Equinox 1/12/19 Sailing – Live Blog, Cat Blog, Dog Blog? Vlogs?

[David Kane]

Equinox 1/12/19 Sailing – Live Blog, Cat Blog, Vlogs!

Good Evening.

Once again (again) it is time to begin our latest cruise adventure and attempt to Live Blog the entire affair. Thus far, my record has…been terrible; I’m 1 for 6 (posted 1 Travel day from our Infinity Cruise, didn’t even post for the next one on the Summit, managed to get the entirety of the Reflection done 4 weeks late, then posted 1/3rd of the opening day from our next Summit trip, made it through 3 days of the Equinox Super bowl cruise until I was utterly disenchanted by Phillie winning, and then finally got a good twist on the Summit on Labor Day this September before realizing everything I captured would be essentially irrelevant due to the coming Edge-ification…and, yes, I know, it’s actually called ‘the Revolution’ but it’s my Blog, so Edge-ification it will be).

Last time I tried desperately to upload a vlog or two and, after shooting and editing a 40 minute Q/A realized that even *I* don’t think I’m that funny for that long. We’ll try again this go around, in a shorter format, perhaps.

I’d like to give a big thank you and shout out to Arno, ChicagoPaul, DRJKRetired, HCat, Bo1953, WonderMan3 and all the other frequent Celebrity posters who provide far more accurate commentary than I ever will.

Note: This Blog is rated H for hu-mor. Curmudgeons are hereby advised.

Background

DW (who I will refer to by her initials XZ just to circumvent convention) and I are mid 30’s/early 40’s with no kids and one cat (and our friend’s dog) who hates it when we go cruising. We were big Disney Park fans until their pricing structure got WAY out of whack and made the spontaneous experience entirely unenjoyable and, for my 40th, we decided to give cruising a try.

Our first trip was in an RS on the Infinity for Halloween in 2015. We came right back for more, booking a RS on the Summit for 2016, an SS guarantee on the Reflection and another SS on the Summit, both in 2017. Starting 2018 we did an SS Aft on the Equinox, and SS on the Summit and, in 2019, an SS on the Equinox…or did we? A few weeks ago we put in some move-up bids (deemed ‘weak’ on the Celebrity website, because pre-judging you on additional money you’re paying should totally be a thing) and now we wait until…2 days before embarkation to find out if they actually paid off.  Surprise! Your luggage tags are now different; or someone in an SS2 is getting an odd collection of top hats and prom dresses when they arrive.

This Trip

We booked this vacation a year ago on the Equinox (for a hilarious amount of OBC, which is like OPP, just, not) (that was an 80’s hip-hop reference, for what it’s worth to the 9 people who might get it), where we had an aft SS that we particularly enjoyed, and benefited from cruising on the least popular week of the entire year. We are completely satisfied with this room choice, but, as noted, if our ‘weak’ move-up offer is accepted to an RS or a PH we’ll be sure to let you know.

Goals this go around include:
--Trying Silk Harvest! We missed this on our last go around and would like to check it out before it is rumored to vanish.

--Making an easily-destroyed piece of ‘art.’ The Hot Glass Show is back, no longer sponsored by Corning (or Owens, for that matter), and the last time we were on board is was undergoing refurbishment. It is likely one of us will opt to create some impracticable object and the other one will accidentally break it 3 days later. 

  --The New Staff: AGAIN! While we’ve started to get to know the Staff of the Summit pretty well over the years, it seems everyone from the Equinox has rotated. New Hotel Director, Michael’s Club Concierge…almost everyone, excepting the Cruise Director, who got a promotion from assistant since last year. Also, and this is getting humorous, Captain Kate keeps ducking us! For the 4th time in a row we’re on either 2 weeks after she left or shows back up. 

The Cat

Our cat…hates it when we cruise. In recent years we have managed to partially pacify her by having the adorable neighborhood children cat-sit her; and we now come home to cardboard cat-castles and a thoroughly exhausted kitty. That said, she is still a frequent reader of Cruise Critic and especially loves the bad reviews. Every so often we will review one “Cat Complaint” about Cruising and see, in person, if it’s valid. This little tradition of ours comes from our very first cruise, where, during a thoroughly enjoyable Q & A session with the Senior Officers on stage, a guest took a little bit of everyone’s time to complain to the Captain about how there wasn’t enough Diet Coke on board which isn’t even possible. This section is a far more politic way of noting my displeasure with other rude and entitled passengers than inviting them to get off the ship for a self-guided tour on sea days.

The Dog

On the other paw, Cruise Critic has often times been accused of being too negative. To offset this and give a balanced perspective, we occasionally dog-sit our friend’s pupper, dress him up in formal-wear (sorry, Doggy Chic), and make him read Cruise Critic (but only the good reviews). Occasionally, he will offer up one ‘Dog Compliment’ to see if it holds water (it always does).

The Vlog

Our vlog site is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcTrwSLzNW8FzVVdyz3yC4w. All we’ve managed to get up is the review of last year’s Super bowl cruise. In the meantime, our favorite bloggers can be found here:

Bill Raffel (Gooooood Morning!): https://www.youtube.com/user/billwi

Planet Jeroen (Jeoren Walraven): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyfzvV8yZKLGGVfLJwCjXIA

Overy Joy’d (Isaac Matthews): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9zd-ZqvFtaV83qPKMu8iw 

Alex Codd Choreography: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgPCPqYTj5pfqMJVVRdHQkQ

Duo Destiny (recent winners of Poland’s Got Talent!): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZQneUlKSAsJvf1CjDp9Bw

 

A Note on Questions
 

One of the most enjoyable features of CC is answering questions for future cruisers. However, to add a wrinkle of unhelpfulness, I will endeavor to ask the least appropriate people I can find. Want to know if Sky Vodka is on the Premium Package? I’ll find one of the Celebrity Singers to pose that question to! Interested in Debarkation Times? Perhaps the Chief Engineer will have some insights. All kidding aside, I’ll do my best to respond quickly.

 

The Self-Indulgent Nature of this Blog

“But wait! Where are the menus? The dailies? All I see are pictures of your wife in funny hats…what gives?” This year, I have an Android (Tablet…not an actual Android – although how cool would that be? “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate…”) and the new Cruise Critic Gallery so I may be able to post dailies and menus in real time. However, the majority of what you see will likely contain inside jokes for my parents and friends. (-5 Stars, right Fallon?)

We continue to have our running debate about photographing meals. On one hand, we love to see pictures of plated meals, especially in Luminae. On the other hand, it feels…I don’t know…somehow a little weird to us to be photographing away instead of enjoying the dining experience. Which will win out? We’ll let you know!

And Here We Go, the luggage has been spotted…the cat suspects!

 

Actually, she appears to be asleep...awwwwww!

 

 

[Bimmer09]

David, good to see you back on the boards again!

I look forward to your sartorial elegance from days gone by (sigh) and your usual plethora of great photos.

Pray continue!
Norris

[Mparis184]

I look forward to following your Equinox adventure and hope to meet you and your wife in a few days in the Equinox.

 

 Safe travels and get some sleep.  It looks like you will be up every night burning the midnight oil writing your epic blogs! 

 

Marion

[RACHSEWELL]

FIRST TIMER

[lola2013]

Looking forward to your review and pictures.

I've just booked Equinox for May, 2020 (after having sailed on her twice before)...can't wait!

Bon Voyage,

Susan

[Sharkette76]

Love your blogs and am excited to read more. Thank you for taking time to do this. Your outfits totally rock!

[like2cruise]

My day is made...I love David Kane blogs with kitty and doggie comments that I always read aloud to my hubby :).  Plus the pictures with your attire of the night is always fantastic.  We are on the Equinox again in March.  We really appreciate the dailies too to check out important things like the drink of the day to see if anything new!!  A girl has her priorities.  

[David Kane]

Day 1 - The OnBoarding Experience!

 

(Omitted here are the pictures from Thursday and Friday detailing the trip down that everyone pretends to be politely interested in before asking if Colt .45 is included on the Classic package). (Suffice to say, we fly into Jacksonville,drive up to Jekyll Island to see my parents, and then get up at 1am to drive all the way to Miami - surpsingly only 6 hours - for embarkation; while it would be easier to fly this demonstrates how miserable the flying experience has become and the lenghts I will go to avoid it).

 

At around 9am we arrived at the Rental Facility which is right next to the Miami Airport and located in absolutely the best part of town (haha no - it's located along of stretch of highway with strip clubs, gas $2 higher than anywhere else, credit cards skimmers attached to pumps, and certainly not a high murder rate). That said, the facility itself is gorgeous and nicely staffed. 

 

Returning a car gets you a receipt which, depending on the surliness of the bus driver, may or may not need to be presented to get a shuttle to the airport (this year it was not needed, last year it was demanded). A note about the rental facility - it has 4 levels, each with a spacious bathroom if you would like to freshen up and change in to your embarkation clothes, which is apparently a thing we're doing now.

 

The outgoing bus is the same as the incoming bus, but it drops off passengers at a totally different stop than where it picks up - these locations are, I kid you not, separated by at least 30 feet but one dares not attempt to board the bus until it is parked in the correct space. It's all very confusing and strange, but we're used to it now having been summarily rebuffed last year and then grudgingly allowed onboard after it drove the requisite 30 feet farther down the lane.

 

940am or so seems to be the magic hour for the port of Miami. This is our third time boarding here, and the previous two have made the traffic situation in Mumbai look like a drive in the country. This time, however, we hit the sweet spot, that small breath where almost all the previous guests have departed but the bulk of the arriving ones are still struggling through a 'complimentary' hotel breakfast made of egg powder and loathing. 

 

As we have experienced before, the Celebrity Terminal is awesome. I'm a big fan of Bayonne, but Miami gives it a run for its money. This time, we went from check in to waiting in board in 6 minutes which we believe is a new record. There wasn't evidence of a line anywhere at any station. Note: There is a full set of nicely attended restrooms in the large hall that only occasionally feature foreign tourists smoking (reallly!).

 

We waited in the downstairs lounge for just a touch before being led upstairs to the Suite level lounge which, in case you don't cruise suite class is pretty much identical to the one downstiars, just with less chairs and the ship's photographer ready for your first photo (pro-tip: Absolutely get this photo taken - it's the only one in the next 7 days you won't look drunk in - send it to your relatives or put it on a holiday card). At 10:46am we made it onboard which missed last year's record by exactly 1 minute. As you can see, standards are slipping (the Cat clearly added that last part).

 

Next Up: Paperwork!

 

[David Kane]

Day 1 - Paperwork!

 

Making it onboard so early we immediately stake out Michael's Club for a drink and a round of cards (Cribbage, in which I am now up 1-0). This is the only time one will ever see Michael's fully occupied so it's a nice chance to meet your fellow guests, most of whom you will promptly never see again (this is our ongoing curse - we meet charming people the very first day and then see them again the line for customs on the last - I begin to suspect a lot of people spend a lot of time in their cabins...). We get to catch up a bit with R & S, long time cruisers we meet on the Summit 2 years ago or so - certainly a nice surprise! 

 

Included in those surprises are that Roxanna is still on board as the Suite Manager, and Viktoria is rounding out some time as the Lumiane Maitre'd! Could it be that Equinox crew from last year is at least partially back together? After finishing our game we head down to Luminae for Lunch and discover that, yes indeed, we're on the same cruising cycle as last year's staff including, and this is the important one, Tyrone. A brief bit here; sometimes the staff in Luminae, especially on opening day, can be professionally distant. They tend to open up a bit after a few days when everyone gets to know everyone but Tyrone has this magnetic personality from day 1. He could be a Cruise Director - he just lights up a room whenever he walks in to it, greeting the guests, laughing with everyone. Some of the things he says XZ and I still use in our daily lives, so it was great to have him back as our lead waiter. The rest of the Luminae staff on the starbaord side looks like; Merlyn on Bread/Water, Yan as the Sommelier, and Vicente as the 2nd waiter.

 

The Luminae Signature Burger is as good as ever and, soon thereafter, we hit Michael's Club again and the rooms were ready. I am uncertain if we're going to do a tour of SS 2150 because, when drydock hits in a few months, all will be rendered irrelevant. Suffice to say, it is Aft Facing on Deck 12 (My GOD the stairs, all the stairs) in the center, so it lacks the cool giant window of the corner Sky's but it also lacks the giant pole in the center of the room I only ran it to 3 times last year with my face, so, you know, a pretty good wash.

 

Here is all the paperwork you'll receive upon entering your room, dailies, etc:

 

 

 

 

[David Kane]

Day 1 - From Safety to Dinner and Beyond - 

 

As always, luggage was immediately available when the room was ready, and the whirlwind of unpacking began. Gordana, the butler, stopped by the review the sailing with us and we immediately placed orders for flowers for our returning staff - it usually takes a few days for them to get delivered, but we have found this little tradition well worth the slight charge.

 

Right about when we finished unpacking the Muster Drill was called. It was, perhaps, the smoothest muster we have attended. Ours was held in Tuscan and featured plenty of seating as well as the always-never-amusing Muster Video which, when thinking about it, is really making the best cheesy fun of a potentially bad situation because, let's face it, if there's an actual incident a lot of the passengers who can't seem to politely navigate a breakfast buffet line (drunk at 730am IS pretty impressive, yo) have about zero chance of making it to any type of muster station.

 

We returned to our balconey for sailaway, one of the niceities of being Aft-Facing which is rarely mentioned. We were first out of port, crusing past the Carnivale Ships Vice, Pride of the Hudson and Whiskey Dick as well as the MSC CSM and the Norweign Blutterpike.

 

We dressed early for dinner, wanting to stop by World Class before Luminae. When last we were on the EQ, the bartender at World Class was Igor who went on to win some international bartender competition and, we learned, will sadly not be returning as he is rumored to be moving up into RCI bar management (!). The two bartenders, both trained by Igor, are cheerfully welcoming and the drinks remain as potent as ever. Of note; the Smoker is once again working, so you can enjoy the Zacapa under the clouds, which tastes like Rum and your grandfather's 4th cigar of the evening mixed in to a shot and a half.

 

Dinner was wondeful and, here's your pro-tip - always go to Dinner on the first night in your assigned venue. Sometimes they offer discount Specialty packages but, socially, it is not worth it - the first night is when you get to know your servers and staff, find your 'assigned' (I mean, not really...but, really, they do give people preferential return seating) seating and make a good first impression. Unfortunately, I did not photograph the dinner menu (whoops) but it was good.

 

From there, XZ collpased, having been up since 1am. I doubled-down and decided to hit the Casino. For some reason, Roulette is now at a $10/min for BOTH wheels (used to be $5 for 0/00 and $10 for the European single 0) - we'll see if that comes down later in the week. This pricing made $10 3 Card Poker actually worth it, as it is a bit of a slower playing game and you get to touch the cards which I do enjoy. The Casino was rather busy the first night, especially Blackjack (the game of arguing with your fellow cruisers over what they should have done) which bodes well. After a number of drinks and accidentally playing $10 Roulette I called it an evening.

 

Next Up - Day 2 - Key West, Local Bars, Actual Menu Photographs, Sail Aways and Topper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sdnich]

 I look forward to following your blog I read your last one and loved your style of writing and also  clothing style !  You both look like a fun couple to meet on a cruise ! I am on this cruise in  November so look forward to seeing your excursion and plans that you have made . I have not been to any of the ports on this cruise so looking forward to it .

[parrothead33]

Following along.  Love your writing style and clothes style too!  Have a great cruise.

[David Kane]

Day 2 - The Keys to the West - 

 

Day Two had us up and at 'em at 5am - it takes a few days for us to unwind from work and having a port on the first stop, as opposed to a Sea Day, had us rearing to go. XZ took a number of pictures of the ship at dawn, which should be a bucket list item for any guest, and I got in my 10,000 steps (CopyrightWill Rafel - Goooood Morning!). After that, we decided to hit up Luminae for breakfast. We usually eschew it because the buffet does not suffer for comparable quality and has a wider selection, but we felt like revisiting it for one day and were not disappointed. Again, Tyrone is a superstar even at 8am which is impressive - even I couldn't be so cordial and entertaining before several coffees and cream.

 

At 850 we disembarked for Key West (note: I use the formal here because if I keep saying we 'got off' this post will be yanked for adult content). Apparently another ship had damaged a pier recently and there was some concern about where we would dock - suffice to say the Celebrity Difference again was evident as we were at the closest pier and the Norwegian Blutterpike docked in what appaeared to be an industrial park that would make residents of Hackensack, New Jersey feel at home - nothing says an enjoyable vacation like navigating organized crime before getting to your tour.

 

One of our dear friends moved to Key West 4 years ago so we were excited to reconnect and see some of the local sites, by which we mean bars, because why else would one come to Key West? As anticipated, the atmosphere is Carnie as heck but, luckily, both XZ and I are fluent in that tongue, so we had a rather enjoyable time (note for foreign tourists and those from Seattle - 'Carnie' is the fine American Tradition of fleecing visitors while supporting locals or those in the know; it encompasses everything from Professional Wrestling to Three Card Monte to questionable parking lot carnival concessions and rides - while not necessarily malicious, Carnie is one of the finest of American Exports and can be seen in essentially every cruise port, usually in the form of a man with aapparently inebriated Monkey offering pictures for 'free'). The local music scene in Key West is rather enjoyable - hiding under the thin veneer of musicians forced to sing Margaritaville for the 394th time are some rather talented perfomers and you can usually find live music any time of the day or night. In particular, Lucys (and it's bartender Jeanine) stands out as a prime venue and is known to be very welcoming to Cruise Staff.

 

We spent  a good three hours here and then reboarded, because the giant movng city we arrived on has essentially everything for free, while a Miller High Life (the Champagne of Beers...whatever that means) will cost you about $7 + tip (to the guitarist) - prices on par with New York City. Note: there is just ***** everywhere in Key West - by which I mean Roosters. They rival the Cats of San Juan for pervasiveness. One day, these tiny veliceraptors will rule this island.

 

From here we went to the Buffet and indulged in one of Celebrity's hidden gems - Indian Food! At every meal in the Buffet, including breakfast, if you look to the back, you will find the 'Asian' Selection which is fair, I guess, as India is on the Asian Continent, and, by neatness of preparation, presentation and spicey-ness, this is likely some of the food the staff eats so it is both excellent and authentic!

 

While at lunch, we had another one of those 'Celebrity Difference' experiences, running in to Andjelyn who remembered us from about a year ago. I don't know how the heck they do it, and, for some, it is likely a trick, but when the drink server remembers your wife's name (to be fair, she is the more personable one of us) without prompting it is impressive. Perhaps this happens on other cruise lines - we wouldn't know - but this type of interaction on Celebrity is one of the things that keeps us coming back again and again.

 

Post Lunch we hung around in Michael's Club, chatting with Calli, the conceirge, who is a joy, and preparing for our sail away.

 

Next - Helicopter Rides and The Hat! 

[David Kane]

Day 2 - Sky High Colorado

 

Whilst walking around the ship, our first time on the top decks which shows how continually we like to schedule ourselves (it's 11am on Vacation! We have to do something, half the day is gone!) we noticed all the loungers are new. Perhaps in preparation for the coming Edge-ification, the old, white loungers with mattresses are gone and the new ones are a sleek, curvy brown with built in mesh. They...are new, right? This isn't an S class thing and I still think I'm on the Summit, right? Because I only tried to find an Aft staircase (hint: it doesn't actually exist) like twice now. Anyhow, pictures included.

 

Also, of note; the Teen Club seems to be continually closed due to lack of Teen. Notice the non-plural. This isn't like the Sheep/Sheep conundrum or the Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo thingy. Teens is the plural of Teen, so when they say the 'Children' did not sign up for the lunch and it is therefore cancelled, they literally mean the *1* Teen on board. She is likely board out of her mind by now, but by the end of the cruise she'll have amassed enough college credit hours to pass any test on the Vietnam War, the Lyndon Johnson Presidency, or write a credible biography of Spiro Agnew.

 

Key West, being a port day, is also prime time to hit the pools and hot tubs, which you ostensibly have all to one's self. As you can by the below pictures, it's a party of 1, and you're invited!

 

Just before dinner we were invited to the Hell-i-pad sailway (R&S shared a great anecdote about how some guests thought it was a helicopter ride...if you know the couple I am talking about it's well worth it to have them tell the story) which, in case anyone has concerns, is actually accessible. Even if one uses a mobility device, the 9 extremely large crew staff will assist anyone up the stairs, which is another really nice gesture from Celebrity.

 

At the sailaway, XZ corralled the IT Manager (Oscar) and got the DL on the App - while it's not 100% yet it has a number of great features and I find it greatly adds to the onboard experience. Pro Tip: Andriod > iPad 😛 The captain waved to everyone from the bridge, which is a new one for Capt. Manetas, as his usual stance is looking professionally concerned about everything - this is not a complaint (see? no cat picture!) but just a difference. Some Captains are friendly, congenial types. Some are social media savants, and some will order you coffee in Al Bacio if you're up at 640am. Capt. Manetas takes everything very, very seriously.  He's a tall, wonderful guy with huge hands who is very welcoming so it's nice to see him make a few fun gestures, like the giant waving hand from the bridge. I think Cruise Director Dan has loosened him up a bit in the last year.

 

And speaking of Dan, what a delight he is! Stepping out from under the socks (lol?) of Richard Spacey, he really shines and is constantly energetic; his self-deprecating sense of humor really stands out and puts everyone at ease. 

 

From the sailaway we quickly dressed for dinner, ate a quick bite, and saw Topper. Twice. Topper (aka Steampunk Elysium) is freaking awesome. There is a constantly changing production ranking we have, that goes Topper, Chandelier, Maxx, depending on the cast. This go around, there is a vocal lead (who can dance as well!) who deserves to have his own show - he is just that good. So Topper is back on Top (ugh) for now.

 

After Topper we...fell asleep - 10pm...a new record!

 

Next Up - Paperwork and a Sea Day.

[Gordoncruickshank]

The loungers look like the regular s class ones. I will have one of these on my balcony in 5 and a bit weeks (one way or another).

[David Kane]

Day 2 1/2 - Menus

 

One nice feature of Michael's Club is that they have the daily menus availble from all the Restaurants. This cuts down on the time it takes me to forget to walk around to each of the dining venues before dinner and photograph them each day and, instead, allows me to forget to do it every time I walk in to MC!

 

 

[evelyn inkpen]

The First videos are up on YouTube now as well for Day 1 & 2. More soon 😄

Day 1 - Embarkation in Miami

 

Day 2 - Key West

[David Kane]

Day 2 1/2 - Photos that will like only interest my friends and relatives

 

One of the interesting things about intensely avoiding Social Media for 50 weeks out of the year and then getting hip deep in it for two is that I never know where to post what. Celebrity Cruises themselves have a Facebook Page, an Instagram, a Twitter, and likely a Tinder (although it only has pictures of Ship's Sterns on it). Alongside that, there is CC, and about a dozen FB groups - one for fans of Celebrity in General, one for each of the ships, one for the Captain's Club members (aka...everyone?) and then an entirely different set for UK cruisers. Add in sites and pages for Cruise Addicts and those sneakily diguised pages put up by Travel Agencies and Ireally don't know where to post what. I should probably be putting pictures on Instagram, but some of my friends only have Grindr, so, hence, CC gets stuck with pictures like this - 

 

 

[David Kane]

Day 3 - App Flap

 

We were up early again on Day 3, our first full Sea day. Our schedule is WAY off - having a Port Day on the first full day (and yes, I get that Day 1 is 'always' a Port Day - ha ha) instead of a Sea Day has either put us a day behind or ahead, we can't really decide which. We're the odd ship early birds - we sit for dinner at spot on 6pm, miss every late night 'game show' - presumbly where the phrase 'making whoopie' is used far, far too often, - and are up with the dawn. If you're looking for a more exlcusive Celebrity Experience, you can do yourself a world of good by, likewise, being on this schedule; you will never wait in a line. At 7am the pools are empty and the jogging track nearly so. You'll run into the guy who has 'way too much' Camera equipment taking long-exposure shots of the sunrise (his name is Frank, always Frank, and rather nice) but otherwise you can have a rather seemless morning (as opposed to going to the Buffet at 9am, which looks like a Rugby Scrum being moderated by Flight Attendants. Seriously, they've pressed almost everyone, including the Maitre'd's from every Restaurant, in to service to help steer the morning crowds around the buffet area. 

 

After a light breakfast we hit Michael's Club for a bit, caught up with R&S 0 - always a deight, and then made our way down to the Passport Bar. This Bar is an odd duck. Apparently, it's rather appreciated by the Guest Relations Staff, as its in their neck of the woods...er, ship, but otherwise it gets little attention, especially during the evening hours. If we didn't have access to MC, I think this would be a great place to get to know the bartenders and avoid the crowds that can congregate around, say, the Casino Bar.

 

Being properly fortified we then attended the Cruise Critic 'Connections' Roll Call. The poor Roll Call has become rather hit or miss as of late - invitations are no longer circulated, so it's always good to remind members of your Roll Call the meet up is in a lounge (Rendevouz or Cellar Masters on the M class, Gastropub on S class) at 1015am on the first Sea Day. There is also a notice posted on the Community Board as well, and, with a compass, sextant and/or hand-drawn map you may actually be able to find it, tacked up amoungst dusty notices for informal Bridge games and at least one 'missing child' advert from 6 cruises ago. 

 

The Roll Call itself was nicely attended and supported by the Officers, who showed up and , lead by Melanie (the Front Desk Manager) put Superhero Identities on all their nametags, which broke the ice rather nicely. CD Dan said a few nice words and...that was about it. My feeling is that the Roll Call itself is failing the Staff. When XZ and I began cruising we organized Room Crawls, Bar Hops, Poker Runs and Slot Pulls, all of which was done on CC and really engaged with the fellow passengars. We stepped back from doing that in our last few cruisers and have found the event...lacking. I believe it is time we put in a little more work and spruce up the Roll Calls on our future cruises.

 

From here, we watched the Officers vs. Guests Archey competition (serious fun if you can get your name on the list) and then accidentally attended an exlcusive event...but first; pictures!

 

 

[Freestyle Cruiser]

 

Enjoying your review.  

 

We have the same black and white tuxedo cat!  We spend a fortune for someone to stay / and visit her. She also climbs in the suitcase. They know. She missed us after our last 11 day cruise and for the 1st time, slept on the bed when we came home. 

 

Ps. Thanks for the tip on the menus in michaels club. I never knew they had the menus there. 

[Saturngrl]

Hope you will post the full review with photos soon....looks like an amazingly good time so far!  We sail the Equinox one week from this Saturday. 

[Ginnyfyr]

Hey David! Remember that time my husband and I met you on the Embassy Suites shuttle before your very first cruise back in 2015?! I'm so happy to see you two have continued your love affair with cruising! We will board Equinox on Saturday so I hope you left her in good shape for us. Say hi to XZ from us 🙂