Equinox 2/1/13 - 10 night Ultimate Caribbean in AQ Review

[CruisingGatorGirl]

First, congratulations! Thank you for the great review! My fiance and I just booked the Equinox for our honeymoon in December, can't wait! Our only other cruise was on the Solstice last summer to the Med. We also live in Atlanta (originally from FL) we live in Gwinnett :)

 

We are also trying to get to elite so we booked concierge. Maybe we will try Aqua sometime ;)

 

How were the seas? I get sea sick and the Med. was so calm- I am worried in the winter the Caribbean will not be as nice to me as the med was. :(

[prim8keeper]

Great, great, great review- thanks so much for sharing! And thanks for posting about the monkeys- so sad to hear they are exploited this way, but glad to have the knowledge.

 

Enjoy Bermuda (NOT Barbados, lol)- it is gorgeous!:)

 

Thanks! We are really looking forward to Bermuda since everyone keeps telling us how wonderful it is.

[prim8keeper]

What a wonderful review!!! Congratulations on your marriage I wish you many, many happy years together. We love the S class ships, have done the Eclipse and the Silhouette. I am leaving in 2 weeks for a B2B on the Silhouette. It's a 15 night transatlantic then a 12 night Rome to Venice. On the second leg we will be in 1610 as well, so excited about that balcony!!!

Your cruise on the Equinox had a wonderful itinerary, all the islands are so nice. We love Dominica and St Kitts. We went to the same beach club in St Kitts that the 2 of you went to, we will be going back there for sure! Your photos have added to my excitement and the days can't go by fast enough!!!!

Our TA goes to Coco Cay, San Juan and St Maarten before crossing the Atlantic, your St Maarten pics have me dreaming of sun and sand.

 

Thanks! Your TA sounds wonderful. We have that our list of cruises we want to take eventually. We are hoping to head to med in 2016 since by then we should finally be getting enough time off at work to make it worth while. Oh well, we booked two cruises for next year to fill the void. :D

[prim8keeper]

First, congratulations! Thank you for the great review! My fiance and I just booked the Equinox for our honeymoon in December, can't wait! Our only other cruise was on the Solstice last summer to the Med. We also live in Atlanta (originally from FL) we live in Gwinnett :)

 

We are also trying to get to elite so we booked concierge. Maybe we will try Aqua sometime ;)

 

How were the seas? I get sea sick and the Med. was so calm- I am worried in the winter the Caribbean will not be as nice to me as the med was. :(

 

Thank you! Aqua is great. We absolutely love Blu and think its worth it.

 

For the most part the seas were pretty calm. Occasionally though there was some movement. We thought it was worse when we did the Western Caribbean in 2011. I also get sea sick but I was fine. I just started taking Bonine the day before we left for the cruise and then just continued taking it through out the cruise.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Thank you! Aqua is great. We absolutely love Blu and think its worth it.

 

For the most part the seas were pretty calm. Occasionally though there was some movement. We thought it was worse when we did the Western Caribbean in 2011. I also get sea sick but I was fine. I just started taking Bonine the day before we left for the cruise and then just continued taking it through out the cruise.

 

ok thanks :)

[H2OH!]

We found the 10 night to be kind of perfect for us. Since we are younger and can't stay away from work too longer this was a good fit for us. Being 10 nights defiantly lets you relax more than the 7 night cruises, but is also still short enough you don't need to take two weeks for vacation.

 

We agree completely! love the10 nights!

 

Congratulations on your marriage! :)

 

Great review!

[Pmd21666]

Hi everyone! Sorry the next installment has been so delayed. I've spent the better part of the morning trying to track down a package. At any rate here we go...

 

Day 4: St Thomas

 

We were lucky enough to be one of only two ships in St. Thomas and the weather was perfect. Since we had an early day we got up early so we could eat in Blu for breakfast. My favorite thing to order there is the Blu parfait (make sure to order this early on because often towards the end they start to run out of stuff to make this and the ratio of granola becomes huge compared to everything else) and the blueberry pancakes. You also can't beat the fresh squeezed oj. Although one thing we did notice is that you now have to ask for it as opposed to them just carrying it around on trays offering it to everyone shortly after you sit down. On our way down from breakfast to meet our friends at the passport bar for the day we stopped at the cafe to get some coffee to go.

 

For our day in St. Thomas we were going on a day sail with Simplicity charters over to St. John. We grabbed a taxi and headed for red hook. We were lucky enough to be put in a taxi just the four of us as opposed to be open air taxis. So we were able to leave right away. Our driver was from the island and gave us his card. He then promised to come back and pick us up at the end of the day. He was very nice and told us all about the island. In total for the day sail there were six of us and we all knew each other from the roll call (we had actually sailed with one of the other couples previously).

 

I can not say enough good things about simplicity's crew Charlie & Josh. They were fantastic. We sailed over to St. John while sipping on rum punch and listening to music headed for Honeymoon beach. We stayed there for a while swimming, snorkeling, and just hanging out on the boat while relaxing in the warm sun. We could also go into the beach by dingy if we wanted. One of the best things about simplicity was their dog Admiral Hinckley. She keeps an eye out for dolphins, turtles and helps set the sails.

 

I'm going to borrow a photo from our professional photographer boxerlover2 as she got some great action shots of the true star, Hinckley.

 

 

 

After our fantastic lunch of BBQ chicken, rice, cesar salad and fresh fruit we sailed over to another small island where we could snorkel, or explorer.

 

 

 

I love this photo because Hinckley managed to sneak in there...

 

 

After a while we set sail back for St. Thomas. When we got back to the marina our cab driver was waiting to take us back to port just like he said he would be. I would highly recommended this excursion to everyone. We have already booked them again for our 2014 cruise and while we are there next year I plan on booking them again for 2015.

 

 

 

Who did you book this excursion through? It looks amazing.

Thanks!

[prim8keeper]

Who did you book this excursion through? It looks amazing.

Thanks!

 

It was through Simplicity charters which I would highly recommend. :)

[Pmd21666]

On my to-do list today. Again, thank you so much!

[brady19]

Sea Day #2:

 

Since it was almost 11 am by the time we were up and moving around we decided to head to Cafe al Bacio. We try and go here early on and make friends with one of the waitresses as this is one of our favorite spots on the ship. We are big coffee drinkers and the drinks here are well worth the extra cost. I personally can not stand the regular X coffee that is free.

 

I was under the impression that these coffee drinks were included in the Premium Drink package?

[prim8keeper]

I was under the impression that these coffee drinks were included in the Premium Drink package?

 

They are! I wrote this a while ago so I think I meant even if you don't have the package they are worth it. Either way though they are included with the premium package.

[brady19]

Thanks for clarifying! Cant wait for our 10 day on the Equinox.

[prim8keeper]

Thanks for clarifying! Cant wait for our 10 day on the Equinox.

 

It's a great cruise! We are doing it again.

[tobancruiser]

Congrats on your wedding. Just read your review, thanks for the wealth of information. We are booked for next April to celebrate our 25th anniversary and will definitely be looking into some of the hilites from your cruise. Cheers, Karen

[cruiseclues]

Nice review so far...just kidding about the so far (isn't that what everybody says...as if they may tell you later they didn't like it?)...great photo review...really fine squashed school bus photo. :):):):)

[gordylad]

really enjoyed not just the review but the photographs

 

cheers

[prim8keeper]

Nice review so far...just kidding about the so far (isn't that what everybody says...as if they may tell you later they didn't like it?)...great photo review...really fine squashed school bus photo. :):):):)

 

really enjoyed not just the review but the photographs

 

cheers

 

Thanks! I'm heading out on this cruise again for this year at the end of the week and this time I'll also be armed with a GoPro camera so I may do another review when I get back.

[catch-a-ray]

We are loving all your beautiful photos and your review is great. We are the same cruise in Feb. Its wonderful to see all your great pictures, i'm getting very excited. Congrats on your marriage !

[mademan6840]

Please let me know with day trips in the ports of call i shoud take to get the best of every place? And my husbend and I spending few days before the cruise in Istanbul. Any suggestion on what to see and what privet tours to take if any? Thank you all:)

[bye-seaya]

Day #5: St. Kitts & Nevis

 

Before I start my review for our day in St. Kitts I would like to get out my soap box for a moment if you don't mind. As you can probably tell by my sn I work with primates and have for my entire career. I've worked in zoo's, sanctuaries, and currently in cognitive research. I've been lucky enough to have some of the most amazing experiences in my line of work so I completely understand why people are drawn to them.

 

I bring this up because the island of St. Kitts is home to green vervet monkeys. They were brought to the islands during colonial times and now live naturally all over the island since they have no natural predators there. One thing that you will commonly see either at the port or in areas where a lot of tourist stop are guys with baby monkeys who for a small fee, usually around $5, you can have you picture taken with. This is a picture I found on google.

 

 

I would please ask you NOT to do this. These monkeys are babies that are taken from their mothers for the sole purpose of making money. They have to use the babies because once the monkeys get larger they will easily bit people and lash out. Often to prevent this they will pull or saw their k-9 teeth. They will tell you that the monkeys are "trained," but the reality is you can never train a wild animal. The harsh reality is that the monkey has probably been hit so that it listens. Then once it gets too big it will be sold as a pet or possibly just "released" where it will most likely die. The mothers are used as a breeding factory to produce more babies which will repeat the cycle.

 

While this is specifically about St. Kitts this most likely holds true anywhere you go and there are primates you can interact with. So I urge to either go observe them in their natural habitat or visit a good zoo if you want to see them up close.

 

Thank you! I promise I'm now putting my soap box away.

 

I am SO glad you posted this! I think we need to keep this in mind when traveling - it also pertains to all of the native wildlife that is made to "perform or show off" for money, including dolphins, parrots etc.

Thank you and well said!