lukaaj12

I believe he is on until January, please tell him Andrew and Allison say hello!

Hi all! This board has been so helpful as I planned a big cruise for the first time in awhile, so I wanted to repay all of the kindness, tips, and tricks I learned and provide a review of our cruise. We had an amazing experience overall, with just one complaint really about the butler changes, that I'll explain further below. My husband and I were on the 10/14 ABC islands sailing on Equinox. We are mid-thirties, and this was our 3rd cruise together, 2nd on Celebrity, but we haven't cruised since 2017 (having kids and a pandemic got in the way for a bit). This was my 12th cruise overall, having cruised quite a bit with my family growing up. My first cruise ever was the Celebrity Century sometime in the late 1990s and I've always liked the product/brand so we have stuck with it and my husband basically loves everything about cruising. We decided to splurge for our first kid-free trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, and booked a corner sunset veranda Sky Suite. We booked about 18 months in advance, before some of these crazy price hikes went into effect, and took advantage through our TA with some price drops, so ultimately I feel like what we paid with the perks included was around the same if not less than if we had a regular veranda and had to purchase drink package/internet separately. I was initially indifferent about the Retreat areas but my parents were on the Beyond in Retreat about a month before us so gave us a good idea of what to expect, although I knew we were on an older ship with not quite the same areas, but was looking forward to it nonetheless. Lots of posts on here throughout the summer and fall had me worried about the level of service, food, and ship, but honestly we couldn't have been more impressed. Since this was our first trip without the kiddos (we had 2 in 2 years during the pandemic!!) we picked this itinerary to have more sea days for relaxation, as well as explore the ABC islands which were new to both of us (requirement by my husband since I've traveled much more than he has). We almost exclusively hung out in Retreat areas just for smaller crowds and more attention by staff, which was surprising to me as I didn't think we'd use the areas so much. The Sundeck was fantastic although the drink service was a little slow as they only had one worker get drinks and no bar up there, we'd sometimes pop down to the Mast Bar to grab things ourselves which was no big deal. We ate lunch out there most days and found the food to be very fresh and served hot. But overall we preferred the quieter vibe of the sundeck over the pool decks which got quite crowded and a bit rowdy throughout the sea days. Our cabin (#1666) was HUGE, much bigger than I was expecting, not sure if it was larger than a typical Sky Suite because it was the corner or not. It was great to have a large porthole side window, and the balcony was large enough for 2 loungers (we had to request the second one) and a table/chairs, although we didn't spend a ton of time on the balcony. I found the bed to be quite comfortable and our room attendant/Retreat Host was happy to give us some extra pillows. Everything in the bathroom was spotless and worked great, although the rainfall shower head was surprisingly short over the tub and my 6" husband had to duck to fit underneath! We typically ate breakfast in the OVC which was fine, albeit very crowded but tons of options and we didn't tire from it. We ate all dinners but one in Luminae and were blown away by the staff. We had the most excellent waiter, assistant waiter, and sommelier who really took care of us and made us feel at home the entire week. If you're going on the Equinox soon and eating in Luminae, ask for Vinod and Sajo! I am a bit of a picky eater and Vinod had learned my preferences by the second night and would bring me different menus from Blu or the main dining room if he felt like I wouldn't like the Luminae menu, and he really took care of us. Food was fantastic, really no complaints. To be honest, I was expecting a lot more sad steamed vegetables and ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes than I had, but we didn't eat in the main dining room so cannot speak to the quality there. I thought the ship was in great shape, some of the carpets were worn and the public bathroom sinks had some buildup, but I know Equinox is going into dry dock soon so I'm sure those will be addressed. I had read so many negative things about the ship, I really tried to meter my expectations but honestly was quite blown away and impressed with almost every aspect of our 8 day cruise. The only thing that didn't work out for us was this Sky Suite butler team. I read extensively about it through CC posts, and knew what to expect. We had a card in our room for a Head Butler John, who we never met once during the cruise. The Retreat Lounge had 2 concierges for all suite guests, Gazelle and Ian who was absolutely fantastic and so accommodating to any request we had. Our Retreat Host/room attendant Efren was equally wonderful, and was sure to point out different perks and things we got as suite guests (like to disregard the room service charges, etc). We had called the Head Butler once or twice to assist with a few things, and while he would always answer the phone, he'd tell us to reach out to someone else, or let us know we'd be getting a call to follow up, but there was never anything further. We leaned on our host and the two concierges who were able to handle everything we needed (nothing major, just some room service orders, and a spa appointment), so we just didn't bother with John after that. In all it was an annoyance, but there were others to pick up his slack and it didn't detract from the cruise whatsoever. I love live music and was looking forward to grabbing drinks in various lounges and bars, but I wasn't a big fan of any of the entertainment groups that were on the Equinox. Plenty talented, just not my personal preference, so we skipped most of that and only went to one of the production shows, which I also wasn't that impressed with. This was quite different than our 2017 Med cruise on the Reflection where there were multiple musicians we loved and saw alot of throughout the cruise, so just a small disappointment. We used OBC for 2 different shore excursions. I'd typically prefer to plan my own adventure but we had received quite a bit of credit, and the excursions were great. A bit like herding cats in the beginning but well-executed and easy to get off the ship and onto the adventure. We did a boat/snorkling excursion in Curacao and a kayak/beach snorkle in Bonaire. We did our own thing in Aruba, heading over to Renaissance Island for the day which included lunch and massages for a flat rate fee (tip I picked up from someone on here- thank you!) In all, it was a fantastic cruise, everything we were hoping for to celebrate our anniversary and explore some new islands. I was a bit nervous about the state of the Equinox based on reviews here, but those were completely unfounded. I do acknowledge that I'm probably not the typical Celebrity cruiser, and I do cruise infrequently, but the brand has held up to me throughout the years and I will cruise on Celebrity again in the future. It will be very hard to go back to a "regular" cabin after being completely spoiled in the Retreat!

I've read differently here than what I've been told by my parents, who have cruised more recently than I have. Can Retreat guests embark at any time, ignoring their "time slot" for check in? Or must they go off of the scheduled time? My parents are traveling in the Retreat next week and are so certain they have to wait until the scheduled time they were assigned when they did the online check in. I'm traveling in the Retreat next month on a different ship/port but remember seeing multiple folks here post that suite guests can embark anytime they show up due to the priority status. Appreciate the clarity!

You will love it. My partner and I booked an 11 day med cruise the year we turned 30 to celebrate. Met tons of great folks onboard, of all age rangers but all avid travelers like us so we had plenty to talk to. In fact, we ran into his fraternity brother on board, who he hadn't seen in almost a decade who was on the cruise to celebrate his honeymoon! Trip was a blast.