Detailed review of Celebrity Equinox with photos, Rome-Barcelona, June 25 – July 2

[Lunastella]

Greetings CC Members,

 

Having enjoyed reading excellent and detailed CC reviews in the planning of this cruise, I thought I would reciprocate and post a review of our 7 day cruise from Rome to Barcelona on Celebrity Equinox. I am certainly a cruise novice compared to many of you, having been on only one cruise previously (last year, Celebrity Reflection, Eastern Mediterranean). But I have a feeling there will be many more in my horizon. A word of warning before I begin…this will be a long review, I tend to ramble, so feel free to use the search tool to find the bits of information on the ship or the ports that interest you. This is my first time writing a blog post, indeed, I’ve never even reviewed a hotel before. I wrote most of the review in real-time, but I will be posting it over the next few weeks.

 

First, a bit of background info:

 

Who are we? Two sisters (let’s just say ‘in our thirties’, one nearer forty and the other nearer thirty) and one mother (let’s just say ‘retired’). Indeed our cruise last year was to celebrate a significant birthday). We all live in Dublin, Ireland, and go on holiday together about once a year, usually to the South of France, but other places feature too. My sister and I are lucky to travel a lot for work, but holidays are different and we really love holidays. When I suggested a cruise last year, it was a difficult and uphill battle to persuade then to agree, but eventually they surrendered, amid unhelpful commentary from our nearest and dearest. There was no history of cruising in our family, extended family or friends (possibly some voyages to the US during the famine or exiled to Australia in penal times), but I have always had a romantic view of cruise ships so it was inevitable that it was going to happen sometime, and they were just going to have to join me.

 

Luckily, for me, and for them, it was excellent, one of the best holidays we ever had, so good that we decided to repeat it again this year, although with a different itinerary and different ship, same line. Our only concern was whether we would enjoy it as much, to the extent that we even considered not booking another cruise….ever…. just in case. Dramatics aside, I booked the cruise, and now here we are, 10 days of holiday ahead of us. One overnight in Rome, 7 days cruising (Rome, Livorno, Villefranche, Corsica, Mallorca, and Barcelona), and 2 overnights in Barcelona. For the purpose of this review, dearest mom and dearest sister will be referred to DM and DS respectively, and me, well I’m Luna.

 

The three of us on Reflection last year:

 

This is me:

 

This is DS:

 

This is DM:

[Lunastella]

Day 1 Rome

 

Ridiculously early flight from Dublin to Rome, but at least it would give us almost one full day in Rome. Taxi picked us up at 4.15. I live very close to my parents (and no I don’t have attachment issues, well possibly), but literally I could see the taxi as it arrived at my parents’ house from my window. We were slightly concerned about leaving my dad alone for 10 days, but hey the Euros are on, and Ireland (miraculously) just got through to the second round), so he would be kept occupied. I was less worried about my husband, he is used to me going away, and it’s training for when I start my sabbatical in September (I’m an academic). My cat is also happy I am leaving as it means she is allowed to sleep upstairs. So no problems there.

 

Journey through the airport was fine, I have an AerLingus Goldcicle card so we used it to skip all the queues. I brought DM to the lounge as she has never been – felt slightly bad leaving DS outside, but she’s done the lounge thing, indeed she even flown to Japan first class, I have never flown first class. I’m not bitter at all. So after a quick coffee, fruit, and pain au chocolate, we strolled onto the plane, flashed goldcard, no queuing, perfect.

 

Breakfast in the lounge

 

Interesting lounge ceiling

 

It is an almost 3 hour flight from Dublin to Rome, so I got some sleep(ish) despite interruptions from DM asking me what the capital of Tasmania is and another name for clear soup (not consommé apparently)…she was doing a crossword, she’s a crossword aficionado, so why she was asking me anything I don’t know, maybe she just wanted to chat, maybe my closed eyes should have been a hint. Ah well. But DM has many uses, she then produced some homemade sandwiches to entice me from my sleep. Score! DM’s sandwiches are the best in the world and I never get to eat them anymore. Cheese and relish and roast beef, in case you were wondering. Fully refreshed, well as refreshed as one could be after getting up at 3.30, I spent the rest of the flight reading.

 

DS enjoying the sandwiches

 

We decided to stay in the same hotel as I had stayed in the previous year, Albergo Cesari. Last year our cruise also departed from Rome and I arrived 2 days earlier for a brief Roman sojourn, while DM and DS arrived on the day of departure. I had chosen Albergo Cesari for its location, right in the middle of Centro Storico, a stone’s throw from the Pantheon, and because it has a rooftop terrace where breakfast is served. It worked out so well last year - nice room, friendly staff, great breakfast - that I booked it again this year.

 

Normally we use public transport whenever we travel as we are really strange creatures who cannot and do not drive. But this year I organised a transfer using the hotel service as it was almost the same price (€50) as 3 train tickets from Fiumicino airport (about €15 each I believe). Also it was going to be VERY hot, 36 degrees, so we didn’t want to navigate sweaty, crowded, Italian buses from Termini after the train ride. We are Irish, we melt in warm weather. My sister and I inherited my dad’s genes and are red/blond, freckled, pale skin, sun hates us although we love it.

 

I basically planned on replicating my last stay in Rome. I booked the same restaurant (La Tavernetta) for lunch (6 min walk from hotel) and for dinner (Renato e Luisa). Dinner at Renato e Luisa last year was one of the food highlights of the year (yes it was that good), so I wanted DS and DM to experience it with me (DS is a big foodie), so let’s hope it is not a let-down…no pressure. We also planned to do our own Rick Steve’s walking tour of the old town (if it wasn’t too hot), and of course drinks on the rooftop bar. We have all been to Rome many times before so there was no major pressure for us to go see things and do things, we could just enjoy a relaxed day of Roman life.

 

Rome airport

[RealNorwegianCruiser]

Great review so far! Looking forward to follow the rest of this review since my wife and I will join Equinox in September!

[Eloise4Ever]

Thanks for posting, your writing style is very entertaining. I'm really looking forward to reading your review as we left the Equinox the day you boarded and also, I'm a "Dub" too :). We don't get to hear too much from our fellow countrymen and women on these boards so your take on cruising will be interesting to hear. We are total cruise junkies at this stage and always trying to convert everybody we know!

[AidenL]

Hey,

 

Looking forward to reading more too, it will be interesting to see what you thought - my wife and I are from Donegal, we were on the same flight and the same cruise !

 

And we are thinking about our next jaunt already !

 

Roll on your next instalment :)

[Lunastella]

Thanks for reading fellow Irish men and women. You are right, I rarely see posts from Ireland. Maybe we can change that. Might mean we all have to go on more cruises though...tough life

[AidenL]

Thanks for reading fellow Irish men and women. You are right, I rarely see posts from Ireland. Maybe we can change that. Might mean we all have to go on more cruises though...tough life

 

We can always call it research !!

 

Actually, be no harm if we could have a thread for Irish relevant topics - I have a few threads going which get great replies, but unfortunately with different terms and Conditions in the US, the bulk of the knowledge and experience sadly doesn't translate for us.

[Lunastella]

Once we got through passport control and retrieved our luggage, we made our way to meet our driver. There were literally hundreds of drivers with name signs, I’ve never seen so many in any airport before, all a bit hectic. Took us a while to find our driver, but eventually we found him and soon we were in the car and on our way to Rome. The driver was great, pointing out lots of sites along the way, including the newly restored Pyramid of Cestius which I had never seen before. It is the only surviving pyramid left following ancient Rome’s conquest of Egypt...apparently.

 

A pyramid in rome:

 

By 11.45 we were at the hotel and by 12.15 we had checked in. Early check-in, score! Quick change of clothes, doused ourselves with the SPF (factor 50 of course, remember Irish skin), and off to lunch. OK so I got us a little lost trying to find La Tavernetta, so many windy narrow streets, so hot, so many people. But eventually we found it with the help of google maps. It’s a good little restaurant, right in the middle of the historic city, yet on a quiet side street with no traffic. Plus is has an outdoor terrace. They have a set lunch for €15 which includes a starter, main course, water and wine. Bargain. I had linguine with prawns, followed by meatballs, and chilled white wine of course…wine at lunchtime is a must on our first day. Um…and maybe the second…we’ll see how we get on. The pasta was great, so great that I had trouble restraining myself. As we were heading out for a big dinner that night, I didn’t want to eat too much. Generally I minimise carbohydrates on a day to day basis, and I wanted to avoid carb loading on my first day, a cruise is a marathon not a sprint, ah well, that didn’t quite work out. As you will realise over the course of this review, I like food a lot! While enjoying food and the wine a flock of priests joined us, so there you go, a clerical seal of approval, it must be good. Sensibly they ate indoors.

 

The restaurant:

 

After lunch we planned to have ice-cream at Gelateria del Teatro, which is apparently one of the best places for ice-cream in Rome. It’s located on Via Coronari, where I had an apartment during a previous trip with friends. It is a lovely little street filled with antique shops and indeed the infamous ice-cream shop. Even though it wasn’t too far away from La Tavernetta, it was now close to 38 degrees, DM was melting, indeed I was melting, so we gave up trying to find it (I got lost again) and dived into a random place called - Gelateria Delle Palme. With 150 flavours it was going to be taxing. I’m not sure who told me this but when ice-cream is piled high in the display, it’s indicative of lower quality, style over substance, (always look for ice-cream you cannot see i.e. deep in the churns). Nevertheless, piled high or not, at this stage I didn’t care, and the ice-cream was actual quite epic. Apparently €3.50 gets you 3 scoops, not the one scoop we assumed (you have to pay for the ice-cream at the cash register, then you get a ticket which you bring to the counter), so we ended up with a lot more ice-cream than anticipated. But what an ice-cream it was - great flavours, profiterole, tiramisu and apricot. We had the ice-cream in the shop while staring at giant lollipops with pictures of Pope Francis on them. I said we should buy some for our nieces and nephews, but DM said their parents (i.e. our brothers) would not approve, ah I said, because they wouldn’t approve of lollies with the Pope’s face, no she said, think of the sugar, rot their teeth…so apparently it’s ok to lick the Pope’s face.

 

Given the early start, the heat, the food, we headed back to the hotel for a short siesta, which ended up being a long siesta. Then at about 4pm we headed out again (well DS and I did), DM slept. We did some shopping via the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. This time the Trevi was open, having been closed for renovations for what seemed like ages. The renovated Trevi is truly beautiful, worth the wait. The renovations were funded by the fashion house Fendi, who I noticed held a fashion show over the fountain a few weeks ago. Apparently about €3000 is tossed into the fountain every day in the hope of returning to Rome. OK so I know it’s touristy, but the money funds a low cost supermarket run by Caritas Charity, so I don’t mind tossing a coin or two in there. Back to the hotel to get ready for cocktails on the rooftop terrace and then dinner.

 

The restored Trevi:

 

After sipping a negroni on the terrace (while being freaked out by the huge seagulls waiting to swipe our nuts at any moment), we wandered to the restaurant via the Pantheon. The restaurant has no outdoor terrace and a very unassuming façade, so you really need to know where you are going. It had only opened and was already filling up. Dinner was beautiful, we shared an antipasto misto including fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta. Then my sister and I shared a primi and secondi - pasta (also with zucchini and lots of cheese) and shredding beef marinade in wine with walnuts and pears. Note to self, don’t order a heavy beef dish in sweltering heat. Save for cosy winter nights. To finish we shared tiramisu, have to have tiramisu in Rome. Well have to have tiramisu any time really. For the first few days DS and I were really good at sharing food in an attempt to at least try to minimisie food intake, but as you will see, as the days rolled on so did our stomachs. With a bottle of Montepulciano our meal was complete. All this for €100 in total! Bargain (I’m an economist, I’m in to bargains). Feeling truly stuffed, we walked back to the hotel enjoying the balmy night, and we slept very well.

 

Cocktails on the hotel rooftop watching the sun go down. They are not looking too happy, a bad nut?

 

Antipasti:

 

An overview of our first day. Me typing up our first post...I seem to be concentrating very hard...

 

Obviously I have now figured out how to embed photos....

[KAE27]

Delightful! Love your writing style and am eager to read more. :)

[Clarea]

Enjoying and following.

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[Texed]

I thought I would post a review of our 7 day cruise from Rome to Barcelona on Celebrity Equinox.

 

it will be interesting to see what you thought - my wife and I were on the same cruise !

 

We were on the same cruise also. Thanks for posting. :)

[Solution]

Thank you. Look forward to more updates.

 

We will be in Rome for six days in late Oct to early Nov before our TA cruise.

[WEGL81]

Really enjoying your review and writing style. We are going on an eastern Med cruise next year starting in Barcelona and ending in Rome. And the last time we were in Rome Trevi Fountain was still covered by scaffolds. Glad to see the work is finished.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Luckynana]

Loving your review and style of writing! A true Irish Lass with your great sense of humor!:)

 

My DH and I will be staying in Rome pre cruise along with our two traveling buddies before cruising the Western Mediterranean on the Silhouette in October.:D

 

ps...your pictures are great! Looking forward to following your cruise review!

[sbt518]

This is great so far, thank you!

 

We did the Eastern Med on Reflection a few years ago and stayed 2 nights before and 2 nights after in Rome at Albergo Cesari. Your posts about the terrace bring back some good memories.

[wallie5446]

Thanks for sharing!

 

Love to read about the Equinox, as we enjoyed her on our last 2 sailings.

EW

[drychi]

Great post and photos! Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda

[Lunastella]

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments and encouragement. Now where were we, yes day 2.

 

Day 2 – Embarkment Day

 

Got up at 7am to go running before it got too hot. I’m a fair weather runner - rain, freezing temperatures, snow - no problem, but anything over 20 degrees and I am likely to stay in bed. I say ‘run’ but today was more a sightseeing ‘jog’ as I kept stopping to take photos and to figure out where I was. One small street with beautiful buildings can begin to look like every small street with beautiful buildings after a while. I always go running when I travel. It is a great way to see a city in a short space of time, especially when travelling for work with little free time. Another advantage of running in the morning is that you can enjoy the peace and tranquilly of major sites before the hoards show up. And my run today took in some of the big ones - the Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon. I practically had them to myself, just me and the seagulls, ok some jetlagged tourists too. My 5km run was turning into a much longer affair, now where is the hotel again…find Pantheon and hence find hotel…. Ah found it. One of the things I really appreciate in Rome are the water fountains – beautiful free water on tap and luckily there is one just outside our hotel. Literally a life saver at this point.

 

Hot Luna running around Rome (and not in a good way):

 

A few sites along the way:

 

 

After a quick shower I was ready for a leisurely breakfast on the roof terrace with DM and DS. Although it turned out to be less leisurely than expected as the seagulls were standing guard, you couldn’t leave your table for a moment or they would swoop and grab. But at least they didn’t take it from your mouth, much appreciated. The breakfast spread, like last year, was excellent, amazing bread and pastries, plus cappuccinos to order. DS and I kept to our promise and shared pastries…won’t tell you exactly how many we shared though…lets say one or two and keep it at that.

 

Scary seagulls:

 

Roof terrace:

 

Then I checked my emails, I really shouldn’t have checked my emails. I had a request asking me to write a reference letter for one of my previous PhD students, due in 5 days’ time. I was torn. I pretty much work all the time at home, weekends, evenings etc. but when on holiday, I make a rule, no work (well maybe check some emails). But what if I don’t write the letter on time and she doesn’t get the job, I can’t have that on my conscious, so I wrote the reference, another cappuccino please. Due to my letter writing, we ended up leaving the hotel at little later than planned. It was back to public transport for us, bus to the train station and then the train to Civitavecchia (you can buy your bus tickets from magazine kiosks dotted around the city, note you cannot pay on the bus and you have to validate your ticket on the bus. And you can buy your train tickets from ticket machines in the central concourse in Termini, although most machines only take cards not cash and again you have to validate your ticket in the yellow machines beside the platforms). Take note, the platform for the Civitavecchia train is very very very far away, we were walking for so long that I was convinced we were walking to the port, I kid you not. If you are going to take the train, make sure you arrive at Termini in plenty of time to buy your ticket (€5) and make the epic walk to the platform. There are fast trains and slow trains, we took a slow train, well the slowest of the slow trains - took 1 hr 22 mins to be exact. But time to catch up on writing this review, so all good!

 

My travel companions on the train:

 

Once you arrive into Civitavecchia station you can either walk the 15-20 minutes to the port, dragging you luggage in 30+ degree heat, or for €5 per person you can get a taxi transfer. We opted for the transfer. To be honest, if you can afford it, I would suggest taking a transfer all the way from Rome, much more pleasant, but we like doing things the hard way, must be our upbringing – you reading DM??? As we drove through Civitavecchia, we soon saw the Equinox in the distance, holiday phase II was about to begin.

[lola2013]

More...please...more!!!

Susan

[timtrek]

Great review ! I can hardly wait for more.

[cruisecatmama]

I, too, am loving your review!

[IrishLassie]

Hey,

 

Looking forward to reading more too, it will be interesting to see what you thought - my wife and I are from Donegal, we were on the same flight and the same cruise !

 

And we are thinking about our next jaunt already !

 

Roll on your next instalment :)

 

Sorry to jump in here with this question, but where are you in Donegal?

 

I'm loving this review too. The pictures are great, can't wait for more. :D

[RNCheryl]

Loving your review. And I have a Grand Niece due in August, her name to be Luna!!

[Lunastella]

Before we board, some more photos from Rome courtesy of DS, the real photographer in the family.

 

The Alps (I think)

 

The hotel (I'm sure)

 

The restaurant

 

The epic ice-cream

 

A very pretty door...oh and DS

 

Can't get any more Roman than this