Eventually everyone made it to the port (about a 15 minute ride) and from there everything went very smoothly. To board our ship, the Celebrity Equinox, there was security screening similar to airline screening, but not as intense. The cruise lines have moving large numbers of people on and off ships down to a science. We were in our stateroom by 2:00 PM and up to the main café (Oceanview) for lunch. Our bags arrived later in the afternoon without a hitch and the ship left the pier promptly at 5:00p.m as scheduled. We moved smoothly away from the dock and out through the harbor, waving to people on land and on apartment balconies along the sides of the harbor. We will be at sea without stopping the first two days of the cruise so we will have plenty of time to explore the ship and see what she has to offer before arriving at our first Caribbean island.
We also had a lifeboat drill, responding to the emergency signal and proceeding to our assigned lifeboat station. We were shown how to put on a lifejacket and reminded that woman and children would board first in the unlikely event of hitting an iceburg and sinking into frigid Caribbean waters.
Everyone had an assigned table for dinner every night in the main dining room (Silhouette). This was included in the price of the cruise. Our seating was at 6:00 pm with the the 82nd SRS group seated in the same area. We sat with old friends Bob and Jane Hailey, John and Jeannie Meyer, and Ken and Myrtle Stoop. The guys were all navigators and had plenty of stories to tell about the “good old days” in Okinawa. The wives had their own stories as well.
There were over 2,000 passengers on the cruise and about 1250 staff members. Most of the staff was Pan Asian, African, European, or British Commonwealth. The senior ship officers were mostly European (The captain was Greek). We did meet a 2nd mate from Long Island. I am not sure what they pay everyone but staff were numerous, always smiling, and very friendly and helpful. It is amazing what you can do without a union if you treat your people right.
Food, entertainment, pool lounging/swimming , drinking, shopping and educational lectures and demonstrations are virtually available 24/7 on the ship. There are also plenty of shops and boutiques, endless opportunities to pose for and purchase trip photos, a casino, a walking/jogging track, and even a lawn with real grass on the top deck. There is a multitude of musical talent playing all styles of music in different lounges and locations around the ship each day. There is also a singing and dancing production in the large main theater each night with a different theme. There are also several lounges and late night shows in the lounges are common. We were told that the entertainment gets better and the jokes get funnier as the evening progresses. A few nights we actually stayed up until 11:00 pm or so (a big deal for us!)
Not everything to do on the ship comes with the price of the ticket. For example, beer, wine, and sodas cannot be brought onboard and must be purchased on the ship using your sea pass card – a charge/ID card you use to get off and on the ship while in port and to purchase items while at sea. Most food however, as well as coffee, tea and juice, except for the meals at three or four specialty restaurants, comes with the ticket. There was A LOT of food available almost all the time. We went as a group to one of the specialty restaurants one night and the the creperie restaurant twice, once for breakfast and once for dessert. Delicious.
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