Overview. 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean Cruise (15-26 February, 2010) This cruise, on the Celebrity Equinox, was our 10th cruise. It was our first on a Solstice class ship. Overall, the ship was very nice (new), modern, and accommodating. I would judge the overall experience a bit below our normal Celebrity experiences, which is still above most other cruise lines. Cruise Director Dru Pavlov is enjoyable. He was also our Cruise Director aboard the Celebrity Mercury to the Mexican Riviera. We would cruise the Equinox again.
Arrival We flew into Fort Lauderdale two days early and stayed at the Comfort Inn located at 2520 Sterling Rd, Hollywood FL. The hotel definitely caters to the cruise ships. The crowds reflect it! The hotel has a shuttle service that provides airport pickup and will also provide transport from the ship to the airport after the cruise. The breakfast was a true battle but it was adequate, complete with hot waffles and plenty to fill up on. The bar is small but there are plenty of other options within walking distance. We walked over to the Dave and Busters for dinner. A car rental service is available at the hotel. We rented a Mercedes SLK 350 for Saturday night and Sunday. What can I say, we were on vacation! A Sunday morning trip over to the Sawgrass Recreation Park (http://www.evergladestours.com/) was worth the drive for a short airboat tour and wildlife preserve tour. I would recommend this as a budget-style hotel and we would stay here again. Total hotel cost with tax was $344.08 for two nights.
Embarkation The new terminal presented the most efficient cruise ship processing we have ever encountered! Quick and professional!
New, modern, and a big plus with the swivel-mounted LCD flat-screen TV with program options! Good location and not noisy at all even though we were just off the elevators. The sliding door seemed to do a fantastic job of dampening the outside sounds. We also prefered the sliding shower doors we had over the previous showers with a curtain.