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

[poffles]

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

 

Thanks for continuing to read and post!

Kevin Reid

 

Oh you aren't getting rid of me :)

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - EMBARKATION CONCIERGE LUNCH

 

Always a great feeling walking thru the maze of ramps from the pier onto deck 5 for your champagne welcome aboard the Beautiful Celebrity Equinox. Now I did not get any photos coming aboard because my hands were full. Sony a6000 around my neck, two GoPros capturing POV footage in my right hand and trailering my carry-on bag in my left hand. First stop was Cafe al Bacio. I feel that the folks that work here are some of the hardest working people on the ship especially with the large number of beverage packages.

 

First official Photo on board! Many more to come. LOL!

 

 

 

Just before noon... so we headed off to the Main Dining Room for the Concierge Embarkation Lunch. A nice touch/perk recently added. Unlike me it looks like most Concierge guests have read their little insert because there was actually a good size crowd here.

 

A very simplified one page menu was presented.

 

 

This was one of the first times we were seated this far back in the main dining room and actually became our normal sitting area for the balance of the cruise. For the evenings we sat just two tables away from the back wall in the picture behind Donna and I. For our evening dinners we had had the best ever waiter on a cruise by the name of Cedomir. I can't say enough about the fantastic service he provided us during our cruise.

 

 

Decisions! Decisions!

 

 

Donna and I both decide on the chicken which was pretty good. We had a great discussion with folks beside our table I believe they were from New York City. We discussed our current Prime Minister, his father, hockey and even some guy called Trump.

 

First Food Picture... The Chicken!

 

Then the message come over the PA system that the staterooms were now ready just as we were about to leave the Silhouette Dining Room. The mid ship elevator were pretty busy and congested so I suggested that we walk down to the front set of elevators. I am pretty sure this was a wise decision.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Day 1 - FLL - CELEBRITY TODAY

I noticed this year they no longer print and insert the "Featured Today". Later in the cruise you will notice that the heading of the front page changes from colourful to "dull" black & white. I also have all the "Edge" handouts but I will post them at the end of Day 1 in a section all on its own. Also somewhere during the cruise the Captain of the ship changes. I did not notice until the last evening of the cruise when he came out on the stage in the main theatre. I later found out that the replacement captain was back in Miami at Edge media events. How do I know this? Because I saw him in a YouTube Media Edge Event.

Page 1 -Front Cover

 

Page 2 - Inside Left

 

Page 3 - Inside Right

 

Page 4 - Back

 

Inserts

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - CELEBRITY TODAY - INSERTS Cont'd

 

Promo Insert - Beverage Packages

Promo Insert

 

Don't worry I did not scan the entire excursions details

 

Shore Excursions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 -FLL - CELEBRITY TODAY - Captain's Club Insert

 

Personally I like how Celebrity has gotten rid of the Captain's club coupons and worked/linked them into your Seapass. Be sure to read your offers because you may miss out on something you wished you had of attended or purchased. So what did we us use you ask? We made good use of the two free laundry bags. I have no real use to be connected 100% of time while at sea. We did not use the two free 90 minutes internet packages until the last cruise day. We used it for primarily for the Air Canada pre 24 hour check-in. Talk more about the perks later in the trip report on the day we used them. Oh yeah! I also used the two free scoops of Gelatio. (Donna let me have her scoop.) Darn! I almost forgot about the Elite discount we used at the photo shop. So I guess we did get some value out of our Elite perks.

 

Captain's Club Offer Sheet - front

 

Captain's Club Offer Sheet - back

 

That is it for the Day 1 scans except for "EDGE" which I will share later.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[abbydancer2003]

DAY 1 -FLL - CELEBRITY TODAY - Captain's Club Insert

 

Personally I like how Celebrity has gotten rid of the Captain's club coupons and worked/linked them into your Seapass. Be sure to read your offers because you may miss out on something you wished you had of attended or purchased. So what did we us use you ask? We made good use of the two free laundry bags. I have no real use to be connected 100% of time while at sea. We did not use the two free 90 minutes internet packages until the last cruise day. We used it for primarily for the Air Canada pre 24 hour check-in. Talk more about the perks later in the trip report on the day we used them. Oh yeah! I also used the two free scoops of Gelatio. (Donna let me have her scoop.) Darn! I almost forgot about the Elite discount we used at the photo shop. So I guess we did get some value out of our Elite perks.

 

Captain's Club Offer Sheet - front

 

Captain's Club Offer Sheet - back

 

That is it for the Day 1 scans except for "EDGE" which I will share later.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Thanks. Do you know if the backstage tour that you get as Elite is the same as the ship offers for 99.00 to everyone?

[FRMPEI]

Thanks. Do you know if the backstage tour that you get as Elite is the same as the ship offers for 99.00 to everyone?

 

Back in 2013 while on the Silhouette Ken & I did the behind the scene/bridge tour then it was $150/person and it included backstage as part of the tour. Then the next week since we were on a back to back and it happened to also be the President's cruise there was a backstage tour offered free to Captain's Club and in my opinion it was the same. So if you have an interest in seeing the backstage do not miss the free Captain's club tour. Hope this helped answer your question?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[abbydancer2003]

Back in 2013 while on the Silhouette Ken & I did the behind the scene/bridge tour then it was $150/person and it included backstage as part of the tour. Then the next week since we were on a back to back and it happened to also be the President's cruise there was a backstage tour offered free to Captain's Club and in my opinion it was the same. So if you have an interest in seeing the backstage do not miss the free Captain's club tour. Hope this helped answer your question?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Thanks. The description on the website mentions kitchen, engine control room, laundry and bridge. Is that what the Captain Clubs tour covers?

 

Thanks so very much

[FRMPEI]

Thanks. The description on the website mentions kitchen, engine control room, laundry and bridge. Is that what the Captain Clubs tour covers? Thanks so very much

 

The Captain's Club tour is the free one and is only the Backstage Theatre Tour Only. Plus there is usually always a free kitchen/Galley tour open to everyone which is literally attended by hundreds. The paid $$$ behind the scene if you have the interest is quite worth the amount paid. Just for you I have dug into my 2013 archives (Lightroom makes it easy) and pulled out six photos from our paid $$$ behind the scene tour. Why six? That is limit of the photos allowed to be shared in each post. Enjoy!

 

2013 Silhouette Behind the Scenes Tour $$$ - Specially for abbydancer

 

On the Bridge

 

Staff Captain on the Silhouette's huge bridge wing.

 

Silhouette Theatre taken from on the stage

 

Inside the engine control room. A very heavily secured area.

 

Logistic area where all the supplies are loaded.

 

Inside the Main Dining Room's Wine Tower

 

... and that was only six photos from that tour. Our tour also included lunch at the Lawn Club Grill where a couple of senior officers joined us. Feel free to ask any other questions about the tours.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[abbydancer2003]

The Captain's Club tour is the free one and is only the Backstage Theatre Tour Only. Plus there is usually always a free kitchen/Galley tour open to everyone which is literally attended by hundreds. The paid $$$ behind the scene if you have the interest is quite worth the amount paid. Just for you I have dug into my 2013 archives (Lightroom makes it easy) and pulled out six photos from our paid $$$ behind the scene tour. Why six? That is limit of the photos allowed to be shared in each post. Enjoy!

 

 

 

... and that was only six photos from that tour. Our tour also included lunch at the Lawn Club Grill where a couple of senior officers joined us. Feel free to ask any other questions about the tours.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Thank you so much. The tour is now two hours, but so I doubt it includes lunch, but it's also down to 99.00. We have some OBC to use up, so we'll stay with it.

 

Thanks again!

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - EMBARKATION - STATEROOM 1093

 

So this will be home for the next 11 days. Love to see my old fiends the "Celebrity Today" greeting me on the corner of the bed. This is stateroom 1093 midship deck 10 on the the port side. Stateroom 1093 is a Concierge Class C2 room with the bed next to the patio door. To be honest the thing I like most about Concierge Cabins is the provided foot stools on the veranda and the extra Captain Club points. Couldn't care less about the bottle of champagne or afternoon canapés. With your captain club perk you get the C2 cabin for the price of a C3 the only difference between the "C" class of concierge cabins is location. My preference is to have the bed next to the washroom. Why? I just feel you have more room to access the veranda door. Ken and Norma Jean are besides in room 1095. When I booked these rooms back in 2015 I just booked the same rooms numbers we had booked on 2015's Silhouette not knowing then that the divider support pole from the deck above would be between our cabins and would not be able to have an unobstructed walk between verandas when divider would be open. Also rooms 1093 and 1095 was the dividing line between muster stations.

 

 

 

We were only in our rooms for a few minutes and the women figured they would make good use of their beverage packages and we should leave to hit a bar. But, when we opened our door our luggage was already there. Boy! That was FAST! Could not believe how fast our luggage had arrived. So liqour would have to wait... we had some unpacking to do. It is funny how we have developed "regular" spots for things in the stateroom. Hats goes here, cameras go here etc.

 

In this next picture Donna is standing beside the veranda divider between us and the Williams' room. See how the support for the upper deck runs between? This support runs between every two rooms on parts of deck 10. We briefly meet our stateroom attendant, Francois from St Lucia, and asked if he would open up the veranda divider. But, upon our return from the muster drill he opened up the wrong one. Oh well he had 50/50 chance to get it right. No big deal he got it corrected before sail away.

 

 

Some shot of Port Everglades terminal from our verandas before heading out after unpacking.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Up next some random shot from deck 15 and Port Everglades and its Surrounding before Muster Drill.

[poffles]

I love the moments you just wrote about. Just getting on the ship, room ready, opening the door of your room for the first time, dropping any carried baggage, getting to step out onto your balcony and feeling the heat as you stand there looking around. Feeling blessed and fortunate to be there at all and having the feeling of calm come over you.

[WISH2CRUZAGAIN]

Kevin ~ Thank you so much for your trip reports. Just finished up on your Equinox from 2014. We sail Equinox May 2018 and are super excited about our first trip on Celebrity. Even more so now!!! Will continue to follow along. We will be on the 11 night Southern Caribbean. Several brand new to us ports. :D

[letscruiseasap]

Thanks for your trip report!! Really enjoying it...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[champagne123]

Come on Kevin! It's four days since your last post! :D:'):cool:

[JaniceB]

Just found your review and have really enjoyed the read so far. Sorry to hear about your Mom. You are very lucky to have followed up with your doctor about your pain. Funny thing I thought you were going to say you needed your gall bladder removed. I found out that shoulder pain is sometimes related to your gall bladder after they did the heart check on me and found nothing. In your case it was the opposite but then you did lose your gall bladder. Sorry you are still experiencing shoulder pain. Can't wait for the rest of your review.

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - DECK 15 WANDERS

 

With our luggage all unpacked it is time to hit the upper decks and start taking some pictures with my Sony a6000. I have an excuse to take lots of new photos because all previous were shot in .jpeg and now I want some shot in raw. The Sony a6000 can take take some pretty nice pictures especially when the blue skies cooperate. The ladies ditched me and sent me on my own as soon they make there first stop at the Mast Bar down by the pool.

 

 

Donna at the Mast Bar.

 

Ken checking out Port Everglades

 

View of of the Apartment buildings so close to the water.

 

Panorama of Port Everglades

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - DECK 15 WANDERS cont'd

 

I was wandering around the Lawn Club when two couples asked me to take their photo of them standing on the grass with their iPhone. I obliged but then I asked them to turn around for a second photo with the sun at my back. I am guessing that the second photo would be the nicer one.

 

The Lawn Club grass on this cruise in my opinion is the best I have seen. The greenest Lawn Club and few to none bad spots. Later in the cruise I was speaking to one of the Lawn Club ground crew members and complimented him on how great the lawn looked. It was obvious he was extremely proud of his grass. This I can relate too. I love cutting my grass and getting that striped pattern out on my front yard.

 

 

 

 

Lawn Club's Hot Glass Show

 

Ever since 2010 I have always been fascinated with the design of this bench on the Lawn Club. Beautiful!

 

This is I believe a rather new addition to the Lawn Club. I think it takes up the space that use to display the Hot Glass Show's pieces of art.

 

Aft... flag of Malta

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

DAY 1 - FLL - DECK 15 WANDERS cont'd

 

Private Yacht Nice. Also flying the George's Cross.

 

This is a pretty cool ship. It wasn't until I got home and realized that this ship is used to transport expensive Yachts. I think there is still one yacht still left on the deck and one that looks to be just unloaded. One of my favourite shows on the Discovery channel is called "Mighty Ships", A Canadian produced show, which would feature a ship such as this.

 

A quick walk thru of the Adult's only Solarium

 

Can't you just see your self relaxing here?

 

From the top of the Lawn Club's Stairs looking down at port side. Take note of the sun loungers facing towards the sea. That was an EDGE celebration thing.

 

Pre-muster sun worshippers laying out by the pool.

 

The announcement for the upcoming muster drill was being made so I found Donna and we made our way to our Muster Station A3 in Equinox Theatre. The muster was at 3:15 and ran until 3:45. Scheduled to leave at 4:00 PM this did not leave me much time to get back to the stateroom and get my cameras set up for sail away.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Next up Sail Away.

[FRMPEI]

I love the moments you just wrote about. Just getting on the ship, room ready, opening the door of your room for the first time, dropping any carried baggage, getting to step out onto your balcony and feeling the heat as you stand there looking around. Feeling blessed and fortunate to be there at all and having the feeling of calm come over you.

 

 

Only a fellow Maritimer can appreciate that heat when it hits you in Florida. Which is usually after one of our brutal epic winters. Donna has a saying for the first day of your cruise... Best Day Ever!

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Kevin ~ Thank you so much for your trip reports. Just finished up on your Equinox from 2014. We sail Equinox May 2018 and are super excited about our first trip on Celebrity. Even more so now!!! Will continue to follow along. We will be on the 11 night Southern Caribbean. Several brand new to us ports. :D

 

Hi Mary,

Thanks for joining in on the Trip Report. May 2018 will be here before you know it.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Thanks for your trip report!! Really enjoying it...

 

Hi letscruiseasap,

 

Thanks for joining in and adding your comments. Stay tuned still lots more to come.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Come on Kevin! It's four days since your last post! :D:'):cool:

 

Sorry for the delay! Your wish is my command! :)

 

Just like food in a fine dining room it takes extra time to prepare your food. Same with the Trip Report.:hearteyes:

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Just found your review and have really enjoyed the read so far. Sorry to hear about your Mom. You are very lucky to have followed up with your doctor about your pain. Funny thing I thought you were going to say you needed your gall bladder removed. I found out that shoulder pain is sometimes related to your gall bladder after they did the heart check on me and found nothing. In your case it was the opposite but then you did lose your gall bladder. Sorry you are still experiencing shoulder pain. Can't wait for the rest of your review.

 

 

Hi Janice,

 

Thank you for you kind comments. Yes! it was a rough year in 2016. The shoulder still bothers me but I hope time will be the cure. Small success this past weekend I was able to throw a softball with my right arm over hand to my son. Which this time last was physically impossible for me. Please excuse my whining.

 

Stay tuned lots more photos and videos.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[brandybrake]

Hi Kevin!

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip & the cruise ship Equinox. My husband & I will be sailing on the Equinox in December. It will be his first time on Celebrity. I sailed last November with my sister. I love it & the martini bar :).

I will be checking out your other cruise trips.

Carol Ann