Jim_Iain - 9/5 and 9/17 Equinox B2B - Come along for a Live Blog

[ecslady]

35 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I miss Zenith and Mercury.     They were lovely ships.     The service was impeccable and if you went to the restroom they would pickup you napkin and replace it with a new one crisply folded. 

Me Too!  Along with the Galaxy.  I guess this dates our cruising history - LOL

[ch175]

(1) Enjoy yourself!

 

(2) Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

 

(3) Major kudos to you for maintaining that 10 miles per day.

[Beba-Beba]

25 minutes ago, JacJacAttack said:

Are you on the naughty list again??? 🤣😘

 

I'm sorry.  This gadget will go in the basement along with my travel iron and travel steamer.  I promise. 

 

@JacJacAttack Do you guys have anything booked?  Fingers crossed my usual group is doing b2b Equinox 1/30 and 2/11/22.  I'm holding my breathe.  Until then I follow along live from blogs to get my fix.

 

Sorry folks - off topic.  Jackie and I got kicked off the Reflection on March 17th, 2020  when cruising came to a full stop and the pandemic became very real for us.  What a wonderful 4 days we had in that pampered bubble.  That was the last time I trully felt completely safe.

 

Mary

[Jim_Iain]

Afternoon snack just delivered. 
 

 

[Jim_Iain]

33 minutes ago, canderson said:

Jim -

Something I've noticed in the "dailies" under Music is the lack of a little something before dinner.  Have grown accustomed to some easy pre-dinner music by a small group or pianist.  The even once had crew members working for a few extra $ ... a string quartet once.  Are these just no longer listed, or isn't X doing that now?

I believe it may just not be listed in the daily.    I know that nightly when we go to the Retreat around 7:30 that they have live music at Ensemble Lounge -  Last night a female vocalist that reminded me of Enya.   

 

Just looked in today's daily --- Bottom Right Corner they have all listed.

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[hcat]

56 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

Wow..great memories!

We went there almost every night before shows etc.  

Had a great dj  with great playlists..very mellow at times,  great bar.

Underutilized by X,,, abd  cruisers..it was a kids hang out by day when they had the swinging chairs!

What do they do in there now?

 

[hcat]

21 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Afternoon snack just delivered. 
 

 

Surprisingy the same we received in AQ Class and our last cabin SV on EDGE.

[JacJacAttack]

17 minutes ago, Beba-Beba said:

 

I'm sorry.  This gadget will go in the basement along with my travel iron and travel steamer.  I promise. 

 

@JacJacAttack Do you guys have anything booked?  Fingers crossed my usual group is doing b2b Equinox 1/30 and 2/11/22.  I'm holding my breathe.  Until then I follow along live from blogs to get my fix.

 

Sorry folks - off topic.  Jackie and I got kicked off the Reflection on March 17th, 2020  when cruising came to a full stop and the pandemic became very real for us.  What a wonderful 4 days we had in that pampered bubble.  That was the last time I trully felt completely safe.

 

Mary

Well, Celebrity brought the naughty room to us when we missed the ship because of weather related flight cancellations. (This is why I will ALWAYS book my flights through Celebrity.) I think they took pity on us walking a mile through Costa Maya with our luggage to get on board. 

 

We have a 12 night booked for March 13 2022.  (The same itinerary that Jim and Iain are doing now!) We will (hopefully) board the Equinox exactly 2 years to the day that we boarded the Reflection on that last cruise to no where. I agree with you, Mary, that Reflection bubble made us feel perfectly safe until it all came crashing down around us when we got back to port.

 

Sorry for the interruption, Jim! Oh, but if you like Patricia Cornwell books, I find Tami Hoag to be comparable and I just finished up the DD Warren series by Lisa Gardner which was great!

[Orator]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

Surprisingy the same we received in AQ Class and our last cabin SV on EDGE.

Usually ask them to skip the snacks. 

[MartinsCruise]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I miss Zenith and Mercury.     They were lovely ships.     The service was impeccable and if you went to the restroom they would pickup you napkin and replace it with a new one crisply folded. 

Our first sailing was on the Galaxy which started our love of cruising.  We were also on her last sailing before she was turned over to TUI.  Towards the end of the cruise artwork was being removed from the walls and they closed up the shops.  There was a dedicated crew who wore yellow t-shirts who were responsible for the turnover.  I remember an older crew member who manned the disembarkment terminals who always said "Happy Happy".  I later heard that he retired after that cruise.  One of my fondest moments was watching from our veranda as we sailed through the floating bridge before dawn in Curacao. 

[canderson]

29 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I believe it may just not be listed in the daily.    I know that nightly when we go to the Retreat around 7:30 that they have live music at Ensemble Lounge -  Last night a female vocalist that reminded me of Enya.   

 

Just looked in today's daily --- Bottom Right Corner they have all listed.

 

Ah, don't clearly recall the S class venue names.  House Band before late seating would be "the thing" this evening, then?  Any live music pre-dinner in Retreat lounge?  Usually looking for something classical or mellow before dinner - winding down with a drink music.

[19pamela68]

On 9/6/2021 at 9:42 AM, Jim_Iain said:

One thing I always do on Day 1 is take a picture of the Itinerary.   A little decoding if you have never looked at it closely.

 

The Days in Bold are the Chic Nights.

 

If there is an * next to the day it means a time zone change.   Didn't realize we have no time zone changes on this cruise.    

 

I put the clipped itinerary into my favorites for quick reference.    The schedule matches all the changes we received just before the cruise. 

 

 

Great info!  Thank you very much!

 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

Wow..great memories!

We went there almost every night before shows etc.  

Had a great dj  with great playlists..very mellow at times,  great bar.

Underutilized by X,,, abd  cruisers..it was a kids hang out by day when they had the swinging chairs!

What do they do in there now?

 

They have a ping pong table in there for use during the day.

 

Daily say it is open 10PM til Late for disco.   

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Orator said:

Usually ask them to skip the snacks. 

Iain told me to tell Glenn to stop delivery.    We ate the shrimp anyway.  

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, canderson said:

Ah, don't clearly recall the S class venue names.  House Band before late seating would be "the thing" this evening, then?  Any live music pre-dinner in Retreat lounge?  Usually looking for something classical or mellow before dinner - winding down with a drink music.

The solo guitarist Nikia was the one we heard last evening.     Very mellow music and a beautiful voice.   Haven't seen an string quartets yet so not sure about that.     I'll keep an eye out but have a feeling it is either Nikia or Acoustic Duo.    The latter I don't even remember hearing them but probably did. 

 

No live music in Retreat.    As a matter of fact last night was the busiest I've seen it and there were about 5-6 couples there pre-dinner. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[rucrazy]

44 minutes ago, MartinsCruise said:

Our first sailing was on the Galaxy

Ours was the Century.. loved that ship!

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Agree about the Celebrity (standard) coffee.  It is indeed, undrinkable.  Al (Il?) Baacio is much better....by quantum measures better.

We pretty much stopped having breakfast in our room because of the coffee that comes from room service. 

[taylortime05]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Pretty much everything including the kitchen sink.     

 

Unlimited Specialty Dining at all restaurants.    Someone had asked about Sushi on 5 and I was told yes the only one not included is the Chef's Table which there is a fee for.

 

Free laundry -   the new perks list say 2 bags of laundry but I'm sure if you don't take advantage they will not charge you

 

2 Liter bottles of Booze of your Choice

 

A better champagne than other class ships or you can select from a list of wines.

 

Complimentary bottled water, beer, soft drinks stocked daily.

 

Basically they treat you like Royalty.  

 

Dining table for 6 and if you choose you could dine in dinner and they will serve in courses like Luminea 

Wow, that sounds fabulous!  We've only been in a suite once on NCL & once on the  Edge.  We loved it.  We'll be in SS suite next year - twice on the Apex and once on the Summit.  We just retired and we're still trying to figure out approximately how much do we want to leave for the kids inheritance and how much should we spend, lol.  Look forward to meeting you and Iain. 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, JacJacAttack said:

Well, Celebrity brought the naughty room to us when we missed the ship because of weather related flight cancellations. (This is why I will ALWAYS book my flights through Celebrity.) I think they took pity on us walking a mile through Costa Maya with our luggage to get on board. 

 

We have a 12 night booked for March 13 2022.  (The same itinerary that Jim and Iain are doing now!) We will (hopefully) board the Equinox exactly 2 years to the day that we boarded the Reflection on that last cruise to no where. I agree with you, Mary, that Reflection bubble made us feel perfectly safe until it all came crashing down around us when we got back to port.

 

Sorry for the interruption, Jim! Oh, but if you like Patricia Cornwell books, I find Tami Hoag to be comparable and I just finished up the DD Warren series by Lisa Gardner which was great!

I've put those two authors on my list.   Thanks -

 

I'm not sure how it would work even with  Flights by Celebrity with the Covid restrictions.   On the  FAQ they say no downline loading once the ship sets sail.    Something to keep in mind. 

[taylortime05]

Jim, how's the entertainment compared to your other Celebrity cruises?

[canderson]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

The solo guitarist Nikia was the one we heard last evening.     Very mellow music and a beautiful voice.

That would be the right sort of thing, but a bit late.  We won't know what we'll get until we get there, of course, but nice to know they're still doing this sort of thing.  On M class, we'd often find something like this next to Baccio, right outside the MDR.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We pretty much stopped having breakfast in our room because of the coffee that comes from room service. 

The beauty of the Personal Retreat Host - (Butler).     I just write Cappuccino on the menu and he pick one up at al Bacio for me.   Some of the butler use to make them using the Nescafe Coffee maker which is better than Celebrity Coffee but still not very good.   

 

We are on deck 11 and they have a al Bacio Segundo at the entrance to the Ocean View. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, taylortime05 said:

Jim, how's the entertainment compared to your other Celebrity cruises?

We rarely go to the shows as we have seen them so many times.    The house band is about the same as pre covid but I believe they have fewer lounge performers.   

 

Tonight is the first Chic night and our butler told us they have reserved seating for the Suites.   I don't believe they are serving drinks during the show.   At least I recall someone saying that.   

 

The one in Ensemble seem to draw a pretty good crowd.  

[19pamela68]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

This is Tuesday's correct?  Can you please take pictures of Monday's, unless you did and I didn't see it.  Thank you very much!  I really do appreciate it!  

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, taylortime05 said:

Wow, that sounds fabulous!  We've only been in a suite once on NCL & once on the  Edge.  We loved it.  We'll be in SS suite next year - twice on the Apex and once on the Summit.  We just retired and we're still trying to figure out approximately how much do we want to leave for the kids inheritance and how much should we spend, lol.  Look forward to meeting you and Iain. 

 

While I kid about spending everything, If the covid pandemic was good for anything at all,  it was to kick my ass in gear and  hired an attorney to setup a number of trusts.   I have a daughter that was disabled due to a drug interaction during a bone marrow transplant.    There is a type of Trust called a Special Needs Trust and the trust can provide her with monies that will not affect her SS Disability and MediCal coverage.    I've set it up to provide for her for the rest of her life and then the house we bought her which is part of the trust will go to my other 2 kids.   

 

The good thing about sitting down with an  estate attorney is that it forces you to get organized and locate all of your assets.   It also helped me combine  a number of retirement accounts into a single account.   I hate to say it but I found some old IRA accounts I had totally forgotten about.