reaperman

We got off on Apr 9th and I agree with you about the entertainment. Not our first ncl cruise, but the first with that entertainment setup. The female comedian had the most repeated routine of the three. The ship lacks a decent size lounge for just about any entertainment venue. The atrium is way too small, but centrally located so it draws attention to passerby's. I still say they need to eliminate some pay restaurants and make a decent size lounge. We missed having a different theater show nightly also.

I'm tempted to spill the beans after the way O'Sheehans blew me off three times last week on my cruise. But sometimes revenge is best served cold. Enjoy your vacation, your there to forget about the outside world and escape the internet and cell phones.

One other note worth mentioning. The first stop on our cruise was Roatan, Tuesday morning 10 am dock. Well we encountered some nasty winds on Monday thru Tuesday. Ok, I'm kind of a nerd but I've been traveling with a GPS for over 20 years. It helps me keep sort of a digital diary, not only showing me where we have been. But also the date. Starting already on Monday, I was noticing according to where we were and how far we have yet to travel. There was not much chance of making it on time. I was scratching my head trying to figure out if my calculations were incorrect. Then Tuesday morning approx. 3 hrs before our scheduled arrival, the gps was showing me we had at over 6 hours left before we would reach Roatan. I went to 6th floor and looked at the big screen tv that generally keeps live updates to how long before arrivals will be. That was showing 200 minutes to arrival. Finally, around 8:30am, the captain announced we would be arriving 3 hours late or approx. 1pm instead of 10am. He blamed a medical emergency in Miami (we left the port a hour late) and high winds for the delay. These things happen. Now the passengers were restless having to kill an additional 3 hours. Our port time was extended by 1 1/2 hrs. Now, if my $200 gps knew the ship wasn't going to arrive on time the day before. I would think the ships multi million dollar navigation system also knew. Many passengers, felt we should have been notified earlier than we were. That would have prevented some of the restlessness.

I just got off the getaway and interestingly enough I was doing some jogging on the 7th deck. As I reached the front of the ship, there was a high school age student practicing his French horn. In his defense he picked the deck thats virtually a ghost town on that ship. That deck offers nothing since the lifeboats obstruct vision.

Yes there is, we were also on deck 8, aft side. So naturally, I would stay on the aft side and walk down a little ways and eventually come to a coffee machine and a small assortment of pastries each morning. I'm sure you will find the same on the starboard side if needed. There you will also find some padded chairs if you wish to relax there with your coffee.

I just got off the getaway last week. I didn't sign up for internet, but I briefly remember there only being 3 packages offered, other than the standard rate of .75/minute without a plan.

But I was able access their internet with a workaround I figured out on the ship. I will keep the details to myself but only worked with android, sorry ios users.

Thanks for sharing your experience. What was the cost for the Krazy Lobster?

The cost depended on what you ordered. I had a whole red snapper for $18. I could have eaten cheaper. Your afternoon stay at Krazy lobster isn't a set price, rather as long as you order something your invited to stay.

Now I will talk about our room #8174 what a great location. A regular balcony room with a queen size bed. The bed was most likely the most comfortable bed I've vacationed on. The pillows, 2 per side, were larger than standard hotel pillows and very homey. I slept great with no complaints. Our room steward was very friendly and efficient. He remembered our names since day one and was always helpful in needed. One error he made was partly my fault. One day I noticed 2 sales slips beside the rooms telephone. They were charges ($26) from our mini bar (refrigerator) despite never consuming anything from it. One day I took 2 bottles of water out of the refrigerator and set them aside to make space for our own water bottles. I later took our bottles out and never put "theirs" back. But their bottles were on the floor right next to the refrigerator. Somehow, he must have figured we drank them, even though they were not opened. And perhaps threw them away and refilled the frige. Funny thing is I was charged for 4 items, not two. At first I didn't realize the charges were from my refrigerator. So I went to guest services and told them the charges weren't mine. The clerk explained the charges were from my room and I told him the story. He said he would remove the charges. Well, he only removed half of the charges I found out the last morning of the cruise when I got my final bill. I just paid it instead of standing in line forever for $13. Overall, the room is adequate size for two, three people may be a bit tight at times. The bathroom was efficiently sized with a decent size shower. The faucet on the sink needs to be centered with the middle of the sink instead of sitting off to one side. Because the faucet sits too far away from the sink so there is no way of washing hands without slopping water over the counter top. The toilet paper is about the thinnest I've yet to see anywhere. So no issues with the room, the balcony for my needs was big enough despite being very narrow.

The onboard entertainment was a little different in the sense you must book shows in order to see them without hoping for a vacant seat. This is where one gets the idea the ship is out of balance with the amount of passengers vs overall space. Its the first ship I've sailed without a two story theater. The theater is large enough to accommodate 800, with two main shows taking up four nights. On past cruises, our nightly regiment was to eat supper and take in a theater show. This was thrown off kilter this cruise. We saw the two main shows, both very good, burn the floor and the million dollar quartet. Plus the welcome and goodbye show on the first and last nights. In between nights we managed to see the comedian in a smaller lounge called headliners. Headliners is a smallish lounge in comparison to what it should be to event the second largest performance on the ship. I don't know its capacity, but I'd guess maybe 200. In my opinion, the Getaway is in dire need of a decent sized lounge to hold any kind of performance. There are far too many "for pay" restaurants and a few smaller lounges that simply take up too much space. A few lounges we went into had fewer than 20 people gathered for the night, bliss and fat cats come to mind. On the Equinox, was a large lounge on the rear of the ship that was triple the size of headliners on the Getaway. A venue such as this would relive some pressure off headliners and allow more passengers to partake in the ships entertainment. My suggestion would be to overtake the space where Cagneys and Moderno are located. Relocate those restaurants to a smaller area to provide one decent size lounge in addition to the main theater. Until something like this happens, the ship will never give the passengers a good sense of overall space. When passengers miss out on entertainment due to lack of space and not knowing ahead of time they should have booked an event, the blame goes strait to the cruise line. Many passengers I mingled with were frustrated by this arrangement.

Before cruising I read the pool area is another area lacking space due to its size. This time I'm on the side with NCL. I've never been a cruise that had a pool large enough for the entire ship to sit along its shores. The upper deck is rather big with a lot of chairs. There is a second pool for children which is nice, they need a pool more that the adults. The children actually spend time splashing around and using the pool. The adults mainly want to sit on a chair and drink. There were always plenty of chairs available on the upper sun deck as well as in the h2o spice area for those who didn't want to fight the crowds. For that reason, I see no need for passengers to fight over those few, coveted Vibe passes. The running track is located one deck up from the pool, deck 16. The track is small (3' wide) and is wedged between a row of lounge chairs and the side of the ship. It is said to be 660' per lap or 8 laps/mile. Whether it is or not that distance I don't know. To me its seems smaller but it really doesn't matter. If you want to use the track I recommend being up and running before 6am or plan on dodging pedestrians as part of your morning regiment. I'm a early riser and found putting in a couple miles before 6 am a real treat. Afterwards I could slip into the garden buffet for breakfast without lines of any kind. Eating breakfast before 7:30 am should be adequate for avoiding crowds most days.

I wont go over ports of call since they are what you make of them. I liked the itinerary and all of the ports. At first I questioned costa maya as we pulled in. It was windy and overcast as we got off the ship. We got on a small trolley and headed to wherever everyone else on the trolley was going. After a short 10 minute ride we pulled into town. What a cool little town with shops on one side of the oversized sidewalk that stretched about a mile. And the beach dotted with tons of umbrellas/chairs and endless massage tables intertwined with the open air restaurants. My wife ordered up a $20 dollar, one hour long massage. As I choose the Krazy lobster to eat lunch and spend the afternoon. My lunch fare included beach time, umbrella/chairs plus internet for the entire day. It didn't matter what I ordered as long as I ate there, everything else was included. The waiter even said if I want to take out a kayak, no extra charge. After my wifes massage was over she joined me. The water there was calm due to a reef our several hundred feet braking up waves. When our afternoon ended it was only a $2pp taxi ride back to the ship.

Overall, our vacation was great. Vacations are what you make of them. Some of the space limitations on the ship weren't accepted well by my wife. She says she wont cruise on a ship of that size again. Its not that the ship is physically longer than most. But rather more decks equal more cabins and passengers in basically the same size ship that has a few less decks and a thousand less passengers.

We just got home from a few extra days spent in Miami, post cruise. For starters we enjoyed our vacation and have been on 8 prior cruises. We like to alternate our vacations between cruises and land based. Our vacation last April was a cruise on the Celebrity Equinox, and yes we felt like the youngest passengers aboard (young 50's). So some comparisons I make will most likely be to the Equinox since it is a similar sized ship in length and most recent. Our last cruise before the Equinox was on the NCL Sun.

For starters, embarkation went well, we arrived about 11:30 and was on the ship approx 1:00 pm. Like everyone else, we headed to the buffet since we were hungry and didn't feel like waiting for a sit down lunch. We expected a crowd on the buffet line and we were right. It was then when we realized just how narrow the food line was to the adjacent wall, only about 8 feet on average, a tad bit more in some spots. With the lack of room between the food and the wall, people trying to navigate the food line from both directions. And a occasional worker pushing a large/wide cart of dishes, there is simply not enough space to accommodate a large crowd. Now take all of these people and try to sit them down is another story. The space for the dining tables is only about 20 feet wide by the length of the buffet room. This space is only good for about 3 tables wide. One reason is the chairs don't slide under the table because the tables base is so wide. So the dining chairs stick out 1.5 to 2 feet in all 4 directions. The buffet food was as expected. The carving stations offered a nice selection of meat over the coarse of the cruise. From whole brisket, to fully baked turkey, prime rib a couple times, and others. The buffets pizza was excellent. The salad bar was a disappointment to me since I have salad at least once daily or more at home. Very few offerings other than lettuce and a few regulars. What I didn't like was the salad dressing, none of it. In fact I actually stopped making a salad after day three. Not everybody likes a strong taste of vinegar in every dressing offering. Plus the breads/rolls offered were the same each day with limited varieties. The Equinox has a awesome bakery aboard, fresh different breads and tons of varieties daily.

Night one, we ate in Savor, a main dining room. I started with the French onion soup, normally a cruise favorite for me. But not this time, the soup tasted like something that came from a can with very little flavor. The dinner rolls were good and the main coarse was also good. What wasn't to great was how long it actually took to eat supper, almost 2 hours. For a starter, main coarse, and dessert. To me that's way too long for 2 people just to eat. In fact we ordered coffee with out dessert which didn't come for at least 10 minutes after our dessert was served. For this reason we didn't eat in the MDR each night. We both had two different fish dinners later in the cruise that was also very good. One night I had a turkey dinner which was very tasty, but only about enough meat to make a sandwich. Compare that with the buffet line one night they offered turkey. The butcher cut a hunk of meat off a fresh baked turkey that almost covered my plate.

Day two, I thought I would try O'sheehans. I got there at 11am since the daily paper said that's what time they start serving lunch. The lady said come back, they don't take orders until 11:30. I must have read the paper wrong, so I checked, I was correct is says 11am. I didn't come back a half hour later, instead I hit the buffet. The next day, I left Harvest Key around 11 and headed back to the ship for a 11:30 lunch at O'sheehans. I get there and the lady says they aren't taking orders until noon, ***? Back to the buffet line we go for lunch. So after we get in from the day at Harvest key, I stood in line to eat at O'sheehans once again. Finally, I make my way to the head of the line. The lady sits the couple in front of me then tells me there full, strike three. I'm starring at a half dozen empty tables plus a few empty bar stools on the restaurant side. I point them out and she says, sorry were full. But you can sit on the bar side and order from the red (limited) menu. I never understood that either. The different menus between the bar and the restaurant side for ordering???? This time I left with the question in my mind just what my daily gratuities are actually covering? I did drop a note in the suggestion box at the front desk asking them to update the daily paper as to when O'sheehans actually starts taking lunch orders. Finally I did get the opportunity to eat there a couple of times, the food is good with generous portions.

More to come

Does this book thur the ship? Otherwise just grab a cab there and find one when you want to leave. It's pretty simple. We booked thru bananarama, they pic you up, give you chairs and access to their facility plus a free drink for $30 pp. And call a cab when u want to leave. Doing it on your own is basically the same price or more once you pay cab, rent chairs, etc.

I just got off the Getaway, and I admit I didn't like the whole reservation thing. The reason for reservations is there are too many aboard for the limited space in the theater, plus lounges. In my opinion, some of the pay restraunts should be eliminated to make space for at least one decent size lounge. Probably the two restaurants above the tropicana. A person shouldn't have to be put in the position to have do do a lot of research and planning to take a simple cruise. Rather, if something on board looks worthwhile it's always been nice in the past to just join in. This way it isn't so easily done, a lot of cruisers expressed a dislike to this method. Another thing, there isn't a different show in the main theater each night. Two shows take up four nights, again because of lack of space.

As for eating, the buffet as mentioned suffers the worst lack of space overall. I'm a early riser, no issues for breakfast. I'd say before 7:30 your safe, I was normally there around 6 am after a couple miles of jogging. If your a jogger, you may want to start by 6 am, otherwise you will be dodging the general public as the jogging track also lacks any space.

I'll be doing a full review in a couple days when I get back home. Too hard to type on a iPad for me.

I have been on breakaway which is same as getaway. I had cabin 8780 which is the first cabin next to fat cats on the waterfront. I loved the location and actually booked it again for next September. What's your cabin number

Im in 8174, the 4th cabin from the waterfront. I knew I read somewhere the first few may have privacy issues. To me its not a big deal other than curiosity. I actually like the fact I'm close to the 8th floor activities. Thanks for the help

I sail the getaway in a week for the first time. A lot of people say the pool area isn't large enough. After looking over the ships details. The "Haven" seems to take up a lot of top deck area that would normally be open to all cruisers on most other ships. I may be incorrect, but from the pictures I have saw the haven looks to occupy over a 1/4 or more of total top deck space. I've never been on a ship where any top deck has been limited. I'm hoping I wrong. To me the top deck on any ship should be open to all, my opinion.

I got my cabin assignment. I read somewhere that a few balconies close to the waterfront are in its view. I've searched all over but cant find the thread. Also someone posted outside pictures showing the deck 8 cabins in correlation to the waterfront but I cant find those either. Any ideas? Thanks, I sail in a week

I'm a bit new to this bid on upgrade email thing. Having read many posts on the issue I'm surprised I got the email. Especially since I just booked the cruise three days ago and the cruise leaves in less than two weeks. I booked a guaranteed balcony. The upgrade offer is all the way up to the owners suites. Being I booked with only two weeks before the cruise and got the offer tells me there must be a lot of rooms still available. I have no real interest in upgrading to a suite. And I'm not sure if I would even want to roll the dice for as little as $25pp, for a shot at a mini suite. But curiosity might get the best of me for that price. My worry is if I were successful at snagging mini for that price, I might end up on a lower deck than I may get now. And for what? A larger bathroom? I really don't care what part of the ship my room is on, I've cruised just about all geographical areas of a ship and the rooms I prefer is one close to a elevator. But for me to get this offer is whats most intriguing. Especially with many other cruisers who have been booked months ago or longer.

Is it really necessary to pre-book a snorkel tour? We are veteran vacationers, but our first time in Roatan. Is my assumption correct that we will have no trouble finding a tour as soon as we leave the cruise dock? Or will tours offered by these "street" operators by sub-par from some of the more "known" companies that offer snorkel tours? Or is it just possible to catch a bus/van/cab, to a given beach where some local has a boat that is willing to take us out to a reef? Thanks.

[quote name=deladane;49852320

We had originally requested he take us to the Juan Valdez Cafe' date=' but he told us we had to exit here. I'm still not sure why, as there were plenty of cars driving through the city center, but I guess this was just easier for them to find their next fare, even if it wasn't what we thought we were paying for. [/quote]

That's because taxis are charged to enter city center.

Ok, I'm going write down some things I observed while taking this 11 night cruise. First off this was my first X cruise, we took this cruise because the dates fit into our schedule and because of some ports we haven't visited. My wife and I have cruised several times before on other cruise lines. We are not fussy or specific about which cruise line we will sail on. We are both 50 yrs old. Some of the things I'm going to jot down doesn't mean I agree or disagree, but rather things I observed.

First off, I haven't observed many "real" differences between different cruise lines. We have been satisfied with all of the cruises we have taken. No particular cruise ship or company stands out over the others. The staff on all ships have always treated us very well. They all work hard.

Compared to our last cruise (not mentioning the company) was we were not badgered by X to purchase bingo cards constantly. This was very refreshing. The last ship we were on was almost as bad as the street vendors we fight off on the islands. I cant count how many times per day the cruise director would come on the PA system announcing, whatever bingo they were playing that day. It did get old.

The food was about as I expected. Hats off to the bakery on the equinox, they back some delicious bread, buns, etc. My wife loved the indian curry on the buffet every day. She ate it every lunch and a couple of suppers. The food in the MDR was delicious, no complaints.

Breakfast on the Equinox isn't designed for the early riser. Any real food isn't served until 7am. Continental breakfast starts at 6:30 if your a coffee and roll kind of person. If someone says they can get a omelet earlier than 7am I'd like to see how. There were times after 7am that one omelet station would turned me away, saying they weren't open yet. Room service doesn't count.

Coffee, tea, and juices are available in the buffet area 24 hrs, so they say. But if your a decaf coffee drinker, you wont find that after 10 pm, only regular, didn't figure that one out. Each nigh after the evening show ended (approx. 10pm) we would head to the Oceanview café for a late night snack. Three coffee makers would have regular coffee, and the decaf machine would be turned off. The first night of our cruise I figured the decaf machine was out of order. But 10 nights later there was still no decaf, I see a pattern, no decaf.

Another observation, the Equinox lacks a decent size common area for functions like a dance class, larger cruise ship games, aerobic class, and thing like that. Many times during the cruise the grand foyer was used for dance lessons, dances, and even dance shows by the ships dancers. Come on Celebrity, there is no room for these kind of functions in the foyer. Especially performances by the ships dance performers not to mention a audience.

This next one may be a personal gripe but here goes, lifeboats. I couldn't get over the idea of having the lifeboats clutter up the 5th floor balcony area. Tuck them under the cabins where lifeboats belong. Which brings up another observation. The exterior of the equinox not being flush. Why aren't all of the balconies inline with one another like any other cruise ship? If the middle and rear cabins were pushed out as wide as the "hump" and front cabins were. The lifeboats would have a place to tuck under. That outside design, to me, takes away from the overall appearance of the ship.

I read about people wondering about having a cabin that adjoined with another. How this works is all of the cabins front doors set back about 3 feet in from the hall way in groups of two doors together. Example, room xxx1 and xxx3 would be side to side. Adjoining cabins each have an additional front door that closes flush with the hallway wall. So the main front cabin doors can open, and the second, outside doors can close. So there is no lost space in the cabins themselves.

Cellular service. The departure day, I had (at&t) service, outside on the upper decks as long as we were sailing past the Florida keys. Which was way past midnight. And coming home, the same thing in reverse. Once we were within reasonable distance of the Keys, I had service again. Which was about 10pm on our last night.

Overall, we did enjoy or cruise as we always do. We value out time away from our 7 day/week occupations. I may add more observations when time permits. I didnt touch on ports of call, but if I had to skip one on this itinerary it would be Cartagena. What I liked best about this port was the little zoo upon exiting the port.

Sailing out on Monday 4/4, Never sailed on Celebrity prior. When checking in, are we allowed to bring a carry-on suitcase on the ship? Or must we turn all luggage in for inspection? Thanks

You may want to reconsider the 10 night, seven days can go by pretty fast. I understand the whole young children issue. But also keep in mind with a young family, getting away on vacation doesn't necessarily come easy or frequent. Chances are both you and your spouse have earned this chance to get away for a short while and spend time together. In the past few years my wife and I have extended our winter "week" vacation to 10 days minimum. The extra few days makes the vacation seem a lot longer and more relaxing. Just my opinion. If seven days is all you can swing there is nothing wrong with that. A cruise is a great way to relax without any worries. Everything is taken care of for you. The staff on any cruise line I have been on always does its best to treat passengers like royalty. I remember our first cruise 15 years ago my wife had to convince me to take. At that time I thought I was too young for a cruise. Boy was I wrong. I was impressed how simple, elegant, and relaxing it was not to worry about anything. Not to mention how much I love to eat. You really cant go wrong with any itinerary but if I had to choose I'd start with the eastern Caribbean.

We found Mullet bay beach much more desirable than Dawn beach. Dawn beach is windy, wavy, plus seem to lack the colored carribean water. It's a big beach that stretches a long way, it's popular because there are a lot of restaurants/bars along its shores. If you like people, Dawn beach is where you want to head. If you have children, or just want to read a book by the beautiful calm water, Mullet's the place to be.

Sorry for the mistake about Dawn beach, I made a error and was referring to Orient beach, not Dawn. We never visited Dawn beach

For those just off the first Equinox 10 day with the overnight in St. Maarten, how did it go? Did businesses and restaurants stay open right by the ship? Did you feel safe at night?

 

Any information would be appreciated. We leave on the 10 day in 11 days!!:)

Having spent 10 days in sxm last winter and not coming from a overnight on a cruise ship. I think you will find St. Maarten a safe place to roam. What I would recommend doing since your not on a time restraint to get back to the ship. Is travel around the island on public transportation (vans). You can easily explore the entire island in just a few hours for a dollars. You would be at liberty to jump off a van at any desired destination and simply get back on another to continue. If you want to go to a popular destination, say, maho beach. Just catch the van with the "Maho/Mullet" sign on the front of the van. Most rides are $1 or $1.50 depending on distance. The driver will tell you as you get off. For me and my wife, I would simply give $3(US) wherever we went and they seemed happy. To catch the vans you will need to get into Phillipsburg either by water taxi or taxi, no public trans in the port area. Then just walk a few blocks away from the water. All of the vans gather on one street. Its easy to tell when your there or simply ask a local where to catch one. In Phillipsburg, vans will either say Maho/Mullet, or Marigot. The Maho/Mullet van will go through Simpson bay, then the Maho/Mullet area. Then simply switch its sign on the front of the van to say Phillipsburg and take the same route back in reverse. The vans are plentiful and you will never have to wait more than 5 minutes for one. The Marigot van stops at a little bus stop in Marigot where you will have to get off. If you want to continue to Grand Case, there will most likely be a van waiting there going that direction or one will be coming shortly. But all vans stop at this bus (van) stop in town to reverse direction. The drivers are friendly and helpful and all locals say hello to everyone as they climb in the van. I've hear people scoff at taking the local vans, saying they are slow, stop too much, etc. They do make stops along the way, yes, BUT the roads there are all two lane with no shoulders in most places. So any vehicles traveling behind the van are going to have to slow down or stop as the van does. Also the roads are very crowded so nobody is going anywhere in record speed. The last thing I would recommend anyone doing from a cruise ship is rent a car. Parking spots in sxm are almost non existent. There are plenty of transportation companies willing to escort you or a group around the island if you feel safer that way.

A suggestion for anyone looking for a nice quiet beach to spend the afternoon should consider Mullet bay. The water is calm and amazing. There are beach chairs/umbrellas for rent ($10/2) plus there's a little beach restaurant there also. It is pretty close to Maho (airport) beach so there is some airplane noise but not bad. Also its only about a 10 minute walk back to Maho beach from Mullet if anyone is interested in watching the planes. Plus, on the walk back to Maho you go through the town of Maho. Where you can find anything your looking for, subway, grocery's, etc. We found Mullet bay beach much more desirable than Dawn beach. Dawn beach is windy, wavy, plus seem to lack the colored carribean water. It's a big beach that stretches a long way, it's popular because there are a lot of restaurants/bars along its shores. If you like people, Dawn beach is where you want to head. If you have children, or just want to read a book by the beautiful calm water, Mullet's the place to be. Whatever you decide you wish to do, you will find it there. St. Maarten is a lovely place.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I booked the air. I was also thinking we could take advantage of that program (forget what its called) where the cruise line picks up our luggage and takes it to the airport and provides us with our boarding passes. That seems like it would speed the process up somewhat, if needed

We've never sail in or out of Port Everglades or on Celebrity. The Equinox is arriving back on Friday, Apr 15th and I was wondering if its possible to make a 11:15 am flight. I can save $100/pp on airfare if its possible to make this flight. I realize the airport is close but there is customs and TSA to factor in. Thanks.

Somehow I knew the answer but I just needed someone else to hear it from. Thanks for not letting me make a mistake. Happy sailing!