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

[spammie]

Kevin, this is absolutely one of the best reviews I have read on these boards and I have read many. Love all of your pictures and I felt like I was there with you. :D Can't wait to hear your final thoughts and your verdict on Aqua Class/Blu. We have only stayed in Aqua Class on Celebrity.

 

We will be back on Equinox in November and I'm curious as to whether I will be able to order off of the MDR menu in Blu. Thank you again for so much hard work and detail in your review. Wanda

[mpace58]

Excellent report, Kevin!! It was nice reliving the cruise through your pictures and words. We hope we get to sail with you again in the future! :D

 

Mark&Beth

[matondo]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. You did an excellent job!

 

I felt sad looking at the pictures of the ship docking in Ft. Lauderdale. Then watching the ship sail away with someone else in your room. How dare they!!!

 

My goal is someday to have my next cruise booked before I get off my last cruise. Not sure it will ever happen but it never hurts to want to try.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

This has been a great review. Thanks for taking so much time to share with us.

[whataboutport]

Very well done! I was very entertained throughout the entire report!

[LynMcGad]

Kevin, Thanks so much for the great report. The pictures were great, and I appreciated your insight. Look forward to your next one.

 

Regards,

Lynda

[DebbieMacG]

Great review thanks Kevin :)

[awhfy]

Truly enjoyed both your writing & the amazing photos. Now DH wants a GoPro... We've had two marvelous cruises on the lovely Equinox (last in Feb 14). Thanks for capturing her spirit so well. See you on the sea.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[suzzek]

Very much enjoyed your review, Kevin. Thank you so much for putting in the great amount of time and effort to write such an entertaining and photo perfect account of your cruise. We are looking forward to a similar itinerary next winter. Your insights have provided me with things to check into in the various ports. I hope to catch your next review when you sail again.

[cmalagngl]

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

 

Kevin,

No that wasn't us. I know this will come as a shock to you based on our other posts but we were snorkeling in St. John that day. We did not go into town.

Thanks again for putting this all together.

Carl

[Manitobeens]

Thanks so much for your great review. We sail on the Equinox in September:D. I loved all the pictures of her as this will be our first trip on this class ship with Celebrity. Thanks again.

 

Brenda:)

[Team Alpha]

Great review Kevin. Thanks for sharing.

[Little London]

Kevin, this report has been A-MAZ-ING, I have loved every minute of it, thank you so much for all your hard work putting it together, and thanks for taking us along for the ride. One question, what am I going to read over my coffee in the morning now? Can't wait for January when we are on it, and already looking forward to your next review. Jane

[FRMPEI]

Hello! Its Me Again

 

Difficult to end and summarize our fantastic 10 Day Ultimate Caribbean aboard the "Beautiful Celebrity Equinox". I started this Photo Trip Report on March 30 and never finished until May 2. I guess some figured it would never end? I uploaded almost 650 photos to my Smug Mug account and at the time of writing this summary there are over 560,000 image view requests back to that server. I am humbled by the over whelming positive responses I received from the Cruise Critic community. You don't have to be "seasoned" CC veteran with thousands of posts to try your hand at composing a Trip Report. You just have to want too share your experiences and be able to take the time to put it all together.

 

Photo Trip Report Lessons Learned... 1. ) Have some method of taking notes I didn't take enough notes and ended up using my Aperture library to tweak my memory. 2. ) Take lots of Photos and have some way of getting your self into some of them. 3. ) Get comfortable with your own writing style. There is no template to follow just do your own thing. 4. ) Learn how to purge and pick the right photos you don't have to post every picture you take. Dark pictures are just not nice to look at. Some may think I didn't follow my own advice here. LOL!

 

I continued through out this thread to call it a Photo Trip Report and not a Review. Seriously! Why would anybody want to listen to me giving a review? I like to give my opinions on things but it is just that "my opinion". The pictures I seem to take and share here are ones of our experiences rather than just photos of places on the ship. I like pictures with people in them and not just blank ship shots. This goes back to my Roller Coaster picture taking days rather just taking a picture of the Roller Coaster Track element I would wait for a train full of riders in the element before snapping the picture. There is no mystery who FRMPEI is I have no problem showing my mug in the pictures. If people want anonymity that is fine too. I apologize for the many spelling and grammar mistakes through out the thread. Who has made any better spelling mistake than me on "SLOT"? What you are not going to see in this summary is any type of final rating or final scores. If you stuck with me thru the whole trip report you have figured out out I am a HUGE CELEBRITY FAN BOY. I don't make any apologies for that stance. I speak with my pocket book and continue to spend my hard earned vacation dollars on the Celebrity Product.

 

Aqua Class / Blu Dining

 

 

So the final verdict from the Reids on Aqua Class is NO! Would we book Aqua Class again? YES! But, only if it was only marginally more (less than $100/person) than Concierge Class. Why we say NO to Aqua Class. The Dinner menu in Blu is just not for us. We are beef, chicken, pork, potatoes and veggies eaters. Don't get me wrong the Blu experience is second to none and most will love it. The positives of Blu far out weigh the negatives. We loved the breakfasts served at Blu. The overall noise level is so much nicer than the MDR. We also like the idea of open dining... come when we wanted. I think because of Blu we will try select dining in the MDR rather than our normal late sitting. The Blu staff were great always had time to chit chat with you. What we discovered this cruise is that we really like specialty dining. Next cruise if we book Concierge Class rather than Aqua Class we will spend more on Specialty dining.

 

So what about the rest of Aqua Class other than Blu? The Aqua Class stateroom is basically the same as a Concierge Class or normal balcony. The extra includes unlimited use of Persian Gardens, Relaxation Room, Daily Tea, Bottled Water, Different shower with body tower etc. You can tell by the absence of photos we did not go near the Persian Gardens, Why? Forgot too. LOL! We enjoyed the Relaxation room. Daily Tea we asked our room steward not to deliver it. Bottled Water was nice but I had the Premium Non Alcoholic Drink Package. Shower was nice used the tower a couple of times I liked the supplied shampoo. The slippers that came in the nice little bag on bed when we first entered the stateroom are still in their original package. The casual dress of Blu could be a big plus for those who might not want to be bothered with the fuss of formal.

 

Cruise Highlights... Just a few

 

1.) Our cruise got off to such a great start by our wave to the Port Everglades webcam. I really don't think it was our e-mail but more of our obvious Flags and t-shirt waving that got the camera to zoom in on us. It was so much fun knowing that our family back on Prince Edward Island were able to watch that live. For me also a highlight was also able to walk down to the 17th Street Causeway to be able to watch the ships leave.

 

 

2.) Meeting fellow Cruise Critic members at the "meet and greet", cabin crawl and slot pull (spelled it right here). I encourage everyone who participates in a Roll Call to go to your "meet and greet". Trust me when I say I am the shy one but I am trying to bust out of my shyness.

 

3.) Favourite paid for excursion was our Zip Lining in St. Kitts. I think I could zip line in every port. For me probably the closest thing to riding roller coasters. The skyride at USVI was also lots of fun for something we decided to pass on the year before.

 

 

4. ) Maho Beach, St Maartens. for the cost of a return cab ride we had a blast watching the planes come in. That was our second year in a row there and if we end up with St Maartens on our itinerary next year it will be 3 years in a row.

 

 

5. ) Speciality Dining - Murano far exceeded our expectations but, Tuscan Grille is still our favourite.

 

6. ) Modern Luxury - The service we received from all the Staff and especially when they were able turn a negative experience into a positive outcome.

 

Conclusion

 

Would I do it again? YES! This Photo Trip Report was my bias favourable opinion of our cruise. We try not to sweat the small stuff and make the most of our vacation time. We live our lives one day at a time. We don't wish for yesterday or hope for tomorrow we live for today.

 

I started this Trip Report with a picture of our house buried in snow and I was going to end with a picture of the house with all the snow gone. But instead I choose this next picture which pretty well sums up what a cruise is all about. Thanks for coming along for the journey it was fun.

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[Tommy3putts]

Great read. Would love to see the gopro videos!!!

[chamima]

Thanks for the great Trip Report Kevin.

We'll be on the Equinox next year so I've loved reading all about her.

We always sail in Aqua but I've wondered about ordering some items off the MDR menu - I may ask about this next year.

One question - your "last picture" of your cabin shows the bed near the balcony and your final picture of the report shows the sofa near the balcony. Different cruises????? :confused:

[wallie5446]

Here is the thread that has pics from some of the remodel being done.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2035900

[FRMPEI]

Thanks for the great Trip Report Kevin.

We'll be on the Equinox next year so I've loved reading all about her.

We always sail in Aqua but I've wondered about ordering some items off the MDR menu - I may ask about this next year.

One question - your "last picture" of your cabin shows the bed near the balcony and your final picture of the report shows the sofa near the balcony. Different cruises????? :confused:

 

Hi Karen,

 

Nope! Last picture of us on the balcony was this cruise and the bed is near the closet not patio doors. Have fun on Equinox when you sail.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Hey! Got Five Minutes to Spare?

 

Attached below is a YouTube link to a slideshow of all 600+ pictures that were used in this Photo Trip Report. It goes pretty quickly only 0.5 seconds per pic. Pictures are shown in order they were posted. Some may seem out of place but they are not. Don't be shy give it a click. Music is Ride(Tiesto Remix)-Cary Brothers.

 

[YOUTUBE]d3pb_0AEXHo[/YOUTUBE]

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[phyllisrf]

AMAZING!

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[SavvyAdam]

Hey! Got Five Minutes to Spare?

 

Attached below is a YouTube link to a slideshow of all 600+ pictures that were used in this Photo Trip Report. It goes pretty quickly only 0.5 seconds per pic. Pictures are shown in order they were posted. Some may seem out of place but they are not. Don't be shy give it a click. Music is Ride(Tiesto Remix)-Cary Brothers.

 

[YOUTUBE]d3pb_0AEXHo[/YOUTUBE]

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

 

This song is classic for anything.

[chamima]

Hey! Got Five Minutes to Spare?

 

Attached below is a YouTube link to a slideshow of all 600+ pictures that were used in this Photo Trip Report. It goes pretty quickly only 0.5 seconds per pic. Pictures are shown in order they were posted. Some may seem out of place but they are not. Don't be shy give it a click. Music is Ride(Tiesto Remix)-Cary Brothers.

 

[YOUTUBE]d3pb_0AEXHo[/YOUTUBE]

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

 

Great video Kevin but is there a way to slow it down?

I have inner ear issues and the speed makes me dizzy. :o

[FRMPEI]

Great video Kevin but is there a way to slow it down?

I have inner ear issues and the speed makes me dizzy. :o

 

 

The default of 3.0 seconds would make it over 30 minutes long. I figured I would only torture you for 5 minutes.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The default of 3.0 seconds would make it over 30 minutes long. I figured I would only torture you for 5 minutes.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

I'm assuming you used some sort of automated program to do this. You could allow longer screen time by removing all the menu and daily shots which one can't appreciate at this pace. But my guess is this would require a lot of work and you may not want to go there.

 

Thanks for your review. It was fun.

[dcarter4]

Kevin,

 

As I said before...you put me to shame. You have also inspired me. This week, I will purchase my FIRST Sony camera (the DSC-HX50V/B)! My old Canon just won't do anymore.

 

Thanks again for the excellent report!

 

Dwayne