LIVE from Equinox (June 24, 2023), sailing on a budget

[AbbyCruiser45]

Just now, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Thanks for the good report on Tuscan.  We are going to try it again after some disappointing meals there. 

I definitely think it’s worth another shot. We really did not want to go again after our last experience, but Murano was sold out for the first night discount. We gave it another chance and we’re happy that we did! 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

I wonder if Joel was working in the Lawn Club Grill on Silhouette or Reflection.  

[CTSandy]

There is another option for golf carts on Bonaire - it’s called golfcartrentalbonaire.com.  I have no idea how good they are - they had an ad saying they would be adding 4 passenger golf carts and I contacted them for our visit in August.   They do not have the 4 passenger carts yet, but did have 2 passenger carts available (I checked some time in April).  
 

I’ve been getting the Effy pendants on my last few sailings - they offer little charms that fit in them, you just have to show up at the store at specified times.

 

Thanks for the great review on Tuscan, was considering it for August and I think you’ve convinced me that it’s worth a visit!

[Pennstatedj]

My wife boards next cruise, she would like to know who is Captains club hostess and who is Cruise director. Thanks for your great review. 

[Ciaranaman]

55 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

It is a new promotion on some ships.  We got one on Edge but nothing on Reflection.

Thanks for the good report on Tuscan.  We are going to try it again after some disappointing meals there. 

 

We got them on the Silhouette, as well, back in February. 

[calicakes]

1 hour ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Dinner at Tuscan was excellent! I mentioned in one of my first or second posts that we had a terrible experience last year on the Equinox at Tuscan. The meal took forever and our entrees were served cold and kind of crusty, like the sauce had been sitting. We left before dessert. Today was the complete opposite of that! Our server, Joel, was fantastic. He was on top of everything, gave great recommendations, and the pace of the meal was perfect. 
 

We split most of the meal with the pork belly, calamari, crab cake, and burrata (not pictured) to start. I had the filet with a half order of the short rib pasta. We split the lobster rigatoni and Kaleb had the veal Marsala (not pictured) and the carbonara (he should have gotten the half order). 

For dessert, I had the limoncello cheesecake which was fantastic. Kaleb had the doughnuts with extra vanilla gelato. They also brought out the standard chocolate cake to celebrate our graduation. We blew out the candle together! It was such a nice, indulgent night. The perfect start to our cruise! 

Also, when we got back to the room, there was a free (?) Effy necklace on the bed with our planner for the next day. Maybe this is a new promo? I’ve never gotten one before, or heard of this. Any thoughts?

You're supposed to get a bunch of free charms each day(I think)

[LisaLeone]

4 minutes ago, calicakes said:

You're supposed to get a bunch of free charms each day(I think)

One per day. And the salespeople, at least on Summit, were very aggressive. We gave up.after 4.

[lovetocruisee]

1 hour ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

I’ll keep an eye out and keep you posted!

Thank you and I loved the pictures.   I may have to try Tuscan on this ship

[Alsmez]

2 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

I mentioned in one of my first or second posts that we had a terrible experience last year on the Equinox at Tuscan.

 

We had bad experiences at Tuscan on Silhouette and Reflection in the "before" times and decided to give them another chance on our recent Eclipse cruise. We were glad we did - both service and food were much improved! Murano, on the other hand, was a big disappointment this time around after many wonderful meals there in years past. Will be interested to hear how Murano works out for you if you decide to visit.

[like2cruise]

9 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Yes! I prefer drawers, but we’re putting some bulkier things up there that don’t need to be hung. 

Collapsible cubes work great up there...for your next trip!

[tigervixxxen]

I did the Effy charm thing back on my sailing over New Years. There will be a daily giveaway usually tied to some jewelry event. There is a list somewhere of what each daily charm is, some are little gemstones and others are little cruise related items like an X or ship or a queen of hearts card. It’s a fun thing to try and collect but I didn’t quite understand what it was exactly until halfway through the cruise. They don’t really advertise “this is when you pick up your next charm” but just show up for whenever the event is with the nightly jewelry raffle and ask for the charm. They’ll probably give it to you if you show up after the event but won’t before. If you miss any charms they say you can ask on the last day but they didn’t have everything (I’m sure there’s a bin somewhere with them all for the next cruises but anyway). The gemstones were my favorite. I was on an 11 night sailing so maybe there’s a few cut out on shorter sailings but maybe worth asking if there’s some you are missing. I didn’t find the boutique folks especially helpful but it was fun anyway.

Edited June 25, 2023 by tigervixxxen

[AbbyCruiser45]

10 hours ago, Pennstatedj said:

My wife boards next cruise, she would like to know who is Captains club hostess and who is Cruise director. Thanks for your great review. 

I will find this out today and let you know!

[AbbyCruiser45]

Good morning from the Equinox! It looks like there was a medical evacuation last night and we diverted to Miami. I only found this out from the Facebook group, I was long asleep. No word yet if it’ll impact our arrival to Aruba, but I’m sure if it does we’ll hear during the Captain’s announcement this morning. I want to say I doubt it since we have two full sea days to get there and I feel like we’re not moving at top speed right now. 
 

I’m in my “happy place” this morning as I start the book that I’ve been saving for this first sea day all summer! I was at Al Bacio a little after 6:30 following a beautiful sunrise. It’ll be a slow day around here, but I will keep the updates rolling 😊

 

[lovetocruisee]

Great pictures again, thank you

[Cruise till you drop]

On 6/23/2023 at 4:48 PM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Yes! I wanted to do this but it’s been booked up for months. We’re still going to swing by in person in case there are cancellations or no shows. 

I’m hopeful you can get a golf cart in Bonaire as that was a highlight in our visit in March.  And if you do, I would start with the South route first as for us, it had the better points of interest.  You can also take a break during the day to get back on the ship for lunch, and get back off and continue your golf cart journey

 

Snd on the south route, definitely check out Sorobon beach

 

PS we’re doing a 10 day on Equinox next January 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[lovetocruisee]

here’s the last sight I had of you at sail a way 🚢👍🏽

[jagoffee]

If you get an opportunity can you post of a picture of a MDR menu soon and also let us know if Lobster is served on the second Chuc night.

 

Thanks

[zino5]

12 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Dinner at Tuscan was excellent! I mentioned in one of my first or second posts that we had a terrible experience last year on the Equinox at Tuscan. The meal took forever and our entrees were served cold and kind of crusty, like the sauce had been sitting. We left before dessert. Today was the complete opposite of that! Our server, Joel, was fantastic. He was on top of everything, gave great recommendations, and the pace of the meal was perfect. 
 

We split most of the meal with the pork belly, calamari, crab cake, and burrata (not pictured) to start. I had the filet with a half order of the short rib pasta. We split the lobster rigatoni and Kaleb had the veal Marsala (not pictured) and the carbonara (he should have gotten the half order). 

For dessert, I had the limoncello cheesecake which was fantastic. Kaleb had the doughnuts with extra vanilla gelato. They also brought out the standard chocolate cake to celebrate our graduation. We blew out the candle together! It was such a nice, indulgent night. The perfect start to our cruise! 

Also, when we got back to the room, there was a free (?) Effy necklace on the bed with our planner for the next day. Maybe this is a new promo? I’ve never gotten one before, or heard of this. Any thoughts?

This was a cool little Promo, my teenage son collected these for his G/F. was cute to see him in line collecting the little things to place inside and he also collected the one for my wife. Nothing spectacular but was a perfect souvenir for his G/F.  We were on board 6/10-6/18

[ecslady]

8 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

I did the Effy charm thing back on my sailing over New Years. There will be a daily giveaway usually tied to some jewelry event. There is a list somewhere of what each daily charm is, some are little gemstones and others are little cruise related items like an X or ship or a queen of hearts card. It’s a fun thing to try and collect but I didn’t quite understand what it was exactly until halfway through the cruise. They don’t really advertise “this is when you pick up your next charm” but just show up for whenever the event is with the nightly jewelry raffle and ask for the charm. They’ll probably give it to you if you show up after the event but won’t before. If you miss any charms they say you can ask on the last day but they didn’t have everything (I’m sure there’s a bin somewhere with them all for the next cruises but anyway). The gemstones were my favorite. I was on an 11 night sailing so maybe there’s a few cut out on shorter sailings but maybe worth asking if there’s some you are missing. I didn’t find the boutique folks especially helpful but it was fun anyway.

 

I did the Effy charm necklace on Summit last month.  There was a card which listed what charm you got, the day and time to pick it up,  It was fun going into the store for just the charms.  Of course, they try to sell you jewelry.  See if you can pick up the card that lists the charms and day. Mine was actually in the cabin with the locket, but they had them in the Effy store as well.

[thebutlerdidit]

12 hours ago, calicakes said:

You're supposed to get a bunch of free charms each day(I think)

One or two per day, usually in the evening. On sea days there were two charms offered. We couldn’t wait to collect the Celebrity “X”!

 

I took this photo for a friend who sailed on her first Celebrity cruise on the Equinox a month ago. 
 

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

22 minutes ago, ecslady said:

 

I did the Effy charm necklace on Summit last month.  There was a card which listed what charm you got, the day and time to pick it up,  It was fun going into the store for just the charms.  Of course, they try to sell you jewelry.  See if you can pick up the card that lists the charms and day. Mine was actually in the cabin with the locket, but they had them in the Effy store as well.

Would love to see a pic of the necklace full of charms.  We had the necklace appear on our table back in March but I never got around to collecting the charms.  We board @AbbyCruiser45's ship a week from today...maybe I will reconsider the charm collection.

 

Edit:  @thebutlerdidit just added a pic!  Really cute, I might add.

 

32 minutes ago, zino5 said:

This was a cool little Promo, my teenage son collected these for his G/F. was cute to see him in line collecting the little things to place inside and he also collected the one for my wife. Nothing spectacular but was a perfect souvenir for his G/F.  We were on board 6/10-6/18

I LOVE this.  What a nice thing for your son to do for his g/f.  Sounds like you're raising a good man!

Edited June 25, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[Hawkstar33]

13 hours ago, HS2BS said:

We send the cart rental in early May, plenty of room for my wife’ wheelchair. It’s a good idea for the Mobil person to go to the rental building(not a good sidewalk or road for a mobility device) to pick up the cart and drive it back, and revers when dropping off.

 

Hal

If you ask the woman at the Bonaire cruiser popup tent when you get off ship, she will have them come pick you up.  there is a yellow building where you stand and wait.  Takes 5-10 mins.  They will also drop you off when done.  Couple dollar tip each way and you are good to go.

[AbbyCruiser45]

12 hours ago, Pennstatedj said:

My wife boards next cruise, she would like to know who is Captains club hostess and who is Cruise director. Thanks for your great review. 

Cruise director is Louis, didn’t catch his last name but he’s British it sounds like!

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 hours ago, AbbyCruiser45 said:

Dinner at Tuscan was excellent! I mentioned in one of my first or second posts that we had a terrible experience last year on the Equinox at Tuscan.

We've had lackluster experiences at Tuscan in the past (across several ships) as well.  I'm glad your meal was enjoyable this time around.  Pics look amazing.  In fact, I just booked Tuscan for our upcoming cruise and I'm going to ask for Joel.  The only time slot available for the night we wanted was 9PM.  That's a little late for us so I thought we might see if we can get in a little early, like around 8:30 instead.  No biggie if they can't accommodate but I was wondering, was every table filled when you were there and what time was your reservation?

[AbbyCruiser45]

8 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We've had lackluster experiences at Tuscan in the past (across several ships) as well.  I'm glad your meal was enjoyable this time around.  Pics look amazing.  In fact, I just booked Tuscan for our upcoming cruise and I'm going to ask for Joel.  The only time slot available for the night we wanted was 9PM.  That's a little late for us so I thought we might see if we can get in a little early, like around 8:30 instead.  No biggie if they can't accommodate but I was wondering, was every table filled when you were there and what time was your reservation?

Our reservation was at 6:30. We got there around 6:15 and got a window seat. It definitely was not filled. There was a large group that took a lot of tables, but I think there were a handful still open throughout dinner. We were there for about an hour and a half. 
 

Last year, we had it reserved for a group of 6 at 8pm because that was the only time open. When we boarded, we went straight to the specialty dining table near guest relations and they were able to change our reservation to 6:30 the same day with no problem. Hang onto that reservation and I’m sure you’ll be able to get an earlier time on board!