Today I decided to try a new theme for my blog. The good news is, it’s working. The bad news is that not all of my posts transferred over. The next few days I’ll be manually copying over all posts from October 2009 to the present.
Please be patient while this gets done. Thanks very much and please check back often.
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St. Thomas harbor at sunsetIf a visit to St. Thomas, USVI, conjures up the idea of awesome shopping at ridiculously low prices, those days are over. St. Maarten has taken the lead at the best prices in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, downtown St. Thomas is a fun shopping area with its narrow cobblestone streets, shops with old doorways of heavy wood and iron and tucked-away cafes. The currency is the US dollar and people shop til they drop.
With a safe harbor and easy access to town, St. Thomas attracts an amazing amount of luxurious private yachts. In the harbor today was the Rising Sun, Larry Ellison’s ship. Equipped with a silver-colored funnel, I wouldn’t call this a yacht; it was a ship. We docked next to Havensight Mall, rows of cinder block buildings housing dozens of shops and a few restaurants. A quick walk from the ship and you are in the mall area. If you don’t want to venture into downtown, you can find many of the same shops here, on a smaller scale. If you do want to go into downtown to shop, eat and browse, Havensight mall is a decent walking distance. If you are not so inclined, there is a shuttle van that goes back and forth into downtown every few minutes.
Activities onboard were plentiful, but again I didn’t find my way to participate. Some of this afternoon’s activities included a Beatles music challenge, Wii Games, table tennis and bocci ball tournaments, line dance class and many more. The cruise director is Gary Walker, a high-energy Brit whose love of what he does really shines. The entertainment tonight was Lindsay Hamilton, a former West End theater performer and singer. Among her repertoire of songs were mostly big Andrew Lloyd Weber hits and a couple of religious melodies.
Another night in the buffet to get caught up on this blog. More vegetable curry, beef stew and rice, with a salad. Funny, there was not a bit of cheese, sliced, crumbled or cubed, at the salad bar. When I politely asked the server for more blue cheese salad dressing I was curtly told, “No, I’m trying to close down the salad bar.” Okay…someone was having a bad day and it wasn’t me. No problem, I went with the vinagrette.
St. Kitts is our next stop on this ten night cruise. One of the most beautiful of the Caribbean islands, it reminds me of Hawaii, I plan to make it a beach day. My shore excursion ticket simply says, “Beach Tour” so it will be interesting to see where we end up for our tour.
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Second day at sea en route to St. Thomas from Ft. Lauderdale. Second day of more wine tasting, but breakfast must come first. Trying room service one more time, my breakfast was delivered at the time I requested. If you like the coffee you make at home, be prepared for a stronger version when you are on a ship. I love my coffee, but sometimes it’s just too strong. To circumvent a misguided uber-sugaring, order a pot of hot water whenever you order or pour your own coffee.
“Wines Around the World” tastingWhen am I ever going to get outside! The $20 prepaid wine tasting began at noon…and would last for an hour. Lunch would have to be upstairs in the buffet. The “Wines Around the World” event began at the Cellar Masters Bar with six tasting stations set up within the area. There probably were not more than forty people signed up so it wasn’t crowded and there was easy access to the various wines, snacks and all-important dump bucket. It was a cleverly organized event with some very good wines.
With a lot of writing to catch up on, I decided it was best to sequester myself in the buffet for dinner. A nice feature that is catching on with many cruise lines is the extended pizza/pasta bar. While I haven’t met a pizza I didn’t like, except maybe that weird Hawaiian pizza concept, it’s good to note that you can request a made-to-order pizza. The pizzas on the Equinox aren’t the personal size (by my standards) but closer to a 12” pie. No, I didn’t get the pizza. I opted for the salad bar, a wonderful spicy vegetable curry with jasmine rice and a small piece of some kind of baked fish. Not knowing what I missed in the main dining room, I was quite happy with my choices in the buffet. Bar service is also available, but by now I was up to my eyeballs in wine and an iced tea was perfect.
Buffett dinner at Oceanview CafeTomorrow morning would be St. Thomas and hopefully we’d dock at Havensight Mall, not at the industrial area at the other side of town. No shore excursions are planned, just a day to take advantage of AT&T access in the USVI.
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Leaving Florida can lead to a bumpy ride across the Florida Straits. Not last night. The ocean was calm and being at the bow of the ship made no difference. Room service arrived on time with my strong coffee, eggs over medium, croissant and melon. Celebrity is one of the few large cruise lines that offer Room Service breakfast with freshly cooked eggs, not the pre-scrambled powdered variety. As the person who delivers your Room Service order is usually not your room attendant, I always set out a dollar bill on the dresser before I go to bed. Then when I foggily answer the door, I have their gratuity in hand and don’t have to fumble through the safe to find my wallet.
Traditional sabering of the champagne cork demonstrationAt 11:30am in the main dining room, was the first of five wine tasting events. This one was complimentary for past Celebrity guests. Luckily there were small cubes of cheese and breadsticks to munch on as I don’t usually have wine before lunch. Mike, the main Sommelier, gave us a brief lecture on two white wines, two red wines and one champagne which we sampled while he spoke. Lunch in the main dining room and I was ready for a nap.
Looking for something new for dinner, I opted for Select Dining, Celebrity’s answer to the popular dine-when-you-want craze. Arriving at an early six-thirty, it still took nearly two hours to get through dinner. I’m not sure if all the waiters in the Select Dining area are ready for this new experience. Or perhaps the wait staff has been reduced and each waiter has more tables in their station. I definitely will try Select Dining again, as it is very convenient, but hope it doesn’t take two hours again. It’s the same entrees as in the formal seating.
Incredible beef carpaccio with shaved parmesian cheese and horseradish sauce.
Speaking of formal, the second night out is always formal night. On this occasion, there were people in the dining room who decided to go to dinner in polo shirts and slacks. This is a recurring situation on all ships. Even though it clearly states in the daily planner what is to be worn to the dining room on formal night, people show up in casual clothes. It is up to the Maitre’d to decide whether or not to allow them into the dining room. Lately, it seems not to matter to the Maitre’d if the person next to you is in jeans and a baseball cap and you are in your formal attire. I guess they don’t want to risk alienating anyone and losing a future cruise booking.
Since I ate early I was able to get to the first show in the Celebrity Theatre. Another variation on the old Broadway tunes with the singers and dancers, but this time there was a twist: all Stephen Sondheim music including three numbers from Les Miserables which were beautifully and energetically performed. Definitely the high point of the evening’s entertainment.
That was it for my evening. A quick walk on the outside deck and I headed back to my stateroom, hoping to watch a movie on my 32” flat panel television.
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Familiar Celebrity welcome aboard greeting
I’m not sure what it is about a Celebrity ship that makes you smile when you first step onboard. Ask anyone who’s cruised on Celebrity and they’ll tell you there is something pleasantly recognizable. It could be the warm welcome and glass of champagne that is handed to you the moment you come through the door. Maybe it’s the similar entrance on many of the ships, whether older or brand new like the Equinox. I’m convinced it’s something in the air…anticipation laced with fond memories of past Celebrity cruises. Having spent over one-hundred nights aboard Celebrity ships over the past four years, it’s like going back to summer camp.
We are sailing for ten nights to the southern Caribbean with port calls at St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, Dominica and St. Maarten. Dominica is a new port for me and I am always excited to visit a new Caribbean island. My deluxe balcony cabin is all the way forward on the eighth deck, a bit of a walk from one of two banks of elevators. Sometimes it’s fun to have a cabin at the bow of the ship in rough seas; makes you feel like you’re an old salt. On the other hand, there is something to be said for calm seas and following winds. Today is a beautiful, sunny day and hopefully this weather will continue on our course to Barbados and then turn around and follow us back to Florida.
Embarkation for the Equinox in Ft. Lauderdale is at the beautiful terminal built by Royal Caribbean for the Oasis of the Seas. Needless to say, there are dozens of embarkation agents to speed you through check-in and onto the ship. If you prefer not to encounter hundreds and hundreds of arriving passengers, make sure you don’t arrive at the port between 11:30am and 1pm. That is when the majority of the passengers are in the queues; hungry, tired and a bit grumpy from an early morning flight to Ft. Lauderdale.
Muster was a cinch; no life jackets to wear or having to stand on deck in the hot sun while watching a demonstration on how to don your life jacket, which you are already wearing. Soon we were pulling out of the channel and into the ocean. I chose to wander around, becoming acquainted with the Equinox, the sister ship to the Solstice of which I was quite familiar. Starting at the top on deck 15, I slowly meandered down and around the outside decks, going back inside on deck 5. Heading towards the bow, I make a u-turn and headed to the very aft, walked down a flight and repeated this pattern down to deck 3. With my bearings confirmed I headed back to my room to unpack.
My dining time at 8:30pm afforded me a few minutes pre-dinner to stop at the Guest Relations desk and say “hi” to my old friend, Claudio, the Assistant Guest Relations Manager. There is something to be said for being a repeat passenger with any cruise line. On my last Celebrity cruise, I had the pleasure of getting to know Arno and Joanne, with over 120 Celebrity cruises under their belt and Joyce who has sailed on the Constellation more than anyone else.
Seated at my table in the Silhouette Restaurant on Deck 3, I met my seven new tablemates, had enjoyable conversation and an even more enjoyable dinner. Day one was complete; nine more to go.
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Celebrity Cruises has a new baby; the Equinox. Being someone who doesn’t mince words, let alone mispronounce them, I found myself saying over and over is it “EEE-quinox” or “ECK-quinox?” Finally after several sleepless nights I turned to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/equinox to hear it correctly pronounced.
While we’re on the subject of mispronounced travel-related words, here’s another common mistake. Every time I hear a Royal Caribbean cruise director talking over the loudspeaker, this drives me nuts: “Tomorrow we will be stopping at beautiful CocoCAY.” It’s not CAY like KAY; it’s KEE. http://www.wordnik.com/words/cay/pronunciations . Think Key West. When was the last time you visited the Florida “Kays?”
Shall I continue? ANTIGUA. Say “An-TEE-gah,” forget the “u.”
DOMINICA. Doe-min-EEK-ah not Doe-MIN-ick-ah.
Heading to St. Thomas on a cruise? You’ll dock or tender at the largest city on the island: Charlotte Amalie. Pronounced Ah-MAH-lee-ah not Amalie like Emily.
Now for the biggie…is it Ca-RIB-ee-ahn or Care-ah-BEE-ahn? Personally, I prefer the first pronounciation. BUT…I’ll use the latter if the people I am with are pronouncing it like the yellow & black striped insect.
Buzz ya later…I’m off to start packing for my 10-night cruise aboard the Celebrity EE-quinox. On the itinerary: Charlotte A-MAH-lee-ah, St. Thomas and Roseau, Doe-min-EEK-ah. I’ll save “Cay” West for next time.
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