Our first of six sea days went by like a flash…and the weather was perfect

Friday, November 13, 2009…My Equinox diary

Today was Friday the 13th but no one here on the Celebrity Equinox would have known it. The weather was just about perfect with a smooth following sea…a fine beginning to our six-day crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

If all sea days go by as fast as this one then our week will be over in no time. It seems that the day just flew by. There was certainly plenty to do. Some 59 activities were listed in the daily program. But what I noticed is that most people were occupying themselves with more mundane activities.

The card rooms are full…with people playing everything from Sequence, to Mah Jongg to Euchre. There are lots of bridge players with a large gathering every sea day at 11 a.m. in the conference center.

Almost every comfortable chair is occupied by someone reading…or napping…or meditating with their eyes closed.

The Fitness Center seems to be busy all day long with the treadmills and elliptical machines always occupied. The spa is busy but because of its extremely high prices I don’t think it is as busy as it might be. A 50-minute facial, with tip, costs $185….

One place that is very popular is The Lawn Club on Deck 15. This is a new addition to Celebrity’s newest two ships, the Solstice and Equinox. Up here there are two main features. There is a large lawn of natural grass that is used for bocce, quoits, golf putting, corn toss and croquet. They run informal tournaments and it is open for general play the rest of the time.

Here also is the Hot Glass Studio where glass blowers from the Corning Museum of Glass perform several times daily. Carl Siglin and G Brian Juk are the main glassblowers and very good narrators as well. They perform for a total of four hours every sea day in an open-air covered theater. There is also a small “museum” attached to the glass studio that explains in more detail how glass is blown. This feature is an excellent and innovative addition to shipboard entertainment.

Today we had lunch with two couples from Midland, Texas…they were Bill and Sonnye Dingler and Don and Minda Parks. They are “back-to-backers,” that is, they took the two-week cruise previous to this one as well. So they have been on board for three weeks already.

They had many tales to tell of their adventurous touring in Israel and Egypt, including a blown tire on a private van getting them back to the ship in Cairo. They also said they particularly enjoyed visiting Ephesus. Although the weather was poor most of that cruise, the exotic ports made it worthwhile. Bill is a semi-retired contractor and Don is a fine artist (www.donparksfineart.com).

Meeting such interesting people is one of the wonderful aspects of sitting with others at lunch.

Tonight was a formal night and there was an excellent show called “Limelight: The Broadway Dream.” The fact that the show tunes were familiar to most passengers made it more successful than the earlier stage production which featured music unfamiliar to most of us.