solectod

My wife and I are looking to book a cruise for this summer and we settled on either the Summit to Bermuda (7 nights), or the Equinox to the Western Caribbean (6 nights).  

Travelling:  we live in NJ so if we choose the Summit we would either get a ride to or just park at the port.  If we choose the Equinox we would have to fly down to Ft Lauderdale the day before and stay over.  I have enough points saved for 1 free flight and the hotel stay would be free as well.

Comparing the prices for each cruise for the class we want, the Summit would be about $700 more expensive; however the travel to the ship would be less involved as mentioned above.  

What are the pros and cons of each ship?  After doing a little research, I know that Equinox is a in the Solstice Series and the Summit is in the Millennium Series.  Is it worth it to travel that extra day just to save a few hundred dollars?

Semi-new to cruising.  3 cruises under my belt Explorer of the Seas (2005), Carnival (not sure which ship) (around 2013), and the Norwegian Breakaway (2015).  Wife has 2 cruises to her credit (a Carnival cruise out of Galveston in 2015, not sure the other but it was many years ago)

Wife and I are in our 30s.  Just had our first kid.  We are looking to have a nice relaxing vacation, just the two of us.  We live in NJ so are looking to leave out of Bayonne or NYC which leaves our options limited.  However, the 3 cruises that piqued our interest are the Oasis of the Seas to the Bahamas, and the Celebrity Summit and Norwegian Encore to Bermuda.   We are both teachers so our departure date would be sometime in late June to early August.

I've done a little research on each ship and know the basics.  Oasis and Encore are HUGE and packed with activities and kids.  Summit is smaller and more refined.  

What we are looking for:  a relaxing vacation but at the same time enough activities so we are not bored, we both love trivia and games, she likes karaoke.  We both would enjoy live entertainment (bands, dueling pianos, theater [shows like Rock of Ages and Jersey Boys, not Cats]).  Food needs to be really good with plenty of options.

What we are NOT looking for: being nickel and dimed, although the travel agent I work with assured us she can hook us up with the drink package for almost any ship and maybe even the dining package as well.  Seems like a lot of the reviews I've watched on YouTube and read on here mention some of the ships charge for a lot of the activities and food options.  

Ports:  I have been to Bermuda before and love that you are docked there for multiple days.  Getting on and off the ship at your leisure makes it so much easier in my opinion.  If we choose the Oasis of the Seas, are those ports (Port Canaveral, Cocoa Cay, and Nassau) worth it?  I feel like Pt Canaveral would be a waste of a day in Florida?

Basically what I'm asking is which of those three ships do you prefer and why?  TIA for your help!!

Bermuda

Day 1 - The first thing most people want to do is disembark and go to Horseshoe Beach. We were no different. At the bus stop, they have two buses that go to Horseshoe Beach. Bus #7 and a Bus that says "Special". The special bus goes directly to Horseshoe. Bus #7 goes to Horseshoe as well, but it makes all the regular stops along the way. Since we knew everyone was going to Horseshoe, we took the regular #7 bus a few extra stops and got off at Warwick Long Bay. Best idea of the whole trip! We basically had a 1/2 mile long beach almost all to ourselves. I'd say there were another 10 people max laying out and going into the water. After hanging out there for a few hours, we started our trek down to Horseshoe Bay. In total I would say its almost a mile walk along some trails. There are a handful of other bays and coves that you can stop and relax at along the way. Once we got to Horseshoe Bay, like we expected it was PACKED! We made camp at the eastern end of the beach where it was less crowded. The water was beautiful, waves just high enough to body surf. Once we had our fill of the beach we walked to the parking lot, took the $2 shuttle to the top (hey, we're on vacation and allowed to relax a little more than usual) and hopped the #7 bus back to the dockyard.

It rained most of the afternoon but once it stopped, we went up to the slides and went down them for a good 1/2 hour.

At night we took the ferry over to Hamilton for Harbour Nights. It was your typical street fair with lots of vendors. We were able to see the marching band and bag pipers play at the center of town. We walked to the end and back, and took the ferry back to the dockyard to call it a night.

Day 2 - Our plan was to rent a boston whaler out of H2O watersports in somerset, but the weather was not cooperating. It rained most of the morning. Once it stopped we took the ferry back to Hamilton to do some day shopping. We stopped in a bunch of different stores as well as one of the malls there. Took the ferry back to the dockyard. There, my fiance and I headed over to the Frog and Onion Pub for an afternoon drink. I got the beer sampler and she got the rum swizzle. The bartender was real nice and we talked with him for most of our stay there. On our way back to the ship, we met up with our friends at Calico Jack's. It's a "pirate ship" docked right on your way back to the Breakaway. They have a floating slide and a plank you can jump off of and swim in their little inlet there. If you have snorkeling equipment, bring it. There is a great spot off the Aft of the boat to see some neat fish. It's $2 for each jump or slide or $10 for unlimited. If you buy a drink in their souvenier cup ($12) you get unlimited jumps and slides with it.

We headed back to the ship for dinner. Our friends went to the Cirque du Soleil show so after dinner my fiance and I went and did some shopping along the dockyard and stopped back at Calico's for some night swimming.

Day 3 - Since we didn't get to rent our boat the previous day, we decided to rent a jet ski with KS Watersports in the morning. This was one of the highlights of the trip. Our tour guide, Tyler, was amazing. He brought us to a bunch of different spots and gave us a few history lessons of the island in between. We stopped at one particular spot in the bay where we could jump off and swim for a few minutes. The tour lasted over an hour and was well worth it. I told my fiance we are buying a jetski at some point in the next year lol.

Once the tour ended, we went to the rum cake factory and bought some rum cakes. You are allowed to try some pieces before you buy. We got banana, chocolate, and coconut. Our favorite was the banana.

All in all, our time spent in Bermuda was great even though the weather did not cooperate.

I am sure I left out some things, so if you have any questions about the ship or Bermuda let me know and I would be glad to answer them for you!

Back to the review:

The Room - We had an Aft Balcony on deck 9. It was awesome. The room was big enough for what we intended to use it for...sleep, shower, and.... The balcony was huge! I'd say it was 15 feet deep by 10 feet wide. Enough to fit two loungers, two chairs, and two small tables. And there was plenty of room leftover. Awesome views of the wake. No issues with soot. There was not much wind though which made it rather warm out there, but we didn't mind.

Entertainment -

Rock of Ages - We reserved seats for one of the first shows. Make sure you get there early if you have a party of 4 or more. Otherwise there is a good chance you will not be seated together. Also, if you plan on bringing children under 16, please reconsider sending them elsewhere as there are many adult themes and some foul language. As for the show itself, it was just okay. The story line was waaaay too long and drawn out. The music itself though was pretty good and the actors/singers I thought were really good.

Howl at the Moon - We wound up going to see these guys twice because they were that good. It is amazing how they know how to not only sing so many songs, but also play them on piano as well as drums. They were funny with their interactions with the crowd and they played some really good music. You do not need reservations for this. First come first served seating. And they play for hours so you can show up anytime you like (as long as there are seats)

Second City Improv - This you need reservations for. We saw their "Adult" improv. They also have a family oriented show which we did not see so I cannot speak for that one. The adult themed one was good. I have never been to an improv show before but I thought these guys did a pretty good job with the topics provided by the audience.

We also did a lot of the trivia which was run real well. They had topics like Elvis, Beatles, 70s and 80s music, movie clips, and Tri-bond to name a few.

Sounds like you had a great time together. Thanks for the review.

 

Did you notice what entertainment was in Fat Cats club? Also you mentioned the atrium where they have game shows and events. Do you happen to know the name of the Caribbean/reggae band and also some of the entertainers in the lounges or atrium?

 

There's a thread with some of the officers and team members. Was Prem HD on your sailing? I don't know if you went to the Meet & Greet but they usually give out a little card with the roster of key people.

 

There's been talk of new menus. Do you happen to have a copy you could share with us from the DR's?

 

Thanks!

There was a jazz band each day in Fat Cats. They also had a few trivia contests and Karaoke at night.

Unfortunately I do not know the name of the reggae band off the top of my head. The only names I remember from the atrium performers were Alvin & Emily. They are a duet that perform most days there.

Prem was the HD on our cruise. I believe it is Deck 8 (might be 7) near the Aft (might be forward) stairs with a pyramid of pictures of all the key people on board. I did not go to the meet and greet.

Looking back, I wish I had taken more pictures of everything that way this could be a picture review :( so I don't have any pictures of the MDR menus. All I can comment is that Taste/Savor always had the same menu.

We also had the UBP which could be the cause of me not remembering some things :p

Keep the questions coming.

I did a whole lot of research prior to sailing. There were lots of negative reviews so my fiance and I just said we would make the best of it no matter what. Well whoever wrote those negative reviews are awfully picky. Yes, there were a few things that were annoying or less than perfect, but you cannot let that ruin the rest of your trip.

Embarkation - We parked at Pier 83 for $185 for the week. It was a few short blocks to walk to the ship. We arrived around 10:30. Dropped our bags off with the porter and headed up to the terminal. Going through customs was a breeze. We then were given a card with our boarding group #27. Sat around for about an hour until they started boarding. We were through and onto the ship about 45 minutes after they started.

The Ship - It's huge! Lots of fun activities to spend the sea days indoor and out. Plenty of bars and lounges to get a drink and relax. The Waterfront on deck 8 is where we spent a lot of our time. Great concept to have the wrap around deck with outdoor seating for some of its lounges and restaurants. The aft on the Waterfront was a great place to grab pictures of the sailaway out of NYC.

I read a lot of reviews that complained about the lack of seating at the Atrium where a lot of the indoor activities and game shows are held. In my opinion, there was plenty of seating for most of the games/trivia/shows we went to see there. If there were no seats, we had no problem standing in the back or finding a seat off to the side by the Atrium Cafe.

The water slides were awesome! The freefall slides weren't always open due to the high winds but when they were open, they were a blast. The first time I went was the first afternoon in Bermuda. We went around 5pm and the lines were minimal. We must have gone down the slides at least 5 times in a matter of 10 minutes.

The ropes course was very fun, but again was only open 1/2 the time due to high winds. I was able to convince my fiance who is scared of heights to do it and she loved it!

Pool - The pool was small for such a large ship. Every time I walked by it was jam packed. We only spent one day in the loungers due to the enormous amount of chair hogging going on. The first sea day we went up around 10am and not a single chair was open. The second sea day we went up around 9am, same result. I swore to myself that I would not be a chair hogger because its rude and inconsiderate. However, the 3rd and final sea day I went up around 7:30 to reserve some loungers. :( To my surprise, there were still a lot of chairs already "reserved" near the pool on deck 15 as well as most of deck 16. I walked out to Spice H2O and less than half the chairs were taken so that's where we posted up for the day.

Food - Let me preface this part with this: if you are expecting michelin star caliber restaurants, you are on the wrong cruise. Things go wrong, however you need to set realistic expectations.

Buffet - I would say that the food at the buffet was just a step down from buffets in Vegas. As far as buffets go with Vegas buffets being a 10 and places like Golden Corral a 3, I would rate this one a 7. One negative is that sometimes the food you get is not hot. However, there are a ton of choices so you can always go back and try something else.

Taste/Savor - These are the two casual dining rooms. We ate here three times for dinner. All three times our food was very good. Service was good, and prompt.

The Noodle Bar - We had dinner here twice. You are given a card with all the food choices on it and you check off what you want. You can check off as many items as you like. Now I have never been to a noodle bar before so I am not aware if this is normal practice or not, but if I ordered dumplings and then fried rice, whichever the chef finished cooking first came out regardless if it was an appetizer or not. I am not used to this, however it's not something worth getting my panties in a bunch over. If you are easily upset at the way your food comes out, do not come here. Every item of food we got we all enjoyed. My fiance and I ordered a whole bunch of plates and shared them so we were able to try most of the menu.

Moderno (Brazillian Churraschiara) - We made reservations for Friday night. As most of the other reviews on this restaurant have said, the salad bar buffet is amazing! So many different choices. The seafood ceviche salad was awesome. We were sat in the back near the aft windows which gave us a great view of the water, however our service lacked because of this. It seemed like the waiters stopped at the tables closer to the kitchen first and by the time they made it to our table, they had little to no meat left on their skewers. We never saw either of the seafood skewers and we were there for over an hour. The best meat they had was the Garlic Sirloin. Unfortunately, we only saw this once so I was unable to try a second helping. The other negative was our waiter was slightly rude.

O'Sheehan's - We had lunch here one day. Food was just so/so. Mozzarella sticks were not gooey enough. I got the reuben and there was very little corned beef on it. So I took the meat from one half of the sandwich and put it on the other half to "beef up" the sandwich. My fiance got the burger and it was the best part of the meal.

Ocean Blue Waterfront - It's only open for lunch. I wanted to try the lobster roll so we stopped here for lunch on the last day. For the price of $10, the lobster roll was very good. It came with fresh homemade chips which were also very good.

Off to do some more unpacking and laundry. I'll try to post more to this tonight, if not tomorrow!

http://www.pier41.bm/dockshop/

Awesome! Thanks iheartbda!!:)

Im wondering the same as well.

I'd like to know this as well so I will be following along as the replies come in.

What are these wine sleeve things? Where do you get them? I have never even heard of them. I am curious about them now.

It's just that plastic cover on the top of the wine bottle. Instead of ripping it off I shimmied it off, uncorked the wine, drank the wine, filled the bottle with rum, recorked the bottle and put the plastic cover back on.

I did this on my last cruise with Carnival. Each person was allowed 1 wine bottle. We drank the wine a few days before. Filled one bottle with rum, one with vodka. Re-corked the bottles and put the original plastic sleeve top back on. Got through with no questions asked. Make sure the wine bottles are the dark colored glass tho

it holds 3 people.