LIVE Equinox 8 Night Eastern Caribbean!!!!

[h20skibum]

On 10/28/2019 at 12:43 PM, h20cruzer said:

everything has been excellent so far with the exception of 2 small issues and those are service in the martini bar and service In Cafe Al Bacio.

This seems to be a continuing problem.

 

Do you know if they are offering fillets from the specialty restaurant as an upcharge. In the MDR?

 

I remember talking with you before about some of the restaurants we frequent in your hometown when we are in the North Bay Area.   Don’t know how much you have been following the fires and electric blackouts while you are away.  Our son and his family in San Rafael were without electric for two days, and PG&E said it would be out five more, so they booked last minute flights and went to Maui for the rest of the week.  Hope things are okay at your place.

[h20cruzer]

12 hours ago, ecslady said:

Can you post a pic of the sheet listing the current officers?  I'm boarding soon and would like to know who's on board.  Thanks in advance.

We did not get this sheet listing the officers in the original packet when we boarded. I just called the desk and had to give the girl a five minute explanation of what it was I wanted she said she could print one and send it to my cabin I’m hoping I get it as soon as I do I’ll post it for you.

[h20cruzer]

11 hours ago, ROXY GIRL said:

How is ST.Thomas now after the hurricanes.

Are most of the shops open?

Yes most of the shops are open. You can still see lots of damage.

[h20cruzer]

10 hours ago, toddmanka said:

Can you check if a bartender named Singh is at the bar behind the Oceanview cafe deck below the sunset bar. 
You will never have to wait for drink

Thanks

I will certainly check tomorrow, sometimes they move around so I will check with several bartenders if he is not at that bar. Would you like me to say hello to him from you? If so I need a name.

[h20cruzer]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

This seems to be a continuing problem.

 

Do you know if they are offering fillets from the specialty restaurant as an upcharge. In the MDR?

 

I remember talking with you before about some of the restaurants we frequent in your hometown when we are in the North Bay Area.   Don’t know how much you have been following the fires and electric blackouts while you are away.  Our son and his family in San Rafael were without electric for two days, and PG&E said it would be out five more, so they booked last minute flights and went to Maui for the rest of the week.  Hope things are okay at your place.

Service at the martini bar as well as Cafe Al Bacio  is dismal at best. This morning I ordered a coffee at 7 o’clock and the girl or waited on me right away I sat there for 1 hour and 20 minutes and no one offered me a second coffee. Most of the time they’re only two bartenders at the martini bar and they are swamped and people are standing 2 deep trying to get a drink it’s really disappointing. 

My daughter and I live in Novato and they have been without power since Saturday although the power came on last night but they’re telling them they’re going to lose power for 2 to 5 more days. My daughter works in Oakland now so she’s been charging everything up at her job but at our home we have electric stove electric microwave so if you’re going to cook there’s nothing to cook on but they seem to be managing. I’ve tried not to read anything about the fires because I’m so far away I feel helpless if anything were to happen I’m just hoping that those fires are under control soon. My green kids go to school in San Rafael and the kids school has been closed all week. I cruise with Celebrity quite often and I have never seen such slow service on other ships I’m not sure what the problem is I was on the ship last February there was no problem at all I’m tempted to talk to the bar manager to find out if they’re just short staffed if they  want to operate with less staffs. I don’t know what is going on, but it’s very disappointing as I said earlier.

[toddmanka]

Todd and Sue from Florida

[High C's]

Thanks so much for doing this Live. We board Equinox next weekend.  Not happy to hear the service is so poor in the two areas you mentioned.

 

Quick question - did you dock in Crown Bay or Havensight in St Thomas?

 

Thanks

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Thanks for the review.  Looking forward to seeing who is on board, we sail in 2 weeks.  Hope the bar manager resolves the issues in the Martini Bar and Café Al Bicao.

[RealDeal]

21 hours ago, toddmanka said:

Can you check if a bartender named Singh is at the bar behind the Oceanview cafe deck below the sunset bar. 
You will never have to wait for drink

Thanks

I was recently on Eclipse & there was a bartender named Singh. Wonder if it's the same one?

[toddmanka]

Could be popular first name

[cmalagngl]

12 hours ago, h20cruzer said:

I will certainly check tomorrow, sometimes they move around so I will check with several bartenders if he is not at that bar. Would you like me to say hello to him from you? If so I need a name.

We got off the Equinox on Oct 25th and I did not see Singh at the bar at the back of the Ocean View Cafe.  Clarence was there every time we got something from that bar.

 

We did not have service problems at Cafe al Bacio but we did at the Martini bar if you were not seated at the bar.  The bar seating was completely filled by 4:45 every afternoon.

 

We also found that if you made an effort to get a waiter's attention we had no problems.  On the second day of our cruise at the Martini Bar one of the managers took our order, we were not at the bar itself.  We explained we had waited about twenty minutes.  We arrived at 5 PM.  The next day and for the remainder of the cruise the service there was very good.  Squeaky wheel syndrome!

 

We found that the only bar on board with consistent drinks was the Martini Bar.  The other bars we frequented were not consistent if you order something other than a basic drink such as gin and tonic.  The mojitos ranged from great to awful depending on which bar tender mixed them.  The good news was we had the package so we just left the poor drinks and found another bar tender.  I found this to be an issue on our last four Celebrity cruises over the past four years.  Not enough for me to not sail Celebrity as they are still our favorite cruise line.  Just something you have to manage.

[h20cruzer]

3 hours ago, High C's said:

Thanks so much for doing this Live. We board Equinox next weekend.  Not happy to hear the service is so poor in the two areas you mentioned.

 

Quick question - did you dock in Crown Bay or Havensight in St Thomas?

 

Thanks

We docked at Crown Bay, I would Have preferred to dock at Havensight. I was here in February on the equinox and we docked here as well I did get off the ship and walk around there was nothing to speak of that I was interested in so yesterday I didn’t bother to get off the ship.

[h20cruzer]

It’s Wed Oct 30th, here are the daily’s.

 

[PTC DAWG]

4 hours ago, High C's said:

Thanks so much for doing this Live. We board Equinox next weekend.  Not happy to hear the service is so poor in the two areas you mentioned.

 

Quick question - did you dock in Crown Bay or Havensight in St Thomas?

 

Thanks

I didn't experience any of these issues on the recent 11 day Southern Caribbean on the Equinox...hopefully, it is a one off thing.  

 

On the 11 day, we docked at Crown Bay.  

Edited October 30, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[hopeless holiday booker]

Thank for the pictures of your room and I'm really enjoying your review.  I did notice the new bedding but the room is the same - they haven't updated the carpet or the bathrooms, plug points etc.  Do you know if this is because is didn't get the full upgrade or they aren't doing that in the 'ordinary' rooms?

[PTC DAWG]

8 minutes ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

Thank for the pictures of your room and I'm really enjoying your review.  I did notice the new bedding but the room is the same - they haven't updated the carpet or the bathrooms, plug points etc.  Do you know if this is because is didn't get the full upgrade or they aren't doing that in the 'ordinary' rooms?

We were told it was because the ship had to spend 12 days or so at sea, going to Cadiz and back..instead of Freeport..still, some of it was a good thing, as the Sky Lounge is still a HUGE space..

Edited October 30, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[hcat]

 

We are not fans of Crown Bay..but that seems to be the new Celeb pier in St Thomas.  We will manage with it but not exited! Maybe take the nearby ferry to a beach bar.

 

Hope you enjoyed Tortola..one of our fav places..Took a big hit with the hurricane but is slowly coming back!

 

I see Tortola has an excursion to the O'Neal Bontanic Gardens.  We passed by on our Tortola excursion in January.  It was not too far from the port abd look interesting. We   def would book the garden tour next time

 

The lunches at Sea look interesting esp the Progressive lunch at Tuscan.

Are you going to try it?  Maybe a chance to try specialty venues at lower pricing?

[h20cruzer]

Yesterday as another relaxing day. I love sitting in Al Bacio people watching. As usual we went to the Martini Bar before dinner last night we ate with our good friends Barbara and Maureen, in Murano. 
I had scallops without the puff pastry and crispy pork belly for dinner I had the duck and chocolate ice cream for Dessert. I also have a picture of one of the other appetizers goat cheese soup 

[h20cruzer]

On 10/29/2019 at 7:40 PM, h20skibum said:

This seems to be a continuing problem.

 

Do you know if they are offering fillets from the specialty restaurant as an upcharge. In the MDR?

 

I remember talking with you before about some of the restaurants we frequent in your hometown when we are in the North Bay Area.   Don’t know how much you have been following the fires and electric blackouts while you are away.  Our son and his family in San Rafael were without electric for two days, and PG&E said it would be out five more, so they booked last minute flights and went to Maui for the rest of the week.  Hope things are okay at your place.

We haven’t eaten in the dining room. I know I. The past you could do this I will try to find out tomorrow. My daughter texted me saying power is back on, however she had to fly to LA for business today, quick trip had to put the dogs in doggie daycare. Didn’t feel comfortable leaving them  home alone.

[h20cruzer]

11 hours ago, hcat said:

 

We are not fans of Crown Bay..but that seems to be the new Celeb pier in St Thomas.  We will manage with it but not exited! Maybe take the nearby ferry to a beach bar.

 

Hope you enjoyed Tortola..one of our fav places..Took a big hit with the hurricane but is slowly coming back!

 

I see Tortola has an excursion to the O'Neal Bontanic Gardens.  We passed by on our Tortola excursion in January.  It was not too far from the port abd look interesting. We   def would book the garden tour next time

 

The lunches at Sea look interesting esp the Progressive lunch at Tuscan.

Are you going to try it?  Maybe a chance to try specialty venues at lower pricing?

I think we are going to pass have eaten at  sushi in 5 once, Tuscan twice and Murano 3X, we still

have 2 more nights left, I think lunch will send us over the edge ha ha.

[h20cruzer]

11 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

We were told it was because the ship had to spend 12 days or so at sea, going to Cadiz and back..instead of Freeport..still, some of it was a good thing, as the Sky Lounge is still a HUGE space..

Sky lounge still nigh doesn’t appear any changes of been made in the sky lounge.

[h20cruzer]

11 hours ago, hopeless holiday booker said:

Thank for the pictures of your room and I'm really enjoying your review.  I did notice the new bedding but the room is the same - they haven't updated the carpet or the bathrooms, plug points etc.  Do you know if this is because is didn't get the full upgrade or they aren't doing that in the 'ordinary' rooms?

I think because they had to go to a different port to do the refurbishment they  didn’t have enough time to do everything, all I can see that they’ve done is updated the bedding, carpet and furniture Appear to be the same. The only place I’ve noticed the change is the Sunset bar has new patio furniture and stools.

[h20cruzer]

16 hours ago, High C's said:

Thanks so much for doing this Live. We board Equinox next weekend.  Not happy to hear the service is so poor in the two areas you mentioned.

 

Quick question - did you dock in Crown Bay or Havensight in St Thomas?

 

Thanks

Crown Bay.

[h20cruzer]

On 10/29/2019 at 12:36 PM, toddmanka said:

Can you check if a bartender named Singh is at the bar behind the Oceanview cafe deck below the sunset bar. 
You will never have to wait for drink

Thanks

Haven’t been able to find a bartender named Singh, sorry.

 

On 10/29/2019 at 10:22 AM, ecslady said:

Can you post a pic of the sheet listing the current officers?  I'm boarding soon and would like to know who's on board.  Thanks in advance.

Took a bit of doing to get it but I persisted, here you go.

[hcat]

Great !

Hope they bring them back .