EQUINOX - 10 Day Ultimate Caribbean - Picture Trip Report 3/14/14...

I too hate to see the luggage in the hallway. You have done an excellent job on this review and have allowed Beth and I relive the cruise via your pictures!

 

Can't wait to see what you have left in your story. :D

Thanks Mark (my newest Facebook Friend)

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Just wanted to follow up on my experience onboard the Equinox.

 

TV was locked. Didn't matter which HDMI port you tried to use, or USB port, etc.

 

I inquired at Guest Relations and was advised that they were locked so guests would use the pay per view instead of being able to watch their own photos, movies, etc. I expressed my displeasure regarding not being able to view my own photos as ludicrous.

 

A couple of days later, the remote batteries died on the remote control in the room, and they had to send the IT person. I asked him about the ability to use the HDMI port, and he asked if I wanted it unlocked. I was surprised, and said, that would be great as we like to view our photos while we are in the cabin and delete the "oops" photos, etc.

 

He came back with a master remote, and unlocked the TV and we were able to view our photos from our laptop.

I am glad you were able to get a "port" to work. After reading your post it got me thinking. Equinox is different from Silhouette in that Equinox uses a DVI port while Silhouette uses a HDMI port. I think for Equinox if you removed the DVI and placed your cable/source into this port it would work because that is the active port. The problem of course with this is Converting HDMI to DVI than also getting the sound to work because unlike HDMI DVI has no audio. To be honest for me the iPad was a good enough screen for me this trip. I took my external Seagate Wireless Plus hard drive with me and didn't even take it out of its case. Thanks for the feedback.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Wow Kevin, we can't thank you enough for the time you spent sharing your cruise with us. We are on the Equinox in November sailing your same itinerary - I hope we have 1/2 as good a time as you appeared to be having! One question. We would like to have lunch at the specialty restaurant(s). You enjoyed lunch at Tuscan Grill on the final of four sea days. I reviewed the Celebrity today for each sea day and it looks like that was the only restaurant offered for lunch and the only sea day it was open. Is this correct?

FYI, my husband read your review yesterday and now I fear we are in the market for a new camera! :) Thanks again.

It has been fun composing this Trip Report. I am sure you will have a fantastic time on the " Beautiful Celebrity Equinox".

Lunch if you go back check the daily for Day 09 March 23 you will see that Murano was open for lunch that day. Cost $25/person same as Tuscan lunch. I now wish we had not of cancelled that reservation.

Women should have no fear when a man goes into an electronics store. LOL! You could be like Donna and refuse to come into Future Shop with me. I think you will be happy with the results if you spend a little extra on a compact point and shot. The convenience and ease of use is most important to me.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Absolutely fantastic review!! Thank you for putting it together with such detail. I am booked on Equinox for December and and even more excited after reading your review.

Wow! you have quite an assortment of different cruises in your signature. Like i have previously posted it has been fun for me reliving this cruise. I am so Jealous of the pre-Christmas thing have a great time.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

I also thought it was a great review. I will see you on board in December. My DH and I are on this sailing. We were on the Equinox in November, 2013.

Gail

Now you guys are making me even more Jealous. Please can Donna and I come along?

Regards,

Kevin Reid

DH and I were also on this cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed your post, we feel like we're still in vacation. You have a passion and it shows in all the time you've put into this post.

Were you on this same cruise with us? Were you at the meet & greet? That is one thing I am trying to work on is introducing myself at meetings and to get to know people. I have that same passion for all the roller coasters in your home state Ohio. Thanks for being with me.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

You do actually have until Monday May 5 this year Kevin. CRA extended the deadline because of the heart bleed bug and all the chaos it caused with the CRA site. And yes, the site is horrible.

Karen

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hi Karen,

Taxes are all done net filed all four returns today. Phew! what a relief that is.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Ah, a kindred spirit! So much better to do fun things than taxes. Ugh. I always procrastinate about taxes.

 

I'm pretty sure Turbo Tax is available in an Apple version, I know my kids use it and they both have iMacs.

Hi Linda,

Your comment made me do some research on Turbo Tax at lunch today. You are correct it is available for Apple/Mac in the US but in Canada only windows version available on CD.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Kevin:

Thank you so very much for allowing us to relive the cruise. It was a great reminder of how much fun we had. Looking forward to cruising again with some of the wonderful people we met.

Kevin: I know you enjoy ziplining, so I found something for you to try

George

Addie (wintry stew)

 

http://www.20min.ch/ro/videotv/?channel_id=124&video_id=360096

Well Hello George and Addie,

Quick answer No! But I would like to have a couple of those bags of peanuts right now in front of me. Thanks for hosting the grand finale in your S1 Sky Suite that was a lot of fun.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Kevin,

 

Thank you for writing such a great review and your pictures were fantastic. It was great to have this to remind us of all the fun we had on this same cruise. Maybe someday we will be on the same cruise together again. If so we will try to get into a few of your pictures. This is one of the best pciture reviews I have seem. Thanks so much.

 

Carl

Hi Carl,

USVI did you walk into town? If so I think I have a picture of you guys standing at a street light waiting to cross. Thanks for you very kind comments.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Sad to not have your reviews to look forward to! Hopefully, we'll be on a cruise together someday.

 

Thanks so much.

Barbara & Tom

Well I could also go back in time and start up a Trip Report on a previous cruise. That would be pretty hard to remember. Looking forwarding meeting any CC folks on board.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Celebrity Today

Page 1

Page 2

Shore Excursions

Luggage Tag Notice

Fort Lauderdale Excursion Tickets

Regards,

Kevin Reid

I have procrastinated on getting our personal taxes finished for the April 30 deadline.

Hey Kevin, I've been enjoying your review.

FYI, due to the HeartBleed fiasco, CRA has extended the filing deadline to May5th. You have loads of time:D

Thanks for your reply. Are shorts allowed at lunch in the Specialty dining rooms?

Hey Kevin, I've been enjoying your review.

 

FYI, due to the HeartBleed fiasco, CRA has extended the filing deadline to May5th. You have loads of time:D

No extra time required all done and e-filed. Now "Show me the Money".

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Thanks for your reply. Are shorts allowed at lunch in the Specialty dining rooms?

The answer is YES! and also allowed in the MDR for Lunch and Breakfast. The only time I didn't wear shorts was during the evening were I pulled on a pair of Dockers.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Having recently been hired in the travel industry I can answer your questions as to why you pay in USD on the way back. This is because most fares in North America are calculated as one-way. You would also pay in USD from FLL to YHZ cause you always pay the currency of the country you are departing from. Also AC does not let you pre-pick you seat on Tango fares. If you want to choose to your seat don't book Tango Fares.

:D

Fort Lauderdale, Yeah Hi

Unfortunately our time has come to leave the "Beautiful Celebrity Equinox". We don't have rush to catch any flight today because we are staying over today and catching a 6:30 AM flight to Montreal - Halifax - Charlottetown on Tuesday. We were staying at the same Holiday Inn Express as our pre-cruise stay. So we would have a few hours to kill before our room would be ready. We decided to do the Ft Lauderdale Land & Sea Excursion. Back in 2005 we did this same excursion and were very pleased with it. But first Equinox has pull back into Port Everglades. I was pretty sure Equinox would be arriving into Port around 6:00 AM I knew this because I had previously watched it arrive live on the PE Webcam. That 6:00 AM is 7:00 AM here in Atlantic Time Zone which made it easy to watch before I left for work. So I was up pretty early because I wanted to get up on Deck15 to watch her come in. Picture below is a little dark but still turned out pretty good. To the right would be the dock Princess is usually at along with 17th St Causeway.

To right of the next picture is were we are headed. We are the first ship in this morning then followed by Ruby Princess and RCL Liberty of the Seas. When planning this trip Donna and I were thinking of extending this cruise and picking up our first Princess Cruise on Ruby which was for 5 day. This would bring us back on the weekend which put us right back into the expensive March Break Weekend flight so we decided not to. Back in 2010 rather than flying directly back to PEI we decided to detour to YYZ, Toronto, and visit old neighbours in Newmarket, Ontario. But this year we decided against that and would come home and take the rest of the week and relax. Little did we know we were about to fly into the biggest Snow storm of the season.

On the way back to the stateroom took this picture of the pool area with the Port everglades lights in the background.

With our bags already gone the only thing to take with us was my carryon bag which carried all of my camera gear. It was sad to leave our room for the last time. Last picture of our room before saying goodbye to 1509.

Up next last Breakfast at Blu and Agung.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Goodbye Equinox

Since we were taking the Ft Lauderdale excursion we were to meet in Quasar at 7:30 AM. Blu was open pretty early this morning and we had breakfast one last time with Agung who is extremely cheery and funny this morning. We sat on the wall close to the window and had a good view of Liberty of the Seas. Next is a picture of the very funny Agung (sorry for spelling your name incorrectly earlier in the Trip Report).

Agung gave us a little special "chi" treatment with the bacon presentation this morning. Modern Luxury?

Somebody was having pancakes this morning.

The Williams are all smiles after a great cruise.

One final picture of the Reids in Blu.

This is the very last picture taken on the Beautiful Celebrity Equinox. Like normal we were at the Quasar before 7:30 AM and were afforded these awesome seats. We were a few minutes past 7:30 AM before being called out to luggage and customs. Luggage and Customs was very smooth with no hassle at all.

Up Next Ft Lauderdale Excursion, Equinox Leaving, and my summary.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Fort Lauderdale Land & Sea

So back in 2005 we were still living north of Toronto, Newmarket, and were flying back to Toronto via Miami but later in the afternoon. So we did this same excursion and we really liked it back then and figured Ken and Norma Jean would also enjoy it. We talked about the guide we had back in 2005 and how he was really good at telling stories. It was him who told us many stories of Ft Lauderdale billionaire Wayne Huizenga. Back in 2005 we did the tour in one of those Hotel Shuttle size buses and ended at the Miami Airport. This Year we were in a full size Greyhound size bus and ended at Fort Lauderdale Airport. We used the Hotel shuttle to get us back to the Holiday Inn express. So to my amazement when were looking for our excursion bus... low and behold it was the same tour guide as 2005. Next picture is our 2005/2014 tour guide from La Mar Excursions.

The first part of the tour would be the land portion. The weather in Fort Lauderdale was quite dull and overcast so there would be no beautiful sunny blue skies for pictures today. Before I put my bags underneath the bus i decided to keep out my UPEI Hoodie good thing because they came in handy. When we left the port we headed first for the Fort Lauderdale beach area and crossed over 17th St Causeway and I could not resist getting a few snaps of the Ships in Port Everglades. Ruby Princess and Celebrity Equinox in next picture. So sad when you know you can't go back.

My American friend don't feel too bad about your gas prices. I took this picture and figured I would give you a comparable price in my neck of the woods. The comparable price here on PEI would be about $5 USD/US Gallon.

The first stop was at a public park downtown with the intention of giving the attendees a washroom break and continue with a walking tour. We also stopped here back in 2005 but, the City of Fort Lauderdale should be embarrassed to death for the absolute filthy disgusting conditions of these public washroom. Trust me you would not want to rest in these restrooms. Donna and Norma Jean confirmed that the Women's was equally disgusting as the men's. Nice way to leave a lasting impression on tourists. After the shock of the washrooms we continued we our tour guide sharing many of his interesting stories. Next pic our group getting our the shock! LOL!

Next up was sea part of the tour where you get to see the Multi Million Dollar homes and yachts. The cruise boat had a lower and open upper deck. Here is a picture of Donna and I ready to see all the sites. Actually I am most excited for this part because I get to see Equinox from a neat perspective.

Right in front from were we left is the Stranahan House with significant historical importance to Fort Lauderdale. (on the New River)

Stick with me still bit more to cover.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Port Everglades Ships...

So on the way out to Port Everglades you tour by many homes and yachts the American Dream is a live and Well in this area of the US. Wow! such excesses. This next house is probably the one gets a lot of attention. "Fort Lauderdale White House" which happens to be for sale. As i recall the story go like this... the owner was employed at GM and invented a condenser that allowed air conditioning in autos. So everytime a car is sold with air he gets a royalty or something like that.

Here she is again the "Beautiful Celebrity Equinox" taken form our tour boat. To bad the weather wasn't better.

Picture of the Port Everglades Condos and the home building of the Port Everglades Webcam.

Another picture of the house with a Flow Rider in their backyard.

A zoom in on Equinox with no Canadian Flag present on deck 11.

Now this is something new I learnt this trip. You know all that sand/beach that is in front of the first few houses as you exit Port Everglades? That was put their by Hurricane. Well! That's what we were told.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

More Ships Yachts

Next up a nice picture of RCL Liberty of the Seas. We don't get to see this type of view very often.

... and one of Ruby Princess. I have this same shot of Caribbean Princess back in 2005.

Headed back under 17th Street Causeway Drawbridge.

A nice little recreational vehicle next.

This one is Donna's and mine's and it has a Helicopter. DBJ!

... and of course every super yacht should have it's own garage with a mini yacht stored in it.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Ships Leaving Port Everglades

Picture of the tour boat before we got back on bus and our trip to Fort Lauderdale airport.

Got dropped off at the first terminal went down to arrivals and used the phone bank to phone the hotel to pick us up. Only waited a few minutes outside for shuttle bus to arrive. Kodos to Holiday Inn Express the people that run/drive these are very professional and pleasant.

When we got back to hotel we ventured back over towards the Total Wine Store and had lunch at Duffy's Sport Bar where I left/lost my Mastercard. Which took me couple of days to realize that I lost it. Lots of shopping in this area and the women keep busy. Back at the hotel we used their public PC's to check-in for our flights tomorrow morning at 6:30 and to also pay for our luggage. Good thing that we got pre-checked in with printed boarding passes because we were able to skip a pretty sizeable line at the airport when we got there. NICE!

So Ken and I left the women shopping somewhere because we wanted to go back down to the 17th Street Causeway and watch the ships leave. Pretty neat because we also got to see the drawbridge go up and down.

First ship to leave Ruby Princess.

 

Goodbye Ruby Princess.

Next to Leave RCL Liberty of the Seas.. Dark sky in this next pic.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Farewell "Beautiful Celebrity Equinox"

More Liberty of the Seas leaving.

 

Final pic of Liberty of the Seas.

... and for the Grand Finale I present the Celebrity Equinox Leaving (without us). Equinox first pushing away from the dock.

Completely free from dock.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Gone

A zoom in on the Sunset Bar were I am sure fellow Cruise Critic members were enjoying their sail-a-way.

Almost got her turned around.

A nice zoom out shot of Equinox.

... and the final picture of Equinox Leaving.

Folks that is it the Photo Trip Report has come to an END. It was fun having you along for the journey. I will leave you (for now) with a picture I took with my iPhone of our small Beechcraft landing at the Charlottetown Airport.

Next up my Wrap Up and I am sure you want to hear our final verdict on Aqua Class/Blu?

Regards,

Kevin Reid