Equinox - June 8-15, 2019

[GAcruiser2]

We sailed on Equinox last summer in Aqua class. We enjoyed our experience so much that we booked the Eastern Caribbean itinerary for this summer while we were onboard.0

 

The Good

Service was good as always. All the employees were polite and eager to help. I know many on our cruise felt that Captain Kate’s announcements were canned and not that funny. Perhaps. That didn’t matter much to me, though. I did like that she made herself very visible on the ship. She was everywhere - from the shows to taking photos with the passengers to having coffee with passengers in the Cafe to talk about their experience. She was also there when we left the ship on the last day to say goodbye and thanks to each of us.

 

Other than a few misses, the food in Blu was very good. We also enjoyed the Indian selections in Oceanview which were always delicious. We tried Le Petite Chef. I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it because it was too gimmicky. Yes, it was gimmicky, but it was still a really fun experience that I’m glad I tried once. 

 

We we did not have issues with sun beds, but we did notice all the chairs in the sun near the pool were gone by 8am. We never had a problem finding a spot in the shade or the upper deck, though. I will say that the flooring Celebrity uses gets extremely hot which is dangerous if you walk from the upper deck to downstairs without shoes.

 

The Bad

As mentioned in my other posts, there were a lot of cuts made to Aqua Class benefits. No canvas bags, no priority check in, no foot stools. These weren’t a big deal, but the culmination of all these cuts lead to the feeling of degradation to Aqua. Other than Blu which is only slightly better than Silhouette, we really didn’t see the benefit of Aqua and would probably save our money in the future.

 

Our pillows had a mildew smell to them. I didn’t sleep well on the first night because the smell would wake me up. Our cabin attendant said they were new. We asked for a new set, but those smelled, too. We finally asked for memory foam pillows; they did not have a smell.

 

Celebrity needs to either improve room service or not offer it at all. Everyone we spoke to had a nice laugh at how bad room service was. Our breakfast was not very good at all. Also, they brought us 2 of items we only wanted one of and one of items that we requested two. We also ended up with items we didn’t order and then items they were missing. My husband and I had a good laugh about it. We made it our mission for the next few days to make it to Blu for breakfast before they closed!

 

WiFi has never been good on the ships, but it was particularly terrible during our cruise. It was out completely for a day or two and then barely usable for the other days. I couldn’t even get email to load. Yes, I’m on vacation so we should be off the grid, but we have two young children who were with my parents. I wanted to be sure that we were reachable in case of any emergencies, and it was discomforting to know that might not be possible. Also, if I pay for something, I would expect for it to work. 

 

The Ugly

My kids and I wanted to do something special for my husband for Father’s Day. My kids surprised him right before we left to let him know he’d be taking an excursion in the Bahamas to swim with dolphins. Hubby was ecstatic! I had booked the VIP Blue Lagoon Beach Break which included an open bar, food, a private beach and the opportunity to swim with dolphins. The cost was $258 for both of us which was much more than any of our other excursions (did snorkeling in St. Thomas and Tortola), but figured it was worth the money. We learned upon arrival to Blue Lagoon that the description was completely misleading. There was a bar, but it was not open. The dolphin swim was an option for an additional fee. Also, our “private” beach was simply a roped off area right next to where the boats docked so we’d be swimming in boat fuel deluged water. This was the last straw for us. We would never have paid that much money for some salty food and public beach. The full weight of all the cutbacks and the nickel-and-diming had come to a head with this excursion. We were furious and took the first ferry boat back to the ship. At the shore excursion desk, the line was about 20 people deep with others who were angry about their “private” beach excursion. Celebrity blamed the excursion company, but I still feel that this is Celebrity’s fault since they should’ve verified everything the excursion company said they’d offer. Celebrity gave us a full refund, but that couldn’t make up for the ruined experience.

 

The End

We didn’t book a cruise onboard this time. I don’t think we’ve written off Celebrity forever, but we are uninterested in coming back in the near future. Keep in mind that my hubby and me are in our 30s so we’re solidly in Celebrity’s target demographic so this a miss for them. 

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by GAcruiser2

[helen haywood]

From a fellow Georgian, I'm so sorry your husband's Father's Day treat was such a bust.  Thank you for your review.

[nj356]

Hello

 

My family and I will be on the 6th. We were on the Equinox last year and we did not have any issues. I have seen over the years when we sailed with Celebrity how they are cutting back, from less staff to no more note pads or pens in the cabins. I have seen their usual demographic to be more on the older side, since you mentioned you are in your 30's I would think they would want to target your age and into the 50's more. On another topic, I wanted to asked if know if one of the activities members Oz was on board. We meet him last year and when we were on the Summit. He is a really nice guy was hoping to catch up with him to see who he is going.    

[UFMOM]

Sorry your trip was not all you hoped it would be.  That excursion sounds horrible. We are booked on the Equinox for November and love Celebrity. We also cruise many other lines and have cruises booked on RCL Symphony in August and NCL Encore for NYE. Each line has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but we can find enjoyment on all of them. FYI RCL will match your Celebrity loyalty status. You may want to branch out.

  Thank you for the heads up or down 😁 on the pillows. We drive to the port and if this issue is not resolved by our cruise, I will just bring our own in an extra suitcase. I have done this before because I like feather pillows. 

 

 

 

 

Mary Ann

[Mialias]

glad you really liked Le Petit Chef! We think its amazing too. Just made our family reservations!

[hiccups]

Thanks for your review.  I'm surprised to hear how bad the WiFi was--we were onboard the previous week and I was impressed at how good it was for a cruise ship (in comparison to our recent cruises on Azamara, Oceania and HAL).  We had to check in for our Southwest flights and using the WiFi we got boarding spots B3 and B4, which is better than I did for our flights to FLL using my work PC.

 

The only issue I had with the WiFi was that I changed devices during the day and then sometimes it  took a couple tries to get connected back on my phone.

That excursion sounds terribly disappointing.  It helps that you were refunded, but it should have been what was offered in the first place.

[GAcruiser2]

18 hours ago, hiccups said:

 

That excursion sounds terribly disappointing.  It helps that you were refunded, but it should have been what was offered in the first place.

I think we would’ve viewed our cruise experience through an entirely different lens had that excursion not happened. It really soured everything for us.

 

I’m sure we’ll come back to Celebrity at some point. Just probably not in the next year or two.

[cruisefam38]

I appreciate the review, Gacruiser2.  You provided a helpful perspective.  My wife avoids certain types of pillow, and "mildew" is not on her pillow menu. 

 

We are on an upcoming cruise on the Equinox, therefore I was able to take a peek at the current pricing and descriptions for the various Blue Lagoon excursions offered through Celebrity.  As of today, while food is available, there are no mentions of an open bar for any of these excursions; and with your review GAcruiser2 I looked at the photos through a different lens, and yes one could see that this is not a fully separate and self-contained facility, and more of a designated section of shoreline.  For contrast, when we did a dolphin encounter while porting in Cozumel a few years ago, there was a facility with large man-made pools for the lessons and dolphin swims.  While porting in Roatan, Honduras  we were in facility more like the Bahamian excursion, however it was well maintained marine habitat.  In both venues, one got the sense the humans cared about and for the marine mammals. 

For anyone considering a future Eastern Caribbean cruise that includes the Nassau, Bahamas the current prices for Blue Lagoon (5 hours) are:

 

Blue Lagoon Island VIP Dolphin Swim & Beach = $374 pp

Blue Lagoon Island Dolphin Swim and Beach Day = $184 pp

Blue Lagoon Island Dolphin Encounter and Beach Day = $129 pp

 

[GAcruiser2]

Looks like they removed the VIP Beach Day excursion which is good.

[ShipMonster]

23 hours ago, GAcruiser2 said:

We sailed on Equinox last summer in Aqua class. We enjoyed our experience so much that we booked the Eastern Caribbean itinerary for this summer while we were onboard.0

 

The Bad

As mentioned in my other posts, there were a lot of cuts made to Aqua Class benefits. No canvas bags, no priority check in, no foot stools. These weren’t a big deal, but the culmination of all these cuts lead to the feeling of degradation to Aqua. Other than Blu which is only slightly better than Silhouette, we really didn’t see the benefit of Aqua and would probably save our money in the future.

Thanks for the detailed overview. We're 1st timers on x cruises and we booked AC cabins for later this year. How is it possible for them not to have priority embarkation? As I've seen a few other people on here say the same thing, I called their help number to ask but the wait was too long. It sounds like you have grounds for a refund or OBC.

 

 

 

 

[helen haywood]

Um, just because something is listed on Celebrity's website doesn't make it so.  (Of course it should....but we know better.)

[Loucat]

We are booked in Aqua Class on Equinox for a Christmas sailing. That "perks" list is pretty uninteresting. Did they add complimentary pool towel service to make the list look longer? May need to rethink this sailing.

Thank you for posting your experience and sorry there were so many issues. Your "Bad" and "Ugly" items outweigh the "Good". 

[ShipMonster]

32 minutes ago, Loucat said:

We are booked in Aqua Class on Equinox for a Christmas sailing. That "perks" list is pretty uninteresting. Did they add complimentary pool towel service to make the list look longer? May need to rethink this sailing.

Thank you for posting your experience and sorry there were so many issues. Your "Bad" and "Ugly" items outweigh the "Good". 

Here's the full list 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/17057517_CEL_Concierge_and_Aqua_Class_Amenities.pdf

 

Helen,

We paid extra for these "perks" and if they're not included then there's issues.  

[TheKBrowns]

We were on the same cruise in Aqua, we had a canvas bag in our room and were one of the first to board as Aqua was called first. We had one bad night with service in Blu as the wait staff that were assigned were not on their game, from then on we requested who we wanted. No foot stools on the balcony, did not do specialty dinning and our pillows did not smell. I will agree the internet was terrible, if non existent, was able to connect to LTE in San Juan and St Thomas. Did not do any cruise related shore excursions and did not have room service.

 

i did not have any high expectations for Aqua, other than early boarding and Blu. The daily snacks and tea in the room were nice to have. We did make it to Blu for breakfast about 4 time and ate at the buffet the remainder.

 

We had the premium drink package and took full advantage of it. The Martini bar was my favorite part of the cruise. There was a variety of entertainment on board, we went to the evening show every night and listen to many of the bands playing thru out the day.

 

The chairs by the pool filled up quickly but we layed on the deck above, usually just aft of the Mast bar. Unless you just had to be by the pool, there were usually chairs to be had. 

 

As for the early/priority disembarkation, we were in group 20 which was scheduled for 810am, but they were running about 15 minutes behind. I don’t feel that was priority, but could be wrong.

 

Overall we had a great cruise and would choose Aqua if the price was right.

[GAcruiser2]

15 minutes ago, TheKBrowns said:

We were on the same cruise in Aqua, we had a canvas bag in our room 

 

I guess our cabin attendant is to blame, but I did meet two other couples in Aqua who didn’t receive bags. They might have run out of bags....