CruisingGatorGirl

I found the fort to be beautiful! Because we are in the rain forest the grass was so rich and vibrant looking, a beautiful shade of green! The fort itself was in a ruins state (unlike the one in Colombia) but here it worked, it felt magical, like I was back in time.

I really enjoy ruins and forts and find each one different. I know people think BORING, look at the old stones, blah blah blah! I however, like them! That is what makes the world go round, right?

I almost felt a little Jurassic Park here and less Gilligan’s Island. I think I need to change my vision of Panama. I don’t know what happened but it was like a light switch off and I was in love with Panama, despite the cloudy skies and threatening rain.

Something about the juxtaposition of bright, healthy grass and old dilapidated structures really hits a happy spot in me. (if you read my Europe post with Pompeii I felt that way their too).

We drove pass the Gatun Locks to make our way to the San Lorenzo Fort to try and beat the rain. Yes, rain was coming. But, I had a better attitude today about the rain, we are in Central America! I was also prepared with a rain jacket and umbrella.

Another sloth. Turns out sloths are all over the place!

Maybe someone can help me with this picture; it was some type of old U.S. Military base we drove through? I remember the stories of my grandfather being in the “jungle” and him talking about the size of bats they encountered. I wonder if he once resided in a place like this? I wish I knew more about this picture!

This was our bathroom and refreshment stop:

We stopped at a look out to see all the ships waiting to enter the locks:

After eating a months worth of bacon it was time to meet our group for the tour! I was SO excited to get to meet everyone! Since our meet and mingle party didn’t go as planned, and we were late to it, I only was able to meet a couple folks. For those out there organizing a tour for a roll call group I have some tips.

I didn’t think people were comfortable with putting their full names or cabin numbers on a public forum so I sent a private email to each party in our tour and I kept a private excel sheet with names, cabin numbers, etc. to keep track or “roll” if you are a teacher to make sure all are present. This worked out great and everyone on our roll call was no nice and responded to my e-mails. If you are reading this, thank you!!

We arranged to meet at 8:20 near the martini bar. Then as a group we departed the ship to find our tour guide. We met our driver, Mario #3, and off we went! WOOHOO!

We were a party of 25 and were provided with an air-conditioned bus. During the excursion we were given fruit, beer, water, and soda (just FYI). Right away we saw a baby sloth with his mom (CHECK! One thing on our list to see, but I don’t remember sloths on Gilligan’s Island), toucans, other birds, iguanas, and monkeys. Already off to a good start.

12/14/2013 Colon, Panama

OooOOOohhhHH Panama! Like Colombia, I had a vision of Panama in my head. Sort of Gilligan’s Island meets Naked and Afraid (a show on National Geographic or Discovery) and part an engineers paradise. My dad is an engineer so I knew about the Panama canal and grew up catching bits of it on engineer T.V. specials my dad would watch. I also had this vision of jungle and mystery. I don’t know how my imagination makes this stuff up but that was what I had in mind. Panama, 2 different worlds!

Would I be right?

My internal excitement alarm clock went off again today. But you want to know something? I was really happy today to wake up early because we were still sailing in YIPPEE! I LOVE to watch us sail into port, I think that is one of the best parts. The world seems so majestic that early when you slowly sail into port. I enjoyed standing on the balcony, almost alone as I look around me, just taking it in. THIS is what a vacation is all about! I am over my negative Nancy spell (no offense to anyone named Nancy reading this).

What is really special about sailing into Colon, Panama was all the ships waiting. I am going to assume they are waiting for the canal? It was like a traffic jam on the sea. Since I had Gilligan’s Island as part of my Panama vision, maybe they were searching for the S. S. Minnow? (Lame joke, I know!)

For today’s agenda we have planned a tour with a private company called My Friend Mario, the tour was number CL001. I was in charge of arranging this tour from our roll call. Woo, talk about pressure being in charge of a tour!

Tyler had breakfast in the buffet and I chose to have room service delivered. I had another room service snafu. On the T.V. when I ordered room service I selected “bacon 2” thinking I would get 2 pieces of bacon. And what did I get?

See here:

Ha! Not quite 2 pieces of bacon. Ya just never know with room service.

Hi everyone who read this report :D:o:)

I started the honeymoon report.

Here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2127620

Loved your report and pictures. Congratulations and many years of happiness to you.

Thank you so much! Almost our 1 year anniversary :)

Loved your Engagement cruise review. We were on the Equinox last November in the Mediterranean, our third Mediterranean cruise in three years and our 4th overall - all on celebrity. I could go back every year. In December we will be on the Equinox for the 10 day Eastern Caribbean. Haven't done a Caribbean cruise for 4 years. It is so much different than a European cruise - a much more relaxed time.

 

You are lucky you had smooth seas on your Mediterranean cruise. On almost every cruise there we have had some very, very choppy waters. Have not had much of that in the Caribbean.

 

Awaiting the rest of your review.

 

Regards

Gail

Gail,

Thank you for your comments! I guess you never know what the sea is going to bring haha.

Have a great cruise!

Congrads Ashley & Tyler! You will be celebrating your first wedding anniversary soon if not already. Loved your wedding pics and I too love Andrea Bocelli and actually teared up watching your wedding dance video, nicely done. Been married 45 years to my Bill, and one tidbit I would pass on to you and Tyler is remember to tell each other "I love you", as many times during the day as you can. I will be sailing Equinox for the 4th time with my sister in February. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Thank you SO much for the very nice words! Yes, we are ALMOST at our 1 year, it will be on November 30th. I, cannot wait to eat the cake haha! Thank you for the advice, I will yell downstairs to Tyler right now and tell him I love him.

Have a great trip!

Ask away if you have any question about an Adriatic's cruise.

 

 

 

 

I think that the real reason you were down is because you both missed your family on this cruise.

 

I would much rather cruise with my family or friends than cruise alone. Most of the time, DH and I do cruise alone, and we are fine, but having people around us is so much more fun...especially family!

 

BTW- I looked at your wedding video and photos. What a beautiful bride and handsome groom. The ballroom was so lovely. Could you tell me where the reception took place?

 

I am sorry that your day in GC was not what you had planned. GC can really be beautiful, but I have to say that you would have probably been disappointed with the bus to the beach plan that you had. DH and I did that once. Too crowded...both bus and beach. We stayed about an hour and left after being bugged by so many beach vendors.

 

The real treat to GC is to book a Stingray/snorkeling excursion through NativeWay tours. Next time you do go, be sure and do that. After that, you can start staying on the ship for subsequent stops. DH and I now stay on the ship when we stop in GC.

 

You know what, I think you are right! I think we were missing our family a lot! So many of our memories came from family time. I know my parents missed us a lot, my mom even posted on here to see if anyone knew me while we were gone LOL!!! My mom is so sweet.

 

And yes, of course! We got married at the Lowe's Don CeSar in St. Petersburg, FL.

 

I actually had my 16th birthday at that hotel so I am very attached to it! It is nicknamed the "Pink Palace"

 

Here is the link to all of our wedding picutres:

http://kandkphotography.pass.us/ashley-tyler-wedding/favs-1150679

 

Thank you for the advice. There are so many cruises to take! We hope our next one will be Eastern Med., fingers crossed!

 

If you go to Cartagena again, hire a taxi out front of the port to take you on a private tour and be sure to go to La Popa up on the hill.

 

As to the seas north of Colombia, yes they are notoriously rough. When we got to our next port, they had to hose everything down. Everything on our balcony was coated with salt from all the sea spray! You could actually see the salt.

 

I too am a fan of the hot glass shows and will be sorry to see them go. I suspect when those ships are remodeled, that area will be turned into a revenue-producing restaurant. So enjoy them while you can.

 

 

Thank you for the great advice! We definitely will do that the next time we go. And yes, we had a salty balcony too!

 

I think that is just a rumor (at least I hope). I will keep my fingers crossed because if that day comes, it will be a very sad day!

 

Hi Ashley, enjoying this one too...I remember when you originally

posted over on the Fashion Forum.....

 

And thanks for posting the You Tube of your first dance...lovely....

really lovely.

 

Sorry you had a down day.....the Med and the Caribbean are sooooo

different from each other...it is like apples to oranges. It is not a good

comparison. I cruise solo, so in my opinion, missing other people has

no affect on my cruises. But I know we are all different.

I would say you just have to realize how different the interaries are

and just go with the flow

 

Thank you, Lois! You are quite the fashionista!

 

I appreciate your kind words and comments! You are right, you really cannot compare the 2!

 

Great read thank you for taking the time to do this.

 

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment, have a great day!

 

When are the hot glass shows ending? How sad. Anyone know if they will still be on Equinox in Feb. 2015?

 

Hi, this is just a rumor, nothing has been confirmed. Lets hope it is around for a LONG time!

 

I am so sorry ypu missed La Popa. it was my favorite part of my private tour.. loved shopping at the old dungeons. GC is great ofr snorkeling and lunch. sorry you did not enjoy just shopping and lunch. at least you got there.

 

great, thank you for the advice! We now have other options for our next trip.

 

Lol, I have to chuckle, I was forced to eat snails at age 7 in the second grade while in French class and loved them

Still like them, but am picky about their preparation

 

haha! Maybe one day I will like them, I am willing to give those little snails another chance hehe

 

Excellent, excellent review! I'm loving your writing style and pictures! Thank you for taking the time to share with us!

 

Thank you so much! And thank you for taking the time to comment!

 

On our one and only trip to the Cayman Island, rain began falling within the first half hour getting off the ship. We turned around and got right back on the tender. Within the hour, we watched tenders violently rocking up and down in the water.. A hurricane developed, which followed us for most of our 12 day cruise. . The sea bands got me through the rough seas.. Quite a difference on our Mediterranean cruise...the sea was so calm it was like gliding on ice!

 

Maryann

 

Oh my goodness, you had some weather!! One time on a short Carnival cruise we had nasty weather, but it was only a 4 day cruise... you had 12 days!

 

Thank you for commenting!

 

Wonderful review...love the pictures and your "story"...

I was lucky enough to sail on Equinox last October in the Mediterranean and will be returning in February to the Caribbean.

Looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

Aww, thank you so much! I should have another post up tonight. Have a great cruise!

 

I blame you entirely for my lack of sleep last night, found your med review at 9 pm and just had to stay up until 1.30 am to read it all, imagine my delight when I saw your honeymoon cruise report this afternoon!

 

You two are indeed a beautiful couple, and Ashley, I LOVE the way you include so much detail.

 

Snails: I remember the first time I had snails, at the age of 19 at dinner with my then boyfriend. Loved them, until I got woken by my Mum in the middle of the night. she thought there had been a gas leak and I was unconscious! (we never used garlic back then).

 

Just booked the Eastern Med cruise on Reflection for late May next year, and really looking forward to it. Have copied a lot of your tour ideas from the ports we will visit for future reference.

 

Keep up the good work, and Congratulations on your wedding, I thought you looked absolutely stunning.

 

Haha, I am glad you enjoyed it so much! I do the same thing, I also visit the Disboards and when I get going on a trip report I have to finish the entire thing in one sitting, I get hooked! Thank you for the nice words!

 

I guess we all have a funny story about the first time we had snails, hehe!

 

We also are hoping to be on Eastern med in May!

 

Cruisinggatorgirl....

 

Many blessings to you for your first year of marriage. I noticed your post about comparisons...I was also on this cruise and again on the Equinox in April. I am not sure what it was, besides the pouring rain but we found the April Equinox nicer for many reasons including weather.

 

Our April cruise was before the drydock, but we noticed the carpet was cleaner and the staff smiled more in April. Not that December was terrible, just not the best cruise we have been on.

 

I wondered if the Caribbean in December was the issue, I will know next month.

 

Thanks for the witch question picture! Wish I had that one!

 

Thank you so much, we are almost at 1 year! Just about 12 days away.

 

I am so happy to hear from someone who was also on this cruise because it was VERY rainy! The guides said this was beyond normal for the "rain" forest, it was solid rain for 3-4 days I think on our cruise? And in most of those ports that had a solid week of rain before we got there.

 

Maybe this just is not the best time to cruise the Caribbean, but my cold body says go south in December, haha!

 

I hope you have a great cruise!

This is the street of shops; we didn’t find the shop owners to be too pushy. One lady was kind enough to let me use her bathroom without buying something.

Here are some pictures from the slave and torture chambers

Then we went to the new town to the leather and emerald shops. It is very clear the tour operators had “deals” with some shop owners, buyer beware! They are not very good about hiding it. They are just trying to make a living too, and I had no plans on buying any of that so didn’t bother me. But I wanted to point that out if you plan on buying leather or emeralds.

We loaded back up on the bus and locals constantly came right up the window and would push up artwork, coins, whathaveyou, for us to get off the bus and buy. I found it sad.

On the way back we drove past the wealthy section of homes. Our guide said these families were in the “COKE” a cola industry, he emphasized the coke.

A look back at fortress from a distance

***Overall review** of this Celebrity sponsored tour, ehh so-so. Put it this way, it did the job. Yes, we got from point A to point B and had a good time! However if we were with a private tour I am sure it would have been a “special” tour, if that makes sense? I don’t regret taking this tour; we knew going in it would not be like any private tour. I guess the saying is true- you get what you pay for. We did not pay a top dollar, private tour price. However, we enjoyed the day!

We headed back to the ship with a good amount of time left in port so the ship was still pretty empty. I am quickly realizing this is a nice time on board! Maybe another best kept secret? We again got nice loungers by the pool. Did vacation type activities, read by the pool, nap by the pool and so on. What other time are you so relaxed you can actually nap by the pool? I have no shame in my nap game.

I was napping so nicely

Then…

I am rudely woken up to

“WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY, NAHH NAH NAH NAH NAH” followed by Zumba poolside

SERIOUSLY, CELEBRITY?

Do you remember that ridiculous song, LOL? At the time of our cruise it was a new song but I didn’t expect it to be on Celebrity haha.

If not, let me remind you:

Naptime over, people are getting back on the board and time for party at the pool. Ok, fine with me. I don’t mind I don’t want to nap too long anyway. Zumba is entertaining to watch!

We went back to our stateroom to freshen up for dinner and catch the Hot Glass Show before dinner. Even though we are going on Hot Glass Show #68398275 we still enjoy it each time! The only downside is my bottom does start to hurt from the benches.

If you have the chance to catch a hot glass show at night I highly recommend it! I forgot my camera but it is amazing to see the glass “glow” at night.

We were in for a surprise at tonight’s show, PONCHO’S!!!!! Yes, the Hot Glass crew picked up some poncho’s in Colombia. They though it would be funny to wear them during tonight's show, and they were right, it was a hit! Only the Hot Show enthusiasts (aka- being polite for groupies) made it to the night shows. They sent us on a mission, we had to find ponchos at the next port and report back the next day wearing our ponchos.

It would be our little inside joke! We would all show up at the next show and people would think we were crazy.

*** Mission accepted, this was the point where we really were feeling the good vibes. Our honeymoon was going from good to great. Today was a GREAT day, YES, thank you!!! I am so happy to be back in happy cruise mode.

Thank you Colombia and CMOG Hot Glass Crew for making today a great day! Ok, any maybe “What does the fox say?” HAHA! YAY, happy day! Good times and good night journal!

Look at the sky, BLUE! Such a nice day, and loved the colorful streets. Cartagena is very clean.

We really like Cartagena so far

Loved the blue and yellow tiled street signs, reminds me of Europe:

Below is one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip, taken in front of one of the shops:

After the fort we took a drive to Old Town to look at the historic buildings, slave chambers, torture chambers, and a VERY important dead guy who obviously was not that important to me because I forgot his name. I just remember he was very important.

The Catholic church was beautiful. I am Catholic and always love going to “church” in other countries. I said a little prayer and gave a donation

Beautiful altar and the VIP dead guy, wish I remembered who he was

Another dead guy who I assume is also important

We did some shopping in the colorful tourist shops. The shops had your typical tourists type items, most made in China. But I don’t care, I still bought a couple trinkets.

We chatted with these nice officers

I really enjoyed exploring the fort! Today is a bright and sunny day, a happy day. The fort provided great views of the city. I was so happy to be in a foreign county, in the sun, exploring. Today is a beautiful day! Our tour guide was decent, he did the job. No where near the personal treatment you get with Rome in Limo, we also paid a lot less. We were satisfied with this tour.

A view of the city from the fortress

We also explored inside the fortress, pictures did not turn out from inside

12/13/2013, Cartagena, Colombia

FINALLY!!!!! A new country, a new continent, let’s get this party cruise started!! After a “rocky” start to out honeymoon cruise, we were super excited for today. We really needed a good day to lift our spirits. Colombia always intrigued me; I had visions of wealth, drugs, Colombian pride, and machine guns. I think my image comes from all the Drugs Inc. and other drug shows Tyler watches on TV.

We are not lounge on the beach kind of people; that is why we picked this itinerary. I had high expectations for Colombia to “deliver” in the sightseeing department. Would I be right? I hope!

We have a tour planned for today, through Celebrity. This is our first time take a ship-sponsored tour. I was really nervous about this; in Europe we had private tours for our family. I already know we will be in a big charter bus with a lot of other people. I know not to compare this to a private Rome in Limo tour, check! Got it!

Ok, moving on…

View from the balcony:

Another view, I had no IDEA Cartagena was such a big city

The tour for today is the Celebrity Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress. We ordered room service today. On our Med. cruise we loved having breakfast on the balcony. We thought we learned out lesson last time, guess we forgot. Room service is always a gamble, you never know what you are going to get! Today it was hit or miss breakfast. The eggs were cold… which is pretty normal for breakfast room service but the omelet tasted just fine! We did take some dry packaged cereal with us.

We went to the Equinox theater to get our tour stickers since this was an “X” tour. The process was easy and painless. We were sent on our way, ushered down the hall with the other members and were directed to a charter bus. So far, very smooth and easy.

The first stop was the fortress, which we would get to climb up, explore, and have a guided tour. Personally I enjoy climbing, walking, etc. any kind of cardio on vacation is fine by me! I should note, I can already tell my dessert feeding frenzy is already packing on the pounds, the cardio is welcomed!

Then we had lunch and went to another Beyond the Podium presentation. Roz gave her second speech (here is the link to her website, if you are interested: http://www.rozsavage.com/). Roz gave 3 presentations over the course of this cruise. Each presentation focused on one of her crossings. Today was about her crossing the Pacific Ocean. We really enjoy her presentations and story.

Time for the pool/hot tub. At the pool we ran into one of the Hot Glass guys Julian, and his girlfriend, Leah. We enjoyed chatting with them; this is Julian’s first contract and first cruise. His girlfriend flew down from Ohio for a vacation (also her first cruise).

Like normal (as you can see today was a boring day for you all to read, more of the same, SORRY!) we got ready for dinner and walked around. The MDR was pretty quiet tonight, maybe it is the seas? I know I have been in rougher seas before, I was in 20 foot seas on the Carnival Sensation a few years ago and this was no where near as bad as that so I do not know where everyone is tonight.

We tried to go to Sin City Comedy tonight but Celebrity Central is near the bow of the ship and you could feel the motion a lot more up there so we just called it a night. Hey, this is what vacation is for, right? Do what ya want!

*I did add at the end of this entry the next morning (AKA tomorrow, the next post) the seas did pick up. I ran into Leah (Hot Glass Show gaffer girlfriend) and she agreed it was rocking a lot. Maybe someone can answer this, is it common for this area down by Colombia to be a little rough in the winter?

12/12/2013, Sea Day #2

Today I slept in until 8, woohoo, FINALLY! However, I briefly woke up at 4am from the rocking. I think it was more the noise from the hangers in the closet? I quickly went back to sleep, yay! Today we deviated from our normal path and had breakfast in the MDR. Today is a sea day so we were in no rush and decided to take our time enjoying breakfast in the MDR. We did find the breakfast service to be a little slow, but we are on cruise time, no worries!

We did some lounging on the balcony watching the world go by…

I wrote in my journal…

We decided to check out the famous $10 SALE, and yes, it is true CHAOS. CRAZY town! Yes, I know the items are pretty much the same “junk” sold in the Bijoux Turner stores in airports, also for $10. But my female, addicted to shopping, side came out. Really, Ashley? Yes, I will admit, I bought a fashion watch… that I never wear! What is it about that sale?

We first arrived to the sale before it started and people were lined up just waiting for the crew to pull the sheets off the tables. Then when they did pull the sheets off people just grabbed by the HANDFUL! You would think they were giving away free Godiva chocolate, sure if it was free Godiva I would grab by the handfuls too. We watched the chaos for a while then I jumped in, planning my attack. As I stated above, I came out alive with only the scar of a fashion watch. The watch is cheaply made, stiff, and I do not really like it now. Why did I buy it again? Oh yeah, the hype of a cruise sale, that’s why.

They had the newlywed and anniversary party up in the Sky Lounge, free cake! I’m there.

Back to our normal plan and daily schedule on the Equinox, we headed to yet another Hot Glass Show, #shocker.

It wasn't quite as "electronic" as this, but it was in the "soft" range. This is like trying to describe chocolate without using the word chocolate or sweet. It wasn't "Breathe" but it was similar in beat.

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

Felicia

Good luck! I hope you can find something at least similar to the song you are trying to find :)

Just an FYI if it helps, I looked at my Pandora play list and here are a couple other songs that are in the soft-ish category that remind me of being on Solstice:

Kaskade- I remember

Benny Benassi- Come Fly Away

12/11/2013, Grand Cayman

(There will not be many pictures in this post but the rest of the trip I will have plenty! And sorry this is not the happiest of posts, but happiness is coming.)

Like yesterday, I woke up earlier than I wanted to. Maybe I am just always going to be a “morning person.” I guess a positive to waking up early is the quietness and serenity on board. The plan for today is to have our “beach day” of the trip. We plan on using the bus to go to a beach and rent SUP board (stand up paddle-board) and just relax.

We were really looking forward to relaxing on the beach.

Then, I open the curtains to step out on the balcony and was greeted with this:

Not exactly beach day weather.

We had breakfast in the buffet today and I got to try the waffles that everyone talks about. Yes, it is true, they were delicious!

We decided we were not going to let the rain stop us and headed towards shore. Along the way we ran into Bruce, the Captains Club host. He was very nice and asked how our cruise was going, he gave us priority tender tickets.

Once on shore, it was raining so we just wandered around the shops. I am a fan of David Yurman jewelry so we checked out the pieces being sold; didn’t buy anything.

There really is not a whole lot to see/do right there in the shops area. Once you have seen the shops, that is about it. We were bummed we didn’t make it to the beach so we headed back towards the Equinox. We were not impressed with Grand Cayman. (we are not really turtle farm people or swimming with dolphins, so this is probably not the best port for us)

Once back on board, the sun decided to appear, MAN. Of course, as soon as we get back the clouds break apart and the sun shines through. Darn! It was nice being on a near empty ship as most folks were out exploring. We were able to grab nice loungers by the pool and some burgers. Next time, I think we will skip getting off the ship in Grand Cayman and just stay on board.

You will notice I do a lot of things don’t make sense, haha! For instance, after the pool we headed to the gym, to be followed by ice cream- Hey, at least I burned some calories, better than nothing! I love the ice cream and toppings provided on Celebrity cruises!

One thing I will note about desserts in the buffet. Most of the little buffet desserts look better than they taste- trial and error. Now, I have no problem “Testing” them for you- It is research after all. I do have an addiction the little fruit tarts. Tyler doesn’t get it, he doesn’t like them. Please tell me I am not the only one who loves the little fruit tarts?

One thing about this cruise compared to our European cruise, I had more time to explore the ship. I saw on the daily activity sheet there was a “Smokey eye demonstration.” I thought sure, why not, I’ll check it out. I reluctantly got picked to be the model, only 3 of us showed up. This would have been great, except I still needed to shower so there goes the nice makeup!

So there is a secret, want your makeup done for free? Show up to the makeup demonstrations! I went a couple times throughout the cruise and hardly anyone came.

We got ready for diner early again and walked around the shops to visit our crew friends. The “Real or fake” diamond contest was sort of lame. It was really crowded and I don’t even remember what the actual prize was.

The seas picked up again tonight… maybe this is something I just need to except and get over? In the Mediterranean we never felt the ship move except one night. So far on this cruise I can always tell the ship is moving, always some kind of rocking. Now it is not always bad! But I can tell we are on a ship. Like I said before, I am sensitive to motion so I may not be the best judge of this.

The ship is rocking but I am not sea-sick at the moment; dinner was excellent in the MDR. We love our wait staff! The MDR so far has been pretty empty? (if you check out my pics in the above post I noticed it is empty in the background) Maybe this cruise is not sold out? Our wait staff only had our table and 1 other couple of 2, all the other tables were empty the entire cruise, strange. IS this normal for Early December cruises?

I am going to be honest in this report, at this point we were starting to miss our Mediterranean cruise, we were a little bummed. We knew going in we cannot compare the 2 cruises, they are totally different experiences. However we are humans and it is in our nature to compare. Between the rain today, empty MDR, things just do not feel the same, sad face. I know, we need to get over it, come on Ashley, at least you are on a cruise with your new husband! Get over it! I will try! It is true; there is a different energy and vibe on a Med. cruise (at least so far).

Back to dinner, as I just mentioned, there was another table for 2 in our section. They were the sweetest couple ever! I believe they are celebrating 50 years; we enjoyed talking to them and their marriage advice.

We tried the chocolate lava cake tonight, ***** to the G. It is AH-mazing. Our new favorite dessert.

(in this picture you can see our head waiter in the back serving the only other table in this section)

After dinner we tried to catch the end of the nighttime Hot Glass Show. However it was storming so they had to cancel it for safety reasons. However the glass blowers were up there still and we were the only ones who showed up. So we started chatting with the gaffers (Ryan, Stephen, and Julian) and they were awesome. For the 2 guys they were on their first contract and Ryan, was the veteran gaffer. We enjoyed hearing their stories as this was Stephen and Julian’s first time on a cruise and to Europe (the Equinox just got back from Europe). And Ryan having been on Celebrity ships had a lot of stories.

Ok there, see, another really good thing about this cruise! The crew is amazing, compared to a busy Med. cruise we really got to interact with the crew a lot this time. I need to stay positive! For those of you with upcoming Equinox trips planned, the staff was fabulous!

OK sorry to stray away from the moment of positivity, there is one MAJOR problem on this ship… the NONSTOP CHRISTMAS MUSIC. This has got to stop and I am on who LOVES Christmas music. The problem is, there is a loop of about 10-12 Christmas songs so after a few days on the ship we already know the pattern and order of the songs and it is getting really old, really fast. I am not one to complain about the music and it does not bother me like many of the threads on here. But the Christmas music, oh boy, even a Christmas music lover is getting tired of it.

After dinner and chatting with the gaffers we headed down to the Sin City comedy show. It was standing room only so we left and will try to catch it another night.

Sorry for this “downer” of a post. Today was just not the spectacular day we hoped it would be. We are looking forward to a sea day tomorrow as we make our way towards Colombia! Woohoo!! This is what we are looking forward to. What will Colombia bring?

I was so excited to see this latest review...just loved your Med review and have been checking often for the Honeymoon cruise! Don't worry about what others like/dislike in your style...it's your review so do it however YOU like...seems like most people enjoy your style and the others can just scroll past the posts they aren't interested in.

 

As much as I love escargot now, I'm pretty sure at your age I didn't like it either...guess it's one of those acquired tastes? Good for you for at least trying it..can't know whether you like something without trying right?

 

Ok, enough from me...keep up the good work and post whenever you can!

Cathy

Thank you so much! I know it took me forever to get this review started but I am so happy I finally did. My style may not be for everyone but I hope it helps one person. Maybe you are right, i'll give it 10 years and try escargot again haha! I am more open to trying things recently, I use the rule of 3 bites I heard somewhere. I only made it to 2 bites with the escargot. Have a great day! I should have another post or 2 up today.

What a beautiful bride and handsome groom! I'm enjoying your trip report!

Awww, thank you so much, you all are making me blush! Thank you for reading!

Thank you for sharing your Honeymoon cruise with us! Love your writing style and am enjoying your posted pictures.

 

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise. I will be sailing on the Equinox in March!

 

 

 

Maryann

Woohoo! I am glad you like my style, thank you for letting me know! And you are going to LOVE the Equinox. Best part about typing up a report is reliving the trip.

Great start on your review! Looking forward to reading about your honeymoon adventures. We will sail on the Equinox - same itinerary for our 25th anniversary in 2016.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Happy early anniversary! You are going to have a fantastic cruise. Just my 2 cents, you should go to a specialty restaurant one night to celebrate. Thank you for reading!

Did you keep the papers of the daily activities?If so can you post them?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I did, but I am not sure if I still have them. We are preparing for a move and I did a "Paper purge" not sure if I kept them or not. If I did, I will post them!

Ashley - Looking forward to another review from you.

 

I/we (Dh and I) seem to be following you. I used your "engagement" review as a tutorial for our Adriatic's cruise in May of 2013...especially the Paris portion. This coming February, we are taking THIS cruise on the Equinox. Your review will come in very handy. I am going to share this link with my Roll Call.

 

Sorry you didn't care for the Escargot. It's one of my favorites. That's OK...I don't like the crepes at Bistro.

Oh wow, that is AWESOME! I like that trend, I need to go on more cruises so you can go on more cruises HAHAHA! I hope this review will be helpful for you like the last one. I was actually looking online the other night at Adriatic cruises, that is in our cruise bucket list too.

See, that is what makes the world a wonderful place. If we all liked escargot there would be no escargot, hehe!

Thanks for sharing ; beautiful Bride and Groom. Enjoyed reading you review and viewing all your pictures.

Is there any where (thread) where I can read what you thought about the two private tours you took? Thanks

Aww thank you so much for the sweet words!!! Yes, I will go into detail in this review. However, I also went on trip advisor to review them, I can send you the trip advisor links.

(for others reading, the TA reviews might spoil this review so read at your own risk haha)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294480-d1963571-r188569956-Almiza_Tours_by_My_friend_Mario_Private_Tours-Panama_City_Panama_Province.html#REVIEWS

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g309264-d1754971-r188243675-Your_Lucky_Tour-Puerto_Limon_Province_of_Limon.html#REVIEWS

age has nothing to do with liking snails or not. I lvoed hem from my teens on.. the pictures are really fun to see..i the desserts look goood too but love to see some real food too.. been a while since i have been on an S class ship.

I am sorry but I do not have a lot of pics of real food, sorry! I might have a few and if I do I will post them. I think there is a food pics thread somewhere too if you want to look at lots of food! Warning, it will make you very hungry haha! Thanks for commenting!

Looking forward to your report. Thanks for taking the time to do it

Love your review! Thanks for doing it!

Cruiser 77

Thank you both for reading along! I should have another couple posts today.

What part of the ship was it being played in? I ask because when we were on the Solstice we loved the music that was played throughout the ship, meaning the areas waiting for the elevator, in the halls, by the martini bar etc. When we got back I tried to find music that was similar because it brought back memories like I mentioned in my above post.

When we were on the Solstice the music being played was what I call "soft EDM" (EDM= electronic dance music). Sort of soft techno/dance music? If that makes sense. Anyway, if that is the genre of music, I found this song from Pandora that I listen to all the time that brings back memories.

There is a song called "Breathe" by Telepopmusik (it is actually playing on my Pandora right now in my house, that was what made me think of it to come back here and try to help :) )

My point is, maybe try Pandora. If you can find a song like it maybe you will discover it. By any chance, was the song along the genre I described (soft EDM, sort of techno-ish but kind of chill at the same time)?

Tonight is the first formal night, sweet! I love formal nights! We got ready a little early so we killed time by walking around the boutiques. The entire crew was very friendly on this ship! Our first crew friend we made (if you don’t count Ashlam) was the guy running the watch store. We stopped in almost every night to say hi to him and chat. One thing we loved about this cruise was the friends we made with the crew. We still keep in touch with a couple of them.

Tonight is the night, I am going to try something new! I am stepping out of my comfort zone. Everyone raves about the darn escargot on cruise ships. Our 2012 cruise was in the middle of the infamous escargot shortage so I did not get to try them then. I should note, I do not eat seafood. I know, something is wrong with me, I just don’t like the smell of seafood. However, I DO Love garlic! Everyone says the garlic sauce is amazing.

Ok, here we go, all or nothing! I am trying ESCARGOT!

Hit or miss? I will let you view the following chain of pictures to see what I thought…

As you can see, no good. Nope, no good. I gave it a shot, I tried 3 of those little guys! Nope, gross, do not like. In fact I was so turned off from them I could not eat the pesto/hummus mixture that was served with the butter the rest of the trip because the color reminded me of the escargot sauce.

But it is ok, dessert is on the way!

After the big escargot fail (#noescargot), we went to the captains welcome and the show that followed. The show was Limelight, we did not care for it and left and called it a night. (Tyler is not a fan of Broadway type shows, if I were with my mom I am sure we would have stayed)

12/10/2013, Sea Day 1

One thing I really wanted to do on this trip was SLEEP. The month leading up to the wedding I was loaded with schoolwork. I defended my dissertation about 10 days before the wedding and was running on about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I could not WAIT to sleep! My motivation during the month of stress was “I can sleep on the cruise!”

5:10am, really? Really? Come on! 5:10? WHY AM I AWAKE? Please tell me I am not going to wake up super early every day like I did in Europe?

Yep, 5:10am and I was up and ready to greet the world! I stayed in bed until 7am then I gave up, ok world- you win! I am getting up. Tyler still has no trouble sleeping in; he should be a professional sleeper.

At 7am the sun is bright and cheerful! I woke Tyler up so we could grab breakfast at the buffet. We thought the food was great in the buffet this morning (we did find the breakfast potatoes to be salty). Today is a sea day; we headed to the gym to burn some calories. The gym was crowded but we were able to get a decent workout in.

We had some issues with our CC meet and mingle party. A lot of us got the invitations late. The party was at 9:30am (early much?). Because of that the crowd was not as big as expected and we were late. We met a lot of great people!

One thing on our MUST do list was go to many Corning Museum Hot Glass Show At Sea events. The first one was today! Of course, we would be going. The show was crowded, standing room only. The crew of 3 seemed to have great chemistry and pretty entertaining- I think that is a good sign!

** On our last Celebrity cruise the Hot Glass Show was a BIG part of our trip! I’ll talk about this more later, but we fell in love with the art of glass blowing and my parents graciously purchased us a piece as an engagement gift on our last cruise.

Next we went to the Beyond the Podium speaker. I am a nerd, dork, whatever you want to call it and love listening to speakers and seminars. The speaker today was this lady named Roz. Roz was the first lady to row across all 3 oceans by herself! What an amazing story she had to share.

We hit the pool for reading, followed by burgers and fries. Followed by another Hot Glass Show.

Next we discovered SOMETHING NEW!! HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS??

On our way back to the cabin we stopped at Café al Bacio to check out the treats. Did you know they have free little chocolates at the counter? And they are really good! I suggest you try some on your next cruise.

Our canapés greeted us in our room. Hmm, not like the canapés we had in 2012, ok. I like hummus so that was nice but the chips were a little soggy.

One of the best things about Solstice class ships is NO shower curtain!! When I sail on Carnival for little getaways it is a battle with the shower curtain, #thestruggleisreal Tyler is lucky, he has only ever sailed Celebrity! (disclaimer: there is nothing wrong with Carnival!)

We made our way up to the Lawn Club for sail away. My mom watched us on the webcam sail away, HI MOM!

We were so happy to be back up on the Lawn Club, one of our favorite spots on the ship! Would we use it as much this trip as our last? Not sure!

We napped before dinner then explored the ship. We noticed some differences from the Solstice, like this entry way:

Dinner was chaos tonight trying to get in; the line was ridiculous! I don’t ever remember this being an issue before?

I ate pretty “lite” by “Ashley Cruise Eating Standards.” I didn’t want to blow my diet 100% just yet (that would quickly change). Of course we got dessert, and the cheesecake was still delicious!

So I may have ate “lite” for dinner but made up for it in dessert (I should warn you here, I include lots of dessert pictures!)

(p.s. I don't want to spoil anything (not that you could have guessed this) but the creme brulee is awesome and I had it almost every night!)

We went to bed early, long day of traveling and we find the bed super comfortable. I actually could feel the ship moving quite a bit tonight. My parents said going out of FL typically is a little bumpy. I am really sensitive to motion so it probably was not moving a whole lot but I felt it. Maybe my patch has not kicked in yet. (Just for reference, in the Med. we felt motion only 1 night!)

Look a blanket sailboat:

Alright that is all for tonight Journal!

Sincerely,

The Mrs.

12/9/2013, Embarkation Day

CRUISE DAY! WOOHOO!

We risked it, yes I was nervous, but we flew in the DAY of the cruise (GASP!). We flew out of Atlanta so it was a short flight; we took the risk and made it on time! Our flight arrived at 10:29am, perfect!

Our friend who lives in south Florida picked us up at the airport. We stopped at Publix along the way to pick up water, shampoo, etc. I did not fly with the shampoo/hair products because I have issues with baggage weight. I also do not like the shampoo and conditioner provided by Celebrity. For the ladies and gentlemen who are picky about hair products, I would recommend you bring your own.

We arrived at Port Everglades around noon and it was chaos at the port! WAY different than our experience at the port in Barcelona (which was a BREEZE). There was a lot of confusion with people organizing the passengers returning and leaving all there at the same time. I don’t know if Port Everglades is always chaotic but we worried about our luggage making it to our cabin.

Being concierge class we were able to check in right away; then had to wait about 15 minutes before actually stepping foot on the Equinox. We had so many thoughts and discussions about this cruise… how would it be in the Caribbean? Will we enjoy it as much? Will the Equinox look just like the Solstice? We could not wait to step foot on board and officially be in HONEYMOON MODE, WOOHOO! Vacation!!!!

We were greeted with smiles and sparkling wine, check! We went to the MDR to check on out table, we were seated at a table for 2 by the window, check! So far, so good!

Bistro on 5 was next on the list. As many have stated on here before, this is (in my opinion) the best place to go for lunch on day 1. The Bistro was not open yet; we waited in Café al Bacio. I was approached by a super sweet CruiseCritic member who recognized me from my previous report. I am sorry I forgot your name, but hi!

No vacation can start without something sweet! My first sweet of the trip was a black and white cookie. The cookie was good, pretty good, but not as good as Publix black and white cookies…. But it did the job!

(NOTE: I am well aware some people are disgusted by pictures of half-eaten food items. #sorrynotsorry #okIreallydofeelbad but I was living a no-carb life leading up to the wedding and could not wait a second longer!)

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!! …

We were directed to our seat in Bistro on 5. Our waiter approaches…. No WAY! It is the same waiter we had in Bistro on 5 on the Solstice last year! And he recognized us! Not sure if really did or was being polite but we did interact with him a lot on our Solstice cruise. His name is Ashlam (I hope I spelled that correctly).

After lunch our room was ready. We unpacked and organized; I have this huge sensation of being organized in small spaces. I picked up some tips on here for organizing the cabin. I am going to share with you 2 things we did that we would do again (others may disagree). Not pictured, we brought a simple over the door hook (not a full blown shoe organizer) just a hook for extra towels, robes, etc.

1.) Packing cubes for things like socks, swim suits, under garments, etc.

2.) The walls are magnetic so we brought a heavy duty clip to hang up the daily schedule or anything else important we need to easily find.

Another change: the apples replaced the fruit basket

Cabin 9253: We loved our cabin and location!

Planning

I used CruiseCritic and Trip Advisor for all my planning. When we went to Europe I SUPER planned, I did not have to plan as much for a Caribbean trip. And, just being my husband and I, I didn’t have to worry about other family members and time management (such a teacher word). For Europe I made spread sheets for daily agendas (including what time to wake up for my brother, cough cough), I had what I called a “syllabus,” cruising cheat sheets, and more.

For this trip I had an abbreviated version. This time I only had one packet, no spread sheets. I included a break down of each day, what tours we had lined up, and the like. We used both private and Celebrity tours.

Overview

Flying, day of, via Delta

Cruise: Celebrity Equinox, 12 days

Cabin: #9253 Concierge Class On Panorama Deck

12/9 Monday Ft. Lauderdale

12/10 Tuesday At Sea

12/11 Wednesday George Town, Grand Cayman (DIY, planning on beaching it and SUP- Stand Up Paddleboard)

12/12 Thursday At Sea

12/13 Friday Cartagena, Colombia (Celebrity excursion: Deluxe Cartagena & Fortress, CA08 )

12/14 Saturday Colon, Panama (Private excursion: Panama Tour with My Friend Mario. Tour Code: CL001, Rainforest, San Lorenzo Fort and Canal )

12/15 Sunday Puerto Limon, Costa Rica (Private excursion: Limon 6-in-1 Highlights Tour via Lucky Tours with Eduardo)

12/16 Monday At Sea

12/17 Tuesday Belize City, Belize (Celebrity excursion: Jungle, River, Land Rover & Cave Expedition, BED3) DID NOT MAKE IT, had to reschedule for this: Mayan Palaces of Cahal Pech, BE99A??

12/18 Wednesday Cozumel, Mexico (Celebrity excursion: Tulum Mayan Ruins Express , CZ02)

12/19 Thursday At Sea

12/20 Friday Ft. Lauderdale

Sorry folks, I am having major issues with the pictures and html, I have no idea why nothing is showing up and half the links are broken :(

I am going to keep working on this, ahhh.

I keep getting an error saying I am blocked. Maybe cruise critic is acting up today? Maybe it is me? HAHA!

Every time I try to edit the post to re-add the pictures that keep getting deleted it deletes more and more of the post :( what is going on? This is make me so sad! I was trying to plan ahead this time and typing up posts before starting and now I am having this major technical problem! Ahhh!

Ok, sorry for the freak-out, it might be fixed now :) there should be 5 pictures in the previous post