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Celebrity Equinox Jazz Fest cruise 4/24-5/5 Photo Review

RRFPresident

By RRFPresident,
in Celebrity Cruises

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RRFPresident

RRFPresident

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Princess' suite/elite debarkation involves setting asidea specific lounge space and setting up coffee, tea, water, juice, andpastries for self serve with a couple wait staff to replenish andclean up trash. Here, we had the comfortableness of Michael's Cluband water or coffee if we went to the bar to request it. Would haveprobably grabbed at least some fruit from the buffet if I'd known wewouldn't have any food.

 

Since our flight wasn't until 1PM, we opted to notbother getting off too early. The announcements, in addition tocalling group and deck numbers, also would mention that those withluggage valet could leave at their leisure from then on. Manuelawould get a few minutes advanced notice on her radio of the nextgroup to be called and then would announce it to the club in hopesthat suite passengers could avoid the rush. She would also take thetime to personally escort anyone in each group that was called. Whenwe did finally decide to leave, there was only one other group at thesecurity line being dinged out so we had no wait at all. The securityguy was even waving irritably at us because we'd stopped to say ourgoodbyes to Manuela.

 

We moved through a long line waiting for customs but itcompletely bypassed the masses seeking out their luggage. Outside theterminal people were pulling up in taxis and shuttles to embark asdisembarking passengers were trying to grab the same taxis andshuttles. We grabbed a taxi as soon as we could and made our way tothe airport. Was so nice to not have to check in once at the airportat all or be lugging our suitcases! We made our way through security,grabbed a couple bagels for breakfast, and waited to board our packedplane home. Things were a little chaotic back at BWI since severalplanes came in at the same time and they were using the same luggagecarousel for all of them. Thankfully, our luggage did finally comedown the carousel and we grabbed the next taxi to bring us home.Luggage Valet is definitely worth doing! I think we'd even had gladlypaid the fee if it wasn't waived by being in the Royal Suite. A noteto add – if your airline charges baggage fees, they will be chargedto your onboard account in addition to the $25. We were also exemptfrom those fees because of the plane ticket class we booked came withno fee luggage, not sure if that otherwise would have been waivedsimply because of the suite.

 

To start this trip, we had pre-paid gratuities, freeinternet, free premium alcoholic drink packages, free specialtydining, $300 onboard credit from the sale, $55 onboard credit fromthe shore excursion sale mess up, and a surprise $50 onboard creditfrom our travel agent. We each used $100 OBC for casino playing,spent $90.86 at the spa, $35.40 at the Gastrobar, $68.98 at theperfume shop, and $30 at the Celebrity gift shop. Our final tally ofonboard charges was $20.24 after OBC was used up. I had won around$135 at the casino on the last day after adding an extra $100 ofcash. We managed to walk off the ship this day making a profit withthem “paying us” $15.

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Would I cruise Celebrity again? Sure, I'll take anyexcuse to cruise! Would I book a Royal Suite again? Possibly as theperks were nice and I could have had a bad steward even in an insidecabin. Thank you for reading this review and may all your futurecruises be smooth sailing. Bon Voyage!

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bluecruisin

bluecruisin

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I am sorry that your cruise was frought with multiple daily problems. I guess you can;t win them on. Maybe try a different style of vacation, Sounds like cruising isn't your best bet. Good luck and enjoy your next vacation, Thanks for the detailed travel log.

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gordylad

gordylad

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Thanks for taking the time to detail your cruise. Its one of those trip reports that I stuck with but not sure that I really enjoyed reading it for a number of reasons mainly probably because your interests are different from mine especially when visiting New Orleans as I would probably have been gushing over all the exciting places to see especially in relation to the jazz part of NO. But anyway good luck with future vacations.

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miched

miched

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A close up of the biggest section:

enhance

 

 

 

 

 

It isn't an oil spill. It is algae. Lake Erie was so full of it that it became toxic and created problems with the water supplies for many cities and shut down beaches. It always develops during the summer time when the water temp rises and some years are worse than others.

 

Happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

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  • 9 months later...
Silvery Seas Cruiser

Silvery Seas Cruiser

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To the OP, a very interesting review. Very well done. Thank you for your contribution.

 

We very much wanted to go on this year's Jazz Fest cruise but the timing is wrong for us. So I called Celebrity to inquire about the 2019 Jazz Fest cruise because I couldn't find it on their web site cruise checker. Guess what! There will be no 2019 Celebrity Jazz Fest cruise! It seems if anyone wants to do a Jazz Fest cruise on Celebrity, they had better do it this year. Oh, by the way, on the web site, only suites are left on this cruise.

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RRFPresident

RRFPresident

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To the OP, a very interesting review. Very well done. Thank you for your contribution.

 

We very much wanted to go on this year's Jazz Fest cruise but the timing is wrong for us. So I called Celebrity to inquire about the 2019 Jazz Fest cruise because I couldn't find it on their web site cruise checker. Guess what! There will be no 2019 Celebrity Jazz Fest cruise! It seems if anyone wants to do a Jazz Fest cruise on Celebrity, they had better do it this year. Oh, by the way, on the web site, only suites are left on this cruise.

 

That's surprising that they wouldn't offer it in 2019. Seemed pretty popular not only for our sailing but for those who were considering it for 2018. I know our roll call for our cruise had a lot of talk centered around attending the Jazz Fest itself. I'm also surprised that suites are left. Usually they are the first to sell out.

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TFree

TFree

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That's surprising that they wouldn't offer it in 2019. Seemed pretty popular not only for our sailing but for those who were considering it for 2018. I know our roll call for our cruise had a lot of talk centered around attending the Jazz Fest itself. I'm also surprised that suites are left. Usually they are the first to sell out.

 

We are on the 2018 cruise (counting down the days). I think there are 4 Sky Suites, 1 Ocean View, and a handful of inside cabins left as of right now. So yes, I agree with you, it is nuts that they are not running this cruise next year!

 

Tom & Judy

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TFree

TFree

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For any of you who attended the Jazz Fest in 2017, I thought I saw a suggestion somewhere that Celebrity had some kind of portable or fold-up chairs available for rent on the ship, that could be taken to the Jazz Fest. Others suggest picking up cheap fold-up chairs at a local big box store. Any comments on this?

 

Tom & Judy

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Silvery Seas Cruiser

Silvery Seas Cruiser

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For any of you who attended the Jazz Fest in 2017, I thought I saw a suggestion somewhere that Celebrity had some kind of portable or fold-up chairs available for rent on the ship, that could be taken to the Jazz Fest. Others suggest picking up cheap fold-up chairs at a local big box store. Any comments on this?

 

Tom & Judy

 

There is an outlet mall right beside the dock where Celebrity ties up. It might be possible to pick up cheap portable seating there. Also near the port, there are various stores that sell a variety of merchandise so you might be able to buy such chairs in those if the quite large outlet mall doesn't have them.

 

I do know that on the Mardi Gras cruise this year Reflection did not have portable chairs available for sale or rent. I don't know if Equinox will.

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  • 2 months later...
RRFPresident

RRFPresident

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Loving your review! We cruise 8/4 and we've only done Carnival cruises.

 

Celebrity will definitely feel different from your experiences on Carnival. Less of a party crowd clientele but then honestly I just finished a Carnival cruise and we had just as many older folks in scooters as we did crazy college age drinkers. Still plenty to enjoy whether you like sitting by the pool or participating in all the fun games and activities. Hope you have a great time on your cruise!

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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Thanks for a great review-a very interesting and enjoyable read!

The great photos really helped, so thanks for including so many, particularly of the food!

Nice job all around!

Kudos to you.

Norris

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RRFPresident

RRFPresident

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Thanks for a great review-a very interesting and enjoyable read!

The great photos really helped, so thanks for including so many, particularly of the food!

Nice job all around!

Kudos to you.

Norris

 

Thank you Norris! I've enjoyed reading your reviews as well.

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