Honeymoon on the Equinox! 12day Ultimate Caribbean. Power of the Poncho:A Trip Report

Honeymoon on the Equinox, 12 Day Ultimate Caribbean. Power of the Poncho: A detailed trip report :)

Hello my Cruise Critic friends! And special shout out to our roll call and the other friends we met on board!

Welcome to my honeymoon trip report :) I finally started it!!!!

Let me provide an introduction.

Hi, my name is Ashley and I am addicted to sweets ;)

Seriously speaking (although I do take my sweets seriously) this is my trip report for our Honeymoon on the Celebrity Equinox. You may have read my trip report from our engagement trip (Celebrity Solstice, Western Mediterranean and Paris), if not let me provide you with the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1700095

I apologize this report has taken me so long to start, as we went on the cruise about 11 months ago! I hope the information will be helpful and informative to others. Like most of us here, I plan almost the entire trip from Cruise Critic feedback and reviews from the various forums. If you ever have questions about any tours, cabins, etc. please ask!

If you read my previous trip report your are familiar with my style of writing. If not (which I do suggest you check it out :D) I will warn you (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) this report will be lengthy and include lots of pictures! I type from the heart, in a journalistic style. My report will be in order and include information about the Equinox and the ports. I will include the good and the bad, and lots of dessert pictures. This report will not be short. I take a physical journal with me on trips and transcribe it to Word for this report.

I hope you stick around and enjoy my report!

*** for those of you who followed my engagement trip report live, I understand it took me a while to complete it. I took preemptive measures this time to plan ahead so I can finish it in a timely manner :) I have all my pictures uploaded, PHEW!

Here is a brief look at our itinerary

12/9 Ft. Lauderdale

12/10 At Sea

12/11 George Town, Grand Cayman

12/12 At Sea

12/13 Cartagena, Colombia

12/14 Colon, Panama

12/15 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

12/16 At Sea

12/17 Belize City, Belize

12/18 Cozumel, Mexico

12/19 At Sea

12/20 Ft. Lauderdale

Ok, so lets get to the start of this report?

Where did we leave off? Well I ended my previous report as an engaged lady. Since then we got married and went on our honeymoon with Celebrity. No babies yet ;) Many of you asked for wedding pictures. I picked 5 to share (since you can only put 5 per post) from the Wedding that had a connection to our Europe trip!

Since we are going in order, I will start with some wedding pictures as this is a honeymoon trip report and then move on with the tour

If you are thinking “hey, I really don’t care about your darn wedding or pictures, just get on with the cruise!” Just skip down if you do not care for wedding pictures LOL. You can pretend they are not even here and move on to the next post, thank you!

I will start with probably the only time you are can get away with a kissy picture, at the altar! Our first kiss as husband and wife

You may remember when we sailed into Venice, Italy I commented on Andrea Bocelli playing over the loud speakers? We quickly fell in love with Andrea Bocelli Con te Partiro; the song brings back so many memories! We used this song for our first dance. The band performed it live and did a very good job!

Here is a video my Uncle took of our first dance (have to skip past the intros):

As many of you know, Tyler proposed at the Eiffel Tower. Here is how we incorporated that in the wedding:

As I alluded to, I have a big sweet tooth! I was determined to try macarons from the famous Laduree in Paris. We had a local bakery make some for the guests:

I fell in love with the poppy flower after seeing them wild all over the place in Europe. Red was not a wedding color so my florists recommended the anemone, and I loved it!

Well, I am already 701 words in and have not even started with the real report! Lets get to it!

Enjoy!

Ashley

Sorry folks, I am having major issues with the pictures and html, I have no idea why nothing is showing up and half the links are broken :(

I am going to keep working on this, ahhh.

I keep getting an error saying I am blocked. Maybe cruise critic is acting up today? Maybe it is me? HAHA!

Every time I try to edit the post to re-add the pictures that keep getting deleted it deletes more and more of the post :( what is going on? This is make me so sad! I was trying to plan ahead this time and typing up posts before starting and now I am having this major technical problem! Ahhh!

Ok, sorry for the freak-out, it might be fixed now :) there should be 5 pictures in the previous post

Planning

I used CruiseCritic and Trip Advisor for all my planning. When we went to Europe I SUPER planned, I did not have to plan as much for a Caribbean trip. And, just being my husband and I, I didn’t have to worry about other family members and time management (such a teacher word). For Europe I made spread sheets for daily agendas (including what time to wake up for my brother, cough cough), I had what I called a “syllabus,” cruising cheat sheets, and more.

For this trip I had an abbreviated version. This time I only had one packet, no spread sheets. I included a break down of each day, what tours we had lined up, and the like. We used both private and Celebrity tours.

Overview

Flying, day of, via Delta

Cruise: Celebrity Equinox, 12 days

Cabin: #9253 Concierge Class On Panorama Deck

12/9 Monday Ft. Lauderdale

12/10 Tuesday At Sea

12/11 Wednesday George Town, Grand Cayman (DIY, planning on beaching it and SUP- Stand Up Paddleboard)

12/12 Thursday At Sea

12/13 Friday Cartagena, Colombia (Celebrity excursion: Deluxe Cartagena & Fortress, CA08 )

12/14 Saturday Colon, Panama (Private excursion: Panama Tour with My Friend Mario. Tour Code: CL001, Rainforest, San Lorenzo Fort and Canal )

12/15 Sunday Puerto Limon, Costa Rica (Private excursion: Limon 6-in-1 Highlights Tour via Lucky Tours with Eduardo)

12/16 Monday At Sea

12/17 Tuesday Belize City, Belize (Celebrity excursion: Jungle, River, Land Rover & Cave Expedition, BED3) DID NOT MAKE IT, had to reschedule for this: Mayan Palaces of Cahal Pech, BE99A??

12/18 Wednesday Cozumel, Mexico (Celebrity excursion: Tulum Mayan Ruins Express , CZ02)

12/19 Thursday At Sea

12/20 Friday Ft. Lauderdale

12/9/2013, Embarkation Day

CRUISE DAY! WOOHOO!

We risked it, yes I was nervous, but we flew in the DAY of the cruise (GASP!). We flew out of Atlanta so it was a short flight; we took the risk and made it on time! Our flight arrived at 10:29am, perfect!

Our friend who lives in south Florida picked us up at the airport. We stopped at Publix along the way to pick up water, shampoo, etc. I did not fly with the shampoo/hair products because I have issues with baggage weight. I also do not like the shampoo and conditioner provided by Celebrity. For the ladies and gentlemen who are picky about hair products, I would recommend you bring your own.

We arrived at Port Everglades around noon and it was chaos at the port! WAY different than our experience at the port in Barcelona (which was a BREEZE). There was a lot of confusion with people organizing the passengers returning and leaving all there at the same time. I don’t know if Port Everglades is always chaotic but we worried about our luggage making it to our cabin.

Being concierge class we were able to check in right away; then had to wait about 15 minutes before actually stepping foot on the Equinox. We had so many thoughts and discussions about this cruise… how would it be in the Caribbean? Will we enjoy it as much? Will the Equinox look just like the Solstice? We could not wait to step foot on board and officially be in HONEYMOON MODE, WOOHOO! Vacation!!!!

We were greeted with smiles and sparkling wine, check! We went to the MDR to check on out table, we were seated at a table for 2 by the window, check! So far, so good!

Bistro on 5 was next on the list. As many have stated on here before, this is (in my opinion) the best place to go for lunch on day 1. The Bistro was not open yet; we waited in Café al Bacio. I was approached by a super sweet CruiseCritic member who recognized me from my previous report. I am sorry I forgot your name, but hi!

No vacation can start without something sweet! My first sweet of the trip was a black and white cookie. The cookie was good, pretty good, but not as good as Publix black and white cookies…. But it did the job!

(NOTE: I am well aware some people are disgusted by pictures of half-eaten food items. #sorrynotsorry #okIreallydofeelbad but I was living a no-carb life leading up to the wedding and could not wait a second longer!)

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!! …

We were directed to our seat in Bistro on 5. Our waiter approaches…. No WAY! It is the same waiter we had in Bistro on 5 on the Solstice last year! And he recognized us! Not sure if really did or was being polite but we did interact with him a lot on our Solstice cruise. His name is Ashlam (I hope I spelled that correctly).

After lunch our room was ready. We unpacked and organized; I have this huge sensation of being organized in small spaces. I picked up some tips on here for organizing the cabin. I am going to share with you 2 things we did that we would do again (others may disagree). Not pictured, we brought a simple over the door hook (not a full blown shoe organizer) just a hook for extra towels, robes, etc.

1.) Packing cubes for things like socks, swim suits, under garments, etc.

2.) The walls are magnetic so we brought a heavy duty clip to hang up the daily schedule or anything else important we need to easily find.

Another change: the apples replaced the fruit basket

Cabin 9253: We loved our cabin and location!

One of the best things about Solstice class ships is NO shower curtain!! When I sail on Carnival for little getaways it is a battle with the shower curtain, #thestruggleisreal Tyler is lucky, he has only ever sailed Celebrity! (disclaimer: there is nothing wrong with Carnival!)

We made our way up to the Lawn Club for sail away. My mom watched us on the webcam sail away, HI MOM!

We were so happy to be back up on the Lawn Club, one of our favorite spots on the ship! Would we use it as much this trip as our last? Not sure!

We napped before dinner then explored the ship. We noticed some differences from the Solstice, like this entry way:

Dinner was chaos tonight trying to get in; the line was ridiculous! I don’t ever remember this being an issue before?

I ate pretty “lite” by “Ashley Cruise Eating Standards.” I didn’t want to blow my diet 100% just yet (that would quickly change). Of course we got dessert, and the cheesecake was still delicious!

So I may have ate “lite” for dinner but made up for it in dessert (I should warn you here, I include lots of dessert pictures!)

(p.s. I don't want to spoil anything (not that you could have guessed this) but the creme brulee is awesome and I had it almost every night!)

We went to bed early, long day of traveling and we find the bed super comfortable. I actually could feel the ship moving quite a bit tonight. My parents said going out of FL typically is a little bumpy. I am really sensitive to motion so it probably was not moving a whole lot but I felt it. Maybe my patch has not kicked in yet. (Just for reference, in the Med. we felt motion only 1 night!)

Look a blanket sailboat:

Alright that is all for tonight Journal!

Sincerely,

The Mrs.

12/10/2013, Sea Day 1

One thing I really wanted to do on this trip was SLEEP. The month leading up to the wedding I was loaded with schoolwork. I defended my dissertation about 10 days before the wedding and was running on about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I could not WAIT to sleep! My motivation during the month of stress was “I can sleep on the cruise!”

5:10am, really? Really? Come on! 5:10? WHY AM I AWAKE? Please tell me I am not going to wake up super early every day like I did in Europe?

Yep, 5:10am and I was up and ready to greet the world! I stayed in bed until 7am then I gave up, ok world- you win! I am getting up. Tyler still has no trouble sleeping in; he should be a professional sleeper.

At 7am the sun is bright and cheerful! I woke Tyler up so we could grab breakfast at the buffet. We thought the food was great in the buffet this morning (we did find the breakfast potatoes to be salty). Today is a sea day; we headed to the gym to burn some calories. The gym was crowded but we were able to get a decent workout in.

We had some issues with our CC meet and mingle party. A lot of us got the invitations late. The party was at 9:30am (early much?). Because of that the crowd was not as big as expected and we were late. We met a lot of great people!

One thing on our MUST do list was go to many Corning Museum Hot Glass Show At Sea events. The first one was today! Of course, we would be going. The show was crowded, standing room only. The crew of 3 seemed to have great chemistry and pretty entertaining- I think that is a good sign!

** On our last Celebrity cruise the Hot Glass Show was a BIG part of our trip! I’ll talk about this more later, but we fell in love with the art of glass blowing and my parents graciously purchased us a piece as an engagement gift on our last cruise.

Next we went to the Beyond the Podium speaker. I am a nerd, dork, whatever you want to call it and love listening to speakers and seminars. The speaker today was this lady named Roz. Roz was the first lady to row across all 3 oceans by herself! What an amazing story she had to share.

We hit the pool for reading, followed by burgers and fries. Followed by another Hot Glass Show.

Next we discovered SOMETHING NEW!! HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS??

On our way back to the cabin we stopped at Café al Bacio to check out the treats. Did you know they have free little chocolates at the counter? And they are really good! I suggest you try some on your next cruise.

Our canapés greeted us in our room. Hmm, not like the canapés we had in 2012, ok. I like hummus so that was nice but the chips were a little soggy.

Tonight is the first formal night, sweet! I love formal nights! We got ready a little early so we killed time by walking around the boutiques. The entire crew was very friendly on this ship! Our first crew friend we made (if you don’t count Ashlam) was the guy running the watch store. We stopped in almost every night to say hi to him and chat. One thing we loved about this cruise was the friends we made with the crew. We still keep in touch with a couple of them.

Tonight is the night, I am going to try something new! I am stepping out of my comfort zone. Everyone raves about the darn escargot on cruise ships. Our 2012 cruise was in the middle of the infamous escargot shortage so I did not get to try them then. I should note, I do not eat seafood. I know, something is wrong with me, I just don’t like the smell of seafood. However, I DO Love garlic! Everyone says the garlic sauce is amazing.

Ok, here we go, all or nothing! I am trying ESCARGOT!

Hit or miss? I will let you view the following chain of pictures to see what I thought…

As you can see, no good. Nope, no good. I gave it a shot, I tried 3 of those little guys! Nope, gross, do not like. In fact I was so turned off from them I could not eat the pesto/hummus mixture that was served with the butter the rest of the trip because the color reminded me of the escargot sauce.

But it is ok, dessert is on the way!

After the big escargot fail (#noescargot), we went to the captains welcome and the show that followed. The show was Limelight, we did not care for it and left and called it a night. (Tyler is not a fan of Broadway type shows, if I were with my mom I am sure we would have stayed)

I was so excited to see this latest review...just loved your Med review and have been checking often for the Honeymoon cruise! Don't worry about what others like/dislike in your style...it's your review so do it however YOU like...seems like most people enjoy your style and the others can just scroll past the posts they aren't interested in.

As much as I love escargot now, I'm pretty sure at your age I didn't like it either...guess it's one of those acquired tastes? Good for you for at least trying it..can't know whether you like something without trying right?

Ok, enough from me...keep up the good work and post whenever you can!

Cathy

What a beautiful bride and handsome groom! I'm enjoying your trip report!

Thank you for sharing your Honeymoon cruise with us! Love your writing style and am enjoying your posted pictures.:D

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise. I will be sailing on the Equinox in March!:D:D

Maryann

Great start on your review! Looking forward to reading about your honeymoon adventures. We will sail on the Equinox - same itinerary for our 25th anniversary in 2016.

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Did you keep the papers of the daily activities?If so can you post them?

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Ashley - Looking forward to another review from you. :)

I/we (Dh and I) seem to be following you. :D I used your "engagement" review as a tutorial for our Adriatic's cruise in May of 2013...especially the Paris portion. This coming February, we are taking THIS cruise on the Equinox. Your review will come in very handy. I am going to share this link with my Roll Call. :)

Sorry you didn't care for the Escargot. It's one of my favorites.;) That's OK...I don't like the crepes at Bistro. :D

Thanks for sharing ; beautiful Bride and Groom. Enjoyed reading you review and viewing all your pictures.

Is there any where (thread) where I can read what you thought about the two private tours you took? Thanks

I was so excited to see this latest review...just loved your Med review and have been checking often for the Honeymoon cruise! Don't worry about what others like/dislike in your style...it's your review so do it however YOU like...seems like most people enjoy your style and the others can just scroll past the posts they aren't interested in.

 

As much as I love escargot now, I'm pretty sure at your age I didn't like it either...guess it's one of those acquired tastes? Good for you for at least trying it..can't know whether you like something without trying right?

 

Ok, enough from me...keep up the good work and post whenever you can!

Cathy

age has nothing to do with liking snails or not. I lvoed hem from my teens on.. the pictures are really fun to see..i the desserts look goood too but love to see some real food too.. been a while since i have been on an S class ship.

Looking forward to your report. Thanks for taking the time to do it

Love your review! Thanks for doing it!

Cruiser 77

I was so excited to see this latest review...just loved your Med review and have been checking often for the Honeymoon cruise! Don't worry about what others like/dislike in your style...it's your review so do it however YOU like...seems like most people enjoy your style and the others can just scroll past the posts they aren't interested in.

 

As much as I love escargot now, I'm pretty sure at your age I didn't like it either...guess it's one of those acquired tastes? Good for you for at least trying it..can't know whether you like something without trying right?

 

Ok, enough from me...keep up the good work and post whenever you can!

Cathy

Thank you so much! I know it took me forever to get this review started but I am so happy I finally did. My style may not be for everyone but I hope it helps one person. Maybe you are right, i'll give it 10 years and try escargot again haha! I am more open to trying things recently, I use the rule of 3 bites I heard somewhere. I only made it to 2 bites with the escargot. Have a great day! I should have another post or 2 up today.

What a beautiful bride and handsome groom! I'm enjoying your trip report!

Awww, thank you so much, you all are making me blush! Thank you for reading!

Thank you for sharing your Honeymoon cruise with us! Love your writing style and am enjoying your posted pictures.

 

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your cruise. I will be sailing on the Equinox in March!

 

 

 

Maryann

Woohoo! I am glad you like my style, thank you for letting me know! And you are going to LOVE the Equinox. Best part about typing up a report is reliving the trip.

Great start on your review! Looking forward to reading about your honeymoon adventures. We will sail on the Equinox - same itinerary for our 25th anniversary in 2016.

 

 

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Happy early anniversary! You are going to have a fantastic cruise. Just my 2 cents, you should go to a specialty restaurant one night to celebrate. Thank you for reading!

Did you keep the papers of the daily activities?If so can you post them?

 

 

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I did, but I am not sure if I still have them. We are preparing for a move and I did a "Paper purge" not sure if I kept them or not. If I did, I will post them!

Ashley - Looking forward to another review from you.

 

I/we (Dh and I) seem to be following you. I used your "engagement" review as a tutorial for our Adriatic's cruise in May of 2013...especially the Paris portion. This coming February, we are taking THIS cruise on the Equinox. Your review will come in very handy. I am going to share this link with my Roll Call.

 

Sorry you didn't care for the Escargot. It's one of my favorites. That's OK...I don't like the crepes at Bistro.

Oh wow, that is AWESOME! I like that trend, I need to go on more cruises so you can go on more cruises HAHAHA! I hope this review will be helpful for you like the last one. I was actually looking online the other night at Adriatic cruises, that is in our cruise bucket list too.

See, that is what makes the world a wonderful place. If we all liked escargot there would be no escargot, hehe!

Thanks for sharing ; beautiful Bride and Groom. Enjoyed reading you review and viewing all your pictures.

Is there any where (thread) where I can read what you thought about the two private tours you took? Thanks

Aww thank you so much for the sweet words!!! Yes, I will go into detail in this review. However, I also went on trip advisor to review them, I can send you the trip advisor links.

(for others reading, the TA reviews might spoil this review so read at your own risk haha)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294480-d1963571-r188569956-Almiza_Tours_by_My_friend_Mario_Private_Tours-Panama_City_Panama_Province.html#REVIEWS

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g309264-d1754971-r188243675-Your_Lucky_Tour-Puerto_Limon_Province_of_Limon.html#REVIEWS

age has nothing to do with liking snails or not. I lvoed hem from my teens on.. the pictures are really fun to see..i the desserts look goood too but love to see some real food too.. been a while since i have been on an S class ship.

I am sorry but I do not have a lot of pics of real food, sorry! I might have a few and if I do I will post them. I think there is a food pics thread somewhere too if you want to look at lots of food! Warning, it will make you very hungry haha! Thanks for commenting!

Looking forward to your report. Thanks for taking the time to do it

Love your review! Thanks for doing it!

Cruiser 77

Thank you both for reading along! I should have another couple posts today.

12/11/2013, Grand Cayman

(There will not be many pictures in this post but the rest of the trip I will have plenty! And sorry this is not the happiest of posts, but happiness is coming.)

Like yesterday, I woke up earlier than I wanted to. Maybe I am just always going to be a “morning person.” I guess a positive to waking up early is the quietness and serenity on board. The plan for today is to have our “beach day” of the trip. We plan on using the bus to go to a beach and rent SUP board (stand up paddle-board) and just relax.

We were really looking forward to relaxing on the beach.

Then, I open the curtains to step out on the balcony and was greeted with this:

Not exactly beach day weather.

We had breakfast in the buffet today and I got to try the waffles that everyone talks about. Yes, it is true, they were delicious!

We decided we were not going to let the rain stop us and headed towards shore. Along the way we ran into Bruce, the Captains Club host. He was very nice and asked how our cruise was going, he gave us priority tender tickets.

Once on shore, it was raining so we just wandered around the shops. I am a fan of David Yurman jewelry so we checked out the pieces being sold; didn’t buy anything.

There really is not a whole lot to see/do right there in the shops area. Once you have seen the shops, that is about it. We were bummed we didn’t make it to the beach so we headed back towards the Equinox. We were not impressed with Grand Cayman. (we are not really turtle farm people or swimming with dolphins, so this is probably not the best port for us)

Once back on board, the sun decided to appear, MAN. Of course, as soon as we get back the clouds break apart and the sun shines through. Darn! It was nice being on a near empty ship as most folks were out exploring. We were able to grab nice loungers by the pool and some burgers. Next time, I think we will skip getting off the ship in Grand Cayman and just stay on board.

You will notice I do a lot of things don’t make sense, haha! For instance, after the pool we headed to the gym, to be followed by ice cream- Hey, at least I burned some calories, better than nothing! I love the ice cream and toppings provided on Celebrity cruises!

One thing I will note about desserts in the buffet. Most of the little buffet desserts look better than they taste- trial and error. Now, I have no problem “Testing” them for you- It is research after all. I do have an addiction the little fruit tarts. Tyler doesn’t get it, he doesn’t like them. Please tell me I am not the only one who loves the little fruit tarts?

One thing about this cruise compared to our European cruise, I had more time to explore the ship. I saw on the daily activity sheet there was a “Smokey eye demonstration.” I thought sure, why not, I’ll check it out. I reluctantly got picked to be the model, only 3 of us showed up. This would have been great, except I still needed to shower so there goes the nice makeup!

So there is a secret, want your makeup done for free? Show up to the makeup demonstrations! I went a couple times throughout the cruise and hardly anyone came.

We got ready for diner early again and walked around the shops to visit our crew friends. The “Real or fake” diamond contest was sort of lame. It was really crowded and I don’t even remember what the actual prize was.

The seas picked up again tonight… maybe this is something I just need to except and get over? In the Mediterranean we never felt the ship move except one night. So far on this cruise I can always tell the ship is moving, always some kind of rocking. Now it is not always bad! But I can tell we are on a ship. Like I said before, I am sensitive to motion so I may not be the best judge of this.

The ship is rocking but I am not sea-sick at the moment; dinner was excellent in the MDR. We love our wait staff! The MDR so far has been pretty empty? (if you check out my pics in the above post I noticed it is empty in the background) Maybe this cruise is not sold out? Our wait staff only had our table and 1 other couple of 2, all the other tables were empty the entire cruise, strange. IS this normal for Early December cruises?

I am going to be honest in this report, at this point we were starting to miss our Mediterranean cruise, we were a little bummed. We knew going in we cannot compare the 2 cruises, they are totally different experiences. However we are humans and it is in our nature to compare. Between the rain today, empty MDR, things just do not feel the same, sad face. I know, we need to get over it, come on Ashley, at least you are on a cruise with your new husband! Get over it! I will try! It is true; there is a different energy and vibe on a Med. cruise (at least so far).

Back to dinner, as I just mentioned, there was another table for 2 in our section. They were the sweetest couple ever! I believe they are celebrating 50 years; we enjoyed talking to them and their marriage advice.

We tried the chocolate lava cake tonight, ***** to the G. It is AH-mazing. Our new favorite dessert.

(in this picture you can see our head waiter in the back serving the only other table in this section)

After dinner we tried to catch the end of the nighttime Hot Glass Show. However it was storming so they had to cancel it for safety reasons. However the glass blowers were up there still and we were the only ones who showed up. So we started chatting with the gaffers (Ryan, Stephen, and Julian) and they were awesome. For the 2 guys they were on their first contract and Ryan, was the veteran gaffer. We enjoyed hearing their stories as this was Stephen and Julian’s first time on a cruise and to Europe (the Equinox just got back from Europe). And Ryan having been on Celebrity ships had a lot of stories.

Ok there, see, another really good thing about this cruise! The crew is amazing, compared to a busy Med. cruise we really got to interact with the crew a lot this time. I need to stay positive! For those of you with upcoming Equinox trips planned, the staff was fabulous!

OK sorry to stray away from the moment of positivity, there is one MAJOR problem on this ship… the NONSTOP CHRISTMAS MUSIC. This has got to stop and I am on who LOVES Christmas music. The problem is, there is a loop of about 10-12 Christmas songs so after a few days on the ship we already know the pattern and order of the songs and it is getting really old, really fast. I am not one to complain about the music and it does not bother me like many of the threads on here. But the Christmas music, oh boy, even a Christmas music lover is getting tired of it.

After dinner and chatting with the gaffers we headed down to the Sin City comedy show. It was standing room only so we left and will try to catch it another night.

Sorry for this “downer” of a post. Today was just not the spectacular day we hoped it would be. We are looking forward to a sea day tomorrow as we make our way towards Colombia! Woohoo!! This is what we are looking forward to. What will Colombia bring?

Loved your Engagement cruise review. We were on the Equinox last November in the Mediterranean, our third Mediterranean cruise in three years and our 4th overall - all on celebrity. I could go back every year. In December we will be on the Equinox for the 10 day Eastern Caribbean. Haven't done a Caribbean cruise for 4 years. It is so much different than a European cruise - a much more relaxed time.

You are lucky you had smooth seas on your Mediterranean cruise. On almost every cruise there we have had some very, very choppy waters. Have not had much of that in the Caribbean.

Awaiting the rest of your review.

Regards

Gail

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12/12/2013, Sea Day #2

Today I slept in until 8, woohoo, FINALLY! However, I briefly woke up at 4am from the rocking. I think it was more the noise from the hangers in the closet? I quickly went back to sleep, yay! Today we deviated from our normal path and had breakfast in the MDR. Today is a sea day so we were in no rush and decided to take our time enjoying breakfast in the MDR. We did find the breakfast service to be a little slow, but we are on cruise time, no worries!

We did some lounging on the balcony watching the world go by…

I wrote in my journal…

We decided to check out the famous $10 SALE, and yes, it is true CHAOS. CRAZY town! Yes, I know the items are pretty much the same “junk” sold in the Bijoux Turner stores in airports, also for $10. But my female, addicted to shopping, side came out. Really, Ashley? Yes, I will admit, I bought a fashion watch… that I never wear! What is it about that sale?

We first arrived to the sale before it started and people were lined up just waiting for the crew to pull the sheets off the tables. Then when they did pull the sheets off people just grabbed by the HANDFUL! You would think they were giving away free Godiva chocolate, sure if it was free Godiva I would grab by the handfuls too. We watched the chaos for a while then I jumped in, planning my attack. As I stated above, I came out alive with only the scar of a fashion watch. The watch is cheaply made, stiff, and I do not really like it now. Why did I buy it again? Oh yeah, the hype of a cruise sale, that’s why.

They had the newlywed and anniversary party up in the Sky Lounge, free cake! I’m there.

Back to our normal plan and daily schedule on the Equinox, we headed to yet another Hot Glass Show, #shocker.

Then we had lunch and went to another Beyond the Podium presentation. Roz gave her second speech (here is the link to her website, if you are interested: http://www.rozsavage.com/). Roz gave 3 presentations over the course of this cruise. Each presentation focused on one of her crossings. Today was about her crossing the Pacific Ocean. We really enjoy her presentations and story.

Time for the pool/hot tub. At the pool we ran into one of the Hot Glass guys Julian, and his girlfriend, Leah. We enjoyed chatting with them; this is Julian’s first contract and first cruise. His girlfriend flew down from Ohio for a vacation (also her first cruise).

Like normal (as you can see today was a boring day for you all to read, more of the same, SORRY!) we got ready for dinner and walked around. The MDR was pretty quiet tonight, maybe it is the seas? I know I have been in rougher seas before, I was in 20 foot seas on the Carnival Sensation a few years ago and this was no where near as bad as that so I do not know where everyone is tonight.

We tried to go to Sin City Comedy tonight but Celebrity Central is near the bow of the ship and you could feel the motion a lot more up there so we just called it a night. Hey, this is what vacation is for, right? Do what ya want!

*I did add at the end of this entry the next morning (AKA tomorrow, the next post) the seas did pick up. I ran into Leah (Hot Glass Show gaffer girlfriend) and she agreed it was rocking a lot. Maybe someone can answer this, is it common for this area down by Colombia to be a little rough in the winter?

12/13/2013, Cartagena, Colombia

FINALLY!!!!! A new country, a new continent, let’s get this party cruise started!! After a “rocky” start to out honeymoon cruise, we were super excited for today. We really needed a good day to lift our spirits. Colombia always intrigued me; I had visions of wealth, drugs, Colombian pride, and machine guns. I think my image comes from all the Drugs Inc. and other drug shows Tyler watches on TV.

We are not lounge on the beach kind of people; that is why we picked this itinerary. I had high expectations for Colombia to “deliver” in the sightseeing department. Would I be right? I hope!

We have a tour planned for today, through Celebrity. This is our first time take a ship-sponsored tour. I was really nervous about this; in Europe we had private tours for our family. I already know we will be in a big charter bus with a lot of other people. I know not to compare this to a private Rome in Limo tour, check! Got it!

Ok, moving on…

View from the balcony:

Another view, I had no IDEA Cartagena was such a big city

The tour for today is the Celebrity Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress. We ordered room service today. On our Med. cruise we loved having breakfast on the balcony. We thought we learned out lesson last time, guess we forgot. Room service is always a gamble, you never know what you are going to get! Today it was hit or miss breakfast. The eggs were cold… which is pretty normal for breakfast room service but the omelet tasted just fine! We did take some dry packaged cereal with us.

We went to the Equinox theater to get our tour stickers since this was an “X” tour. The process was easy and painless. We were sent on our way, ushered down the hall with the other members and were directed to a charter bus. So far, very smooth and easy.

The first stop was the fortress, which we would get to climb up, explore, and have a guided tour. Personally I enjoy climbing, walking, etc. any kind of cardio on vacation is fine by me! I should note, I can already tell my dessert feeding frenzy is already packing on the pounds, the cardio is welcomed!

I really enjoyed exploring the fort! Today is a bright and sunny day, a happy day. The fort provided great views of the city. I was so happy to be in a foreign county, in the sun, exploring. Today is a beautiful day! Our tour guide was decent, he did the job. No where near the personal treatment you get with Rome in Limo, we also paid a lot less. We were satisfied with this tour.

A view of the city from the fortress

We also explored inside the fortress, pictures did not turn out from inside