markeb

I don't know that the ship would make a lot of difference. It's a port intensive itinerary, almost like Europe. There were four sea days, so the ship could matter there. If you're booking Retreat, I suspect Edge class would be nice, but probably (much?) more expensive.

Random thoughts on the Retreat Experience on this cruise This was our third cruise in a Sky Suite, all on the Equinox. One was supposed to be the Edge in 2020, but we had some personal issues even before the shutdown, and Equinox in 2022 was a better itinerary and price. Each has been different, with 2018 being "BR" or Before Retreat. It's kind of strange, but we probably enjoyed our Retreat experience as much on this cruise, but used the Retreat unique venues less. That's counterintuitive, even writing it. Part of that was because this was a port heavy itinerary, and we did lunch at Sushi on 5 when we might have gone to the Retreat sundeck. We did go to the sundeck 2-3 times during our sea days, but we did that last cruise with fewer total days—just one of those weird things. The Retreat lounge on Equinox has always seemed underused. It's a great place to grab a couple of sodas or bottles of water on the go. The bar was fine, but it was never bustling, so the social aspect that was present in Michael's in 2018 wasn't there. I suspect that varies from cruise to cruise, and you can't generalize. Luminae was still a great venue and the staff was terrific. In the right mood, I could write a dissertation on the challenges of maintaining Luminae as both an upscale restaurant and a primary dining room. It's not an easy balance. I think they did it well, but it's far from perfect. "Worth it" is a value judgment. We paid for the Retreat. A significant upcharge, offset somewhat by the OBC that really doesn't exist today. We enjoyed the experience, so for us, it provided value. We will likely eventually explore the true premium/luxury lines, but Celebrity may still provide the value we want. I think there are itineraries where we'd explore other lines, probably HAL, again. I know the Edge class was designed for the Retreat experience, but I kind of enjoy the S-Class where you get that experience, but have plenty of other options. And we both enjoy listening to music, dancing on occasion, and meeting other people. I would have to do a lot of research on the premium/luxury lines to know if they offer that balance; a lot of posts here lead me to question that. We were invited to sail away on the helipad from Saint Kitts. Our departure was delayed for a medical issue, and we basically went to the helipad with a bunch of other people and never actually sailed away. Interestingly, we talked to several people and more than one just randomly offered how well they felt Celebrity was doing the Retreat experience. Random convenience sample, just like Cruise Critic, but a resoundingly different view than is commonly expressed here. If that's more representative of their customer base, then... We booked this cruise and an Alaska southbound next spring before rates went crazy. I don't expect those rates to drop dramatically if they continue selling cruises. We keep talking about planning a longish trip to Italy, for instance, and just finding a nice place to stay for 10-14 days in Tuscany and day-tripping. We'll see.

It was ala carte last week on Equinox.

A little about the ports. We chose this cruise largely because we'd only been to one of the ports, and DW had just retired after 34 years of teaching and we could finally travel during the shoulder season and on a longer (10-day) cruise. We had a significant ($1600) amount of OBC from booking the Retreat onboard during a promotion so we did ship's excursions. We tend to do things independently in the Caribbean, but we didn't know the ports, and the excursions worked well for us. Antigua: We did an excursion to Nelson's Dockyard. About an hour bus ride each way but a fascinating piece of history that we both enjoyed. I need to do some research on that history to understand how this little protected harbor in the Caribbean was discovered and became essentially a maintenance depot for the British fleet, including the time that Nelson was there. Barbados: We had a hard time picking an excursion. They sold out early. We had booked one beach day that was canceled two days out and we ended up on a different excursion to Carlisle Beach. It was a wonderful day. A little bit of rain (but we were in the water anyway), gentle surf, clear water, and mostly sunshine. We'd go back in a heartbeat! Saint Lucia: A "small group" tour. More or less. There were 2-3 20-passenger buses on the same route with 10-15 minutes between groups. We had lunch with one of the other groups. It was a long but generally enjoyable day. It rained, of course. The bus driver apparently fancied himself in NASCAR, and the island is nothing but one hairpin switchback after another. But we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of the island. Martinique: We picked an excursion that went to one of the old churches and the nearby botanical garden, then went to the Clement plantation and rum distillery. Saint Kitts: The only port we'd visited. We did a beach day, but this was last Saturday as the storms were working their way up the Caribbean and the Florida coast. Even the Caribbean side of the island was pretty brutal. We had fun, but it would have been much nicer on a calmer day. That's just luck of the draw.

I'll add a few truly random thoughts on entertainment! We're not production show people. This was our third cruise on Equinox, and we realized at some point that we didn't actually go into the theater other than meeting for excursions. There are a few reasons for that. First, we were eating mostly at 7-7:30, which is an awkward time for the shows. Second, we'd seen the production shows, and honestly don't care for either Topper or Elysium. I don't know that we've successfully made it through either of them. That's probably a thread unto itself, but I hate seeing the talent they have onboard wasted on this bizarre song and dance, with a for no particular reason interlude into an aerobatics performance. That may just be us. The singers and dancers are pretty good. I just wish they had some better material to work with. On the other hand, the musical performers around the ship on this cruise were outstanding. There were actually too many of them, and we only caught a couple of very good acts once or twice. I am now convinced the Grand Foyer on the S-Class is the worst-designed venue for live music maybe ever! The acoustics aren't great, the sound carries up rather than out, and the support pillars completely break up the sight lines if you want to see the band. Two acts stood out. The house "Party Band" (a new title for me) was a British quintet called The Waves. There was a keyboardist/vocalist who was clearly the bandleader (probably the band organizer, in all honesty), a drummer, a bassist (smallish female, kind of unusual), a very good lead guitarist who could shred a Strat pretty well, and a "frontwoman" vocalist with an impressive range. We found out they'd been on Equinox since July and this week's (11/21-29) cruise is their last. They did a little bit of everything, including the guitar solo from Hotel California (look up how that was recorded...) with one guitar and a couple of Adele covers (and some Eddie Van Halen). We started following them around the ship early on, and they were a blast. There was also a string duo, male acoustic guitar and female violin that were equally great. They just were mostly one set off our schedule, although we walked down to the Ensemble one evening and the violinist was about midway through doing Jimmy Page's "Stairway to Heaven" solo on a violin! They did a silent disco in the foyer one night with two channels of DJ and one channel of live music (The Waves). That was a lot of fun. They also had an 80's music trivia night that I somehow got drafted into leading one side of the room after the original volunteer was having serious problems. My decade, but the other gal was generally faster. I did successfully get "Dancing in the Dark" on the first note, or I would have to give away my five Bruce tickets for next year... The weirdest thing was a British rock performance with the ship's cast mostly trying to do Queen. Unfortunately, the male performers were almost baritones maybe barely into the tenor range. Sad mutilation of Freddie's work. Overall, we enjoyed the entertainment, but did not go to the theater. Can't help those of you who love the shows.

Continuing with the food and drink theme... We had the premium package as part of the Retreat Package. I pretty much consider the wine and spirits situation to be a mixed bag at best. The by-the-glass selections have always been adequate, especially if you weren't really looking for a California cab, but the alternate red selection that's been really good in the past seemed limited this time. The first night, I had the filet and ultimately paid the upcharge for the Grgich Hills Cabernet, which was well spent for me. My wife enjoyed the Cherry Pie Pinot Noir one night, which isn't really my pinot noir preference. The Kendall Jackson was acceptable. We had better luck with whites. They had a very nice unoaked French Chardonnay and a nice California Fume Blanc. If you're into oak and butter for your chardonnay or grapefruit in your Sauvignon Blanc, they had those as well; I just don't generally care for those styles. We had a bunch of OBC, so we intentionally had bottles for two nights in Luminae and at Tuscan. The wine list in the app is not really dependable, both in inclusions and omissions. There was a very nice Washington Red Mountain merlot from a smallish winery we've visited (in the app) and an excellent Penner-Ash Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon that was not in the app. Tuscan had two Amarone in the app but they weren't available but they had an excellent Brunello di Montalcino. Wine Tastings: I did the World Wine Tasting, which I'd done before, and the Premium Wine Tasting. I'm not sure I can recommend the World Wine Tasting in the format from last week, and I don't know how you find out the format ahead of time. It was I think 7 countries with a red and a white wine each. Almost all of them were completely forgettable. The winner was a Penfolds Shiraz and, secondarily, an Antinori Super Tuscan. I didn't take notes but I recall another wine, I think from Argentina that was opened 3-5 years early and probably would be a really nice wine in 3-5 years. Otherwise it used up OBC... The premium tasting was either $89 or $99 and was five wines. They were all good. A nice Perrier Jouet champagne; an unoaked or minimally oaked Burgundian chardonnay; Gran Moraine Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir; a very young Barola that was tragically sacrificed in its youth for this tasting; and an Inniskillin Ice wine. Given the cost, I'd have mixed feelings about this tasting, but if you like nice wine, I'd do it rather than the current World Wine Tour. Bars... A couple of quick comments. It's amazing how much the passenger population impacts the cruise. This was a much older group than our previous Celebrity cruises. We've always loved the World Class Bar. On our last cruise it was so busy I couldn't get to the bar after the first night. This cruise it was mostly dead and I didn't go back after the second night. I don't normally go to the martini bar because it's usually such a zoo. This cruise it really wasn't and I had 2-3 martinis there. They had my current preferred gin (Plymouth) and they had real lemon twists where the other bars put a lemon slice in the martini. I'll try to post a little more later.

We were on the Equinox Ultimate Southern Caribbean cruise from 11/11-11/21/23. This isn't so much a day-by-day or a review as some general impressions. TLDR: Great cruise. Some obvious differences from August 2022 on the Equinox. We boarded Equinox on Veteran's Day (Remembrance Day in the rest of the world). On the first afternoon, the Equinox hosted a Remembrance Day ceremony in the English/Canadian tradition, complete with a trumpeter playing Last Post. Different from a US Veteran's Day and a very nice touch. We had the same cabin we'd had on our last Equinox cruise in 2022, a 12th deck Sky Suite. We enjoyed the cabin, although you could see some minor maintenance issues. Retreat Host/Butler: This was the most obvious difference from our last cruise, but honestly the experience was pretty much the same as our first Sky Suite in 2018, pre Retreat. We had the combined Retreat Host/Room Attendant. We saw him, but he never really offered to do much, and we really never asked. We ordered room service breakfast two mornings and as others have reported it was delivered by room service, not our butler. It worked, but it felt different. He constantly replenished the big bottles of Evian in the cabin (at one point I think we had 4 bottles!), but as was the case in 2018, and officially in 2022, he pointed out the minibar was not included and made no offers to restock. In 2022, our Retreat Host/Butler bent over backwards to do things even in a SS, including pointing out the minibar wasn't included, but she'd restock the soda and water anyway. We expected the policy to be followed, and it was. Dining: We ate all but two dinners in Luminae, but only the first day's lunch. And we had breakfast probably 6 of the 10 days in Luminae. The breakfast was always great. Dinner was very good, IMHO. At 10 days, you notice some of the menu limitations more. Everything was good, but there was a point where I just wanted something simple, like a grilled chicken breast (which is on the everyday menu from the MDR that was available). Filet mignon was good, black bass and snapper were excellent. One of the surprises was an incredible seafood fettucine with shrimp and calamari. Also an amazing salmon poke appetizer. My wife had the vegetarian option a couple of nights; one was a mushroom and rice dish with a nice kick of garam masala. We commented how much we liked it and our waiter who was from India surprised my wife the next night with a very nice curry dish. I wish they'd put those on the menu! We ate one dinner and lunch at Sushi on 5 and were both impressed. Having said that, they were not busy either time we at there, and the concept is an odd fit for a cruise ship where people tend to eat as couples; it's a lot better to share with 4-8 people and share the different items. They have Sake (not a big Sake drinker so I do struggle here), but it seems it's been intentionally selected to be inoffensive (the heavily citrus flavored Sake is apparently their most popular). Our server told us their tempura roll is their most popular dish; it's the only fully cooked roll on the menu... Our last night we ate at Tuscan Grill. It was the only night with a later reservation when we got on board, and honestly it was too much food for that night. Everything was very good but after talking to the servers we were expecting more Italian sized portions. No such luck! The ribeye was very good. More to follow so this stays readable!

This morning from our veranda on Equinox.

Still tells me nothing. I don't know your personal standards for food or ambiance. What do you not like?

Because…????

Did this years ago on another cruise line, but as others have said, it’s a very long day involving crossing open water in a bobbing cork disguised as a ferry, followed by a loooong bus ride. Our driver fancied himself a NASCAR driver in a bus with minimal suspension and no shocks. If you have any hint of motion sickness ever in your life, avoid at all costs. Seriously, we want to go back, but not from Cozumel.

Not Edge class, but this is the martini bar today on Equinox. If it’s there, the Retreat bartender can get it. Went with Plymouth at the martini bar. May see if Ryan can get a bottle in the Retreat. We have a few more nights…

Unless you’re dealing with a currency exchange issue (and maybe even then), or a bonus situation, open an AMEX High Yield savings account (4.3% today), deposit what you were going to spend on OBC, use your AMEX on the cruise, and YOU make money off your money (and get points). Not the cruise line!

That would actually be my question. And just was after reading this thread! How's disembarkation at T19? Looks like Equinox leaves T25 Saturday and returns to T19 on the 21st...

I'd recommend asking on the Hawaii board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/37-hawaii/ You'll probably get better answers. I can't remember which one is which, honestly, and there's always been some variation in the Outriggers beyond location.

As always, it depends. Most insurance has exclusions for force majeure in general, and acts of war or terrorism specifically. Declared states of war have been almost nonexistent in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. But sailing into (for the cruise lines) or traveling through (for your personal insurance) an area of known hostilities would jeopardize insurance coverage. Ditto with warnings from the State Department (US) or Foreign Office (UK) or similar agencies for other countries for terrorist activity. Your insurance may have a lower risk tolerance than you do.

P&O largely markets to the UK where that would be the norm. Celebrity does market fully included fares in Australia (and I assume New Zealand). I really don't know why they don't do that in the UK, other than it would work best if all cruise lines marketing in the UK did the same thing and if they don't, you're back to price shopping and comparisons. I think most of us (US included) agree with this. At one time I thought there were some tax advantages to the employees if they received part of their compensation in gratuities, but I don't believe that is actually the case. Interestingly in the US in 2015 Union Square Hospitality Group which operates a number restaurants in New York went to a "hospitality included" (no tips) model. They dropped that model in 2020 when restarting from the pandemic. Somewhat unique timing, but most reports I've seen are that in higher end restaurants in particular servers make more money from tips than they'd ever make in salary. And customers seem to like tipping. And some apparently tipped even when they weren't supposed to... The US Department of Labor isn't really involved in labor rules for cruise ship employees; unless they're US citizens or permanent residents, they're "in transit", like air crew. Some airlines now show the total price of airfare (including taxes and fees) in their search engines, but they still break them out on the invoice. That seems to meet everyone's needs and requirements. Same with some hotel chains. As you say, the historic concern seems to be that most searches, probably including TA search systems, return base fares. You have to dig into each cruise (hotel, airfare, etc.) to see if you're comparing like to like, and too many people just price shop. Pre-pandemic, and I'd argue with AI post-pandemic, Celebrity had carved out a segment where that shouldn't have been a concern; a lot of passengers were booking "Celebrity", not a cruise. They had a niche with very little competition. Then they blinked, and we're back to Celebrity competing with the herd in the mass market segment. A very red ocean in business strategy...

I'm not sure who else is paying their salaries? Whether it's from the cruise fare or a gratuity, the passengers are paying either way.

You have to be 21 or above to be considered an adult by Celebrity. At least one occupant of the cabin must be 21. Probably most cruise lines. Strangely enough, a married couple are considered adults if they are at least 18 and can occupy a cabin themselves.

My concern would be that they'd screw up and upgrade your cabin and move you too far away for your adult kids to be legal. And "your" cabin would be gone... Airlines do that more or less all the time. I was upgraded a couple of months ago on a long haul flight and my wife initially wasn't (she ultimately got the last upgrade). "My" seat beside her was gone so fast she didn't even have a chance to nab it (aisle seat). As stated, you'd have to bid on both cabins, but you'd still need cabins close enough to meet the age requirements.

Looks like Total Wine has it for around $19 here in VA, and Google (blast them) pulled up 375ml bottles when I was checking prices, and those prices "felt" about right so I didn't click on all of them. It's still sub $20, and that midrange price is hard to define. In today's market, I'd probably go $35-45, but that's a fuzzy market. And FWIW, my wife loves Whispering Angel, but she's always got it by the glass. The hotel bar had it in London this summer, for instance. She has a ton of other rose`s, but most of them are niche brands. And she probably likes those more... If I were really adventuresome, or decided to be highly analytical (neither likely) I'd keep track of our beverage purchases on our Equinox cruise. The problem is that I enjoy a beer, whisk(e)y, or mixed drink periodically (along with diet coke, a long term weakness) and we're on an AI fare. I suspect if I go with Italian, Spanish, or Argentinian "other" reds, I'll be content. I'm confident I won't be content with California cabernet, merlot, or Pinot Noir by the glass. On this trip, we still have a LOT of OBC (not true in the future) so no big deal to buy a bottle. And looking in the app, several of the wines don't exist. Benziger doesn't have a Sonoma merlot in its current portfolio, for instance. Curious what's actually on the ship!

You can ride the Tube with a contactless credit card without needing an Oyster card. TFL has a great page for visitors here. It’s a great resource. We’re very comfortable using our phones, but if you’re not, a contactless card works fine. Contactless cards are the norm in the UK; cash is almost unheard of (see numerous threads in this forum). You’ll each need your own card for public transportation. And actually it’s very easy to ride the Heathrow Express with their app and a e-ticket. You won’t need much cash; you’re more likely to need pound coins for bathrooms and the like. Don’t pull that many pounds if you have credit cards and an ATM card. Like I say, do some research on your own and come back with questions!

Oh, well. It happens. You've got plenty of time. Figure out the top 5 things you really want to do beyond the HOHO loop and post back with them. There are plenty of people here who can advise you on whether they're doable in a day. Everyone has different interests. If you're comfortable with public transportation, you can easily get to most of London from the Paddington area by Tube. You just need contactless cards (each of you needs a card) or Apple Pay/Google Pay. Look around, get some ideas, and ask! And please! allow time just to wander into a pub or walk the streets of London! You can easily schedule yourself so much that you don't have time to realize you're in London which is a great city just to get lost in!

So figure 2-3 hours to get to and through the border control (depending on airline, it can be a walk, or a train ride) and into London. You're close enough to Paddington Station that either the Heathrow Express (buy tickets early!) or the Elizabeth Line are easy and fast options, so that saves some time. And you're arriving late enough to get into the hotel. Google says the sun will set at 8:25 pm, so you could have time for a loop on the HOHO. Other than that, it's a question of what do you want to see more thoroughly. You have a day; that's 2-3 locations with some depth or a few more walk in/walk out stops. So think about what those stops are.

Sorry. Brain cramp. You're right. I'm thinking of a different wine and going crazy waiting on a "12-3" repair appointment that's running late... Need a good Pinot Noir!