This was our 9th cruise and our 2nd on Celebrity and the Equinox, this time we brought our son and daughter in law with us for their first cruise. We flew into Ft Lauderdale on Thursday the 24th with the only hick up being that our son's flight from Maine on Jet Blue was delayed 3 hours. We stayed at the Quality Inn and Suites in Hollywood. We stayed there on our last cruise out of Port Everglades but it has gone down hill a lot in the last couple of years so we will not be staying there again next cruise.

The embarkation was fast and smooth, we arrived at the terminal at 11:15 and we were on the ship by 11:45. We headed straight to the Bistro on 5 for lunch. That was the only specialty restaurant that we ate at for this cruise but it was very good. They didn't rush us at all and the Banana Crep we had for desert was to die for. I strongly recommend it for a meal. We had our bags by about 2:30, unpacked went to the muster drill and headed to the sunset bar to meet up with the other Cruise Critic folks for the sail away party. It rained just a little but stopped just in time for the sail away.

The ship is a grand ship and even though it was sold out it never seamed overly crowded. We ate all of our dinners in the main dinning room with our server Ferdi. He and his helpers did a great job of taking care of us. It is always nice to be at the same table every night that way they get to know what you like and don't like. Our drinks were on the table waiting for us after the second night. GREAT SERVICE Read more