On Board the Celebrity Equinox

We boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale, Fl with a very simple transfer from the hotel to the cruise port. The driver even gave us his card for when we returned.

We decided to treat ourselves to an upgrade to the suite life. We will probably never be able to move back down to reality after this.

We got several perks with the upgrade, some of which were: Priority boarding, escort to a private lounge, a boarding reception with champagne and canapés, access to specialty dining venues, access to Michale's Club anytime (a nice quite place for drink before/after dinner or just to sit and read), a concierge available every day.

The ship is quite different from other ships we have sailed on. It has a central tower where the sun does shine in and a tree grows on a suspended platform. And there is a real lawn area complete with sprinklers. We never did see them cut the lawn but I suppose they must.

Our suite was two rooms, a sitting area and a bedroom. We also had a balcony. There were quite a few closets and storage areas, one of which defied imagination as to why they even bothered putting it in (it was very narrow and tall with rather deep shelves, had to put things in and even worse to get them out). We enjoyed it non the less. Especially good for Sandy was that there was a tub.

Deb, David, and Audrey had two bottles of wine delivered to our suite as part of my birthday present. The wine was very good and much appreciated.

Another perk of the suite is that we had a butler and a button on the phone in case we needed him.

Every day at 4 Dinu, our butler, came around with tea. Not just a pot of tea, but the real deal with sandwiches, cookies, and pastries. If we were not in our suite he would leave a little snack for us just to make sure we did not starve before dinner. Quite posh.

Those are black truffles on the deviled eggs.

Being basically lazy, I got tired of reading the menu and choosing dinner items. On 3 nights I just said to Metin, our server, to choose for me. I got three very good meals out of doing that and got a couple of dishes I would probably not have chosen. On this night he brought me oysters which I would not have chosen. They were good. I may have to reconsider in the future choosing oysters (well, probably not...but it was a good thought).

Another perk of having a suite was access to Micheal's Club, a private lounge. Here the liquor flowed freely and the bartender, Alexandar, was very knowledgeable in all things spirit related. When I asked for a shot of Mcallan's 12 year old, he offered this special edition which turned out to be very good.

Alexandar also wanted me to be more adventurous and try some other whiskeys. So he introduced me to Jameson 18 year old and Middleton which is another product of Jameson. Both good.

Later in the cruise Alexandar organized a tasting. Normally he does whisky/whiskey tastings in single areas (Scotch, Irish, Bourbon). This time he did one across areas choosing one from each area. He gave a very intelligent explanation of each with history and why they tasted different. He also provided a glass of water and a straw. You use the straw as pipette to get just a drop of water to help open up the whisky. Wow what a difference it can make.

Angie learned about the legs of the whisky. She did not care for the taste but was very interested in learning more about each spirit. Chris, on the other hand, found a new love of Singapore Slings.

Sandy was content with her Chardonnay and watching.

We have sailed on both the Infinity and the Equinox. Here I caught a picture of them moored side by side. Equinox on the left. It looks like the bridge windows were close enough for them to hand things across the gap.

There was a motorcycle group sailing with us. They do this 2 or 3 times a year. They bring their bikes with them and ride around the islands picking up local groups as they go. The gangway had to be modified to accommodate the trike, one outer rail had to be removed and the other slopped out.

The Cruise Critic group had some activities on board. The gift exchange and the slot pull were the two we participated in. 

On our first day at sea they organized a cabin crawl. This consists of several people signing up to open their cabin to allow people to view it. We thought this would be a good way to get to see what several cabins looked like. They ran the range from an inside cabin to the pent house suite. The penthouse suite was about 2500 square feet with several rooms and hallways. There were so many mirrors that you could get lost in the maze. Our suite was modest.

The gift exchange was a great way to meet people and see something of their home locations. The idea was that each person brought a wrapped gift that was typical of the area in which they live. We all drew numbers and then, in order, each chose a gift and opened it for all to see. We were supposed to be able to steal gifts but there were too many people so we had to move it along. They had also arranged for a lunch to be served by the ship staff. It was great fun and good food.

The slot pull was fun. Each person contributed $15 and had a chance to "pull" the slot. Of course, there not being any pullable handles on the slots it was more of a push than pull. Any winnings went into the winnings pot. After everyone had their chance to try to win big the winnings pot was cashed in and divided equally amongst the participants. It came out to $9 each. So $15 in $9 out - not too bad.

Sandy Feeds the Slot,

makes the dials roll,

and wins (a little).

 

It was recommended that we go to the Martini Bar to watch the show. Several people had arranged to have the bartender make flights of martinis and pour them all at the same time. They said he had done up to 15 at once before. Here he mixed 22 martinis, set up the glasses, and...

 

We had a good time on the cruise and are looking forward to our next cruise.