RedneckBob live report from Equinox 10/29/21

[travelnap]

2 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

Got home safety. Another great cruise

Glad you had a safe trip home.  Thank you for letting us follow along with you on your cruise.  I have always enjoyed your sense of humor in describing the various aspects of your voyage.  

[RedneckBob]

8 hours ago, travelnap said:

Glad you had a safe trip home.  Thank you for letting us follow along with you on your cruise.  I have always enjoyed your sense of humor in describing the various aspects of your voyage.  

Thank you travel app, I mean nap. 😀

[RedneckBob]

I want to thank all you all who followed me on this cruise. I tried to be brief as I could. Sorry that I did not show any pictures of all the food I ate but this thread would have been hundreds of pages long and if I did that you probably would have gotten tired of only pictures of grits for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. Grits with butter, grits with bacon, grits with eggs, instant grits, bowl of grits…kinda sounds like I am Redneck Gump. Also I hope I did not offend anyone for my wacky humor. You got to be very careful these days. Just before the pandemic I was on a Holland America cruise and when someone found out on the cruise that I had sailed HAL for 45 years, they asked me what my first HAL ship was. I thought for a while and could not remember if it was the Ninadam, Pintadam or Santa Mariadam. Well I posted that on line and it offended someone, so if that person is reading this, STOP.

 

Happy future cruising. RedneckBob, OUT!

[Guppy99]

On 11/1/2021 at 1:15 PM, RedneckBob said:

Sorry guys. Officer on Equinox said the ship starts full capacity in a couple of weeks 

We're on the holiday 12 day cruise, departing 12/22. I would expect they will be at full capacity .

[Guppy99]

On 11/1/2021 at 5:06 PM, cruising sister said:

Bummer for sure, we can pretend things are normal but not so. If capacity changes hopefully those who booked under decreased capacity have the ability to cancel for a refund. 

Seriously? Celebrity has never guaranteed less than full capacity for any particular cruise. Why should this be a cause for a refund (outside the normal refund rules? It was just aside benefit in an otherwise unprecedented situation.

[Guppy99]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:34 PM, cruising sister said:

I am sure it was a decision maker for some guests. Time will tell what will happen. 

That may be the case, but if so it was a foolish one. Celebrity an't be held responsible for every decision a customer makes.

[Guppy99]

On 11/3/2021 at 12:35 PM, RedneckBob said:

Just back from Curaçao. Once again Celebrity required Vax card to get off ship. Makes no sense since it was checked twice when we boarded. Again very little port security getting back into port. 20-30% of people not wearing masks in stores. Carnival Horizon with us today but not tomorrow in Bonaire. RNB signing off for now

The port requires that you have your vax card with you, hence the reason you have to show it when you get off the ship.

[DCPIV]

16 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

Seriously? Celebrity has never guaranteed less than full capacity for any particular cruise. Why should this be a cause for a refund (outside the normal refund rules? It was just aside benefit in an otherwise unprecedented situation.

 

They've been advertising reduced capacity and touting it as a selling point for some time, now.  They still are, as a matter of fact.

 

[Guppy99]

They do not guarantee any articular sailing will be reduced or that it would be reduced by any particular amount. So you can not possibly use that as a reason to cancel and expect a refund.

 

If you are that uncomfortable traveling under ordinary capacity, you should have never made a reservation.

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

The port requires that you have your vax card with you, hence the reason you have to show it when you get off the ship.

 

As I stated before, if you have a picture of it on your phone to show the X staff, you didn't need the actual card.  X staff said they're doing this a courtesy.

[RedneckBob]

4 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

They've been advertising reduced capacity and touting it as a selling point for some time, now.  They still are, as a matter of fact.

 

RedneckBob is back.  Can reduced capacity mean one person less than full. Bottom line is if all cruise lines sail with less capacity there will be no cruise ship to sell on!

[DCPIV]

6 minutes ago, RedneckBob said:

RedneckBob is back.  Can reduced capacity mean one person less than full. Bottom line is if all cruise lines sail with less capacity there will be no cruise ship to sell on!

 

I get it. Don't get me wrong about that. I want the industry to survive and thrive. I've already sailed Celebrity twice since the restart. I'm sailing Celebrity on Thursday, in February, and again in the Fall. I don't expect a full crowd on Thursday, I kinda hope there is a full crowd in February, and I'll be mighty concerned if there isn't one in the Fall. 

 

But don't sell me or anyone else something you won't deliver. Celebrity now appears to be doing that. That bothers me. 

 

As for your question about one person less than full, sure, that may very well comply, but consider this. Is that the sort of operation you want to do business with? Is that how you would operate your business?

[mayleeman]

7 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

I get it. Don't get me wrong about that. I want the industry to survive and thrive. I've already sailed Celebrity twice since the restart. I'm sailing Celebrity on Thursday, in February, and again in the Fall. I don't expect a full crowd on Thursday, I kinda hope there is a full crowd in February, and I'll be mighty concerned if there isn't one in the Fall. 

 

But don't sell me or anyone else something you won't deliver. Celebrity now appears to be doing that. That bothers me. 

 

As for your question about one person less than full, sure, that may very well comply, but consider this. Is that the sort of operation you want to do business with? Is that how you would operate your business?

 

Their advertising correctly states currently sailing at reduced capacity.

 

So, customer sees that and according to you if they base their decision to book on that they should be able to get a refund or it is advertising something X can't or won't deliver.

 

Problem: Under your premise, does this entitle someone to book in 2022 or 2023 expecting reduced capacity?

 

At what point can a customer be expected to understand that the goal is indeed to return to full capacity?

[DaKahuna]

12 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

I want to thank all you all who followed me on this cruise. I tried to be brief as I could. Sorry that I did not show any pictures of all the food I ate but this thread would have been hundreds of pages long and if I did that you probably would have gotten tired of only pictures of grits for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. Grits with butter, grits with bacon, grits with eggs, instant grits, bowl of grits…kinda sounds like I am Redneck Gump. Also I hope I did not offend anyone for my wacky humor. You got to be very careful these days. Just before the pandemic I was on a Holland America cruise and when someone found out on the cruise that I had sailed HAL for 45 years, they asked me what my first HAL ship was. I thought for a while and could not remember if it was the Ninadam, Pintadam or Santa Mariadam. Well I posted that on line and it offended someone, so if that person is reading this, STOP.

 

Happy future cruising. RedneckBob, OUT!

You forgot to mention cheese grits and shrimp & grits.  Did they not have these available?

 

On our last cruise, pre-COVID, I founds grits to be hit and miss.  A couple of times the were too ‘runny’ for my liking. 
 

There is a saying I am sure you are familiar with about people who can’t take a joke.  I think it applied under the circumstance you mentioned.

 

[RedneckBob]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

You forgot to mention cheese grits and shrimp & grits.  Did they not have these available?

 

On our last cruise, pre-COVID, I founds grits to be hit and miss.  A couple of times the were too ‘runny’ for my liking. 
 

There is a saying I am sure you are familiar with about people who can’t take a joke.  I think it applied under the circumstance you mentioned.

 

The grits were mostly a miss. I prefer mortar mix consistency, not a flowing river 😩

[NutsAboutGolf]

On the rollcall, the 'Nox is currently sailing with 1900 pax which is 67% capacity.  The following (reportedly full) Thanksgiving sailing still has lots of cabin availability, all categories are available including around 50 bookable balconies.  Perhaps the crew member who said "full" either meant a full crew (not pax) or meant that sailing will be the "fullest yet" as it appears it'll be much less than 100% pax capacity, my guess is it'll be around 80%.

[Guppy99]

11 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

On the rollcall, the 'Nox is currently sailing with 1900 pax which is 67% capacity.  The following (reportedly full) Thanksgiving sailing still has lots of cabin availability, all categories are available including around 50 bookable balconies.  Perhaps the crew member who said "full" either meant a full crew (not pax) or meant that sailing will be the "fullest yet" as it appears it'll be much less than 100% pax capacity, my guess is it'll be around 80%.

I never believe the "someone told me", including a "ship's officer told me"  data. The fact is, their information is not necessarily correct or up to date. Celebrity has enough trouble communicating current info to their website and TA's, they have the same trouble effectively communicating to their employees (let alone the bartender, cabin steward, or engineer...even the captain)

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

I never believe the "someone told me", including a "ship's officer told me"  data. The fact is, their information is not necessarily correct or up to date. Celebrity has enough trouble communicating current info to their website and TA's, they have the same trouble effectively communicating to their employees (let alone the bartender, cabin steward, or engineer...even the captain)

 

The best officer to ask is the person who scans your seapass when you get on and off the ship the in port, they not only know the exact number of pax and crew but in real time know exactly who is and is not on the ship.  I did hear from other pax that they "heard" on there was 50% or 60% capacity, the officer told me the exact number was 1577 of 2850 which is 55.3%

[DaKahuna]

16 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

The grits were mostly a miss. I prefer mortar mix consistency, not a flowing river 😩

Exactly.  Not a fan if instant grits either. 
 

Any talk of grits reminds me of the courthouse scene from My Cousin Vinny. 

[crusinthrough]

On 10/31/2021 at 9:30 AM, RedneckBob said:

Heard a couple showed up at terminal not being tested for Covid. Where the h_ll have they been. Celebrity put them in a cab that took them to a place to be tested.

With all the emails and check in procedures in the app and website,  it's hard to believe the couple did not know about the requirement.  They probably couldn't find a testing site beforehand and figured they would deal with it at the pier. I was curious as to what happens when someone doesn't have a COVID test at check in.  Interesting that Celebrity would pay for a taxi and not just provide a location and instructions to be back by the right time and then say good luck.

[LGW59]

3 minutes ago, crusinthrough said:

With all the emails and check in procedures in the app and website,  it's hard to believe the couple did not know about the requirement.  They probably couldn't find a testing site beforehand and figured they would deal with it at the pier. I was curious as to what happens when someone doesn't have a COVID test at check in.  Interesting that Celebrity would pay for a taxi and not just provide a location and instructions to be back by the right time and then say good luck.

They should have been denied boarding altogether 

[crusinthrough]

On 11/9/2021 at 8:51 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 Perhaps the crew member who said "full" either meant a full crew (not pax) or meant that sailing will be the "fullest yet" as it appears it'll be much less than 100% pax capacity, my guess is it'll be around 80%.

Crew members are usually not the first to know any insider information.  It amazes me when people use  a crew member as a reliable source for anything in the future.  They are 50/50 on things that happened on past sailings.  

[crusinthrough]

5 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

They should have been denied boarding altogether 

I agree.  Without knowing the whole story, I am giving them the benefit of doubt.  

[biscuitsandhoney]

On 11/2/2021 at 7:02 AM, RedneckBob said:

Don’t say that it will be awhile. If you on the Equinox Sunday expect 2200 passengers. In three weeks the ships capacity has gone from 1250 to 1600 to next cruise 2200.

 

A passenger on the current sailing (Nov 7) stated actuals at about 1800 guests.

[Guppy99]

32 minutes ago, biscuitsandhoney said:

 

A passenger on the current sailing (Nov 7) stated actuals at about 1800 guests.

really? and how would they know? The staff on board doesn't even know the actual numbers...