Detailed Photo Review of 3/14/16 Celebrity Equinox 11 Night Cruise

[DebbieMacG]

Don't quote me on this, but I am fairly sure all of the Solstice class ships have a Slush bar. We both loved the Golden Coconut... actually, we loved all of the Slush drinks except Cool Hand Cuke as that wasn't sweet enough. My favorite was the Mint Cookie!!!

 

They are only on Equinox and Eclipse (sadly!)

[deladane]

Loving your review & your pictures are great. :)

 

It's a shame you couldn't get the small Martini's at the Martini Bar, when we were on Silhouette this past Jan. I had no trouble getting them there. Now can't wait to go back on Silhouette next March so I can have more!! :D

 

Looking forward to more of your review & pictures. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for following along! :) As for the smaller martinis, I have a feeling it is dependent on your ship/bartender. It seemed that as a whole, the bartenders at the Equinox martini bar were not willing to make the smaller drinks, but I'm glad you had a better experience on Silhouette! The good news was that we could also get beers or wines at the martini bar that were within our classic drink package so we could observe all the fun even if we weren't drinking the martinis there haha

 

They are only on Equinox and Eclipse (sadly!)

I stand corrected! That's a shame, but to the person who asked about it, we were able to get slushie drinks at every outdoor bar on the ship. Maybe not the fancy ones that the Slush bar serves, but we could get frozen margaritas, miami vice, many flavors of daiquiris, and they had 2 or 3 other tropical frozen drinks too that I really liked :)

[deladane]

At 4pm, we left the show so we could spend about an hour on our balcony before getting ready for dinner. Tonight was the first "Elegant Chic" night, and we treated it like a "formal" night on any other cruise. I noticed many men wearing tuxedos and women in long formal dresses, but there were also many men in suits or just slacks, and women in cocktail dresses and sundresses. Maybe it will just take a while for people to adjust to the revised dress codes, but at least for this sailing, it seemed as if people still get very dressed up.

 

 

 

We arrived at the Silhouette Dining Room at 7pm, and Gorica was able to seat us at a table next to a window again, but this time with a different wait staff. Our head waiter was Arsapha and the assistant waiter was Fredys. We really liked our waiters this night- they took our orders and served our food at a good pace, and they were chatty and had a great personality. We actually requested to sit in their section for the remainder of the cruise, and Gorica was able to accommodate us.

 

 

 

Chicken Liver Parfait (I was envisioning a typical parfait... you know, with layers in a tall glass? I'd call this more of a 'liver loaf' but either way, it was surprisingly tasty!)

[deladane]

Salmon Tartare

 

Seared Duck

 

Celebrity Signature Beef Tournedo

 

Dessert Menu

 

Phyllo Dough Tulip

 

Warm Apple Crumble a la Mode

[andrea2609]

I'm enjoying all your posts and pictures. My dw does not drink more than a glass of wine per meal, so can I buy a drink package only for myself (same as RCCL), or should she also get the same package, being in same room...?

 

 

Italian Cruiser

 

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

[deladane]

I'm enjoying all your posts and pictures. My dw does not drink more than a glass of wine per meal, so can I buy a drink package only for myself (same as RCCL), or should she also get the same package, being in same room...?

 

 

Italian Cruiser

 

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

 

I believe that if you have the package as a perk from booking the cruise, then it's meant for 2 people and you both get it. If you don't have it as a perk and need to pay for it on board, then yes, you can get it for just yourself (both people in the cabin do not have to buy it).

[deladane]

The Equinox is such a beautiful ship- there were interesting wall hangings and decorations everywhere we went, and these made for nice backgrounds for our photos.

 

We posed for the ship's formal photos at a few different backgrounds but we were ultimately unimpressed and did not purchase any of the photos. I guess the other guests on the ship were more talented than the professional photographers on board! I hated how all of the photographers would bend down so they were aiming up at us to take the photo- don't they know that's the least flattering angle for a photo?! I had at least 2 chins in every professional photo... yuck!

 

Looked like there was some fun dancing in the Grand Foyer as we made our way forward to the theater.

 

Tonight's show was Life, the first of 3 large production numbers featuring the singers, dancers, and aerialists. The singers and dancers were good, but the truly phenomenal talent came from the aerialists. I was extremely impressed every time they were on the stage, or should I say hovering above the stage! All of the songs in this show were contemporary songs from the last 5 years or so (Just Give A Reason by Pink, I Lived by One Republic, Story Of My Life by One Direction, and Heartbeat Song by Kelly Clarkson, to name a few). I personally really enjoyed the music selection, but that is because I like that style of music. It seemed like Celebrity was gearing this show towards a younger, trendier demographic as compared to the traditional cruise line production shows, but that was fine by me! Another evidence of this was that they announced before the show that they encourage us to take non-flash photography and video of the shows to share on social media. I guess they wanted to use us for free advertising of their fancy new production shows haha

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

Something else I wanted to point out was that we thought it was odd that there wasn't a bar in the theater. They have a handful of waiters walking around before the show starts to take drink orders and bring them back to you at your seat, but if you are sitting in the middle of the row, or if you arrive after they are finished, you can't get a drink! There were nights that we would get our seats and then J would have to run to the nearest bar in either the casino on deck 4 or the World Class Bar on deck 5 and carry our drinks back to the theater. We really would have appreciated them having a small bar at the back of the theater where we could get our own drinks if we missed the drink waiters. I hope the designers for the Edge class ships are reading this! ;)

 

The show ended at around 9:45pm, just in time for karaoke! J loves karaoke and always wants to participate when we are on cruises. Unfortunately, we felt this was a bit of a miss from Celebrity. They host it at the Quasar night club, but the set up is terrible for karaoke. The words are projected onto the far wall of the room, and the singer stands on the dance floor, but most of the people watching are on the other side of the room. The singer is forced to either have their back to the audience, or to stand sideways and keep looking left to see the lyrics and then right to perform for those in the room. It was just extremely awkward, and I think that was part of the reason the karaoke was poorly attended.

 

 

J sang one song, then we left to get one last drink at the Gastrobar before going to sleep around 10:30pm to rest up for Cozumel.

[Jiminy1955]

Phyllo Dough Tulip

 

 

The Phyllo Dough Tulip looks yummy!

[Texed]

was it the waffle?

 

:) ;)

[Shirley C]

I agree that there should be a bar closer to the theater. Interesting about taking pictures during the show. I think they use to not allow that, but I could be wrong.

 

Shirley

[deladane]

Phyllo Dough Tulip

 

 

The Phyllo Dough Tulip looks yummy!

Sadly the key word there was "looks"! It was disappointingly bland and boring in flavor :( But it was definitely pretty!

 

I agree that there should be a bar closer to the theater. Interesting about taking pictures during the show. I think they use to not allow that, but I could be wrong.

 

Shirley

Yes, you are correct that photos used to be prohibited. They still don't want you to use a flash as it may distract the performers, but the lights are so bright on stage that you don't really need a flash.

[Woobstr112G]

Love those food pictures.....:):):)

 

Bob

[LynMcGad]

Enjoying your review!

[deladane]

Love those food pictures.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

Enjoying your review!

 

 

Thank you both!

[Woobstr112G]

Thank you both!

 

Keep them coming.....:):):)

 

Bob

[deladane]

Wednesday, March 16 ~ Cozumel, Mexico

 

Today was our first port of call: Cozumel, Mexico. I know most cruisers have been here many times, and even J had been here on a land vacation several years ago, but this was my first time in Cozumel and I was very excited. There were scheduled to be 4 ships in port today, but that shouldn't be a problem for a port as large as this. We knew we wanted to make this a beach day as it would be the only beach day we had during the entire cruise. After considering all of the options, including a few all-inclusive places and a few public beaches, we decided to go to Chankanaab National Park. There is an admission charge of $21 per person, but we found a $2 off coupon so we only paid $19 each (they do accept USD). Here was the description from their website:

 

Chankanaab (word that comes from the Mayan language and means “little sea) is located inside Cozumel´s National Marine Park. Enjoy our beautiful beach park and spend your day either snorkeling or scuba diving while admiring schools of tropical fish, colorful reef and underwater statues. You can also enjoy a fresh hand-made tortilla at our Mayan casita, stop by the crocodile exhibition or the sea lion show, or perhaps relax with a massage in front of the lagoon that gives the park its name. These are only a few of the many activities you can enjoy at Chankanaab.

 

We woke up at 7am, got ready for the day, then headed up to the buffet for breakfast. We planned to eat a big breakfast so hopefully we wouldn't need to buy lunch and could last until we got back on the ship before eating again. I had an omelet with smoked salmon, mushrooms, and cheese, blueberry pancakes, baked apples, and pineapple.

 

 

We left the ship at 8am when they announced the ship was cleared. It was a looooong walk past all the stores to get to the taxi stand, but luckily it was early enough in the day that most of the vendors had yet to arrive so no one was haggling us. There was no wait at the taxi stand, so we got in the next car and he quoted us $12 (USD) for the 15 minute ride.

 

 

The taxi dropped us off at the front entrance, so we paid our $19 each and they gave us wrist bands as a receipt. They also required a photo copy of my seapass card- I'm not sure why, maybe in case we caused any damage so they could identify us? They gave us a map because the park is huge, and we asked for directions towards the beach and snorkeling area.

 

 

By now it was only about 8:45am and there was hardly anyone else here. We had our pick of seats, so we picked 2 teak chairs under a large thatched umbrella. We were blown away at how beautiful it was here, with fine white sand and bright blue clear water. It was well worth the price of admission! The grounds were clean and well maintained, and it was so quiet. There weren't any vendors bothering us every 5 minutes, although the staff did ask us many times if we wanted to order food or drinks. This place was truly a tropical paradise!

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

We purposely wanted to sit in this area so we would have easy access to go snorkeling. These are the stairs you take to get into the water, and there were 3 sets of stairs along the beach. You can also see that the beach is contained by a wall, so it's not like most beaches where the water runs up to the sand. That was actually a good thing because it meant there were lots of rocks immediately after entering the water where there was coral and fish to observe.

 

 

 

Despite having 4 ships in port, Chankanaab never felt crowded all day, and there were always open seats and umbrellas. I think the admission charge helped to keep the crowds out, so it was $19 well spent for a serene and relaxing day at the beach! We did not get to walk around the grounds or see the free sea lion show, although I'm sure that would have added to the value of admission.

 

After about 2 hours of lounging in the shade, we noticed a few large groups entering the water to go snorkeling. It looked like an excursion through one of the cruise ships, and there were several of these groups throughout the day. We took that as a cue to start snorkeling before it got too crowded in the water. There are a few reefs just off the shore, and we just followed along behind some of the tour groups so we would know where the best spots were.

 

 

 

They placed these statues under water as a little something extra to observe. Later in the day, we realized that the location of these statues was marked by a buoy floating at the surface.

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

These are the stairs to go back up to the beach. Note how many fish are swimming here! If you aren't a good swimmer, you could easily stay close to the retaining wall and see tons of fish!

[kenevenpar]

Outstanding! Thank you for sharing!

[Shirley C]

That beach looks beautiful. Great snorkeling shots.

 

Shirley

[marieps]

Your pics are letting us relive our cruise on Equinox from January. Thanks for all your work. BTW, you two are adorable!

[deladane]

Outstanding! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for reading! :)

 

That beach looks beautiful. Great snorkeling shots.

 

Shirley

Thank you! I learned one tip before this cruise and it really works for underwater photography: always have the sun behind you so the sun is reflecting on the fish/coral! It made a huge difference in my photos... just wait until we get to Grand Cayman!!

 

 

Your pics are letting us relive our cruise on Equinox from January. Thanks for all your work. BTW, you two are adorable!

haha, thank you! :)

[Bimmer09]

Great snorkeling shots, Dana!

 

So now what? I have to go buy an underwater camera?

 

Sheesh!

 

Norris