Just back from 11 nights on the Equinox

[deladane]

We just got back from a fabulous 11 night cruise on the Equinox (Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Grand Cayman itinerary). I will post a very detailed photo review once we get settled back at home, but wanted to say we had a wonderful time and loved the ship and crew! This collage sums up our experiences pretty well!

 

 

I can try to answer if anyone has any questions in the meantime :)

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Welcome home. Glad you had a great time.

 

Keith

[FlorenceItaly]

Your collage is great. I look forward to your review!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[vickykay]

We were on the March 4th sailing and also had a wonderful time. Service outstanding, big improvement in MDR food. Overall great cruise!

[Keith1010]

vickkay, can you elaborate on the improvement in MDR food?

 

Keith

[weatherboy80]

Was also on the March 4th sailing - hopefully we left the ship in good shape :) Can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since boarding day :(

[oneputt18]

Did you overnight in Cartegena or Cozumel?

 

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[deladane]

Did you overnight in Cartegena or Cozumel?

 

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Cartagena. It was easy to come and go late at night and we felt very safe in the old city at night.

[Cruise Raider]

Cartagena. It was easy to come and go late at night and we felt very safe in the old city at night.

 

Good to know. We are doing the same cruise in a week and a half.

Any advice you can give us as to what to do in Cartagena?? So glad to hear you felt safe.

 

Any areas thick with mosquitoes. Zika is just in the news and don't know if I am being reasonable or not taking all the extra precautionary sprays.

 

Also, any can't misses on the ship? Anything else we might need to know?

 

We were on the Equinox 3 years ago ... oh, how time flies. We loved it then .. sure we will still love it and doing a completely different itinerary than last time.

 

ps -- your pictures are fabulous!! Thanks for posting!

[deladane]

Good to know. We are doing the same cruise in a week and a half.

 

Any advice you can give us as to what to do in Cartagena?? So glad to hear you felt safe.

 

 

 

Any areas thick with mosquitoes. Zika is just in the news and don't know if I am being reasonable or not taking all the extra precautionary sprays.

 

 

 

Also, any can't misses on the ship? Anything else we might need to know?

 

 

 

We were on the Equinox 3 years ago ... oh, how time flies. We loved it then .. sure we will still love it and doing a completely different itinerary than last time.

 

 

 

ps -- your pictures are fabulous!! Thanks for posting!

 

 

Thank you! There tons more where that came from but you will probably be on your cruise before I get through my review.

 

We took a free walking tour in Cartagena that I HIGHLY recommend. It's from 3-5:30pm so we went on Sunday before dinner. The company was Free Tours Cartagena and you need a reservation.

 

Captain Costas reminded us daily to wear bug spray but don't worry about Zika. I never saw a single mosquito the entire cruise (and I doubt that was bc I wore bug spray haha). Pick up some bug spray with DEET and you'll be fine.

 

Definitely check out the Martini bar- Lots of fun and bartenders were great! Hope you have a wonderful cruise :)

 

 

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[vickykay]

Keith,

 

We felt that overall the food had improved significantly compared to 3-4 years ago. Maybe the result of the head chef ( relative young American from Calif). We had excellent prime rib, steaks, amd seafood. Only one time was the fish a tad overcooked but not enough to send back. The lobster was the best we have had on a ship- tender and perfectly cooked. We ate in select but had the same table ( 480) and wonderful waiter and assistant waiter. The only night we did not eat in the MDR was on the third night, which is the top chef menu which we are not fans of- ate in Silk for the first time and loved it.

 

Vicky

[Ugaaucruisers]

Cartagena. It was easy to come and go late at night and we felt very safe in the old city at night.

Thanks for the review. We leave in 9 days on the same itinerary! Can't wait!

Two questions about Cartegena:Was it easy to get a taxi into the Old City? Is that how you met the tour guide for the Free Walking Tour? What restaurant did you go to for dinner?

Thanks.

[deladane]

Thanks for the review. We leave in 9 days on the same itinerary! Can't wait!

Two questions about Cartegena:Was it easy to get a taxi into the Old City? Is that how you met the tour guide for the Free Walking Tour? What restaurant did you go to for dinner?

Thanks.

 

 

When you get a Cartagena, after you walk through the bird sanctuary, you reach the exit of the port and there are hundreds of taxi drivers vying for your attention. We did not want to use those drivers as I had heard you can get a better price if you wait until you've exited beyond that point onto the main street. The port has a confusing layout at it was hard to find that exit but if you ask a port employee they can direct you where to go. Once we found that exit, The first driver to approach us offered us a $10 ride to the old city and we took it. It was extremely hot and humid and we were happy to find an air-conditioned taxi for the 15 minute drive.

 

I found the free walking tour online back in June of last year when we booked our cruise. Many people on the tour with us had only made their reservation that day so you'll probably be able to get on the tour if you book at this point.

 

Our original plan for dinner was to eat at Café Del Mar- look it up on Google maps. It is on top of the old city walls right on the ocean with a beautiful view of the sunset. By the time we got there, there were no more tables and we also found the dinner menu to be very limited so we left and walked along the wall until we found another restaurant above Plaza Santa Teresa, across from the Charlston Hotel. Nice, varied menu, takes USD, great ocean views and dinner cost under $20pp :)

[Cindy]

We just got back from a fabulous 11 night cruise on the Equinox (Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Grand Cayman itinerary). I will post a very detailed photo review once we get settled back at home, but wanted to say we had a wonderful time and loved the ship and crew! This collage sums up our experiences pretty well!

 

 

I can try to answer if anyone has any questions in the meantime :)

 

 

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Hi Dana! It was great to meet you and I'm sorry our paths didn't cross again. We also had a fantastic time. We loved the ship and the people we met, and thought the staff we encountered were wonderful.

 

 

Good to know. We are doing the same cruise in a week and a half.

Any advice you can give us as to what to do in Cartagena?? So glad to hear you felt safe.

 

Any areas thick with mosquitoes. Zika is just in the news and don't know if I am being reasonable or not taking all the extra precautionary sprays.

 

Also, any can't misses on the ship? Anything else we might need to know?

 

We were on the Equinox 3 years ago ... oh, how time flies. We loved it then .. sure we will still love it and doing a completely different itinerary than last time.

 

ps -- your pictures are fabulous!! Thanks for posting!

 

We used a guide (Marelvy Pena-Hall) Sunday night and Monday in Cartagena and were blown away. We had 2 fantastic tours and thought Cartagena was one of the most beautiful cities we've visited. The walled city reminded us of a much hotter/more humid (if that's possible:eek:) and MUCH cleaner version of New Orleans. If you want to walk on the wall, do it after dark when it's cooler and you have a nice breeze. We also visited the Getsemani neighborhood in the walled city where not too many tourists go and thought it was great to see the "real" Cartagena. Some of the vendors at the "Dungeons" were a little persistent, but if you just say "no thank you" and keep walking they don't harass you. It's really no different than walking through the shopping area in any port.

 

I never saw a mosquito, and that includes during our jungle walk in Costa Rica. Somebody said they saw one mosquito on a t-shirt in a port, but I never even had to use any of the spray I brought.

 

We did the Celebrity ferry excursion through the Panama Canal. I'm glad we did it because we had never been to the Canal, but it was an unbelievably long (and honestly) boring day. We went through the Gatun Locks. The first chamber was very interesting, the second one I spent looking at the viewing stands to see if I could spot people I knew, and by the third I was just wondering if they could speed up the process so I could get back to the ship!:o Our tour had no real delays and probably went as well as that particular tour can, and it was still 8 & 1/2 hours long. If you've seen the Canal before, there are many shorter excursions that would be a great experience. If I ever go through the Panama Canal again, it will be from the deck of a cruise ship, not a ferry!:rolleyes:

 

I second Dana's comment about the Martini Bar...great fun! We also really liked the World Class Bar, but they never seemed to be doing much business. Everything on that limited menu was available on the Premium Beverage Package.

 

We did the three Specialty Restaurant Package, and loved Murano and Tuscan Grille. We thought Silk Harvest was OK, but it might be by that time we were about "fooded out". We also did a Progressive Dinner that they don't advertise. It was on the third night (Cozumel), and there were 8 of us. We had appetizers in the Gastrobar and Silk Harvest, our entrée in Tuscan Grille, and dessert in Murano. It was an expensive but wonderful meal with wine pairings, so if you're looking for something a little different it might be worth looking into.

 

Have fun! I would go back tomorrow and do it all over again.:D

[Shirley C]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review & post pics. What did you do in Costa Rica?

 

Shirley

[Ugaaucruisers]

Thanks so much for the info and the review!

Laura

[sunbum1961]

Hi Dana! It was great to meet you and I'm sorry our paths didn't cross again. We also had a fantastic time. We loved the ship and the people we met, and thought the staff we encountered were wonderful.

 

 

 

 

We used a guide (Marelvy Pena-Hall) Sunday night and Monday in Cartagena and were blown away. We had 2 fantastic tours and thought Cartagena was one of the most beautiful cities we've visited. The walled city reminded us of a much hotter/more humid (if that's possible:eek:) and MUCH cleaner version of New Orleans. If you want to walk on the wall, do it after dark when it's cooler and you have a nice breeze. We also visited the Getsemani neighborhood in the walled city where not too many tourists go and thought it was great to see the "real" Cartagena. Some of the vendors at the "Dungeons" were a little persistent, but if you just say "no thank you" and keep walking they don't harass you. It's really no different than walking through the shopping area in any port.

 

I never saw a mosquito, and that includes during our jungle walk in Costa Rica. Somebody said they saw one mosquito on a t-shirt in a port, but I never even had to use any of the spray I brought.

 

We did the Celebrity ferry excursion through the Panama Canal. I'm glad we did it because we had never been to the Canal, but it was an unbelievably long (and honestly) boring day. We went through the Gatun Locks. The first chamber was very interesting, the second one I spent looking at the viewing stands to see if I could spot people I knew, and by the third I was just wondering if they could speed up the process so I could get back to the ship!:o Our tour had no real delays and probably went as well as that particular tour can, and it was still 8 & 1/2 hours long. If you've seen the Canal before, there are many shorter excursions that would be a great experience. If I ever go through the Panama Canal again, it will be from the deck of a cruise ship, not a ferry!:rolleyes:

 

I second Dana's comment about the Martini Bar...great fun! We also really liked the World Class Bar, but they never seemed to be doing much business. Everything on that limited menu was available on the Premium Beverage Package.

 

We did the three Specialty Restaurant Package, and loved Murano and Tuscan Grille. We thought Silk Harvest was OK, but it might be by that time we were about "fooded out". We also did a Progressive Dinner that they don't advertise. It was on the third night (Cozumel), and there were 8 of us. We had appetizers in the Gastrobar and Silk Harvest, our entrée in Tuscan Grille, and dessert in Murano. It was an expensive but wonderful meal with wine pairings, so if you're looking for something a little different it might be worth looking into.

 

Have fun! I would go back tomorrow and do it all over again.:D

 

Hi Cindy,

 

Where do I get information about the Progressive Dinner? We did a "chef's table" on Princess which sound similar and it was amazing!

[deladane]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review & post pics. What did you do in Costa Rica?

 

 

 

Shirley

 

 

In Costa Rica we took a tour with Oscar Brown tours. We went to the jaguar rescue center and along of the tortuguera canal and had lunch at a restaurant on playa bonita. It was a great day and it ended up being a private tour with just the two of us as nobody else from our ship book the same excursion!

[deladane]

Hi Dana! It was great to meet you and I'm sorry our paths didn't cross again. We also had a fantastic time. We loved the ship and the people we met, and thought the staff we encountered were wonderful.

 

 

Hey Cindy! We were looking for you all week! Sorry we didn't cross paths again, but glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise!!

[Shirley C]

In Costa Rica we took a tour with Oscar Brown tours. We went to the jaguar rescue center and along of the tortuguera canal and had lunch at a restaurant on playa bonita. It was a great day and it ended up being a private tour with just the two of us as nobody else from our ship book the same excursion!

 

Did you book directly with him?

 

Shirley

[Cruise Raider]

Cindy....thanks for the invaluable information.

The walking tour sounds great ... especially in the evening when it is cooler. Living near San Francisco, we aren't used to any real heat so will probably drop if out in hot / humid weather. Love New Orleans so that is promising.

 

That progressive dinner sounds like a lot of fun ... too bad they cannot spread it out over several days. I just cannot seem to eat all those courses in the same evening ... usually pretty satisfied by the time I finish my appetizer. We are on a winery sponsored tour so will have some special wine tasting and food and wine pairing events included. Plus, we have one specialty dinner covered under our casino card from Vegas. I might pick Silk Harvest ... just love Asian fusion....but that lobster Murano is to die for. I just cannot seem to finish any of these dinners ....they give you so much food.

 

Last time we were in this region, we did a full transit through the canal on the Mercury. That was over 15 years ago, so am really looking forward to seeing the new locks. We booked a canal and fort excursion through Celebrity. It is supposed to be just a little over 4 hours long so hopefully won't be too monotonous.

 

Glad there weren't a ton of mosquitoes. That Zika virus, as well as other diseases spread by that same mosquito is in news here pretty much every day. Sounds like we have nothing to really worry about since we are way beyond our childbearing years.... and so happy about that. I will be taking the DEET wipes and spray and not giving it another thought.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences. :)

[storfie]

Hi Cindy, Thanks for posting. We will be doing your cruise next week! Wondering what you experienced at Grand Cayman with the tendering. There will be 4 or 5 ships in when we are there. Sounds like a madhouse!

Annabelle

[deladane]

Did you book directly with him?

 

 

 

Shirley

 

 

 

Yes, I filled out the form on their website and they replied via email with all the details