review Equinox - 11 night Ultimate Caribbean

[roxievegas]

Booked in Feb 2013 for cruise Jan 20th, 2014. I went through a travel agency, but will not do that again - no benefit for us at all. We got the 123 promotion and 1/2 deposit, and we chose the classic alcohol package. We did not drink enough to make it work it, but we had fresh orange juice, coffee from Café al Bacio, and a bottle of wine every night with dinner - we didn't order a bottle, the first night we told our wine server that we wanted a glass with dinner, and she brought the bottle and left it on the table and we drank it.

 

My DH and I went on the Equinox in Nov 2011 out of Rome for 10 nights. It was such a super trip that we decided to try another. I found this cruise. We could have gone for less if we had gone in Dec, but due to my husbands work we decided to wait for January - We booked a Veranda 2C on 6th deck. 6303. - we had 6302 on previous trip and we liked the location. We paid fare 1334.00, plus port fees 275.00 and gov't taxes and fees of 160.08 for total 1,769.08 each. I watched the prices to see if they would drop so we could try agua or get a OBC for the difference, but the prices just went up and up and ended with a Veranda going for $1,000 more each for what we paid. So we got a good price.

 

I booked our air fare as soon as we could - aug 2013 for direct flights from LA to Miami - we were going to fly to Fort Lauderdale, but American discontinued the direct flights to FLL and I did not want to have stops due to winter weather concerns. So we flew in and out of Miami. When we got off the plan in Miami and had our luggage we went out to super shuttle and paid $67.00 for two to go to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. We had booked the Holiday Inn Express at 1500 SE 17th Street Causeway 954 728-2577 - booked on line in December for $129 for the one night and later the price jumped to $180. The hotel had an $8 each shuttle to take us to the ship the next morning. We had asked for a noon pick up.

 

Arriving at the port - everything was simple, smooth and fast. We went through security, waited in line for 2 minutes and had our sea pass cards and headed for the ship. Rooms were already available, so we took our one carry on and went to check out our cabin. Everything was like the one we had previously. There was a card outside the door informing us that our seating in the MDR was 8:30. I had requested 6:00 11 months ago and I was not going to get switched. We headed to MDR to get it fixed and found that 1700 people had been scheduled for 6:00 and they had moved people to the 8:30. I asked to get switched back and then went to customer relations and let them know of the problem. That night we ate in the Oceanview Café - I am not a fan of the buffet, but we had no choice unless we wanted to eat late and we do not. We received late notice on the next day that we had been switched back to the 6:00, but we had eaten a late lunch at the Mast Grill, no knowing if we were going to get to eat early or not, so we missed the first and second night in the MDR. On day three, we received 6 chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne as a "sorry". Very nice.

 

On our previous cruise we did not have a beverage package, so with the classic, we went for coffee two three times a day, had diet cokes during the day and then had red wine with dinner. DH and I lived in Las Vegas for years and we are tippers, so even though the package includes the gratuities, we would still drop a dollar for the coffee or a drink.

 

We used room service twice, on sea days we had fruit plate and cheese/crackers delivered - do not order drinks - you will be charged - do not drink out of the mini bar - you will be charged.

 

We ate at the Mast Grill on deck 14 twice - one for hamburgers and once for hot dogs - food is good - and they have beer and soft drinks.

 

After we got switched back to the 6:00 seating in MDR we ate there every night except for one night at the Tuscan Restaurant (got a 20% discount when they were out side the oceanview café one day taking reservations). The MDR food was excellent, we had great service and our wine server took care of us. We arrived the first night to have dinner in MDR to find we were at a table for eight and it was just me and DH. The next night just the two of us, the next night just the two of us. Finally on the sixth night, we had another couple join us. They ate with us two more times.

 

The only thing I can bring up as a problem and more thought needs to be put into their system is the excursion days and getting off the ship. We had a trip for Panama - were told to get to the theatre at 10:00 and then did not leave for an hour - same for the next excursion.

 

Final day - We got our notie and luggage tags saying that we were in group one and needed to be in the theatre at 8:00 on Friday morning. Earlier in the cruise you are asked to fill out a form that lets them know what your travel plans were for Friday. I had booked the celebrity transfer from the port back to Miami Airport. My DH and I were off the ship by 8:00 a.m. found our luggage and were in 3rd position for customs. The two couples in front of us were not US citizens and they had to have pictures taken, hand and finger prints - so we had to wait for that. By the time we got up to the customs agent, we had a couple of hundred people in the line, but they did have a least six agents working. DH and I found our transfer bus and got one. Totally had ten people going, and we left at 9:00 for Miami. Cruise passengers get taken to a separate area for getting checked into the airlines. We paid no baggage fee for our luggage and we were through security and at the gate by 10:00.

 

I have no complaints with Celebrity - if we had a problem, they addressed it and went way past what I would have asked for. We had a great trip and we will go with Celebrity again.

 

Pack -

[mahdnc]

nice review. We hope to sail on her one day. Any comments about the ports you visited?

[roxievegas]

Celebrity really pushes shopping in the stores that they are associated with. I live in the LA area - I can get jewelry and watches for a good price here. So shopping was not what I was going for.

 

Grand Cayman - we walked around the town - you have to use the tender boat to get to shore and it was a cloudy and windy day. We did not do an excursion

 

Cartagena, Colombia - very hot. We got off the ship and we were approached by a man asking if we wanted a tour. My DH said that we wanted a taxi and he got us a taxi that for $60 would take us where ever we wanted to go all day. We went to the fortress (10.00 each to go up) and then to the walled city - my DH wanted to see Inquisition Palace (15.00 total) and then went back to find the taxi and went back to the ship.

 

Colon, Panama - took the Celebrity excursion Portobelo and Gatun Locks. Loved the locks - we watched a cruise ship pass through

 

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica - got off the ship and bought some trinkets and got back on ship - very hot day

 

Belize City, Belize - took Celebrity excursion Cahal Pech ruins. ruins are good, but transportation was no air condition in bus, and it takes over two hours to get there.

 

Cozumel, Mexico - Walked around on our own. Our dinner mates went on an excursions called "Salsa Salsa" (?) and they loved it. They said that you learned to make 10 different salsas and margaritas at one of the resorts and then you get to use the hotel pool for a couple of hours

[rubinstein2r]

I have posted a review of the same cruise. Glad to answer any questions.

[rotoal]

Was your cabin quiet? Is the balcony really much larger? It looks very large on the deck plan.

[roxievegas]

cabin is very quiet. no noise. heard the door next door close once in awhile. you only have a shared wall on one side.

the veranda is longer, but usable space is the same as the others. it is considered partial blockage, because you can not look directly down to the water. one the starboard side 6302 has the roof of the tuscan restaurant below. On the port side 6303 has a blue area that extends out. You can see directly out and look out towards the front of the ship, but looking back is blocked bit and looking straight down is not possible. I did not mind the partial view at all. We used the veranda to read on port days and went out on the veranda in the mornings arriving in port and when we were leaving.

The costs rise for higher and better veranda's but we liked opening the curtains and having the view, so we were happy with what we got.

Future cruises we will try another deck and different location.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.