16th June on The Equinox: Operation Warm & Happy

[miched]

Why do people refer to chaos as a zoo or circus when both at totally orginized and in control?

 

I had a sister who had the Down syndrome. She was a jewel but I am sad to say I never realized hw special she was until I got older. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body and really enjoyed life. If everyone had her outlook on life and love that she gave our world world would be a better place. I really miss her.

 

 

I am a Catholic and our parish has a program for the special needs. Everyone in that program volunteers and serves in some capacity at the Sunday Masses. Too bad that the other so called normal people don’t follow their example and help out.

 

 

Two of the participants in the program have been honored as outstanding citizens in our city for all of the charitable work that they do.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your cruise with your brother with us.

 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Btank]

DAY 1 - MIAMI (A LONG DAY)

 

EDITORIAL COMMENT #1: I'm back, folks - minor computer malfunction. Yes... it happens to those of us who work in the industry, too! :o

EDITORIAL COMMENT #2: I changed some privacy settings on my photo account - hopefully, this takes care of the missing pictures problems reported earlier?

 

Muster drill was... well, mustery. I was kind of surprised that Celebrity still uses printed checklists to take roll; on Anthem, the scanned you in as attending. Quite a few people missed the person with the clipboard, so the roll call of missing cabins ate about (guessing) 5 - 10 minutes extra. We had the same spy movie safety briefing that we saw on Anthem, but no "Wash Your Hands" song - to Mark's relief. When we were on Anthem, they had technical difficulties, and the song would not play more than the first few seconds. To help out, I started singing the song and making up lyrics. Mark was slightly annoyed with me at the time. :')

 

We had a 6pm reservation at Silk Harvest, so we headed back to the cabins to finish unpacking and to change. While there, we finally got to meet our cabin steward - correction, our stewards! Through the luck of the draw, our cabins were on the border. I had Felix in 9344, and Mark had Bregor in 9346. After a quick update on who we were and how we wanted the rooms configured - fridges emptied, partition between the verandas opened - I did my preemptive tipping and they went off to meet the rest of their passengers.

 

KUDOS: Celebrity, these Felix and Bregor were outstanding. As busy as they were (and I would see later on that Felix had a couple of challenging cabins), they immediately warmed up to Mark. No matter how busy they were, they would stop and engage Mark in conversation when they saw him - greeting him by name, asking how breakfast / lunch / etc. was, what did he do today, etc. Mark was very comfortable with them - so much so, that I had to remind him how busy they were! It sounds like a minor thing, but anything that can put Mark at ease goes a long way towards making sure that I can have a more relaxing time. Celebrity, they (and you) have my gratitude for making my vacation more enjoyable.

 

Oh, yeah - somewhere in here, we had our sail away! As always, I was impressed with how smoothly we puled away from the quay. We sailed past the Carnival Vista on the way out, and I took opportunity to send a few messages to my Carnival-loving friends telling them that it was much more "fun" on our ship to have canapes. After a little back and forth smack talking, we were on our way.

[Btank]

DAY 1 - THE END OF A LONG DAY

 

Off we headed to Silk Harvest. This was mainly for Mark - I can take or leave Asian food, but Mark loves Chinese. We got there just as they were opening, and we were brought right to a window table - which made me happy.

 

Here's where I was surprised: the place was empty when we got there, and only had a few tables occupied by the time that we left. Too bad for everyone else, because the service and the food we received was outstanding. Our server, John, walked through the menu with us and encourages us to order large and order different selections of appetizers ("small plates") and entrees ("large plates). As we were getting settled, Amir the maitre d' came over to introduce himself.

 

Too much food, but oh MAN was it good! The food was served family style, and is more than enough to share. Highlights: Beef Satay (no chicken), veggie tempura, shrimp tempura, pepper steak, orange chicken, and shrimp fried rice. I had the rainbow cheesecake bites for dessert, and Mark had caramelized bananas. There was absolutely no chance of finishing it all. No wine for me tonight - I was pretty tired from the 4am wakeup and the stress of shepherding Mark around, so I stuck with San Pelegrino water. Mark had the his usual virgin pina coladas. :D

 

At the end of the meal, I complimented both John and Amir on how enjoyable it was - and told them that coming from me (not the avid fan d'cuisine), that was my highest compliment. John immediately invited us back later in the cruise - and offered us the "first night" rate. Needless to say, Mark was very happy with that idea! This would give us a chance to pick a few different things from the menu, and to (if we wanted) mix it up more get getting smaller "large plates" instead of the full sized ones.

 

KUDOS: Celebrity, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal... and John & Amir were magnificent hosts.

 

By this time, Mark was almost falling asleep on his feet. We stopped by the casino and played $20 each - as usual, I lost and and as usual, Mark won (remember that for later). Then, it was back to the cabins for some much needed sleep before Key West - and Mark's birthday!

[Btank]

DAY 1 - THE DAILIES

 

I took a different approach here. Rather than post scanned images, I went ahead and scanned the documents into PDF format and have attached them here. There are two of them: the "Welcome Aboard" for the 16th, and the Key West issue for the 17th. I omitted the inserts and advertisements for each, to save space and because I'm lazy. :p Enjoy!

Cruise_Daily_2018-06-16.pdf

Cruise_Daily_2018-06-17.pdf

[Btank]

Why do people refer to chaos as a zoo or circus when both at totally orginized and in control?

LOL - I actually went to a circus as a kid where things went out of control. No harm / no foul, but it was interesting to see the workers scrambling around trying to make things right while the clowns rushed out to distract us.

 

I had a sister who had the Down syndrome. She was a jewel but I am sad to say I never realized hw special she was until I got older. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body and really enjoyed life. If everyone had her outlook on life and love that she gave our world world would be a better place.

And this would be Mark in a nutshell. Almost everyone who gets to know him walks away feeling enriched.

 

--bruce T.

[flipflap78]

I'm enjoying your review, two lucky brothers! :-)

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review!

[islandchick]

Thanks for doing this review. We will be on the same ship with same itinerary on July 14 so this is helping me get excited for the upcoming cruise. Why not post some food pics?

[AnnaDarel]

You're such a great writer! I'm really enjoying this review, may go back and read the others.

[indygirl76]

Fantastic review so far - I love your writing style! Looking forward to the rest as you have time, thank you for sharing!

[Btank]

You're such a great writer! I'm really enjoying this review, may go back and read the others.

Only one to really speak of - the Summit in 2015. When last year's Anthem cruise went to hell, I just pulled the plug on the review...

 

--bruce T.

[joand452]

Thoroughly enjoying your review...but I haven’t been able to see any pictures since you started the thread—I saw the first few, haven’t been able to see any since you posted about your embarkation day! I get an email notification when there’s a new post and was able to see a couple of pictures, but nothing from your meal, etc.

 

I do use the CC app. I have trouble using my Tapatalk app on my iPad, so may have to wait until I get home and use the desktop PC.

 

Carry on, anyway. I’m still reading!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST

Ahhh, Key West! Mark's birthday!! And my shorts aren't falling down!!!

 

Full Disclosure: I've been to Key West several times - and might have even seen it at 7am on a Sunday morning, but definitely not from this angle:

Key West is otherwise known as one of the few places in the US that you can walk down the street holding a 4 foot long inflatable... er, ah, set of male genitalia... and look perfectly at home. (trust me - I've seen it) But, this was early on a Sunday morning. None of this kind of debauchery was to be had! Plus, this was Mark's first visit to Key West... he has a bit of a puritanical streak to him, so I was actually happy about the timing. Of course, not that I wouldn't have wanted to stay in Key West a little later...

 

Bust first, we had business to conduct. We were off to OceanView for a healthy breakfast. Of course, healthy means different things to different people. I had one small waffle and some melon - pretty healthy. Mark being a growing boy, he had a healthy breakfast - I called a time out after his 4th trip for blueberry pancakes. "These are the best blueberry pancakes I've ever had!" Sorry, pal, with 6 days left we're gonna have to pace ourselves. Through it all, our friend Gail kept us well stocked with OJ and (for me) black coffee.

 

After this, it was back to the cabin for Mark to catch a nap while I headed off to Canyon Ranch to check in for my massage. Again, the folks at the desk were a little cool... but I got a small smile out of the manager on duty. Progress!

 

Within a minute or so, my massage therapist came out. Nicky (from Thailand) was almost the opposite of the spa desk crew - a genuinely warm smile, and happy to meet me! We went downstairs (a surprise) for my massage, where she took a few minutes to actually read my history form and ask me questions about my back problems. From there, I got 80 minutes of hot stones and pain relief. While it was a little lighter than I'm used to from my regular massage therapist back home, she dug in when I asked her to - and hell, she was a foot shorter and about 80lbs lighter than my therapist to boot. During the massage, we had a great conversation about her, her family back in Thailand, and her upcoming vacation. The best part: other than asking about working on my feet (which I was going to ask her to anyway), she applied no pressure for acupuncture, special massage oils or serums, etc. The only upsell was for another session - which I had planned on anyway.

KUDOS: Celebrity, in my opinion Nicky approached this perfectly - she concentrated on selling service rather than product, and in doing so gave you more revenue and profit margin. This was the opposite from the Anthem massage experience, which ended with a 10 minute infomercial - not a relaxing way to end. When you add the fact that she was a genuinely pleasant person, you can see why I came away satisfied.

 

At this point, it was back to the room to collect Mark and start exploring...

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (CONTINUED)

I had a couple of things in mind for our Key West Visit - and none of them involved taking a structured tour (via Celebrity or otherwise). Sorry, Conch Train - I had prepared Mark all week for some serious walking! So, we left the ship for the Tankleff walking tour:

 

The first priority: finding post cards for Mark. He is absolutely fanatical about sending out cards, and they can't be just any card - they have to be larger cards ("I have more room to write on them"). These can sometimes be hard to find. So, my thoughts were to start walking up towards Duval street, stopping in a few gift shops along the way. Wonder of wonders, we found some upstairs in the old Coast Guard station (aka Clinton Square Market)!

 

From there, we headed up Front Street to Duval, where (being a resourceful traveler) I knew there was a CVS pharmacy waiting for us to fill Mark's last minute forgotten needs. On the way, we saw a few Key West roaches:

I told Mark that they tasted just like chicken. He didn't think it was funny either.

 

After we left CVS, we saw Ripley's Believe It Or Not across the street. Mark has a true "flashbulb memory" - vivid recollection of things that happened long ago - and he remember visiting the Ripley's museum in Gatlinburg, TN about 50 years ago. So off we went to the museum - which was a bit of a tourist trap, but with our military discount I couldn't complain too much. Plus, it gave us the chance to see many animals with two heads, multiple appendages, etc.:

Between this and the shrunken heads, you just can't beat that kind of infotainment.

 

Then, it was off down Duval St. Why? A few reasons:

1. It had been more than 2 hours since breakfast, and Mark was reminding me of this regularly.
   
2. I needed to replace my missing camera strap. Sadly, the only camera shop in Key West had closed - so I was hoping again hope that I'd find something similar in one of the shops along the way.
   
3. Did I mention Mark was hungry?
   

So, after a provisioning stop at the Hard Rock (and multiple failed shop visits to find some kind of camera strap), we walked over to Whitehead St. and started the walk back. Of course, we stopped to take the obligatory picture at Mile Marker 0:

It was here that I noticed something for the first time. Mark had two camera straps. "Mark, why do you have two?" "Well, one is for my camera case, and the other one is for my camera." I realized at this point that I would have to enter into high level negotiations with Mark - not for the faint of heart!

[Btank]

I get an email notification when there’s a new post and was able to see a couple of pictures, but nothing from your meal, etc.

 

They seem to show up for some, and don't show up for others. It's unclear to me, but it might be that Flickr is not playing nice with the CC app? I get the "broken photo" link in the app on my iPhone, but they show up fine on the web page...

 

--bruce T.

[joand452]

I redownloaded Tapatalk and still have the same issue. I don’t have the problem with other posts, so... I think it’s just the apps.

 

Looking forward to seeing them when I get home!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Tyskie]

Yes, pictures show on my PC - not on my app. Enjoying your trip report - we'll be on in October :cool:

 

I had a special need Aunt - gentle soul. I always used to say "my mother moved to FL and left me with my Aunt Evelyn". Always great memories and wouldn't have had it any other way!

 

Have you convinced Mark to give you the 2nd camera strap? lol

[Holey]

thoroughly enjoying this glad you had a lovely cruise:cool:

[micheleata]

Enjoying your report! Looking forward to more.

[Btank]

Have you convinced Mark to give you the 2nd camera strap? lol

 

It's juts like the commercials... "But, wait, there's more!" :D

 

--bruce T.

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (CONTINUED)

By this time, Mark was getting to be a little tired and a little overheated. I was able to convince him to stop at the Mel Fisher museum - "It'll be air conditioned in there!". I'd never been there before, and I thought it would be a good "reality" stop (as opposed to Ripley's Believe It Or Not). I enjoyed it - Mark wasn't terribly impressed, but he perked up a bit when he saw the cannons:

Why? I've learned never to ask these questions, it could be anything. But At least I got him to take a picture of silver ingots before we left:

 

From there, we made a quick stop behind the aquarium to get an Equinox picture:

...and then back on board.

 

By the way: the three pictures above are Mark's! He actually does a damned good job at taking pictures, despite being nervous about them turning out badly. Or nervous about the camera straps... (sigh)

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (CONTINUED)

Back aboard! Mark decided that he wanted to spend a few minutes addressing post cards, and I decided to head to the pool.

 

So, I loaded my Kindle, phone, and sunglass readers into my tote bag... oh, did I mention the tote bag?

This is the famous Concierge Class tote bag that I've heard so much about? It was kind of... underwhelming. This was compounded by the fact that when I got to the pool and put two towels in it, one of the handles immediately broke off. It went the rest of the cruise with the loose end of the handle tied through the grommet. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Celebrity, if you need a new tote bag supplier I'd reach our to the folks at Kroger. Their bags are built to last!

 

The hot tubs (where I really wanted to go) were pretty crowded, but I ended up with a spot over by the kiddy pool and splash pad. I thought that the kids were remarkably well behaved, and (at least in my area) parents were keeping a close eye on them.

 

After a while, I looked up and saw that the Mast Grill was open - and relatively uncrowded. Realizing that it had been more than two hours since Mark's last feeding, I gave him a call on the cell phone (we were still in port) and told him to meet me there. He enthusiastically responded:

"This is the best hamburger I've ever had!" I reminded him that such things always taste better outdoors. We sat there and listened to the house band play poolside for a while then went back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: This was one of the few places on the ship where we truly didn't "feel the love". The girl handing out the drinks looked bored and inconvenienced. The guys behind the grill were friendly enough, but they looked harried. Celebrity, this seems to be to be a high visibility position... and you might want to work with the team there?

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (CONTINUED)

Mark and I get ready for dinner, then we headed down to the Silhouette for the early seating. And now, we come to:

 

 

 

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

1. It was "Evening Chic" night.
   
2. Mark and I were most definitely not "Evening Chic".
   
3. People noticed.
   

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Look, I know this is very important to some people... and some people were dressed to the nines and beyond. But, I've learned that Mark is very uncomfortable on these nights. In his defense, before the trip he asked me if we should bring his jacket and slacks - "I'll do whatever you want me to." But, I made the call... I put him in a pair of dress jeans and a clean shirt, while I went with a nice casual shirt w/ slacks and loafers. I thought he looked pretty good. Could we have gone to the buffet and avoided evening chic? Simply put: that wasn't an option for his birthday.

 

So, we sat down for dinner. On my right, we had two older couples who were... well, we just didn't get to know them. On the left, we had a younger couple with their two girls (ages 11 and 7). No names here because they had kids - OK, the kids were fun enough that I'll call them G1 and G2. The point being, they were great neighbors. They were very friendly, and happily struck up a dinner conversation with us - and G1 & G2 couldn't have been more polite.

 

But, here is where I have to call out the guys who really made our dining special:

Yusuf and Rexon did an exemplary job from greeting us through cleaning up after us, and everything in between. And the drink steward Jaya (not listed above) kept Mark supplied with his virgin pina coladas. As far as I was concerned, I met a new best friend in Sarvan. To paraphrase:

"Sarvan, I only drink wine a few times a year. I'd like a glass of a nice full-bodied red."

"Yes sir! We have a good red available for beverage plan customers."

"Sarvan, I'm not on a plan. But, trust me when I say I'd like a nice full-bodied red. I trust you."

"Ahhhh, now I understand. Don't worry sir, I'll take care of you!"

And thus my first hyper-expensive glass of wine of the cruise. Hey, you only live once? Sarvan returned with an excellent cabernet:

...and in doing so, solidified his status as my new best friend.

 

After a good dinner, our deserts arrived - along with an extra slice of birthday cake for Mark. Color him impressed! All in all, a very positive experience: good food, good wine, good company, and chocolate cake.

KUDOS: Celebrity, great job here. The food was great, and Yusuf, Rexon, Sarvan, and Jaya went out of their way to make sure we had a great experience. In particular, Yusuf and Rexon realized that Mark needed a little more TLC - they were very patient with him in explaining the menu, and answering his questions. I deeply appreciate their compassion and their dedication to quality.

 

We stopped by the casino on the way back to the cabins to spend our usual $20 each. I lost mine immediately. Mark won $48. You may see a trend developing here...

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (CONTINUED)

From the casino, we went back up to the cabins. Mark had more post cards to address, and was not interested in the show. So, off I went to see the late show of "Topper":

My verdict? Pretty good! Trust me, I've seen (and would see) worse. The production numbers seemed to be well thought out, the vocalists were good, and the acrobats were a pleasant surprise. The story was a little thin, but that's not what I was there for. If there was anything to detract from the show, the audio was mixed a little loud for the venue.

 

After this, it was back to the room. Tomorrow: a relaxing day at sea! A Cruise Critic meet & greet! and the Cruise Critic Slot Pull!

[Btank]

DAY 2 - KEY WEST (THE DAILY)

Here was the daily waiting for us in the cabins for me when I got back.

Cruise_Daily_2018-06-18.pdf