Celebrity Equinox 10 day Southern Caribbean from Miami on September 14th -24th

[GrazieMommy]

This was our 2nd cruise with Celebrity. Our 1st was aboard the Summit 2 years ago from NJ to Bermuda. We so enjoyed that one we booked this cruise while onboard the Summit. We have sailed several times with Princess but we wanted to compare the two lines. My choice after this cruise is definitely Celebrity. Though Princess is nice, Celebrity is hands down my favorite.

 

Living in Naples, FL it’s very convenient to cross the state on Alligator Alley and be in either Port Everglades or the Port of Miami in 2 hours. Regardless, my DH was concerned we’d miss the ship if there was a backup on the Alley,(I-75), so he wanted to go over the afternoon before. I agreed so we chose the Holiday Inn Port of Miami which is very close to the Port and literally across US 1 to the Bayside mall. It’s a little dated and musty but perfect for our purposes.

 

 

 

 

We went to Bayside to browse and eat the evening before. Good thing as I realized I forgot a coverup. After exploring Bayside mall and making my purchase we decided to dine at the Largo Bar & Grill right on the water. We both had some fabulous paella. We followed this with gelato to get a good start on our pre-cruise diet!! Now to rest for the start of our 10 day adventure.

 

More to come in my next post.

 

 

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[hevnsprncs]

Following :)

[SCGirl3211]

Dinner looked fabulous!

 

 

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[MisterMet]

This was our 2nd cruise with Celebrity. Our 1st was aboard the Summit 2 years ago from NJ to Bermuda. We so enjoyed that one we booked this cruise while onboard the Summit. We have sailed several times with Princess but we wanted to compare the two lines. My choice after this cruise is definitely Celebrity. Though Princess is nice, Celebrity is hands down my favorite.

 

Living in Naples, FL it’s very convenient to cross the state on Alligator Alley and be in either Port Everglades or the Port of Miami in 2 hours. Regardless, my DH was concerned we’d miss the ship if there was a backup on the Alley,(I-75), so he wanted to go over the afternoon before. I agreed so we chose the Holiday Inn Port of Miami which is very close to the Port and literally across US 1 to the Bayside mall. It’s a little dated and musty but perfect for our purposes.

 

 

 

 

We went to Bayside to browse and eat the evening before. Good thing as I realized I forgot a coverup. After exploring Bayside mall and making my purchase we decided to dine at the Largo Bar & Grill right on the water. We both had some fabulous paella. We followed this with gelato to get a good start on our pre-cruise diet!! Now to rest for the start of our 10 day adventure.

 

More to come in my next post.

 

 

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Looking forward to your review since I shared the cabin with you! LOL.

 

Mister Met

[cazzi]

looking forward to reading your review

[GrazieMommy]

Dinner looked fabulous!

 

 

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It was fabulous and so was the ceviche we had before that. Forgot to mention that.

 

 

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[oskarNZ]

Looking forward to reading along.

[Bimmer09]

I'm onboard and ready for a photo-packed review!

Norris

[spammie]

We were on your cruise in a Sky Suite! Equinox is our favorite ship. Looking forward to reading your thoughts and review. Wanda

[Barwick Cruiser]

I'm onboard and ready for a photo-packed review!

Norris

 

Are you doing a separate "live from" or waiting to post a review when you get home? Either way works for me lol!!

Enjoy your cruise!

[Bimmer09]

Are you doing a separate "live from" or waiting to post a review when you get home? Either way works for me lol!!

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Hi, I'm onboard vicariously. I wish I had been onboard the ship!

My next X cruise isn't until September 1 2019 to the Norwegian Fjords on Silhouette.

Sorry for the confusion!

Norris

[mlmbar]

I was on your cruise. It was wonderful. The ports were beautiful. Not one complaint about the ship or crew. Our cabin steward was the very best. We were Aqua and loved Blu. Booked again for November 2019. First time on celebrity after many in RCI. Did not realize until we got home that our captain’s club number had been deleted from our booking three days before sailing so we got no elite perks. I do wish that key west was not our last day. It is easier to have a sea day before returning home

 

 

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[Provence55always]

Following along, will be on the Equinox for a B2B in January. Many times with Celebrity but 1st time on the Equinox. We will become Elite on the second leg.....just need 12 points!!

 

Noreen

[warmwinds]

Less than 2 weeks and we'll be on the Equinox in Blu. First time sailing out of Miami - very interested in the comfort of the embarkation process, we like to arrive early but don't want to stand outside in the heat. Is the line-up outside or in the terminal building?

[njgirl]

;)

I was on your cruise. It was wonderful. The ports were beautiful. Not one complaint about the ship or crew. Our cabin steward was the very best. We were Aqua and loved Blu. Booked again for November 2019. First time on celebrity after many in RCI. Did not realize until we got home that our captain’s club number had been deleted from our booking three days before sailing so we got no elite perks. I do wish that key west was not our last day. It is easier to have a sea day before returning home

 

 

How did it go when in Key West the day before arriving back in port?

Assume you went through immigration/customs in Key West before getting off the ship. Curious to know how debarkation goes in port in this scenario. What happens with getting baggage in port?

 

Thanks!

[LMC]

Doing the same cruise later this month....looking forward to your posts!

[GrazieMommy]

EMBARKATION DAY:

 

DH was eager to get onboard so we headed to the port at 10am. DH dropped the bags and myself off at terminal F. The larger bags we left with the porters and I pulled our carryons to the terminal while DH parked the car in the port parking garage. The only hitch was that I went the wrong direction at first and had to work my way back to the correct entrance to the terminal through a crowd of passengers that had just disembarked the ship. LOL. After waiting for my DH to join me, we walked right through security with no wait and straight to the embarkation lounge for suite guests where we checked in with no wait. This was the first time we decided to splurge on a suite.

 

I forgot to bring a lanyard, something I seem to do as a ritual apparently, so I went to buy one. By the time I returned the suite concierge Avigiline was there to greet us and shortly thereafter she escorted us onboard. I grabbed a glass of champagne and we went straight to the buffet to begin our 10 days of overindulgence. We could have gone to the suite dining in Luminae at noon but we couldn’t wait. [emoji23]

 

By the time we had finished with round 1 our friends that were on the same cruise met us. We went from there to our respective cabins. As I have stated, this was our first suite, a sky suite. We chose an aft facing suite as I love to look at the wake. We were immediately greeted by Mariano our stateroom steward and then shortly thereafter by Dominic our butler. They were our family for the next 10 days. I can’t say enough about either of them. They were fantastic.

 

Having explored the stateroom we met our friends at Cafe al Bacio and then we all went up on deck 12 for the sail away.

 

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

EMBARKATION DAY:

 

DH was eager to get onboard so we headed to the port at 10am. DH dropped the bags and myself off at terminal F. The larger bags we left with the porters and I pulled our carryons to the terminal while DH parked the car in the port parking garage. The only hitch was that I went the wrong direction at first and had to work my way back to the correct entrance to the terminal through a crowd of passengers that had just disembarked the ship. LOL. After waiting for my DH to join me, we walked right through security with no wait and straight to the embarkation lounge for suite guests where we checked in with no wait. This was the first time we decided to splurge on a suite.

 

I forgot to bring a lanyard, something I seem to do as a ritual apparently, so I went to buy one. By the time I returned the suite concierge Avigiline was there to greet us and shortly thereafter she escorted us onboard. I grabbed a glass of champagne and we went straight to the buffet to begin our 10 days of overindulgence. We could have gone to the suite dining in Luminae at noon but we couldn’t wait. [emoji23]

 

By the time we had finished with round 1 our friends that were on the same cruise met us. We went from there to our respective cabins. As I have stated, this was our first suite, a sky suite. We chose an aft facing suite as I love to look at the wake. We were immediately greeted by Mariano our stateroom steward and then shortly thereafter by Dominic our butler. They were our family for the next 10 days. I can’t say enough about either of them. They were fantastic.

 

Having explored the stateroom we met our friends at Cafe al Bacio and then we all went up on deck 12 for the sail away.

 

[ATTACH]430116[/ATTACH]

 

 

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Sorry for the duplicate pics. Having trouble with Tapatalk.

 

 

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

Pics from EMBARKATION DAY.

 

 

The last pic is the embarkation lounge.

 

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

I was on your cruise. It was wonderful. The ports were beautiful. Not one complaint about the ship or crew. Our cabin steward was the very best. We were Aqua and loved Blu. Booked again for November 2019. First time on celebrity after many in RCI. Did not realize until we got home that our captain’s club number had been deleted from our booking three days before sailing so we got no elite perks. I do wish that key west was not our last day. It is easier to have a sea day before returning home

 

 

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I agree a sea day is much better for the last day. We have been to Key West so many times that we had planned to walk around for just 1 hour but wound up staying out for 5 hours.

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

Less than 2 weeks and we'll be on the Equinox in Blu. First time sailing out of Miami - very interested in the comfort of the embarkation process, we like to arrive early but don't want to stand outside in the heat. Is the line-up outside or in the terminal building?

 

 

 

There really wasn’t much of a line and it is inside the terminal building. However we were there very early at 10am, so I don’t know how crowded it may have been later.

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

;)

I was on your cruise. It was wonderful. The ports were beautiful. Not one complaint about the ship or crew. Our cabin steward was the very best. We were Aqua and loved Blu. Booked again for November 2019. First time on celebrity after many in RCI. Did not realize until we got home that our captain’s club number had been deleted from our booking three days before sailing so we got no elite perks. I do wish that key west was not our last day. It is easier to have a sea day before returning home

 

 

 

 

 

How did it go when in Key West the day before arriving back in port?

 

Assume you went through immigration/customs in Key West before getting off the ship. Curious to know how debarkation goes in port in this scenario. What happens with getting baggage in port?

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Yes we went through customs while in Key West though it was while onboard. It was a breeze. As US citizens we went to the Sky Lounge. We literally walked in one door met the agent at the table and said where we were and right out the other door. Once we were back in Miami we went to get our bags and right out of the terminal. No customs or anything. Smooth as can be.

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[GrazieMommy]

I forgot to list our itinerary:

 

Day 1 - Miami

Day 2 - At Sea

Day 3 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Day 4 - At Sea

Day 5 - Oranjestad, Aruba

Day 6 - Willemstad, Curaçao

Day 7 - Kralendijk, Bonaire

Day 8 - At Sea

Day 9 - At Sea

Day 10 - Key West

Day 11 - Miami

 

Before and after the sail away we did some exploring of our beautiful ship.

 

 

 

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[GrazieMommy]

We decided that we would go to the show at 7 then go to dinner after so we wouldn’t have to rush through dinner to make the show. The show was comedian Ralph Harris from the last comic standing. He was hilarious. Afterwards we went to the Luminae dining room. We were met by the sweetest hostess Victoria and the Maitre D whom I believe was named Angelina but not sure. They were both so extremely friendly and welcoming. It felt like I was greeted by old friends.

 

Our waiter was Jesus and his assistant Ali. They would take excellent care of us throughout the cruise. Their recommendations were always spot on. Our sommelier Yan was also excellent in her recommendations. By the end of the cruise I wanted to take them all home with us.

 

After dinner we met up with our friends in the Sky Lounge on Deck 14 forward for dancing. Following this DH retired to our stateroom and I joined our friends at the Martini bar where we enjoyed the entertaining bartenders and their martinis before turning in.

 

Day 2 to follow.

 

 

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