Never Disappoints

[Hawkstar33]

Back from 10 day Equinox.  Our favorite ship without a doubt.   Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados, Martinique, St Kitts....Many places are still in the process of reopening.  There was some port shopping, with empty stores around.  People that are open are anxious to make some money on shore so be prepared.  Really a great itinerary, top notch beach spots..  But anyway, Equinox..2000 passengers, possibly to return to full capacity in October. Thus we had 70% crew.   Never noticed.  Crew was excellent in every aspect, housecleaning, bar service, restaurants etc..Always a hello....Capt. Dimitri is an excellent Captain.   Sailed with him before.   Daily good morning reports, and reports if necessary if any changes to be made, etc.  Chair savers were abound but not harassed as we were 700 plus passengers short of being full.  Again, crew was always cleaning, mopping up wet decks, solarium deck, and pool areas.   Tuscan Grille awesome. Aldo in charge there.. Ovet, and Lailo, great waiters.  Murano great service, great food.  Sushi on 5 was great for lunch, often not needing a reservation at that time.  Open 12-2 for lunch....Dinner recommend reserve...Same great service.. Oceanview is full of selections for those who like buffet style meals.  Self serve again.  Casino was busy at night.  13 yr old ship..Needs a little paint and a good power wash, but has been nonstop since resuming.  Overall EXCELLENT

[peanut head]

So nice to hear that you had a great time.  Could you please describe the shore excursions, if any, that you took on the Islands?  

[Hawkstar33]

4 minutes ago, peanut head said:

So nice to hear that you had a great time.  Could you please describe the shore excursions, if any, that you took on the Islands?  

We do our own thing, usually by cab so we are by ourselves and not crowded in a van.  St Lucia Spencer Ambrose high speed Jalousie beach bbq.. Look him up.   Beaches in Antigua, Barbados, and St. Kitts are top beaches.. Cheap to cab to any of them.   Martinique rebuilding slowly from last hurricane

 

[peanut head]

Thanks...that's helpful.

[C4HCG]

17 minutes ago, peanut head said:

So nice to hear that you had a great time.  Could you please describe the shore excursions, if any, that you took on the Islands?  

We were on the same cruise, did 3 excursions but the best was the party bus on St Lucia. Brilliant entertainment on the bus. We are both quiet private people but this had us singing along and dancing on the bus, amazing experience and next time we’re there we will certainly be on there.

[39august]

Curious what you did in Martinique. We will be there on our Sept. 25 cruise and have never been there before. I assumed we would just walk around the port area. When we sailed late July the ship was virtually full with over 2700 pax. I am surprised she is not full now. 

[C4HCG]

20 minutes ago, peanut head said:

So nice to hear that you had a great time.  Could you please describe the shore excursions, if any, that you took on the Islands?  

Barbados we did the harbour lights trip, 6 out of 10, beach too crowded.

[C4HCG]

21 minutes ago, peanut head said:

So nice to hear that you had a great time.  Could you please describe the shore excursions, if any, that you took on the Islands?  

And we did one in Antigua that was good, took us to Heights something or other then a beach, was very good but expensive.

[C4HCG]

1 minute ago, 39august said:

Curious what you did in Martinique. We will be there on our Sept. 25 cruise and have never been there before. I assumed we would just walk around the port area. When we sailed late July the ship was virtually full with over 2700 pax. I am surprised she is not full now. 

There was no excursion that appealed to us so we walked around the port. Lovely place but as it was a Sunday, not much open.

[Hawkstar33]

Martinique port area was pretty much closed, as it was Sunday..A few vendors were set up within a 10 minute walk, but not much.  There was a ferry to the other side of the bay we were in.  People were told that there may be some shopping over there.  $8 round trip.   Same story once they got there.   Not much was open, and what was, was mostly for women, supposedly.  We were told that many residents had left the island after the last hurricane hit them.  Edna I think they said.  Not really fair to judge by our experience.  Others may have experienced better.  

[MarKay525]

Thanks so much for the update on Equinox - we board her on Saturday for the Grand Cayman/ABC itinerary.

[Hawkstar33]

25 minutes ago, MarKay525 said:

Thanks so much for the update on Equinox - we board her on Saturday for the Grand Cayman/ABC itinerary.

Go see the boys at the Mast Bar.  Up the stairs from the pool deck.  Leonardo, Putu, Navin, all top of the line. Great bar service.  Bear in mind, it is one of the outside smoking areas.   Short walk from there is the always busy Mast grill, same deck, with really pretty good burgers, hotdogs, and fries. Plus the fixings.  Hotspot after coming back onboard, after going out on the islands.  

[Milly31]

7 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Martinique port area was pretty much closed, as it was Sunday..A few vendors were set up within a 10 minute walk, but not much.  There was a ferry to the other side of the bay we were in.  People were told that there may be some shopping over there.  $8 round trip.   Same story once they got there.   Not much was open, and what was, was mostly for women, supposedly.  We were told that many residents had left the island after the last hurricane hit them.  Edna I think they said.  Not really fair to judge by our experience.  Others may have experienced better.  

Were you able to use US dollars for everything or did you take Euros?

 

[C4HCG]

3 hours ago, Milly31 said:

Were you able to use US dollars for everything or did you take Euros?

 

Shop we went in took US dollars

[chamima]

14 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Martinique port area was pretty much closed, as it was Sunday..A few vendors were set up within a 10 minute walk, but not much.  There was a ferry to the other side of the bay we were in.  People were told that there may be some shopping over there.  $8 round trip.   Same story once they got there.   Not much was open, and what was, was mostly for women, supposedly.  We were told that many residents had left the island after the last hurricane hit them.  Edna I think they said.  Not really fair to judge by our experience.  Others may have experienced better.  

 

That ferry used to take you to several nice (but small) beaches.

Haven't been there since the hurricane so I don't know if the beaches were affected.

[DCPIV]

Thank you for the review!  We're on board Equinox in a couple weeks for the same itinerary, and we're very happy to hear that things are going well!

[evandbob]

We had similar positive experiences on our Equinox 18 night b2b which included the the OP's sailing.  Excellent ship and staff!