Review: Celebrity Equinox, May 21, 2015 - 12 day Eastern Mediterranean, with Photos!

[photomikey]

A brief bio: My wife (35) and I (38) are traveling with our daughter (5). This is my daughter’s second cruise and our fifth. We almost never use ship’s tours and prefer to explore on our own. We have cruised on Holland America (hereafter HAL) several times and Norwegian once.

 

 

Embarkation in Civitavecchia was relatively organized. Walking at the port is not allowed, so you take a shuttle bus from the entry of the port to the ship. On this day there were several ships in port, so you actually catch a shuttle a few hundred yards only to exit the bus and change to a different bus. It wouldn’t be that bad but for the fact that there are several thousand people doing this, each dragging two or three bags, and the folks at the port are not particularly pleasant. None the less, eventually you arrive at the ship, drop the bags, and check in. We arrived around 12:30, there was a steady stream of people but very little line. We are concierge class, so we had a separate line - between the suite class folks and the unwashed masses.

 

Rooms weren’t ready, we headed for the buffet and had a bite to eat - it was difficult to find a seat, but rooms were ready shortly (within a half hour or so) and the upper decks cleared quickly after that.

 

Concierge class room 1038 is just outside the forward elevators on the Starboard side. Bed near the bathroom, couch near the balcony. I was initially concerned about noise from the elevator lobby, but heard no noticeable noise in the entire 12 day journey. I had initially considered rooms on deck 12 because of proximity to the pools and the oceanview cafe (aka lido, aka buffet), but ended up picking 1038 (one of the C3 category nearest to midship) because it was more secluded. After touring deck 12, I conclude that there would have been no problem with noise or passthrough traffic there. In fact, I’d prefer an aft room because of the proximity to the Oceanview (where we seem to spend a lot of time), and in fact almost everywhere else we spend a lot of time. It should be noted that there are two elevator banks - one forward (4 elevators), and one aft (8 elevators). Common sense would tell you that you’d have an easier time getting an elevator aft, but our friends with a wake view room stated the opposite, that they found the forward elevators were less busy and went faster. They were perhaps the worst programmed elevators I’ve ever experienced - it was common to wait for an elevator on 14 only to see all four elevators on 3 or 4, or to see all four elevators going up (or down) at the same time, stranding those who are going in the opposite direction.

 

I have no complaints about 1038 (our room), but if I had it to do over again I’d pick an aft 12th deck room.

 

 

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The room was relatively spacious and the bed comfortable. The couch was made into a third-person bed and was comfy. Even with that, there was room to move around. The over-bed storage was crucial, without that we’d have never had enough space. We did not have any trouble with the three of us hanging out in the room - always plenty of space to move about and read, watch TV, or have some tablet time.

 

Ship-wide announcements were limited and can’t be heard in the rooms (except on channel 5, and it takes a solid 30 seconds to get the TV to turn on and navigate to that channel). X has no announcements about bingo, shop grand openings, art auctions, watch sales, etc - which was great. However, we missed many of the captain’s briefings and would have rather had them piped in to the cabin.

 

Our concierge class amenities were, as others have reported, un-notable. We didn’t use the binoculars but once or twice, we didn’t notice much about the soaps or shower head. I did make extensive use of the footrests on the balcony (particularly in Istanbul, where a lot was said about the “ottoman” empire). The canapés varied between almost edible and pretty good. We did have to fill out a form to get them every day, but contrary to their word, if you filled out the form they would drop them in the room even if you weren’t in. It was nice to have a snack while dressing for dinner.

 

 

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We are traveling with our precocious five year old daughter, and had some reservations about how she’d do, and with the general anti-kids mentality of cruise critic how she’d be accepted on the ship. I’m pleased to report she did well (both on ship and in port) and was loved by both passengers and crew. I had reservations about sending her to kids club (why would I take her on a European vacation to stick her in a playroom every day), but after a few brief experiences in kid’s club, the first question I’d get when I came to collect her was “do I have to leave”, and five minutes after we were gone she’d start in with “can I go back to the Fun Factory yet”. Fun factory is open (free) from 9a-12n, 2p-5p, and 7p-10p. In port, mealtime hours (12n-2p, 5p-7p) and “sleepover” hours (10p-1a) are $6/hour. At sea, all (daytime) hours are free, but you must feed your child yourself. i.e. you can drop them all day or for any part of the day, but you need to swing by at lunchtime to accompany them to lunch. You could also leave them in over dinner, which we elected not to do. Sleepover hours are always $6/hour. You can purchase a “VIP” kids package that includes all hours (the paid hours - as many as you want!) plus a handful of goodies (backpack, shirt, some other stuff) for something like $149, but we didn’t anticipate using many hours, and didn’t bite. Each session of kid’s club would include three related activities on a theme, and over 12 days (and thus, 36 “sessions” of kid’s club) we never saw one repeat. Some themes were pirates (pirate facepaint, make a pirate bandana, learn a pirate song, go on a pirate march around the ship), others were environment, fairies, board games, etc. Each evening you’d get an insert in your daily program with the next day’s activities. On our cruise, there were 50 kids on board. The following cruise would have 150 kids and the one after, 250. With 50 kids on board, there was an intimate group at the kid’s club and we really got to know several of the kids pretty well. The staff were top notch and really represented several languages and continents. We had only anticipated using kid’s club occasionally and while at sea, but with the sudden love of kid’s club we ended up using them for two days in port while my wife and I toured (on our own). Even after 8 hours at kid’s club… she still was begging for five more minutes before we went back to the room, and again after dinner, asking to return.

 

We ate in the main dining room (Silhouette) every night but one (when we ate at Oceanview Cafe). Our waiter (Jose) seemed to be breaking in a new ass’t waiter (Lukas) and it was entertaining to watch them interact. Jose was a good waiter (if not a little formal) but Lukas wasn’t afraid to break protocol, especially with our daughter. Every night she’d order milk with dinner, and every night he’d bring it out on a tray - a cup, a saucer, a little metal pitcher, and a straw, and set it all out, pour the milk, insert the straw, and then present it to my daughter, who just thought she was Fancy Nancy herself. The kid’s menu is miserable (as it is at every restaurant stateside), including staples like a hotdog, fried chicken nuggets, fried fish, grilled cheese… basically nothing with any nutritional content. I’d already decided to order for her off the adult menu and that was never a problem. Usually I’d order her two courses (an app or soup/salad plus an entree), and like a trooper she tried and ate almost everything. X, if you’re listening, we’d love a kid themed menu with actual food on it - in fact, just kid sized portions of the adult meals would be perfect. I’m not saying you can’t offer stateside fried foods and cheese, but please also offer something with nutritional value. All that said, the food in the dining room was good (often approaching great), and the experience (which I really enjoy) was great as well. We sat at a 4-top in the far corner of the dining room (if you have children, you will be familiar with sitting in the “people with kids” section of a restaurant) but it was quiet back there and had a great view from the nearby windows. Neighboring tables got to know us (or at least our chatty kathy) and our table neighbors had a 4 year old who interacted with us a lot, not only at dinner but also in the pool and at kid’s club. Dinner service took about an hour and 15 minutes which felt neither slow nor rushed.

 

 

 

We had 10 smart casual nights and 2 formal nights. I am a light packer, and the entirety of my packing was one pair of jeans, one pair of khaki pants, three dress shirts, five polo shirts, a sport coat, socks and undies, and two pair of shoes (one athletic, one casual/khaki lace-ups). On smart casual (polo or dress shirt with khaki pants or jeans) I was middle of the road - some better dressed, some worse. I expected about the same for formal night (I wore khakis, dress shirt, jacket - I’d intended to wear a tie and couldn’t find it), but actually saw a number of bow ties, suits, and a number of tuxedos. Probably 15% were dressed like me.

 

 

Our wine steward (Elvin) was okay. Never let my glass go dry. Took my drink card number on day 1 and never asked again, generally remembered what I’d ordered and would occasionally suggest something.

 

Oceanview cafe (breakfast and lunch) was good and had a decent variety but felt repetitive. At breakfast (and occasionally, at sea, at lunch) it was difficult (impossible) to find a table. This is compounded by the lack of trays (and the addition of a 5 year old), so not only juggling 2 plates but also making a dozen trips to get coffee, water, juice, syrup, etc, etc. We never really did find a solution to this… if you paced circles enough, you’d eventually find a seat.

 

Spa Cafe (in the adults only pool area) served smoothies and juices. We had a couple of each. They were okay, but not great. They had some good alternative breakfast and lunch items here - the more intimate restaurant made for fresher food.

 

Mast grill had good (approaching great) burgers and would cook to order if you cared to wait. Even the burgers waiting on the warmer were juicy and fresh. My daughter ate a few of the hot dogs there and while I didn’t like them, she didn’t seem to have any trouble, and I heard others comment as to how good they were. There was often a mid-day line at Mast grill, but the line extends to Mast bar, where you can drown your wait in a beer, which was a nice bonus. Never really waited much longer than it took to get a drink anyhow - 2-3 minutes.

 

On HAL we dined at specialty restaurants regularly - cover charges were $10-$20. X specialty restaurant charges start at $35, and go to $50, and in my opinion, I could get a pretty good steak dinner on land for $100 - so we passed on specialty restaurants entirely. We did walk through there, and the theming was great! Our friends ate at two of the restaurants and couldn’t stop raving about them. The kid’s club staff also said how good they were.

 

The cover charge at five on five (or whatever) is indeed $10, and I didn’t see anyone eat there. The menu didn’t appear to be appreciably different than the dining room or buffet menu.

 

I thought the Gelateria was covered on the beverage package, and it’s not. In finding this out, we did eat there once (and paid for it!), I didn’t find it to be appreciably better than the free ice cream in the Oceanview, so we didn’t return.

 

The coffee place was always quite busy and we had a *lot* of coffee and teas!

 

Lots of seating around the pool on two decks - 12 and 14 (there’s no 13). Some chair saving but not excessive, and never had a problem snagging 2 or 4 chairs together with good proximity to the pool.

 

Room steward (Wilson) and his ass’t (Courtney, a man) were super friendly and the towel animals were a big hit. The first night we came back to find a turtle towel animal, the next night we had a frog and it was wearing my reading glasses. I made a big production in the room about how frogs don’t wear glasses, and my daughter thought this was about the funniest thing she’d ever heard. The next day we see Wilson we give him a big admonishment about how frogs don’t wear glasses, and Wilson each night would find something else from the cabin to use in the towel animal, so the next day we could tell him that animals don’t wear hats, sunglasses, shirts, etc, etc. It was a great running gag, and I would start hearing at lunchtime about how we should check the cabin to see if Wilson had left us a towel animal yet.

 

 

The service in the room was good, beds made up quickly while we were at breakfast and again while we were at dinner. We never longed for a towel, always had fresh ones. Outside of the fact that we had to make a big production each time we saw Wilson, he was basically invisible, coming and going without us knowing he’d been in.

 

HAL (where most of our previous cruising experience is from) is known for having an Indonesian crew, except of course for the officers and the front-facing entertainment staff, who are primarily caucasian, and to be frank this oddly racist system makes me uncomfortable. I was pleased to see that X doesn’t do this, and I found a decently diverse staff in most areas of the ship, although of course the front-facing entertainment staff and the officers still lean caucasian.

 

We scored the 1-2-3 GO package, and had the basic beverage package for both adults. I upgraded to premium on day 2 ($10/day + 18%), and drank pretty much whatever I wanted for the rest of the cruise. There are a decent number of bartenders, and it’s never really trouble to get a drink, per se, but there is no one really pacing around to wait on you. If you look at it from a cruise line perspective, if people are paying cash for drinks, it’s good business to have a lot of bartenders pushing drinks. If people paid cash up front for a drink package, it would be good business to have less bartenders. It just seemed like that was the cruise line thinking while aboard.

 

I was fascinated with the molecular bar and visited several times while aboard. The bartenders confirm that molecular is going out, and it is unknown what will replace it. Bartenders state that Celebrity couldn’t come to a deal with Junior to extend the contract. The drinks at molecular were good. It is heavy on the show (liquid nitrogen, lighting an orange rind aflame). I met a regular crowd at molecular and befriended them, otherwise I’d have probably moved on after a day or two.

 

The martini bar has a metal frozen bar top, and let me tell you, I was taken with it! Gotta put one of those in at home. Keeps those martinis chilly and is great for show!

 

The gastro pub had 50+ different beers, which I found to be a great variety. The entertainment here in the evenings was a guitarist (Caanan Cox?) and he was really, really good - probably the best entertainer they had aboard. A few of the beers were above $13, and I did indulge a few times (and pay the markup).

 

Sunset view bar was generally deserted and had great aft views. I love a deserted bar with great views.

 

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Sky bar (crow’s nest) wasn’t “deserted” but was quiet and had plenty of room come sunset, and I enjoyed several evenings there, also.

 

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On port days there is a station set up at the gangway before you exit the ship to sell bottled water (or, give it to you if you have a beverage package). This was really handy.

 

The crew on the ship I really got to know was my room steward team, my dining room team, and the molecular bartenders. Outside of them, most of the service was terse. I wouldn’t go so far as to say unfriendly, but I can’t recall a single pleasant interaction I had with the folks at the omelette station or any of the various bars I visited. The bartenders in the Sky bar were particularly unfriendly.

 

The Equinox Lounge shows weren’t much to write home about. They did have a Cirque-type show which was really good. They had one comedian who was terrific (and everybody was talking about) and one comedian that was terrible - we only saw the terrible one. Rough luck!

 

The Persian Gardens (in the spa) offers a cruise-long package for $99 (each) or $179 (for a couple). We paid for the couple and used the steam room and the hot chairs a number of times. We were able to find a chair every visit but once, and in fact several times had the PG all to ourselves.

 

The itinerary was great. We tendered twice (in Greece) both with local tenders, and it was rocky! Lots of help getting on and off the tender, always felt very safe. I’ll give writeups of various ports in the correct sections.

 

Overall it was a great cruise, a great length, good food and a good crew - as we continue to cruise, X rises on our list above HAL and NCL!

Edited June 5, 2015 by photomikey

[Texed]

We board Equinox 27 June 2015 for a b2b, so thanks for posting. :)

[wallie5446]

A very well written and wonderful description of your time on ship. Very nice!

Thanks for sharing.

[FloatSomeMore]

We sailed the Equinox last year and it is one of our favorite ships. Your review was balanced and thoughtful. Appreciated your insight with a child since we are childless but have friends who will cruise with their children. Happy to know that they will be pleased with the kids corner.

[photomikey]

Thank you! We sure enjoyed ourselves!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for such a detailed and comprehensive review!

 

Norris

[hopeless holiday booker]

Great review - thank you. I am aboard on 1 August so good to know you left it in good shape! Where is the right place to put your port reviews as I'd like to read them.

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Great review thanks for taking the time to write and post pics.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Keith1010]

Excellent review.

 

Keith

[KB14]

This Photomikey took the words right out of my mouth!! Ha what a fantastic cruise! And try the indulgence at the molecular bar! Tell Barbara that Nico and Kristin say hi!

[pjs678]

Nice review. We were on the Equinox in the Med 3 years ago and had a great trip. Tip for next time - the specialty restaurants often have 2 for 1 specials to fill seats. Look out for them as Murano was a great experience.

[davidadavis]

Thanks so much, we will be onboard in one week with a 3, 6 and 10 year old. You really helped us

[Cforlani]

Thank you for your informative review.

[photomikey]

Nice review. We were on the Equinox in the Med 3 years ago and had a great trip. Tip for next time - the specialty restaurants often have 2 for 1 specials to fill seats. Look out for them as Murano was a great experience.

Had eyes peeled. Probably would have pulled the trigger for half price. No dice. Checked the program every day.

Thanks so much, we will be onboard in one week with a 3, 6 and 10 year old. You really helped us

Jamie runs the kids club, tell her the people who smuggled in bananas say hello!

[Cforlani]

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed review.