EQUINOX DEUX - 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean - PV Trip Report 3/13/17

[Arzeena]

Arzeena,

 

I hope you have read both of them before finishing up with this one? :D

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

:D:D I am reading the 2014 Equinox review side by side as you are posting this one. We are going on the Equinox June 18, so you can imagine how excited I am! Great pictures! Keep them coming please!:D

[Arzeena]

Very patiently waiting for more of your great review. :D

[champagne123]

Very patiently waiting for more of your great review. :D

Me too! :cool:

[FRMPEI]

Me too! :cool:

 

 

Alright lets get back to this thing!

[Arzeena]

Alright lets get back to this thing!

 

Aww this is a teaser! My coffee is getting cold!:D;p;)

[FRMPEI]

NOT MANY BLUE SKIES FOR THIS SAIL AWAY

 

Up until this evening the weather and blue skies have cooperated fully. But for this evening's sail away the skies have turned dark and threatening rain. The first scheduled ship to leave at 4:00 PM is Regal Princess with Ken and I arriving at the 17th Street Causeway with a few minutes to spare to get set up.

 

Me! With my video cameras fastened to the rail behind me.

 

The freshly arrived From PEI Ken.

 

Now don't be deceived by the baseball caps turned backwards in the above two photo. We are not trying to be two cool hip teenagers. No! They are turned around to prevent the wind from blowing them off.

 

Five of the Seven ships poised to sail away this evening

 

Skies have turned to the "dull" scale. I will try my best to show/share some of the better photo from the last evening of sail aways.

 

Ken is not disappointed this evening because at 4:00PM sharp Regal Princess is dropping her shore lines. Ken has this thing that ships must leave at their scheduled time.

 

 

Regal almost finished of her backward spin out of her berth.

 

Regal's Sister ship Royal looked massive when she was the solo sail away on Friday evening. But tonight Regal is easily dwarfed by Allure of the Sea in her background.

 

Keep Tuned this Sail Away has Just Begun.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Edited June 4, 2017 by FRMPEI

[FRMPEI]

SUNDAY'S SAIL AWAY - cont'd

 

 

 

At the bow of Regal you can see that Silhouette has also begun her pull away from the dock.

 

Regal making her way up past the apartment buildings.

 

The beautiful Celebrity Silhouette making her way out on a seven day Eastern Caribbean Cruise. The rain had just started to lightly fall. Rain drops starting to play havoc with the quality of photos and videos. Darn Rain! We will see Silhouette again on Wednesday March 22 in Cozumel. Lets say that I did take a "few" pictures of her docked beside us in Cozumel that I will be sharing.

 

 

 

 

 

Still a few more shot left to share.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

RAIN SHORTENED SAIL AWAY -cont'd

 

 

Silhouette at the Web Cam apartment building... Silhouette is not quite as massive as the Allure class of ships as she passes by the apartment building.

 

As Silhouette was making her way out to sea HAL's Koningsdam was next and the third ship to leave. I believe this is HAL's newest ship currently in service. Nieuw Amsterdam is also making its disembarkation in the foreground.

 

 

More rain and dark skies.

 

 

Carnival Conquest the fifth ship leaving Port Everglades.

 

The rain won! The last picture from the Sail Away is Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

The rain got the best of us and by 4:50PM Ken and I packed her up and headed back towards the hotel. We did not catch the two remaining RCL's ships sail away. Donna and Norma Jean were on their way to meet us at the bridge but we meet them around Walgreens on our walk back.

 

We told Ken and Norma Jean about the hotel's complimentary happy hour and would meet them at 6:00 PM for that. Next it would take me a bit of time to get all my camera gear re-organized after my adventure. Disassemble Joby Action Clamps remove and charge batteries and put the cameras back in their place.

 

Too bad the weather did not cooperate better this evening because I know Ken would have enjoyed it if we could have stayed out for the complete sail away.

 

Up Next:

Outback - lost iPhone?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

LAST EVENING IN FORT LAUDERDALE

 

What a difference in the crowd this evening at the hotel's complimentary Happy Hour. Tonight the liquor is being served in glassware rather than plastic cups. I had a couple Pepsi's and we enjoyed a few snacks.

 

1st official group cruise pic of 2017.

 

 

Just past 7PM we wandered up to the Outback Steakhouse and only had to wait a couple of minute before being seated. I don't think we have Outback's in Canada. The last time Donna and I were at an Outback would have to be way back in 2003 when we were visiting King's Island Theme Park in Mason, Ohio. Norma Jean and Ken wanted to try their Blooming Onion w/shrimp. I had a NY Strip Lion which was a much larger portion size than my cardiac re-hab program recommends. I rationalized in my own head this extra size by not eating all the french fries, ate all the veggies, cut the fat off the steak and left a little of steak not eaten. Now let me share with you my almost second horror story of the day. Went to the washroom or as my American friends call it "the restroom" and for some reason I took my iPhone with me. Returned to our table and within a few minutes I realized I forgot my iPhone back in the washroom. Panic! Quickly come over me. I rush back to washroom only to discover that my iPhone was handed over to the manager. (that is my iPhone sitting in front of me in the picture above) Thank You! Thank You! What was with my iPhone? There was 5 $20 USD bills, Debit card, and my MasterCard. This could have been an expensive evening. Many thanks to an honest person for turning my iPhone untouched to the Manager.

 

 

We were back in our hotel room by 9PM. On our floor was this vending machine with sign on it "Premium Suite Access". I inquired at the front desk and was given an access code which allowed us unlimited access to this. I wish I was told of this perk when we first checked in then I would have not purchased Pepsi or water over at the Publix Supermarket. At least I will know the drill for the next time. I stocked up pretty good and had a few extra treats with me for the cruise.

 

 

This pre-cruise preamble is now officially over. The count down clock to the cruise can't be wrong we are at "0" days to cruise. Brace yourselves because the real PV trip report is about to begin. Like I said previously Donna and I didn't really do too much over the past couple of day but, we had a great relaxing time getting us ready for our 11 days aboard the Beautiful Celebrity Equinox.

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[champagne123]

Sooooooo Excited!!!!! Let the party begin!!!!

Edited June 4, 2017 by champagne123
.......

[Arzeena]

Thanks Kevin! enjoying the ride.

[cruisehome]

thank you for taking the time to share

[cruisehome]

thank you for taking the time to share

hopefully I have subscribed to your post since cruisecritic changed its format I am having trouble following

[FRMPEI]

hopefully I have subscribed to your post since cruisecritic changed its format I am having trouble following

 

 

Thanks for joining in. If you did not change the "Notification Type" on your reply you are most likely subscribed. When/before posting just scroll down past the "blue" SUBMIT REPLY button and check your Additional Options.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[poffles]

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Nothing as sweet as seeing 0 days to the cruise!

[Briggs99]

Looking forward to your next post...so enjoyable

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[FRMPEI]

Nothing as sweet as seeing 0 days to the cruise!

 

At my age I am not sure which is sweeter "0" day or Christmas Day?

 

Thanks for continuing to read and post!

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Looking forward to your next post...so enjoyable

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Hope to get back to it this evening.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

DONNA WAKE UP IT IS CRUSIE DAY

 

Woke up without the alarm around 6:30AM and of course it was only natural that I would take a peek out the window to see if our Celebrity Equinox had arrived. Perfect timing she was just about to make her spin and pull in along side the dock. Equinox docks at the same pier normally reserved for the giants of the RCL fleet. Took a chance and hauled out my Sony a6000 with my Ziess Lenses and captured some pretty good pictures in dark conditions.

 

 

 

Switch to my 55-210 lenses for this zoom in of the docked Equinox.

 

Cruise day 2017 has finally arrived. We booked this cruise back in January 2015 and boy oh! boy! I had no idea what would happen to our lives in that period of time. I feel so fortunate to be able to be here in Fort Lauderdale and going on a cruise with my best friend and DW Donna. This time last year was a pretty low time in my life when we had to cancel our two week Eclipse cruise. It was very difficult for me to even visit Cruise Critic let alone add comments to the posts on the forums. That "bad stuff" is all behind us now and I am glad to be able to cruise this year.

 

We meet Ken and Norma Jean for the complimentary breakfast. Wow! what a difference in the crowds from a one ship in port day to a seven ships in port day. No problem getting a table this morning.

 

Elevator early morning smiles on Cruise Day.

 

Just like back in 2014 our group had to take an early morning walk down to the bridge to hello to our old friend Equinox.

 

 

Here she is in the daylight.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks again for this. When I first started reading, we were on the Reflection in September, so reading for the ship. Today, I booked the Equinox for Eastern Caribbean this August - my sister's been having a tough summer, so I thought a cruise was the right thing to help her relax while her kids are at camp. So now enjoying this even more.

Edited June 7, 2017 by abbydancer

[FRMPEI]

BRIDGE SHOTS

 

A rare shot of me in a photo - Thanks Norma Jean

 

Lets try this selfie thing.

 

You can tell by the hair that the wind was pretty strong.

 

 

Back to the Hotel.

 

Obligatory WebCam Shot of Equinox. I cheated here. I took this screen capture after we got back from our cruise. Don't tell anybody. Okay?

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Thanks again for this. When I first started reading, we were on the Reflection in September, so reading for the ship. Today, I booked the Equinox for Eastern Caribbean this August - she's been having a tough summer, so I thought a cruise was the right thing to help her relax while her kids are at camp. So now enjoying this even more.

 

 

abbydancer,

Thanks again for your comments. Have a great time on Equinox in August. I am jealous.

 

Regards,

Kevin reid

[FRMPEI]

TIME YET TO LEAVE?

 

Holy cow another picture of me in it. Notice I am in the shade? There is a mount with two GoPros on it on my lap.

 

Close up of this mount. Which allows for a two way POV video. I actually used this GoPro 3 way mount/pole quite a bit this cruise. Folds up quite nicely.

 

 

Pretty nice day here in Fort Lauderdale as we sit around the pool wasting a few minutes before we take our shuttle over to the pier. Current temp here in Fort Lauderdale a very nice +28C while at the same time I get a special weather warning on my iPhone from The Weather Network app. Special Weather Statement for South Winsloe, PEI possible 25cms of snow from a Nor'Eastern.

 

Look at the comparison of these two iPhone screen captures.

 

 

Transportation over to the cruise terminal was included in our room rate and the four of us were loaded into a van with one other couple we arrived at the pier at 11:30 AM. We very much enjoyed our stay at Embassy Suites so much so that I also booked our room for 2018. I like arriving at the pier at this time as opposed to our 2015 cruise when we arrived just before muster.

 

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Day 1 - FLL - Embarkation

 

The registration process was quite painless. After we got our pictures taken and SeaPass cards in hand we were able to board the ship directly without any further waiting.

 

 

I have scans of all the Celebrity Today with inserts. Like in my past Trip Reports I will start off each new day by sharing the Celebrity Today. The first of the scans I will share here is the SeaPass booklet. I noticed that it no longer includes a fold out deck plan map. Because of Cruise Critic I probably would have not known of the Concierge Lunch in the Main Dining Room. I probably would of missed reading the insert in the SeaPass package. To be honest I am not sure if at the check-in/registration counter the agent told us about the Concierge lunch or not.

 

SeaPass Booklet Cover

 

Inside SeaPass Booklet

 

Oh! Here it is.

 

Photo Promo Insert in SeaPass Booklet

 

Proof we were there. SeaPass.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Up next:

Day 1 Celebrity Today

Sail Away

Edge Day

Lots of Photos

[bluwes]

Whoo hoo. been enjoying this trip report so far. Cant wait now, that we have got to the exiting bit..:D:D:D