Equinox 10/6/17 to 10/16/17 10- night Aruba, Curaçao, Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Jamaica

Equinox Oct 6, 2017 cruise

27th cruise, 4th on X, third on Equinox

We had a great time on this cruise!

We last were on celebrity in 2014, same ship

Our group ranged in age from 53 to 64 years of age

Please forgive typos. I'm typing on an iPad, which is challenging enough, and auto spell was to change everything. [emoji79]

Pre-cruise:

Flew into Ft Lauderdale and had hired a private car company to drive us to Miami.

I highly recommend Larry's Limos. We reserved a town car for $$70 plus gratuity,

And our driver tested us before we deplaned stating that he was already at the airport and once we retrieved our luggage for us to call him and he would pull up to the curb and pick us up.

Imagine our surprise when a white stretch limo pulled up to haul us to Miami.

That was a fun start for our trip!

Hotel: A two night stay at the Kimpton Epic Miami, which we won on Priceline for the very good rate of $117 per night. Loved the hotel.

Everybody honks their horns a lot in Miami. We heard constant honking from our balcony.

We liked the location of this property, which is near the Hyatt Regency, the Courtyard Marriott, the JW Marriott, the Intercontinental, whole foods, where you can get a host of ready-made food if you don't feel like eating at your hotel, as well as wonderful cosmetic product. We were also near a CVS within one block.

We were about a 10 minute walk from the people mover, which is nearest to the Intercontinental Hotel, and we rode the People Mover to Mary Brickell Village and from there walked the two blocks to Publix to buy various sundries.

Delayed Embarkation: We received a message from Celebrity stating that embarkation would be delayed due to a Coast Guard inspection, so we saw no reason

to rush to the port and wait in a long line.

Our traveling companions arrived at 11:45 and said it was a cluster outside.

At 12:00, she texted me again stating that the doors just opened

That was our cue to summon our ride.

We Ubered to the port at 12:07, arrived at 12:15, $11.66.

Our Uber driver stated that Miami has 30,000 Uber drivers.

It took one minute for him to arrive once we hit the app. Very nice guy and we gave him a nice tip.

Porters whisked out luggage away, pointed to the doors and we were on our way.

In Miami they are very efficient at getting you through security and directing people

To the appropriate lines. We were in Aqua, so she directed us to a long line.

We waited for over an hour. Worst and longest embarkation ever.

At some point they reduced the number of Aqua windows from 5 or 6 down to 3.

Just awful. The woman so checked us in seemed clueless and wasn't welcoming

Like they are everywhere else.

Just an observation.

We got onboard at 1:15. Rooms weren't yet ready and would not be until approximately 1:30.

It was difficult to get an elevator to the room as The elevators were crowded with people who were still embarking , unlike on Princess, where the employees man the elevators themselves and control the flow of people.

Once again, not a biggie, but more of an observation.

We were able to throw our stuff in our room and rush off to the buffet, to meet our friends who arrived 45 minutes before us. Predictably, the buffet was a bit of a madhouse.

No sooner were we done eating and they were calling for muster already.

We were to set sail at 3:30 but actually it was delayed until about 4 o'clock.

We went to the bar outside of the Ocean View Cafe to meet our Cruise Critic friends, old and new, at the sailaway party. There were a lot of people, I would estimate around anywhere from 80 to 100 maybe?

Most everyone on this cruise appeared to have a drink package included.

We booked the cruise 14 months ago due to a hot tip that all four perks were included if booking within a certain timeframe, so for A little more than we paid three and four years ago for the same cruise ship, Aqua class, this time we had free Wi-Fi, free bread premium drink package, read to Woody's paid for, as well as several hundred dollars ($775) in onboard credit to spend, which we found that we could not spend it all, so part of it will be refunded to us, only the travel agent portion of the credit.

Room: AQ deck 11 Room 1559. Our friends had 1561, the adjoining room.

We purposely chose that location, as in the past we've been in 1501 and 1521, on the bump out, and this time we wanted the big overhang to shade us as we knew this would be a hot weather cruise. This location did not disappoint. Both our friends and us were so pleased with this location that we would book it again in a heartbeat.

Our room was directly underneath the hot tub and we had no noise in our room except one night when silent disco was held we heard a bunch of stomping around and realized it was the disco but that was the only noise for the whole week.

Our friends heard a clicking noise in their room for the first night or two but then not again afterwards.

While on our balcony, I did hear people walking overhead, but it didn't present a problem for either of us.

Cabin cleanliness: Basically, it was okay, but on embarkation I flipped up the toilet lid and there was sand in the toilet and it didn't look very clean to me around the rim, as if it hadn't been cleaned well. Without being too graphic, it should have been cleaned better.

Our cabin steward wasn't the worst, but he also wasn't the best.

He provided turn-down service and towels twice a day, but he never swept the balcony because the sand remained there for an entire week

He wiped down the vanity one day and it smelled like mildew and I couldn't assess where the smell was coming from and then I realized it was coming from the vanity and then got some wipes and tried to wipe it again myself.

We are used to the cabin stewards on Princess, where they are extremely engaging.

We noticed that on Celebrity when you walk down the halls the cabin stewards will say a quick hi, but it's not overt. Three and four years ago they were much friendlier and they work in teams, now they have to do the rooms themselves and I truly believe service has suffered because of it.

On day three I quite realized that we had no ice bucket, so I asked our steward for ice and he told me that I would have to call bar service myself to get an ice bucket

I thought that was pretty weird , so I figured OK, I'll just bring a Ziploc plastic baggie up to the buffet and get my own ice, no big deal, but when we got back to the cabin that night he had brought us an ice bucket and there after every day he filled the ice twice a day. He initially tried to tell me that the ice would melt which is why he didn't want to bring it. Uh, okay.

At any rate, we got towels and had a fresh bed, and what more can you ask for?

I mean hey we were on a cruise and we were drunk half the time due to the all inclusive premium drink package, so we were pretty happy.

Ocean view Cafe: Not nearly as exciting as 3 and 4 years ago. Last time we were on the ship we thought their buffet was the cat's meow.

However, after having sailed on the regal princess for the last three years, their buffet sets the bar for all other buffets, in my HUMBLE opinion.

We were really wooed by the food at the Ocean View several years ago, but not anymore. LOL. Food is subjective, but the food was just okay.

Salads were always good and the desserts were pretty good but the spaghetti and meatballs were a huge disappointment. On our last two cruises I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs almost every day at the buffet and the beef was a very good quality and the sauce was tasty. This time it was just runny, watery, flavorless, and the meatballs were full of gristle.

The jerk chicken, however, was excellent, as well as the various fried rice is that they had every day, as well as the rice and black bean combo that they had on a few occasions.

The taco bar was interesting in that they put the plates at one end and all the toppings but the taco shells were at the opposite end, and quite stale.

One day they had beautiful garlic shrimp and on another day they had fresh Ahi that they would slice and cook how you wanted so that was nice.

Mystery lunch meats. They looked awful, not like three years ago.

It was an act of Congress to get a drink order taken while at the buffet, so we just ended up going out back to the bar getting our own drinks and bringing them back in.

In fact, it seemed rather difficult finding anyone on that ship who would take your drink orde, except at Blu and the martini bar.

I'm sure they are overworked since everyone has a drink package but we would just belly up to the bar and order our own drinks and that solved the problem, but it would've been nice to have a drink order taken on occasion, or not to have to hunt down a member of bar staff to get a drink, especially by the pool.

It's not that they weren't taking orders, it's just that it was in frequently that someone would come by and ask if we wanted something.

We loved the Slush Bar by the pool.

Drink package: We aren't usually drinkers, but we drank a lot on this cruise.

Never though it would happen to us. OMG, if we had had to "pay" for the drinks there is no way we would have had that much to drink. A regular bottle of water is $3, so with gratuity it is $3.50 and we drank a lot of bottled waters on excursions, et et,

Lots of smoothies, specialty coffees, two pre-dinner martinis, one drink at dinner,

After dinner drinks, cordials, beers at 3:00 before martinis at 4:00, yep. A booze package can be a good thing... or a bad thing, depending on the outcome.

We loved the Aqua Spa Cafe, with its small plates of soba, quinoa, caprese, et cet.

Blu: Blu was very good, but most of the menu choices weren't things that I like, and

Three and four years ago I found lots of things to make me happy there, this time not so much.

My husband loved everything but Blu offered.

There seems to be an emphasis on lamb and game birds, and there's lobster dishes and I can't eat either of them. I always found something that was palatable, but I felt that many things there just didn't appeal to me, especially since I don't like lamb, goat cheese and am allergic to lobster.

The beef dishes were very good in blue and I loved the soups, most of the appetizers, and the specialty Blu cocktails, especially the Botanical Bliss, was a huge hit with all four of us.

The service was out of this world there! We were able to secure the same table for all 10 nights and had the best staff in the world. We loved our little round table, the first one on the right as you enter the restaurant. That was our table four years ago, too.

Great for people watching.

Breakfast was good, except for the ham.

Entertainment: Loved the house band. Liked the music choices a lot.

Princess music skews toward s more old-fashioned demographic, so the music on X hit the spot for me, whether at the martini bar or the house band.

Silent disco was a hoot! Went to it twice.

One day, while in Jamaica, a Jamaican band embarked the ship and played for a long time by the pool. They were excellent and everyone seemed to enjoy them a lot.

What a treat!

Chair hogs: Yep, out in full force, even at the indoor pool. We arrived to the indoor

Pool to see two available chairs with a note on them stating that the belongings had been removed due to nobody claiming the chairs after 30 minutes.

Yay, X! Way to go.

Interestingly, we took the chairs and were there for 3 hours and nobody ever did show up to claim them.

Shows: Elysium was weird and pretty bad. All four of us were puzzled by it.

We all liked Topper, and we all LOVED December63

Sour puss award goes to the woman in the gift shop downstairs. I've never seen such a surly person working on any ship, and I've Cruised for over 25 years.

Her dislike for her job was palpable. She was very rude to one of her coworkers.

All other staff were friendly.

Disembarking: We chose the walk off option as we had a ride, and we had breakfast in Blu at 6:30. The walkoffs were many, and lined up all the way to Blu in one direction and all the way to the theater in the other direction. Once the started to leave, I swear, it only took about 10 minutes for them to clear.

We then strolled off at 7:25- 7:30 and were outside waiting for our ride at 7:36.

Yep, we should have had our ride lined up for 8:00 instead of 8:30.

Best disembarkation EVER! No customs forms to fill out either.

Off we went to Ft Lauderdale for one more night at a hotel, and then home yesterday.

We mainly sail on Princess, and the lines are more alike than not, and there are things I like more about Princess and things I like more about Celebrity.

All in all, we had a fantastic time and would definitely sail on Celebrity again.

Nice start. Will be following along.

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Great review. Thanks for posting.

Forgot to mentioned ports of call.

In Aruba we walked to the bus station and took the bus, which is really a van, to Cemetery Beach. It is at the end of 7 mile Beach and there were about 15-20 people total. Peaceful, with trees, so plenty of shade, but no restrooms. Our friends like to go there for snorkeling, but the conditions for snorkeling were poor due to the recent storms. We stayed for a couple hours, then walked back across the street to the little bus stop and waited for a bus to come by. You simply have to flag down a bus, which is a van and will have the word BUS across the upper windshield. A bus came by and honked and we flagged it down, so we hopped in. Well, what we didn't realize is that it was not a city bus. It was actually a tour bus and we were now along on somebody's tour. LOL. It was pretty funny, actually, and the driver was on his way back to the port anyway. We paid him the same as we would have to ride the city bus, $2.50 pp.

Aruba: We walked across the street to the bus depot, and luckily, a bus came within 5 mins. Busses seem to come anywhere from 15 mins to 45 mins apart depending on the time of day.

We paid the bus driver $2.50 pp

The driver announces the areas as you ride along, so we ride to Palm Beach and decided to get off the bus midway, cut through a hotel, rent beach chairs from a vendor in front of Carlito's Bar, $10 pp for chairs, but that included two stationary palapa umbrellas.

Carlito's Bar had 2 for 1, so drinks were $5 for a mojito and $3.00 or $4 for a beer.

It was a nice spot to be for the afternoon.

On the way back, we ended up riding a non-tourist bus, more of a van, for $2 pp. We crammed in with the locals. The bus took us all the way to the depot again, across from the cruise port. Stores close at 6:00 pm there

If one takes a taxi, I believe it is twice the cost of a bus.

The beaches are beautiful in Aruba. Water was as warm as bath water.

Curaçao: Very hot. We walked around the town there and walked on the swinging bridge.

Very nice place and hotter than anything. We were so miserable, we just wanted to get back on the ship and take a dip in the pool.

Bonaire: Hot, hot, hot, but we walked around the city there, and it is so rustic, dry nice, reminds me of Kauai in the olden days. It is a really laid-back place and I hope it never gets commercialized.

All the locals in all the aforementioned islands were very nice, absolutely lovely. [emoji4]

We were burned out by the time we got to Jamaica, so we stayed onboard the ship.

Enjoying your report.

Keith

Thanks for your report! There will probably be many on our sailing of the 27th with drink packages also, so I know what to expect regarding bar service. Doesn't make it right though.

Two questions: in Curacao, did you dock inside the pontoon bridge or outside?

Also, how was the CC get together?

Thanks for the reviews. I jumped onboard when you departed. I agree about the condition of the state room. I really hate to be left glasses to drink from with another guests lipstick still on them! I was also surprised that they did not enforce the dress code and let a guy with cargo shorts into the MDR at dinner. The DR staff is completely overwhelmed and will tell you that they tried to page you when your pager never when off and you remained in the immediate area. Of course you just have to smile and shrug it of and realize life is good if that’s your biggest problem. I was trying Celebrity for the first time and will probably return to Princess or HAL for my next cruises.

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Hi Dana, thank for the review.:)....sounds like it was a good cruise.....albeit the few glitches here and there.

I will be 60 in March and am still trying to figure out what to do:D....not sure Celebrity is still in the running anymore:eek:

Milestone birthday......needs some sort of milestone trip LOL.........

Thanks for your report! There will probably be many on our sailing of the 27th with drink packages also, so I know what to expect regarding bar service. Doesn't make it right though.

 

Two questions: in Curacao, did you dock inside the pontoon bridge or outside?

Also, how was the CC get together?

Curacao was outside the pontoon bridge, which was only a short walk away. I can't answer to the CC gathering as we didn't attend.

Enjoy your cruise! We certainly did!

Enjoying your review.

Curacao was outside the pontoon bridge, which was only a short walk away. I can't answer to the CC gathering as we didn't attend.

 

 

Enjoy your cruise! We certainly did!

Thanks! We were lucky enough to dock inside the pontoon bridge on Millennium some years back. It is really neat watching them opening it. Every other time there, we were outside. Also, you are right downtown.

In Miami, on what deck was embarkation and disembarkation? Thanks for all of the info!

In Miami, on what deck was embarkation and disembarkation? Thanks for all of the info!

Hi - I was also on this cruise and they used deck 5 for both.

To answer above questions, I don't know where we were regarding bridge in Curaçao. We had to walk approximately half to three-quarters of a mile to get to the bridge. We walked through the Renaissance Resort via a snaking path after departing the ship, which then lead to the shopping area of the port. From there, we walked past various vendors and then turned right onto the bridge and across the bridge into the city. Very nice area, pleasant, relaxed. Strolled over to where the fruit vendors were later on in the afternoon. Everyone wanted to sell us fruit. Banana, banana, banana! [emoji529]

Uh, no thanks. Not today.

Disembarking on Deck 5.

If in Aqua and doing walk-off, you can go down to Blu at 6:30 when they open and just store your luggage right there and walk off after the large lined-up crowd has left.

We finished breakfast by 7:05 and by that time everyone was lined up all the way back to Blu.

At 6:15 when we left our cabin NOBODY was in line.

We were meeting our friends around 7:15-7:30 as we were ride sharing to Ft. Lauderdale,

So that is why we left Blu. Disembarking began at approx 7:15, and by 7:30 all the walk-offs were gone. It was as if someone had waved a magic wand and made everyone vanish!

I really like the way X handles walk-off. You don't have to sign up for it, unlike Princess, where you have to let the, know a few days in advance, and then they divide the walk-offs into groups. X's walk-off program was even easier than I recall.

Regarding dining service: I did forget to mention that although service in Blu was excellent,

On the second night, the first Evening Chic night of the cruise, Blu was slammed with people from 6-8:30, when we left. Since we ate at 6:00-6:15 nearly every night, I can't speak to how Blu might have been past 8:00, atmosphere on this cruise in Blu almost seemed frenzied.

We felt like there weren't as many waiters. Once again, our service was great, but our friends from our roll call were so disappointed in their service there, that they chose to go to the MDR for the remainder of their after night three.

We were surprised at how long dinner took on night two. My husband and friends thought that Blu used to have much more wait staff. I think they were right.

I only had one klunker meal in Blu, the salmon, not the salmon that was on the always available menu but the salmon of the night. I was asked how I wanted it cooked, which surprised me, as to me there is only one way to cook salmon, either cooked or not, so then they asked medium or well done, so not wanting medium cooked fish, I said I wanted it cooked "well."

When it arrived, it was way over cooked and as hard as a hockey puck. Because dinner had taken forever at that point I just sucked it up and ate the chicken entree that I had also ordered instead. The chicken was also way overcooked.

To be fair, my husband's salmon was cooked perfectly, as he stated he wanted his "medium."

So that was my fault by stating "well."

One night I wanted a salad with ahi, but I wanted my ahi cooked completely, as I don't do raw fish, but out waiter came back after checking and stated that they won't cook the fish for me, so I just chose something else.

Winners at Blu: The vegetarian bolegnese spaghetti, the filet mignon, short ribs , Osso bucco, halibut.

All soups were out of this world, especially the white bean soup, butternut squash soup and the spicy chicken soup.

Appetizers were very satisfying. We especially like the meze platter and tabbouleh which was served on the final night of the cruise

Our friend had escargot every night and liked it. However, she stated that the escargot is better on Royal Caribbean, as theirs is much more garlicky.

Breads were very good, and everynight a little plate with crushed beets, and separately, edamame (soy beans) along with a pat of butter was served for each party of two. Sounds a little weird, I know, but it was tasty nonetheless. Some type of Parmesan crisp flatbread was served along with the regular bread every night instead of the breadsticks of yesteryear.

My husband enjoyed the rib-eye, lobster, lemon spaghetti with garlic shrimp in a lobster sauce. The spaghetti noodles were black, so I'm wondering it was squid ink spaghetti. I asked my husband, and he didn't seem to know. LOL.

Our friends are more basic eaters, so they stuck to the always available items, for the most part, chicken, New York steak, salmon.

Will write a little more later, as I'm gong off of memory and took no notes or pictures.

Hi Dana, thank for the review.:)....sounds like it was a good cruise.....albeit the few glitches here and there.

 

I will be 60 in March and am still trying to figure out what to do:D....not sure Celebrity is still in the running anymore:eek:

Milestone birthday......needs some sort of milestone trip LOL.........

Hi Lois!

Deciding on which cruise to take is always the fun part!

We have the Silhouette booked for April 8.

OP,

What a nice review. I am looking forward to my cruise. Boarding next week.

Breads were very good, and every night a little plate with crushed beets, and separately, edamame (soy beans) along with a pat of butter was served for each party of two.

That sounds good - I was getting tired of the veggies and hummus.

Thanks for the review...what car/service did you take from Miami to the Airport? What was the price? Thank you!

Thank you for your great review. We are on next Friday, in AQ also, so I enjoyed all your recommendations. Sorry about your salmon.