Equinox 9/17 LIVE BLOG; Aqua Class - 1st Time Celebrity! Let’s Cruise!

[FLCruiser97]

Love the Sky Lounge. Teddy and Renato are the best. Spent most nights in the Sky with our new CC friends.

[TravelBluebird]

3 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Love the Sky Lounge. Teddy and Renato are the best. Spent most nights in the Sky with our new CC friends.

 

The Sky Lounge is spacious and beautiful; what a view! Glad we had time to spend there today; haven’t been able to make it there in the evenings; so much going on every night.

[WNcruiser]

I find it very interesting to see how others enjoy time on their cruise. Personally I am exhausted from all you do :). My days consist of sleeping in, eating, lounging at the pool and going to the martini bar. Anything more than that is out of the norm for me. 

 

That is what makes cruising such a great vacation for everyone. You can do as little or as much as you want. Im glad you enjoyed your first Celebrity cruise, we have many years of great memories with them. 

[TravelBluebird]

Our second, final Formal Night was tonight. Blu did not disappoint; we did not get the surf and turf which was offered (the filet mignon and the lobster) because we had lunch at Murano.  

 

I had the Crispy Crab Cake to start, Russ had the SpicyRoasted Plantain Soup (very spicy!) We both then had the Endive and Apple Salad.  

 

I had the very delicious Oven Roasted Lobster Tail (yup, lobster for lunch and dinner today; I rarely have the chance to eat lobster in Tennessee, so I was happy).  The Saffron Tomato Rice which it came with was nice. Russ had the Phyllo Crusted Chicken Paillard; he liked it, moist chicken and well-prepared crust, but said it could have had some sort of sauce.

 

I wasn’t going to get dessert, but couldn’t turn up the Baked Alaska. This was a good decision!

 

Tonight’s entertainment for us was a little different; although we’ve gambled on and off in the casino all week, we had the $500 casino credit from the tournament, so we gambled before and after dinner. Didn’t win any giant jackpots, but did win enough to pocket a nice portion of the prize.

 

The main show tonight was a singer from Las Vegas, Laura Wright. I poked my head in the 9pm performance; she had a good audience and was belting away on “Cabaret” 

 

I’ll continue to share information and photos from the trip when I return home, plus answer questions. Thanks for following along...I can’t believe tomorrow is our last day already! It went SO fast!

[tompeter]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!

 

[Fuggedaboutit]

Yes, thank you for all your posts!!  We are booked on the Dec. 10th Equinox cruise and can't wait.  Thrilled you had a wonderful time!

🙂

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, Fuggedaboutit said:

Yes, thank you for all your posts!!  We are booked on the Dec. 10th Equinox cruise and can't wait.  Thrilled you had a wonderful time!

🙂

 

It will be amazing! Incredible crew. Incredible ship. And we turned out to be very COVID safe; only 1 case!

 

According to Cruise Director Eddy’s talk today, since COVID began, Royal Caribbean Group has had 500,000 people on their ships (I’m assuming passengers AND crew) and only 135 cases. That is a very, very low percentage!

[TravelBluebird]

Right now, I’m not at the saddest part of the cruise. That was about 3 hours ago, when I started packing.

 

Once I’m packed and ready to go, I have ONE MORE night of vacation! And that is where I am right now.

 

Our final full day on the Equinox has been perfect so far. 

 

Breakfast at Blu (I tried the made-to-order omelette, really good) and had fresh fruit and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. And my beloved macchiato.

 

Since we hadn’t been up to the grass//Hot Glass Studio, we checked that out. Watched some glass being made; asked if we could make a turtle (they had some class slots left) but if you want a commission you have to ask early in the week. So we enjoyed watching 2 people making their items with the help of the Hot Glass artists.

 

We then checked out the Cabanas.  I think it might be a nice idea for a sea day if you had 2 couples (split $249), and completely affordable for a port day (only $99!).  That said, it is SO hot this time of year; and it was really hot today on our walk in the lawn area; probably lots more fun in cooler winter Caribbean weather. There was a couple using one of the cabanas today. I’ve included the photograph of the sign with the Cabana information.

 

We went back to the room to negotiate later packing —“you pack the Curacao Starbucks mug,’” Well, Ok, but you pack the hats for family...“. And no one wants to pack the Curacao liquor because its heavy!

 

Then we attended Cruise Director Eddy’s talk; 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ship Life. Informative and funny; we have really enjoyed having him as our Cruise Director. We don’t like the cruise directors who are over the top, and we don’t like the cruise directors you never see at all; he was perfectly in the middle!

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Also on the lawn, there was a pair of sweet little birds with yellow breasts. Did they stow away from Bonaire? Were they flying around the middle of the ocean and thought they found an island when they saw the grass? Do they nest on the ship? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Not a great photo since I didn’t have a telephoto on me, but here is one of the little guys:

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

18 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

I find it very interesting to see how others enjoy time on their cruise. Personally I am exhausted from all you do :). My days consist of sleeping in, eating, lounging at the pool and going to the martini bar. Anything more than that is out of the norm for me. 

 

That is what makes cruising such a great vacation for everyone. You can do as little or as much as you want. Im glad you enjoyed your first Celebrity cruise, we have many years of great memories with them. 

 

You truly can do as little or a much as you want!

 

Some cruises I do less; for instance, if it’s a second time on a boat, and I’ve seen the entertainment, done the activities, I relax more. I think this time I’m making up for lost time during COVID (when my two most exciting activities for the day were walking the dog and binge watching Netflix shows).

 

I hope someday we also have years of memories of Celebrity Cruises like you do! I know we will cruise with them again!

[Arzeena]

I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts and pictures. Thank you so much for taking time to do this. I had an exciting time goign between Jim's travelogue and yours.

Have a safe journey home. When is your next cruise? I will look forward to it as much as you! 😁

[TravelBluebird]

We took the last dance class (Waltzing).  Towards the end of our dance class, there was some excitement. The fire alarms went off (a high pitched buzzing sound).  All the elevators stopped and all the fire doors closed. Since we were taking our dance class on 3 in Celebrity Central, we had a good view of this.

 

If this had happened during our flash mob rehearsal of Fireball which started about 10 minutes later, I could have had some really good jokes for y’all!

 

Everything opened back up about 20 minutes later; we didn’t smell any smoke. Elevators started working right before we went up for our Flash Mob performance.

[FLCruiser97]

13 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Also on the lawn, there was a pair of sweet little birds with yellow breasts. Did they stow away from Bonaire? Were they flying around the middle of the ocean and thought they found an island when they saw the grass? Do they nest on the ship? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Not a great photo since I didn’t have a telephoto on me, but here is one of the little guys:

 

 

I think that is the same bird that was on our cruise last week. We were on the EQ 9/5 and there were 2 birds in the lawn area. They got it made if someone is feeding them.

Edited September 25, 2021 by FLCruiser97

[TravelBluebird]

4 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

I think that is the same bird that was on our cruise last week. We were on the EQ 9/5 and there were 2 birds in the lawn area. They got it made if someone is feeding them.

 

Ah; thank you for that piece of info! Sounds like they are nested on the ship then! Yes; easy life if they are getting fed, on their floating island!  

[TravelBluebird]

The Flash Mob was FUN!  At the pool; we all just hung out; music started; we grouped up and danced! Choreographed dance to Moves Like Jagger and Fireball.

 

I don’t have photos or videos of this yet ,but I know someone who took them so I’ll post it here once I have it!

[hcat]

thanks for the great review.. your photos and comments were really appreciated!

 

safe travels home!

Hcat....

[dgoz]

On 9/18/2021 at 2:50 PM, TravelBluebird said:

Then I went off to my 9:15 Pulse Barre, and Russ walked. I then headed down to the casino to get us entered in the 2pm slot tournament, and played in the casino a bit. Hit an immediate $60 “bonus game” win! I’m no huge gambler, but I like little wins back and forth; if I can play for a long time and not lose TOO much,  I’m happy.

 

Then I met Russ for the 11:30 Salsa dance class, conducted by two of the cast members. It was an awesome class and we learned quite a few steps in the 1/2 hour!  I do wish they had a larger space to hold the dance classes; that central/grand foyer area is not very large at all, and the dance classes have had a decent turn out.

 

After that, in the same location, was the totally fun Flash Mob class. There may or may not be a flash mob somewhere on this boat sometimes on this cruise. Shh...if there is one, it’s supposed to be a secret! 

 

Then, we had some time in Persian Gardens (which we had reserved first day; evidently it fills up). LOVED the heated loungers with the calm ocean view; but for me the steam room was too hot and the sauna was not hot enough. Still was a very relaxing break; might not be for everyone if you have COVID social distancing concernts.

 

2pm was the aforementined slot tournament!  $25 buy in per person. Three rounds, top 9 people got to advance to the final where the prize was $500 casino credit and a shopping spree. We were in the first round, and managed to be #6 and #7; since top9 from all 3 rounds advanced, we figured that was the end of it. BUT...we had a lightning fast round, and so we made it into the final as #7 an #9!  Our odds of winning the $500 etc were good! BUT....not to be. Game was fun; it was a weird mix of slots and whack-a-mole, or in this instance; whack a ball—balloon; balloons popped up during the slot game and if you you touch screened them fast, you got extra points!  I did sanitize my hands immediately after playing both times (covid):

 

We grabbed some quick Cafe Baccio; I had a decaf iced coffee (good!) and Russ had a dirty Chai iced (also good!); both included in classic package. Back to the room!

 

How do you play slots as a tournament? I've never been on a cruise before and have my 1st one coming up in July '22

[TravelBluebird]

10 minutes ago, dgoz said:

How do you play slots as a tournament? I've never been on a cruise before and have my 1st one coming up in July '22

 

You sign up in the casino either in advance or right prior to the tournament starting. 

 

There is a buy-in; it varies, on Celebrity this cruise there was a $25 buy-in.

 

There is an area of identical slot machines that is the tournament area. Your name is on the machine you are supposed to go to (it is randomly selected on Celebrity). 

 

There is a countdown and on 3, 2, 1 GO, you furiously hit your slot machine button, trying to be the person who scores the most points in the 3 minutes. For this particular tournament, there was a side game where if a balloon appeared you had 3 seconds to screen-touch pop-it for 1,000 to 5,000 bonus points. You press your “bet” button furiously till your hand hurts!

 

It sounds silly, but its lots of fun. You’ll get messages on your machine showing what place you are in (when I won, I was back and forth from 1st to 2nd for the final minute; so I didn’t know if I had won until results were “final”)

 

There are several rounds depending on how many people enter. Top 10 people from all rounds go to the final round to compete for the prize or prizes. Celebrity just did a top prize of $500 in casino credit.  On Carnival, they also give out “swag” prizes to the runners up (t-shirts, hats, water bottles, etc).

 

There were at least 3 slot tournaments on this cruise; The first one I played with my husband; we both got to the final on that one but ended in 9th and 7th I think. The one yesterday which I won, and one today which I decided to not play in; I had my luck already and it was good!

 

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

The Flash Mob was FUN!  At the pool; we all just hung out; music started; we grouped up and danced! Choreographed dance to Moves Like Jagger and Fireball.

 

I don’t have photos or videos of this yet ,but I know someone who took them so I’ll post it here once I have it!

That sounds like so much fun!  Would love to see the video, once you have it!  I'm so glad you enjoyed your first cruise on Celebrity.  Equinox is a great ship!  I'll be cruising on her sister-ship, the Silhouette, in February.😊

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise!

[NBliving]

4 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

The Flash Mob was FUN!  At the pool; we all just hung out; music started; we grouped up and danced! Choreographed dance to Moves Like Jagger and Fireball.

 

I don’t have photos or videos of this yet ,but I know someone who took them so I’ll post it here once I have it!

We are sailing in April with two other couples and I think the Flash Mob would be so fun to do!! Thanks for sharing about this.  I will keep my eyes open onboard 🙂 

[cruise101]

Thanks so much TravelBluebird for your very fun & informative posts. Like several others on this thread, I keep toggling between your and Jim_Iain’s posts almost daily.

 

Thanks for taking us along on your wonderful cruise and safe travels home.

[countess5]

Welcome Back!

 

 

Cheers!

[cruise47]

That is one awesome photo . Welcome Home.

[TravelBluebird]

Good morning all! The sad time for us to depart the ship has arrived. We hate Goodbyes; so we instead we have been saying  “Until next time!” to all the wonderful ship staff and passengers we have met on this trip. And there will certainly be a next time on Celebrity!

 

We are sitting in the Equinox Theater waiting for our group to be called; no reason to rush as we are Group 28 of 29; quite on purpose since our flight isn’t till 3pm.

 

We are decamping to a favorite coffee shop for awhile so we don’t arrive at the airport 5 hours before the flight.

 

I will finish blogging yesterday once at the coffee shop as our group is about to be called; here is our current view of the empty Equinox theater, and the spectacular sunset from last night; the perfect celestial goodbye!

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, countess5 said:

Welcome Back!

 

 

Cheers!

 

Thank you! Beautiful!