LIVE!! FROM THE EQUINOX PRESIDENT's Cruise August 27th, 2017 - ChicagoPaul

[emelle]

Just adding my thanks, to the many others, for your review. I have read along each day and appreciate your efforts.

Who knows, we may meet one day onboard.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Thanks for taking the time to write your live review. My DH and I are taking our first Celebrity cruise on the Equinox September 6. We are looking forward to trying out the Martini and Sunset Bars' date=' and the rest of the ship,of course.[/quote']

Meant to type October 6.

[alexspepa]

Meant to type October 6.

hey - so are we!

[Hatteras51]

There were only 4 of us heading to FLL. They had the luggage waiting in the front so we could confirm no pieces were left out.

 

 

Now we are sitting at the airport. Anxious to get home at this point. It's been a long day!

 

 

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I have really enjoyed your updates. We are thinking about taking the hop on - hop off bus in Miami. We are also flying back from Ft. Lauderdale. When you mentioned that your luggage was waiting in front, did you mean that it was already waiting for you on the bus when you got there, or did you have to get it when you got off of the ship and take it to the bus?

[Shorty52]

Meant to type October 6.

 

 

So are my DH and I....!!!!!!!

[ArizonaCruisers]

So are my DH and I....!!!!!!!

 

My DW and I are also sailing on the Equinox on Oct 6th! We are really looking forward to this cruise, our first ever Celebrity ship.

[chicagopaul]

I have really enjoyed your updates. We are thinking about taking the hop on - hop off bus in Miami. We are also flying back from Ft. Lauderdale. When you mentioned that your luggage was waiting in front, did you mean that it was already waiting for you on the bus when you got there, or did you have to get it when you got off of the ship and take it to the bus?

 

Good question! Sorry for the confusion so let me clarify the entire process.

 

We booked on Hop on / Hop off with airport transfer to FLL through Celebrity. The cost was $59 per person.

 

On the morning of debarkation we went to Celebrity Central at 7:45am. At 8am they escorted us to the gangway (there was no wait at all). You then go collect your bags and go through customs. After going through customs you walk outside of the terminal and we were directed to the hop on / hop off bus. You fill out luggage tags for the hop on / hop off bus and leave the luggage there. They take it and load it. The next time you see your luggage is when you get on your transfer to go to the airport. What I meant by seeing it in front, is that when we walked on the bus to go to FLL it was sitting on the front of the bus.

 

They had 3 different times for transfers to FLL. They were 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. This is when the bus actually leaves Bayside Market to head to FLL. We were at FLL by 3:40pm. We flew there in the express lanes. No traffic at all.

 

Hope this info helps!

[SeasTheDay12]

Hi Paul and Edward!

Great review as usual~

 

Any chance you know where Putu is?

 

Im on SIL TA in Nov and hoping for martini bar friends!

 

Hope to see you both again

Best, Debra

 

 

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[uncle-b]

Thank you for your blog. We were also on this cruise. I totally agree with your observations. This was the best food we have had on any cruise. We are elite plus. We also had the best cabin steward ever. We ate in main dining room most evenings, at Tuscan or Oceanview in mornings and oceanview for lunch. We did eat in Murano's one evening and it was wonderful. My only disappointments were the entertainment and the evening at the Casino in San Juan. We did actually meet Lisa and spoke with her on the cruise. It was a great cruise.

 

Sandra

[chicagopaul]

Hi Paul and Edward!

Great review as usual~

 

Any chance you know where Putu is?

 

Im on SIL TA in Nov and hoping for martini bar friends!

 

Hope to see you both again

Best, Debra

 

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Hi Debra - Thank you for the nice comments. Unfortunately Putu is on the Constellation. However, I do have my friends Wayne & Sal who will be on your TA sailing. Look for them at the pool bar every morning.

[Hatteras51]

Good question! Sorry for the confusion so let me clarify the entire process.

 

We booked on Hop on / Hop off with airport transfer to FLL through Celebrity. The cost was $59 per person.

 

On the morning of debarkation we went to Celebrity Central at 7:45am. At 8am they escorted us to the gangway (there was no wait at all). You then go collect your bags and go through customs. After going through customs you walk outside of the terminal and we were directed to the hop on / hop off bus. You fill out luggage tags for the hop on / hop off bus and leave the luggage there. They take it and load it. The next time you see your luggage is when you get on your transfer to go to the airport. What I meant by seeing it in front, is that when we walked on the bus to go to FLL it was sitting on the front of the bus.

 

They had 3 different times for transfers to FLL. They were 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. This is when the bus actually leaves Bayside Market to head to FLL. We were at FLL by 3:40pm. We flew there in the express lanes. No traffic at all.

 

Hope this info helps!

 

 

Thanks! This is very helpful.

[Purplsmurf]

Hi Debra - Thank you for the nice comments. Unfortunately Putu is on the Constellation. However, I do have my friends Wayne & Sal who will be on your TA sailing. Look for them at the pool bar every morning.

 

There is more than one Putu. I know a Putu that is currently on the Equinox. He is a bartender. Probably in martini bar, but may move around.

[chicagopaul]

There is more than one Putu. I know a Putu that is currently on the Equinox. He is a bartender. Probably in martini bar, but may move around.

 

 

 

Yes you're right. I assumed she was talking about the Putu I sailed with in my previous cruise on the Reflection who is bald and makes his famous Putu-Tini.

 

Debra if you were referring to someone else let me know!

 

 

 

 

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[SeasTheDay12]

Hi Debra - Thank you for the nice comments. Unfortunately Putu is on the Constellation. However, I do have my friends Wayne & Sal who will be on your TA sailing. Look for them at the pool bar every morning.

 

 

 

Yes, that is the Putu I was hoping to find [emoji32]

But I will look for Wayne and Sal and send your regards! Special crew friends can really make your cruise special!

 

Thanks so much!

Debra

 

 

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[flyingv4me]

My DW and I are also sailing on the Equinox on Oct 6th! We are really looking forward to this cruise, our first ever Celebrity ship.

 

We're on Equinox on 10/6 as well and can't wait! This thread has been a great teaser as we get ready for our cruise! Thanks, Paul!

[Orator]

Also on this cruise and it was wonderful. Thanks ChicagoPaul for your excellent review. Always interesting to see a cruise through other eyes.

[Kelane]

Today at 4pm we went to the cigar and rum event at Sunset Bar. The price was $35 pp which included three different rums and refills plus a cigar. The rum was very good, especially the young white rum which paired so well with the cigar. We sat at a circular table with 7 people and had wonderful conversation. One gentleman worked as a trucker hauling very hazardous materials in northern Canada and he had incredible stories. What a treat. Milton of course took care of us and made sure we didn't need or want for anything.

 

In total it appeared that 15/16 people signed up for the rum and cigar tasting.

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We were in this cruise with you and I am JUST NOW seeing this! Grrr...would have been fun to follow along...see what all we missed! ;)

 

Question. Were there any females at this event? I'd love to do this! :)

 

 

 

Save

 

 

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[johhnnyt]

Thanks so much for a great review Paul. Always a pleasure to see you and Edward.

 

I really enjoyed every word of your review. I love your humor, and outlook. Your reviews always seem to be quantifiably objective rather than subjective, and personally find that very very helpful in understanding the dynamics of a particular crew and its voyage.

 

See you on the next voyage.

[chicagopaul]

Thanks so much for a great review Paul. Always a pleasure to see you and Edward.

 

I really enjoyed every word of your review. I love your humor, and outlook. Your reviews always seem to be quantifiably objective rather than subjective, and personally find that very very helpful in understanding the dynamics of a particular crew and its voyage.

 

See you on the next voyage.

 

Thank you Johnny for the kind words! It was a pleasure seeing you this cruise and it was great to catch up. I hope you had a wonderful time and we definitely look forward to cruising with you in the future!!!

[chicagopaul]

Hi Everyone! Well, as promised here will be a few posts with some videos as well as my final recap.

 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

And just for good measure, here are a few other video clips that I put together

 

 

[chicagopaul]

We were in this cruise with you and I am JUST NOW seeing this! Grrr...would have been fun to follow along...see what all we missed! ;)

 

Question. Were there any females at this event? I'd love to do this! :)

 

 

 

 

 

Save

 

Yes, there was! You would have fit right in. As a matter of fact we sat next to a wonderful couple, Shari and Jeff and ended up meeting them at the Martini Bar each night.

[chicagopaul]

Well we are back in Chicago! We arrived late Monday night and we’ve adjusted back to reality. Before I give you my final recap and thoughts on the cruise I wanted to take the time to thank all of you for following along. Many of you have thanked me for taking the time to write the live blog and believe me, the pleasure is all mine. I’ve enjoyed writing and compiling this blog more than you know. So to everyone who followed along or asked questions or made comments…THANK YOU!

 

This was our first President’s Cruise. We’ve heard about the other wonderful things on previous President’s Cruises but that was not the prime objective for booking this cruise. Edward had the vacation time to us and we noticed the pricing for many of the Equinox cruises were reasonable over the summer. Traveling over the Labor Day weekend meant one less day to take off of work and this was an 8 night cruise so the extra day was a nice bonus.

 

Overall we had an absolutely wonderful time on the cruise. The weather was outstanding. There were only a couple brief moments of showers but you could’ve very easily been inside eating or playing cards, etc. and completely missed it. The seas were very calm every day. We had one evening and early morning where we felt a little sway of the ocean and boy were we glad! It finally felt like we were on water!

 

The overall cleanliness of the ship was excellent as always. We never noticed any major issues with regard to cleanliness or general ship maintenance. The pool and deck areas were always well organized with respect to deck chairs. Food plates and cups laying out were picked up at moments notice. Even an officer walking buy would grab things and clean up if they saw something out of place. I find this always to be the case with Celebrity, but it is an important point to make because we want to hold them to this standard, always.

 

OUR ROOM

 

We stayed in room 1172, a concierge class cabin. The cabin was in good shape. For those interested in the cabin the bed was by the balcony which we prefer. The one thing I’ll note about this room is it never felt like it got very cold. It was cold enough and completely comfortable but we had the a/c turned all the way up. But we’re the type of people who like to sleep with it at 64 degrees so maybe its just us.

 

Our room steward, I believe his name was Wilfred (I hope it was!) was great. We rarely saw him but that is exactly what I want in someone who takes care of my room. If we needed anything we knew he was only a phone call away. He always timed us leaving the room perfectly and the couple times we had to swing back to the room to grab something (after only being out of the room for an hour or so) it was already cleaned.

 

BAR STAFF

 

Obviously if you’ve been following along you know this is a priority for us! All the bar staff were fantastic. We’ve cruised with some before which leads the others knowing us. We’re friends with many on Facebook who even if they weren’t on the ship let people know we’d be on the sailing. So we might have had a little preferential treatment. However, that is not what I wanted to talk about.

 

I want to talk about how well the bar staff seemed to work together. Back at home and also when we travel we almost always eat the bar. Even at the highest end restaurants we frequent we prefer sitting at the bar. It allows us to talk to people and watch what’s going on. I love watching restaurants operations. So with all this being said, I was highly impressed by how well the bartenders worked together from personal interaction and jokes to efficiency in making drinks and letting each other know if they needed help. This was particularly evident at the Martini Bar and Sunset bar, but it was throughout the ship even at the pool bar and in Ensemble lounge. One of the bar managers I know on the ship pulled together a team of her favorite bartenders so that may have something to do with it. She picked the best. But the overall chemistry you saw and felt behind the bars was excellent.

 

SPECIALTY DINING

 

You’ve seen all my photos of dinners so no need to go into specifics. We ended up eating in Murano 5 nights, Tuscan 2 nights, and Silk Harvest one night. We loved them all. My only disappointment was the veal marsala I had at Tuscan. It was fried, which I should’ve asked about (I never think veal should be fried!) and I just found it a bit bland. But the cook point was on point. The marsala sauce was a bit thick and sweet compared to what I’ve had at many restaurants. However, we had plenty of food including a chicken parm to split so I didn’t go hungry.

 

Our best meal was the steak diane which is an off menu item in Murano but must be ordered ahead of time (typically a day ahead of time). We were asked on our 2nd to last reservation Murano if they could prepare something special and they gave us some options. We’ve heard amazing things about the steak diane and it definitely did not disappoint. It was by far my favorite meal on the ship. Absolutely fantastic and such a nice treat since we’ve pretty much exhausted the Murano menu on this cruise and our previous ones.

 

Overall specialty dining restaurants seemed to be decently busy this cruise. I was happy to see this. On previous cruises we felt like we were the only ones in the restaurant during prime dining times, but this time around they all had great crowds. Service was still consistent.

 

GASTRO PUB

 

Oh Gastro Pub why can’t you be open on embarkation day? This is a very nice venue. I think they did a great job with the build out. As you know I enjoyed the burger the one day they were open for lunch, even though the burger took a while to come out.

 

OTHER DINING

 

We ate in Ocean View a couple of times. Food was good. A couple things were great (I love my Indian food on Celebrity) such as the Indian food and a couple of the grilled chicken items. We noticed one day they had scallops which was a big surprise!

 

We also ate at Mast Grill several times. The lines were never long and the food was quick. Hot dogs and burgers were good an consistent. Unlike our past experience at Mast Grill on the Reflection we did not find the burgers to be overcooked.

 

POOL AREA

 

We only had two sea days. We spent neither laying by the pool and instead used the day in St. Thomas by the pool. The pool, even in St. Thomas had a decent crowd but no issues finding a good seat. We were right at the waters edge and spent a good amount of time actually in the pool. On the last sea day the pool area was packed, but I noticed there were still some loungers available.

 

Pool bartenders, when were by the pool at least, were always coming around. I’d say when I was by the pool for about 3.5 hours, I was asked about 6 times if I needed anything to drink. Which in my opinion was perfect.

 

PRESIDENT’S CRUISE EVENTS

 

The only events or activities we went to was the evening out in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then the Q&A with Lisa. The Puerto Rico event consisted of live music, dancing, drinks, some light food / deserts, and a couple casino games. The space where the event was held was very beautiful. The architecture was fantastic and the entire building was draped in marble. We stayed for about an hour and left. It was a free event which we definitely appreciated, but it just didn’t wow us. It was pretty crowded and I was hoping for more gaming where I could sit and play blackjack, etc. This just didn’t have them. The event was definitely well attended however. Most people we spoke with seemed to share our sentiments on the event.

 

The Q&A with Lisa was nice. It was held in the morning at 11am. She spoke for about 35 minutes or so and then people were able to ask questions. I’m kicking myself for not asking a question but oh well.

 

There was an Elite happy hour / get together with Lisa which we missed in the papers we were given so we did not attend. However, from those we spoke to on board they said it was very nice and set up with great food. Not your typical happy hour event.

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

Overall we had a wonderful cruise. We met some terrific people on board. We had great weather. We had excellent service. We enjoyed all of our meals and then some.

 

I tried to write this blog in a very positive light. Throughout the cruise I’m sure there were missteps and some mistakes that were made by crew but none of which were not able to be corrected or were so insignificant to me they’re not even in my memory. I find that while cruising, as with anything in life, it is not what we encounter which determines how we feel but how we choose to react to it.

 

Thank you to everyone for following along. Everyone one of you, even if you didn’t comment, made our cruise more enjoyable knowing we were taking you all along for the ride. To all those we met on board, who chatted with us daily or maybe even only saw us once, you are one of the main reasons we cruise. You’ll forever be in our cruise memories.

 

Our next cruise in this November, the 26th on the Celebrity Eclipse for 14 nights. We hope you join us for that journey as well. Until then, happy sailing to all and safe travels! I will leave you with one final photo taken on suggestion by Edward as we walked back to our cabin on the final night of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

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[Bimmer09]

OTHER DINING

 

We ate in Ocean View a couple of times. Food was good. A couple things were great (I love my Indian food on Celebrity) such as the Indian food and a couple of the grilled chicken items. We noticed one day they had scallops which was a big surprise!

 

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Paul, I enjoyed following along with you and Edward. Oceanview cafe serves up some decent Indian food and that is usually my lunch choice. Here's a reminder....

Norris

[sayvan]

Thanks for the great review... I enjoyed it immensely! Can't wait to get back on Solstice in January!

 

 

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