we've done that trip before on the Mille but decided to cancel our fall RCL "Jewel" TA in favor of the Equinox.

Sorry about your hotel experience. Ours was just the reverse staying at the Marriott Courtyard...had free breakfast, shuttle and a great seafood restaurant one block away.

We did not know about the late boarding and arrived at the airport at 10:30. Seemingly this was not a good idea...however, we rode over in the van with a couple from Missouri, checked in at the port was seated in the Elite waiting section and who was there...the couple from the van. We became good friends and in fact wound up seating with them at the late seating and are hoping to get together for the Rome TA. Some times good things happen when least expected.

Charles

[cruiseacecat]

Still hoping for more :):):)

 

Anne

[Rob&Nancy]

Sorry for the delay - you'd think a holiday weekend would have given me more time to post this - but it was not the case!

 

Anne, in answer to your questions: Can you tell me who the cd was? It was Dru, but I can't confirm Melanie. If it's Dru, than hopefully Melanie is there also. Also, who was the cpt. club hostess? Sorry, I don't know who the Cpt. Club hostess was, we didn't do any of those activities.

 

Winding up embarkation day: We finished lunch and wandered around for a while and then headed up to unpack. I found that there was lots of storage room in the cabin - I had no challenges with the over-bed bins, and I'm only 5'5" and I was delighted with the amount of space in the bathroom. We travel with a shoe bag to use in the bathroom, and didn't need it this time! LOVED the lounges on the balcony with the little foot stools and the chairs even reclined - very nice. Bed was so comfortable, and we never made use of the pillow menu - we both really liked the pillows on the bed. Our cabin was concierge class and we do like the little touches that come with that - we enjoyed the canapes, and the towels were HUMONGOUS! The last dinner of the cruise we had the sparkling wine chilled and we brought it up to dinner to share with our tablemates.

 

Headed up to the dining room. We had the early seating, at a table for 8. We met our tablemates and did the usual "where you from?", etc. We had a great group, and had some really fun dinners. The dining room is just beautiful - a bit noisy. We both had the crab & avocado app., I had the prime rib and Rob had the lamb shank. Both were delicious, and my prime rib was perfectly cooked and very tender. My favourite creme brulee for dessert. Wandered through the shops then back to the cabin for an early night.

[Rob&Nancy]

Day Two - At Sea

Woke to sun and warm winds. Breakfast on the balcony – vanilla french toast - YUM! And, Celebrity seems to have really good coffee - both in the dining room and room service. Up to the deck for some early sun then had our muster briefing. No life jackets to haul around, just a video in our muster station - so much more convenient. And, thank you Celebrity for not trying to shoe-horn that in yesterday when everyone was so stressed with just getting on board!

Then we headed up to the Lawn Club - what a beautiful area. (although I was a bit dismayed to see that this was one of the very few smoking areas on the ship - seemed a bit odd to have this beautiful pristine lawn area - and smokers! Don't bother giving me a hard time - I'm an ex-smoker myself and I sympathize with how hard it is to smoke in today's world, I do hate walking through it though!)

We putted some golf balls in the grass, then over to watch the Hot Glass Show – amazing! This is a phenomenal feature on the ship, and each show is so very different. We watched them make three different pieces. Then we went down to the Aqua Spa Cafe for lunch – nice healthy food – but they were pretty light, we had to have two of them! :rolleyes:

Sailed alongside Cuba most of the day. Spent the afternoon on the Solstice Deck (Deck 15) all the way to the front of the ship. This was a great spot, and we spent a lot of time up here - some days it was very hot and sometimes windy, so that may be why there weren't many people using this area - very quiet. That being said, around 3:30, we seemed to turn into the wind, suddenly very high winds - literally had trouble standing and so surrendered and went back to the cabin.

Our first formal night. I'm going to just comment briefly about how much I love the atmosphere on Celebrity. I don't believe everyone should be in sequins and tuxedos, but there's an almost universal attention to the dress code that makes the evening very elegant. Rob rented his tux online ahead of time, and all the pieces fit perfectly.

Incredible meal – I started with beef carpacchio, Rob had the Buffalo frog legs, then we both had rack of lamb. Both perfectly cooked, and we like them very different. I had some decadent Chocolate Raspberry thing and Rob ahd a low fat blueberry frozen yogurt (I guess someone should be sensible!)for dessert.

We're not big show people, and one of the reasons we chose to return to Celebrity was the indoor solarium pool stays open late every night. I wish it was a Thalassotherapy pool, but it was lovely nonetheless. Most nights we had the placve to ourselves! Tonight we spent a couple of enjoyable hours with twins Pam and Kim from Maine. A perfect day.

[cruiseacecat]

Thanks so much for the response. Am enjoying your review and looking forward to more. :)

 

Anne

[Rob&Nancy]

Up early, breakfast at 6:00 on the balcony, then down to the theatre to meet for our tour and tender assignment. I would like to comment on this method of assembling for the tours. This is the first time we have experienced this - having everyone meet in one spot then send the groups out as one - nicely done! This seemed to work so much better than having everyone milling around on the dock trying to find their group.

 

 

Our first time on a tender – the Equinox looks so pretty sitting on the sea. Met our group on the pier – Then there was a bit of a hassle, the tour was overbooked, and they were going to cram 6 of us onto jump seats on the bus. For a 3 hour tour - this was NOT happening! We rebelled and all 6 of us demanded refunds – magically another bus and driver appeared and we had a wonderful private tour with just 6 of us on the bus!

 

Our driver was “Bush” (not George!) and he was very informative. Our first stop was Pedro “castle” – more of a big house, beautiful furniture.

 

Next to Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens – 65 acres – we only saw a few sections. Saw several of the very rare blue iquana, found only in this part of the Caymans. Beautiful and exotic flowers all around. This was one of the nicest botanical stops on the cruise. Back out to the bus, which had been damaged in the parking lot! Poor Bush!.

 

We learned a lot about the Caymans – by far the cleanest island we have ever seen. They have teams of workers whose sole purpose is to keep the island clean, and they are doing a wonderful job.

 

Dinner was great - had lamb again – then off to the pool. We had the place to ourselves – there were big waves in the solarium pool – the ship is rocking!

That being said, this felt like a very stable ride. We were on the Crown Princess last January, and I woke several times during the nights and was actually afraid the ship was breaking apart - horrible creaking and cracking and it was very difficult to walk. She seemed top heavy. Not the Equinox - smooth even in slightly rough seas. I loved being rocked to sleep.

[Rob&Nancy]

Day 4 - Thursday - At Sea

 

Woke to bigger seas and lots of wind. We had breakfast on the balcony, then headed up on deck – all the chairs were tied down all day and surf is up in the pools!

Around 10:00 it poured rain twice for about 10 minutes then it blew out and the sun shone for the rest of the day. We headed down for the art auction, we had enjoyed the auctions so much on Brilliance and on the Constellation - this was very different. I'm not sure if it was because Park West is gone, or just this guy, but he was absolutely the worst auctioneer EVER! So boring, we finally just walked out.

Then we did the tour of the Penthouse Suite – 1,600 sq.ft., grand piano, HUGE bathroom more than $17,000 for the cruise. :eek: Spent the rest of the day on deck in the sun.

Dinner was great – I had 2 appetizers – Oysters Rockefeller and a shrimp/scallop risotto, crepes Suzette for dessert. The Solarium pool was closed tonight due to the high waves! So we hung out in the hot tub for a while, met a nice young man from New Orleans. When we got back to our cabin, there was sea water splashing up onto our NINTH DECK balcony – those are some high winds and seas! And still, the ship is great – not rocking (or creaking!) near as much as the Crown Princess. I did wake during the night to hear the hangers in the closet bouncing off both sides of the closet walls - so we had some seas going on!

[alishac]

Thanks for your great review, I especially love hearing about all of the great meals you had. Looking forward to the next installment!

[Rob&Nancy]

Day 5 - Friday - Cartagena

 

After a pretty rocky night, we woke to very still seas and sunrise over Cartagena. I was amazed a the cityscape, I had no idea how huge this city was - it looks like the Manhattan skyline! We had a very early breakfast and then down to the theatre then out to the pier to catch our tour bus.

Our guide was Lee we did a city tour of Cartagena. Cartagena is an amazing mixture of new and old – very cosmopolitan towers of buildings and then the old city.

First stop is a photo stop outside of the Fortress of San Felipe. Many vendors – very pushy. Then on to the Old Town. Beautiful architecture, old colonial style. Next stop was the Palace of the Inquisition – unbelievably evil instruments of torture – not the Catholic Church’s finest moment.

Next stop is the Church of Pedro Claver – the patron saint of the slaves. Beautiful, traditional church - you could almost hear the ehoes of the Latin High Mass. The bones of Pedro Claver are enshrined in the altar.

Next two stops are for shopping – one in the “dungeons” of the old town that have been converted to shops. Many Colombian emeralds and tons of tacky souvenirs – we bought nothing.

We were back to the ship for lunch and a quiet afternoon on the balcony. We watched the flying fish in the harbour. They are so pretty – unfortunately the pelicans saw them too – and ate them!

Dinner was great I had the always available escargots (excellent!), Rob had a chicken caesar salad and I had the blackened drum fish - very good. Our dinner table is an interesting group. Jerry and Sandy have been on 65 cruises, so they have a lot of great travel stories. (in Egypt you can pay $10.00 to get on a camel – and then they will charge you $30.-$50 to get off!) Jerry and Marcia-Sue are retired U.S. Navy – and have lived all over the world – also many interesting stories (tarantulas in Panama!). Roscoe and Julianne were both dentists – he’s 81 – and he's a real pistol. Julianne is lovely and funny and I don't imagine she wants us to ask how old she is! Very eclectic group – great conversations! After dinner we spent some time in the solarium pool then back to the balcony to watch the full moon over the sea. This is cruising! Every evening is a little warmer as we head further south.

 

More tomorrow!

[BrianTom]

great review. waiting for more.....

[Rob&Nancy]

Time for a couple more installments!

 

Day 6 - Saturday - Colon, Panama

 

Up early to breakfast on the balcony, then out to meet our tour - Rainforest Nature and Wildlife Hike. So many freighters moored all around us. Must comment on the room service - breakfast every time was perfect - they never missed an item, and it was always on time and hot!

By the way - the tour description reads: "The walk is not difficult and takes place on a dirt road that goes through the heart of San Lorenzo National Park.." Please take care in booking this one if you have difficulty walking over rough terrain. The walk was moderately challenging as the walking path was very uneven, and at the second stop there was a fair bit of steep climbing. We had no problems, but it was not as innocuous as described on Celebrity's site.

Met our tour guide – Roberto - I am always so humbled at how multi-lingual the rest of the world appears to be. Roberto's English was excellent! We had a very small tour group, just 10 of us.

Roberto was excellent, very informative – we learned about the Free Zone (bigger than the actual city of Colon, it’s where goods come in to Panama to be held duty free, and then exported to their destinations) – as well as why containers are removed from some ships before they go into the canal and are sent across Panama by rail to be retuturned to the ship (it’s because the water in the canal is sometimes too low and there is danger of the ships grounding, so they lighten the load.) Sorry, I'm such a geek - I love this stuff!

We crossed over the canal and made our first stop, a hike through the rainforest. We could hear the howler monkeys, but didn’t see any, saw lots of insect life – leaf cutter ants, termites. It was very warm. Not a lot of wildlife, but the jungle is beautiful - so dense. I would imagine that about ten steps off the trail would lose you forever.

Back on the bus to our next stop – Gatun Ecotourism. Beautiful hike through the jungle – HUGE spiders – some big hills. Saw the munition bunkers and the foundations from the anti-aircraft guns that were in the Canal Zone during WWII to defend the canal. I had not idea how very well protected the Canal was during the war. It was very hot and humid.

The bus stopped along the road on the way back to see sloth, black iguana and howler monkeys. Back to the ship, we did a little shopping near the pier. We had lunch in the OceanView Café then a couple hours napping on the deck – hot, hot, hot! (Loving it!)

Dinner was great, Rob had escargot and I had a goat cheese puff pastry, caprese salad and we both had the seared ahi tuna – that was just wonderful! I had the caprese salad several times over the rest of the cruise - it was soooo good.

An interesting side note here about Blu. We were joined one night at dinner by a lovely couple - Dianna and Dick. Their travel agent had booked them Aqua Spa class and they were excited about access to Blu. They were very disappointed to discover that all the seating in Blu was tables for two. To quote Dianna - "we can eat with each other at home - we wanted to meet people!" It appears that unless you are in a pre-determined group and book all together in Aqua Spa and Blu, you are always at a table for two. They had a wonderful experience on the Constellation last year with a table for 8, and wanted to share the same fun again with new people. We saw them a couple other times throughout the cruise and they said they felt like orphans in the main dining room, foisted on strangers each night, so they returned to Blu. I'm not sure if she was correct in her assessment, but I would feel the same - we love dining at the same table every night and meeting a group of people who become friends over the course of the cruise.

Okay, I digress....

Went to the Equinox Show tonight (Cirque du Soleil-ish) – the performers were just amazing the show was wonderful. I am a great lover of "small" magic, and very much enjoyed the juggler - he was so skilled. We couldn't believe what they were able to do while the ship was moving around!

[Rob&Nancy]

Day 7 - Sunday - Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Very early start today – 5 a.m. wake-up call.

Up to the café for breakfast, our tour group meets in the theater at 7:15. Someone has to help me understand why the early breakfast has everything on the hot tables but not available for service until 6:45-ish? It's a little frustrating when you have to do an early breakfast and you can see all the hot food but can only actually have some breads and cold cereal and fruit...?

Off to the bus, a large highway coach and introduced to the Costa Rican concept of “Pura Vida” – their equivalent of Aloha – a description of their lifestyle. About 45 minute drive to Veragua Rainforest – very winding, narrow roads, heading straight up into the mountains. Then onto even narrower gravel roads - can't believe the bus can make some of these turns. I learned long ago not to look out the front - just keep admiring the scenery!

On arrival at Veragua, went first to the aerial tram and rode 20 minutes down the side of the mountain at treetop level – such dense jungle. Really a cool ride - very quiet. Sloths in the trees. HUGE spiders – Golden Orb spiders are everywhere - our guide says “Ees okay – only a leetle bit poisonous!” – yikes. I hate spiders.

Then we hiked “350 steps” to the Puma waterfalls. While it doesn’t sound like much, add in 100° temps and 100% humidity and the altitude – it was some walk to a very small waterfall! Hard to get your breath. We had a couple of people surrender half way and go back. There was also the option of a flat walk that did not go to the waterfall.

Also - a note here about how amazingly accessible virtually all of Veragua was - a person in a wheelchair would be able to tour much of the area. The challenge would be if the bus is wheelchair accessible, I'm sorry I didn't make a note of that.

Back up the aerial tram – saw white face monkeys and a sloth. Then we toured the reptile house, butterfly exhibit and insect areas. There was a great darkened environment area with flashlights mounted on the cases so you could look inside to see the nocturnal creatures in their natural habitat.

Back to the welcome centre for lunch - some sandwiches and incredible fresh pineapple, papaya and watermelon – and awesome Costa Rican coffee! Back on the bus for the journey home.

The return trip was great fun - the driver stopped several times along the way and either he or our guide jumped off to cut sugar cane, pear-apple, ginger flowers, bird-of-paradise blossoms, passionfruit, cocoa and banana blossoms for us to see and even taste. Very cool.

Back to the ship, stopped for some mango-ginger sorbet in the café then napped in the sun until we headed back to the cabin for an ice-cold beer on the balcony. Dinner was excellent again – I had escargots and veal carpacchio to start then a saffron/seafood risotto, Rob had pork with a Dijon sauce. Spent the evening in the hot tub/pool. Bliss.

[Rob&Nancy]

Day 8 - Monday - At sea

 

Slept later today - had a quiet breakfast on the balcony, then up on deck to find a spot in the sun – looking forward to a quiet day after three ports in a row! We do love sea days!

 

It's quite windy again – our spot on Solstice Deck was closed. Later in the morning we went up to the Glass Show, they created glass sculptures from designs submitted by the kids on board. They sculpted a shrimp and a dolphin that the kids had drawn. It was just delightful.

 

Stopped by the brunch buffet – unbelievable display. Had a very eclectic lunch of shrimp, smoked salmon, Celebrity’s famous waffle and a bowl of green cotton candy! (yes, cotton candy!) Topped that off with a decadent chocolate crepe!

 

Back outside to slip into a food coma in the sun. It's formal night tonight – and lobster on the menu – served with shrimp, scallops and risotto. Yes, I confess, I had two. My darling husband had much more restraint and had just one. I spent the rest of the evening perfecting my beached whale impression in the pool – a perfect day!

[Rob&Nancy]

I will post one more day and then I have to get to sleep!

 

Day 9 - Tuesday, Roatan, Honduras

 

Early breakfast in the café today, our tour meets at 7:15. (this was the Island Tour)

Beautiful sunrise over “our bay island” Roatan. (that is how our guide described it!) Roatan was easily one of the most beautiful stops on the tour - far less commercial, almost no vendors - very laid back.

First stop is the Carambola Botanical Garden. Walked through the gardens and sampled some fresh pineapple and melon. Hummingbirds all around. Too hard to catch them on camera - they're so beautiful.

Next stop at the Bird & Butterfly Garden. Lots of birds, not so many butterflies. Our guide was fun and very informative. Bought a beautiful painting for my son (our house-sitter) here - hand-painted on a feather (a feather!).

Next to West End for dance display by Carimbola Indians and some shopping. Scored my great Dorito-wrapper purse – much cheaper than on board!

Rob picked up a beautiful carving and some dolls for our granddaughters. Stopped on the pier for an ice cold Honduran beer and some shopping. Back to the ship for lunch and an afternoon in the sun.

At 3:30 we went to Deck 6 and out on to the Helipad for sailaway. That was wonderful – the absolute front of the ship! The views were fabulous. Back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Rob had a pecan-crusted chicken dish, and I had the crab/salmon appetizer and a really tough sirloin - the only complaint consistently at our table - any time a sirloin was offered, in any preparation - it was tough as shoe-leather.

Wandered around the shops and picked up our formal photo. Early night.

[fernem]

Thanks for the lovely read ... so far, I hope. It has been fun seeing the world through your eyes and sensibilities. Makes me want to jump on the same ship and go exploring!

 

fern

[Oceangoer2]

We stayed at the Sheraton Ft.Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port hotel - which was part of a package deal through Northwest/Delta. Not a good deal, nothing is close to this hotel - a cab ride to "Happy Pappy's" (I'm not kidding!) liquor store was $25.00 round trip, there is no other restaurant close by (dinner was $30.00 in the hotel)and the breakfast buffet was not included and was $16.00 each. And, they also dinged us a nice $9.00 each for transfer to the port. I don't think that the "package" rate for flight/hotel was worth it!

*******

 

 

Interesting! We're staying at the same hotel next week prior to cruising, so we did a google earth for restaurants etc around the airport where the hotel is located. Expected it to be somewhat remote, but it looks like only a short cab ride to many restaurants and the water taxi. I'm assuming the hotel dining facility is high-end by prices quoted. Was the room extra clean and comfortable (my highest priority)?

[smdubowsky]

Here's a tip for the Sheraton in Fort Lauderdale. Since I was a Starwood preferred guest, I was upgraded to a Club room. One of the perks is that a very good continental breakfast is included.

[Rob&Nancy]

We stayed at the Sheraton Ft.Lauderdale Airport Cruise Port hotel - which was part of a package deal through Northwest/Delta. Not a good deal, nothing is close to this hotel - a cab ride to "Happy Pappy's" (I'm not kidding!) liquor store was $25.00 round trip, there is no other restaurant close by (dinner was $30.00 in the hotel)and the breakfast buffet was not included and was $16.00 each. And, they also dinged us a nice $9.00 each for transfer to the port. I don't think that the "package" rate for flight/hotel was worth it!

*******

 

 

Interesting! We're staying at the same hotel next week prior to cruising, so we did a google earth for restaurants etc around the airport where the hotel is located. Expected it to be somewhat remote, but it looks like only a short cab ride to many restaurants and the water taxi. I'm assuming the hotel dining facility is high-end by prices quoted. Was the room extra clean and comfortable (my highest priority)?

 

We did find the prices high for dinner. I also did a search on Mapquest, and nothing was close. I mentioned this to my TA and she told me (after the fact) that the package was both unalterable and non-cancellable. (I sense a new TA on the horizon!) All that being said, the hotel was very nice, very clean and the service was excellent. After we had checked out and were waiting in the lobby for our shuttle time, I noticed the computer centre and when I asked at the front desk about using the computer, the counter person actually re-registered me so that I could use the computer free of charge. There is nothing wrong with the hotel other than the location. We like to make a liquor store run, and the closest one suggested to us was the run that was $25.00. Cabs are expensive here. Hope that helps!

[Rob&Nancy]

Day 10 - Wednesday - Cozumel, Mexico

 

Woke to a beautiful sunrise over the sea as we approached Cozumel. Then watched the rain come sweeping across. We had breakfast on the balcony, the rain just missed us. By the time we docked there was mostly sun. There were already 3 other ships in port.

 

This was the only port in which we didn't book an excursion. We wandered off the ship onto the pier and had one of our best "excursions" right there on the pier. The shopping was a blast - it was crowded and noisy - and suprisingly, everything was "almost free!" We shopped for a couple of hours, and picked up some trinkets for the grandkids and a nice silver trinket for Grandma!

 

Then we found the one thing that really was "almost free" - the beer. Coming from Ontario, where we're paying nearly $34.00 for a case of beer the sign that said 3 beers - $3.00 was like heaven! And it was was very hot by then, and the beer was ice cold. We found a nice bench on the plaza and enjoyed several of those $1.00 beers and people-watched for another hour - just an excellent way to spend some time in our last port.

 

We headed back on board around noon, and found a spot right beside the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

 

Before I continue, I would just like to comment on one of our all-time favourite Celebrity things - and it's one of those little things that just make all the difference. We LOVE returning to the ship to be handed, with delicate silver tongs - an ice-encrusted, chilled face-cloth and a cold beverage. Thank you, Celebrity - you make us feel like one!

 

 

Dinner was very good, I had a smoked fish appetizer and then a wonderful shrimp scampi, Rob had salad (which they brought twice for reasons we didn't understand!) and then the flounder which he enjoyed a lot. There was a musical interlude and the big waitstaff parade which was fun. I'm not sure why, but Auld Lang Syne always brings tears to my eyes!

 

Wandered around the shops and up to the Planet Earth conservation exhibit on Deck 7, then a quiet night on the balcony - very dark tonight - no moon.

[Rob&Nancy]

Always so sad - the last day of a cruise. It seems like so recently that we were doing all the "firsts" - first night on board, first port, first sea day - now it's "lasts."

 

Oh well, I guess that's what makes cruising so worthwhile, looking forward to the next one!

 

Beautiful morning – we spent a very quiet day on the ship. You can already feel the air is less humid and cooler as we sail north. We did the galley tour, which was really cool - except for the fact that the group was a bit large, and the chef/tour guide was at the front of the group and those of us in the back couldn't hear a single word he said. They should either do smaller groups or have a couple of guides per group.

Dinner tonight was Muscovy duck breast and chocolate lava cake - one of the best desserts of the entire cruise. Said good-bye to our tablemates - it’s always a little sad on the last night. Back to the cabin to pack and get ready to leave our beautiful Equinox tomorrow morning. :(

[Rob&Nancy]

Up early to disembark. We had breakfast in the Ocean View and then headed off the ship at about 8:30. We assembled in the theatre and were sent off with the group for the Everglades excursion.

 

This is the first time we have done a post-cruise excursion. After last year when we arrived early at the FLL airport and they told us that we couldn't check in for 3 more hours, and we spent that time sitting on the floor in the airport entrance - we thought our time would be better spent on a tour!

 

Disembarking was very easy, we collected our luggage and went out to find our tour bus. We did have to wait a while to get everyone aboard, then we're off to the we head to the Everglades for our airboat tour. This is the first time either of us have been in the Everglades.

The sun came in and out, and it was occasionally raining, but the airboat ride was really great and we came very close to some ‘gators. The birds are beautiful and the Everglades are HUGE!

Back to the welcome centre for a very hokey, but fun alligator wrestling show, then back on the bus for the ride to the airport. Record-breaking 2 hour/10 minute flight home to Detroit! We felt so bad for all of our fellow passengers who were marooned in Lauderdale by the blizzard in Washington, Philly and Baltimore.

We actually arrived at Detroit Metro, collected our luggage and were still done before our car service arrived! We made the mandatory Duty Free stop at the Ambassador Bridge, chatted with our friends at Canada Customs and were home by 7:30. Another great trip!

 

So, wrapping up -

No question – Celebrity is our cruise line from now on. Royal Caribbean was very nice - and our first cruise, which I think is always a special memory. Hands down Celebrity beats Princess. We love the elegance, the nice traditional dining, the service - I can't believe how friendly and welcoming the staff were on the ship. And, they work so hard - especially when they're operating under Code Red.

We enjoyed so much about this cruise. A very long time ago Rob and I decided that we would never let a cranky person, or a bad meal ruin any vacation. We believe that every wonderful trip begins with what you make of it - and we always have fun. (of course, I travel with world's most patient human, so that helps!) ;)

Congratulations Celebrity - the Equinox is beautifully designed, and perfectly staffed. We never felt crowded and despite the size of the ship, never once felt overwhelmed or lost. (and our cabin was ALL the way to the back - second from the aft) I once sprinted all the way down that corridor, back to the elevators and down to Deck 2 to retrieve a parcel I left on the security belt. I made it in record time, and they had put my package aside for me. The ship is not too big, and the public spaces are so roomy that even with a sold-out sailing, we never felt crowded.

Thank you to all the staff as well. The nicest thing is that no matter who you run into, they always smile and offer a greeting. We loved our cruise, and we'll be back!

[Rob&Nancy]

And - last but not least - thank you Cruise Critic members. I had lots of dumb questions going in, and you're always there with a patient (and tolerant!) answer. Great tips, lots of information - a wonderful resource.

 

And, thanks for letting me ramble on with this VERY long review! See you all next winter!

[cruising annie]

There are a few hotels close to port on 17 street causeway. There is also a liquor store on that same street along with other stores and restaurants. If anyone needs name and phone numbers please let me know. You can email me at ana@anasells.com. I don't visit board daily.

 

I live in Ft Lauderdale if I can help anyone would be happy to.

 

Happy cruising,