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

[StanleyVA]

Looks like Addie and I did not make it off the cutting room floor either; and, even after all those Virginia peanuts.

 

Hello to Kevin, Mark and Kathleen. Anyone on the Royal Caribbean T/A in April?

 

George and Addie

[mpace58]

Hi, George -

We are on Celebrity Constellation in January. We are doing the same cruise you and Addie just returned from. Then Royal Caribbean Brilliance for Thanksgiving.

[FRMPEI]

Just booked the 11 day Equinox for March 13, 2017 under the 25th Celebrity Anniversary $25/person deposit. Would love to add the 10 day to it and make it 3 weeks. Hopefully by then I will have a new Sony mirrorless camera for my Photo Trip Report.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[MarKay525]

Just booked the 11 day Equinox for March 13, 2017 under the 25th Celebrity Anniversary $25/person deposit.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Hello - hope you have a marvelous time on all your upcoming sailings!!

 

We just booked the Equinox for this April - thank you so much for this wonderful and detailed thread. Your photos of the ship were most helpful to give me a feel for the ship and what we can look forward to.

Edited January 20, 2015 by MarKay525

[FRMPEI]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just back from our Stunning Silhouette cruise. Spent the majority of this week downloading and organizing my Photos, Scans, and Videos clips. Hope to get started on my Silhouette PVTR (Photo Video Trip Report) ASAP.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[mpace58]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just back from our Stunning Silhouette cruise. Spent the majority of this week downloading and organizing my Photos, Scans, and Videos clips. Hope to get started on my Silhouette PVTR (Photo Video Trip Report) ASAP.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Nice! Post about it here so that we can find it easily.

[StanleyVA]

Looks like they haven't shut us down. Great pics, Kevin. Hello to Kevin, Donna, Mark, Beth, Kathleen and all. Take a look at the Celebrity Dutch Antilles cruise for Oct, 2016. We're booked as are a bunch of friends we made on the Connie last Nov.

George and Addie

[mpace58]

Hi, George. We had dinner with Ed last night and we talked about our cruises with you and Addie. Ed shared his pictures of the 4 of you together. Hope you are doing well.

Mark

[buckeyecruisers]

Thanks for the great picture review. Your photos and trip descriptions ramped up our excitement for our upcoming cruise on the Equinox on 4/17/15. Wonderful job. :)

[topside2]

Hello Kevin and Donna...sitting in our hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale waiting for our shuttle to take us to board the Equinox (10 day Ultimate Cruise) and looking at your picture review of your last trip. Your pictures have inspired us and made our prep time more enjoyable. Like you we are Maritimers (Nova Scotia) and can't wait to leave this years' terrible winter. Thanks for a great tour.

Harry and Linda

[FRMPEI]

Thanks for the great picture review. Your photos and trip descriptions ramped up our excitement for our upcoming cruise on the Equinox on 4/17/15. Wonderful job. :)

 

Thank you! Have a great time on your upcoming Equinox cruise. Being buckeyes hope you enjoyed the couple of Ohio photos I included? :)

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Nice! Post about it here so that we can find it easily.

 

Hi Everyone,

 

Just wanted to let everybody know that I started a new Silhouette East Caribbean Photo Video Trip Report for our recent March 1, 2015 cruise. Link has been added to my signature and also included below. Check it out. Expect more of the same in my Silhouette Trip Report.

 

Click for my Photo Video Trip Report

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[british]

You mentioned you got double the on board credit through Encore. Could you send me their website. Susan

[FRMPEI]

You mentioned you got double the on board credit through Encore. Could you send me their website. Susan

 

Just google them you will find them. They buy up blocks of rooms and then broker them to TA's within Canada. So you would not deal with them direct.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[oliver1821]

Did the Aqua Class exact cruise in 2013 and totally agree with you about Blu, good but not great!! You did a magnificent job on your review and the pictures incredible!!! Love the Equinox as well. Sail on.

[Spudder]

 

I love those flags!!!!

 

Just tripped across your review as we are looking at the Equinox in the spring, looking forward to reading the rest... btw, we though the winter of 2014 was bad; new records set in 2015. :(

[FRMPEI]

 

I love those flags!!!!

 

Just tripped across your review as we are looking at the Equinox in the spring, looking forward to reading the rest... btw, we though the winter of 2014 was bad; new records set in 2015. :(

 

 

 

Canadian Flag $2

PEI Flag $15

Captured by Port Everglades Webcam: $ Priceless

 

Don't want to talk about the winter of 2015-15.:D

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[EMED2010]

Awesome trip report and beautiful pictures! I hope to one day sail Celebrity.

[Bernbun29]

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

We will be doing our first Celebrity cruise on the Equinox later this year, thanks so much. Awesome job!!

[Jazzbo]

Just finished reading this. What a fabulous review/trip report! Now I am going to have to spend (enjoy) the time reading the next one.

Well done!

[seapals2]

So much info and great photos. I will be back tomorrow to take up where I left off .. somewhere back on page 17.

Keep posting. We loved Equinox and are hoping for another great cruise on her sister Eclipse sailing at the end of August.

[Rie Rie]

Hello,

 

Read the first part of your post and was having a hard time finding page 2. I'm new at this.

 

My husband and I have booked the Ultimate Caribbean Cruise as well. Once this cruise is over, then we will be bumped to elite but for now, alas, we are the bump down. We have always enjoyed Celebrity Cruise Lines and no matter how much we look or try to compare, we always choose Celebrity.

 

We actually booked a Celebrity Suite this time. It doesn't actually say anywhere if it is a king size bed. Would you happen to know the answer to that? We are staying in CS 1620 which is also on Deck 11.

 

Then, we were wondering about the restaurants and what you did or did not like about each. I know that we can eat at the fancy restaurant twice during our cruise. Did you go and what did you think.

 

We are looking at the low energy things as I need a heart transplant and four out earlier in the year that I cannot be a candidate for one - long story but anyway I move slow. No wheelchair or anything but I am slow. It sounds like you probably did high energy things but if not, can you comment on excursions that you found worth the money?

 

So, I hope you will reply. I am going to try and figure out how to post something new with some of my questions. I just saw your post so I thought I would ask you.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Cherie

[ClaudiaB]

Hi and welcome to cruise critic. We have sailed on Equinox (and sister ship Eclipse) 7 times and have our 8th coming up on Eclipse in a Celebrity suite. We usually get the corner aft Sky Suites but this time opted for the CS. I think we'll like the separate living area with the L shaped couch but not sure if we'll think the room is better than the sky suite which is very open and spacious and has that fabulous corner aft view. We'll have to see.

 

The bed you have is the same you always have - the two "twins" (they're not the same width as a twin) put together to make a queen (or slightly larger than a queen). Not a king. We have no problem with it, but I like a separate top sheet and blanket so I always ask for that. Sometimes that duvet it just too hot.

 

We like the specialty restaurants and tend to eat at them at least once during a cruise. However, with the new suite restaurant Luminae, we may not be as tempted, particularly with the good reviews it's getting.

 

Typically, we've eaten all the formal nights plus the first night in specialty. Our favorite is Tuscan Grill. It's wonderful. We also like Murano but it sometimes feels a bit stuffy and pretentious. Food there is very rich and I've always come out of the restaurant feeling like I need a nap. :roll eyes: My husband loves Silk Harvest and I'm so-so on it. He likes sushi and I don't, and I've had better entrees on land, but it's a nice night. All three are even more fun with a group. We have, in the past, gotten together with people from our Roll Call here on Cruise Critic and planned a first night's dinner at Tuscan Grill, linking our reservations together. We tend to feel like eating at the specialty restaurants is just all a part of the total cruise experience. Getting two for "free" (Oh I know we've paid for them in the fare) has been nice. In 14 days we will typically eat at them maybe 4 times.

 

We always make reservations ahead of time, both for the free ones and any others. If we end up getting a % off for one of the paid reservations, we've had no problem getting that amount refunded to our on board account. But we like to get the times and days. Best thing is to check at one of the restaurants the minute you get on board. They can do all the restaurants at one location, you don't have to go to each one. Often there is a table BEFORE you actually step on board. I like to check on our first night's table particularly, make sure all the ducks are in a row for all the cabins participating. A good number is 8 or 10. We will make an educated guess on which nights are formal. We get it all sorted out once on board.

 

Having said all that, I have a feeling we're not going to even want to use those restaurants, because we're looking forward to Luminae. And for once, Michael's Club. We haven't eaten in the main dining room in about 8 cruises. Suites have been able to eat in Blu and that's where we've been, or the specialty restaurants.

 

I'm not sure what to recommend about excursions. Years ago we took all the Caribbean tours of the islands. You could certainly take a taxi at any port and ask the driver to give you your own private tour. Mention you don't want too many bumpy roads. Some of the islands have sections of roads that are crazy rough. Part of the 'fun' I know, but maybe not for people with back problems or heart problems or pregnant? Or you can be dropped off at a beach, to just relax there all day. Many of the islands have hotels which have day passes. Some of those are really great deals. We've done that and had lovely days that way. However, we aren't typically beach people. Or pool people. In about 130 sailing days on a cruise ship we may have gotten into a swim suit and spent time at a pool about 4 hours total.

We often do separate things. My husband is an avid golfer and brings his clubs on many Caribbean cruises. He has his favorite courses there, not necessarily even the courses the cruise line uses (Sandy Lane on Barbados for one). I usually just get with some roll call people and go to a beach or go shopping on my own on those times. Once I stayed on board and never went ashore. That was a great, relaxing day actually. It was in St. Thomas and I really had the ship to myself. It was a crazy hot day and there were about 6 ships in port and I think I made the best decision.

 

A lot of people just get out and take their time in the ports, walking around downtown. We like to get out and away from the port area, but certainly could be an enjoyable way to pass the time. In St. Maarten we like to walk to the city. It's about a 20 minute walk for us - might be longer for you. But we hate that noisy, bumpy ride in the ferry.

 

If you aren't already on your roll call, do go there and start to get into the conversations with those who are going to be on your actual cruise. Some of our best independent excursions/days of travel have been on stellar excursions that were with our roll call.

[FRMPEI]

Hello,

 

Read the first part of your post and was having a hard time finding page 2. I'm new at this.

 

My husband and I have booked the Ultimate Caribbean Cruise as well. Once this cruise is over, then we will be bumped to elite but for now, alas, we are the bump down. We have always enjoyed Celebrity Cruise Lines and no matter how much we look or try to compare, we always choose Celebrity.

 

We actually booked a Celebrity Suite this time. It doesn't actually say anywhere if it is a king size bed. Would you happen to know the answer to that? We are staying in CS 1620 which is also on Deck 11.

 

Then, we were wondering about the restaurants and what you did or did not like about each. I know that we can eat at the fancy restaurant twice during our cruise. Did you go and what did you think.

 

We are looking at the low energy things as I need a heart transplant and four out earlier in the year that I cannot be a candidate for one - long story but anyway I move slow. No wheelchair or anything but I am slow. It sounds like you probably did high energy things but if not, can you comment on excursions that you found worth the money?

 

So, I hope you will reply. I am going to try and figure out how to post something new with some of my questions. I just saw your post so I thought I would ask you.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Cherie

 

Hi Cherie,

I hope you found page two? :) Looks like ClaudiaB did a fantastic job answering most of your question pertaining to eating. If you get around to reading this Trip report and my 2015 Silhouette Tip Report (links in my signature) you will quickly discover that I am a big fan of specialty dining and also enjoy the Main Dining Room. Tuscan is my favourite because I love beef. I really think you will love Luminae suite dining room. Maybe some day Donna and I can cruise suite style.

 

About the only high energy excursion we did was Zip Lining in St Kitts. When you are in St Maartens I highly recommend Tony's Taxi for a person one on one experience his contact information is in my 2015 Silhouette Photo Video Trip Report. One of the best we have ever had.

 

Questions ask away we will try our best to answer!

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[fletch1027]

Loved the trip review! I was looking at your camera gear and I was looking at your Gorilla Pods and was wanting to get your opinion on which size you thought would be best for my camera, which is a Nikon P510. It's like a mirrorless on steroids but not quite as big as a DSLR, so it seems I am inbetween the Hybrid and the SLR-Zoom. I like the size of the hybrid, but I don't want to get it and it not be big enough to support my camera...

 

 

Cameras / Mounts / Software:

 

#1) the Pocket Xhot - Folds down to 6.5 inches and extends to over 30 inches.

#2 & #3) The Go Pole Grenade Grip and Go Pole Reach. These are a must have accessory with your Go Pro.

#4 Go Pro Suction Cup Mount. I only used this once during sail away and used it the remained of cruise as a storage place for my Go Pro stuck to the Mirror. Probably could of left this one at home.

#5 Go Pro Tripod Adapter. The smallest mount but, the must useful one I brought with me. I could easily set my Go Pro up on Joby Tripods.

#6 & #7 Go Pro Helmet/Head Strap and Baseball Cap Clip mount. You look rather stupid with the head strap on only used during Zip lining in St Kitts. The Baseball Cap mount was probably the best mount of all. You could put you cap on and look normal until you flipped it around.:D

#8 The Go Pro Floaty. A must have once you bring your Go Pro near water it float as opposed to sink like a rock.

#9 Expandable Monopod Comes in a nice case which had enough room to put my new Go Pole Reach in.

#10 thru #12 My three Joby Gorilla Pods. These are invaluable highly recommend these. I am pretty sure I am going to buy an other one for next cruise.

#13 Please don't laugh at the PCW Fanny Pack. I use this to carry two of my cameras along with extra batteries while on excursions.