EQUINOX DEUX - 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean - PV Trip Report 3/13/17

[FRMPEI]

Introduction & Where to Start?

 

I was thinking... and wished I could come up with some witty catch phrase for the title of my thread. But, how could I possible come up with something as good as what Subacruiserx2 has already done? Such as "Solar Eclipse", Total Eclipse" , and "Eclipsing Northern Europe". The best I could come up was EQUINOX DEUX which simply means... it is the second instalment of a Equinox Trip Report. The first part is from back in 2014 the 10 night version with our travel partners Ken and Norma Jean Williams. For this instalment we are back with our travel partner for the 11 night itinerary.

 

Speaking of our travel Partner here they are Ken & Norma Jean Williams.

 

..and here we are Kevin and Donna Reid

 

While on the cruise when the question comes up.. "Where are you guys from?" We usually respond with... "Eastern Canada." Then if a further question comes like... "Where in Eastern Canada?" We then feel comfortable that we are conversing we Geography majors so we say that we are from Prince Edward Island (PEI). For the non Geography majors when we see that dull huh? look in their face. We say... "just above Maine." Hoping at least they know their own country's geography.

 

Kind of funny when I run into some folks at CC meet and greets, not to mention any names like "bluwes", that think my screen name is FRUMPY... no it means FROM PEI and hence FRMPEI. Glad I got that out of the way. Sorry for calling you out Wes. PEI is a great place to live with a population weighing in at 140,000. No! that is not the population of the town I live in but, rather the entire province. We live for our summers here on PEI with sandy beaches on the north shore and rocky cliff beaches on the south shore. Our bridge is defiantly bigger than yours. Yes! we have best potatoes, lobsters, and shellfish in the world. You know those PEI Mussels served in BLU? They come from my backyard. Don't even forget about the most famous red headed orphan - Anne of Green Gables. Yes! I know she is not real. Then we have Winter and the reason why we love to cruise with Celebrity. For my last two Trip Reports I had shared some post winter storm pictures but, actually this past winter wasn't that bad. We seemed to have all of our winter in two weeks of February this year. The only picture I have to share from this past winter is from early January which really is not that bad. You be the judge?

 

 

We booked this 11 Night cruise back in January 2015. At that time Celebrity was offering a pretty good 123 go promotion which included a reduced deposit of $25/person all three 123 perks at the time 1) classic beverage package, 2) prepaid gratuities, and 3) $300 USD per cabin credit. During this time the Canadian dollar had not yet started it's dive against the USD$ so the total cruise cost conversion to CDN$ was very favourable. Up until this point we would of never had more than one cruise booked. But, in January 2015 we were sitting with three cruises booked... 1) Silhouette March 2015, 2) Eclipse March 2016, and 3) Equinox March 2017. Sorry! What is that you just stated above. "Kevin I see that you have three cruise noted above. Why don't we see a Trip Report for Eclipse March 2016?"

 

So let me be serious for a paragraph and let me share with you my story and it will explain why we had to cancel our paid March 2016 Celebrity Eclipse cruise. I will try my best to make this long story short. Rewind back to the summer of 2015 and I wanted to prepare and get in shape with Donna for a 10K PEI Marathon walk in October 2015. During our walks to get into shape I would complain to Donna about a pain that I was having between my shoulder blades. This continued so unlike most men I didn't ignore it and booked an appointment with my Family Doctor who then referred me to a cardiologist for a stress test. The stress test was near the end of November 2015 and it only lasted for few minutes and was stopped with "Do you have a pain in your chest" my answer "No" doctor, "well you should". The doctor suspected that I had blockage in my arteries from my heart and sent me to Horizon Health Cardiac Centre in St John, New Brunswick on Dec 10, 2015 for a dye test. During my dye test its was revealed to me that I had serious blockage in my arteries and that a Triple bypass Open Heart Surgery would be required. Jan 19, 2016 I am back in New Brunswick for my scheduled Triple Bypass Surgery and for good measure less than three weeks later I had an emergency gall bladder surgery. I wanted to share this with everyone because I consider myself among the lucky ones. I am still here today because I did not ignore the warning signs and sought help. Heart attacks are called the quiet killer for a reason please do not ignore the warning signs. Thankfully we had trip cancellation insurance and received every penny back. Even though I missed the 2015 10K walk I am proud to say Donna and I did complete the 2016 10K PEI Marathon Walk.

 

So now you see why this Equinox 2017 trip meant so much too Donna and I to be able to go on and enjoy. A year late but lucky to still be on this side of the grass. No more downer stuff. Lets get to the photos and videos?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[wallie5446]

Gooood Morning Mr Reid!

 

Thanks for filling in our time till we are back on the Equinox for the 3rd time in Nov!

 

EW

[bluwes]

Introduction & Where to Start?

 

 

 

 

 

Kind of funny when I run into some folks at CC meet and greets, not to mention any names like "bluwes", that think my screen name is FRUMPY... no it means FROM PEI and hence FRMPEI. Glad I got that out of the way. Sorry for calling you out Wes.

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Haha, No worries Kevin, we soon straightened that out ;p

[pretty princess]

Did you re-book for Equinox in February or are you doing a similar itinerary on Reflection in February?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

We booked a 7-day Equinox. Key west Cozumel grand cayman. Reflection is a beauty. Sailed her last February

[FRMPEI]

Gooood Morning Mr Reid!

 

Thanks for filling in our time till we are back on the Equinox for the 3rd time in Nov!

EW

 

Hi Wallie5446,

 

Welcome back to my Trip Report. You already know the rules sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Haha, No worries Kevin, we soon straightened that out ;p

 

Wes,

 

What cruise did you final decide on while onboard? Is Charlottetown in the itinerary?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

We booked a 7-day Equinox. Key west Cozumel grand cayman. Reflection is a beauty. Sailed her last February

 

A seven day on Equinox will be great.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[bluwes]

Wes,

 

What cruise did you final decide on while onboard? Is Charlottetown in the itinerary?

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

We booked two future cruises while on board. We decided on the Independence day 2018 on the Summit, cruise out of Port Liberty,it didn't include Charlottetown. Its the one that did St John, Halifax and Boston. There were a couple of overnights on the two Independence Days as well. We have cruise mates In St John and Halifax so that swung it.

The other cruise was on the Constellation in 2019, doing India and the Arabian Sea

[FRMPEI]

GETTING THERE.. Fort Lauderdale.

 

For us Canadians flying is quite a bit more expensive for us than our neighbours to the south. Donna is the master of the Air Canada web site and took the lead to find us our flights to Fort Lauderdale and back. Donna's early searches were not finding many fares below $1600-$1800 for the both both us. Then one Sunday morning in November Donna found flights which were just over $1200. We jumped at it. That is a flight out of Charlottetown to Montreal and then direct to Fort Lauderdale. That is better than a 3.5hr drive and overnight stay in Halifax or 2 hour drive and overnight stay in Moncton.

 

Since we missed out on our 2016's cruise we decided we wanted to go down to Fort Lauderdale a couple extra days early and just relax and for me to watch the cruise ships leave. I wanted to stay at Lago Mar Resort on the beach. Which to me was the prime cruise watching spot because it was so close to the cruise exit rocks of Port Everglades. Because we were not familiar with area and didn't think there would be any close restaurants other than the hotel's. We cancelled our reservation in favour of Embassy Suites on 17th Street an area we became familiar with back in 2014. So please chime in if we were wrong about Lago Mar. The one other negative thing about capturing video from the rocks is that I would be shooting into the setting sun. While on the 17th street causeway the sun was more off to the side of me.

 

Our flight to Montreal was leaving Charlottetown at 5:45 AM on Friday March 10. Our Travel partner Ken picked us at 4:15 AM. Ken And Norm Jean would be flying down later on Sunday. The day before we were having snow run-off melt on our highways and when the sun went down that turned to black ice. On our way home when we were approaching our driveway we noticed flashing lights and a car was upside on its roof in our ditch. It snow a bit more overnight but, we didn't want to be burdened with heavy winter coats because we were headed south right? Donna and I only wore hoodies but it was still way to cold for hoodies for the parts of Canada we were travelling in. At the Charlottetown Airport, YYG, we have two gates you guessed it one for arrivals and one for departures. They actually offer one hour of free short term parking which is sweet when you have to pick up arriving passengers.

 

Donna & I all excited in our Hoodies at the Charlottetown Airport.

 

The flight to Montreal, YUL, was just over 90 minutes aboard a Bombardier CJ100 (turboprop). These airplanes have limited overhead bin space and Air Canada offers a free stow your "carry on" before walking up the stairs to board. I should also mention in the Charlottetown airport we have no boarding bridges. We do it the old way... Walk on the tarmac and up the stairs. We were sitting in the first couple of rows and therefore the first to get off in Montreal. Big Mistake for me. When we arrived in Montreal the CJ100's de-planed onto the Tarmac. So here it was about -12C plus bone chilling winds and me waiting on the Tarmac for my carryon bag to become available. The cold went right thru me and was piercing my sore left shoulder. Post surgeries I am suffering with a frozen shoulder and this cold weather was hurting my shoulder BAD! I made a mental note when we get back to Charlottetown do not get off the airplane until I see the carry on bags beside the exit stairs.

 

It was quite a walk from our gate to US customs inside the Montreal Airport. What a stark difference from our time arriving in Montreal back in 2014. In 2014 we arrived in Montreal when a storm was raging in the NE States and nobody was at the airport and flew right thru customs. Not sure why we had to go thru security again in Montreal this time I did not remember this from 2014. There was quite a hold up at the security screening and they were calling folks ahead. It was actually getting quite tight even for our flight. The US Customs agent was quite pleasant and didn't ask us our opinion on Trump. I mention this because there are news stories in Canada of Canadians being refused entry because of answers to Trump questions. We got to our gate and only had a couple of minutes before they were boarding people. The airplane was an Airbus A319 and they packed us in like sardines in a tin can. The Airbus A319 have the most uncomfortable seats and my back was killing me by the time we got to Fort Lauderdale. Lifting off from Montreal we were saying goodbye to near -30C temps with wind chills, storm warning of a Nor' Eastern headed up to the Maritimes from the NE US and hello to +22C temperatures in Fort Lauderdale.

 

The flight down I watched the current episode of "The Walking Dead" on my iPad. I also like the new HBO series "Westworld" but, for some reason if I am one bit tried this series puts me right to sleep. I had the last episode of the season to watch and would you know it I was falling a sleep so I switched to iPhone music for the balance of the flight. Before landing I took a peak at my row partner's book and noticed the word "Toyota" and asked if he was reading a Six Sigma Book. He was quite surprised that I knew what it was. I told hime that I had worked at Honeywell and we were all required to be "Green Belt" certified.

 

Landed! 1st official photo in Florida.

 

So much easier to stand outside at The Fort Lauderdale airport in +22C to wait for a Hotel transfer than on a cold tarmac in Montreal. As previously mentioned above we are staying at the Embassy Suites on 17th street and boy are the Hotels ever expensive during this time period. Not much available under $300-$400/ night. Back in 2014 we stayed at a nearby Holiday In Express for $175/ night and that same hotel was $300. So we figured we would stay at a nicer hotel for more per night.

 

 

Our room was on the 11th floor and we had a perfect view of the Port Everglades cruise port. I love watching cruise ships coming and going from my home port of Charlottetown. I watch the cruise ships leave on the Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale web cams. I knew I was going spend lots of time over the next couple of day watching the cruise ships leave live from the comforts of the 17 Street Causeway. Of course I already knew what ships would be coming and going over next couple of days. Today only Royal Princess is in port today.

 

The view of Royal Princess from balcony of our hotel room.

 

Panorama of Fort Lauderdale from Balcony

 

 

 

After all the waiting, planning, and surgeries we finally made it back to Fort Lauderdale. Let the vacation begin.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[poffles]

Your report makes me excited. Feel like I am there with you. I so wish I was off sailing right now, or at least on my way there!

[FRMPEI]

Your report makes me excited. Feel like I am there with you. I so wish I was off sailing right now, or at least on my way there!

 

Thanks poffles, I am hoping to get back at it this evening with my first trip down to 17st Causeway.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[BettyPC]

Thanks for doing this review - our first Celebrity cruise is next year. Sympathies on the loss of your Mom.

[FRMPEI]

Friday Afternoon First Afternoon of Cruise Ship Watching

 

Time to switch into some summer clothing and put these jeans away for a couple of weeks. We wandered over to Carrabba's Italian Grill for a late lunch. We ate here for the first time back in 2014. Donna and I really enjoyed this place. I don't think we have this chain anywhere in Canada. Noticed that Carrabba's offered Price Edward Island Muscles on their menu. After lunch Donna reacquainted herself with the "Total Wine" store. That is one awesome store. Picked up some Pepsi at the Publix grocery store. Here is question... Does this area of Fort Lauderdale intentional just overcharge in this area? For 12 cans of Pepsi Publix charged $5.29 USD that is like $7.15 CDN. I can get 12 cans here for under $4.00 CDN. I also noticed the same type of over pricing at the nearby Walgreen and CVS.

 

The Royal Princess was scheduled to leave at 4:00 PM this afternoon so I rushed back to the Hotel to get my camera gear and setup one of my cameras on the Hotel room's balcony to capture the sail-a-way. For some reason Donna had no interest in walking down to the 17th Street Causeway with me. Donna agreed to hit the record button on the camera to capture the sail-a-way for me when she received a text from me. I Grabbed my Think Tank Photo Bag and off I went for the 15 minute walk to the causeway.

 

Royal Princess - Built 2013 - 143K GT - 330M Long - 3600 Passengers

 

Royal Princess left right on time at 4:00 PM and I captured lots of photos of her leaving as well as some video. During this cruise I took four lenses for my Sony a6000 but, really only ended up using my Carl Ziess f4/16-70 lens and sparingly my Sony kit lens 55-210 zoom. I will talk more about these later in the Trip Report.

 

 

 

Look at the shear size of these cruise ships when they past by this large apartment building that hosts the Port Everglades webcam. (My personal favourite web cam)

 

Man I am in heaven and only one ship is leaving today. When I watch the cruise ships leave from the comforts of my computer chair at home I primarily use two sites. 1) Port Everglades webcam 2) Fort Lauderdale Webcam (Hyatt). If you are not aware of these please add a comment and I will add the links. Travel partner Ken and I spend lots of time watching these two website.

 

The Hyatt Hotel and 17th St Causeway taken from Hotel room. Can you spot the location of one of two of their webcams? Look closely by the Hyatt sign

 

Can you see it now?

 

Next : A few more shots of and from the causeway.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Thanks for doing this review - our first Celebrity cruise is next year. Sympathies on the loss of your Mom.

 

Hi BettyPC,

 

Your are welcome! I am sure you will love your first Celebrity cruise next year.

 

Regards ,

Kevin Reid

[poffles]

Look at the shear size of these cruise ships when they past by this large apartment building that hosts the Port Everglades webcam. (My personal favourite web cam)

 

 

So incredible when you see a shot like that. People who have never stepped foot on a cruise ship have no idea how massive they are on the inside, especially the newer ones. Love this picture!

[loving goldens]

Hi there we were on the same cruise.... I am pretty sure we met as we were from Nova Scotia and met the most friendliest fellow Maritmers!!!! My husband and I agree it was one of the best yet!!! We are booked on the Reflection March 23 2018 for 10 days!!!! Just noticed your pictures and we did meet at the slot pulll... your wife and I realized we were Golden retreivers owners!!

[FRMPEI]

So incredible when you see a shot like that. People who have never stepped foot on a cruise ship have no idea how massive they are on the inside, especially the newer ones. Love this picture!

 

Agree! I have a similar picture when Harmony of the Sea passes by this building the next day. Hard to believe a ship can dwarf a building. I will also share this photo.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Hi there we were on the same cruise.... I am pretty sure we met as we were from Nova Scotia and met the most friendliest fellow Maritmers!!!! My husband and I agree it was one of the best yet!!! We are booked on the Reflection March 23 2018 for 10 days!!!! Just noticed your pictures and we did meet at the slot pulll... your wife and I realized we were Golden retreivers owners!!

 

 

Right! That was our travel partner Norma Jean that you were talking to about the Golden Retrievers.

This is us.

 

Looks like we will be travelling together in 2018. We are booked on the same cruise for 2018. We have a group of eight booked including travel Partners Ken & Norma Jean.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[poffles]

Agree! I have a similar picture when Harmony of the Sea passes by this building the next day. Hard to believe a ship can dwarf a building. I will also share this photo.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Please :)

[loving goldens]

Sorry a little mix up.... did u join the roll call for march 2018 ? I enjoyed your review .... see u nxt year!!!:D

[FRMPEI]

17th Street Causeway Bridge

 

Just wanted to share some random photos I took on the 17St Causeway before I walked back to the Embassy Suites.

 

Bridge up

 

Bridge on its way down

 

Do you ever watch the TV show on E! called "Below Deck"? This next photo is the type of Yachts that are featured on this show. These two particular yachts were in the same spots the entire time we were in Fort Lauderdale. Back in 2010 and 2014 we took an excursion after our cruise and saw all the nice houses and yachts which this open bridge is the entrance to. I can see why they call Fort Lauderdale the Yacht capital of the world.

 

 

For yachts this size the bridge does not have to open. A pretty nice little RV to have.

 

A cruise shipless Port Everglades

 

A zoom in of the Embassy Suites from the bridge.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Sorry a little mix up.... did u join the roll call for march 2018 ? I enjoyed your review .... see u nxt year!!!:D

 

 

No problem! I did not join the Roll Call Yet! Did you? I usually don't get to involved until a few months outs.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

Please :)

 

Since you said please how can I resist but to share a couple of more photos you may like?

 

Royal Princess clear of Port Everglades.

 

Harmony of the Sea passes by apartment building. (Saturday)

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[loving goldens]

Yes a while back I was surprised it was started..... I think there is only 20 so far.... enjoying your pictures keep them coming.....:D

[Bimmer09]

Kevin, I'm glad to see you writing on the boards again and I'm looking forward to a nice long photo and video-laden read over the next few weeks.

Like you I like to be in Ft Lauderdale a day before sailing to watch some ships sail out. The Royal Princess looked lonely in that huge harbor.

Below Decks is a guilty pleasure DVR treat for me- pretty girls and gym-rat guys make up a crew of misfits/unprofessionals which is good for "reality tv". The Med one certainly has some more interesting ports than the Caribbean one but the Caribbean works nicely during the U.S winters for cruisers like us.

I am looking forward to the Panama canal under your lenses and hope that you did take that Cozumel Segway ride...

Keep it coming!

Norris