Equinox BTB Eastern/Western Caribbean 8/5-8/19

[MisterMet]

Hello everyone!  This would be our third and fourth cruises on the Equinox having done a 10 night southern Caribbean through the ABC islands in 2018, and a western Caribbean in 2019.    we have also sailed on the summit to Bermuda in 2016, and on the Reflection in 2022 through Italy, Turkey and Greece.

We reached elite status earlier this year by doing as many captains club power up activities as we could.  We sailed in and aft facing concierge’s class cabin number 9376on the starboard side.

We love looking at the wake while sailing.  It is so peaceful and provides great 180° views.

 

We like to begin our cruise with a pre-departure stay in Fort Lauderdale. It is easy for us to travel there because we live in Naples on the other side of the state. We have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina to be an excellent place to stay pre-cruise. We use credit card points. For the room it is a nice place to stay, and a very easy drive to PE.

 

We stayed in a corner suite facing north along the intercoastal. We did an early check-in and went right to the pool to relax. After some lounging time, we changed and went to dinner at the Boatyard.  It was really great. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was fun.

[MisterMet]

Just now, MisterMet said:

Hello everyone!  This would be our third and fourth cruises on the Equinox having done a 10 night southern Caribbean through the ABC islands in 2018, and a western Caribbean in 2019.    we have also sailed on the summit to Bermuda in 2016, and on the Reflection in 2022 through Italy, Turkey and Greece.

We reached elite status earlier this year by doing as many captains club power up activities as we could.  We sailed in and aft facing concierge’s class cabin number 9376on the starboard side.

We love looking at the wake while sailing.  It is so peaceful and provides great 180° views.

 

We like to begin our cruise with a pre-departure stay in Fort Lauderdale. It is easy for us to travel there because we live in Naples on the other side of the state. We have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina to be an excellent place to stay pre-cruise. We use credit card points. For the room it is a nice place to stay, and a very easy drive to PE.

 

We stayed in a corner suite facing north along the intercoastal. We did an early check-in and went right to the pool to relax. After some lounging time, we changed and went to dinner at the Boatyard.  It was really great. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was fun.

 

[MisterMet]

After an early riser on Saturday, 8/5, we decided to walk to the Fort Lauderdale marina to burn some calories and excess energy as we were getting excited for our trip. We arrived at the pier at 10:45. I dropped the DW off and parked the car.  
 

The terminal was not busy and we were on board by 11:35.  We dropped our bags in our cabin, and went down to the concierge lunch with our friends who would be sailing with us for the entire two weeks.
 

The concierge lunch was good and hit the spot as we had skipped breakfast knowing we would be able to lunch in the main dining room. I had the grilled chicken breast and the DW had the braised short ribs. We both agreed they were yummy.

[MisterMet]

We did our sail away from my friends balcony in the aft. We were able to see ourselves on the port, Everglades WebCam.

[MisterMet]

After a fine dinner in the MDR (Select Dining) we roamed the ship that was brimming with all sorts of fun activities.  A late visit to the OVC for some pizza and sweets capped a great first night.

[MisterMet]

Sunday, August 6 was our first sea day.  We tried to sleep in as much as we could.  We walked the decks for about an hour before trying out the Tuscan Grill for the Elite coffee lounge. We thought the experience was very nice. The menu is limited, but more than enough to get you going.
 

We spent most of the day doing onboard activities, (mainly trivia, shopping, eating at the Mast Grille, and lounging at the Solarium pool.

 

it was also the first evening chic night. We had reservations with our friends at sushi on five. We bought the three night specialty dining package. We had never been to sushi on five before on any of our other Celebrity Cruises. I had never noticed the restaurant was ever busy. When we arrived, the place was packed to the gills.  They were seriously overbooked, and we waited, almost an hour and a half for our appetizers. The experience was not great, and really the only totally negative one of our 14 nights on the ship. The four of us walked out. We went to guest relations, and they gladly refunded the specialty dining cost to our onboard credit accounts.  both the hostess and guest relations people were very apologetic about the situation and rectified it in a prompt manner.
 

We then went to see the comedian for the 9 o’clock PG rated show he was very good. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet
Grammar

[MisterMet]

Monday 8/6

 

since we would not be arriving in San Juan until 4 PM, we spent most of the day just hanging around the solarium pool for some excellent relaxation. As concierge class guests, we were invited to see the sail in to San Juan from the helipad.  We have done this many times before on sale Waze from different ports, but this was the first time we had ever done this on a sail  into a port.  It is always a great experience.
 

We did not have an excursion planned, and wanted to eat at a local restaurant on our own with our friends.  We settled on Yeyos.  The food was great, and the owner actually gave our friend who has mobility issues, a ride back to port in his personal car.  It poured rain on us as we waited to get on the ship, but it was not enough to dampen our spirits (pardon the pun).

[MisterMet]

Tues 8/8 St Thomas

 

DW and I booked a ship excursion for snorkeling at Buck Island and a beach stop at Water Island.    The excursion was great.  We saw some colorful fish and even some sea turtles at Buck Island.  The beach stop at Dinghy’s on Water Island was fun.  The whole excursion only lasted 3 to 4 hours, but it was well worth it.
 

We got back on the ship and immediately headed to the cabin for a nap!  We weren’t used to such activity lol! 😆

 

That evening our friends went to Le Petit Chef at Q Sine and really enjoyed the experience , while we went to the main dining room for dinner. We found the food in the main dining room to be quite good, especially the steaks. A quick trip to the casino netted me about $40 I know, living large, right?  
 

The ABBA sing along in the foyer capped a great night. 

 

[MisterMet]

Wednesday 8/8

 

We had a late excursion so we went to the OVC for breakfast.  The food was pretty good and it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it might be( maybe timing is everything)?  
 

We had booked the America’s Cup sailing experience through the ship.  I used to own a sailboat, but haven’t been sailing since I sold it nearly 25 years ago.  It was something that, personally,  really wanted to do.  My wife was a little less excited about it, but afterward she would tell me how much she really loved it.

 

Team Canada raced Stars and Striped in 12 meter boats exactly like the ones used in 1987.

It was a wonderful day for sailing and great fun, even though I was just a passenger. You could participate in anything and everything if you wanted, or do nothing at all.  My wife helped out a little bit, while I was mainly just ballast.😆

 

Stars and Stripes nipped us at the line, but it was great being back out on the water.

 

We then hopped in a cab and headed over to Maho Beach for some plane, spotting, lunch, and, of course, new T-shirts!  (Tremendous!) The food at the Sunset Grill is always good, and the atmosphere at the beach cannot be beat. We highly recommend getting over there anytime you are in St Maarten.

 

 

We were back on the ship with enough time to take a nap (remember we’re in our late 50’s and early 60’s and nap often  😆) 

  

before we would dine in the Tuscan Grill. We found this to be the best of all of the specialty restaurants we visited during the first week. They service and food were both excellent. 

 

We highly recommend trying this wonderful spot at least once during your cruise.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet
Typos

[bunnyette]

Great review so far!

[mermee]

Enjoying your review

 

[MisterMet]

Thank You!  Lots more to come.😀

[39august]

Any vaping inside the ship?  Your comments on food are directly opposite of what several others are posting for both EQ and other ships. Glad to hear your take on it. 

[MisterMet]

Thursday 8/9 Tortola 

 

We arrived in Tortola early so we did room service breakfast. Continental room service breakfast is still no charge. Any other room service order gets charged a $9.95 service fee.  Danishes, muffins, yogurt, granola, and coffee, made up our a little personal menu..  We booked a ship excursion to Virgin Gorda for snorkeling and a hike to and through The Baths.  We had a rough ride on the Catamaran out to Virgin Gorda, but once we got there, it was incredible. The snorkeling was OK, but the hike to and through The Baths was the true highlight.  
 

The hike through The Baths would remind one of hiking through Arches National Park, but with gorgeous blue waters all around you.  There’s a beach and great bar/restaurant and a few vendors selling trinkets and tee shirts.  We had a blast.  We ate lunch locally at Bamboushay in town.  It was nice and relaxing.

 

We had a meet and greet with the officers when we got back.  It’s always interesting to find out a bit about them and thank them for taking such good care of us.

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet

[MisterMet]

7 minutes ago, 39august said:

Any vaping inside the ship?  Your comments on food are directly opposite of what several others are posting for both EQ and other ships. Glad to hear your take on it. 

Saw some vaping but not much.  Didn’t really spend much time in the casino however.  I thought the food was very good overall.  It’s subjective.  I’m also not really picky.

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet

[MisterMet]

Friday 8/11 Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 

 

We had originally signed up for the ship excursion to Damajagua Falls, but for some reason neither one of us was terribly excited about it. I initially was just tired of feeling like I was running from event to event and excursion to excursion.  I found out later from my wife, some information that sealed the deal for me.  
 

After speaking with one of these ships officers, who had done this excursion, she mentioned to my wife that there were snakes in the water at the falls swimming around after you jump in.

I am totally snake-phobic, and even though the snakes are not poisonous, I didn’t really see the need to bring my anxiety levels up. We informed the shore excursion desk that we would not be attending.  We did not get our money back nor did we ask for it as we canceled well inside the 24 hour cancellation period. We were fine eating the money.

 

We decided just to go into the port area of Taino Bay with our friend.  As port areas in the Caribbean go, this might be the nicest.  Right up there with Costa Maya.  Fun vibes with a few restaurants, pools, lazy river, and nice shops.  We had lunch there and bought some great local chocolate and souvenirs.

Dinner with out team of Mardika(waiter), Julina (asst waiter) Yanessa (hostess) and Annie (sommelier) was very good👍.  We always had a 8:15 reservation I made for Select Dining and rarely waited more than a minute to be seated. Do it on the Cruise Planner or app to save you from waiting in line.  
 

The adult comedy show (Sean Terry I think his name was) was a hoot.  
 

My wife’s hot streak on the slots came to an end. so we turned in knowing we could sleep in as sea day 2 was awaiting us.

 

[39august]

Glad to hear Yanessa is still on EQ. We have sailed with her several times. 

[MisterMet]

53 minutes ago, 39august said:

Glad to hear Yanessa is still on EQ. We have sailed with her several times. 

she is so nice and took great care of us

[MisterMet]

Saturday 8/12 Sea Day 2

 

It’s funny about sea days for us.  We wake up with grand plans of what we want to do for the day and only accomplish about half or 1/4 of what we had set out to do. Maybe we both suffer from adult ADHD?  We just never stick to our plan.
 

The original plan was to get up and walk the decks for exercise. We start on the deck where our cabin is walk the entire length from forward to aft, and then ascend to the outer decks. We then put in our time outside. Plans made, and plans followed.

 

We then wanted to grab something to eat. We had plans to go to the OVC, but bagged it for the elite coffee lounge at the Tuscan Grill. We both agreed that exercising before breakfast would be healthier.  However, it doesn’t really matter how much exercise you do prior to eating a plate full of danishes and pastries, a cheese plate, a smoothie, and have some of your wife’s salmon and bagels.  At that rate, I would’ve had to have exercised for about five hours!  😆😆

 

Breakfast was excellent and we went about what we thought were our plans for the day. Lounging and relaxing seem to be on our mind, but all we did was run from activity to activity all day long. It seemed like we didn’t want to miss anything, even though we would be on the ship for another week!

 

Trivia contests  won, slot, tournaments, lost, and lots of shopping to kill our OBC took up the majority of the day.

 

We had an early dinner reservations at Murano with our friends. The food in Murano is always excellent. We have been there many times. However, they service this time seemed to be lacking.  The extra attention to detail was definitely missing. Perhaps it was because this was the last night of the cruise and we had already paid for the meal with our dining package?  They even told us not to pay attention to the à la carte menu with the wine pairing because we probably weren’t going to order from it anyway. I do not know a whole lot about up selling, but that didn’t seem to be the way to do it.  All said, the meal was excellent, but the experience was maybe a B minus.

 

After dinner, we participated in the Naughty Games.  This is an adult version of the Family Feud.  It was totally hilarious adult fun.  If you are not easily offended, or have a personality a bit on the raunchy side, this is the game for you! It was totally fun.  

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet

[39august]

Were there any "Beyond the Podium" presentations and if so, what, please?  Also asking this for your next b2b cruise. Seems these were lacking in May on EQ, and we are back in 4 weeks. Hope to see something interesting.

[MisterMet]

21 minutes ago, 39august said:

Were there any "Beyond the Podium" presentations and if so, what, please?  Also asking this for your next b2b cruise. Seems these were lacking in May on EQ, and we are back in 4 weeks. Hope to see something interesting.

They did have a Q/A with some members of the entertainment staff (CD Lewis) and other performers about life on the ship.  It was in the entertainment court outside Celebrity Central.  Our friend went the first cruise, and then stopped by on the next cruise.  Same line of questions/answers.  As far as enrichment, I do remember seeing port seminars on the TV that were taped in the theater.  

[hcat]

4 hours ago, MisterMet said:

Friday 8/11 Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 

 

We had originally signed up for the ship excursion to Damajagua Falls, but for some reason neither one of us was terribly excited about it. I initially was just tired of feeling like I was running from event to event and excursion to excursion.  I found out later from my wife, some information that sealed the deal for me.  
 

After speaking with one of these ships officers, who had done this excursion, she mentioned to my wife that there were snakes in the water at the falls swimming around after you jump in.

I am totally snake-phobic, and even though the snakes are not poisonous, I didn’t really see the need to bring my anxiety levels up. We informed the shore excursion desk that we would not be attending.  We did not get our money back nor did we ask for it as we canceled well inside the 24 hour cancellation period. We were fine eating the money.

 

We decided just to go into the port area of Taino Bay with our friend.  As port areas in the Caribbean go, this might be the nicest.  Right up there with Costa Maya.  Fun vibes with a few restaurants, pools, lazy river, and nice shops.  We had lunch there and bought some great local chocolate and souvenirs.

Dinner with out team of Mardika(waiter), Julina (asst waiter) Yanessa (hostess) and Annie (sommelier) was very good👍.  We always had a 8:15 reservation I made for Select Dining and rarely waited more than a minute to be seated. Do it on the Cruise Planner or app to save you from waiting in line.  
 

The adult comedy show (Sean Terry I think his name was) was a hoot.  
 

My wife’s hot streak on the slots came to an end. so we turned in knowing we could sleep in as sea day 2 was awaiting us.

 

looks great.. thanks for posting this..no need to head away far from the port area!  was there any fee for the pool area and loungers?  

 

enjoying your review!

[MisterMet]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

looks great.. thanks for posting this..no need to head away far from the port area!  was there any fee for the pool area and loungers?  

 

enjoying your review!

Thanks for your comments and questions.  The pool and lounger areas were pretty crowded on sea days as expected.  The upper level (Mast Grill level ) had a few openings.  The Solarium was not as crowded.  Could find loungers just about anytime.  There were lots of families on both cruises which also may explain the crowds.

[MisterMet]

Sunday 8/13 Fort Lauderdale 

 

Is it called embarkation? Debarkation? Turnaround day? All of the above? None of the above? Can I ask anymore questions? Lol.😆

 

We had never done a B2B prior to this, so we were very interested to see how this would all play out.  We received information in our cabin about the procedures for back to back cruisers. We were requested to go to Celebrity Central  at 9:30.  We were presented with transit passes. At about 9:45, we were escorted out of CC and made our way into the terminal. We walked up to the facial recognition monitor, got cleared, and we’re now headed back toward the ship. We were back on board by 9:55.  We never saw an immigration agent or was asked to present any paperwork whatsoever. It was a very neat and clean experience.

 

We spent the next hour or two at Café Al Bacio, sipping espresso‘s, and cappuccinos as the captain and his two senior most officers were doing the same.  We asked them if they needed any help getting out of the port since we were seasoned pros from the first cruise! Lol. 😆. They actually thought it was pretty funny.
 

We did the concierge class lunch again in the main dining room and I again ordered the grilled chicken. It was great just like the first time.  We headed up to the solarium to stake out some loungers for the rest of the day. We had decided earlier that we would relax much more on this cruise than the previous one. I think we stuck to our guns this time.
 

We dined in the main dining room this evening. We skipped the production show “Life” as we had seen it on the last night of the first cruise. We thought it was pretty good though.  We headed to the cabin early and called it an evening.

Edited August 20, 2023 by MisterMet

[MisterMet]

Monday 8/14 Sea Day #2 (or 3 if you were counting the first cruise)

 

We had planned to relax this day, and relax we did.  Naps in both the cabin and Solarium with lunch at the Mast Grill in between, killed most of our day.  We did see an awesome sunset, ran into an old friend, and enjoyed the Silent Disco like always.  We ate well in the MDR.  We opted not to buy a specialty dining package because we did them the first cruise.