CELEBRITY EQUINOX REVIEW - The Hurricane Irma Cruise

Celebrity Equinox review. 9/4/2017 sailing “The Hurricane Irma Cruise”

We’re 51 years old, married 21 years. For cuisine, I eat everything and my wife is a vegetarian. This was our 9th cruise and third on Celebrity, all three have been on the Solstice Class ships.

As you read through this you might think some areas quite negative, but you’re paying good money to go on your cruise so I like to give a true sense of what everything was like for us. Honestly it’s very VERY difficult to have a “bad cruise” because after all, you’re on a cruise ship being pampered day and night by the crew. The main difference between cruises is the level of service from the crew and the quality of the food as you compare ships.

I’m arranging this review by topic such as Embarkation, Ship, Dining, Stops / Excursions instead of by day so you can read everything about a particular topic at once.

Hurricane Season Cruising

Let’s start here because Irma was the most impactful hurricane ever on the cruise line industry and we had many friends and family could not believe we were sailing on Sept. 4th with Irma making a beeline for the Florida coast. We have been sailing during hurricane seasons since our very first cruise in September of 2006. It just happens to fall during our anniversary time. This is our first time actually being directly impacted by a hurricane.

A cruise ship is one of the safest places in the Caribbean during hurricane season. Why? It can change course. Islands can’t. The cruise line industry goes to great lengths to protect the passengers, the crew and the ship. It will never knowingly sail directly into the path of a major storm even though their ships are designed to handle major sea conditions.

We have absolute faith in the cruise line and especially the Captain of the ship to keep us safe and out of harm’s way. Captain Costas did not disappoint. The itinerary was changed twice to avoid the hurricane and the path of destruction she left. Captain Costas kept us updated each morning with an update on both the hurricane’s path and our position. We were never closer than about 480 nautical miles from Irma or José which got stronger as we sailed.

So do not let the situation with Irma deter you from sailing in hurricane season. Just be prepared to be flexible but know that the captain will keep the ship well away from any storms. Now communication BEFORE the cruise was lacking, but I’ll cover that shortly.

Celebrity Cruise Website:

Quite simply, the website is the worst in the cruise line industry. At least the worst we’ve encountered and we have sailed Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Disney along with Celebrity. Just the mere act of logging in can be painful with constant “Your account has been locked out, try again in 20 minutes” messages even though you’ve entered your username/password correctly. We heard from many on-board about the same experience.

Trying to pre-book excursions, dinners and even trying to register for the Cruise Critic meet up is near impossible. In fact we never could register for the Cruise Critic meet up at all. It crashed so much, we just skipped it. We booked all of our dinners online and were able to book our excursions one at a time over a period of two weeks of attempting to log in.

The website performance is one of the reasons we are cooling off on Celebrity for a while for future cruises. Simply too frustrating to try to book anything in advance.

PreCruise Hotel:

This was our second time sailing out of Miami and we really enjoy the South Beach area and this time we stayed at the El Paseo hotel on Espinola Way. This is a fun little hotel with AMAZING coffee 24 hours per day. It’s also situated on the historic Espinola Way with literally dozens of great places to eat within a 2 block radius including an amazing gelato shop about 100 yards from the front door. And you’re about 2 blocks from the beach. We loved the location and will stay here again for future cruises out of Miami.

One thing to note, Espinola Way is closed to traffic so you have to be dropped off on the street and walk your luggage to the hotel. It’s a short walk from Washington Street and a longer walk from Lincoln Road.

Important note, there are NO ELEVATORS in this hotel, it’s quite old and they do carry all of your luggage up for you to your room. But if you require an elevator to get up and down stairs, this is not the hotel for you.

Also note that Espinola Way is a hopping place at night, particularly on the weekends with the bars and restaurants being quite loud well into the night and early mornings. If you’re a light sleeper, you might want a pair of earplugs for sleeping.

Celebrity Communication (or lack thereof)

As I mentioned previously, we embarked on Sept 4th as Hurricane Irma was charging through the Caribbean. We knew the itinerary would change, but Celebrity never contacted us on an updated itinerary. It’s a fluid situation, but we expected to hear something from Celebrity the night before the cruise. Nothing ever came. I ended up following the lead meteorologist for Royal Caribbean on Twitter to get information (Celebrity is owned by Royal). Then I sent a direct message to the Celebrity Cruises Twitter account and they finally sent me an updated itinerary the evening before we sailed. But no email or text message from Celebrity informing us of the new itinerary, which really surprised me since they have our email addresses.

We go with the flow but we were hoping to get some heads up on the changes so we could plan out different excursions or dining plans based on the new itinerary. We fully expected the ship to switch to a Western Caribbean cruise but Celebrity stuck to the Southern (Eastern) Caribbean. We were told we were one of the only, if not the only, ship in the Eastern Caribbean during our sailing.

Embarkation and Itinerary Change:

First off you need to know that you cannot access your staterooms until at least 1pm. So we check all of our luggage with a porter when we arrive at the Port and simply carry on one small beach bag with our bathing suits and my laptop bag. The last thing we want to do is push around luggage on the ship while waiting for the rooms to open. Just check it all in and plan ahead to bring a few things onboard to lounge or explore the ship. And DON’T just stand around next to the fire doors waiting for your stateroom to open, that’s boring and you’re standing around with a bunch of people all whining that the doors aren’t open. Go start your vacation, get a drink and wander the ship at least.

The embarkation was the smoothest of any we’ve been through with a very efficient operation in the Miami terminal. We arrived about 10:45am and were through our Concierge line, onto the ship and at the pool 20 minutes later. Again, we just brought our bathing suits onto the ship so we lounged at the pool until they called the staterooms open about 1:10pm. We were surprised to find our luggage was already outside our stateroom when we arrived, typically the luggage arrives by 3pm or so, but in this case it was ready and waiting.

There WAS a new itinerary waiting for us on the bed that showed the first two stops (St Thomas and Tortola) were being replaced by a run to Curacao and an extra day at sea. We fully expected this as Irma was scheduled to be near St. Thomas the day we were expected to visit. The run to Curacao would keep us far south of Irma and in safe waters. The itinerary would change again once Irma tore through St. Martin leaving us very sad for the incredible people we have met in our previous trips to that island. We hope they all survived, are well, and we hope to be able to visit with them soon.

Original Itinerary: At Sea, At Sea, St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, St.Lucia, St. Martin, At Sea, At Sea.

Revised Itinerary: At Sea, At Sea, Curacao, At Sea, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Antigua, At Sea, At Sea.

The Ship:

This was our third time sailing a Solstice Class ship, with the other two being the Silhouette and the Reflection (read my review of the Reflection here). The Equinox has the distinction of being only one of three ships at sea that feature the Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass show up in the Lawn Club area, so that made this ship different for us than the other two. More about that later.

As with all Solstice Class ships, the Equinox is a pretty and well maintained ship. She has a lot of European styling throughout, it evokes the feel of a classic ocean liner with many modern touches. Yes that is real grass up on the Lawn Club, Deck 15. It’s a fun place to gather and they have lawn games like Bocce to play. The Solstice Pool is one of the nicer indoor pools at sea. The glass elevators behind the Grand Foyer on Deck 3 opens all the way up to Deck 15 allowing you to hear the bands and anything else going on all the way to the top of the ship. This is a good and a bad thing. The good is that you can be on any deck and hear the music. The bad is that if you’re just trying to play a game in the Game Room, read in the Library or work in the iLounge, the band sounds like it’s right in the room with you. The sound travels very well. Consider that when looking at the cabins directly adjacent to the rear elevators.

Most everything in terms of food and shops are laid out on Decks 3, 4 and 5. Some highlights are Bacio cafe on Deck 5 (coffee and pastries one side, gelato other side), World Class Bar on Deck 5 and Silk Harvest Restaurant (Deck 5).

Stateroom and Concierge Level:

Our stateroom was 1243, a Concierge level Stateroom on the Port side on the backside of the kick-out near the aft elevators. So to look forward we had to look around the cabin to our right, but we had a clear view looking straight out and aft. We booked the cruise through a warehouse membership site and chose the classic drink package and extra shipboard credits for our 2 incentivized options while booking.

The bathroom layout in the Solstice Class ships is among the most efficient of any cruise line. The space allows plenty of room to stand with the placement of the shower and toilet. There are plenty of cabinets and shelf space and even the trash can is tucked away. The shower controls are really nice with the water pressure and hot/cold controls separated so if you need to turn off the water during your shower, it comes right back on at the same temperature as when you turned it off. The shower is small, but functional and includes sliding glass doors so you don’t have to worry about shower curtains sticking to you during a shower.

Inside the cabin there is a good sized closet, but the dresser / drawer space is somewhat limited, just three of them. So we learned a trick from a fellow Celebrity traveler by purchasing 12” x 12” collapsible cubes that we place in the cabinet above the bed. This cabinet can easily hold 8 of these cubes and we’ll put our underwear, socks, t-shirts and other stuff in there. Another great tip is to get a wall hanging, canvas shoe rack and hang that on the bathroom door. We’ve used that for most every cruise we’ve been on.

We usually try to book an aft cabin because we enjoy the vibrations from the engines which helps us sleep, but in this case, we did book more mid-ship, right next to the aft elevators. We were concerned about foot traffic and late night noise from folks coming off the elevator, but we did not experience any issues during the 11 days.

As for the Concierge Level perks, the best perk was having access to the concierge herself, Dana. Booking excursions, dinners, answering questions, anything we needed, we just went to her. Usually without a wait. I will say the final day at sea, expect a long wait if you have questions for her.

The afternoon snacks were a bit disappointing and we generally did not eat them. Either they had been sitting in the room too long (like the shrimp) or just generally not something exciting.

The pillow menu was not all that great, the different types of pillows are simply not all that much different.

But the preferred access to and from the ship was great and again, having access directly to Dana to handle requests was worth the cost of the Concierge Level alone.

Internet and Celebrity App

Our absolute LEAST favorite part of the Celebrity Experience. They’re still charging by the hour / day which just feels like blatant price gouging. At the time of our sailing, $24 for one hour, $45 for one day and $299 for unlimited use (11 nights). Single device at a time. Now after you are at sea for half of the cruise, you’ll see another option show up which is a flat fee for 90 minutes, not continuous minutes. You can log in and out to use it. But you won’t see that option the first day. Also after about half the cruise, they will offer the unlimited at about $100 off.

Disney has set the internet standard that I wish everyone in the cruise industry would follow. They charge by the data usage, NOT the time spent online. So when I sailed the Disney Fantasy I paid less than $100 for 60MB of usage because I only planned to check emails. That was more than enough for what I had to do. That’s what I really wish Celebrity would do, switch to a data plan rather than a time limit plan, then I would actually use their internet package.

The Celebrity App is completely and utterly useless when you’re onboard. Literally USELESS. It’s just a sales tool for future cruises, it does absolutely nothing to help you while you are on-board. Again, Disney sets the standard with an app that is free to use onboard, with or without an internet package. The biggest thing the Disney app includes is in-app messaging to anyone else on-board so you can stay in contact with people in your party or anyone else you meet, without the need for internet service. That’s an awesome way to easily stay in touch with everyone. The app also includes the entire daily schedule, the ability to select ‘favorite’ activities and receive notifications that they’re about to start and the restaurant menus.

On the Equinox, it’s still that old fashioned paper schedule, and the use of shipboard telephones or home brought walkie talkies to stay in touch with everyone if you don’t have an internet package. Actually I suggest you take a photo of the daily schedule with your smartphone so you don’t have to worry about the paper. Celebrity has a real push to share “across the world networks” while on board, but they make the process cost prohibitive to do so. And they don’t offer any sort of a useful app for those of us who WOULD like to utilize our modern electronics more efficiently. As I said, internet is our least favorite part of the Celebrity experience. I hope they at least come up with a decent app that we can use to eliminate that paper schedule and allow us to stay in touch with each other on-board. It’s another reason we’re cooling off on sailing Celebrity for our upcoming cruises.

DRINK PACKAGES and the bars.

One of the most vexing choices for many cruisers are the drink packages. We avoided them early in our cruising vacations, but over the past 4 cruises we’ve taken advantage of them. Primarily because they’ve been incentivized into some of the room rates, we generally book a balcony room minimum. But even without the incentives, they are turning into a much better deal, even for moderate drinkers like ourselves.

First off, understand that the drink package does not JUST cover alcohol. It includes the specialty coffees, the smoothies, bottled waters and other bottled drinks and other items. So let’s say you love to have an Americano or two in the morning, a couple of Cappuccinos during the day and an espresso in the evening. Those five drinks each day could make the premium drink package worth it.

We are not heavy drinkers, but we do enjoy GOOD drinks. At the time we sailed, Celebrity was offering the Classic Drink Package as part of our stateroom rate. The Standard Drink Package covered all drinks up to $9. Anything above that you had to pay full price, NOT the difference. The Premium drink package was an additional $10/day and included all drinks up to $13. Anything above that, you simply pay the difference.

So we didn’t pay anything extra for the Classic Drink Package. We upgraded to the premium package for one specific bar, the World Class Bar which has most of its drinks at $12 with a few at $15. The way we did the math, $10/day for 11 days came to $110. If we had 2 drinks per evening at the World Class alone, that was $24/day or $264. So it totally made sense to upgrade to the Premium Drink package so we could enjoy that bar. And remember, that premium package included all the coffees, bottled water, beers and many other items. So with the ‘included’ drink package, it was well worth it for us to upgrade. We upgraded once we got onboard and took full advantage of it.

Bars in General

The Equinox continues the annoying Celebrity habit of putting alcohol on top of their frozen drinks. Order a frozen margarita, you have a pool of alcohol on top. Order a daiquiri, you have a pool of alcohol on top. Why Celebrity can’t put the alcohol into the blenders and blend the alcohol into the drink is beyond us. It’s one of the reasons we basically avoid all the ‘regular bars’ on the ship and opt for the World Class Bar when it’s open.

The drinks are also VERY inconsistent across all the bars, if you get your favorite drink at one particular bar and it’s made to your liking, make a note of the bar and the bartender who made your drink. No two bartenders make the same drink the same way. They’re all in a rush to get you done and move on to the next customer. We still couldn’t get a decent Mojito on this ship, just like our experience on Reflection, well except for the World Class Bar which takes the Mojito to a new level.

Slush

If you are a fan of frozen drinks, get over to Slush on the Starboard side of the ship, at the door that separates the Solarium (indoor) pool and the main pool. I believe it was open 12 - 6 most days. We generally had at least one drink per day here and I’ll say I had 5 different drinks here and they were all good, especially the Basil drink.

But the one I want to mention is the Mint Cookie. It sounds like it might be scary, but it’s an amazing chocolate mint shake essentially. Think of a frozen Thin Mint drink. They literally grind up a chocolate chip cookie in the drink! It’s especially good after lunch in lieu of dessert. All drinks at Slush are included in the Premium Drink Package.

World Class Bar

I’m going to mention this bar because most people will talk about the Martini Bar. They put on a great show, but honestly, we were disappointed by the four martinis we tried. A show is great, but I’m paying to have a really good drink.

The World Class Bar on Deck 5 makes some of THE best drinks at sea. They use top shelf ingredients and their bartenders take their time to craft every drink correctly. They’re not in a rush to get to the next customer, they’re ensuring each drink tastes exactly the same. The drinks cost a little more, and they can take 5 - 7 minutes to make, but if you really want to experience a hand crafted drink, often with hand shaved ice, make some time to hit the World Bar. Now the World Class Bar drinks are not included in the Classic Drink Package so if you have that package, you’ll have to pay full price for each drink. If you’re in the Premium Drink Package, all the $12 drinks drinks will be included, which is most of them. Or you’ll have to pay the difference between the package and the drink itself. They also feature top shelf drinking whiskey and other spirits which are priced by the shot.

I will highly recommend the Old Fashioned, Bulleit Infusion, El Don Julio, Tropically Yours (think Pina Colada) and the Sailorman’s Crush which is the best Mojito at sea. My wife also loved the Strawberry Fields and Celebrity No. 10.

We generally arrived each evening at 6pm enjoying one drink, then taking a second drink with us to the 7pm show, then grabbing a third drink after the show to take to dinner. On occasion we would come back for another drink after dinner or after some evening entertainment. The drinks are that good and make the premium drink package well worth it.

I also highly recommend getting to know Tamara and Johnny at the bar. Tamara will fill you knowledge about all of the drinks, the preparation and the ingredients they use at that bar. I enjoyed watching them work, asking questions and learning about new spirits I had never tasted before.

Overall the inconsistent quality of the drinks at the bars and that habit of putting a pool of alcohol on top of the frozen drinks are two of the reasons we’re bypassing Celebrity for our planned cruises for the next two years.

DINING. (including Vegetarian options and Coffee)

We typically don’t use assigned dining times on our cruises opting for “anytime” dining because we like the flexibility that brings. We did go with the anytime dining but we did pass on the Dining Package. The reason being that the ship offered a 30% discount for the first night of the cruise for speciality dining, so we went to Murano. They offered a second 30% discount the third or fourth night of the cruise, so we visited Silk Harvest on that evening. We also went to Tuscan Grille once and then Silk Harvest again on our final evening. All told, we spent a bit less than if we had gone with the dining package since we got two of the meals at 30% off. I’m not sure how often they offer that second 30% off deal but if you see it, take it.

Vegetarian options could still be improved. Celebrity is average in terms of their main dining and speciality dining vegetarian options. In fact, Tuscan Grille only has one main course that’s vegetarian and Murano has none. I’m honestly not sure why Celebrity can’t offer a minimum of 2 - 3 main vegetarian courses on every menu in every restaurant. For vegetarians the Oceanview Cafe and Silk Harvest are your best choices. The main dining rooms will have vegetarian options, just don’t expect them to be very exciting.

I’ll start with coffee because I LOVE COFFEE and that’s always one the things I test right away on a ship, the free coffee. The free coffee that is available at most of the drink stations is Lavazza and it’s the best ‘free’ coffee I’ve had on any cruise line. It’s still not “great” but it’s the best free coffee and it does make a great iced coffee. Just fill one of the blue cups with ice, make the coffee in a coffee cup, then transfer the coffee to the blue cup. Most of the bars have an espresso machine and of course Cafe Bacio on the 5th Deck is the main coffee shop. The coffee is a fee unless you have the premium drink package.

Since we’re on coffee I’ll mention that coffee and drink machines are available 24/7 in many areas across the ship. You’ll see the Lavazza coffee machines and drink machines in the pool areas, the Hideaway and of course the buffet area.

Breakfast we varied between the Solarium and the Oceanview Cafe (buffet). If you’re in the mood for something light and (yes) healthy, for breakfast, visit the small cafe in the Solarium. They make smoothies, have fresh fruit, granola types of bars along with coffee and tea. Generally no lines at all and the food is filling. Note the smoothies have a fee and are included in the Premium Drink Package.

If you’re a fan of omelettes, they make good ones in the Oceanview Cafe and note that there are two omelette stations on opposite sides of the buffet. So if you see a line at one, go to the other one. They also make eggs to order here. The eggs benedict are not bad and I did enjoy the version with corned beef hash. And for some reason I LOVE the fried bread in the British station. Put some eggs on top of that fried bread, add a little cheese and you have an amazing breakfast. Not a very healthy one mind you, but amazing.

Silhouette Dining Room

We only had dinner here two or three nights as we are on the anytime dining plan and we kind of went with whatever the mood struck us. I will say the Silhouette dining room was a vast improvement over the food quality and service we received in the Opus dining room on the Reflection. Food was well prepared, service was prompt and friendly and so long as we were either sharing a table or requested a table of 4 or larger, we were seated right away. If you want to hold out for a table for 2 you might have a bit of a wait. We’re not fans of table for 2, we love meeting other guests. We generally came in for dinner here around 7:30 - 8:00pm after the early show.

Tuscan Grille

Tuscan Grille is tucked into the rear of the ship and is made to invoke the feeling of an Italian wine cellar. The dinner experience was honestly disappointing, especially as we had a very good experience on Reflection. First as a vegetarian, know that your entree options will be limited. On our trip, it was a single pasta dish. Don’t go by the menu online as it changed when we sailed Reflection so check the menu onboard before you book if you are a vegetarian.

We were just the two of us. The meal started out well with the appetizers which were quite tasty, but fell apart with the entrees. I had the tuna steak entree which literally tasted like a hunk of cardboard. Thick, dry and flavorless. I had a few bites and left most of the portion on the plate. When I mentioned this to the waiter he just smiled and said “Thank you.” My wife’s fish entree was a bit better so that was something.

We skipped dessert entirely as we just wanted to get to get out of there. All in all, disappointing, especially as it’s a $35/pp markup and because we had a great experience on the Reflection. We would have had a better meal in the buffet for no extra charge.

Murano

First off, if you are a vegetarian, you have one choice of entree which is the risotto appetizer which they will make a larger portion for an entree. You can make a meal out of the four vegetarian starters as well. It would be nice if Murano would offer at least two proper vegetarian entrees, but this is our third time sailing with Celebrity and it was the all three times.

Now, unlike Tuscan Grille, the Murano experience was very good and much like our first experience on the Silhouette. The service was impeccable and our server was happy to ‘bend the rules’ and pretty much went with the flow with our requests. For example, I love cheese. I mean LOVE cheese and typically the cheese course is served before dessert. I asked if he would mind bringing a few cheese selections to the table before the appetizers and the server more than obliged by bringing the entire cart over and making a nice plate of pre-meal cheese.

The appetizers are a bit pretentious and the scallops appetizer was rubbery and bland, much like my previous experience with that appetizer. I should have learned my lesson. But you really come here for the main course and if you’re a lobster fan, the table side prepared lobster is awesome. The server did an excellent job preparing the dish and it’s one of my favorite dishes at sea.

We did do the second cheese course as our dessert because we decided to simply pass on the dessert with the quality of the meal.

Silk Harvest

We ended up dining here twice and it’s easily the best Asian themed restaurant I’ve dined in at sea, and one of the best restaurants period I’ve dine in at sea.

I can honestly say that over the two dinners, because we were with friends, we literally tried just about everything on the menu. There is nothing I would not order again, it was all incredible. Especially the shrimp tempura, it’s unlike any tempura dish I’ve ever had. Typically they’re covered in a thick batter almost like onion rings, but this was nothing like that. Just incredibly flavored with an amazing sauce on top. The duck is melt in your mouth amazing.

One caveat I will say, is you will see a Whole Sea Bass on the menu and it might scare you because you’re probably picturing a whole bass coming out on the plate like some asian restaurants do. Don’t let it scare you. It’s not really a whole sea bass, it’s the filets still attached to the tail. So it’s boneless and fully fried filets, they are delicious.

One more thing, the hot pot is literally a hot pot of broth brought to your table and the raw ingredients are brought out separately so you can prepare the hot pot to your liking. We saw a couple next to us order it and I’m not sure I would get this for the table. For one thing, it’s very hot, as in physical heat coming off the flame and the bowl. For another, a hot pot should really simmer for a while to let the flavors come together and you really don’t want to wait that long at a dinner table for that to happen. The couple said it was pretty good, but it is a bit of a chore to put that one together plus deal with the heat. Just an FYI.

Sushi On 5

Sushi on 5 had just gotten started prior to our sailing last year on Reflection and at the time, it was a so-so experience. I’m happy to say they’ve tweaked on this restaurant and while it’s still not perfect, it’s improved.

First off for a vegetarian, it may not be worth it. Only one roll is available and if it’s still like it was last year, it’s just an ok roll.

If you eat seafood, there are plenty of options and they are quite good. We shared the tuna appetizer with small tuna slices and that is so good. I honestly can’t remember the rolls as we had two or three of them, but they were all good. The one thing they still get wrong is the rice is a bit too mushy, it should be a bit drier and stiff for sushi, but the flavors in the rolls more than make up for it.

This is an ala-carte menu so you pay about US market value for the sushi. We didn’t find it priced much differently than the many sushi restaurants we visit around Atlanta.

Oceanview Café (Buffet and Ice Cream)

This is a good buffet although I will mention that this is the first time in 9 cruises we actually had difficulty finding seating in the buffet for lunch. We always avoid ‘prime time’ in the afternoons from 11:30am - 1:000pm but even coming in at 1:30 or 2:00pm we had a hard time finding seats. For dinner, the buffet is generally wide open and for breakfast it’s going to be crowded, but you should not have too much trouble finding a seat.

For breakfast the buffet does not really change, but be sure to walk around the entire buffet at lunch and dinner as those do have some great variations. I always walked the entire buffet before grabbing a plate to see what was out there as some items are tucked away in a place you might not expect because that’s where there was room.

If you’re a vegetarian who loves Indian cuisine you’ll be both happy and disappointed. The Indian flavors are good, but they served the exact same Indian dishes all 11 days, dal and mixed vegetables. But for the most part, breakfast, lunch and dinner, this buffet really hits the spot with outstanding dishes, with a few misses of course, like the pizza. Their dough still tastes like flour even after its baked. The fish and chips had a line and I will say the fish was great, but skip the chips. The regular french fries are great, but the steak fries with the fish were soggy. A great find are the enchiladas when they are out there.

Speaking of salad, they have a very good salad bar, two actually, and most lunches I would put together a nice salad starting out at the salad bar and then adding either cold cuts or some of the hot meats to the top. You can make a great taco salad adding beef, onions and cheese sauce from the Mexican station for example. One day they had skewers of beef and chicken which I laid on top of a salad.

The desserts are very hit or miss depending on your tastes but for the most part we had great luck. Anything with pastry dough was usually good, cheesecakes were not bad, most chocolates were very good. Cakes and cupcakes are VERY hit or miss.

The free ice cream is quite good and I often made a sundae of sorts by asking them to put a chocolate chip cookie in the bottom of a bowl, then adding two scoops of ice cream on top, top that off with sauce and whipped cream. Chocolate and Peanut Butter flavors were my favorites.

When it’s not too windy, there’s a great outdoor seating area at the very back of the buffet. You’ll also find a full service bar on the port side of the buffet that also serves as array of coffee drinks.

Cafe Al Bacio / Gelateria

The Cafe Al Bacio is always very busy due to the great coffee and tea drinks they provide. Don’t be put off by a long line as they have quite an efficient operation and you’re usually through there in 10 minutes or less no matter how long the line is.

If you want a REALLY good coffee in the morning and the Lavazza in the buffet is not cutting it for you, just ask for an Americano. That will get you going in the morning and it’s what I had most mornings. Cappuccino and Cafe Mochas were my go-to afternoon drinks. My wife always gets iced tea here as they have a wide variety of teas to choose from. Everything I ordered from Cafe Al Bacio was included in the Premium Drink Package.

The Gelateria was pretty good, though we only came here twice during the cruise. The coconut was the strongest of any of their flavors. None of the other flavors were nearly as good as our original Celebrity sail on the Silhouette so that leads me to believe they’ve changed the recipes since our original cruise. As the Gelato has an additional fee applied, unless you REALLY love the gelato, you might consider sticking with the ice cream up in the buffet.

PORTS OF CALL AND EXCURSIONS

First off, just gotta mention again, we are done with the “official cruise line shopping.” It’s the same stores over and over and over and over….. because these companies pay the cruise lines to hawk the stores. If you want to find try local shops and restaurants to try, talk to the crew before you get to a port. They’ve been to these ports dozens of times and they know the “real” places you want to go. We actually got some great tips from the glassblowers as they cannot work when at port so they are always exploring. I’m looking forward to the day when cruise lines actually promote the local port, culture and food in their excursion maps instead of the same usual suspects. If I never ever EVER see ‘Diamonds International’ again, that’s perfectly fine by me.

I’m also going to mention that the Photographers can be downright rude at the ports. At one of the ports there was a crewman dressed in an awful parrot costume. It was so awful I thought it’d be fun to get a picture with him. My wife was going to take a photo of the photographer taking a photo of me. The photographer turned to her and literally threw his hands onto the phone and told her NO and to leave. Incredibly rude. All he had to do was simply ask her to not take a photo. I was almost ready to do something stupid but it was simply not worth it. He was an ass every time I saw him so why stoop to his level?

Curacao

Thiswas our first port of call and as it was a last minute change, we didn’t make any excursion plans. We opted to walk across the pontoon bridge to the incredibly colorful shopping and restaurant district. One of the best features of Curacao is the free wifi throughout the town. Even the crew talked about it. Once we crossed the bridge we had wifi the entire day.

The pontoon bridge is a real bridge, it’s not some wobbly wooden bridge suspending on a few pontoons. Anyone can walk across it and getting a wheelchair or scooter across should be no problem. We were in port for a long day, 8am - 8pm so grabbed breakfast at the cutest little cafe on a side street. No clue the name or what street, but the three women setting up the place were all chatting and laughing so we were drawn to the place. I had a decent egg sandwich and cappuccino and my wife just went with a bagel. Simple meal, but a pleasant time chatting with the three women about the island and living there.

There are a lot of fun shops that go far beyond the typical port of call shopping and we did not get any pressure from folks to come in and buy or get approached by people try to get us to buy stuff. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable port to explore.

Barbados

Here we opted for the 4x4 Open Air excursion to Harrison’s Cave. There’s honestly no reason for the open air 4x4 for this excursion except that it’s a really fun way to ride around the island. You’re sitting in the bed of a modified Toyota LandCruiser that seats 10. It’s about a 20 - 30 minute ride to the caves and the excursion in the caves itself is about 40 minutes total. It is quite beautiful inside as they take you down into the caves via the tram. They do a nice job of ‘revealing’ the caves by having you approach many of the cavern areas in near darkness and then the lights come on. Much like lighting up a stage. It was quite eerie and beautiful.

At the conclusion of the Caves tour, the driver will offer you some refreshments including Rum Punch. In our case he had a full gallon of rum punch and I will say that the rum did not make it back to the port. After leaving the caves he drove us to the Atlantic Ocean side of the island and down to a remarkable beach area where we had about 15 minutes to wander the beach and take photos. It was quite beautiful with the exposed coral formations. Then it was back into the truck and more rum punch.

On the final leg of journey from the beach to the ship our driver opted to go off road and through areas of both fields and rainforest types of areas. It was an absolute hoot and the free flowing rum punch added to the hysterics of everyone on board. Let’s just say we boarded as 10 strangers and left as 10 long lost friends. Between the driver, the off roading and the rum, we had an absolute blast going through the countryside on our way back to the port. This is definitely a fun tour to do at least once.

St. Lucia

For this stop we chose the Rainforest Tram experience at the last minute. Because the weather was going to be very hot again, we thought the rainforest would offer a cooler respite and a more laid back experience from the 4x4 the day before.

I’ll be honest and say this excursion is overpriced for what it is. I believe we paid in the neighborhood of $130/pp and it would have been an acceptable excursion for up to $75/pp. It’s a very long ride to get up to the mountains, the van we were riding in had barely useable A/C for the ride up and for the ride back, the A/C quit. So we were quite overheated by the time we got back to the ship.

The tram itself was pleasant, the guide very nice and knowledgeable, and it was nice looking at the trees and the area from a unique vantage point above the trees. But again, at $120 - $130/pp the excursion did not justify the price. We were so hot by the time we got back to the port we just went directly back to the ship.

Martinique

We were scheduled to do an excursion but cancelled out of it because of the heat we endured the day before. So we opted to make this a retreat on the ship day enjoying the quiet of a ship at port.

Note that Martinique is part of France so they accept Euros for payment. For all intents and purposes, Martinique is France so just as you would not expect to use American dollars in France, don’t expect to use them here. There are ATMs near the port to get Euros for shopping.

I will also note that the pier is a LONG walk to the shore and a long walk to pretty much anywhere so be aware of that. It’s a really nice pier, but set well out from shore.

Antigua

This island had one of my favorite excursions ever, Reef Riders and snorkeling. First off, it’s amazing riding around Antigua as it is part of a nation with Barbuda, only 30 nautical miles away and it got barely a scratch from Irma. Now for the reef riders you take a 30 minute van ride to the pier where the reef riders are waiting. They’re rigid inflatable boats that hold two people, the driver and rider. You sit on a bench like on a jet ski, but you have standard boat controls with a steering wheel and throttle. The boats are powered by a 25hp outboard motor. They are a LOT of fun to drive.

You start with an 8 mile drive out to the reef location, following the lead guide. It’s a beautiful ride out and the reef itself is a 2 mile reef. Once there, the guide anchors to the reef and then ties the rest of the boats to his. I actually don’t snorkel, my wife does, and she said the snorkeling was pretty good. Not as good as some other areas, but the water was beautiful and the location beautiful.

I think we had about 40 - 60 minutes at the reef. It was plenty of time. Now the WORST part about the excursion is getting back into the boats. They don’t have a step, nor do they have rope along the middle so it’s near impossible to get back into the boat by yourself. The guide gets himself in and then pulls you in. If they would add a single step to the side of the boat or a rope along the bench, you could probably pull yourself in.

At about the halfway point of the ride home, you come to a large area with a beach on one side. At this point, the guide will stop you and let you know you have 5 minutes to ‘go have fun’ with the boats. As I said, these boats are a LOT of fun to drive and I used this time to do a lot of sliding around with them. They go quite fast for a 25hp motor as they come right up and out of the water. If you’re looking for something fun and different, this is a great excursion, even with the pain of getting back into the boat.

If you choose to walk around the city, let me say that Antigua is a very difficult port city to walk around as the infrastructure is not that great. You will find very rough and often very crooked sidewalks that slant down into the roads. This is a very difficult area for those who cannot walk well and I would not encourage wheelchairs or scooters to simply roam around the port city. It’s VERY crowded and very difficult to move around even just walking.

People were very aggressive in trying to get us to purchase items both from the stores and also in the streets. This was the most aggressive we have seen folks outside of Falmouth, Jamaica. So just be aware of that. This may have been due to the influx of refugees from Barbuda, but it’s something we noticed right away when the van driver dropped us off back at the port. We had to run a gauntlet of people in the shopping area as we walked back to the ship.

Behind the Scenes All Access Tour

On the second to last day at sea we took this all access tour, which was $99/pp when we sailed. We’ve done the free tours on other ships but this one offered access to the Engine Control Room along with the Bridge which we’ve never had access to either of those areas before. It was a very entertaining just over 2 hours exploring many areas of the ship including Laundry, Galley, Food and Alcohol storage, Crew Mess, Crew Bar, Recycling, and the engine control room and bridge.

What really struck me as we walked around was how incredibly clean and polished the crew areas are. You could almost eat off the floors they were so clean and shiny. It was definitely enlightening tour to see what the crew does below decks and some of the areas where they work. The Engine Control Room was entertaining and incredible to see all the controls that literally run the ship. Bring a lot of questions too because the engineer will keep answering as long as folks want to ask.

In the Bridge we were met with the third watch officer and she was from England. We got to stand off to one of the far sides of the bridge where the main controls are duplicated and used for docking and embarkations. There’s actually a glass window in the floor so the captain can look directly down and see the bow relative to anything around it. Incredible how the ship is controlled with a series of small joysticks and levers.

All in all a very good in depth look at how the ship operates. $99/pp might be a bit high, but then you generally don’t get access to the Bridge or Engine Control Room every day.

SHOWS, ENTERTAINMENT AND CLUBS

As with her sister ship, Reflection, the main production shows in the Equinox Theater are, to put it gently, disappointing. The casts are quite good, the orchestra is good, the lighting design is good, however the shows themselves are a mess with the fault lying at the hands of those who create and choreograph them. But let’s start with the unexpectedly really good show.

Corning Museum of Glass Hot Glass Show on the surface sounds like a boring, art show. We planned to stop in for 10 or 15 minutes and then go on to something else. We sat for the entire 2 hours and ended up watching 5 or 6 of their shows. It was incredibly entertaining and just so beautiful at the same time.

The three glassblowers were Megan, Theresa and Briana and they played off each other like sisters. Each person makes one piece per show. Usually one piece is very complex, one piece is large and the final piece is somewhat ‘easier.’ Their work is not sold, so they are free to create whatever they feel like and because there is no pressure, they often push themselves. It was incredible to watch them handle the 2100 degree glass and simply shape it into the best artwork on the ship. Not everything works. Some pieces broke after the artist spent nearly an hour working on them. They simply shrugged it off and moved on to the next piece.

One piece, dubbed the ‘miracle blue bowl’ was literally dropped as Theresa was completing the piece. It was supposed to be a vase but just as she was re-heating it for one of the last times, it simply fell off the pipe. Because it was well over 1000 degrees, it bounced instead of breaking. Megan jumped in with kevlar gloves, picked up and literally held it in front of the oven with her hands while Theresa got a new pipe ready to pick it back up. The entire team worked together to not only save the piece, but create an incredibly gorgeous bowl out of the process.

It was their nature and commentary that made the shows so much fun so your mileage may vary if you go see the show, but I encourage you to take it at lease one show and you might be surprised. And while they cannot sell their works on-board, you can win them if the mood strikes the glassblowers to hold a raffle at the end of a show. There is also an auction on the final sea day of 7 of the pieces created on that cruise. The most expensive item for our auction went for $1,950 and it was a sea turtle created by Megan.

Ok, on to the ‘regular shows.’

I’ll be honest and admit we avoided Elysium on this cruise, having experienced it previously on Reflection. Here’s a copy of the review I wrote previously and according to our new friends who saw the show on Equinox, the review is still valid:

Elysium has the honor of being THE worst show we have ever witnessed at sea with this being our 9th cruise. It seemed like someone who has zero experience in theater watched Cirque du Soleil on TV and said “hey I can make a show like that.” No, no you can’t. I have no idea who the target audience is, but it’s not the audience on the ship. The story involved a girl who had to take over for a queen of seasons or something like that, but it was what we lovingly call a “hot mess.” The storyline made no sense. The choreography and staging made no sense. There was a period of about 6 minutes with absolutely no dialogue and a never ending dance number that got more confusing as it went on. At one point I made a joke to my wife that the oompa loompas were being controlled by the queen with the TV antennae on her head. Immediately after I said that, she started singing “A World of Imagination” from Willy Wonka. I kid you not. After 22 minutes of nonsense, we left the theater literally trying to figure out what the hell we just saw. Here’s the thing, we are on a cruise ship enjoying our evening, we just want to be entertained and have a little fun. I understand that it’s cheaper for the cruise lines to create original shows so they don’t have to pay royalties for popular songs, but there is no need for some existential ‘deep intelligent’ theater show. How about some fun songs and little comedy. If you feel the need to see Elysium be sure to either sit in the very back or along the aisle so you can easily escape the theater.

Life we also skipped because we ended up hanging at the World Class Bar this evening.

Topper we gave it a chance because it had a Mad Hatter / Alice In Wonderland vibe. Well that vibe ended when the show started. We made it about 10 minutes through the first number from the folks in the hat. The couple with us looked at us and said “what the hell is going on?” At that point we all started to laugh and left. Again. No slight to the performers, they didn’t create the show. Just a mess of a show with no point.

The Broadway At Sea show was much better than the one we watched on Reflection. They actually performed some fun songs from Broadway instead of competing against each other sing the most incredible power ballad. Still too many ballads at the end, but much closer to what a cruise ship show should be. Fun songs, sing along and make it a fun hour.

A surprise show was The Chico Show. Chico is the assistant cruise director who had apparently been developing a one man show. He was supposed to present the show as a one-off matinee but due to Hurricane Irma, two of the planned entertainment acts could not get to the ship. So his matinee turned into to feature presentations in at 7 and 9pm. I’ll be honest and say we were expecting the worst, but this ended up being one of the most fun and entertaining shows of the week. He can really sing, he had fun on stage, did a great duet with his father (via video projection) and even did a great song with about 8 Chico backup singers. In other words, it was a perfect cruise ship show, something fun and entertaining for an hour. Big props to Chico for pulling this show off in short notice.

The final Variety Show was a disappointment. One of their singers chose a song about never finding love. Great song for the last night of a cruise. Then the rest of their singers went with the boring power ballad route, so we left. It’s the last night of the cruise, how about leaving us with a fun remembrance of the theater? These people just take themselves too seriously like we’re looking for the most incredible vocal performance of our lives. We’re not, we’re looking for a fun last evening at sea.

As for other featured entertainers in the theater, there was an awful piano entertainer who should just permanently park himself at a bad Las Vegas piano bar. The schtick was old and tired, we stayed for two songs and left, they should have put one of their regular bands in the theater for that night. The first comedian of the week was fun. The second comedian of the week was AWFUL. Let me say that again, AWFUL. It’s like he didn’t even have an act prepared, just trying to riff off the audience. The magician was quite good, surpassing our expectations, though the second show where he did the mental tricks was not as good, it went on too long. The juggler, not bad, at least he didn’t take himself seriously which added to the fun.

Movies are shown in the Celebrity Central theater on Deck 4 and it’s honestly not a great place to watch a movie. Small screen, not the best projector, decent sound. If you really want to see a movie, go there, but don’t expect the best experience.

The bands and performers around the ship are quite good. We had two primary bands alternating along with guitarists and small vocal groups. The DJ was honestly annoying in the bars in the evenings. No clue why he was there, but whenever he was set up at the Martini Bar or the World Class Bar he was just annoying.

What Celebrity is really missing is a second performance venue. On every other ship we’ve sailed there is a second performance venue with acts performing at the same time as the main shows. It might be a piano bar, it might be a smaller theater, but there is a second venue where you can come in to sit or dance to a live performer. It might even be a comedian or magic act, but something that gives you an option to the main theater show. There is a Grand Foyer on the Celebrity ships but that’s not the best performance venue in the world though it would make for a great piano bar setup. Maybe dueling pianos. Celebrity could use the Sky Lounge as the second performance venue, but they don’t utilize it that well, nor do they book acts in that room to ‘compete’ with the main theater.

Celebrity does not have the best track record in bringing in outside entertainers. No clue why, but they’re not great and as I mentioned, their stage shows are the worst we’ve seen at sea. That and the lack of a true second performance venue are more reasons we’re passing on Celebrity for the time being for future cruises.

DISEMBARKATION, LEAVING THE PORT

Due to all the issues with Hurricane Irma and the Port of Miami being closed for several days, there was a change in our arrival time at the port from 7am to 6am. That backed everything up so they requested that we be out of our staterooms by 7am Disembarkation morning. That’s the earliest we’ve had to be out of our rooms, but we understood the reasoning.

Being a Concierge level cabin, our waiting point was the Sky Lounge where they had coffee, tea and danishes while we waited. We were group 46 with an 8:30 expected disembarkation time. Unlike Reflection, the announcements calling out the groups were made throughout the ship so we could clearly hear what groups were being called off. We were called off just before 8:30am.

The exit off the ship was simple, but we did have an issue at the baggage carousel. We got 3 of our 4 bags off the carousel in a few minutes, but after waiting 15 minutes for the final bag, I finally walked to another carousel. Sure enough, after 5 minutes waiting there, that final bag came out on the wrong carousel. Someone had ripped the number 46 luggage tag off the bag so it was just randomly placed onto a carousel. An annoyance but not the end of the world.

We flagged down a porter because they will simply bypass the long line of people taking off their own bags and take you right to the front of the line at customs. It’s a nice perk and they take your bags out directly to the taxi line.

Wrap Up:

While there is a lot to like about Celebrity, the three cruises have gotten progressively less enticing than the previous. By that I mean our very first cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette was amazing from entertainment to food to events to staff to the full experience on-board.

Reflection was a let-down from Silhouette and Equinox was about the same in the service, but with the disappointment in Tuscan Grille and the monotony of the terrible theater shows, we’re taking an extended pause from Celebrity for the time being. There are so many ships out there that look they have more to offer for what we’re looking for in a vacation so we’re going to do some exploring.

As I always tell my friends, “if you have a bad time on a cruise, you worked really hard at it.” It’s not that we had a bad time on Equinox, it’s just time for us to look for new adventures on other cruise lines. If you sail Equinox tomorrow, you will have a good time and meet some great people, especially at the World Class Bar.

I hope this review has been helpful in your planning and happy sailing!

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Wow, what an incredibly comprehensive review. Thank you. Last time I was on Equinox, Tuscan Grill was excellent so it's a shame you didn't think it was up to par.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise despite the itinerary changes and the few disappointments you had with Celebrity.

Thank you for your review. We were on the Equinox last month. We loved the show Topper and thought the entertainers were wonderful.

thank you for the review - it was very detailed.

carol

Wow, pretty much spot on with my last couple of cruises on Celebrity. I'm not sure what the target audience is for the entertainment on board. Most of it I don't like, nor do my friends even my mom hates most of it. My last two we have not even gone near the theater unless there is a comedian on. We just hang out in the World Class Bar until the Sky Lounge has music. We have also had some really poor experiences at the bars around the ship. Although if you get to know a bartender or two you can usually get them to make your drinks they way you like them. And to be honest most ships I've been on are pretty inconsistent in the drinks dept. I think Carnival is he worst. I've sent more drinks back on Carnival than all the other cruise lines combined. But like you said, we are on a cruise so really how bad can it be. We know to avoid the theater, we are learning how to deal with the bar staff (by the way a tip here and there works wonders!) so it is bothering us less than it used to. We are on the Infinity in two weeks and although I'm bummed there is no World Class Bar I'm sure I can persuade a bartender to make me something close to one of their drinks.;)

Celebrity Equinox review. 9/4/2017 sailing “The Hurricane Irma Cruise”

 

Martinique

We were scheduled to do an excursion but cancelled out of it because of the heat we endured the day before. So we opted to make this a retreat on the ship day enjoying the quiet of a ship at port.

 

Note that Martinique is part of France so they accept Euros for payment. For all intents and purposes, Martinique is France so just as you would not expect to use American dollars in France, don’t expect to use them here. There are ATMs near the port to get Euros for shopping.

 

I will also note that the pier is a LONG walk to the shore and a long walk to pretty much anywhere so be aware of that. It’s a really nice pier, but set well out from shore.

The times I've been to Martinique (Fort de France) by cruise ship we docked right downtown.

You didn't dock in front of the town centre?

Thank you for your review... and sorry your wife was not catered to as she needed to be.

Being a low fat vegan, I have found letting the Maitre 'd know ahead of time, they will prepare something to liking. On Silly, we ate in Murano twice, the first time they prepared risotto which was excellent IMO, upon leaving I did tell the MD when we would be returning and that risotto was off the list of what I wanted. They prepared a phenomenal lasagna that night which was off the charts! The best meal by far... for me on that sailing.

On Millie this year, the chef prepared something different each night and the pastry chef prepared a dessert each night and made cookies and cupcakes awaiting me in Cafe al Bacio several days.

Net net, I always recommend speaking with the Chef before-hand on food desires and more than likely it will be achieved. I do not enjoy some of the standard items on the menu for vegetarians and vegans. Although they did have Indian dishes on Millie available which were good.

bon voyage

I was on Equinox last month and I actually liked the entertainment. At least the shows were different and not the same type of production shows that are so cookie cutter on most lines.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your report. And when I went back to find something you said, I was stunned that it was as long as it is! But so well written (paragraphs, I love them!) and formatted, a pleasure.

The Gelateria was pretty good, though we only came here twice during the cruise. The coconut was the strongest of any of their flavors. None of the other flavors were nearly as good as our original Celebrity sail on the Silhouette so that leads me to believe they’ve changed the recipes since our original cruise. As the Gelato has an additional fee applied, unless you REALLY love the gelato, you might consider sticking with the ice cream up in the buffet.

Thanks again for all of the great port info. I will re-read this when we sail in November.

I was on this cruise as well and had the same opinion of this cruise. I feel any cruise is a treat and I'm thankful to be on a ship.. that being said I doubt I'll sail Celebrity again. I've never been in my cabin so early while cruising each night. Other than drinking and dancing to a poor band entertainment was scarce.

Does anybody know the "real" reason the cruise director Sara Romera left in the middle of the cruise?

Thanks for such a great review! Do you think packing cubes smaller than 12" x 12" would work in the shelves, or do you think they might become "unreachable" in the back of the shelf?

Thanks for the detailed review

Thank you for your well thought out review. Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise despite the ups and downs. 😊

We will be sailing on Solstice this Friday

 

Does anybody know the "real" reason the cruise director Sara Romera left in the middle of the cruise?

Somebody told me she had some sort of a family thing. She's replacing Damian on the Reflection starting next cruise - he thinks he'll be back in a couple of months.

Thank you for your review.

Thanks for your review. I have to agree with many of your comments, in fact we've decided to try another line next year as our recent experience of Reflection didn't blow us away - as you say, we never have an awful cruise but it's definitely changing and not for the better.

Was your excursion to Harrison Caves thru the ship or independent? Thanks.

Was your excursion to Harrison Caves thru the ship or independent? Thanks.

We did the ship based and the OPs description was identical to our tour.

Thanks for taking time to make this detailed review although I am not sure I was pleased to read it with an upcoming October Equinox cruise looming. I concur with many that some additional music venues would be welcome. I am thinking specifically of the BB King option on HAL along with their dueling piano bar. I note perhaps a sense of boredom with the X class ships and we are subject to the same having been on Eclipse and Reflection twice. X has not seemingly changed things up much on these vessels over the years (at least in a positive manner). We agree wholeheartedly that it is hard to have a bad cruise and will work hard so this doesn't happen next month.

Thank you for your detailed review. it was very helpful, as we have two upcoming cruises booked on the Equinox in 2018. I am a little confused about your comment regarding the classic drink package though. You indicated that any drink above the $9.00 limit was charged in full. I had heard that Celebrity had recently changed that policy and was only charging the difference. Can you or anyone else comment on that?

Is it true there is no longer a separate vegetarian menu? We had one last year on Equinox and it had a good variety of choices.

Thank you for the detailed well written review. I think I will be spending alot of time at the World Class bar after reading your review and will probably upgrade to the Premium package.

Thankx Walter for a very comprehensive review. I did enjoy my Equinox cruise last December and the World Class bar however a lot of what you experienced was spot on. Other things vary with crew contracts and who's serving you at the time.

Just as a side note regarding your dislike of the frozen drinks. They do add liquor into the blender. They just add another touch of liquor on the top so when you get to the bottom, there's still more liquor.

My favorite specialty restaurant was also Silk Harvest.

So happy sailing whichever line you select to cruise. I'm taking a break from Celebrity as well. I've switched to Azamara, Oceania and am trying Holland America for the first time this February.

Is it true there is no longer a separate vegetarian menu? We had one last year on Equinox and it had a good variety of choices.

There, usually, is in the MDR. It is a separate menu and not generally part of the distributed menu and has many items on it.

Not sure if the OP's wife knew to ask for or did not care for the offered items.

Specialty Restaurants are a different issue, IME, they will have vegetarian/vegan items on the menu provided and not one which is separate.

bon voyage

Thanks for such a great review! Do you think packing cubes smaller than 12" x 12" would work in the shelves, or do you think they might become "unreachable" in the back of the shelf?

If you are on one of the S class ships, 12 x 12 is a good size for the shelves over the bed. They will fit nicely and there won't be room for them to slide back. An alternative or addition to these would be the kind of open-top storage cubes that you can buy at home stores or even dollar stores. If you get these with a handle on one side so that they are easy to pull out, you can use them like extra drawers for small items.