Quai-Evil review Celebrity Equinox Eastern Med Feb 17-24-my .02

[pretty princess]

Thanks for the info on Uber. Having a great time

[Tommy3putts]

Equinox Grades: “Let me sum-up” (useless trivia—name the movie). I’ll summarize here my overall .02 grades for our cruise (All ratings are in beers).

 

Embarkation 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

Fairly easy and quick process from bag drop off to registration. With Aqua Class you get a designated waiting area and priority boarding. We got there early so there were no real lines to checkin for the cruise so I doubt there was much of an advantage for being aqua class (in our experience there usually are bigger lines for the priority check in groups than normal checkin so we usually just go to the general check in line)

 

Food 4 and 1/2 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

 

Blu. With the exception of the ribeye, the food and wine was excellent. We enjoyed the menu offerings tremendously

 

Buffet. I love the Windjammer It is the best buffet at sea that I’ve have been to. Used primarily for breakfast and lunch. Great food and service. I especially like the ocean view bar in the outdoor dining area.

 

Food service staff 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

Great service in almost all of our dining venues.

 

Specialty Restaurants—Tuscan Grill 4 1/2 our of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

 

We dined in the Tuscan Grille and this was a great experience; as always. Here the ribeye was thick and prepared exactly to my liking

 

Bars 4 out of 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

I like the mix of the bars on the Equinox. The vibe around the Martini Bar and Gastro Pub at night was much more electric. Love the Gastro Pub over cellar masters.

 

Bar service staff. 3 1/2 out ouf 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2.

 

All the bars except the Gastro Pub had prompt and friendly service.

 

Gastro Pub bartenders aren’t very attentive and often don’t follow up on orders. Twice I had a bartender take my order and sea pass card and disappear. I had to get another bartender to finish my order and return my card. This happened twice!!!!

 

Internet 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] [emoji481]

 

Keeps getting better and better. See above post.

 

Entertainment 3 1/2 out of 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

 

It seemed like there were a lot of fun activities on sea days around the pool. Everyone looked like they were having fun and the contests were fun to watch. The cruise director (I don’t remember his name) seemed good to me.

 

I was underwhelmed with the various entertainment. The house band and jazz combo were “ho-hum.” The lead female singer wasn’t great. The solo guitarist was “okay.” Nothing memorable here

 

I didn’t see any of the shows. But the rest of the group went to the comedian and the main theme show on Sunday night. The comedian was average and they left in the middle of the theme show.

 

 

Room Steward - 4 out out 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

Hector was good but not great. He was very responsive and fast to our requests. But missed on stocking some of the routine supplies. Yep we ran out of toilet paper one morning.

 

Cracker Cruncher Factor - 3 1/2 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

 

There were kids of all ages on this cruise but not many. Most were well behaved and only saw a few running amok but they weren’t bothering anybody

 

Ports of Call 5 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

We loved this itinerary. The perfect blend of sea days and port days. The late arrival to San Juan made if feel like we had a fourth sea day. St Maarten will take several years to fully recover so be prepared to be flexible in your plans. St Kitts was our favorite stop we thoroughly enjoyed our day there. It is a defiinte “visit again.”

 

Ship excursion—Zip Line in St Kitts 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

We rarely do ship sponsored excursions. My wife likes the zip-line thing so I booked this for her. She loved it and said she’d definitely do it again. The only criticism was the lack of organization and start onboard in the theater. Typical for a ship excursion.

 

Chic Nights 5 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

I am a huge fan of the switch to dressy versus formal. As a business professional I get to were suits and ties during the work week. I’m looking more for a casual vacation. As for the Chic nights themselves I did not see much formal wear at all, and only slightly more coats and ties. Most gentlemen wore dressier casual attire (including blazers)and women wore cocktail dressers.

 

Disembarkation 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

 

We self disembarked. Once it got started it was a breeze. Took all of 20 minutes once we started to leave. The window was supposed to be 7-7:20 but it didn’t start until 7:15. There was a designated GOES line but it was not open. It didn’t make much of a difference as they were not using any customs forms. The boarder agents just looked at our passports asked a few question and we were on our way.

 

 

I’ll finish up with some final thoughts and wind up this review in a separate post

[Tommy3putts]

Final thoughts

 

We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and recommend it. Was in a perfect cruise? No. But we had a memorable week and loved the ship and the ports of call. The only problem is that it was too short. Seven night cruises just seem to be over before they get started. We like longer cruises/vacations but realistically can only do it once a year. So for our winter getaways we are left to a seven nights in warm weather.

 

This was are first Eastern Caribbean Itinerary(we did the Eastern Mediterranean in 2014, I guess I was having subliminal thoughts of that when I was typing the title to this thread). We enjoyed this itinerary and look forward to more E and S Caribbeans in the future.

 

Despite a couple of windy days the weather was enjoyable for the cruise. Perfect temps and only a shower or two in the morning. We also had a lot of movement to the ship for the middle four and 1/2 days of the cruise but it wasn’t bad for me. It made for good sleeping at night.

 

Equinox is a great lady and we would gladly sail on her again. However, I think I would give the “edge” ([emoji12]) to the Reflection. In general Celebrity and the Solstice Class ships just seem to fit our style and I’d like to have the chance to sail on all of them. But Reflection is our favorite so far. We also look forward to sailing on Edge in the next few years. We booked our next Celebrity Cruise while on board the Equinox. We’re going to do an Adriatic Cruise on the Constellation in the summer of 2019.

 

A final note to the new cruisers who are lurking to see if Celebrity is right for them. Please don’t pay too much attention to the growing number of doom and gloom posts in the Celebrity forum about how bad Celebrity has become and all the bad things they have to say about the cruise line. Yada, yada, yada. Sure also take my review with a grain of salt too. But all the negative threads out there are mostly disgruntled trolls with an agenda. Celebrity is a great product and with the new Edge class there are exiting cruises out there to try.

 

Thanks for following along; typos and all. I’m happy to answer any additional questions

 

Cheers

T3P!

 

Our Next Cruises

October 2018: Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas Transatlantic

February 2019: NCL Bliss (First NCL cruise)

September 2019: Celebrity Constellation

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Tommy3putts

[Tomato53]

Thanks for sharing your observations and photos. Well done!

[clivey]

Thanks for taking us along. We tried Celebrity for the first time last summer with a B2B on the Equinox. We were hooked. Tried the Reflection in November and had a great time. We’re now booked for 4 cruises on the Equinox this year. We’ll try our first suite in December. I’ll be happy to take over holding those bar stools down for you!

 

 

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[Texed]

Mr. Three putts,

Thanks for posting. :)

[Tommy3putts]

Thanks for taking us along. We tried Celebrity for the first time last summer with a B2B on the Equinox. We were hooked. Tried the Reflection in November and had a great time. We’re now booked for 4 cruises on the Equinox this year. We’ll try our first suite in December. I’ll be happy to take over holding those bar stools down for you!

 

 

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Thanks to everyone for all the nice words about the review.

 

Haven’t done a B2B or a real suite yet. We did a Jr Suite on Allure a few years ago. Great cabin class. A B2B is on my to do list. I’m thinking of a 10 and 11 night B2B as a retirement present in 3 or 4 years.

[madcitymaven]

Enjoyed the review of your cruise on the Equinox, Tommy. Thank you for taking the time! Also, your pictures were great!

 

Randy

[micheleata]

We were on the same cruise! Our pictures are pretty much the same, except I didn't do the excursions that you did. I did manage some great sunset pics on Thursday night, but the other nights were very cloudy, or I was in the dining room. It looks like you had a great time. I agree with almost everything you wrote. I didn't really care for the buffet, and I usually LOVE buffets. Everything looked so much better than it tasted and was so crowded the few days we went to lunch there. I did enjoy my breakfast there Saturday morning before we left though. You should have gone to see the second comedian on Friday night, he was hysterical!!! We also walked out of the theme show "Elisium". Not for us, but it turned out great, as I had some decent hits in the casino instead. This was my first cruise and I am going to attempt a review soon. Thanks for sharing!

[Tommy3putts]

We were on the same cruise! Our pictures are pretty much the same, except I didn't do the excursions that you did. I did manage some great sunset pics on Thursday night, but the other nights were very cloudy, or I was in the dining room. It looks like you had a great time. I agree with almost everything you wrote. I didn't really care for the buffet, and I usually LOVE buffets. Everything looked so much better than it tasted and was so crowded the few days we went to lunch there. I did enjoy my breakfast there Saturday morning before we left though. You should have gone to see the second comedian on Friday night, he was hysterical!!! We also walked out of the theme show "Elisium". Not for us, but it turned out great, as I had some decent hits in the casino instead. This was my first cruise and I am going to attempt a review soon. Thanks for sharing!

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I hope you enjoyed your first cruise and sail with Celebrity again.

 

Cheers.

 

Tom

[micheleata]

Tom,

 

I loved every second! I loved Celebrity. It was beautiful and so clean. I loved how it really never felt crowded, and how friendly everyone was, from guests to employees. I have already started looking to book another one.

 

Michele

[Tommy3putts]

Michele

 

Great to hear. Next time while on board be sure and visit Future Cruises. Sometimes you can get added incentives by booking future cruises while on board (not always). For example, we got an extra $200 OBC for booking our 2019 cruise.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[spammie]

Hi Tom. Thoroughly enjoyed your review of our favorite Celebrity ship Equinox. I do agree with the Reflection Sunset Bar being a much better design. Hubby and myself spent so much time on the Reflection at the Sunset Bar. The Equinox Sunset bar design just seems a little odd to me. Oh well! Doesn't stop us from spending lots of time there! :cool::cool:

 

We will be self disembarking for the first time in May on the Equinox. I keep reading all these reviews that for self disembarking you have to line up 30 to 45 minutes before the stated time? We are booking a 9:45am flight out of Miami. We usually "Uber" but since we will have to get to the airport ASAP, were there taxis waiting outside? Thank you! Wanda

[Tommy3putts]

Hi Tom. Thoroughly enjoyed your review of our favorite Celebrity ship Equinox.....

 

 

 

We will be self disembarking for the first time in May on the Equinox. I keep reading all these reviews that for self disembarking you have to line up 30 to 45 minutes before the stated time? We are booking a 9:45am flight out of Miami. We usually "Uber" but since we will have to get to the airport ASAP, were there taxis waiting outside? Thank you! Wanda

 

 

Hi

 

I don’t think you need to be in line 30-45 minutes before. We’ve self disembarked twice. Here is how it went.

 

2016 on Allure of the Seas. Scheduled for 7:00 AM. We showed up at 6:45 and walked right off. No lines on the ship or in customs area.

 

2017 Equinox. Scheduled for 7:00 to 7:20. We showed up at 6:50 and there was a line of a hundred or so stretching through the Ensemble lounge. The process started at 7:15 and by that time there were twice as many people behind us as in front of us. It was maybe a 10 minute wait in line to go through customs. So once it started it went quickly.

 

I didn’t notice the cabs, those were to the left, we went right to get the Uber. However, based on my past experience I know there are tons cabs there or close by. There is a designated cab line and should not be much of a wait when you disembark.

 

It’s easy and quick.

 

Tom

[spammie]

Hi

 

I don’t think you need to be in line 30-45 minutes before. We’ve self disembarked twice. Here is how it went.

 

2016 on Allure of the Seas. Scheduled for 7:00 AM. We showed up at 6:45 and walked right off. No lines on the ship or in customs area.

 

2017 Equinox. Scheduled for 7:00 to 7:20. We showed up at 6:50 and there was a line of a hundred or so stretching through the Ensemble lounge. The process started at 7:15 and by that time there were twice as many people behind us as in front of us. It was maybe a 10 minute wait in line to go through customs. So once it started it went quickly.

 

I didn’t notice the cabs, those were to the left, we went right to get the Uber. However, based on my past experience I know there are tons cabs there or close by. There is a designated cab line and should not be much of a wait when you disembark.

 

It’s easy and quick.

 

Tom

 

Thank you so much!

[masonpips]

Hey Tom, great review!

 

Was on the same sailing. My random thoughts/adds:

 

We flew in the first day (ACK!) but had a direct flight that landed at Miami by 9:30 am. We took Lyft and were picked up at 10:07 and dropped at 10:35 (driver missed the tunnel the first time so it took a bit longer). Price was $18.01

 

We, by chance, met our friends by the porters and all proceeded in to the check-in. Dh and I are Elite (courtesy of RCCL Diamond +) so we were checked in first (although there were no lines). We were directed to the Elite waiting area, watched our friends walk by to the regular area and then started boarding. I posted a pic of myself w/champagne at 11:03. Super efficient!

 

We waited for our friends, hit the buffet and then changed into swimsuits until the rooms were ready (1:05 or so?, they had said 1:30). We were on 7, hump balcony (I'll post a pic after I post this from my phone). Excellent location and our room attendant was great (Melvyn from India)

 

We did Select Dining and ended up with a table for 14 that we hated (we had 9) because it was too big, moved to a table for 10 (round, that we couldn't get the 2nd night) and then found the "just right" table for 8 where they added a chair. The chairs were huge but we made it work and ADORED Nelson and Jose the rest of the week.

 

The food was good to VERY good all week. The filet was amazing. The lobster was great and plentiful, Nelson's recommendations were spot on. We ate at buffet one night and it was good/easy/casual. We LOVED the pool grill for lunch. RCCL needs to add this! The Windjammer gets so old in comparison. The breakfast buffet was better than average and the made to order eggs were served quickly.

 

Dh and I only got off the ship at St. M - we all took the Water Taxi to Front Street area and snagged beach chairs. It was a great day, although we were sad to miss Orient Beach this time. Our private day sail was canceled in St. Kitts due to wind (we were fine with that) and we've BTDT to San Juan many times (have visited St. Kitts 3x as well). So we had total relaxation on the ship for many days and it was wonderful!

 

Had the premium drink package and enjoyed a "double shot" on the frozen drinks at the pool, unlimited diet cokes, and MANY martinis. Those guys were great. Gastropub was "ok" service wise (agree that they seemed unfocused and the one night the Martini Bar was down, the guys were totally clueless in making ANY martini (like a Cosmo)).

 

World Class Bar was ~meh~ for me, I tried to go there first when Martini Bar was down, was told they could only make drinks in their menu (:rolleyes:) and then seemed unhelpful when I glanced through and made a decision. The Pool Mast Bar service sucked. We had great service for the guys wanderiing the pool deck (Egbert, Lennox I think), but it was pulling teeth to get service AT the bar. The Pool Grill bar (beer/soft drinks) was good (Jorge usually).

 

Was underimpressed by the ship shops. We had significant OBC from our booking 2 years ago and struggled to spend it. Eventually cashed some in at the casino (blue chips) and ended up winning (red chips) that I cashed out.

 

Our first Solstice class and the Lawn Club is major wasted space IMO. We saw the first show (weird and the guys were all "wth was that?"), Franki Valli show (liked), the Divas (girls only went and we had so much fun) and that was it. We are young 50's and saw few to no kids (nice), sailed with friends from 32-64 and we all had a blast. The late night scene was fun, but seemed repetitive after a while. The DJ could play disco or rap it seemed - not a huge variety if you went several times.

 

Spacey was fun, but not seen other than the scheduled events. He did awesome for the Disco show (the dude had to burn some calories). I didn't like the Grand Foyer set up for that type of a show (missed the Promenade) but they don't have a lot of choice. The ship was beautiful and well kept.

 

We booked the 9 night to ABC islands (plus Cayman) for next April on the Sihlouette. I really think I liked Millenium class a little better (of course I was in a Sky Suite and had Luminae that time so I may be biased) but the overall package on Equinox was delivered in style and the atmosphere and feeling of Celebrity is nice for us!

[masonpips]

7286 backside of the hump

 

Another, last morning

 

 

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[masonpips]

One last thought - Cafe al Bacio needs major process improvement. The service was friendly and decent, but during busy hours they should have someone dishing out the snacks and others making drinks. I typically was getting both, but felt badly for the folks just wanting a cookie needing to stand in line. And then if you were "to go", you got a piece of cake (btw, the Strawberry Chiffon was EXCELLENT) in a paper cookie holder with a gelato stick on top. They need paper plates; it's not rocket science. I felt like the workers did the best they could, but someone needs to step in and make some service changes!

[Tommy3putts]

Hi,

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I like to get other’s perspectives on their cruise experience. My sister used Cafe al Bacio every morning for foo-foo coffee. She had similar feelings about that venue.

 

As for the Lawn Club, I don’t mind small areas of grass. The sunbathers seem to like it. But the entire center part of deck 15 is largely unused. Its a shame. The Lawn Club is a great specialty restaurant and fits in perfectly on the Reflection

[Elusive_Cruiser]

One last thought - Cafe al Bacio needs major process improvement. The service was friendly and decent, but during busy hours they should have someone dishing out the snacks and others making drinks. I typically was getting both, but felt badly for the folks just wanting a cookie needing to stand in line. And then if you were "to go", you got a piece of cake (btw, the Strawberry Chiffon was EXCELLENT) in a paper cookie holder with a gelato stick on top. They need paper plates; it's not rocket science. I felt like the workers did the best they could, but someone needs to step in and make some service changes!

 

On the Silhouette in January, for the 1st time on Celebrity, during the busy mornings, I saw a girl at the beginning of the line, taking orders, but only filling pastry herself, and passing drinks to the Baristas. The Baristas had pre-prepared many to-go cups with expresso, in anticipation of making Americanos. This really made the service go very quickly and I was quite impressed!

[clivey]

Did anyone catch the names of any of the bartenders in the Martini Bar? Also, why was the Martini Bar down? That’s my favorite place on the ship!!

 

 

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[Tommy3putts]

Did anyone catch the names of any of the bartenders in the Martini Bar? Also, why was the Martini Bar down? That’s my favorite place on the ship!!

 

 

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Didn’t catch the names of the bartenders. It was down because the refrigeration unit for the counters was not working and leaking water. Or so I was told.

[bryce125]

We were also on this cruise and spent a lot of time at the Sunset Bar, sorry we never met. Yes, the Sunset bar has a better layout on the other ships, Reflection and Silhouette.The Martini bartenders were wonderful: August, Imade, Rory, Eka and a guy that looks like singer Pit Bull. We had a blast with them every night. Every staff member we came in contact with was wonderful and we were sure to list their names on the survey.

We read a lot about waiting for drinks, however, we didn't have a problem during this cruise. We enjoyed the food and always found something that we liked on the menus. We did go to Silk Harvest and thought it was good, not great, as it was a bit salty for us. Met many wonderful passengers from all over the US, Canada, and Europe. Many laughs at the silent disco, disco never dies night, and the comedy shows. Didn't go to the production shows.

We look forward to cruising again on the Equinox!