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

[GrazieMommy]

[GrazieMommy]

First a correction for Day 8: I said DH didn't buy a watch on the ship. DH aka MisterMet reminded me that he did buy a red banded Bulova on board. He will tell you that my observation skills are quite lacking! LOL.

 

Now for Day 9: 4th Day at Sea -

 

Yippee! Another day for rest and relaxation. Similar to the previous day's routine we started with our  balcony breakfast and then headed down to Cafe al' Bacio for capuccinos and espressos. Following this we headed to the Captain's Clearance event in the shops for the end of cruise sale. Captain Kate was there autographing Captain's hats for purchase in the shops. She was gracious as always and posed for pictures with the ship's guests and spoke with all of us. 

 

Immediately following the sales event we headed to the Equinox theater for the Oceans Ahead: Captain's Corner for some Q&A with the officers. Cruise Director Dan France came out on stage and announced Captain Kate McCue, Chief Engineer Grigorios Mexis, and Hotel Director Julian Brackenbury. This is where they take questions from the audience including one from our friend Mary. There were several interesting questions, and their answers were excellent. I can't remember what the question was, but the Chief Engineer Grigorios mentioned that his wife was onboard for a visit. They put the spot light on her in the balcony section, much to her chagrin I'm sure, but she took it with style. My favorite question that someone asked was: "What is the strangest thing you've ever seen on a cruise ship?". Grigorios answered: " He once noticed bare legs and feet on the floor of the glass elevators in the promenade, and he ran up the stairs in time for the elevator to open. There in the elevator, late at night, was a bare naked man passed out on the floor! " Captain Kate said: " If I only had a dime for everytime I've seen that! ".

 

Now time for lunch. We headed to the Luminae dining room for lunch in lieu of the buffet. We have had the burgers in the Mast Grill, and they were very good, but we had the best gourmet burgers in Luminae. I believe they were wagyu beef. OMG, these were outstanding! Following this culinary delight, we did our usual trip to the Solarium pool for a quick dip and back to the stateroom to relax. 

 

Once we were dressed for the evening, we met up with our friends at the Martini bar. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but this bar is an ice bar. We each drew something in the ice. I drew Let's Go Mets, as you may have guessed DH, aka MisterMet is a huge NY Mets fan.

 

The show this evening was the singer Ashlie Amber. She was an American Idol contestant. She performed a Whitney Houston tribute. The cruise director informed us that she is a favorite of Capt. Kate, and she was in the front row for the show. After her performance, I have to agree with the captain. She has a beautiful and powerful voice.

 

After dinner we met our friends up in the Sky Lounge on deck 14 for the silent disco again. We had missed the first one earlier in the cruise, but went to the Michael's club silent disco earlier in this thread. For our friends on board, this was their first. We each donned our head phones and rocked out with the DJ and the many revelers in the club. Each of us were dancing and singing to the 3 different types of music, and with the big crowd, it was even more fun than before in Michael's club.

 

We left this a little early to get to the Equinox theater for Steve Bruner, the comedian from the previous night's show. He put on a litte bit more adult type performance, and as before, he was hilarious. DH and I decided to try our luck in the casino after the show. We hadn't been there yet, which is not our norm. We each dropped $20 and headed out to the buffet for more food as usual. Usually DH likes to play roulette, but he wasn't in the mood this time. Saved us a lot of money, I'm sure, to make it a quick stop. Off to the buffet for our usual midnight snacks and then to bed.

[GrazieMommy]

[GrazieMommy]

Day 10: Key West

 

Key West was our final port of call. We did something very different at this port. As this was our last port of call until disembarkation in Miami the following day, we were required to go through customs on board before we could leave the ship for our stop in Key West. They said that it was because we were entering the U.S.  before we returned to Miami the following day. We arrived in port at around 7:30am. US citizens were to head up to the Sky Lounge, deck 14 with our passports. All other passengers were to report to the dining room. We were each given a time slot to report and I think our time was 8:30am. We arrived a bit early, but they sent us right in to the lounge. We literally went in one door, handed our passports to a customs agent sitting at a fold out table, spoke with him, and headed out the opposite door where a crew member punched our cruise cards. This was to identify us as having already passed customs and would therefore be allowed to disembark the ship and head directly out of the terminal in Miami upon arrival. The customs agent asked where we were from, to which DH replied, " Naples, Florida ". The customs agent said, " Really? ". DH said, " Yes we're closer to home in Key West than when we get to Miami.". The agent laughed and waved us right through.

 

We had decided that since we'd been to Key West so many times, that we would get off the ship, shop, and have some lunch, and get back on board to enjoy the ship with fewer passengers on board. We were docked right in front of the Margaritaville Resort & Marina. Parrothead hubby loved taking pics here, then we headed down to Duval Street. DH made me stand on the corner of Caroline Street and act crazy for a video, as he loves the Jimmy Buffet song:" There's a woman going crazy on Caroline Street, stopping every man she does meet". I begrudgingly obliged him, fearing someone would believe I was crazy. I should have realized that as we were in Key West, no one would notice! LOL. 

 

We passed by the Southern Most Point marker that delineates the Southern Most point of the USA. I got a nice pic of DH in front of it to add to our collection of pics of this famous spot. We headed back up Duval Street towards the ship to get souvenirs and money from an ATM. At this point my friend Cindi texted us to meet up with her. Her mother and she had taken the Conch train tour of the city, and her Mom wasn't feeling well and went back to the ship. Cindi showed us some pics of iguanas running around the city. They are not native to Florida, but they have become an invasive species. Now I wonder if they have befriended the chickens that wander the streets of Key West? LOL. Key West never disappoints with its various wonders and excentricities.  We went to Captain Tony's Saloon, which is the original Sloppy Joe's Bar for some drinks and t-shirts. We couldn't find anything that appealed to us for lunch so we decided to eat back on board. We dined one last time in the Ocean View Cafe, took our dip in the Solarium pool, and headed up to pack and change for dinner.

 

The show this evening was Elysium, a production done by the cruise production team. We decided to forego this show and head straight for dinner. This would be our last night to enjoy Michael's Club and our outstanding crew members in the Luminae dining room. It was fabulous as always. This was every bit as good as the specialty dining restaurant, Murano. We didn't try any of the other restaurants, but we hope to when we sail next July. 

 

Following dinner we headed to the casino one last time, and we each dropped another $20 and left. We were definitely not high rollers this cruise. We then went back to Cafe al' Bacio for one last cappucinno and espresso followed by more gelato. DH headed up to the buffet before bed, but having eaten myself into oblivion, I informed him that I knew how to get to the stateroom and headed up to bed. 

[GrazieMommy]

[GrazieMommy]

Disembarkation: Miami, FL-

 

We arrived in Miami at 6:45 am. We arrived just in time for the sunrise. We got some pretty pics of the Miami skyline at dawn from our balcony. As suite guests we could depart anytime we wished after clearance from shore. We just needed to go to Michael's club, and our suite concierge, Aveline would lead us off the ship. She also escorted us on board on embarkation day. We dropped off our carry on luggage with Aveline so we could go for breakfast unencumbered. 

 

We decided that for the first and only time during this cruise, we would have breakfast in the Luminae dining room. We had a very nice and relaxed breakfast. We realized that we could have had breakfast here each day instead of on our balcony, if we had felt like doing that. It was definitely be so much more enjoyable without the crowd in the Ocean View Cafe. This was the other choice for breakfast as you can't have breakfast on your balcony on disembarkation day.

 

After breakfast we headed to Michael's club to disembark the ship. We simply walked into Michael's club and informed Aveline that we were ready to disembark, and she immediately showed us out of the club and through the door to the disembarkation deck. There were two lines, one for most passengers and the other for suites guests. This may be for Elite and Zenith guests as well, but I'm not certain. We were very pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Captain Kate herself. She personally shook the hands of each guest and thanked them for sailing with the Celebrity Equinox crew. When I say each guest I mean all passengers, not just suite guests. I have never seen this except on the show The Love Boat!  I have now been completely seduced by Celebrity Cruises. This was one of the best cruises yet. We can't wait to sail the Equinox again next July. 

 

We went right out to our luggage, picked it up, and went right out of the terminal to the parking garage. It was so nice to not need to wait to go through customs. This is usually the biggest wait of an entire cruise. So cool to have done this in Key West.

 

I have really enjoyed doing this review. It's been a great way to relive the trip. DH made some phenomenal Go Pro videos he made of the cruise. Click on the links below to view them. 

 

https://gopro.com/v/1PmMnkklo8bn

https://gopro.com/v/edQJk4o3lM97

https://gopro.com/v/rb1Pb3X953GO

https://gopro.com/v/0X8vz9oV92vJ

https://gopro.com/v/zR8QRMd3LG2R

https://gopro.com/v/3vW5QPVRZqyL

 

Bon Voyage!

[Hatteras51]

The videos are awesome! Thanks so much for this report. I have really enjoyed reliving this cruise. We sailed the same week as you, one year earlier. We didn't know if we were going to make it because Irma had just hit Florida a few days before. The airport was only taking limited flights, so we were very fortunate to have made it. It was one of our favorite cruises. 

[GrazieMommy]

16 minutes ago, Hatteras51 said:

The videos are awesome! Thanks so much for this report. I have really enjoyed reliving this cruise. We sailed the same week as you, one year earlier. We didn't know if we were going to make it because Irma had just hit Florida a few days before. The airport was only taking limited flights, so we were very fortunate to have made it. It was one of our favorite cruises. 

Thank you so much. DH did a great job with videos. Ironically we were on a British Isles cruise during hurricane Irma and barely had time to fly out of Miami before hand. Glad you were able to enjoy the cruise as well. 

[Hatteras51]

Just wanted to let you know that we got an inquiry about the ring found at the Natural Pool, but it wasn't a match. I hope that the owner looks around the social media Aruba sites. It is listed in several places. 

[GrazieMommy]

21 hours ago, Hatteras51 said:

Just wanted to let you know that we got an inquiry about the ring found at the Natural Pool, but it wasn't a match. I hope that the owner looks around the social media Aruba sites. It is listed in several places. 

Thank you for the update. Too bad it wasn’t a match. That would have been such a happy ending. Hope the ring and it’s owner are reunited eventually. 

[MisterMet]

On 10/29/2018 at 7:34 PM, Hatteras51 said:

The videos are awesome! Thanks so much for this report. I have really enjoyed reliving this cruise. We sailed the same week as you, one year earlier. We didn't know if we were going to make it because Irma had just hit Florida a few days before. The airport was only taking limited flights, so we were very fortunate to have made it. It was one of our favorite cruises. 

 

Glad you liked the videos. DW did an awesome job on this review!  It was her first one and I hope she enjoyed creating it as much as we all have enjoyed reading it.

i would concur with her on 100% of what she said and felt.  It was our best cruise ever for many reasons, most of them touched upon on in these pages.

Edited November 1, 2018 by MisterMet
Grammar

[belcherwm]

Enjoyed reading this very much as we are doing pretty much the same cruise on Silhouette in a month!