LIVE - Equinox 8/15/21 - Ultimate Caribbean - It’s finally here!

[cangelmd]

38 minutes ago, aring75 said:

Okay, so I looked up the onboard price for the Veuve Rosé. 
 

 

The cabana price for a port day is $99 for up to four people. If you have a port stop where you don’t really care to get off the ship, this is a nice way to be pampered for the day. And at $99 total, it’s cheaper than most shore excursions. Obviously, if you’ve never visited a place before, you’ll probably want to go ashore. But if you are like us and have been to most Caribbean islands multiple times, this is a nice alternative. 
 

 

Now. For the really fun part. Today Marko asked if we might like to try something different. He procured a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Rosé Riche.  This is not available for purchase. It’s offered with the Veuve Cliquot dinner which is usually offered once per cruise. Since they will not be holding the special wine dinners this cruise, the Cellar Master offered to let us try a bottle. 

 

Ohh, please report! We went to a Veuve Clquot wine dinner at a local restaurant pre-Covid, and I think that was one that we had, please let me know if it was sweet. It’s amazing how well the right champagne goes with steak!

[SonuvaBeach]

16 minutes ago, NBliving said:

We will be in Curaçao on an April cruise. I’d love his info. We enjoy snorkeling, but are traveling with friends who are certified divers.  My email is kgwoods@swbell.net. Thanks!! 

I shall email you right away with the info... Check out  the Curacao dive videos on my youtube channel...all Curacao dives were done with Mark Brown

https://www.youtube.com/user/DiveVisionPhotos

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by SonuvaBeach

[SonuvaBeach]

28 minutes ago, NBliving said:

We will be in Curaçao on an April cruise. I’d love his info. We enjoy snorkeling, but are traveling with friends who are certified divers.  My email is kgwoods@swbell.net. Thanks!! 

Email sent!

 

[NBliving]

8 minutes ago, SonuvaBeach said:

Email sent!

 

Thank you!

[aring75]

Okay. So after speaking to few people who went ashore this morning, we decided just to take it easy on the ship. Everyone we spoke to said many of the shops and restaurants in the port area were closed. 
 

One nice thing that I love about Celebrity is the tent they have set up for your return to the ship. Chilled towels and ice water. It’s a nice touch. 
 

 

 

We saw a passenger disembarked from the ship just before noon. I don’t know the circumstances at the moment, but we did hear the EMTs mention “abdominal pain” when they were speaking to ship personnel. She was quite young, but did walk off under her own power. 
 

[aring75]

Saw several green sea turtles swimming around the pier in St. Croix. 
 

 

 

They seem to like the area.
 

[aring75]

Lunch in the Oceanview Café. So far it’s been pretty easy to find a table by the window. 
 

 

Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla sauce. 

 

 

Could still see the turtles swimming around from all the way up on Deck 14.

[Jim_Iain]

14 hours ago, Beba-Beba said:

I posted this image on another thread but no answer.  Is this Equinox bathroom plug only for a shaver/toothbrush or is it powerful enough for a hair dry?  Would I need an adapter?  

 

Yes it is for an electric shaver only or other devices pulling low wattage.

[Jim_Iain]

14 hours ago, aring75 said:

I don’t know for sure. Here’s a photo of the outlet. It does say “shavers only” on it. But there’s a hairdryer in the room if you’re not picky about what kind you use. 
 

 

 

Yea... if you blow up the  picture it shows the Wattage limit is 20A. 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Yea... if you blow up the  picture it shows the Wattage limit is 20A. 

 

 

I don’t think it says 20A.  20A at 110 VAC would be plenty for a hair dryer.  I think it says 20 VA.  My guess is 20 volts ac

[tc-cat]

25 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Yes it is for an electric shaver only or other devices pulling low wattage.

20 VA stands for 20 volt-Amps or 20 watts. So it would be just to run a razor but not a hair dryer. The other label shows that it is 120 volts ac.

Edited August 18, 2021 by tc-cat

[cltnccruisers]

A caution regarding the vanity.  DW was using a straightener there on Reflection and we got a knock at the door.  There stood 2 very annoyed security types.  Seems the straightener was so hot it set off an alarm (silent to us) above the vanity.

[jjbko]

22 hours ago, aring75 said:

Sommelier came by last night with a bottle. He remembered that I had asked for it. It was loaded in the ship in Ft Lauderdale, but hadn’t been distributed through the ship yet. He says now there’s plenty!

 

And it was delicious. 😁

Outstanding!

[aring75]

The Veuve Riche Rosé was excellent. A little sweeter than the regular Rosé, but had a nice full-bodied richness (for lack of a better word). If you like your bubbles a little on the sweet side, I would certainly recommend this one. 

[aring75]

Captain just came on and said the passenger who was disembarked in St Croix had tested positive (she was vaccinated). Everyone who came into prolonged contact with her was isolated and tested. Everyone else tested negative. 
 

I am sorry to hear that her cruise was cut short and I hope she’s okay. But protocols  seem to be working. 

[jg51]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:51 PM, aring75 said:

Yes. We got drinks and more back when it was only $6/day more than the premium package. Figuring the $50 casino credit, it made sense for us. 
 

The four bottles are Anakena Cabernet. I asked for all red so I don’t know what the white wine option is.

 

 

The mini bar fridge has Coke, Diet Coke, Tito’s, 2 bottles of Heineken, and a red and white wine option. We were told you can’t make substitutions. Oh yeah. There’s two Kind bars also. You know, like granola bars. 

 

 

 

We also have two bottles of water. 
 

.

Good evening, "aring75."  Long time, no chat!

 

Three days ago (as shown above -- from page 7 of your amazing review), you told us about your purchase of the "Drinks and More" beverage package.  We now have a couple of questions about this package.  We're sure that you won't mind answering the first one (which is so simple), but we need to ask you to speak to your stateroom steward about the second question -- hoping that you'll forgive us for that imposition.

 

(1)  In past threads about "Drinks and More," there have been multiple mentions that the package includes Pringles chips, not just Kind bars.  Have the Pringles now been eliminated -- or is it possible that you were "shortchanged"?  [Actually, maybe you need to ask your steward about this too!]

 

(2)  A person who has traveled solo has asked us a question about "Drinks and More" [D&M] that we cannot answer -- neither from personal experience, nor from searching this board, nor from reading Celebrity FAQs.  The reason that the answer is so "elusive" is probably the fact that (a) there are so few solo travelers and (b) there are even fewer "soloists" that have purchased the D&M package.  Here's the dilemma:

 

According to the "X" FAQs, the D&M includes "all the benefits of the Classic and Premium Beverage Packages ... plus ... two bottles of wine ... [plus] $50 in casino free play ... [plus] a wine-tasting experience [plus] Minibar included and replenished daily if two adults in your stateroom purchase this package."  [Our emphasis was added.]

 

Based on the wording of the highlighted passage -- if it is taken literally -- it would seem that a solo passenger would be denied part of what he/she paid for: the right to consume minibar items.  We think that the purpose of the restriction is to prevent a second adult in a stateroom from (unjustly) using any of the minibar items without having paid for a second D&M package.  However, when there is only solo traveler in the stateroom, we believe that he/she should be allowed to use the minibar, because there is no possibility of injustice.  (We hope that you agree with this logic!)

 

Anyway, if it would not be too much of a burden, could you please ask your steward whether or not a soloist that has purchased a D&M package would be allowed to use the minibar (and have it replenished daily)?  There is no need to get the answer in a hurry.

 

Thanks, in advance -- and we hope that you will continue to enjoy your travels, your great food, and your interesting beverages!

 

PS:  We have always avoided "Sushi On 5" due to the same reluctance that Mark had [not wanting to "eat bait"], but you have almost persuaded us to reconsider this!

[luckybecky]

8 hours ago, aring75 said:

Lol. So okay, this is kind of funny. When I first read this post I don’t think the picture loaded. I went back to quote it and we aren’t talking about the same Marko. 😂

 

But apparently you cannot go wrong with any Marko because they both sound pretty amazing! 😁

 

That's funny! 😁 Our Marko is in the Sky Bar every night unless he has been reassigned. I believe he is the manager of that bar. But now we know that any Marko is likely to be a great bartender 🙂 

 

Honestly, all of the crew on our cruise were amazing. We did not have one single bad experience with any crew member that we interacted with. They were all so happy to be back sailing and provided nothing less than stellar service. 

[SonuvaBeach]

24 minutes ago, jg51 said:

PS:  We have always avoided "Sushi On 5" due to the same reluctance that Mark had [not wanting to "eat bait"], but you have almost persuaded us to reconsider this!

Sushi on 5 is awesome..my wife won't eat anything raw, and she LOVES Sushi on 5..we skip the buffet and  go there for lunch on the first day of every cruise.

Edited August 18, 2021 by SonuvaBeach

[beverland]

Good day!  I live on St. Croix and am an avid Celebrity Cruiser.  Our main town is Christiansted town, not Fredericksted.  In the future, I would recommend taking a cab to Christiansted if you do not have a shore excursion or take a cab for an island tour.  Unfortunately, this was the first ship here in almost 2 years and the vendors were at a minimum.  Also, August is our very slow month and many business owners take their vacations in August and lots of businesses are closed.  However, I hope you enjoyed "limin" here.  It is a chill island and we'd love to see you again.

[luckybecky]

11 hours ago, retiredTed said:

I'm a (trying to be) retired EE, don't try to run a hairdryer (at least 500W) from a 20W outlet.

 

I used to take a small outlet strip with me so I could plug in all our chargers but a couple of cruises back, X confiscated it from me as part of their baggage boarding check.  

 

We used this on our recent cruise. We left it plugged in at the vanity for the entire cruise. Our stateroom attendant would have seen it every time he entered our room. There didn't seem to be any problem with us having it. Maybe because it isn't corded like most power strips, but rather plugs directly into the outlet? I don't know. But I love it because it is compact and takes up little space in the suitcase, and gives us all the outlets we need. We plug our phones into the two USB ports and still have 2 plugs for other items. I take it with me every time we travel. I think I got it at Walmart a few years ago. 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by luckybecky

[fstuff1]

5 hours ago, tc-cat said:

20 VA stands for 20 volt-Amps or 20 watts. So it would be just to run a razor but not a hair dryer. The other label shows that it is 120 volts ac.

 

20 watts @ 120 volts is .17 amps. 😲

VERY little power.

think night light

 

for comparison:

an electric space heater is 1500 watts.

a hair dryer on high is 1800 watts

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

1 hour ago, aring75 said:

Captain just came on and said the passenger who was disembarked in St Croix had tested positive (she was vaccinated). Everyone who came into prolonged contact with her was isolated and tested. Everyone else tested negative. 
 

I am sorry to hear that her cruise was cut short and I hope she’s okay. But protocols  seem to be working. 

 

what caused her to be tested?

or is everyone is tested before coming aboard from st croix?

this for every port?

[fstuff1]

26 minutes ago, beverland said:

Good day!  I live on St. Croix and am an avid Celebrity Cruiser.  Our main town is Christiansted town, not Fredericksted.  In the future, I would recommend taking a cab to Christiansted if you do not have a shore excursion or take a cab for an island tour.  Unfortunately, this was the first ship here in almost 2 years and the vendors were at a minimum.  Also, August is our very slow month and many business owners take their vacations in August and lots of businesses are closed.  However, I hope you enjoyed "limin" here.  It is a chill island and we'd love to see you again.

 

land casinos open?'

do the slots take dollars?

 

[beverland]

4 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

land casinos open?'

do the slots take dollars?

 

The casinos are open.  I do not know it they take dollars.  I am not a frequent Casino visitor.

 

[hcat]

32 minutes ago, beverland said:

Good day!  I live on St. Croix and am an avid Celebrity Cruiser.  Our main town is Christiansted town, not Fredericksted.  In the future, I would recommend taking a cab to Christiansted if you do not have a shore excursion or take a cab for an island tour.  Unfortunately, this was the first ship here in almost 2 years and the vendors were at a minimum.  Also, August is our very slow month and many business owners take their vacations in August and lots of businesses are closed.  However, I hope you enjoyed "limin" here.  It is a chill island and we'd love to see you again.

That was a long ride on our excursion bus.  How much  would it cost for cab? 

Christianstadt was much nicer...not run down like it was near the pier but still fairly quiet.