Same Ship Different Season: An Equinox LIVE Solo Review (6/18/22)

[Oceansaway17]

On 6/17/2022 at 3:43 PM, GenerationX said:

At last…I MADE IT TO MIAMI!!!

 

Please brace yourselves for a brief lecture on the merits of flying in at least a day early for your cruise.

Ok that’s enough doom and gloom. It’s a beautiful day in Miami and time for vacation to start!

 

After that I think I’ll go for a quick swim then take a power nap by the pool!

 

YES YES best to come in the day before.

I was on the Allure of the Seas 6/11-19 and my flight to Ft Lauderdale was good on the 10th.

At dinner my tablemates had issues with the same flight on 11th. The plane was in FLA and no crew.

They had to quicky book flight from Newark instead of Phila and drive like crazy.

 

So now many things can and do go wrong.  Missing planes, crew, weather etc etc.

Best to go first flight of the day and the day before.  And since I live in PA I like to go to Bayonne NJ and drive.

 

Well have a nice trip.  I am sailing Solo on Equinox in early November.  I have sailed on close to 30 cruises in my life and all but one was solo.  I take a good book and I do shore excursion through the ship.  I also like how NCL has the best solo rooms of any cruise line.

 

toodles

[GenerationX]

43 minutes ago, julia said:

Hey....  this IS crazy, but after nearly 30 cruises with the DH, I may just be ready to branch out and celebrate my November birthday solo on the Beyond.  At least I won't have to arrange for cat care and airport rides!

Yasss! Come!!! We will celebrate your b-day at the Gatsby party! Let’s turn that sailing into the solo ladies of CC cruise!

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Buckeye94 said:

I think I met @Jim_Iain on a Greek Isles cruise out of Rome on Edge back in fall 2019. They may have been the kind souls to loan me $2 so I could get back to the ship. The details are sketchy!

 

Hmm, I may need to get a map dress. Definitely shopping for something Gatsby appropriate! 

 

I'm so excited! My next cruise wasn't until my 12-night Patagonia cruise in January. This is perfect!

 

I do remember meeting you on the Greek Isles cruise.   That was a great cruise.     I'm really please when I get to meet others from CC.    I have a terrible time putting a persons handle to their real name.   Iain on the other hand remembers real names but never logs onto CC so has no ability to help connect the two names.     That was the reason I shifted form my original CC name to Jim_Iain.

 

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Loving your review. We were on the equinox in May. Great ship. You are an inspiration for solo woman travelers! Love your dresses too!

[GenerationX]

Good afternoon from the pool deck of the Carnival Sunshine-oops I mean Celebrity Equinox!

 

 I’m totally joking, it hasn’t gone THAT far.

 

I will say though that this is my first Celebrity cruise where I’ve seen/heard groups of passengers mobbed around the pool bar chanting “SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!” at the top of their lungs. Poor Kadek and I Ketut and Team. I’m gonna need to up my pool bartender/server budget for this trip.

 

The football brahs were also back in full effect this afternoon, but this time the pool officer did make them put a stop to their catch game, after it got out of hand and they were hitting railings and knocking over drinks with the errant throws.

 

Speaking of the pool crew though, the pool servers and bartenders this cruise really have been great and I’m surprised at how well they’re managing to keep up with so many more passengers. I’ve yet to go more than 10 minutes on the deck without a server coming by and asking if I need something.

 

Unfortunately a work emergency came up this morning that I had to deal with while I knew the wifi was good, so I wasn’t able to make my tour in Tortola today.  😭

 

I did get to do most of said work on a nearly empty pool deck (was nice while it lasted) in the sunshine.

 

I consoled myself after I finished work with a rum punch from Ricky at the Sunset Bar and a beef rendang (delicious) and pork Milanese (meh) buffet lunch with steak nachos for dessert…don’t judge me.

 

Tonight will be my second chill night of the cruise. I didn’t have any specialties booked but I’m feeling a crave for Sushi. The app dining reservations system is being glitchy so I put in a call to specialty reservations to see if I could get lucky. My good friend Michael from Murano answered the phone and greeted me by name and let me know he could get me in Sushi on 5 at 8pm.  

 

I was excited to hear the news as I’ve heard reports that Murano and Tuscan are now almost completely booked up for the rest of the cruise (so for those following who are sailing soon, it may be worth doing your specialty reservations in advance or first thing when you get on the ship so you don’t miss out).

 

I’m headed down to my veranda to get a couple more chapters of reading in then I’ll shower and hit Sunset and Ensemble for my pre-Dinner cocktails.

 

Tonight’s exciting after dinner plan is to drink wine and eat pillow chocolates in bed and watch House of Gucci, which is free on demand on my stateroom TV!

 

 

 

[Arzeena]

2 hours ago, luv2camp04 said:

Great review on St. Maarten.  We were there in March.  For those that are happy to just grap a taxi to Orient Beach, I would suggest the following.  We got to the beach and rented loungers and umbrella at Le String.  It included a free drink for each of us.  I can't remember the cost, maybe $20 for both of us?  However, we decided to try the Le String restaurant.  OMG!!!  Some of the best food I've had in a long time.  Basically a lovely French restaurant.  I had Chicken Marsala Linguine and my husband had a Seafood Linguine.  Huge portions (next time we'll share since we can't bring home the leftovers).  I also had the nicest Rose wine for only $5/glass!  

 

Ok, Gen X, sorry to highjack.  Thanks!!

I agree on Le String. The food was absolutely A+. I had the fish and it was so good I couldn't get over it.
Our cab driver was the one who took us there and we were told if we have lunch we can use their beach lounge chairs.
We have also been to the restaurant in GenerationX's pictures. Excellent food and ambiance. Great spot on the beach.

[Wrunkles]

Thanks for the review!  I have been enjoying following along.  How long was your bus ride to Orient Beach?  

[GenerationX]

In a cute but comfortable dress and ready for dinner. I had to run to guest services before cocktails and stumbled on a great selfie opportunity.  The Godmother and the Funmother!

 

 

[bunnyette]

7 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

In a cute but comfortable dress and ready for dinner. I had to run to guest services before cocktails and stumbled on a great selfie opportunity.  The Godmother and the Funmother!

 

 

You are definitely the funmother of Celebrity 

[GenerationX]

1 hour ago, Wrunkles said:

Thanks for the review!  I have been enjoying following along.  How long was your bus ride to Orient Beach?  

So glad you’re enjoying!  The bus ride to the beach I’d say was about 20-30 minutes. It wasn’t too bad. The tour guide got on a mic on the way out and back and gave lots of info about the island and sights we were passing too, so the time passed easily.

[LincolnLegend]

Thanks for another fabulous review Generation X! I'm so hopeful that one day you will head downunder for a cruise or I will make it to the USA and get on one with you!

 

I cruise a lot on the "cheap and cheerful" Australian cruiseline P&O, some cruisers screw their noses up at the idea but they put on a Gatsby night that is so much fun! We love getting dressed up for it and there are always lots of amazing outfits around the ship.

[abbydancer2003]

Wish I could go to Gatsby night - I have a costume!!!  (I'm on a dance team and our costumes are Gatsby even though our music is some Bulgarian pop song).  But I'm finishing up the transatlantic on the Silhouette and then going to LA for the Discovery Princess.  

GenX, I saw your breakfast post on Facebook, and sent a friend request, in case you're wondering who did that.  Feel free to ignore or accept.

[GenerationX]

Hello from sea day!  

 

FYI since last night, wifi has been extremely slow (calling it “stream” at this point is just flagrant false advertising, I couldn’t even get a music/video streaming app to load, much less play anything from it).  And Ive been having a tough time getting the CC site to even load fully.  Forget uploading pics or lengthy posts.

 

I’ve still been writing posts in Notes on my phone and taking pics so there may be rapid streams of posts back to back in fits and starts when wifi is cooperating.

 

Speaking of back to back, for anyone wondering, I spoke to a few people who are doing this cruise as a b2b with the 6 night after and they were informed last night that they WILL have to Covid test onboard tomorrow in Nassau for the second leg of their b2b.

 

I haven’t heard any announcements or gossip about any positive cases onboard and as of this morning we haven’t had any changes to our masks-optional policy.

 

[GenerationX]

Remind me, was it John and Yoko who did that thing where they let the whole world see them in bed in their robes to spread a message of peace?  Well, welcome to my bed-in to spread the message of the joys of being a woman sailing solo on Celebrity.

 

As I was leaving my sushi dinner I had an epiphany. My original plan was to have pillow chocolates for my in-room dessert tonight.  Then I looked across the foyer and remembered that my captains club status comes with that free scoop of gelato. Pinot noir and hazelnut gelato with almonds? Yes please! Oh and halfway through my gelato I REALLY hit expert cruise hack and thought of crumbling a couple of the pillow chocolates on top of the gelato!!!

 

While I’m enjoying my best life solo girls night in, a report on my Sushi on 5 dinner.  

 

When I got to the restaurant it was not completely full but very busy and you could tell the servers were really hustling to try and keep up with good service.  

 

How hectic was it? As I was digging into my second course, 3 of the senior officers arrived at the restaurant to have their dinner. The maitre d was tied up at another table so someone else seated them at the table right behind me…which had not been bussed AT ALL and was still covered in dirty dishes and placemats from the guests who left a few minutes before. When the maitre d saw what had happened it seemed like he was humiliated and hustling to make it right.  The officers seemed like they were understanding and took it in stride. At least publicly anyway.  Hopefully no one is gonna be sent packing when we get back to FLL!

 

The funny part is that when I saw those 3 super official gentlemen come walking directly back at me (and again, I’m not thinking they’re coming to sit for dinner, because they aren’t being led by the maitre d and the only 4 top table available anywhere around me just left and it’s still dirty and not ready for new guests), I’m pretty sure my blood pressure spiked.  I had my mouth prepped to blurt out “whatever it is, I didn’t do it!” lol

 

Ok so back to the food. I ordered a couple of my go to’s, the shrimp and lobster wontons and the shrimp tempura roll. Then I decided to try something new and forego my favorite pork ramen and try the shrimp tempura udon.

 

The wontons were good as always. Don’t forget to try the seaweed salad on the side, I like it so much sometimes I order just a little side dish of it when I’m not getting the wontons.

 

The shrimp tempura roll was actually improved from my last Equinox cruise.  I’ve always been of the opinion that the Maki rolls were ironically the weakest dishes at Sushi on 5.  It seems like the game has been stepped up.   The rice was way better and it was rolled perfectly (I’ve had maki from sushi on 5 fall apart completely in my chopsticks sooo many times because it wasn’t rolled right).  If you’re used to having sushi in a really competitive authentic sushi restaurant market (like NYC, Seattle, LA or of course, Japan), I’m guessing this probably still isn’t going to hold a candle to what you get at home (and probably pay at least double the price for).  But I think it was on par with  what we get at midwest suburban sushi places.

 

The shrimp tempura udon…once again here’s a dish that I’m mad I didn’t give a chance sooner. The broth had rich seafood flavor and the udon noodles were cooked just right.  The shrimp tempura on its own was a little bland and could have been a little crispier, but I can totally forgive that because it’s meant to to be dunked in that yummy broth.  

 

I don’t think this replaces the pork ramen as my favorite, but going forward I’ll probably alternate back and forth during the cruise between ordering the shrimp tempura udon and pork ramen.

 

Pics of the goodness below. Sweet dreams  from the Equinox!

 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by GenerationX

[GenerationX]

A quick report on the Celebrity App experience onboard.  

 

I discovered this morning that if you swipe left at the bottom of the main app screen the app gives you the option now to use a digital key on your phone to open your stateroom door just like Hyatt and Hilton.   This seems like a handy feature for when my seapass card has fallen down into the depths of my pool tote somewhere  and I don’t want to fish for it. Or when sailing with my husband and we’ve parted ways for activities and he forgets that I’ve got both our seapass cards in my purse.

 

I wouldn’t rely on it too heavily though because app has been pretty glitchy.  I’ve had specialty reservations and wine events that I know I have booked not show up or show up in the app as a different reservation time than what the maitre d has in the system (luckily I caught this early in the cruise and double checked all my reservation days/times with the maitre d in Murano, to make sure everything was right in Celebrity’s computer and I wouldn’t show up at the wrong time).  Not sure if it’s a glitch or just a design miss, but none of my spa appointments even the ones I made well in advance show up in the app at all.

 

I’d started to wonder if, with the expanded app showing my bookings, it was still necessary for me to go through my pre-cruise exercise of printing off hard copies of all my confirmations before I leave, but for now I’ve decided that given the glitches those trees will have to continue to be sacrificed.

 

Speaking of wrong times, this morning for a little while, the app was also displaying ship time as 3 hours earlier than it actually was (I was definitely not up at 4:43am). I wonder if that might be contributing to the lighter than usual crowd at oceanview breakfast at almost 9am.

 

Once I finish eating I’m off to the spa for a sea day body scrub and a massage!
 

 

[go.without.you]

I would LOVE to join the Single Ladies on the Beyond cruise - Nov 8th is my Bday! But...I'm doing Reflection for Thanksgiving week and I only get so much PTO (and $).

 

I received a crap-ton of OBC on my booking so I booked Murano and Tuscan. Haven't done them in years so looking forward to it. My last 6 cruises have been in either Aqua or a Suite so I never felt the need to do the special ones.

 

So GenX, what are the best options at these 2 (excluding the $20 steak).

[Arzeena]

14 hours ago, GenerationX said:

In a cute but comfortable dress and ready for dinner. I had to run to guest services before cocktails and stumbled on a great selfie opportunity.  The Godmother and the Funmother!

 

 

 

I will pick the Fun Mother, thank you!

Enjoying this so much!!!

[hcat]

17 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Yasss! Come!!! We will celebrate your b-day at the Gatsby party! Let’s turn that sailing into the solo ladies of CC cruise!

Not cruising solo but will def join in for a Gatsby Party.. have you joined the roll call?  

[GenerationX]

A report on my sea day spa morning and Sushi on 5 lunch:

 

After my treatments I was hoping to go chill in cafe al Bacio at a window table with some tea till lunch time, but at 11:15am every single table was taken, even the ones in the foyer. 

 

I couldn’t help but think with longing of my Summit cruise a mere 8 months ago where I was the only customer at all in al bacio at 10am on a sea day.  I guess at the end of the day, full cafe’s and full ships are how cruise lines make money and if I want Celebrity to still be around for me 10 years from now, I know I couldn’t expect to keep cruising at 40% capacity.

 

I got my green tea to go instead and sipped it on an open foyer seat by craft social watching the best attended dance class I’ve seen since the restart.  There were people dancing in the passport bar because their wasn’t room for any more couples on the dance floor.  

 

I bet the activities and entertainment teams are glad to be able to really do their jobs now with passengers to entertain!

 

About the spa this morning, this was my first time trying the spa on Equinox. I’d actually stopped using the spa on celebrity after some really disappointing and overpriced experiences in the Canyon Ranch days.  Then I read that Celebrity had changed spa vendors with the E class roll out and gave it a try on Edge and had some good services.

 

I was interested to see if the same would be true on S class.  Today I had the same sea salt body scrub and massage I had on the Edge. I actually think the overall experience of my treatments was a little better on Equinox.

 

Unlike edge, this time I was actually invited to come early and use the sauna, relaxation lounge, showers etc. before my treatment.   The robe I was given for my treatment was better quality and much kinder to my curves.

 

Evangeline from the Philippines who did my scrub and massage was fantastic. I use the exact same salt scrub product that Celebrity uses for its treatments to exfoliate weekly at home, but there’s only so well I can scrub my own back and it’s hard to be vigorous and thorough enough applying standing up in my shower, so I try to have a scrub from a pro at a spa once a month.  Evangline left my skin baby smooth and with a high glow. After I showered off the scrub she gave me a warm eucalyptus scented bath towel to dry off with (was just a plain room temp non scented towel on Edge) and gave me a glass of ice cold lemon water to sip before she started my massage to get ahead of any soreness (also not a thing on Edge).

 

The massage part was so good, I decided to take advantage of the port day discount and book myself an aromatherapy hot stone massage with her for tomorrow while we’re in the Bahamas.

 

I’m just wrapping up my Chandon  and sushi sea day lunch at Sushi on 5.

 

The restaurant is full again. The first few people who came up without a reservation were given the option to wait 20-30 minutes for a table.  Everyone who came up without one after that has been turned away.  Cements my thinking that now that cruising is back to new normal, I’ll always make my sushi lunch reservations first thing when I get onboard (for some reason lunch at Sushi on 5 cannot be reserved in the cruise planner pre-cruise).  

 

I did notice that they were also letting people place to go orders again. I may need to try that next cruise. Sushi on my veranda in my swimsuit sounds pretty good.

 

My Kobe slider was a little overcooked but I really enjoyed my spicy tuna & tempura roll.  I saw lots of other tables with empty sushi platters so looks like the consensus on this ship at least is that the sushi quality has finally improved.

 

I think I’ll go see how generous the slot machines are feeling before the world wine tasting this afternoon.  Wish me luck!
 

 

 

 

[Linda VH]

We had a wonderful young man on 2 of our Regent Explorer cruises called I Ketut.   If you see him and he is the same young man please tell him that Linda Hall (Pinot Grigio with ice) says hello.  Enjoying following along on your cruise(s) although I haven’t sealed Celebrity in years.  Now that I’ll be a solo traveler I’ll give it a look.  

[STLCRUISIN]

12 minutes ago, Linda VH said:

We had a wonderful young man on 2 of our Regent Explorer cruises called I Ketut.   If you see him and he is the same young man please tell him that Linda Hall (Pinot Grigio with ice) says hello.  Enjoying following along on your cruise(s) although I haven’t sealed Celebrity in years.  Now that I’ll be a solo traveler I’ll give it a look.  

I believe I Ketut is a Balinese name and as part of the custom children are named based on the order of their birth. In this case the "I" indicates a male and "Ketut" would be the fourth child. So their are many crew from Bali that are named Putu, Made, Nyoman and Ketut. But who knows...he could be the I Ketut you're talking about 🙂.

[Citymom92]

I just booked the scrub and massage for our last port day in Nassau, based on your recommendation. I had the absolute best massage ever on the Equinox two summers ago. So had to get the scrub and massage this time. 

[mchell810]

On 6/23/2022 at 8:18 AM, Buckeye94 said:

 

I can't believe I'm doing this, but I have been so inspired by your posts that I'm adding myself to the Beyond Nov 8 sailing!!!!  

 

I  almost did the same until I realized I'd only get home 1 days before leaving for my next cruise! (And the airfare is ridiculous.)  I guess I will have to wait longer for a chance to sail with @GenerationX

 

[sdnich]

We just made final payment for our September cruise and I was able to pull up the app and curious about sushi on five which we love!! Have  you ever tried the shrimp and scallop dynamite  hot pot?? I usually always get the lobster Ramen which I love but I think I need to try something new ! I’m definitely going to try the pork Ramen that you also love!

Edited June 24, 2022 by sdnich

[Redking]

Interesting to hear how busy Sushi on 5 is. We've been late to the party on this venue and loved the fact that it was never busy on our last cruise  - Solstice Tahitian Treasures. Maybe it's because there's a lot of OBC going around or maybe live reviewers like @GenerationXare doing too good a job🤔😉 need to keep some things secret 🤫🤭