Somewhat live from the Equinox 10/8

[Jim_Iain]

On 10/8/2021 at 8:47 AM, CruisinCorey2525 said:

During today, could you find time to report back on how "stocked" the buffet is? Curious if it's been cut down a lot in variety due to lower numbers. Thank you!!

I know  Abbey will get back to you on this.    Our experience was that the Buffet was fully stocked.   The only difference from Pre-Covid is that you can not serve yourself.   They have attendants that will quickly serve up what ever you wish.  

 

The have 2-3 specialty stations each day and they are advertised on the TV outside of OceanView

[TXranchgal]

On 10/8/2021 at 9:30 AM, SpareBrew said:

Also following along since we board in 12 days with the same itinerary!

Us too....  See you onboard on the 20th....

[abbydancer2003]

Good evening from day two of our cruise.

 

We were in Nassau today, and we are allowed off. 

We slept in a bit, and woke up with 5 minutes of Luminae closing.  So I suggested we shoot for the Elite breakfast lounge in Tuscan.  We didn't exactly hurry, so we got there at 9:59 and they were closed.  We then headed to the Retreat Lounge, also closed.   So we did the best possible thing - headed to Al Baccio for a latte and a pastry.

 

After that, we gathered our things, and headed out of the ship.  All we did was take a walk through the port area.  I did buy a MAC cosmetic item that I couldn't find in New York, but that was pretty much it.  We did look at some government buildings and saw this:

 

 

 

It commemorates the granting of the charter for the Bahamas by King Charles the 1st in 1629.  As a British history fan I found it fascinating.

 

We headed back to the ship and dropped our stuff.  After a brief rest, we decided to go to Sushi on 5 for lunch.  An interesting choice, because I don't like fish.  However, I've always been curious, and it's open on a port day, so I decided to try it.   

 

Glen opted for a glass of sake, and I had one of their cocktails, the Asian Pear Smash.  It was good, and the pear garnish was quite good.  

 

We started with miso soup, and then shared chicken gyozas.  The miso came on a soup spoon with miso past and veggies and tofu.  The server poured hot water into the bowl, and we mixed the paste into it.  It was very good, and Glen said it transformed the sake.  

I followed it with the Kobe beef ramen slider. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by abbydancer

[abbydancer2003]

For some reason, I had trouble with the last post, so I'll continue:

 

First, the image that fell out from our walk:

 

Now continuing:

 

t was good, but I wouldn't order it again.


We finished with Alaska California rolls (crab, avocado and cucumber) and Shrimp Tempura rolls.  (I do eat shrimp and crab).


Those were both good, and I'd the same meal, minus the slider on future cruise.


After that, we decided to take a walk on the sort of promenade deck.  At some point I dislodged one of my contact lenses, so we went back to the room.


Glen decided that was a good time for a nap.  I then went up to the buffet to get an answer for the question above, but it was after lunch, so some stations were closed.  I'll try again later.


On the way back I ran into Kathy in the hall, so we decided to go to Al Baccio.  We let Mike and Glen know where were, and they joined us.  After our coffees, we headed to the retreat lounge for, it turned out, tea.  It was nice.


At around 5:15 we headed back to our rooms before dinner.  


We put on the TV and watched the last half of Chariots of Fire.  It only took a couple of minutes to identify the movie , as it just showed young men running while timed.


Following that, we headed to the theater to see Topper.  Glen had never seen the whole thing before.  We noticed Ryan and Melissa also in the theater, as Ryan sent a picture of us from his seat to our chat group.


The show ended at about 7:55.  We were on deck 4 and Le Petite Chef is on deck 5.  I'd forgotten that while only a deck apart, the theater is forward and the restaurant is aft.   It took until about 8 to get there.  We met Mike and Kathy and were seated at a table for 6.  



The show was the new "Petit Chef and Family" and runs through the four seasons, although each season is several years apart.  It was I thought, the best menu, but I still don't feel a need to go back.  I'll try to add pictures, but I'm having some trouble with the ones from tonight.


After dinner Glen and I took a walk around the upper decks, something we've been doing for years, and then called it a night.  

 

[abbydancer2003]

The finale image from the show:

[texanitalian]

58 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Good evening from day two of our cruise.

 

We were in Nassau today, and we are allowed off. 

We slept in a bit, and woke up with 5 minutes of Luminae closing.  So I suggested we shoot for the Elite breakfast lounge in Tuscan.  We didn't exactly hurry, so we got there at 9:59 and they were closed.  We then headed to the Retreat Lounge, also closed.   So we did the best possible thing - headed to Al Baccio for a latte and a pastry.

 

After that, we gathered our things, and headed out of the ship.  All we did was take a walk through the port area.  I did buy a MAC cosmetic item that I couldn't find in New York, but that was pretty much it.  We did look at some government buildings and saw this:

 

 

 

It commemorates the granting of the charter for the Bahamas by King Charles the 1st in 1629.  As a British history fan I found it fascinating.

 

We headed back to the ship and dropped our stuff.  After a brief rest, we decided to go to Sushi on 5 for lunch.  An interesting choice, because I don't like fish.  However, I've always been curious, and it's open on a port day, so I decided to try it.   

 

Glen opted for a glass of sake, and I had one of their cocktails, the Asian Pear Smash.  It was good, and the pear garnish was quite good.  

 

We started with miso soup, and then shared chicken gyozas.  The miso came on a soup spoon with miso past and veggies and tofu.  The server poured hot water into the bowl, and we mixed the paste into it.  It was very good, and Glen said it transformed the sake.  

I followed it with the Kobe beef ramen slider. 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be on the Equinox in two weeks and assumed that you could only leave the ship in Nassau if you were on a Celebrity required excursion. This is posted in the healthy at sea travel requirements:

 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in:

•  Nassau

I am curious if others were able to leave the ship on their own, which would be awesome.

 

 

[vickie_bernie]

19 hours ago, TXranchgal said:

Us too....  See you onboard on the 20th....

 

See you also on the 20th

[kokopelli-az]

13 hours ago, texanitalian said:

We will be on the Equinox in two weeks and assumed that you could only leave the ship in Nassau if you were on a Celebrity required excursion. This is posted in the healthy at sea travel requirements:

 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in:

•  Nassau

I am curious if others were able to leave the ship on their own, which would be awesome.

 

 

We were on the Equinox in August and you could get off the ship on your own at Nassau.  Port requirements are constantly changing so you may not know for sure whether you can get off the ship in Nassau until you're actually on your cruise.  The attachment is from Aug 9 2021.

[Stem to Stern]

Protocals are fluid, so what you read on Celebrity's website may not be the most up to date.  Yesterday we could get off in Nassau and explore on our own.  

[abbydancer2003]

Hi.  More on my day tonight, but around 12:15 the captain announced that we're head to the Turks and Caico's for a medical emergency.  He said it was NOT covid.  I don't know what it will do to our itinerary, as I couldn't understand everything he said, but Glen's marine app indicates we're going pretty fast.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by abbydancer

[D C]

43 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Hi.  More on my day tonight, but around 12:15 the captain announced that we're head to the Turks and Caico's for a medical emergency.  He said it was NOT covid.  I don't know what it will do to our itinerary, as I couldn't understand everything he said, but Glen's marine app indicates we're going pretty fast.

 

So glad I found this thread, and thanks for the update! 

 

Our DS and DDIL are onboard, on their honeymoon.   If you see Eric and Leah (mid 20s, he's 6'5, she's a comparatively short blonde... most likely spotted at the sunset bar) tell him that his mom wants to know if they're still alive 😄

 

Or if you really want to freak him out, tell him "I heard the lumber for your house showed up early" without saying a thing about how you could possibly know who they are. 😄

 

~Dave

😄

Edited October 10, 2021 by D C

[Catlover54]

Did Celebrity require you complete a Bahamian health visa in advance to be able to board a ship that goes from/to the U.S. RT?

 

Or just proof of vax and proof of a timely negative covid test when boarding?

[Fouremco]

9 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

Did Celebrity require you complete a Bahamian health visa in advance to be able to board a ship that goes from/to the U.S. RT?

 

Or just proof of vax and proof of a timely negative covid test when boarding?

From the Celebrity website:

 

Guests visiting the Bahamas on any sailing departing from the US, do not need to apply for the health visa. 

[Stem to Stern]

The ship instructed us to bring our ID (drivers license or passport) and original vax card when getting off in Nassau.  No health visa and no Covid test results.  YMMV with the fluidity of the protocols.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Stem to Stern

[chamima]

On 10/8/2021 at 9:11 AM, vickie_bernie said:

Following along we board soon too 

 

 

Hi Vickie

Pleasantly surprised to see you on here. How have you been?

[sunsetme]

What's the passenger count? How are the shows?

[abbydancer2003]

14 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

What's the passenger count? How are the shows?

About 1300 I've heard.  We saw Topper last night, It's pretty much the same as always, and I enjoy it.

[abbydancer2003]

Neither of us had our vaccine cards with us when we disembarked yesterday but they let us use pictures.  (Probably because to get on the ship we had to have them).

 

Update on the medical - around 6 this evening the captain said we will not go to Turk and Caico's.  Instead we'll haul butt to Aruba.  He doesn't have an arrival time but it will likely be several hours early.  Right now, we're going about 21 knots, and there's ship motion. 

 

Our best guess is that T&C medical people probably told us that they couldn't handle the emergency.  So, for whatever it is, Aruba is probably best.

 

We had a nice day today and I'll update tomorrow, as I'm about ready to fall asleep and drop my head onto my keyboard.   I'll close this with the mascapone cheesecake in Luminae was amazing.  I forgot to take a picture, sadly.

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

It's now my afternoon time to do nothing.

 

We started yesterday with breakfast in Luminae.  I had my once a cruise eggs benedict with regular bacon.  Sometimes, the eggs are overcooked, but they did just fine.

 

After breakfast, we headed to the lounge for a while.  At noon, I went to the first rehearsal of the flash mob dance.  I'd done one before on Princess, and it was a lot of fun.  Three of the cruise staff were teaching it.  We have 4 sea days, and the performance will be after rehearsal on the 4th day.  It's Move Like Jagger followed by Fireball.  Today we did Move Like Jagger, and it's helpful that I've done Jazzercise to it. It was in the middle of this that we got the announcement about the detour.

 

Following that, we headed up to the room for a while so Glen could go to the gym.  I then decided to take advantage of the streaming internet, and watch Dancing with the Stars for earlier in the week.  Streaming is a bit of an exaggeration,  as. I couldn't get it to play with stopping for more than about 5-10 minutes at a time.

 

After Glen's work out, we watched a video of our dance team routine that we're missing last week and this.  If I didn't mention it, we're ballroom dancers.  We had some abiguity about what was on the video, so we decided to go up to the retreet sundeck to practice our own routines.  

 

There were a few people on the port side, so we moved over to the sunny starboard side and practiced a bit, and then decided to take a break on the shady port side.   The attendant, Janalyn, offered us a drink.  I asked if they still had potato chips.  She wasn't sure, but when she brought our drinks we got a bowl of chips.  After about an hour we decided to go back to the room so Glen could shower.  

 

On the way back, we got an update from the Captain.  We're going straight through to Aruba, but maintaining speed, so we'll be early.  As I said, our best guess is that Turks can't handle it.

 

We decided to go to the show, The Company Men, a group of four singers doing song mashups.  We had the reserved seating in the balcoy, but I think I prefer the lower levels.  I thought it was fun but Glen said they didn't do enough songs he knew, and he didn't really like it.

 

We then had about 1/2 an hour before dinner, so we stopped by the retreat lounge for a few minutes, but decided we didn't  want a drink, so we headed towards the Grand Foyer (as they call it).  Cruise Director Eddy had said something would be happening, so we went to see.

 

When we got there, the band was playing so we danced a bit.  We realized that we were a bit rusty, as it's been a couple of years since we social danced.  Eddy then showed up with some of the performers.  First the contortionist did a number and then the dancers.  He then introduced the officers.  The band came back and we did a but more dancing.  It was getting close to dinner time, so we heaed to Luminae.  

 

Kathy was having some health stuff so Mike joined us for the formal night.  I decided to try the ribeye.  On the Summit I sent it back because it was cut more like a filet.  I told them i wanted the bearnaises sauce that was supposed to come on it.  This time, I was prepared, so I ate it.  With the bearnaise it was quite good.  I joked that I was going to go back to the Summit and apologize for sending it back.

 

During dinner, we noticed lightening off to the side.  So after dinner,  we went to the top decks for a bit to see if we still saw storms.  We didn't. 

 

About 11 we called it a night, and I finally finished watching Dancing with the Stars.  

 

I've got some pictures, but my phone is offline,.  Later tonight, I'll post them.

 

[abbydancer2003]

I had a very long post done.  CC deleted it.  I'm so sorry, but I will have to skip most of what happened yesterday.  Tomorrow, I'll try to post today. 

 

This has happened a few times.  It's frustrating. 

 

Is anyone still reading this?

Edited October 13, 2021 by abbydancer

[vickykay]

Yes.  Enjoying being “along” on your cruise.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review.

[Ipeeinthepools]

9 hours ago, abbydancer said:

I had a very long post done.  CC deleted it.  I'm so sorry, but I will have to skip most of what happened yesterday.  Tomorrow, I'll try to post today. 

 

This has happened a few times.  It's frustrating. 

 

Is anyone still reading this?

 

Yep, we're still here

[D C]

9 hours ago, abbydancer said:

I had a very long post done.  CC deleted it.  I'm so sorry, but I will have to skip most of what happened yesterday.  Tomorrow, I'll try to post today. 

 

This has happened a few times.  It's frustrating. 

 

Is anyone still reading this?

Still following along.

If you're on a computer, it can be helpful to type in another program like notepad or Word and then copy/paste into a post.  That avoids any "sorry, you took to long to hit Submit Reply" issues.

 

Curious on any medical situation updates.   A full day at sea, even running at 20+ knots, would make that emergency seem less severe.  My DS onboard was speculating the ship may have been too late trying to get to T&C and that there was a death.  But that wouldn't explain the rush towards Aruba. 

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, D C said:

Still following along.

If you're on a computer, it can be helpful to type in another program like notepad or Word and then copy/paste into a post.  That avoids any "sorry, you took to long to hit Submit Reply" issues.

 

Curious on any medical situation updates.   A full day at sea, even running at 20+ knots, would make that emergency seem less severe.  My DS onboard was speculating the ship may have been too late trying to get to T&C and that there was a death.  But that wouldn't explain the rush towards Aruba. 

Right this very moment I have a textpad open and  am doing a brief summary of Monday and the post from yesterday.  Thanks though - great minds think alike..

 

Interesting on what DS thought.  Mike said he thought a gurney left the ship and went into the terminal.  I did see them bring one on board,  and load someone into an ambulance.  Our guess was that T&C didn't have the facilities to handle it, so we went to Aruba, which of course is much bigger.