Celebrity Equinox

[swerdjr]

Hi,

We have never been on this line but, have heard good things. We are looking at the 11 Day Western Med sailing and would like any info you can give us on Celebrity.

Someone said the food wasn't all that great..but, you can't please all the people all the time..and..quite frankly, it came to me third hand..so, I don't know what kind of food that person likes or doesn't!

Can someone also explain how the excursions work on Celebrity..

Love the ports they are going to..

Thanks so much for your responses:)

Tina

 

We sailed with Celebrity for the very first time back in 2013 on the Equinox. Our cruise was a 12 night Venice overnight leaving from Barcelona. We had an amazing time. The ship was beautiful and we loved all the ports. Since this was our first time to Europe, we decided to book all of our excursions through Celebrity. We took smaller group tours and paid a little extra for them but we loved every tour. We took a tour in Rome, Naples & Florence. I would say we had maybe 25 people on each of these tours. Some people say that this is NOT a small group but we had a blast. Lunch was provided and was included in the cost of the tour and we can't say enough about the places we ate at . The food and wine were delicious. When we were in Naples we had lunch at a beautiful hotel and our view was incredible. When we were in Dubrovnik, Venice and Kotor we were on our own. The cruise was a trip of a lifetime and we love Celebrity. We took a cruise this January on the Silhouette to the Western Caribbean and had a great time. We will be sailing again on the Equinox in November , The Ultimate Caribbean.

The ships are beautiful and very well maintained. All of the ships staff are very friendly and accommodating. We ate at all of the specialty restaurants and we highly recommend that you try them all. We hope you enjoy your trip. Happy sailing and be safe!

[jerseygirl3]

Hi,

We have never been on this line but, have heard good things. We are looking at the 11 Day Western Med sailing and would like any info you can give us on Celebrity.

Someone said the food wasn't all that great..but, you can't please all the people all the time..and..quite frankly, it came to me third hand..so, I don't know what kind of food that person likes or doesn't!

Can someone also explain how the excursions work on Celebrity..

Love the ports they are going to..

Thanks so much for your responses:)

Tina

 

We've just booked Equinox for next February. It will be our fourth year in a row on Equinox. Only difference is we do the 10 day sailing because we're more fond of that itinerary.

[waterbug123]

Hi,

We have never been on this line but, have heard good things. We are looking at the 11 Day Western Med sailing and would like any info you can give us on Celebrity.

Someone said the food wasn't all that great..but, you can't please all the people all the time

 

Can someone also explain how the excursions work on Celebrity..

 

I have not been on Equinox (yet, will be this summer) but have been on her sister ships Solstice and Reflection twice each.

 

Excursions: Can you be more specific in what you are asking? Excursions work more or less the same as on other lines. Once you're booked, you can go into your reservation and see available excursions for each port and book online in advance. If you do that, you will pay in full in advance. You can wait and book online and the cost will show up on your bill at the end of the cruise, but the ones you want might be booked if you wait.

 

Food: We tend to be "foodies" and we've been pleased with the food. We tend to eat mostly in the specialty restaurants, but have enjoyed the MDR when we've eaten there, and I'd consider it to be a bit better than other mass market lines. The specialty restaurants have been very good overall. The buffet IMHO is better than other cruise line buffets. We almost NEVER go to the buffet for any meal on other lines, but actually had dinner at the buffet for the first time ever (on any line) on our last Celebrity cruise and really enjoyed it. They have a nice pasta station where you can choose your pasta, choose your add-ons, and choose your sauce, and they finish it for you in an individual skillet. I had tried that for lunch but sometimes the line was long, but I walked right up to it for a late dinner. That and a nice salad from the salad bar was great, and I think we will plan to do this a couple of times on our upcoming Equinox cruise. We'll be spending a lot of time in port on this one and will be having big lunches many of those days and then getting back late, and the idea of having to hurry and then dressing up for a big dinner every single night just doesn't appeal to me for this particular itinerary.

 

Enjoy!

[rumpelstiltskin]

I've sailed on both & like them both.

 

Never sailed on the Equinox, but will for the first time next month.

 

Only one other X cruise & that was the Solstice Dec 2013 from Auckland to Sydney.

 

The food was excellent in the MDR, & very good in the dining room/buffet for breakfast & lunch.

 

Even the vegemite was good, which the friendly Aussies & Kiwis onboard cheerfully introduced me to.

 

Did not try the specialty restaurants, though.

 

One other perk is that the Captain's Club reciprocates with RCCL Crown & Anchor Society.

 

We sailed quite a few RCCL cruises & got bumped up to the Select tier in Captains Club rather than starting in the Gold tier.

 

Also, enjoyed the complimentary beverage package.

 

The solarium pool on the Solstice was lovely & uncrowded.

 

The entertainment in the main theater was good, but the cruise director was the very best ever. He really should be a comedian.

 

His Aussie/Kiwi Slang 101 was both informative & funny...very helpful to us foreigners onboard.

 

 

Our first Princess cruise was 5 yrs ago on the Golden to Alaska.

 

The food was mediocre in the MDR/buffet, & we did not dine in any specialty restaurants.

 

Did not use the pool...a bit too chilly for us.

 

Princess does have self service laundry $3 each for washer & dryer.

 

I bring my own detergent.

 

 

Cruised TA on the Caribbean Princess 2 yrs ago.

 

The MDR food was excellent & the buffet was good.

 

Did not use the specialty restaurants on this one, either.

 

The pools were small but uncrowded.

 

And they let you bring your own bottled water onboard at embarkation & also ports of call.

 

 

Cruised the South Pacific a couple months ago on the Pacific Princess.

 

The MDR & buffet food was awful. We were seated at a large table, & our tablemates shared the same opinion.

 

However, the burgers & dogs at the trident grill were excellent & that's where we often had lunch.

 

We had breakfast in the Sabatini restaurant every morning, & it was excellent.

 

Had one dinner in Sabatini's & one in the Sterling Steakhouse...both were excellent.

 

The pool was very small, but uncrowded.

 

The crew was dreadfully overworked on this sailing. Friendly, but not much time to interact with passengers.

 

 

Hope this answers some of your questions.

[wawamamago]

Hello everyone, we are excited to book this last minute. Looking for pre and post cruise hotel ideas.

[Oxo]

I think they are comparable with one huge exception--the ships! I don't know which ship you are considering, but the S Class ships on Celebrity are miles ahead of Princess (the jewel ships, Sapphire, Ruby, etc). No comparison at all. S class ships are gorgeous, sleek, modern, beautiful decor, lots of artwork, open atrium from deck 3 to deck 15. I found the princess ship to be actually ugly, and very closed in. My taste of course.

 

Food was comparable, service I give the edge to celebrity in most areas, can't speak to entertainment, but in general they are more similar than not. But I would never consider sailing on that class of Princess ship again. . .

 

Go on YouTube to see the new Princess ships.

Here is a link of photos. http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/gp/photo_gallery/gp-photo-gallery-tab.html#tab-photo-gallery

 

Compare the Royal and Regal Princess to the S-Class and in many ways the Royal and Regal are much more modern in regards to layout and looks. S-Class has bigger cabins, but S-Class has a lot of wasted area such as the area on deck 5 going to the Specialty Restaurants (SR.) Still cannot understand the little area where they have the ant trail, bird sounds, etc. Then when you get to the SR area that big area before the SRs. NOt one, but two open spaces that have nothing but space. Would have loved to see some restrooms there instead of walking all the way to Michaels Club to use the Ladies.

The Ocean View Cafe is very good and well laid out,lot of choices. Yet, some people complain that OVC has the same everyday. Can't understand that with all the selections provided daily. The new Princess ships have an expanded Buffet area that has a lot to offer. The Princess Atrium on these two ships are much more spacious and provide a much greater selection of food in the International Cafe and Alfredo's Pizzeria which are free during the day and night. They also have Vines ($.) A lot of activities are also going on in the Atrium. Entertainment was better on Princess as there is more going on nightly.

SRs on Celebrity are much higher than Princess. Celebrity runs $45-50 compare to Princess' $25. Food and service are about the same as it is very subjective.

Price of the same items on each line are higher on Celebrity, too.

I am not a Princess Loyal nor a Celebrity Loyal. Cruise both and just posting the facts as I cruise both normally B2B. JMHO!

Edited March 15, 2015 by Oxo