My Review of the Equinox

[DeRon]

My wife and I returned from a 10-Day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Equinox. We had a great time! Here are my thoughts on things on Celebrity and Equinox in particular. Let me start by saying that we were not huge Celebrity fans after our Millennium cruise years ago. So we took this cruise with some reservations. But overall, we enjoyed it very much! Some things we loved, some we liked, and some things weren't our favorite (like on all cruises). Here are our thoughts.

 

Embarkation

Very smooth and fairly quick. I was impressed.

 

Ship

Very nice, modern, and beautiful. Layout overall was good. I got confused sometimes getting around, but overall good.

 

Entertainment

Exceptionally good! We were very impressed with all entertainment including the ship's cast, dancers, singers, comedians, special guests, etc! I think one of the best ever.

 

Friendliness of Staff

Celebrity has done wonders here! Everyone was so attentive, and friendly! We thought the friendliest ship we have ever been on! The one exception was our room steward. She was the opposite. It actually threw us off at first, but maybe she was going through something personally. What is funny is the other room stewards we would pass in the hall coming and going all week...were much friendlier to us than our own steward. Not sure what was going on with that.

 

Food

Overall good. Buffet food was better than we expected. Dining room food was average to good, and was not as good as we expected. We always got full and enjoyed our evening, so no biggie. Pizza, Burgers, and fries also very good!

 

Specialty Restaurants

WOW! Tuscan Grill was absolutely fantastic!!! The best meal I ever ate I think in my life! Wow! If you go on this ship, do not miss! We also liked Silken Harvest. We thought the most expensive restaurant, Murano, was good. It was just a little too fine for our tastes.

 

Room and Beds

We had an aft balcony room. The room felt a little tight for the money, and we felt like the closet storage was poor. We had to get real creative in unpacking for a 10 day cruise! The bathroom was cruise-small, but nice. We did not like how our balcony overlooked a 8-10 foot ledge before you could see water. The beds were just okay. Our NCL beds were much more comfy (which baffles me). The pillows were flat and horrible. We did ask for better pillows and they got them for us.

 

Debarkation

We walked off to catch a 9:20 flight. It went as best as could be expected. Overall, I was impressed with the speed.

 

Ports

Went to St Thomas, St Kitts, Dominica, Barbados, and St Marteen. We always like St Thomas and St Marteen. We really enjoyed St Kitts and Dominica too. Dominica was okay to us.

 

Random things we liked:

The Solarium

The vibe of the ship was much more lively that we expected.

All entertainment was great.

Beautiful ship.

Public bathrooms were very nice (upscale) and clean.

One announcement per day.

No hairy leg contest and other annoying games.

The back of the ship where there is a bar and a place to eat (if you can find a chair).

 

Random things we thought could be better:

Dining room tables are way too close together. Felt cramped and not intimate.

Coffee was not very good. And you can't even buy plain coffee at the pay by the cup cafe??

I still can't understand why a "premier" line would not want to provide coffee pots in the room (like NCL)??

We had the hardest time finding a table in the buffet...for just 2 people!! So annoying!

We had a hard time finding 2 chairs together ANYWHERE on the ship for laying out in the sun. Not just by the pool, but on every deck and anywhere. We never experienced anything like this before on a cruise.

We didn't get our luggage until 6:30 on the 1st day. Really?? Made us late to our dinner.

 

I'm sure there is more we could say, but this is all for now, If you have any questions, please ask.

 

Thanks!

[El_aurens]

Thanks for your review, glad you enjoyed yourselves! We loved cruising on the Equinox last year and will be returning to her next year.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[librarylady19]

Thanks for your review. FYI, you can order the Cafe Americano from Cafe al Bacio and its equates to a good, strong cup of regular coffee.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[jerseygirl3]

Thanks for the review. As someone else mentioned, you can get American coffee at the Coffee Bar.

 

We were on this ship (same itinerary) for the 2/1/13 sailing. We loved it so much we've booked the same ship and itinerary for next year (1/31/14).

 

This was our third S-class ship (previously we've sailed on Eclipse and Silhouette). Although we loved them all, Equinox was our favorite.

 

BTW, you were very courageous booking a 9:20 flight!

[Kevnzworld]

Thanks for the review! I will be on the Equinox for a ten day Caribbean cruise next month.

I agree with your MDR coffee critique. I would like to add the lack of an espresso machine. The waiter has to hike all the way to Cafe Baccio. By the time he gets to the table the espresso is cold.

[wales4ever]

Toally agre with your food review. Lunchtime buffet had a huge choice.

Main dining room certainly average at most - unfortunately.

 

Sailed on the Century 2 years or so ago and had the best food in the main dining room of any of the many cruises we have been on.

 

Last month, huge dissapointment.

[gelo7]

Thanks, for sharing your thoughts.

[cazzi]

thanks for the review we are going on same one in a short while any words of advice

[DeRon]

Thanks for your review. FYI, you can order the Cafe Americano from Cafe al Bacio and its equates to a good, strong cup of regular coffee.

 

You're right, but doesn't taste the same to me.:(

[sandcastle8679]

Thanks for the nice review. We sail on the Equinox this week. One quick question. Does the cabin bathroom have a retractable close-line to hang up wet bathing suits?

 

You're right, but doesn't taste the same to me.:(

[DeRon]

Thanks for the nice review. We sail on the Equinox this week. One quick question. Does the cabin bathroom have a retractable close-line to hang up wet bathing suits?

 

My shower did not have the retractable line.

[DeRon]

I forgot to type in something that was a huge deal to us in the design of the ship. There are only 2 banks of elevators ...which surprised us very much! Only elevators in the mid and front, none in the aft area. So it meant for a lot of walking for us (were were on the very aft) but more importantly to us, this made crowded elevators all the time.

 

We were shocked that a ship that holds so many people had so few elevators. Which is even more complicated if there are wheelchairs, etc. Even if they didn't put an elevator in the aft, I wish they would have put stairs.

 

And the Lawn thing...novel but not practical. Need another pool with more chairs.

 

Just our thoughts.

[wwcruisers]

Thanks for the nice review. We sail on the Equinox this week. One quick question. Does the cabin bathroom have a retractable close-line to hang up wet bathing suits?

 

Hi Sandcastle -- you're on our Equinox roll-call -- getting close now, isn't it?

Don't know if you have time to run by your local REI, but they have a nice travel clothesline that should fit in the X showers and bathtub enclosure. It's stretch-able, and has both suction cups and velcro ties on each end. I bought mine when I remembered that non of the Solstice Class ships have a retractable line (not even in the suite tubs). :cool:

[jerseygirl3]

I forgot to type in something that was a huge deal to us in the design of the ship. There are only 2 banks of elevators ...which surprised us very much! Only elevators in the mid and front, none in the aft area. So it meant for a lot of walking for us (were were on the very aft) but more importantly to us, this made crowded elevators all the time.

 

We were shocked that a ship that holds so many people had so few elevators. Which is even more complicated if there are wheelchairs, etc. Even if they didn't put an elevator in the aft, I wish they would have put stairs.

 

And the Lawn thing...novel but not practical. Need another pool with more chairs.

 

Just our thoughts.

 

The elevator situation didn't bother us, but then, we always book a cabin near the elevators. We also found there was hardly ever a wait for an elevator.

 

I do agree with you about the lawn. As pretty as it is, another pool area would be nice. We did find it difficult to ever get chairs near the pool.

[sandcastle8679]

Hello WWCRUISERS,

 

Thanks for the tip. I am not sure that we have an REI nearby. I did look for this device at some other local stores without any luck. We were on the Equinox Mediterranean cruise two years ago, and my wife seems to think the stateroom has this clothes hanger. I have a few suction cups and cord to bring along. Hope that works. We also sailed on the Solstice last year, but didn't think it was as nice as the Equinox.

 

Hi Sandcastle -- you're on our Equinox roll-call -- getting close now, isn't it?

Don't know if you have time to run by your local REI, but they have a nice travel clothesline that should fit in the X showers and bathtub enclosure. It's stretch-able, and has both suction cups and velcro ties on each end. I bought mine when I remembered that non of the Solstice Class ships have a retractable line (not even in the suite tubs). :cool: