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The Fun Researcher

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    Equinox late night food options? ...Like 11pm - 1am?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    On Royal we're accustomed to grabbing pizza and finger sandwiches from Sorento's and/or Cafe Promenade late in the evening after we've hit the bars (Say, between 11pm - 1am)

     

    What does the Equinox have available for us after we've had our fun mingling and drinking for the evening? We will have three to four couples all cruising together in August and we'll surely need some bites to eat later.

     

    What are the options and where are they located? Thank you!

     

    Thanks,

    Dan

    When Will Equinox Leave Fort Lauderdale to Start Sailing Out of Miami

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    That's an option but was planning to do some shopping and the items are not allowed in carry-on.

     

     

    Maybe I misunderstood your original post?

     

    With early disembarkation you bring all of your luggage off the ship with you, both checked and carry on sizes. You don't set it out the night before you disembark, and you don't need to find it in the cruise terminal.

     

    Dan

     

     

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    When Will Equinox Leave Fort Lauderdale to Start Sailing Out of Miami

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Last time it took me 2 hours to retrieve bags in Miami. I hate the carousel system but longshoremen did not want to do heavy lifting. I have an 11:30 flight so I hope luggage valet will be an option.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

     

     

    Can you do early departure and bring all your bags with you rather than setting them out the night before? That's what we've done with RCI when we've needed to leave early.

     

    Dan

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    When Will Equinox Leave Fort Lauderdale to Start Sailing Out of Miami

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Would have liked the Equinox or one of the other Solstice Class ships to sail out of Port Canaveral. They have much better facilities than either the Port of Miami or Port Everglades.

     

    Without a doubt! Our very first cruise was out of Port Canaveral. Fantastic.

     

    Imagine our surprise as we pulled into the Fort Lauderdale container yard, I mean cruise port, for our cruise after that one.

     

    Unfortunately, all of the ships that we've wanted to sail on, with the correct itineraries have been out of Ft. Lauderdale. Our next is out of Miami, but still not expecting anything like the quality of Port Canaveral.

     

    Dan

    Equinox Departs Miami at 3:30, how late can someone embark?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Looks promising. If there's one little bit I can contribute, we've made it a habit to enjoy the local color a little while and not hit the port the second they start boarding people. I mean, you basically eat, walk the ship and wait for your cabin. Two of those you can do plenty of over the next few days, and the third is really nobody's favorite. On several occasions we'd get to the port with hours to spare before boarding closed and the terminal is practically deserted. We'd just breeze right on through.

     

    So here's hoping the 8:31am arrival works like a charm, but if the arrival is a little delayed things should still work out. A lot delayed... let's not even go there. We're with you on the "always fly down the day before" plan, but we do the "Drive to Galveston the morning of" plan and usually end up having to kill a couple hours.

     

    Thank you.

     

    Dan

    Equinox Departs Miami at 3:30, how late can someone embark?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I would worry more about delays when returning the rental car and then getting them to transport you to the port. We had a ridiculous delay when returning our rental. This, in turn, caused us to miss the shuttle leaving and we had to wait on another one.

     

    Yeah, been there. I agree. We've mostly sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale and when I return our rental to the Avis location near the port I don't even use the shuttle anymore, but rather grab a cab. The $20 or less is worth the immediate return to the ship.

     

    We took the rare risk of flying day of for January 7th's Reflection cruise. It was the day of the ice in Atlanta. Due to a flight attendant not getting to work on time, 2 1/2 of the 3 hours wiggle room we had got eaten up. We were on board around 2:00 for a 3:00 all aboard. Never again!! Hope things work out for the OP's friends.

     

    Thanks. With an 8:30 am arrival into MIA, they now have close to 5 1/2 hours of wiggle room.

     

    We no longer plan to pick them up on our way from Ft. Lauderdale (where we're staying the night before) to the Miami cruise terminal. They will grab a cab or Uber. I will be heading straight to the ship and the Avis cruise port location, and grabbing a cab from there to the ship.

     

    ...and glad it worked out for you. That stress must have been a pretty crappy way to start your vacation!

     

    Dan

    Price drop after final payment

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Nothing wrong with trying. May as well give it a shot.

     

    I've never tried to get any sort of refund/credit after final payment, primarily because I know going in that I'm very likely paying more than those that wait until the last minute.

     

    I'm willing to pay that extra to guarantee that I have the exact stateroom that I want reserved for me, with no worries for us that way.

     

    Dan

    Equinox Departs Miami at 3:30, how late can someone embark?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    So the bottom line is you would rather worry all the way down there and hope every minute that there are no problems. Is it worth it !

     

     

    Really??

     

    We are flying down the day before, but our friends absolutely cannot. We have cruised with them twice before, and we have always flown down the day before. (For all 5 of our previous cruises) .

     

    We may let them find their own transportation from FLL to the Miami cruise terminal. Bottom line is that my wife and I will NOT have any chance of missing our cruise. We're just doing everything we can to help our friends do the same.

     

    Thanks for your helpful comments. [emoji849]

     

    Dan

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    Equinox Departs Miami at 3:30, how late can someone embark?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Are your friends coming from MI too ? Is this a cruise in Feb/Mar ? If so I would do everything possible to fly down the day before. 90% of the time everything works out OK - but there is always that possibility that there are delays with aircraft, especially if the flight is coming from somewhere else 1st.

     

    For example say they book a 9 AM out of Detroit but the plane is coming from ORD, any weather at all in Chicago will delay and possibly cancel the flight and you do not have elite status with that airline they could be SOL.

     

     

    We are going in August and their flight arrives to Fort Lauderdale at 10 am. We are arriving the night before to Fort Lauderdale. They will have no checked bags and my wife and I will be picking them up with our rental car immediately after their flight lands. I will then drive us all to the Miami cruise terminal and drop them off and return the rental and taxi/uber back to ship.

     

    So we basically have a little under 4 hours from the time their flight lands to get from FLL to the Miami cruise terminal, drop them off, return the car and taxi back to the cruise terminal.

     

    Dan

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    Best beach on St. Thomas?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Did trunk bay earlier this month, I've never seen anything as beautiful as this on any other island. Lots of wonderful ones on St. John. Entrance was about $5 and it was $6 per person for the taxi each way from the port. We used the celebrity excursion transfer to guarantee our passage in case there was a problem. I have to say though we were late, very late back, the tour guide had lost 12 people, we had 2 from the wrong ship do we had to drop them at the other dock and shore excursion staff were panicking. They waited an extra 45 minutes in St. John for the missing ones who turned out to have got on the first boat back that went to the wrong dock. The good news, it was a celebrity transfer so the ship had to wait for us.

     

    We would like to visit trunk bay in August, taxiing from St. Thomas just as you did.

     

    Can you explain what you wrote: "We used the celebrity excursion transfer to guarantee our passage in case there was a problem."?

     

    The only excursion I see listed on the Celebrity site that is maybe similar to what you describe is the "St John on your own", for $39 each. Is this what you did, or something else?

     

    Any help with explaining your excursion and the costs would be very helpful.

     

    Thanks,

    Dan

    Equinox or Allure

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Although our kids are much younger, we debated the same thing for our November family cruise. As much as we looked forward to trying an S-class Celebrity ship, there are very, very few activities designed for the younger crowd. By comparison, the Allure has a virtual smorgasbord of options for them.

     

    Our solution was to do a "Mom and Dad" only cruise on the S-class ship and book a ship with more activities for our November family cruise.

     

    We are looking at NCL and the Allure as options for the family. We were on the Oasis (wife and I only), and while the ship is actually a little too big for our taste, we would have a great time on it with the kids.

     

    Dan

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