Galaxy2004

@rollie Yes, that was our first Celebrity cruise and the beginning of our love of cruising!

Hurricane Cards. What a great idea! We spend a lot of time on a houseboat in the summer and it can be quite breezy. Often the wind drives us inside if we want to play cards. Just ordered a couple of decks to try out. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, I reminded Jamie several times that we could have been enjoying ourselves on the Cosol Tour instead of her almost being killed by a horse!

@countess5I'll definitely follow your continuing adventure (with a bit of envy no less). How thoughtful of you to do that for Jan! Please tell him that Virginia and Jamie say hello and we miss him!!

@Cruise till you drop We both talked about how clean the ship was and how great it looks considering the millions of passengers she has hosted since her launch in 2009. The rails on our balconies need to be stripped and redone and unlike some I prefer the gray tones on Apex and look forward to them refreshing all the cabins on Equinox. Not a fan of the old orange and beige. The public areas were all clean and well maintained. The atrium area continues to impress. Staff everywhere cleaning rails and glass. In port there were guys painting over scuff marks on the hull. Staff mopping up on the decks and in Ocean View. Though I like the rooms and decor on Apex, I much prefer the layout of the Solstice class and would not hesitate to book again.

Excursions - Last one - Antigua Destination Highlight: Catamaran Cruising to Green Island. Let me start with the catamaran was great - large, clean, etc. The crew was great - focusing on safety, friendly, drinks flowing on the way back. The long ride to and from Green Island, not so much. The ride out there was extremely rough open water, with several passengers getting seasick. It also took an hour to get to the island. For those who wanted to snorkel, they were directed off the boat immediately upon arrival and had to snorkel as a guided group along the shore to a point and back. Several I talked to said they saw only a few gar and seaweed. No one I talked to enjoyed the snorkeling. I was hoping to walk around but the beach we were at was cut off from the other areas so you could only go about 25 yards in each direction. The only wildlife we say were a few lizards. We lounged in shade above the beach for about 40 minutes, then the snorkelers returned and the crew served lunch on the catamaran. Lunch was a side salad, chicken, fish, and a side. After lunch we were given another 15 minutes at the beach, so those who had snorkeled basically got no real beach time. Again, drinks flowed freely on the return trip. They took us closer to the shoreline so it was a bit calmer but there were still some “green” looking folks on the return trip. They took us through one marina to look at some of the massive yachts so the return trip was around 1.5 hours. So, total of about 2.5 hours on the catamaran. Much too much time for such a short beach stay. It was advertised as a 6-hour excursion, but we got back to the ship right at all aboard time so they did the most they could with it. Me, I love being on the water so thoroughly enjoyed the bouncing up and down on the catamaran. I also met a couple of people who love boat and we talked a lot about the high waves and how much fun that was. But I agreed with several others I talked to in that there are so many beautiful beaches on Antigua, many much closer to the port, and there was nothing special on Green Island, so I wouldn’t recommend this trip. No dis to the operator and crew. They were great.

Excursions Part 5 - St Lucia Well, my BFF has been riding horses for 40+ years and dreamed of riding a horse in the ocean so she booked us the Horse Ride Trail and Beach excursion. They divided us based on riding experience, which for me was ZERO. I got a 19-year-old horse named Tradition who kept stumbling, supposedly because of new shoes. She got a young mare named Geena. We were led along a paved road through a residential section and then along an old rocky roadbed/trail, before reaching a beach. It was approaching the beach where Geena started to freak out due to very high winds, heavy equipment removing seaweed along the shore, and kite surfers. The mare was terrified and kept raring up. One of the handlers finally got a hold of her but then he jerked her bridle so hard that she buckled her rear and finally my BFF said a big “HELL NO” and was able to jump off. The handler proceeded to berate my BFF for dismounting. They then tied the mare to a tree where she jerked her head and stamped her feet trying to get away from the machinery before they finally moved her out of the area. We did get to ride in the ocean – on 2 pre-selected horses who were the only ones allowed in the ocean so we got to go in groups of 2 for about 5 minutes, which was plenty of time. As we were preparing to load back up one of the other riders decided the episode with Geena was too much and she wanted a car ride back. The tour operators said they couldn’t arrange that!! Well, luckily the tour guide worked directly with Celebrity so he found someone to take her back. My BFF then took that lady’s horse. If only it ended there. Well, next thing you know the horse in front of her decides to roll in the sand with its rider – another experienced rider. That rider was able to get off before the horse rolled on top of her, but she did have a some pretty good scratches on her leg. After seeing the other horse roll my BFF’s horse decided he wanted to roll in the sand, but my BFF was able to keep him under control long enough to dismount and elected to walk the rest of the way back. The tour guide working with Celebrity took information to report the incidents, and was seriously concerned about losing his job. However, at no time did the tour operator’s employees (Cox and Company) – express any concern about the way the horses acted. We did all make it back, but several riders mentioned that they would never do another horse riding tour in the Caribbean. We later ran into the lady whose horse rolled with her and she said she reported the incident at the shore excursion desk and all they asked was whether she wanted to go to medical. According to her, they did not document the incident or take any information from her about the incident. I do think some on the tour enjoyed it and for me it was neat to ride a horse on the beach. Back on the ship we were treated to a Caribbean shower followed by a double rainbow while enjoying time at the Sunset Bar and then watched a private class at the Hot Glass Show.

Excursions Part 4 - Martinique Again, you need a passport to disembark in Martinique. Celebrity will not let you off the ship. The port personnel are checking only for ship cards, but Celebrity has your card tagged so if you are cruising only with a birth certificate. Martinque – My BFF had applied for a renewed passport but it didn’t make it in time so she could not go ashore in Martinque. They notified her when we first boarded in Fort Lauderdale and then put a reminder card on her door the night before Martinque. I visited a couple of museums and a really nice library and walked around the city. It was Saturday so it was busy and lively and I saw more locals than cruisers!!

Excursions Part 3 Grenada – We walked up to the fort where we ran into some passengers from our neck of the woods. Ended up joining them for lunch. It's a pretty good walk up to the fort but there are some good views after you get there.

Excursions - Part 2 St. Kitts –Small Group Discoveries: St. Kitts Culinary Experience and Rum Tasting – Nice that it was limited to 24 passengers. Short ride to Fairview Great House, a former plantation. Meal was prepared by a self-trained “chef” and her mother handled the rum tasting. Both were very entertaining. It was a tasty meal of coconut dumplings, chicken, fish, plantains, etc. Plenty of food. 5 generous rums samples. Had plenty of time afterward to tour the grounds. There’s also a slavery exhibit on premises. Highly recommend. The only issue we had is they had some problems getting a bus to take us back so ended up waiting about 30 minutes for that.

Excursions - Part 1 When traveling with my DH we always do private tours. However, my BFF has a pretty strong fear of missing the ship so we do ship tours. Plus, we both had onboard credit from future cruise books as well as the promotion at the time we booked AND we booked during the 35% off excursions promotion! Behind-The-Scenes Ship Tour – Small group and a great tour of the galley, laundry, recycling center, engine control room, and bridge. A good amount of walking and up and down tight stairs so not a tour for mobility-limited. Officers took time at each location to provide lots of information and answer questions. Captain took time to say hello while we were touring the bridge. After lots of COVID restrictions on our Apex cruises, it was great to get to interact with the officers – and the officers on Equinox are AMAZING. So many smiling faces out and about the entire cruise. The Captain was off greeting passengers as we disembarked in a couple of ports and we ran in to him several times around the ship.

Internet I had the streaming package and it was the best it’s ever been for me on a cruise. I noticed it was a bit slower between 10am and Noon on the sea days, but otherwise it was fine for the work I needed to get done, watching videos, sending emails, and texting. Spa Boy they were pushing spa deals this cruise. We had “mail” from them almost every day. We did visit the spa on the 3rd evening to check on Persian Garden passes. We were able to get it for $99 each for the remainder of the cruise. Natalia was always super friendly when we came. The Equinox PG is not as nice as Apex, but it was never crowded and we often escaped there to relax. It was super clean, though a couple of days they had the temperature of the steam sauna high enough to burn your throat and the hairs in your nose if you breathed! Also, for those who go there, please don’t come there to chat with your friends😏. It’s the one place we are supposed to be able to escape to for some quiet time.

Entertainment We go on cruises to relax and really don’t require a lot to keep us entertained. I’m not a fan of cruise production shows. I did enjoy Tree of Life on Apex, but that was probably more about the theater than the actual show. We did go to Topper one night. It was fine to see once. Abba and Queen nights were fairly popular in the Grand Foyer, but silent disco was nothing like it was on our Apex cruises. We did Deal or No Deal 2 on the first 2 sea days. The first time I won $200 for matching 5 numbers and another attendee won a cruise. The second time we shared a 5-card package and my BFF was the contestant for the first round. She walked away with $5☹. Then the next supposedly randomly selected ticket was another one of her 5 pack!! There was quite a bit of grumbling when her name came up again but the activities host promised it was random selection. I went up this time and we walked away with $216. It was fun. Did not do it the last 2 sea days. We did go by the Casino and give cashier Jerry an extra tip for selling us 2 good tickets! We like to spend time in the Casino. It was kind to me this trip, especially at the blackjack table. The casino manager was great – really friendly and walking around chatting with everyone. Plus, they had low minimum tables on the last 2 sea days and several free slot tournaments. The casino was not kind to my BFF, who likes to max bet on the slot machines. They had probably 20 new slot machines since my November cruise. Most of those were $0.88 minimums – replacing $0.50-0.60 minimums. No matter the terrible odds, the casino had plenty of players each night and the $10 minimum blackjack tables (2 of them) were always full at night.

Drinks Neither of us are big drinkers, but I purchased the zero-proof package in advance as I enjoy the convenience of grabbing waters and red bulls whenever I want. Something got mixed up and they gave me the premium package instead. No complaints on getting the premium alcohol upgrade for free!! I would never pay for either alcohol package as I’m not a big drinker, but I did enjoy a nice drink each day at the World Bar (loved the Banana Republic), Craft Social (Tito’s Punch), or the Sunset Bar (always let the bartender choose). Though Ocean View was crowded at lunch, we normally had a bartender visit each lunch and if I wanted something before they got there I just went to the Ocean View bar and grabbed it there. We often set in the chairs along the putting green near the Sunset Bar and we always had multiple visits from bartenders in that area. We also had good service when longing in the solarium (if we could just get those in the hot tubs to use their inside voices🙂. My favorite on cruises is sugar free red bull and the Spa Slushes. Finding sugar free red bull on the ship was hard until day 3. After that I could normally find it at the Mast Bar, Ocean View Bar, or Craft Social. The only place to get a good Spa Slush was the Observation Lounge, though last November the best place was Craft Social. I do think if a bar has a drink on their menu, then all bartenders there should know how to make that drink.

Food - Having cruised back when there were midnight buffets with ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, and fruit carvings as well as theme buffets at least one night a cruise on the pool deck, and having my most memorable cruise meal being in Ocean Liners on Constellation many years ago, I agree that things have changed and continue to change. We still had plenty of good food with enough variety to keep us happy. Murano - We ate the first night in Murano and it was good. Stars of that meal for me were the beef tartare and the grand marnier souffle. Table side deboning of the dover dole is always fun to watch and waiter Barin had obviously done it many times. After hearing about crazy long waits in anytime dining, we're glad we started the cruise off with a nice relaxing dinner. Ocean View breakfast - We always had breakfast in Ocean View (along with grabbing an almond croissant in Café al bacio a few mornings!). This was a full sailing, so it was crowded at breakfast, especially if you wanted omelets or poached eggs, and finding a table always took a bit of time. As far as food, I still enjoy their waffles so a couple mornings I got a waffle and then topped it with whipped cream, dried cranberries, bananas, and nuts. Other days it was a croissant with butter and honey baked ham or Canadian bacon. We weren’t fans of the donuts or daily bakery highlights (cinnamon roll, banana bread, etc). There was always pineapple, oranges, cantaloupe, cereal, etc. if you wanted a bit healthier fare. Ocean View lunch – I miss the wider variety of cheeses and breads, but there are still plenty of options. I like the Indian and Asian focused dishes (rice, noodles, curry, etc.). Not impressed by the pot pies they had one day. I also like the chicken salad and egg salad so those as sandwiches with a side salad or one of their pasta salads work great for lunch. One thing we missed though was the stir fry station. That was our favorite on Apex!! Ocean View dinner – Yes, the offerings have been reduced, but we had dinner here 3 nights and were fine. We would love to have had a grill or stir fry station though and hope they add something like that to the offerings. There were never more than 20 or 30 other diners when we were there (usually around 7). Main dining dinner – A quick disclaimer – I’m a breakfast and lunch person, and usually have a small dinner so I’m not into eating a big meal at night. I’m the same when I cruise so I’ve never really enjoyed the 1.5-2 hour multi-course dinner, especially late seating, which is always my DH’s preference. Luckily my BFF is like me so we did anytime dining with no reservations because we like the flexibility. We are also fine with waiting. We waited 15 – 30 minutes most nights but did have a hour wait one night. We also saw some with reservations being told they would have to wait. I was disappointed in how some of our fellow passengers treated the hostess, who honestly was doing the best she could. For us, we just grabbed the pager and lounged in Craft Social or went to the Casino until it beeped. The food was fine, but, honestly, that’s always how I’ve felt about the main dining room meals. Items worth noting to me: chickpea-tomato soup; the escargot was better than it was on my November Equinox cruise; I got the timeless salmon one night and it was cooked perfectly; I actually like the pork and beans everyone’s been laughing about. I’m a sweet dessert person so seldom like the desserts but their chocolate torte is good. Main dining lunch – We did eat in the dining room on the last day to avoid the chaos in Ocean View. Fried chicken was a pleasant surprise and the key lime pie was my favorite dessert for the week. We'll have to visit this venue more often in the future on sea days. Ice cream – always busy. After eight and pistachio remain good picks for me. Spa Café – I like the refuel smoothie and salmon salad for lunch but the offerings are repetitive so not a highlight to me.

Ship and Rooms I was in 6246 (above lifeboats) and she was in 6234 (hump cabin). Rooms were clean but we look forward to them being updated and boy we missed all the outlets in the Apex rooms. Our room attendant was Jan from the Philippines. He was awesome. Always there when we needed him, but not intrusive. Don’t book 6246 if light bothers you as the lifeboats are lit up and so there’s always light outside your room. If you are like me and like to wake up by natural light, this was a bit of a bummer. Also, we and passengers in a couple of rooms in between us also heard some banging and clanging below us – maybe from the restrooms near Ensemble Lounge? I love the Solstice class because of the multi-story atrium. I love to spend time in the library - though it's not always quiet because of all the activities they do in the Grand Foyer, and I use the 6th floor concierge/captain's club area for checking in at work. All areas were clean and saw only a few spots of wear and tear. I would love to see them do away with the lawn club and put in the Roof Top Garden area like on the Edge class. We were always able to find places to lounge in and out of the sun, even with a bit of chair saving going on around the pool area.

@countess5 has a live thread going and this voyage was part of their 47-day trip. Didn’t want to intrude on that thread, but here are my thoughts on this 10-night segment. Background – 15th cruise on Celebrity, with the first being on Galaxy in 2004. 3 cruises last year (2 on Apex, 1 on Equinox). Normally cruise with DH and in-laws, but this trip was with my BFF, who also did Apex 2 x with me last year. We had separate rooms thanks to a great solo supplement promotion. Love good food, but do no expect 4 or 5-star dining on a cruise ship. I normally book non-suite balcony rooms and seldom do specialty dining. I cruise this time of the year in the Caribbean to RELAX and get away from Tennessee winters. I'll break down posts based on different subjects to keep the posts shorter. Happy to answer any questions. Embarkation - We had 11:30 boarding time, having reserved that through the app as soon as we could. Arrived about 10.45 and walked straight into the terminal. BFF had to meet with Guest Relations at the check-in counter so they explain to her she could not get off the ship in Martinique since her renewed passport didn't make it in time for the trip. She did get different answers on this when she called a couple of weeks ago, but we were prepared for this based on our own research. Completed our safety briefing in the app while waiting. Though there was already a full house waiting to board, we were onboard by 11:20. Embarkation is soooo much better than it used to be.

We don't make reservations because we enjoy the flexibility of going when we want each night. We understand there may be a wait and don't have a problem with that. Similar to eating out when not on the ship.

On Equinox now. Have anytime dining. Went 2nd night at 7.15 and had a 1 hour wait. Went tonight at 6 and waited 15 mins. Both times got a pager and enjoyed drinks at Craft Social until buzzed. Wait will depend on how many of your fellow guests decide to eat at the same time. Ate last night at Ocean View/buffet and though choices were more limited than in the past (15+ cruises with Celebrity), we were fine with the options. Agree with others that it would be nice to have grill options available at the buffet in the evening.

I recently had to push back with an agent who said they did not stack. This is verbiage from the cruise planner saying they are combinable. Drink packages say otherwise. He swore his system wouldn't let him stack the wifi discounts so he did the pre-cruise price then added on-board credit for the difference. This past November, I had an agent that stacked the discount without any problem. Sure wish we didn't have to call to get the discounts and they would simply apply to your account as you book it since your status is there.