My View: An Equinox Christmas, Naughty Room and All!

[APDMOM]

8 hours ago, perfect match said:

I'm glad I found your review, ADPMOM! I knew you were doing a Christmas cruise on Celebrity, but with everything we have had going on here at home, I had forgotten when you were cruising, but I felt a nagging need to look at the Celebrity board. I'm so glad I followed my instincts and came over here. I will, of course, continue to follow along! 

Hi, Nancy!  

glad you dropped by!  Thank you for reading along.  🙂

[APDMOM]

Good morning from my lounger on our balcony!  With two sea days ahead of us, I will be spending much time here.  I will be posting about Sint Maarten and Saint Thomas, and hopefully add many ship pictures toward the end of the cruise...or maybe when we get home.  

 

So, from my favorite spot on the ship, I continue My View.  Thank you for all the positive comments, views, and “likes”!

Edited December 27, 2018 by APDMOM
spelling

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 4 - Philipsburg, Sint Maarten (Christmas Day)

[sbt518]

17 hours ago, APDMOM said:

I love the ship decorations!  More to come tomorrow 🙂

 

 

We were on the cruise before you and every morning we'd wake up and go to get coffee and we'd see new decorations.  "Was that tree here yesterday?"

Or "When did they put that garland up?"

And then on the second to last day they finally put out all the gingerbread houses. 

 

It is so fun to see all the decorations!

 

Enjoy your trip!  Thanks for writing the report, I'm reliving our cruise while stuck at work.

[APDMOM]

Early morning stroll - thankful for this special way we get to wake up on Christmas morning:

 

My View forward:

 

My view aft:

[Mparis184]

Thanks for your great photos.  I have a question.  We are in cabin 6262 and it is listed as an obstructed cabin.  I see the lifeboats in your photo, are they on deck 5?  I bet our cabin will have a great view of the lifeboats.  LOL 

 

I booked this cruise late and all that was available on the package we bought were guarantee cabins.  It looks like you have a great balcony.

[APDMOM]

Approaching St Maarten

 

 

 

 

 

Serenade of the Seas in port:

 

 

[APDMOM]

1 hour ago, Mparis184 said:

Thanks for your great photos.  I have a question.  We are in cabin 6262 and it is listed as an obstructed cabin.  I see the lifeboats in your photo, are they on deck 5?  I bet our cabin will have a great view of the lifeboats.  LOL 

 

I booked this cruise late and all that was available on the package we bought were guarantee cabins.  It looks like you have a great balcony.

Hi, Mparis!  We were booked in the same category as you, also guarantee (but no perks).  When the price dropped in the beginning of December, we were able to “upgrade” for a total of $30 to this larger deck 8 balcony.  If you see better balconies available on your sailing, it may be worth calling to find out what an upgrade will cost, especially if the price dropped since you booked.

 

 I don’t think deck 6 is that bad... Yes, you will have a view blocked a bit by the top of the lifeboats, but you will also be able to see and hear the ocean.  I will try to get a picture of deck 5 posted for you later today.  That way you can have an idea of your view one deck up.  🙂

[Mparis184]

Thank you.  Hearing the sound of the calming ocean is priceless!

 

Marion

[MJSailors]

Hello APDMOM

I have a question- we are thinking of cruising with family ncluding a 13 year old and a 15 year old on the Summit, also an M class ship as the Equinox.

I am not certain if they will want to check into the teen program on the ship.

Did your son attend that program on this cruise ?

Any information  is appreciated.

Wishing you a continued enjoyable cruise !

[APDMOM]

Prior to docking, there was a Christmas parade with Santa, complete with pictures and gifts for the children.  🙂

 

 

 

 

[Mparis184]

The Summit is an M Class and the Equinox is the S class a larger ship.  I love the M Class ships but everyone has their favorites. 

 

Marion

[APDMOM]

1 hour ago, MJSailors said:

Hello APDMOM

I have a question- we are thinking of cruising with family ncluding a 13 year old and a 15 year old on the Summit, also an M class ship as the Equinox.

I am not certain if they will want to check into the teen program on the ship.

Did your son attend that program on this cruise ?

Any information  is appreciated.

Wishing you a continued enjoyable cruise !

Hi, MJSailors!  Our son did not participate in the teen club.  In fact, I was surprised that we did not receive any information about the club (No pamphlet with times/activities).  It seems like it is up to the passengers to look for information.  On embarkation day, there was an opportunity to visit the club, but we did not.  I will see if I can find information for you. 🙂  I have to say that we have seen very few children and teens in comparison with Royal, not that it makes a big difference to us. 

[APDMOM]

Although St. Maarten is one of our favorite ports in the Caribbean, we did not venture over to Philipsburg today.  With it being Christmas Day, we were not sure if the water taxi would run as frequently as usual, or if shops would be open.  So, we got our traditional port pictures and headed back to the ship for a relaxing day  onboard.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like a volcano erupting 🙂

 

 

Some Christmas Lights in Philipsburg:

 

[awhfy]

16 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Hello APDMOM

I have a question- we are thinking of cruising with family ncluding a 13 year old and a 15 year old on the Summit, also an M class ship as the Equinox.

I am not certain if they will want to check into the teen program on the ship.

Did your son attend that program on this cruise ?

Any information  is appreciated.

Wishing you a continued enjoyable cruise !

MJ Sailor, Equinox is an Sclass ship. If your teens are interested in the teen club they need to go the very first day. We’ve found if teens didn’t go first day then they really didn’t go. 

Edited December 27, 2018 by awhfy

[awhfy]

APDMOM. Truly enjoying your pictures & commentary on one of our favorite ships. Thank you. 

[MJSailors]

31 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

Hi, MJSailors!  Our son did not participate in the teen club.  In fact, I was surprised that we did not receive any information about the club (No pamphlet with times/activities).  It seems like it is up to the passengers to look for information.  On embarkation day, there was an opportunity to visit the club, but we did not.  I will see if I can find information for you. 🙂  I have to say that we have seen very few children and teens in comparison with Royal, not that it makes a big difference to us. 

 

[MJSailors]

Thank you for your quick reply !

It will be up to the kids to decide if they want to participate.

[MJSailors]

33 minutes ago, awhfy said:

MJ Sailor, Equinox is an Sclass ship. If your teens are interested in the teen club they need to go the very first day. We’ve found if teens didn’t go first day then they really didn’t go. 

 

Thank you for the correction.

We have only sailed Celebrity twice as Princess and Cunard have been our favored cruiselines,so I am not too familiar with the classes of ships on X.

[APDMOM]

Oceanview Café was all decked out with Christmas goodies.  They even had hot cross buns (Which I thought were only for Easter, but you will not hear me complain😁)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mparis184]

It gets confusing with so many ships.  I have only sailed the S Class once but my preference is the smaller ships.  If I were traveling with kids I would want to be on the larger ships because they have so many activities to keep them busy especially the teenagers.  It great that you will give the kids the choice of what they want to do after all it's their vacation too!  From what I have heard from the majority of teens that have gone to the teen clubs they have loved going and meeting other teens their age and it helped make their cruising experience more fun. 

 

Marion

[APDMOM]

Drink Menus in Oceanview Café:

 

 

Café Al Bacio:

Tip:  I learned here on CC before our cruise that the cakes and snacks at Café al Bacío are free.  You just pay for the specialty coffee.

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by APDMOM
add tip

[APDMOM]

DH says he is working on his own CC review of this cruise... stay tuned for me to post his view at the end.  😂

[APDMOM]

Sunset and Sail Away:

 

 

Until Next time, Serenade:

 

 

[APDMOM]

Christmas Dinner:

There was a special dinner for Christmas.  Unfortunately, I did not get a clear picture of the menu.  We also skipped dessert.

 

We enjoyed the following dishes:

 

Spinach Turnover (Repeater):

 

Butternut Squash Soup (Repeater - had some diced peaches which made it excellent!):

 

Forgot to get pictures, but we had the traditional turkey with trimmings (Repeater) and one Steak Diane (Okay).

 

After dinner, we joined the officers for an evening of caroling: