NCHPcruiser

At least one person in our group of four always ordered something off of the MDR menu. We love Luminae but the menu is too limited and it didn't seem to be a problem for the waitstaff or other diners (who we became friends with and were also occasionally ordering off the MDR menu). It seemed we almost got too much attention instead of not enough! We would hate to see that option taken away.

We enjoy both Blu and Luminae. On a longer cruise we prefer a suite for the extra space and love that Luminae and Michaels come with that. (Having a butler is not a big deal for us.) But we are equally as happy on a shorter cruise in Aqua and dining in Blu. In fact, Blu is what sold me on cruising to begin with as I was a very reluctant cruiser. Our last cruise (in September on Equinox) we dined in Luminae with another couple traveling with us. At least one of us ordered one or more items off other menus each night.

My husband and I were on the Equinox in late September, early October and enjoyed the World Class Bar immensely! The bartenders (two females, one tall, the other much shorter) work as a great team. They were the best bartenders on the ship in our experience and really know their stuff! I can't say how much the drinks cost but they were all covered under the Premium package if that helps any.

We were in an Aft Sky Suite on the Equinox in September. We were supplied with water continuously. At one point my husband asked for smaller bottles because they would fit in the bottle holder on the spin bikes and from then on our butler brought lots of small bottles to us.

As to the poles, our corner AFT S1 has TWO poles. The one close to the bed was not a problem. But the one close to the bathroom door was bothersome. Not enough that I wouldn't book this suite again, but still in the way.

You will not feel out of place at all with your tux though you will be in the minority. My husband usually wears his at least one of the "chic" nights, depending on our moods and who we may be traveling with. I always wear cocktail dresses.

We were also on the Equinox September 20th Spain/Portugal Sailing. We found the bartenders in the Martini Bar to be quite good and accommodating. My husband usually ordered a Grey Goose Martini, up, with olives, only very slightly dirty and it was perfect every time. I tried several different martinis off the menu, some I liked more than others. I also had cosmopolitans (which I like a little less sweet than usual and slightly stronger) and they were as I asked each time. They make especially good chocolate martinis which we enjoyed after dinner on several occasions. Having said all of this, we really enjoyed World Class Bar the most. I wish I could remember the bartenders names (two ladies, one very tall, one much shorter, always working as a team). They are truly excellent, top notch bartenders!

We were on the Equinox for 13 nights in late September. Lunch was served in Luminae on sea days as well as embarkation day. We enjoyed our meals there very much.

It was open on embarkation day on our recent cruise on the Equinox. My husband and I had a 5-piece sashimi, 2 very large rolls and 2 kobe beef sliders for about $40. On a second trip I had the lobster hotpot which was one of the best meals I had the entire 13 days (and we ate in all of the specialty restaurants and Luminae).

If you plan on having dinner multiple nights in a specialty restaurant you can purchase a specialty dining package. In our case (13 night cruise) we purchased a 4 night package for $120. We purchased it in the terminal prior to boarding. We also had 2 specialty dinners as a perk.

The Blue Martini and Chocolate Martini are two of my favorites. I also really liked several of the drinks in the World Class Bar although most are not served in a martini glass. The tequila drink in WCB (cant remember the name) is probably my all time favorite.

Thanks for the reply. I'm assuming that you are referring to a 3 night or 5 night package rather than the ultimate dining where all meals can be eaten in specialty restaurants. Did you purchase the package after you boarded? If so, was the price the same as the pre-cruise price?

 

Laura

We purchased as we were boarding. It was a four night package for $120. Looking back I'm not sure we would have purchased a package as a I had forgotten that when we booked the cruise suites were receiving two specialty dinners as a perk (at least). We dined in specialty restaurants five nights and Luminae the other nights.

Did you do the 5 night dining package on the Equinox? I'm looking at this for our December Equinox cruise but I'd prefer the one night in Murano, two in Tuscan, and two in Silk Harvest like it used to be. Does anyone know if Sushi on 5 MUST be one of the nights? If so, how does the pricing work?

 

Laura

We returned last week from being aboard the Equinox for 13 nights. We purchased a specialty dining package. It didn't matter what restaurants we used it for.

For what it's worth, we loved Sushi on 5 and much prefer it over Bistro on 5. We had lunch and dinner there but it was NOT required that it be one of the restaurants we used the package for.

We disembarked the Equinox earlier this week. Our friends were in 2155 and we were in corner aft 9299. Even though our cabin was a corner and had the side porthole window I preferred 2155. I liked that when you walked in to the cabin you could see the ocean while in 9299 the sliding glass door wall was angled and didn't afford the same view and generally felt smaller.

2155 did have a deep overhang which was nice on this cruise as the 9299 veranda had no (or very, very little) overhang so was to hot to enjoy.

2155 also had more storage than 9299. 9299 had only one closet for hanging clothes and 2155 had two. Our friends were not bothered by noise.

We returned this week from a cruise aboard the Equinox. We dined in all of the specialty restaurants as well as Blu, Luminae and Oceanview cafe. Sushi on 5 was probably the overall favorite of the four of us and I rarely eat sushi. I loved the hotpots, lobster wontons and kobe beef slider as well as several of the rolls. My husband, who eats in a lot of sushi restaurants while traveling for work said the sashimi was excellent. We had a specialty dining package and Son5 was included. The manager also gave us a 30% off coupon for our second visit. Had we been aboard one more day we would have fit in a third visit.

My husband really missed the Caesar Salad prepared table side in Tuscan Grill on the cruise we just returned from on the Equinox. We also missed the afternoon "snack" delivered to sky suites. We would only get something if we asked for it specifically and even then on the few occasions we did ask, it wasn't delivered until between 5:30 or 6:00. Our butler said they are wanting people to go to Michaels in the afternoon instead which isn't what I want to do if I've been sitting by the pool all afternoon or we are just getting back on the ship. Hey, I'm not complaining though since I'm fortunate to be cruising at all!

SHIP: Equinox

Cabin# 9299

Class S1 Corner Aft

Balcony view Excellent aft view good port side view

Balcony size. Nice size. Was expecting it to be larger than it was

Some soot but not a problem

Very quiet

Wind not a problem

We liked this sky suite and would book again. There is a separate door at the end of the hallway that leads to this canin as well as one other. This door requires a key card as well as the cabin door. We enjoyed having a large porthole window for the extra view it afforded as well as the additional light. There are two poles in this suite-one on the right hand side of the bed (closest to the balcony) and another very near the bathroom door. They were not a problem. This suite has less storage than other aft facing sky suites. Only one area for hanging clothes as opposed to two.

We traveled by train from Madrid to Barcelona yesterday (Sunday) at 10:30 am with a lot of luggage. We do not travel lite! We arrived at the station at 9:30 am but would have been fine arriving at 9:45. It was relatively quiet probably because it was a Sunday. There are "moving sidewalk" escalators. Very easy to maneuver with lots of luggage. We waited until our platform # was shown, about 20 minutes prior to departure. We were told the trains to Barcelona are from platforms 1-5 so waited in this area. We were on 3. Our tickets were scanned and we made our way to the platform and our car. We left our large pieces at the back and took our smaller pieces to our seats which easily fit overhead. 2.5 hours later we arrived in Barcelona where there were taxis waiting.

I will. I just made myself a reminder note to do that on that days itinerary.

Thanks for the reply! We will be taking the train next Sunday from Madrid to Barcelona at 10:30. I'll plan to allow an hour at the train station. I would rather have extra time there than be stressed with too little time.

Have you gone to the Roll Call for that cruise? I will also be on that cruise and port/dock information has been mentioned for at least a few of the ports.

Awesome video! Really put a smile on my face as I am already excited about our cruise on the Equinox leaving 9/20 from Barcelona! (Love Mumford & Sons as well!) Thank you!

Thanks for posting this information.

I think the wine blending class is great! We have been to one that sounds very similar in a Charleston,SC hotel and it was fantastic fun for a small group. Hopefully it will be done as well as the one we went to.

The ship will furnish distilled water but occasionally using bottled water has not caused problems with my husband CPAP machine.

My guess is that many people simply haven't joined the Roll Call yet. We have been booked on a Baltic's cruise in July 2017 and while I have joined the RC I haven't started planning excursions, etc. Some people may have a cruise between now and then and are concentrating on the first one. We have a cruise in September and I didn't begin to think about excursions until February or March. Hopefully you will end up with an active Roll Call!

Hotel Jazz is a popular pre-cruise hotel in Barcelona. Friends have stayed there and loved it.