Observations From The Poop Deck Christmas/New Years Equinox

[chamima]

42 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This is the second time we have experienced a captain announce that this will be the last announcement of the cruise or of the old year, and then  have to come on again about some emergency.  At 1:00 pm Captain Matt announced 4 more passengers this morning tested positive (24?).  He stated that it is now a "company decision" that all passengers must wear masks at all times, except when eating or drinking.

 P.S. Tonight is lobster night. Everyone comes early to dinner.

 

Did he give an indication of whether this was for all Celebrity ships and/or for all foreseeable cruises or just for the remainder of your cruise?

 

[morpheusofthesea]

5 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Did he give an indication of whether this was for all Celebrity ships and/or for all foreseeable cruises or just for the remainder of your cruise?

 

Your guess is as good as mine.

[morpheusofthesea]

27 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Did he give an indication of whether this was for all Celebrity ships and/or for all foreseeable cruises or just for the remainder of your cruise?

 

DW is walking around the ship (in a mask). She just informed me that the' decision ' was just for this ship at this moment.

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Did he give an indication of whether this was for all Celebrity ships and/or for all foreseeable cruises or just for the remainder of your cruise?

 

We’re currently on the Connie with 3 confirmed cases, none in the past 3 days, and we are still free to roam indoors without a mask on. However, I would say about 40-50% of the passengers are wearing them when they are not eating or drinking.

[morpheusofthesea]

Sorry to all, but I wish to remain oblivious, with my head in the sand. I have already turned a 'blind eye' to some things, now I'm turning a 'deaf ear'.  We are still having a fantastic time. Today is a beautiful, breezy, day in the shade on our veranda. Trying hard not to 'nap' away the precious moment. DW just reported that the ship staff plans to reduce staff at all the New Years parties on board.....?  ("We have met the enemy, and they is us" Pogo). 

[Spif Barwunkel]

Some very deserving props to you, Mr. Morph. I'll not assume that your b2b holiday cruises have been less than desirable, but I'm guessing that they probably would have been more enjoyable without the med-evacs, covid announcements, itinerary changes, runners and whatever else might have happened onboard. Through it all, your demeanor and presentation has remained in neutral with a calm, easy going description of life on the Equinox. For all the passengers, on either or both cruises, there had to have been some anxious moments. Hopefully, they will all take away many more positives.

 

I'm hoping that this is not a sign of things to come aboard the "NOX" as DW and I make our way on to the ship for our 1/9/2022 cruise, trying our best to ignore the "ghosts of Christmas past", figuratively speaking, of course. Realistically speaking, there will be issues and concerns but nothing unexpected, I hope. 

 

Thank you for your efforts and keeping us apprised.

   

[morpheusofthesea]

18 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

I'm hoping that this is not a sign of things to come aboard the "NOX" as DW and I make our way on to the ship for our 1/9/2022 cruise,

I predict a fantastic month for January cruisers.  They will enjoy 1:1 ratio of staff to guests with almost immediate, on demand, service from over zealous staff. Over abundance and selection of food choices. Our experience in the Luminae has been the highlight of our cruises. Our deepest disappointment has been port days, Luminae is closed.  We did enjoy the chicken dumplings (6) and white rice ( appetizer) as an entree one afternoon in "Sushi on 5", but the service we received in Luminae from maitre d', hostess, waiters, sommelier, exceptional. Equinox has two of the best Retreat Concierges in the fleet (everything is yes). Just try not to spend more than 30 seconds conversing with anyone and you will be fine.

[cbfb]

We board Monday 🤞🤞. Have you heard anything about how many passengers expected? 

[morpheusofthesea]

With reduced staff at all the New Years Eve parties on board tonight I surmise the next notice pushed under our cabin doors is 'BYOB'.

[kidz_rn]

We have cruised 22 times. Mask-wearing at all indoor venues when not dining or drinking, anxiety of testing positive and being moved to ‘red zone’ and losing our balcony, climbing stairs ‘cause of limit of 4 to an elevator, likely threat of port cancelations and even more sea days . . .  this is NOT even close to what a cruise vacation should be.   UGH!!

[cangelmd]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I predict a fantastic month for January cruisers.  They will enjoy 1:1 ratio of staff to guests with almost immediate, on demand, service from over zealous staff. Over abundance and selection of food choices. Our experience in the Luminae has been the highlight of our cruises. Our deepest disappointment has been port days, Luminae is closed.  We did enjoy the chicken dumplings (6) and white rice ( appetizer) as an entree one afternoon in "Sushi on 5", but the service we received in Luminae from maitre d', hostess, waiters, sommelier, exceptional. Equinox has two of the best Retreat Concierges in the fleet (everything is yes). Just try not to spend more than 30 seconds conversing with anyone and you will be fine.

I hope you are right, we are supposed to sail in Jan. On an almost B2B. I enjoy sea days, we do NOT sail the Caribbean for ports, we have equal beaches at home, but 18 sea days may  be too many!

We are in a suite for the second shorter leg.

[JerseyGirlatHeart]

On the ship on the 9th.  Question are they requiring a mask when actively working out in the gym?

[wrk2cruise]

Nobody knows what the masking rules will be over the next few sailings.

[Cruising is my passion]

Mr Morpheus,

How  many guests do you have currently on board and do you know or can you find out how many are expected for the January 9th cruise? Much appreciate your reviews and your style of writing. Most entertaining!

[jimmybean]

Ditto.   Thanks for the updates.   Boarding (masked and staying that way) on the 9th also.   

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Just in case masks are required in March except when eating and drinking we are upping our wine drinking tonight and will continue just to stay in shape.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, cangelmd said:

, but 18 sea days may  be too many!

Not when you get to day 17.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, JerseyGirlatHeart said:

On the ship on the 9th.  Question are they requiring a mask when actively working out in the gym?

They will probably go back to no mask policy when we leave.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Cruising is my passion said:

How  many guests do you have currently on board

See my post #57.

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, cbfb said:

We board Monday 🤞🤞. Have you heard anything about how many passengers expected? 

 

1 hour ago, Cruising is my passion said:

 and do you know or can you find out how many are expected for the January 9th cruise?

If I was in your shoes right now and were told 100 guests; how would you feel ? 

[Ipeeinthepools]

14 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

They will probably go back to no mask policy when we leave.

 

Are you planning to be one of the last passengers to leave the ship to avoid the crowds?

[morpheusofthesea]

Well, it's 8:20 pm New Years Eve. Had another absolutely fantastic dinner in Luminae, caught the 7pm show, magician, or as much as possible, too many kids got too close to us so we left. Social distancing.

Wishing the Cruise Critic World a very Happy and Healthy New Year, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams"( Robin Leach) Everyone !

[morpheusofthesea]

12 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Are you planning to be one of the last passengers to leave the ship to avoid the crowds?

We have been the first to board and first to leave (it comes with the cabin category, we tip profusely, and we get up really early.)

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, kidz_rn said:

We have cruised 22 times. Mask-wearing at all indoor venues when not dining or drinking, anxiety of testing positive and being moved to ‘red zone’ and losing our balcony, climbing stairs ‘cause of limit of 4 to an elevator, likely threat of port cancelations and even more sea days . . .  this is NOT even close to what a cruise vacation should be.   UGH!!

You do not have to have cruised 22 times to feel the way you do. There are 30 million of us that 'feel' the same way as you do. You are in very good company. But there are still 5.8 million of us 'hardcore' cruisers that wish to fill the berths on most any cruise ship right now. DW and I look at each other everyday as we try to get an empty elevator going up from deck 3 to deck 11, climb to deck 4 and try again.....Can you imagine the anxiety of a guest to have to spit into a vial 2 ml every morning at 8:30 am to be tested for covid? But they are real 'troupers', the real 'hard' hardcore. And to us it is still a vacation.

[deliver42]

I'm a hard cord cruiser, and whatever it is it is, but I'll be on a ship and happy.