Great time on the Equinox June 14-21!

[Algebralovr]

Greetings all!

 

I finally feel like I am catching up from a 2.5 week vacation. The cruise on Equinox in the middle was awesome!

 

We boarded in Venice, and it was an easy boarding on the Celebrity side of things. We had been in Venice for a few days previously, and with 6 of us, one in a wheelchair (my 20 yr old DD), we chose to take a water taxi to the cruise port. It was an expensive ride (€140), but made life MUCH easier and better for all of us. When we arrived, about 10:45 am, we were greeted at the taxi dock, our luggage tags were checked, and our bags were collected to appear outside our rooms a few hours later, and we were escorted into the correct terminal to check in for our cruise. I will also note that we had 3 generations on the trip, ranging from 18 to 70 years of age.

 

We were handed a paper telling us what check in group we were, but since priority check in had started, and we were Select, I asked and we were allowed to proceed directly to check in. They had just started, and we were the first group in our line over at the accessible check in. They were still experiencing a few technical issues, but got things worked out and we were soon checked in.

 

We next were through the security scan and boarded. For our non-US friends, I appreciated the different liquor rules, as my 18 y old had two bottles of wine in his bag for me. He had room, I didn't. Security also let my DH's bottle of Lemoncello on. We expected it would have been collected, and worried that we might not get it back, but the Italian security agents passed it through. We wanted to bring it home, so we were thrilled!

 

A nice young man named Christopher assisted by pushing the wheelchair on board, and we boarded on deck 4. They were offering a bag check at the MDR, which was very nice! We dropped a couple of the carry on bags and went to the other side to make sure our food allergy notes had been received. The hostess on duty looked at me, and greeted me by name! We had seen her every night for 11 nights in February! Our notes were in place, our table requests were available, and we headed to the Oceanview for lunch!

 

DD has a number of food allergies (soy, rice, tree nuts, peanuts, melon and more) but found it easy to eat on board. She had pasta that first day for lunch. They did a great job the rest of the trip!

 

Now, when we booked the trip, everyone was healthy and fully mobile, and we had 3 standard balcony cabins in a row. DD ended up in the WC at the last minute, after an illness, but we decided to take the trip anyway, while the rest of us took tours most days, she choose to enjoy the ship most of the time. The chair didn't fit through the stateroom door easily, but since she could take a few steps to get in and out, we made it work. The crew were awesome, always jumping to open the door for her, give her a push down the hall to the elevator, etc. Her favorite hangout, the Café AL Bacio got to know her well. And when they would see her coming in her little red manual wheelchair, would start making her usual order and bring it to a table for her. Additionally, we appreciated all the help from the Asst Matre'Ds who always got her foods from the back to make sure there was no cross contamination. Ana from Serbia also helped a great deal by taking her order the day before, and making sure my DD had a great meal every evening.

 

The rest of us had a great time as well! We had arranged tour at Dubrovnik using Tours by Locals, and had a great day with Tom, seeing a number of the Game of Thrones sites. We had previously set up that he would meet us at the port with a car and driver, and I was glad we had! We saw a great botanical garden, then dropped DD off at the ship to rest, then headed to the old city. We walked a while, then finished the day in a wine bar before catching a taxi back to the ship.

 

In Corfu, my DS and sister arranged a bicycle tour, which they greatly enjoyed. The rest of us took a ship tour to the beach. The Chandris owned hotel was very helpful in working with us to get DD to the beach and we had a nice day. The bike trip, however, sounded amazing. Sis had found them with a Web search, but didn't book until after we boarded. She checked at the excursions desk, didn't find anything she wanted, but was assisted by the conceriere in making arrangements.

 

After all the excitement, we needed a day to rest, so we all stayed on board in Katakalon. We had a great day with the ship to ourselves. Then we went to Santorini. DD decided to stay on board and enjoy the ship's services, and it turned out she had the pool all to herself all day. The rest of us took the recommended ship tour of Santorini, and had an interesting day. We enjoyed hearing about the island, loved the winery (bought a few bottles), and we're amazed by the layout and steps. The number of people was rather amazing as well, and we were glad we had taken the 7 am tour so that we could get back to the ship and away from the people.

 

Next was Ephesus, and I had booked a private tour with a car for our family. It was a great decision, as we got to spend the time we wanted where we wanted. We booked through TAYF tours, and booked the highlights tour. The engineering was amazing to see!

 

We arrived in Istanbul on Friday afternoon. The sail in was beautiful, and the weather was perfect. We headed off the ship, and walked to Galata Tower. What a view! It was about to rain, so we headed back to the ship since none of us had any rain gear. We had a nice dinner in a nearly empty MDR and got ready to enjoy our last night on board.

 

We were scheduled to disembark about 8:30 in the morning, And Daniel from the theatre lights/sound crew helped get us off the ship with DD. We really appreciated the help! We got a van to take us to the apartment we had booked, and headed out!

 

Thanks to Cruisecritic.com, I had pre-booked the photo package that gave us all our prints and the digital, and we enjoyed the results.

 

Once again a great cruise as we ventured to the other side of the world!

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise and thank you for our trip report.

 

Keith

[Duanerice1]

Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

Duane

[Ma Bell]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Glad to hear everything worked well for you.

[Cruising89143]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We debarked the day you boarded and we thought that this ranked as one of our best cruises. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.:)

[Texed]

 

Sounds like all worked well for you and your family. Thanks for posting.

 

BTW, and Off Topic:

 

Do you REALLY love algebra? :confused: :D

[Algebralovr]

 

Sounds like all worked well for you and your family. Thanks for posting.

 

BTW, and Off Topic:

 

Do you REALLY love algebra? :confused: :D

 

 

Texed,

As a math teacher, I actually do enjoy algebra. Now, calculus... that is another story. ;) I'm much better at algebra!

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[pennys mum]

We are on the Equinox in August and were looking at the Game of Thrones tour by locals that you did. would you recommend it? 3 massive fans of show with me. Is it all walkable or do you need to travel by car/bus? We are unsure whether to go with this tour or just do ipad walking tour.

[cazzi]

Thanks for the post sounds like a good time was had by all

[Algebralovr]

We are on the Equinox in August and were looking at the Game of Thrones tour by locals that you did. would you recommend it? 3 massive fans of show with me. Is it all walkable or do you need to travel by car/bus? We are unsure whether to go with this tour or just do ipad walking tour.

 

Your GoT fans will be pleased. Tom is easy to work with regarding transportation, just tell him your preference.