Celebrity Equinox vs Sky Princess

[JerseyGirlatHeart]

A little background … we are in our 60’s, retired, and have traveled both cruise lines in the past several times.  Sailed on Equinox (Aqua Class) in January and on Sky (Mini suite) in February so it is fresh in my mind.  Please realize everything is subjective and this is just our experience.

 

Ship:  Both ships are beautiful in different ways.  Equinox was much easier to navigate; Sky has narrow staircases and halls, some places you had to go up, across and down to access.  The Sky seemed much larger, and held about 800 more passengers.  I prefer the sleek elegance of Equinox.

 

Entertainment:  The pool music on Sky was much better (and more of it); Equinox pool music was lacking.  Production shows were much better on Sky, we felt as if the production shows on Equinox were too “message” oriented (political/social justice) and did not resonate with us or probably half of the other passengers.   The Theater on the Equinox is grander, the Theater on Sky reminded me of a school auditorium, or a church without pews or balconies.  The guest entertainers were better on Sky.  We enjoyed Movies under the Stars on Sky, much nicer experience then Equinox Movies on the Lawn.  We were able to sit in the hot tub and view the movie, thick cushions were put on lounge chairs and blankets supplied for a cozy night.  Popcorn was available, but a little stale.  Hot tubs and pools are open on Sky until midnight; they closed at 9pm on Equinox.  Love a late night swim.  Prefer the Sky for Entertainment.  

 

Equinox quality of food far, far better; but liked the Canapés on Sky.  Hamburgers were awful on Sky; Mast Grill so much better.  We ate in Blu on Equinox, but was able to order from the Main Dining Room Menu if we wanted.  Sky had a nice menu in the Main Dining Room (there were three, one for set dining and two for anytime dining … all menus exactly the same.). Though menu sounded nice quality was terrible on Sky, just not an overall pleasant experience.  Ate dinner at the buffet once on Sky, and it was worse then the Main Dining Room.  Equinox hands down for food quality!

 

Had a mini suite on Sky which was similar in size to an Aqua Cabin on Equinox.  Sky had a full size bathtub and more storage.  I liked the closet setup on Sky, sort of like a walk-in closet with shelves, hangers, safe with access to bathroom from the closet area.  The Balcony was far superior on Equinox, we were in angled cabin 1599; on Sky we also had an angled cabin (under skywalk) M427, but balcony was much smaller.   Rooms both had pluses so would call this category a Tie.

 

We had challenges with Princess Medallion App before boarding, IT could not figure it out, spent many hours on phone with Princess.  Ended up going to port without issues fixed … caused me anxiety; I had no problem with Celebrity App.  Once on board, and IT issues with Princess resolved, it was nice to have the ability to find shipmates, open cabin doors, charge drinks with the medallion.  Ordered drinks via medallion system for delivery on pool deck, took about 15 minutes … very convenient though downside is that you cannot customize, additionally a few times an item was ordered it was delivered to someone else.  “Check in” on Celebrity App much smother then Sky; but once Princess gets kinks worked out with Medallion System/Ocean App they will be light years ahead of Celebrity.

 

Fitness Center is nicer on Equinox.  The Gym on Sky is adequate, no spin bikes for use unless you pay, more equipment in Equinox.  Equinox in my Preference.

 

The  staff on board, in general, are far, far below Celebrity Staff level.  On Sky it was been our experience that the food and beverage staff does not go above and beyond, they seem to be just “going through the motions”, as compared to Celebrity where the majority of the staff bent over backwards to make everything perfect.  I realize that there will always be mistakes, but over and over and over on Sky…EXCEPTION our room steward Jules, from the Philippines, was been OUTSTANDING!  Shout out on Equinox to Rambo and Mickey in Blu!  Celebrity Crew made for an awesome vacation.  

 

Note:  we spread our mom’s ashes at sea on Princess (her favorite cruise line) and loyalty staff helped us set up a nice private ceremony.  They provided a table to display items, an officer attended in full dress, Bio engineering inspected the container to ensure it was biodegradable, and we had a private area on Deck 7 in the back of the ship to say our final goodbyes and drop the container in the ocean.  A photographer took pictures, and if the wind was not so bad a musician would have played.  Once dropped, the container bobbed in ship’s wake with a trio seagull escort.  Very fitting for our travel loving mom.

 

Overall we will cruise each line again (maybe not Sky as I feel Management is currently lacking).