Boarding Equinox this am, open for questions, not even a pretend Live Blog

[cangelmd]

Sitting in the breakfast room of the Hilton Marina, anxious to board Equinox this am.

im not even going to pretend like I’m going to attempt a Live Blog, but if anyone has questions, I will try to get answers.

i know there have been a couple of threads recently with very specific questions and people offered to answer later, but I’m too lazy and too much on vacation to go back and search for them!

So fire away, we will try to board around 11, this is our first time in a suite - Sky Suite, but our second time on Equinox in the last 18 months, looking forward to checking out the changes.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

Bon Voyage.  We just returned from dropping off our friends at the airport.  They are Ron and Barb from Texas and they are also sailing in sky suite on the Equinox today.  If you run into them in the Retreat say hi or us.  They are sailing b2b2b.  I reminded them to be kind to their livers while enjoying the suite treatment. 

Hope you all have a great cruise and enjoy the "revolutionized" Equinox.

 

[cangelmd]

10 minutes ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

Bon Voyage.  We just returned from dropping off our friends at the airport.  They are Ron and Barb from Texas and they are also sailing in sky suite on the Equinox today.  If you run into them in the Retreat say hi or us.  They are sailing b2b2b.  I reminded them to be kind to their livers while enjoying the suite treatment. 

Hope you all have a great cruise and enjoy the "revolutionized" Equinox.

 

B2B2B! As we say in the deep country South, “they won’t be worth killin’ when they get back!”

[Olive1950]

55 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Sitting in the breakfast room of the Hilton Marina, anxious to board Equinox this am.

im not even going to pretend like I’m going to attempt a Live Blog, but if anyone has questions, I will try to get answers.

i know there have been a couple of threads recently with very specific questions and people offered to answer later, but I’m too lazy and too much on vacation to go back and search for them!

So fire away, we will try to board around 11, this is our first time in a suite - Sky Suite, but our second time on Equinox in the last 18 months, looking forward to checking out the changes.

 

OMG, thank you for offering.  I'm in a CS on the October 4-14 Equinox sailing.  Finding someone in a suite on these boards is not so easy.

 

Here are my questions:

1. YOUR take on the Suite Retreat:  too much sun; not worth the effort to get there?

2. Michael's Club:  who is the concierge you're sailing?

3. Luminae:  who is the Restaurant Manager?  Who is the sommelier?

 

You can either post or email me.  My email address is shown below my post.

 

Enjoy your cruise; but moreover, ENJOY THE SUITE LIFE!!!!!

[chemmo]

Hope you have a fantastic cruise! I think you will find the Suite Life very sweet!

 

We board Equinox in five weeks, can’t wait!

 

Just a couple of questions...can you work out which nights are which menu in LPC? Is there a set plan, for example, first half of the cruise original then swaps over....

 

We are interested in the service levels (food and drink) on the retreat deck, particularly on port days. Other than very short port walks we do intend to enjoy this cruise as a real crash out...Also do they bring chilled towels etc round? We were so disappointed that the full Revolution did not take place but had already committed to flights etc so are determined to make the most of our experience....We just hope we don’t roast or blow away trying to enjoy!

 

[cangelmd]

3 minutes ago, Olive1950 said:

 

OMG, thank you for offering.  I'm in a CS on the October 4-14 Equinox sailing.  Finding someone in a suite on these boards is not so easy.

 

Here are my questions:

1. YOUR take on the Suite Retreat:  too much sun; not worth the effort to get there?

2. Michael's Club:  who is the concierge you're sailing?

3. Luminae:  who is the Restaurant Manager?  Who is the sommelier?

 

You can either post or email me.  My email address is shown below my post.

 

Enjoy your cruise; but moreover, ENJOY THE SUITE LIFE!!!!!

Will do my best to answer. I don’t/can’t do sun, so I have real misgivings about the Retreat sun deck, but are definitely going to try. We’ve been to the Caribbean a bunch, and been on the western once or twice,  so we will have some shipboard days to try it out.

[cangelmd]

7 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Hope you have a fantastic cruise! I think you will find the Suite Life very sweet!

 

We board Equinox in five weeks, can’t wait!

 

Just a couple of questions...can you work out which nights are which menu in LPC? Is there a set plan, for example, first half of the cruise original then swaps over....

 

We are interested in the service levels (food and drink) on the retreat deck, particularly on port days. Other than very short port walks we do intend to enjoy this cruise as a real crash out...Also do they bring chilled towels etc round? We were so disappointed that the full Revolution did not take place but had already committed to flights etc so are determined to make the most of our experience....We just hope we don’t roast or blow away trying to enjoy!

 

I’m going to note the questions and answer towards the mid to end of week. We are planning on staying onboard at Grand Cayman, so will try to definitely spend some time at the Retreat then.

im concerned that when the ship is docked it will be too hot up there, but we will see.

[Olive1950]

One more question, if you don't mind.  Are there Alcoves at the Lawn Club that can be rented?  Can you PLEASE take a picture of one for me?

 

I'm not a SUN person either....

[jj6961]

23 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Hope you have a fantastic cruise! I think you will find the Suite Life very sweet!

 

We board Equinox in five weeks, can’t wait!

 

Just a couple of questions...can you work out which nights are which menu in LPC? Is there a set plan, for example, first half of the cruise original then swaps over....

 

We are interested in the service levels (food and drink) on the retreat deck, particularly on port days. Other than very short port walks we do intend to enjoy this cruise as a real crash out...Also do they bring chilled towels etc round? We were so disappointed that the full Revolution did not take place but had already committed to flights etc so are determined to make the most of our experience....We just hope we don’t roast or blow away trying to enjoy!

 

Hi

 Info from the shoreside concierge on LPC is the new menu(chef and friends) is the first 3 nights, the original menu the last 4.  I think that can change on board though, I’m included the menus 

 

Im also so disappointed that the full Revolution wasn’t able to be done, can’t blame Celebrity on that though.

[CruisinNole]

3 hours ago, Olive1950 said:

One more question, if you don't mind.  Are there Alcoves at the Lawn Club that can be rented?  Can you PLEASE take a picture of one for me?

 

I'm not a SUN person either....

We're on the 17 August cruise and have booked an Alcove. Will be curious to see how much shade they provide.

[misterkevin]

4 hours ago, Olive1950 said:

Here are my questions:

1. YOUR take on the Suite Retreat:  too much sun; not worth the effort to get there?

2. Michael's Club:  who is the concierge you're sailing?

3. Luminae:  who is the Restaurant Manager?  Who is the sommelier?

We just got off the Equinox last Saturday from CS 1620.

The Retreat Sundeck has good points and bad points. Judging by the lack of people there, I would guess most people find it too hot. They provide iced towels there, and the service is fantastic. Here's a post I made about it:

Concierges in the Retreat Lounges alternate weekly between the excellent Alexandra who we had and another guy who's name I can't remember.

 

The restaurant manager in Luminae is the excellent Tanya with another excellent assistant hostess Victoriia. The sommelier was the amazing Yan.

 

These staff on our cruise 7/27-8/3 were superior. Of course, staff can change from week to week.

Edited August 10, 2019 by misterkevin

[panmalv]

We're boarding in a couple of weeks (can't wait!), and it is very hard to get information about the post-partial-revolution sky suite cabins -- I would really appreciate any information you could provide as to what (if anything) has been updated in the SS cabins.  Is there new carpet, mattress, linens, curtains?  Has the balcony furniture been changed?

 

Thank you for taking time during your vacation to provide information for others on this board.  Have a wonderful cruise!

 

 

[39august]

There have been several reports that the suites did not receive any upgrades except for bedding.

[Hypo]

Is the waiter Nino still onboard Equinox in the Luminae restaurant?  He is an excellent waiter!

 

[Lisamarie18]

Hi there,  any information onboard about the new ‘premium plus’ beverage package and what it includes?  I just called Captain’s Club and was told that it included the premium beverage package and two free bottles of wine if you upgraded from an existing package. If you purchase the package outright, it includes 2 bottles of wine, $50 casino obc, wine tasting, maccallan tasting.  Right now, the premium plus is priced at $10/day in my cruise planner, $2 less than the regular premium upgrade from classic. 

 

Have a a great cruise and thanks so much!

 

Lisa

[nimiq]

Have fun,

 

If you attend any shows please let us know who you found them.

 

Thanks

Sea ya

Eric

Edited August 11, 2019 by nimiq

[misterkevin]

16 hours ago, panmalv said:

 I would really appreciate any information you could provide as to what (if anything) has been updated in the SS cabins.  Is there new carpet, mattress, linens, curtains?  Has the balcony furniture been changed?

We were in a CS last week, and we saw the RS, and PH. They had a new mattress, linens, Frette robes, slippers, and towels, C.O. Bigelow bath products, succulents plants in suite and on balcony, and new balcony furniture. The RS and PH had new green pillows on the furniture.

[cangelmd]

14 hours ago, Lisamarie18 said:

Hi there,  any information onboard about the new ‘premium plus’ beverage package and what it includes?  I just called Captain’s Club and was told that it included the premium beverage package and two free bottles of wine if you upgraded from an existing package. If you purchase the package outright, it includes 2 bottles of wine, $50 casino obc, wine tasting, maccallan tasting.  Right now, the premium plus is priced at $10/day in my cruise planner, $2 less than the regular premium upgrade from classic. 

 

Have a a great cruise and thanks so much!

 

Lisa

 

18 hours ago, panmalv said:

We're boarding in a couple of weeks (can't wait!), and it is very hard to get information about the post-partial-revolution sky suite cabins -- I would really appreciate any information you could provide as to what (if anything) has been updated in the SS cabins.  Is there new carpet, mattress, linens, curtains?  Has the balcony furniture been changed?

 

Thank you for taking time during your vacation to provide information for others on this board.  Have a wonderful cruise!

 

 

I will try to answer these 2 relatively easy questions, first, and will be back later with more answers. First I want to say, that these are my opinions and biases along with some gathered factual info. I work in the medical field and see every day what kind of terrible things can happen to people, so really, honestly, I don’t care what the ship looks like, as long it is clean and reasonably comfy, I’m blessed to be here! Mild preaching over!

 

Mattress is probably new, it is firm and quite comfortable, there might be a new throw pillow and the bed skirt is obviously new - the other soft furnishings and carpet are old, and getting a little worn. In the bath there are big bottles of Bigelow products, I only tried the body wash - it’s mildly scented, very neutral.

14 hours ago, Lisamarie18 said:

Hi there,  any information onboard about the new ‘premium plus’ beverage package and what it includes?  I just called Captain’s Club and was told that it included the premium beverage package and two free bottles of wine if you upgraded from an existing package. If you purchase the package outright, it includes 2 bottles of wine, $50 casino obc, wine tasting, maccallan tasting.  Right now, the premium plus is priced at $10/day in my cruise planner, $2 less than the regular premium upgrade from classic. 

 

Have a a great cruise and thanks so much!

 

Lisa

Just looked in the Daily Planner, don’t see it? Yesterday when staff was trying to sell pkgs, we flashed our premium card and they immediately backed off- saying you got the best. So I don’t know about premium plus, we will ferret this out!

[cangelmd]

19 hours ago, panmalv said:

We're boarding in a couple of weeks (can't wait!), and it is very hard to get information about the post-partial-revolution sky suite cabins -- I would really appreciate any information you could provide as to what (if anything) has been updated in the SS cabins.  Is there new carpet, mattress, linens, curtains?  Has the balcony furniture been changed?

 

Thank you for taking time during your vacation to provide information for others on this board.  Have a wonderful cruise!

 

 

Forgot balcony furniture. It is new, 2 armchairs and breakfast size table. One lounger type chair, but it is in 2 pieces, the chair which lays back and the footstool part

[vickykay]

Would very much appreciate it if you could post the current booking on board incentives.  Thanks.

 

Vicky

[tarps14]

Why didn't y'all stop in Key West today (Sun)?

[chemmo]

Thanks Jen for the info re LPC, we are on an 11 night cruise so maybe 5/6 nights of each?

 

On 8/10/2019 at 2:57 PM, cangelmd said:

I’m going to note the questions and answer towards the mid to end of week. We are planning on staying onboard at Grand Cayman, so will try to definitely spend some time at the Retreat then.

im concerned that when the ship is docked it will be too hot up there, but we will see.

 

Sincere thanks....look forward to reading!

[wrk2cruise]

19 hours ago, Hypo said:

Is the waiter Nino still onboard Equinox in the Luminae restaurant?  He is an excellent waiter!

 

 

From my last email exchange with him in February he said he rejoins Equinox in April and will leave on Nov 2.  We sail in 2 weeks, unfortunately won't be in a suite this time but will stop in to see him.  He's our favorite waiter having been served by him 3 times in the last couple of years on Equinox.

 

[dolittle]

Did people carry on water or or tag it and send it thru .Thanks. We are getting on  next Sat.

[Hypo]

58 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

From my last email exchange with him in February he said he rejoins Equinox in April and will leave on Nov 2.  We sail in 2 weeks, unfortunately won't be in a suite this time but will stop in to see him.  He's our favorite waiter having been served by him 3 times in the last couple of years on Equinox.

 

Great news.  He has been our favorite waiter out of 36 cruises!  Wonderful man to converse with every day.  BTW, we are cruising on Equinox on Oct 2, 2019 so we will see him then.