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Review-Equinox Memorial Day Cruise 2017

VinLinGa

By VinLinGa,
in Celebrity Cruises

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VinLinGa

VinLinGa

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This was my 13th cruise overall, my husband's 12th, and our 4th with Celebrity. We previously cruised 5 times with Princess, and once each with Norwegian, Holland America, and Royal Majesty. In 1989, I cruised on the Galileo on the Chandris line, but unfortunately that doesn't give me credit on Celebrity, despite the fact that Celebrity was founded as a subsidiary of Chandris. We generally select our cruises based on the itinerary and date of sailing, rather than by cruise line. We decided to take this cruise because we had never been to Grand Cayman or Curacao, plus we wanted to take advantage of the long holiday weekend. The "pick two" offers also influenced our decision. This was our first cruise of more than 7 days and we enjoyed the extra days on board.

 

We had a 6AM fight out of Newark Liberty Airport in Northern NJ the morning of the cruise. The only problem with leaving so early was that none of the concessions were open at the airport before we had to board, so no breakfast was available. The flight to Miami was uneventful and we arrived around 9AM and took a cab to the pier. The cost was a flat fee of $27 plus gratuity.

 

The area outside the pier was crowded with the passengers from the previous cruise, but once inside the terminal, it was only a short wait to go through the metal detectors. We were in the standard boarding group, so there was a bit of a line to check in. Once we received our cruise cards and stepped away from the window, there was no one to tell us where to wait to board, so we ended up in the Aqua Class waiting area. No one stopped us, and it was only when we realized we were in the wrong place that we went out to join the rest of the regular boarding group. There was a bit of a line to board, due mainly to some problems with the machines taking our initial security image, but we were on the ship by 11:30AM, enjoyed the champagne they were handing out at the entryway and went to the Oceanview Café for lunch. We then explored the ship while waiting for the announcement that the cabins were ready. The wait was a little longer than on previous cruises, but not too bad.

 

Our cabin was on Deck 8 forward, a standard veranda stateroom. Our attendant was Irena, who was friendly, efficient and hard-working. We had no complaints with our stateroom or the service we received. There probably could have been some more drawers for storage, perhaps regular end tables with drawers instead of the open tables at each side of the bed, but we managed to store all of our belongings without too much trouble. We enjoyed sitting on the veranda throughout the cruise and also took advantage of the seating area in front of the television. The selection of television stations was limited, but we didn't watch much television except for an occasional news program, and soccer and cricket matches. I also enjoyed the cruise director's daily show with his activities director, Liam; it was quite funny. (A shout-out to Rich and Liam from the lady with the Kirby Muxloe question: Yes, it is a real place in the Midlands of England!) The cabin was the right size and we did not feel that we needed any more space.

 

We ate in the Silhouette Restaurant on six of the nine nights, went to the Oceanview on two nights and ate in Aruba while we were in port. We always enjoy the option of Select Dining (and its equivalent on the other cruise lines) and request a table for two so we can enjoy some alone time while on our vacation. We were seated at table 430 in the main dining room each time and the service was fantastic. The waiter, assistant waiter, and sommelier were all very professional. The hostess was polite and cheerful and must have a phenomenal memory; after a day or so, she remembered our cabin number before we even approached the podium and sent us to the same table; it was a nice touch. The food was good, although not very varied or complicated, but we recognize that the sheer number of the people to be fed in such a short time limits what can be done.

 

We ate in the Oceanview for breakfast, most lunches, and for two dinners, plus late night snacks. We were impressed by the set-up of the stations, which minimized the crowding we have experienced on other ships. The variety of the food selections in the buffet was excellent, and we especially liked the pizza, Indian and Mexican dishes, the salad bar and the ice cream. The quality of the food was as expected and we had no complaints. It was sometimes difficult to get a table at lunchtime, and depending on where we sat, the drink waiters did not always reach our table during the meal. Overall, the Oceanview was a good experience.

 

We also enjoyed Café al Bacio, although the table service was sometimes spotty. We liked the pastries and cookies and my husband enjoyed takeout coffee at least once or twice a day. The gelato bar was excellent and the server there was friendly and efficient.

 

We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants as we didn't see anything on the menus that we couldn't get at home. As residents of Northern NJ, we are spoiled by the choices of many excellent restaurants in our area and didn't see any reason to visit the specialty restaurants on the ship, although it seems like a lot of passengers enjoyed them.

 

During the cruise, we managed to visit most of the bars on the ship, and especially enjoyed the GastroBar, Oceanview Bar, Martini Bar and Sunset Bar. My husband particularly liked the strawberry daiquiris, the beers and the martinis. We did not purchase a beverage package as we never would have consumed enough alcohol or non-alcoholic beverages to justify the cost. Although the packages were offered to us several times over the first few days, we found that a polite "no thank you" was enough to get the staff member to drop the subject. ( A beverage package was one of the free offers available when we booked the cruise, but we decided to go with the prepaid gratuities and a total of $300 in onboard credits instead.)

 

The outdoor pool area was crowded and hot, especially on sea days, so we didn't spend much time there. I enjoyed the solarium and it was easy to find a chair before 10AM on sea days. After that, the chair hogs tended to take over; however, if I wanted to take a swim at the end of the afternoon, there was more room again.

 

The Sky Lounge was a great place to read during the day and we spent a number of sea days there, enjoying the quiet and watching the waves.

 

The Equinox Theatre was well designed, except that a few posts blocked the view in spots. We were always able to find a seat. We only saw a few minutes of one production show and didn't see any of the other production shows, but we attended other acts in the theatre such as the comedian Ralph Harris, the Tribute to Broadway, Divas3, and Travis Turpin. The shows were of the quality we have come to expect on a cruise--nothing extraordinary, but nonetheless entertaining. Some of the performers were very talented, and all of them worked hard and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The orchestra was excellent and it was great to enjoy the live music. We also went to the navigation presentation in the theatre and found it very informative.

 

We enjoyed a few lectures and presentations in Celebrity Central, a smaller venue outside the Theatre which was hard to find. In fact, on the last day of the cruise, a passenger approached us while we were waiting in the Equinox Theatre for the navigation lecture; she was looking for the fish cooking demonstration in Celebrity Central and was surprised to learn that it was a different venue altogether. I was glad that we were able to find Celebrity Central on the first day as we were able to attend several interesting presentations including the ones on the Cayman Islands and on pirates. The R-rated version of Family Feud, hosted by CD Rich Spacey, was held in Celebrity Central and it was hilarious. Rich also did an "evolution of dance" act before the comedian's show on the last night of the cruise which was very funny. Several videos are available on YouTube of his performance on this and other cruises over the years.

 

A few game shows were held outside Celebrity Central in the area known as the Entertainment Court. As this was a pass-through area to and from the theatre, it was often crowded and I thought the shows would have been more enjoyable in one of the other venues, even one of the lounges, where there wasn't so much traffic and more seating would have been available. We also enjoyed the live music in the Grand Foyer, although the number of performers was smaller and the performances less frequent than we had experienced on other cruises.

 

In fact, it seemed like there was a cut-back in general on entertainment staff, from the cruise director's staff to the musicians and DJs. Everyone was hard working and pleasant, but it seemed like the personnel had to spread themselves thin. Also, there were often typographical errors in the daily program and the flyers placed in our cabins. One day, part of the previous day's program was reprinted instead of the current day's schedule and the entire daily program had to be corrected, reprinted and redistributed. Again, this was probably a result of too few people doing too much.

 

The silent disco was a great idea. We did not participate, but did watch the session held in the solarium and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The lawn area was a nice touch, and not as crowded as I had anticipated. We also attended a few of the Hot Glass shows and found them to be very interesting. It is an unusual activity for a cruise ship, but drew a lot of attention. The tour of the kitchen on the first sea day was informative and fun. We didn't spend a lot of time in the casino, just played the poker and slot machines a few times and walked around watching the table games. The casino was smoke free, which was a big plus. We are not big gamblers, but it was nice to be able to go into the casino and not have our clothes smelling of smoke. We watched some of the daily trivia games, especially the music trivia games which were held in different venues. We went into the shops on the ships several times but didn't buy anything except for a few rum cakes and coffee to take home.

 

A brief review of the ports-

Grand Cayman-Since this was our first time on the island, we booked the Land and Sea tour through the ship and spent a pleasant 3 hours touring the island, capping off the trip with a ride in a semi-submarine. The view was great and we saw a lot of fish and several wrecks. The visit to the turtle farm was very informative and I had fun when I was able to hold a small turtle. Since half of the turtles end up as food and the other half as breeders, I hope my new friend will live out his life as one of the breeders. Our tour guide, Glenford, was entertaining and friendly. After the tour, we had time for lunch and went to Paradise, an open-air casual restaurant on the water in Georgetown. Since we were in town on a Sunday, many shops and restaurants were closed. Paradise turned out to be a good choice, and would have been so even if other places in town had been open. We loved the frozen drinks, and stayed away from the turtle burgers on the menu.

Aruba-We had visited Aruba before, so we decided to wander around Oranjestad, looking at the shops and general sights. We paid a return visit to Iguana Joe's for lunch and drinks and looked around for possible dinner places. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the ship, rested a bit, and then went back out at dinnertime. We decided to go past the marina to the Renaissance Marketplace and had a delicious seafood meal at the SeaSalt Grill. I would recommend this place for a good local meal. (I would also recommend Cuba's Cookin' in the same mall; we visted twice on prior trips to Aruba had had great meals there too.)

Curacao-We had always wanted to see Curacao, which is one of the reasons we chose this cruise. We didn't venture outside of Willemstad which was very walk-able. We left the ship early, and after crossing the Queen Emma (floating) Bridge, we wandered around the town, checked out the floating market and other sights and marvelled how much the Queen Julianna bridge resembled the massive Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway at home. Although we didn't venture beyond Willemstad, it appeared that Curacao is a lot more built up than we had expected. That morning, it was quiet as many of our fellow passengers were still on board or on tours. My husband needed to replace his luggage tag which had been lost on the flight to Miami, so we looked in several small shops. He finally found a nice sturdy tag with a Curacao design for $3 US and the salesperson was able to talk him into buying a T-shirt and some other items, so we ended up leaving with things we really didn't need, but it was all fun. We stopped at the Subway to purchase some cold drinks, take advantage of the free WiFi and write out a postcard to our English friends who were celebrating a wedding anniversary the following week. I knew they would be thrilled to receive mail from a place they had never visited. We posted the card at the main Post Office and the guard at the front desk was very helpful and assured us that we had the right amount of postage. (Our friends received the card about 8 days later.) We then visited La Boheme for a pre-lunch taste of the local beer (to beat the heat, of course) and then went to the Rif Fort Mall to look around at the shops and find a place for lunch. We stumbled on the Royal Dutch Cheesery and each had a delicious sandwich.

Bonaire-This was our second visit to Bonaire, and we were looking forward to returning to the Heinken restaurant (not sure if that was the proper name) which had been right by the cruise ship dock on our earlier trip. The area had been built up a bit more than in our previous visit and the Heineken place appeared to be gone but we did find the Zeezicht Restaurant and decided to go back there for lunch after walking around town. We first went to the Brewery to try some of their local, house-made beers (again, to beat the heat) and had a nice time chatting with fellow passengers from our ship as well as the young lady serving at the bar who had recently returned from a visit to New Jersey. The beers were refreshing and very tasty; I would recommend a visit to the Brewery. After a pleasant lunch at Zeezicht, we walked through the open-air market, where my husband purchased a shaved ice and made a return visit to the stand called the Flaming Flamingo for some BBQ spice mix. We had purchased spice blends from their stand on our previous visit and were happy to see they were still around. Before boarding the ship, I visited Elements at the pier to check out their jewelry made from glass. They had some lovely selections, but I decided not to add to my jewelry collection. It was only as the ship was leaving port that I thought of several people who would have enjoyed the unusual jewelry as gifts and I regretted my decision not to buy anything.

 

After leaving Bonaire, we had two full days at sea and enjoyed the activities and the chance to relax on board. We only had one minor inconvenience on the last day when my husband lost his prescription sunglasses somewhere on the ship. We made several visits to the Guest Relations Desk, where the staff was very helpful, but unfortunately the glasses never showed up. It was just a minor glitch in a nice vacation. Later that day, we purchased a 20 minute internet session to check-in for our flight the following day, packed for our trip home, and enjoyed our last night on board.

 

Disembarkation was quick, and we took the ship's shuttle to Miami Airport at a cost of $18 per person. The trip to the airport went as smoothly as the one we had taken to the ship 9 days earlier. We arrived a bit too early to check in for our 2PM flight, but once we did, the trip through security was quick and uneventful, thanks to the TSA Pre-check program. We then waited at the gate for about an hour when they announced that the gate had been changed, and we actually had to go through security again for the new gate. The flight back to Newark was fine and we arrived home around dinnertime, ready to go back to work the following day.

 

It was a lovely vacation overall. We had time to relax and see some new places, while enjoying the attentive service and comfortable surroundings on the ship. We travel at least twice a year, not always on cruises, but cruise when we find a good itinerary. Cruising is a great way to see a number of new and interesting places on a single trip while staying in the same accommodations. Our time on the Equinox met our expectations.

Edited by VinLinGa
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kpun

kpun

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Great review!

What time was the shuttle to Miami Airport? We have a 2pm flight and trying to decide if we should use the ship's shuttle or take a cab.

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BarbaraM

BarbaraM

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Kpun: The cost for a taxi vs paying for 2 for the ship's shuttle is close to the samel-- plus you avoid the hassle of bus loading and drop offs. I think we paid $35 for the taxi on that same cruise.

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VinLinGa

VinLinGa

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Great review!

What time was the shuttle to Miami Airport? We have a 2pm flight and trying to decide if we should use the ship's shuttle or take a cab.

 

 

We considered taking the cab back to the airport, but figured we might get stuck in a crowd at the taxi stand. We were on the shuttle by 8:30 or so. We had to vacate the cabin by 8am. I don't recall when we left the cruise ship port, but according to the times of the emails I was sending from the airport, we were sitting in the airport terminal by 9:30. The shuttle stopped 2 or 3 times total, and since we had plenty of time before the flight, it wasn't a problem.

The shuttle vs. cab is just a matter of personal preference since the cost is about the same.

In the airport, there weren't a lot of restaurant/food choices past Security, especially at the second gate we were assigned to. We were looking forward to a nice sit-down lunch to end our vacation before boarding the plane, but that didn't happen. So if you arrive at Miami early, you may not have much to occupy your time as you wait to board the plane.

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CindyS

CindyS

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This was my 13th cruise overall, my husband's 12th, and our 4th with Celebrity. We previously cruised 5 times with Princess, and once each with Norwegian, Holland America, and Royal Majesty. In 1989, I cruised on the Galileo on the Chandris line, but unfortunately that doesn't give me credit on Celebrity, despite the fact that Celebrity was founded as a subsidiary of Chandris. We generally select our cruises based on the itinerary and date of sailing, rather than by cruise line. We decided to take this cruise because we had never been to Grand Cayman or Curacao, plus we wanted to take advantage of the long holiday weekend. The "pick two" offers also influenced our decision. This was our first cruise of more than 7 days and we enjoyed the extra days on board.

 

We had a 6AM fight out of Newark Liberty Airport in Northern NJ the morning of the cruise. The only problem with leaving so early was that none of the concessions were open at the airport before we had to board, so no breakfast was available. The flight to Miami was uneventful and we arrived around 9AM and took a cab to the pier. The cost was a flat fee of $27 plus gratuity.

 

The area outside the pier was crowded with the passengers from the previous cruise, but once inside the terminal, it was only a short wait to go through the metal detectors. We were in the standard boarding group, so there was a bit of a line to check in. Once we received our cruise cards and stepped away from the window, there was no one to tell us where to wait to board, so we ended up in the Aqua Class waiting area. No one stopped us, and it was only when we realized we were in the wrong place that we went out to join the rest of the regular boarding group. There was a bit of a line to board, due mainly to some problems with the machines taking our initial security image, but we were on the ship by 11:30AM, enjoyed the champagne they were handing out at the entryway and went to the Oceanview Café for lunch. We then explored the ship while waiting for the announcement that the cabins were ready. The wait was a little longer than on previous cruises, but not too bad.

 

Our cabin was on Deck 8 forward, a standard veranda stateroom. Our attendant was Irena, who was friendly, efficient and hard-working. We had no complaints with our stateroom or the service we received. There probably could have been some more drawers for storage, perhaps regular end tables with drawers instead of the open tables at each side of the bed, but we managed to store all of our belongings without too much trouble. We enjoyed sitting on the veranda throughout the cruise and also took advantage of the seating area in front of the television. The selection of television stations was limited, but we didn't watch much television except for an occasional news program, and soccer and cricket matches. I also enjoyed the cruise director's daily show with his activities director, Liam; it was quite funny. (A shout-out to Rich and Liam from the lady with the Kirby Muxloe question: Yes, it is a real place in the Midlands of England!) The cabin was the right size and we did not feel that we needed any more space.

 

We ate in the Silhouette Restaurant on six of the nine nights, went to the Oceanview on two nights and ate in Aruba while we were in port. We always enjoy the option of Select Dining (and its equivalent on the other cruise lines) and request a table for two so we can enjoy some alone time while on our vacation. We were seated at table 430 in the main dining room each time and the service was fantastic. The waiter, assistant waiter, and sommelier were all very professional. The hostess was polite and cheerful and must have a phenomenal memory; after a day or so, she remembered our cabin number before we even approached the podium and sent us to the same table; it was a nice touch. The food was good, although not very varied or complicated, but we recognize that the sheer number of the people to be fed in such a short time limits what can be done.

 

We ate in the Oceanview for breakfast, most lunches, and for two dinners, plus late night snacks. We were impressed by the set-up of the stations, which minimized the crowding we have experienced on other ships. The variety of the food selections in the buffet was excellent, and we especially liked the pizza, Indian and Mexican dishes, the salad bar and the ice cream. The quality of the food was as expected and we had no complaints. It was sometimes difficult to get a table at lunchtime, and depending on where we sat, the drink waiters did not always reach our table during the meal. Overall, the Oceanview was a good experience.

 

We also enjoyed Café al Bacio, although the table service was sometimes spotty. We liked the pastries and cookies and my husband enjoyed takeout coffee at least once or twice a day. The gelato bar was excellent and the server there was friendly and efficient.

 

We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants as we didn't see anything on the menus that we couldn't get at home. As residents of Northern NJ, we are spoiled by the choices of many excellent restaurants in our area and didn't see any reason to visit the specialty restaurants on the ship, although it seems like a lot of passengers enjoyed them.

 

During the cruise, we managed to visit most of the bars on the ship, and especially enjoyed the GastroBar, Oceanview Bar, Martini Bar and Sunset Bar. My husband particularly liked the strawberry daiquiris, the beers and the martinis. We did not purchase a beverage package as we never would have consumed enough alcohol or non-alcoholic beverages to justify the cost. Although the packages were offered to us several times over the first few days, we found that a polite "no thank you" was enough to get the staff member to drop the subject. ( A beverage package was one of the free offers available when we booked the cruise, but we decided to go with the prepaid gratuities and a total of $300 in onboard credits instead.)

 

The outdoor pool area was crowded and hot, especially on sea days, so we didn't spend much time there. I enjoyed the solarium and it was easy to find a chair before 10AM on sea days. After that, the chair hogs tended to take over; however, if I wanted to take a swim at the end of the afternoon, there was more room again.

 

The Sky Lounge was a great place to read during the day and we spent a number of sea days there, enjoying the quiet and watching the waves.

 

The Equinox Theatre was well designed, except that a few posts blocked the view in spots. We were always able to find a seat. We only saw a few minutes of one production show and didn't see any of the other production shows, but we attended other acts in the theatre such as the comedian Ralph Harris, the Tribute to Broadway, Divas3, and Travis Turpin. The shows were of the quality we have come to expect on a cruise--nothing extraordinary, but nonetheless entertaining. Some of the performers were very talented, and all of them worked hard and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The orchestra was excellent and it was great to enjoy the live music. We also went to the navigation presentation in the theatre and found it very informative.

 

We enjoyed a few lectures and presentations in Celebrity Central, a smaller venue outside the Theatre which was hard to find. In fact, on the last day of the cruise, a passenger approached us while we were waiting in the Equinox Theatre for the navigation lecture; she was looking for the fish cooking demonstration in Celebrity Central and was surprised to learn that it was a different venue altogether. I was glad that we were able to find Celebrity Central on the first day as we were able to attend several interesting presentations including the ones on the Cayman Islands and on pirates. The R-rated version of Family Feud, hosted by CD Rich Spacey, was held in Celebrity Central and it was hilarious. Rich also did an "evolution of dance" act before the comedian's show on the last night of the cruise which was very funny. Several videos are available on YouTube of his performance on this and other cruises over the years.

 

A few game shows were held outside Celebrity Central in the area known as the Entertainment Court. As this was a pass-through area to and from the theatre, it was often crowded and I thought the shows would have been more enjoyable in one of the other venues, even one of the lounges, where there wasn't so much traffic and more seating would have been available. We also enjoyed the live music in the Grand Foyer, although the number of performers was smaller and the performances less frequent than we had experienced on other cruises.

 

In fact, it seemed like there was a cut-back in general on entertainment staff, from the cruise director's staff to the musicians and DJs. Everyone was hard working and pleasant, but it seemed like the personnel had to spread themselves thin. Also, there were often typographical errors in the daily program and the flyers placed in our cabins. One day, part of the previous day's program was reprinted instead of the current day's schedule and the entire daily program had to be corrected, reprinted and redistributed. Again, this was probably a result of too few people doing too much.

 

The silent disco was a great idea. We did not participate, but did watch the session held in the solarium and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The lawn area was a nice touch, and not as crowded as I had anticipated. We also attended a few of the Hot Glass shows and found them to be very interesting. It is an unusual activity for a cruise ship, but drew a lot of attention. The tour of the kitchen on the first sea day was informative and fun. We didn't spend a lot of time in the casino, just played the poker and slot machines a few times and walked around watching the table games. The casino was smoke free, which was a big plus. We are not big gamblers, but it was nice to be able to go into the casino and not have our clothes smelling of smoke. We watched some of the daily trivia games, especially the music trivia games which were held in different venues. We went into the shops on the ships several times but didn't buy anything except for a few rum cakes and coffee to take home.

 

A brief review of the ports-

Grand Cayman-Since this was our first time on the island, we booked the Land and Sea tour through the ship and spent a pleasant 3 hours touring the island, capping off the trip with a ride in a semi-submarine. The view was great and we saw a lot of fish and several wrecks. The visit to the turtle farm was very informative and I had fun when I was able to hold a small turtle. Since half of the turtles end up as food and the other half as breeders, I hope my new friend will live out his life as one of the breeders. Our tour guide, Glenford, was entertaining and friendly. After the tour, we had time for lunch and went to Paradise, an open-air casual restaurant on the water in Georgetown. Since we were in town on a Sunday, many shops and restaurants were closed. Paradise turned out to be a good choice, and would have been so even if other places in town had been open. We loved the frozen drinks, and stayed away from the turtle burgers on the menu.

Aruba-We had visited Aruba before, so we decided to wander around Oranjestad, looking at the shops and general sights. We paid a return visit to Iguana Joe's for lunch and drinks and looked around for possible dinner places. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the ship, rested a bit, and then went back out at dinnertime. We decided to go past the marina to the Renaissance Marketplace and had a delicious seafood meal at the SeaSalt Grill. I would recommend this place for a good local meal. (I would also recommend Cuba's Cookin' in the same mall; we visted twice on prior trips to Aruba had had great meals there too.)

Curacao-We had always wanted to see Curacao, which is one of the reasons we chose this cruise. We didn't venture outside of Willemstad which was very walk-able. We left the ship early, and after crossing the Queen Emma (floating) Bridge, we wandered around the town, checked out the floating market and other sights and marvelled how much the Queen Julianna bridge resembled the massive Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway at home. Although we didn't venture beyond Willemstad, it appeared that Curacao is a lot more built up than we had expected. That morning, it was quiet as many of our fellow passengers were still on board or on tours. My husband needed to replace his luggage tag which had been lost on the flight to Miami, so we looked in several small shops. He finally found a nice sturdy tag with a Curacao design for $3 US and the salesperson was able to talk him into buying a T-shirt and some other items, so we ended up leaving with things we really didn't need, but it was all fun. We stopped at the Subway to purchase some cold drinks, take advantage of the free WiFi and write out a postcard to our English friends who were celebrating a wedding anniversary the following week. I knew they would be thrilled to receive mail from a place they had never visited. We posted the card at the main Post Office and the guard at the front desk was very helpful and assured us that we had the right amount of postage. (Our friends received the card about 8 days later.) We then visited La Boheme for a pre-lunch taste of the local beer (to beat the heat, of course) and then went to the Rif Fort Mall to look around at the shops and find a place for lunch. We stumbled on the Royal Dutch Cheesery and each had a delicious sandwich.

Bonaire-This was our second visit to Bonaire, and we were looking forward to returning to the Heinken restaurant (not sure if that was the proper name) which had been right by the cruise ship dock on our earlier trip. The area had been built up a bit more than in our previous visit and the Heineken place appeared to be gone but we did find the Zeezicht Restaurant and decided to go back there for lunch after walking around town. We first went to the Brewery to try some of their local, house-made beers (again, to beat the heat) and had a nice time chatting with fellow passengers from our ship as well as the young lady serving at the bar who had recently returned from a visit to New Jersey. The beers were refreshing and very tasty; I would recommend a visit to the Brewery. After a pleasant lunch at Zeezicht, we walked through the open-air market, where my husband purchased a shaved ice and made a return visit to the stand called the Flaming Flamingo for some BBQ spice mix. We had purchased spice blends from their stand on our previous visit and were happy to see they were still around. Before boarding the ship, I visited Elements at the pier to check out their jewelry made from glass. They had some lovely selections, but I decided not to add to my jewelry collection. It was only as the ship was leaving port that I thought of several people who would have enjoyed the unusual jewelry as gifts and I regretted my decision not to buy anything.

 

After leaving Bonaire, we had two full days at sea and enjoyed the activities and the chance to relax on board. We only had one minor inconvenience on the last day when my husband lost his prescription sunglasses somewhere on the ship. We made several visits to the Guest Relations Desk, where the staff was very helpful, but unfortunately the glasses never showed up. It was just a minor glitch in a nice vacation. Later that day, we purchased a 20 minute internet session to check-in for our flight the following day, packed for our trip home, and enjoyed our last night on board.

 

Disembarkation was quick, and we took the ship's shuttle to Miami Airport at a cost of $18 per person. The trip to the airport went as smoothly as the one we had taken to the ship 9 days earlier. We arrived a bit too early to check in for our 2PM flight, but once we did, the trip through security was quick and uneventful, thanks to the TSA Pre-check program. We then waited at the gate for about an hour when they announced that the gate had been changed, and we actually had to go through security again for the new gate. The flight back to Newark was fine and we arrived home around dinnertime, ready to go back to work the following day.

 

It was a lovely vacation overall. We had time to relax and see some new places, while enjoying the attentive service and comfortable surroundings on the ship. We travel at least twice a year, not always on cruises, but cruise when we find a good itinerary. Cruising is a great way to see a number of new and interesting places on a single trip while staying in the same accommodations. Our time on the Equinox met our expectations.

 

 

 

We were on the same cruise and live in NJ also. We attended all the shows and found them all to be great. We were on the Equinox in November 2015 and were disappointed in the shows during that cruise. If you were at the Family Feud show, my husband was the guy with the snakeskin boots that the CD Rich Spacey commented on. We were also on that 2 pm flight home where they not only changed gates but terminals. Not impressed with Miami airport. Fort Lauderdale is much better.

 

 

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CindyS

CindyS

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Great review!

What time was the shuttle to Miami Airport? We have a 2pm flight and trying to decide if we should use the ship's shuttle or take a cab.

 

 

 

We were on the same cruise and took a cab from the pier to the airport. There were 4 of us and we paid $24, including tip, total for all four of us. At $18 a head for the shuttle, we saved a lot. The ship also had a new program for $25 a person where they checked us in for our flight, gave us our boarding passes and checked our bags through to Newark. We didn't have to collect our bags at the pier and check them in at the airport. We just walked off the ship with our carryons, grabbed a cab that were lined up at the curb and at the airport went right to security. It was fabulous. Worth every penny.

 

 

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Barwick Cruiser

Barwick Cruiser

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In the airport, there weren't a lot of restaurant/food choices past Security, especially at the second gate we were assigned to. We were looking forward to a nice sit-down lunch to end our vacation before boarding the plane, but that didn't happen. So if you arrive at Miami early, you may not have much to occupy your time as you wait to board the plane.

 

We have a 12:30 flight directly to Toronto...do you know if there is food/restaurants in the international departures lounge past security or will it be the same as what you encountered? We may have to pick up something to take on the plane before arriving at the airport otherwise...

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VinLinGa

VinLinGa

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How long was the taxi line when disembarking Equinox - probably around 830AM? Thank you

 

I didn't notice the line as we were leaving the ship to go to the shuttle, but the day we arrived by taxi (seems so long ago!!), the taxi drop-off/boarding area was very disorganized and quite crowded, with passengers just jumping off the curb as cabs went by instead of waiting in a set line. One group actually tried to get into our cab while we were still inside. Perhaps it was just a result of who was working the area that day at that particular time. Anyway, we just decided to reserve a place on the shuttle for our return trip to the airport to avoid getting stuck in any disorganized crowds.

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kpun

kpun

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Posted
We have a 12:30 flight directly to Toronto...do you know if there is food/restaurants in the international departures lounge past security or will it be the same as what you encountered? We may have to pick up something to take on the plane before arriving at the airport otherwise...

 

If you are flying Air Canada, I believe it departs from Terminal J and if it's Westjet, it's Terminal D. You can go to the MIA website to see what restaurants are available.

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