Was on the Millennium in Japan last September which left a bad impression of Celebrity. Ship was not in the best of shape and was due for refurbishment in early 2019. Things didn't go well on the cruise, seems like the Millennium didn't have the A team. Due to missed ports of calls we were given almost $300 each credit on a future cruise. Price was right so we decided to try the Equinox out of Fort Lauderdale. Wow, talk about night and day difference. My whole perception of Celebrity has changed.

My wife and I flew into Fort Lauderdale from Los Angeles the night before and stayed at Hampton Inn by the airport. Next morning we left hotel at 10 am by taxi which cost less than $15 for ride to the redesigned Celebrity cruise terminal 25. Hampton Inn wanted $10 per person for shuttle ride at 10:30 am. Since there was two of us, taxi was cheaper and we didn't have to deal with a crowded shuttle. 10 minutes later we arrived at the terminal. The driver took our bags out of the trunk and a porter was waiting curbside to take our luggage. The porter also had bag tags handy but we didn't need them as we already had our own tags. We walked into the terminal and was directed to a Celebrity agent whom checked us in and took our picture. We were told the keys would be at our cabin and to wait in the lounge until boarding. Since Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean, and we are diamond level on Royal Caribbean, our status transferred to Elite on Celebrity. Except for embarkation day, we went to Captains club happy hour at Sky Lounge every evening for free drinks and hors douvres than would go to dinner at our main dining time of 5:45. Shows were at 7 pm and 9 pm. Elysium show by ship dancers and acrobats is outstanding. Other nightly shows featured comedians Darreyl Joice and Jeff Nesse, both were excellent. We did not eat at specialty restaurants as we prefer main dining which offered something different every night but also had classic items such as shrimp cocktail, escargot, salmon, chicken and New York steak and you can get as much as you like. There is a hot glass studio on deck 15 where for a fee you can make something similar to available samples. We chose to make flowers. Cost $59 each. Best to register online before getting on ship to get best times. We could not get a slot on sail days because we did not preregister. We did not go on any shore excursions as we have been to these ports before. The Equinox does not have all the toys such as slides, wave rider, rock climbing wall, etc. We prefer this type of ship since we do not care for the toys and prefer more emphasis on service and elite benefits. Embarkation was painless. We left ship at 8:15 am and did not have to wait in a line. As we did not have anything to declare we exited through "nothing to declare" line, we didn't even have to show our identification to customs. Taxi fare to airport is $16 which is a fixed fare between cruise port and airport.