Equinox 9/17 LIVE BLOG; Aqua Class - 1st Time Celebrity! Let’s Cruise!

[TravelBluebird]

When I tell you about our final two courses, you’ll see why we try to only have 2 meals a day. Trust me, we are not deprived!

 

First, we had the cheese course. A good cheese course always brings our thoughts back to France, and my late Father in Law. France because we honeymooned in France, where we’ve had memorable cheese courses, and my late Father in Law because no one enjoyed a cheese course more than he, always with the finest port.

 

The cheese selections were varied and tasty, and I paired it with a Fontseca port. I forgot to mention earlier that I had a French Chablis with my seafood.

 

Finally, for dessert, we picked the dessert tasting for 2 people. I can’t tell you the name of it because I took a tipsy, blurry photo of the dessert menu. The desert consisted of 6 items presented in glasses, and included a creme brule with a cotton candy topper, a chilled mint and chocolate choice, and  a chocolate and  coffee mousse, which I enjoyed. I was not a fan of the wine/cherry concoction after the port, and I do not like chocolate mixed with strawberry at all, so y’all may like that one but it was not for me!

[TravelBluebird]

At the very end of the meal, there were petit four. 

 

Since we enjoyed the meal so much, our waiter told us that on the last 2 sea days there was going to be lunch at Murano for $25 per person. We decide we’d skip breakfast that day and have the lunch!  So we are booked on the 3rd sea day.

[TravelBluebird]

Finally, the late show was improv; known on the ship as “Cruise Line is it Anyway”.

 

Don’t let the description in the Daily Planner turn you away from seeing this; we thought it was just going to be the Cruise Director and some other ship folk goofing around. Nope. This was legit improv!  Short form, games, musical improv (there is a pianist). 

 

I have to assume all those participating have had improv training as actors and/or have been in on-land improv troupes at some time or other. For awhile, the director of my old improv troupe did Second City on cruise ships.

 

This improv show takes place in “the little theater” which wasn’t clear from the daily planner; it said celebrity central. No worries, someone collected the small group of us that were confused and sitting in the wrong place. \

 

The little theater is perfect for improv; tiered seating and not too large. Eddy the cruise director, one of the very talented singers/entertainers (what a voice; she did a short bit of operatic improv!, and 2 cast members to be named later (I got there in the middle of introductions) made up the improv group, plus an “mc” (think of Drew Carey from Whose Line).

 

Anyway if you are an improv geek, games included Party Quirks, Press Conference, Greatest Hits and HoeDown. If you’re not an improv geek, show up anyway and laugh!

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

This morning, we had our couples massage. Deep tissue. Meverly, who was my masseuse, was a magician.  I left with all the knots in my back worked out, my tired feet and quads refreshed, and so much more. I’ve been averaging 15,000 steps a day, plus the dancing/classes, so really needed it. Husband loved it too, and its romantic to have one together. Part of the treatment was a little collagen anti-aging around the eye thing; I know they are just tying to sell product, but I liked it (ha...guess I discovered that I am a little vain and just too cheap to pay for the anti-aging treatments).

 

We took a Swing dance class and had our 2nd flash mob rehearsal.  Had a small lunch today (since our breakfasts were minimal); tried the Indian Food at the Ocean View buffet. Very much liked it. To the poster who asked; we were there at prime lunch time and not crowded at all; got seats right at the window and were socially distanced just fine.

 

OK; relaxation time for me; I’ll be back in tonight to answer any questions and blog the rest of the day!

[TravelBluebird]

Just ran into @Dakota at Cafe Baccio.  They have done Aqua Class many times; they say that things have not changed really since before pandemic for Aqua Class amenities except that there is not longer iced tea carafes in the rooms.

 

Mrs. Dakota told me to look at the white bag hanging up in the back of the closet. It’s a white celebrity backpack we get to keep, along with 2 lip balms and 2 sets of Celebrity clippers. I completely missed this; I thought it was a laundry bag, so many thanks to her, and just FYI when you sail in Aqua to look in the back of your closet.

[TravelBluebird]

Today’s Aqua Class Canapes were scallop cerviche with tortilla chips, deviled eggs with caviar, and candied jellies. I don’t have fancy names for them today because there was no card with the names of the canapes as there was yesterday.

 

You are getting a picture of 1/2 the canape tray as my husband devoured his half before I could tell him to stop I wanted a picture! 😂

[hppytrvlr]

25 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Just ran into @Dakota at Cafe Baccio.  They have done Aqua Class many times; they say that things have not changed really since before pandemic for Aqua Class amenities except that there is not longer iced tea carafes in the rooms.

 

Mrs. Dakota told me to look at the white bag hanging up in the back of the closet. It’s a white celebrity backpack we get to keep, along with 2 lip balms and 2 sets of Celebrity clippers. I completely missed this; I thought it was a laundry bag, so many thanks to her, and just FYI when you sail in Aqua to look in the back of your closet.

When they first started Aqua Class you also received bottled water in your room every day but now you only get a bottle of water on the first day, unless they have cut that out as well. Also in your bag with the slippers there was a face spray which was very refreshing when sitting in the sun.

[TravelBluebird]

10 minutes ago, hppytrvlr said:

When they first started Aqua Class you also received bottled water in your room every day but now you only get a bottle of water on the first day, unless they have cut that out as well. Also in your bag with the slippers there was a face spray which was very refreshing when sitting in the sun.

 

We did not get the face spray, but we are totally getting 2 bottles of water a day (the little metal bottles); I drink lots of water, so I’ve been happy with this.

[carbon]

On 9/14/2021 at 4:35 PM, spammie said:

Hi and welcome back to cruising!  We just got back from Edge on September 4th.  We have cruised 28 times on Celebrity and RCCL when the kids - now 35 and 33 were young.  You will absolutely LOVE Celebrity, Equinox and Aqua Class!  We took our first cruise on Celebrity 10 years ago and completely fell in love.  Equinox is our favorite ship and Aqua Class and Blu are amazing!  Can't wait to follow along!  We love the Southern Caribbean and the ABC Islands.  Any questions feel free to ask.  Wanda

 

PS  - we have 4 grandbabies 5 and under and I was a nervous wreck waiting for the negative Covid test.  We also did it through CVs, so easy!  

 

[maggieq]

9 hours ago, countess5 said:

You will love the Martini Bar on Edge. Jut off the ship two weeks ago. Talk about a show! Interesting observation,  the bar top is not ice. Was surprised.  The bar slowly slopes up from left to right. 

 

 

 

 

We were on 9/4 and definitely like the martini bar better on the equinox.  Also, the menu of martinis was different on the edge.  

[Jim_Iain]

7 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Photo uploads are doing better for me now! I had to stop switching between my devices; for some reason, it was making things slow and when I’m trying to blog between activities or late night, I get a little impatient!

I  set up a hotspot on my laptop and use both by laptop to write and iPhone to upload photos.  Other  option is to use  your account and Russ' also .... Greedy Girl...He snoozes he looses.

[Jim_Iain]

Love that you are posting pictures of the shows and entertainment.   We rarely go to the shows anymore as we have seen them so many times.  

 

Make sure you do the Silent Disco.    We were watching and laughing our A.. off.    People would start singing the First Line of songs really loud and then trailing off with humming the rest.   I think it is more fun to watch than participate.

 

The sing along to Abba was really popular on the first cruise.

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Make sure you do the Silent Disco.    We were watching and laughing our A.. off.    People would start singing the First Line of songs really loud and then trailing off with humming the rest.   I think it is more fun to watch than participate.

 

The sing along to Abba was really popular on the first cruise.

 

Thank you for the tip re the Silent Disco; we will definitely check it out!  Also the Abba sing along.

 

Tonight we saw Jared Freiburg & The Vagabonds at 9pm, and then the ventriloquist Ronn Lucas at 10:15.  Holy heck; I was only semi-enthused about seeing a piano player, but Jared’s energy and talent were through the roof; great show and if you haven’t seen him perform yet (especially if you like 1950s music) he’s going to do a matinee towards the end of the cruise.

 

Ventriloquist was excellent; probably the only ventriloquist I’ve ever seen perform live; its an interesting talent!

[TravelBluebird]

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I  set up a hotspot on my laptop and use both by laptop to write and iPhone to upload photos.  Other  option is to use  your account and Russ' also .... Greedy Girl...He snoozes he looses.

 

Ha! He knows to hide his electronic devices from me! 😂

[TravelBluebird]

Short post tonight because I just got back to the room and have to go to bed; early 7am call tomorrow; we are doing 2 excursions.

 

A quick run-down of tonights activities: T-Shirt Sail (had to get t-shirts for the grandsons), casino (brought in $100, left with $95, were entertained by those silly electronic slots).

 

After getting fancy (elegant chic night) we went back to the Martini bar. We decided on a slightly earlier dinner, which we had at Blu. Then Jared and the Vagabonds in the Equinox Theater at 9 and Ronn Lucas at 10:15. In between dinner and shows we rushed back to the room to set out things for the early morning excursions at our first ;port of call, Aruba.

 

I’ll catch up with photos and more info on tonight’s activities tomorrow.  Good night all; we are having just a marvelous cruise so far!

[Boatharbour]

Reading your posts is an absolute joy! Locked down in Sydney since June, I almost feel like I’m on the ship with you. 

[countess5]

Are you seeing a lot of this in the ocean, Eastern Caribbean it was everywhere. They said some beaches get inundated with it. It starts to swell and has to be removed. 

 

[hcat]

16 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Short post tonight because I just got back to the room and have to go to bed; early 7am call tomorrow; we are doing 2 excursions.

 

A quick run-down of tonights activities: T-Shirt Sail (had to get t-shirts for the grandsons), casino (brought in $100, left with $95, were entertained by those silly electronic slots).

 

After getting fancy (elegant chic night) we went back to the Martini bar. We decided on a slightly earlier dinner, which we had at Blu. Then Jared and the Vagabonds in the Equinox Theater at 9 and Ronn Lucas at 10:15. In between dinner and shows we rushed back to the room to set out things for the early morning excursions at our first ;port of call, Aruba.

 

I’ll catch up with photos and more info on tonight’s activities tomorrow.  Good night all; we are having just a marvelous cruise so far!

Jim posted the Celebrity Today..i think for Aruba Day ??????

 

75 min spa special including massage,  facial and more..good price..If you have the time and they have a slot!

 

Enjoying your blog  here.

[jjikids]

On 9/18/2021 at 4:11 PM, TravelBluebird said:

Ok, not a great picture, but I snapped it with my iPad. Can anyone tell me what type of sea bird this is?

 

Had to wait for birder DH. He said this is the Brown Booby.

[hcat]

Brown booby....

[TravelBluebird]

6 hours ago, countess5 said:

Are you seeing a lot of this in the ocean, Eastern Caribbean it was everywhere. They said some beaches get inundated with it. It starts to swell and has to be removed. 

 

Yes, we’ve seen quite a lot of it on this cruise; so much of it, in fact that we looked it up and found out that it is a Sargassum Bloom of a type of macro-algae, and it seems that it has gotten much worse in recent years. 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Brown booby....

that’s it!! Thank you!!

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

Jim posted the Celebrity Today..i think for Aruba Day ??????

 

75 min spa special including massage,  facial and more..good price..If you have the time and they have a slot!

 

Enjoying your blog  here.

 

I saw that! It looked like a good deal, but we did 2 excursions today instead; I was gone from 8 till about 6:30! 

[TravelBluebird]

20 hours ago, Boatharbour said:

Reading your posts is an absolute joy! Locked down in Sydney since June, I almost feel like I’m on the ship with you. 

 Thank you! When cruising restarted and I couldn’t quite go yet, I did the same thing with various live blogs! It really helps, and I learned so much; glad I can give back to the community!

[hcat]

16 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I saw that! It looked like a good deal, but we did 2 excursions today instead; I was gone from 8 till about 6:30! 

Looking forward to hearing about them..busy day!