Celebrity Equinox Cruise to E. Caribbean

We had a fun time on our recent Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Cruise lines. This was our first time on that cruise line and I was very impressed with this line. The food was great and it was an overall nice experience. This trip came about when someone we go to church with planned the cruise about 6 months ago and asked if we wanted to join, so we said yes. I am the most enthusiastic about planning trips, but Mark came along of course. I’ve been to the Caribbean several times and once you go to an island, they are all very similar. I’ve been to many at this point, so the destinations weren’t the most compelling part of the trip, although escaping cold weather in January is a plus for me. This cruise on the Celebrity Equinox went to Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic, San Juan Puerto Rico and the island of St. Maarten. I have been to all these islands before in the past, but it’s been quite a long time, so it was fun to visit again. We went with 8 other couples in our church and I really enjoyed going with other people. I’m a people person and thrive on relationships and having friends around. It was a great experience, so hopefully we will do more trips with our church friends.

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Mitch, our cruise planner friend, wanted us to stop in on the way to catch the ship in Port Canaveral, at a fun and funky stop, the Barberville Yard Art Emporium in Pierson, FL. As you can see behind us, this place is quite the funky art spot. It’s filled with teak furniture, colorful outdoor planters, garden accoutrements, and some of the most unique things you can imagine for the garden and home, such as life size animals, like chickens, cows and dinosaurs. I took a lot more pics, but I’ll leave it at this one, in case you want to check it out sometime.

We spent the night on the way down and made our way to board the ship the next morning and by 12:30 we were on board. It’s so exciting to get on a ship. I really love cruises. Mark is more so-so about them, but I think they are a great escape for a week. It’s fun to get on a ship and enjoy all the amenities, food, and entertainment.

We found our cabin and unpacked in our home away from home for the week. We had a nice balcony room and we roamed around the ship, checking everything out. This Celebrity ship is not one of their newer ships with all the bells and whistles. I think the Apex line of ships is the one that most people want to go on now, I saw some blogger friends go on one of those in January and it looked really great. But this one was very nice and had been rehabbed in 2019.

This space was off limits for us we found out, but the top deck had a private retreat area that was only for certain passengers. Oh well, we could pretend for a minute.

We did spend some time in this area, a nice solarium where the sun came in, but it was cool and comfy with beach chairs. I didn’t even get in the pool at all, but many people did enjoy it. Of course, there’s a big outdoor pool as well, plus hot tubs.

Our first night for dinner. We had 2 tables reserved for all 18 of us and we rotated tables and who we sat with each night, so it was fun to get to know the other couples better. Unfortunately, Mark got sick on day 3 and missed 2 days of excursions, but by the 3rd one, he was able to get out again. He gets this head/respiratory stuff a lot and it really knocked him down for a few days. In fact, he’s still recuperating. Thankfully, I didn’t get it, so I’m fine. I just went by myself, since the excursions were already paid for and it was safe as there were others from our cruise on the excursions. This black jumpsuit is from Clara Sunwoo. It’s on clearance now and you can get 10% off with the code RHODA10. I got the kimono from Thred Up and the brand is Johnny Was.

The Food

I was really impressed with Celebrity’s food. Since this was our first time cruising with them, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had heard good things and they didn’t disappoint. This was one of the last day’s artistic displays in the buffet restaurant. Their Garden Cafe buffet was great, so many varieties of food, from Mexican, Indian, Asian of course American, salad bar, pasta and pizza bar, desserts and fruit galore. It was a smorgasbord of food!

The nightly meals were delicious as well, with many food options available. It was fun to see what was on the menu each night. I really did love all the food, we were never hungry, that’s for sure.

Sunset from our first dinner on board.

The Shows in the Theater

The nightly shows in the theater were also fun, from the cast of singers/dancers, to a magician, Country singer, soul singer, and comedy. We would go straight to the shows after our 5:15 dinner. Yes, there are lots of seniors on board, so early dinner for us.

There’s a cast of singers and dancers on board and they were all very talented. That would probably be a fun job if you were just getting out of school and want an adventure.

They did acrobatics in all their shows that was quite breath-taking.

I loved the soul singer, Cece Teneal, she was very talented.

There were also sessions during the days at sea that I enjoyed, like Melinda Bates, former White House Assistant to the President in the White Hour Visitors Office. She has a book out about her experience, White House Story. I enjoyed her first talk so much, I went back to all 3 of the rest of them. She was very good at story telling and sharing her experience of 8 years in the White House with the Clinton administration. I’ve never been to Washington DC, so it was nice to see all the pictures of the White House.

Here’s one outfit I wore, the Chico’s dress I shared earlier (on sale now) as well as the necklace and also Mark’s new shirt I got him. He loves linen in warm climates and summer, so these are his linens.

Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic

First excursion stop was Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I have been to Punta Cana, but not this stop, so it was interesting. Again, I went along on a bus with some others from the ship and I enjoyed this stop.

The downtown with Victorian architecture.

Inside the church.

The umbrella street has become iconic on social media, so of course this was a fun stop. It was packed with people.

Quite the colorful spot.

And everyone had to take pics with an umbrella. Weather was perfect in the low 80’s. We did get a little rain while we were out.

The pink street is also iconic, I had seen these spots on social media before I left, so it was fun to see them in person.

That’s a lot of pink to keep up!

Our tour guide, Alex, made this outing fun. He had a great personality and was very proud of his city.

Our ship is on the other side of the one you see.

An old fort on the island.

We then traveled to the top of the mountain, overlooking the city below.

With our cruise ship in port. It was fun to see it all from this vantage point.

There’s a gondola on top which is closed now for maintenance, but we went inside to see below.

My selfie!

Orchids in bloom on the island.

Another view of the ships. This island and city makes most of its money from tourists. They get a lot of cruise ships stopping in.

The Jesus statue, which is a duplicate of the one in Brazil, but not as big.

The flora and fauna on the island was beautiful.

Back on board for another dinner. Here’s the colorful poplin eyelet resort top from Chico’s I shared earlier. The pants are Chico’s from past years.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Next stop, San Juan Puerto Rico. I was alone on this excursion too and it was just a bus tour around old town and new town. I didn’t see all that much, except this marble government building and a stop by the beach.

Beach and high rise buildings.

Back to the ship and it started raining, so from here on out, I went curly. I don’t take all my hair products so I just have to wing it. I was planning to keep it straight all week, but if it gets wet, then it’s all over, so I just went with it.

View from our ship down to a beautiful smaller ship and Wonder of the Seas beyond. That’s a big ship from Royal Caribbean. The bigger ships hold a lot of passengers and I doubt I would get Mark on one of those. The Equinox is much smaller, around 2850 passengers.

St. Maarten

Finally, Mark was able to go with me on the St. Maarten excursion. These excursions are about 4 hours long, so it’s limited time on the islands. We didn’t do that much on this outing, it was just OK.

We were in a van with other couples and made a stop here first to see the water views.

It was pretty from up here.

They encourage shopping, so this area had lots of shopping of colorful island clothing, shops and restaurants.

I spotted this guy in the parking lot.

We went on to a beach and had over an hour to lounge on the beach, so we did that.

Interesting people watching.

The started sprinkling, so we cut that short by a bit.

It was relaxing while it lasted.

Back to the ship! I’ve enjoyed this black skort for warm weather with built in shorts. Very comfy! And my favorite crossbody travel purse. This purse is perfect and holds everything I need when I travel.

On board, the crew and staff did a parade around the pool area one day. They are all very professional and do a great job.

A few more things I wore, this Chico’s Sanibel island tee, I love with white pants or shorts.

They stressed 2 dressy nights, but we didn’t do anything too blingy. This tropical flowy dress is from Amazon.

I found this navy and white poplin top from White House Black Market before Christmas when my sis was visiting and we went shopping. I love how crisp it is and how it nips in at the waist. There are only smaller sizes left. I got a Small.

The ladies in our church group. We never did get a whole group picture, but we did have a great time!

And that’s a wrap on our Celebrity Caribbean cruise. It was a fun getaway in January and I certainly wouldn’t mind doing that again during the coldest time of our winter. We had a nice time with our church friends and I wish that Mark had not gotten sick, but what can you do. He just laid low in the room for a couple of days and I tried to bring him something that he would eat. He survived, but was ready to get home.

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