Review: Celebrity Equinox 7/2/22-7/10/22

[zackarykeef]

Hey, y'all!

 

I just returned about two weeks ago from this sailing, and I typically write a quick review afterwards, especially if it was something new for me. As this was my first Celebrity cruise, I felt it appropriate to write one! Hopefully, this will help those trying to decide whether or not to sail this ship or with Celebrity, as reviews are always helpful for me!

 

To give you insight into my review’s perspective: I took this cruise with my parents, my fiance, and some of my fiance’s family. There were 7 of us total with ages ranging from 19 to 74. My fiance and I are right around 30.

 

We departed from the Celebrity terminal at Pier 25 in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) for an 8-day cruise to San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Tortola, and Nassau, as well as two sea days.

 

I've done several reviews before (linked in my signature) and will do this one in a similar manner with final thoughts at the end. Feel free to ask any questions...I'm happy to help!

 

Happy cruising!

[zackarykeef]

Booking: I have a friend who works for Celebrity who was gracious enough to give me some friends/family discount codes, which helped us save a ton. Because of this, we had to book our cabins directly with Celebrity via the website. We booked in March/April prior to our July cruise (I’m pretty last minute always based on my job).

 

I booked our room first (my parents and fiance’s family decided to join later), and at that time, a Concierge guarantee room was cheaper than choosing a standard verandah. Although we didn’t feel we needed the Concierge benefits, we ended up going with that, since all the Concierge rooms are in a good location. I was not willing to risk a guarantee verandah with an obstructed view. We had the always included package as well.

 

My parents booked a guarantee verandah. There was some confusion with the booking and which package they had that required a little back and forth on my part calling X, but they were quick to respond and resolved the issue. They ended up with the Elevate package.

 

My in-laws booked an ocean view guarantee with the always included without issues.

 

Embarkation: This was 100% THE most efficient boarding I have ever experienced on a cruise. Everything is completed in advance in the X app, including photo, vaccination status, and healthcare declaration. We were all tested for COVID-19 48 hours prior with ID Nows (NAATs) at Walgreens, with results emailed within 1-2 hours.

 

Upon arrival, everyone appeared to honor their boarding time…the first boarding slot was 11, and we had 11:30. No people getting there extremely early like I’ve experienced on NCL that I noticed. Bags were quickly taken immediately, and there were multiple queues outside for your check-in times with minimal lines. Vaccine cards, passports, and negative tests were quickly checked, and we walked inside.

 

The terminal is BEAUTIFUL. Up the escalators, through security quickly. There are multiple queues (no lines) where multiple representatives quickly check you in on iPads. There is then a large waiting area with restrooms, but this was not needed. We walked right over to the embarkation doors where they scanned our faces with more iPads, and we were on the ship. Uber drop-off to stepping on the ship was less than 15 minutes. AMAZING.

 

Rooms: On X, your SeaPass cards are in an envelope outside your cabin door. I recommend heading to your room as soon as you board to obtain your cards and start using them. We were also able to use our phones via BlueTooth as room keys, which was convenient! You can also drop any carry-ons in your room, even if they are not ready–there will be a sign in your room indicating they are still readying it. This is a nice touch…many cruises I’ve been on have the doors closed to the hallways before rooms are ready. My parents’ and in-laws’ rooms weren’t completely ready yet, but ours was…maybe because we were Concierge?

 

We were in Concierge verandah 1025, forward port side. Older, but spacious and clean. Bathroom was a nice size for a standard cruise bathroom. The balcony felt slightly bigger than others I have been on, but room was similar. Our bed was near the balcony door (my preferred setup), which was perfect…it always makes the room feel bigger and doesn’t block the closet. The closet had SO MANY hangers…loved that. We also had a bottle of sparkling wine in the room, which our cabin steward said he would chill whenever we requested. Our cabin steward was Jay, who introduced himself promptly–he was wonderful!

 

My parents’ room was a guarantee verandah, and they were assigned 6165, mid port. Same as our room, but noted as “partially obstructed.” However, it wasn’t horrible…the top of the lifeboat was flush with the floor of the balcony, so you could see out perfectly fine. You just couldn’t look straight down. This was perfect for my parents, as my mom enjoys the balcony and my dad hates heights!

 

I mentioned my in-laws booked a guarantee ocean view, but the night before, we noticed their cabin number had changed. They were automatically upgraded to a verandah, which was a nice surprise! (I think their initial room on deck 3 was being used as potential quarantine area, which seems to be happening on many ships. Although a gamble, this could be a way to book cheap and get a free upgrade!) I don’t remember their specific room number, but they were on deck 8 aft starboard. Standard verandah, and there were 3 of them–had no complaints on space for 1 adult and 2 college-age kids.

 

I do think the way Celebrity numbers their cabins is odd…it’s not the standard deck number followed by cabin number. It is like this for the most part on the lower decks, but is slightly confusing when there is a cabin 1210 on deck 10 instead of deck 12. Just a minor thing I noticed that made us think a little bit if we took the aft elevators on deck 10.

[zackarykeef]

Cruisers: We sailed around 90% capacity (2500 passengers)...it didn’t feel crowded at all for the most part. There was the usual buffet flood on port mornings and chair hogs at 8am on sea days, but overall, we had no problem finding seats/chairs wherever we wanted to be. Definitely an older demographic overall, which was not a surprise and is pretty well-known. Kids were around but minimal and well-behaved. There was a large amount of college-age/younger adults on this sailing, likely due to the July 4 week/summer season. Everyone we spoke with was extremely pleasant. 

 

Entertainment: Honestly…I can’t comment much on this. We didn’t attend a single show…I enjoy them usually, but not everyone in our group does. We also tended to eat around 7:45/8:00pm, which is right in the middle of the two show times, so it was difficult to make it to either. A lot of this cruise was us all hanging out and catching up since we are scattered around the US, so the shows weren't top of the to-do list for us.

 

The music scattered around the ship was mostly nice. We didn't seek them out to listen, but listened in when they were around where we chose to park it for the evening. The guitarist Briony in the ensemble lounge was awesome. The bands were good, but one was definitely better than the other (I can’t remember which, as we never went specifically to listen…they just happened to be playing in the Atrium while we were at the Martini Bar each night). One played the same set each time they were on, which was repetitive and annoying–mainly because they only played the same white people (no-offense…I’m white) “cruise music” every night. I mean, if you go on a cruise and don’t hear “Sweet Caroline” at some point, did you even go on a cruise? 🤣 I felt there was a lack of variety of music overall, mainly Caribbean or Latin music. I mean...they have a dedicated ABBA night, but they still played so much ABBA every other night. I understand they play to the demographic, but some variety would be nice. 🤷‍♂️

 

Activities: Again, not much to comment on–we were much more of a hang out in a lounge/bar crew than an activities crew this cruise. What we did attend was great. Good turn-outs (and apparently high level of competitiveness) for trivia. The silent discos were definitely a stand-out...we had such a blast! 😎

 

Casino: Only played a few slots one night, and we all came out winners (not huge, but up). The casino is small but nice, and a huge bonus that it’s non-smoking.

[zackarykeef]

Food: We live in Miami and were previously in NYC, so we’re pretty picky when it comes to food. We are both good cooks and enjoy fine dining for sure (just so you know where my food review is coming from, since food is 100% subjective and variable person to person). Overall, the food was great! As I typically cruise on NCL, that is pretty much my cruise comparison. I don’t think it was leagues above NCL or other cruises like many people say (but I mainly eat in specialty restaurants on NCL, which are leagues above their MDRs), but it was very good.

 

We pre-booked Murano for the first night discount (and booked on Memorial Day weekend for an extra discount), so it was a nice deal. This was by far the stand-out meal…believe what everyone says–it’s true! We were seated in the wine cellar, which was not requested or pre-planned. I don’t know how we got that lucky, but WOW. 😍 The privacy and service were top notch. They would bring enough servers to set all of our dishes down at the exact same time. It felt like a 5-star Michelin restaurant/chef’s table experience. I don’t know if it’s like that if you’re at a regular table in Murano, but it was incredible. The beef tartare amuse-bouche was a little surprise and was DELICIOUS. Everyone was happy with their food–the risotto, duck, and tableside lobster were stand-outs. The sommelier was attentive, and although we didn’t pay for bottles of wine (we all had the premium beverage package), he kept the multiple bottles in the ice buckets in the room for us. We all loved this so much we considered returning, but events on the cruise (which I’ll mention later) prevented that from happening.

 

Sushi on 5 was good. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but the sushi was good and comparable to anything stateside. Prices were fair, and we all felt it was worth it and would return, as we all love sushi. It’s a nice break in the heaviness of all the other food we had been having all week. I did feel overall the service was stressed…this is the only place I felt the understaffing, but it wasn’t a bother and didn’t affect our meal.

 

Tuscan Grille was fine. I don’t think it was anything to write home about. The pastas were fine. My filet mignon was cooked well but overall taste was fine. The tuna was AWFUL…definitely skip that (focus on pasta and steak, since that’s the specialty…we made fun of my fiance for ordering the random item 🤣). Service was fine. It was just…fine. Honestly, the filet at Cagney’s on NCL is amazing and loads better…it’s always a winner. I kind of wish X was able to have dedicated steak and Italian restaurants to allow them to focus on one thing instead of combining too much.

 

We all had X Select dining, which is on the second level of Silhouette (MDR). I made reservations for around 8pm each night, mainly because we had a larger party. They were very flexible and allowed us to come earlier or later some nights depending on our day, and we always called ahead to let them know. Our first meal here was night 2, and we were seated towards the back at a round table with Mathew and Tyron as our servers. They were great, and although we had “anytime” dining, they sat us at the same table with them each night. I loved this…it was like having the set dining time with the same table and servers without stressing about getting to and eating at the same time each night. I did notice them giving out pagers to some without reservations, but everything seemed to flow smoothly. I’m not sure how long those groups had to wait to be seated.

 

The food in the MDR was overall very good. Only a few things weren’t that great, and there were definitely some stand-outs. The blue cheese souffle was one of the best things we have ever eaten–so much so I almost ordered it as dessert. I LOVED being able to have escargot nightly, since it’s on the classics menu…that garlic butter is SO good. Many of us ordered two appetizers nightly just to keep having this. I enjoyed the different spreads/dips they had for the bread each night and how they rotated them. I also think Celebrity has a good dessert game…they were very good for the most part. I typically don’t eat desserts on cruises, because I find them boring and overly gel-like (NCL really doesn’t have many good desserts at ALL), but Celebrity did a good job. Our sommelier also was amazing and kept our glasses filled each night!

 

The buffet was disappointing. We only went here for breakfast (see below) and lunch/snacks. Breakfast was fine…the poached eggs/benedict station was nice!  I did feel it was small with not many options, mainly for lunch time. Several stations were closed and taken up just by decorations, possibly due to the decreased staffing. The pizza was pretty good (NCL has horrible buffet pizza), and I liked that it was open until 1am for late-night snacks.

 

Mast Grill was great for burgers/hot dogs and fries by the pool, and the snacks at the Spa Cafe and Cafe al Bacio were great as well. Love that all of this is included.

 

We did not dine at Le Petit Chef…I’ve heard mixed reviews, but the kitsch didn’t enthrall us. I obviously also cannot comment on Blu or Luminae. We ordered room service for breakfast once (on Tortola day, as our excursion meeting time was 7:15am–ouch! 😣), and it was good–my eggs were perfectly poached! Tip–the croissants are small, so order more than you think!

 

My main complaint with food was the restaurant timings. The MDR is only open for 2 hours for breakfast (7-9) and 1.5 hours for lunch (12-1:30). That’s a pretty early breakfast and a short window for lunch, so we never made it to the MDR for those meals. We wanted Sushi on 5 for lunch one day, but again, the window was so small that by the time we were hungry, it was closed (hence why we ended up having dinner there instead). The buffet also closed for extended periods of time between meals, which I found odd. When returning to the ship from an excursion late afternoon, the only options were Mast Grill or room service (and you can only have burgers and fries so much, nor do you want to wait for room service when you are ravenous after a day in the sun). Finding food options between 3-5pm wasn’t optimal.

[zackarykeef]

Bars/Alcohol/Drink Package: We had the classic beverage package included from our booking (my parents were the only ones that had the premium included from their Elevate package), but the rest of us upgraded shortly after we got on board. The new upgrade price is $18 per person per day (this includes service charges and is without the Captain’s Club discount), which we felt was extremely worth it. Hell, a single cocktail in Miami is $18, and considering we drank numerous cocktails daily, it made sense. If you’re going to do this, do it once on board with one of the servers or bartenders…they do get a commission, and are extremely grateful when you do (unless, of course, you’re trying to get your CC discount, in which case you have to call in advance). If you are a cocktail or wine drinker, I think it’s worth it. The classic package only includes drinks up to $9, and almost all the craft cocktails (and definitely all of the martinis) are over that. Of course, your standard “boat drinks” like pina coladas, margaritas, Bahama mamas, etc, are included with the classic, but the signature drinks at the bars are not.

 

Which brings me to the cocktails. Celebrity really wins here. They are AMAZING (when made correctly). I love craft cocktails and mixology, and they have some awesome drinks on board. The World Class bar in particular…those bartenders really care about their craft, and the drinks were phenomenal. Shout out to the famous Martini Bar as well—amazing drinks, amazing bartenders, and amazing show. We loved it. Stand-outs were the Caribbean Cobbler at the Passport Bar, the Cherry Lane at the Martini Bar, the Taurus at the Sky Lounge, and the Tropically Yours at the World Class Bar.

 

I do have to say…I found a lot of bartenders didn’t know how to make a lot of the signature drinks. Maybe they had a large amount of new crew that sailing, but sometimes, I would order a drink 3 times, and it would taste like 3 completely different drinks. At one point, I had to help one of the bartenders at the Passport Bar how to make the drink off of their own menu, as I had ordered so many times already 🤣. Once I found a seasoned bartender at each bar (always there during peak times), I ordered from them and tipped well. 

 

In line with that, my major complaint of the entire cruise was when I had a server in the MDR argue with me over a drink. I had been drinking the Caribbean Cobbler all week long (it's just SO good) and decided to order it at dinner in the MDR as I was forgoing wine that night. It came to me a completely different color. The drink I ordered was rum-based, and the drink I got was vodka-based. The flavor matched the description of a different drink on the menu. I discussed this with the server, and she said she would bring me a new one. When she did, it was the same. I explained this to her, and she proceeded to tell me I was incorrect. The ingredients are listed right there on the menu, but she told me “well it’s different, and this is what you ordered.” 🤷‍♂️ I don’t know what that was about, so I just switched to champagne and brushed it off, but…it was the only major issue I had the entire cruise.

 

The wine, beer, and champagne selection was nice. We never experienced supply issues for anything, despite what others had been saying. I feel this definitely varies cruise to cruise, so YMMV.

 

The bar spaces overall are very nice. The Martini Bar is definitely the place to be, and the ice on the bar keeps the drinks cold all night! I heard they did away with this on the E-class ships, which is a shame. It was really fun! The Sunset Bar is so nice, but the smoking killed it for us. Even though it's only allowed on one side, it drifts to the other and ruins it. Because of that, we didn't spend any time there, unfortunately.

Edited July 23, 2022 by zackarykeef
added notes

[Rmoosh]

Thanks for the review! Were you able to use  the app as the card for drinks ?

[AbbyCruiser45]

Happy to hear that the ship felt like a good crowd at 90% capacity! I’m sailing Equinox next week and I think it is close to sold out, so I was a little worried. 

[zackarykeef]

Ports: I’ve been to all these ports numerous times, and they’re always nice. It was nice to have a little longer cruise with 5 stops instead of the typical 3 or 4 that are the usual Eastern Caribbean itineraries.

 

San Juan: I love the evening stop, as that is when Old SJ comes to life. It’s always nice to sail into port in the evening past El Morro and the cliffs. My parents took the San Juan Evening drive excursion, which they said was fine. They aren’t adventurous as much any more due to health, so it was a nice way for them to see the city. However, with it being July 4 when we were there, the heavy traffic impacted their excursion. The rest of us just got off and wandered around Old SJ. One in our party was born and raised in Puerto Rico, so we knew our way around pretty well. We had dinner and drinks at Barrachina (home of the OG pina colada), amazing gelato at nearby Anita, and stopped at a hole-in-the-wall bar for a few more drinks before heading back.

 

St. Thomas: FYI Celebrity ports at Crown Bay…in case you’re booking things on your own. I feel Havensight is better, but oh well. We did the Adventure Turbo Cat Snorkel & Beach Escape. I prefer to do things on my own in St. Thomas, and have a company I typically use, but some in our group wanted to stick with Celebrity for peace of mind. The excursion was good. It definitely was not a “turbo cat” as pictured…we were expecting a catamaran, but got a boat. I didn’t feel overly crowded, and the crew was awesome. Ample time to snorkel, followed by pulling right up to a beautiful beach that was only for us. Good rum punch on the way back! We really enjoyed sailaway on the helipad (more on that later)!

 

St. Maarten: Unfortunately, I can’t speak much about St. Maarten this time. This day was taken up by getting my parents to SXM for their flight home. It POURED rain when we disembarked, and although many were waiting for the rain to clear, we had a flight to catch. Honestly, getting down the pier was a disaster, but I will spare those details. We got my parents to the airport shortly after, and of course the sun came out later. My in-laws took the water taxi to Great Bay, which is the nice beach close by. They had about an hour to enjoy before the rain hit. We were all too exhausted to go back out after the rain cleared.

 

Tortola: I had been several times before and have always gone to Virgin Gorda–it’s just so nice. My fiance and in-laws hadn’t been, so we did the Baths excursion (sans snorkeling) via Celebrity. It’s one thing I wouldn’t risk doing on your own, as it can get tricking with the early/short port time and scheduling the ferry. The excursion was good…they loved it, and we were there early enough that it wasn’t crowded. The line to go through the caves was a little long, but we had plenty of time to see everything. Next time, I will definitely check out Jost Van Dyke!

 

Nassau: I tend to not get off in Nassau, but we wanted a proper beach day. We got off and grabbed a cheap cab ($10pp I think) to Cable Beach near BahaMar. It was perfect…only several other groups (all from our cruise) showed up, and the water was crystal clear and calm. We stayed several hours, and had arranged for our taxi driver to meet us at a specific time to bring us back. He was prompt, gave us a mini-tour on the way back, and that was that. I hadn’t done this before, but definitely think I will in future stops in Nassau (a port that I tend to view as an unnecessary add-on to longer itineraries), as it was a beautiful, easy-to-get-to beach with food/drinks and facilities.

[Warmer Climes]

Great review. Thanks. 

[AbbyCruiser45]

17 hours ago, zackarykeef said:

The excursion was good…they loved it, and we were there early enough that it wasn’t crowded. The line to go through the caves was a little long, but we had plenty of time to see everything.

What time was your excursion? We’re doing the snorkel one next week and we’re a little worried about the crowds. But we got the first excursion at 8:15.

[zackarykeef]

Spa: I personally can’t comment, but it was both my mother’s and aunt (in-law’s) birthday on this cruise, so we got the each a 50-minute hot stone massage on the first sea day. They both raved about it!

 

Ship: The ship is beautiful, and I liked how it was set up overall. It is older, but maintained well. I did feel a lot of the spaces were underutilized. The Sky Observation Lounge is beautiful…don’t miss it. It tended to be quiet during the day and lively at night. I also felt Quasar was severely out of place…I’m not sure what the point of it is. I get the vibe that it was initially the nightclub, but maybe due to lack of staff, they’re not using it. (The nightclub was in the Sky Lounge). The ONLY thing Quasar was used for all week was 9pm trivia nightly. That’s it. Odd. The entire lawn club area is huge and nice, but also underutilized. It may be nicer on non-Caribbean itineraries, but it was entirely too hot to relax up there. There is no water/pool around, so I don’t know why anyone would want to spend money for the cabanas in the Caribbean.

 

Debarkation: We were assigned numbers to put on our luggage indicating times we were to walk off. Luggage had to be placed outside your cabin the night before by 10pm, which I found was a little early (other lines were by 1-2am). We had breakfast in the buffet, and waited in Cafe al Bacio afterwards. I don’t know what was happening, but debarkation took forever. We were not called until much later than our time, and as people were getting off right by where we were, we could see there was a major holdup. Many people standing in line outside on the ship and all the way down the glass walkways…it must have been so hot for them. The staff had to take waters and chairs out there for people, but I don’t know what the hold up was. By the time we were called, it was easy. No waiting, quickly were off, got our luggage, went through facial scan immigration, and were in our Uber.

 

A Note on COVID: Vaccinations and testing prior required. No mask requirements on board or in any ports. Some people wore them by choice, as well as all staff. Captain announced on the final day that we had JUST reached 1% of positive cases on board (about 20-30 people). No other issues that I noted.

 

Final Thoughts: We had a blast! Despite the hiccups, it was much needed and a lot of fun. Do I think it was scores above NCL, MSC, or RCCL like everyone raves about? No. I’ve found staff on all lines extremely pleasant with good service. Drinks were definitely better. Food was similar (other than Murano–amazing), and cabins were standard. Will definitely sail with Celebrity again, and looking forward to trying E-class next (I like shiny and new!). Will likely bounce between NCl and X, with occasional MSC YC to spoil ourselves!

 

Again, any other questions, feel free to ask! Welcome back to the seas, y'all! Happy cruising! 😎

 

~Zack

[zackarykeef]

On 7/23/2022 at 3:47 PM, Rmoosh said:

Thanks for the review! Were you able to use  the app as the card for drinks ?

Nope...just as room cards. Need your card for everything else. I did find the app nicer than other lines. I like that all menus and activities are listed, as well as your personal daily schedule. I like that you can also book/reserve things in it.

[zackarykeef]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:03 AM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

What time was your excursion? We’re doing the snorkel one next week and we’re a little worried about the crowds. But we got the first excursion at 8:15.

Our meeting time was 7:15am, with excursion at 7:30am. We were definitely one of the first groups, which made it nice.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Great review! So who was the lead flair bartender at the Martini bar? Do you remember names?

 

[jg51]

19 hours ago, zackarykeef said:

... The ONLY thing Quasar was used for all week was 9pm trivia nightly. That’s it. Odd.

.

Hello, Zack.

 

We think that, when the virus crisis has ended, Quasar will revert to its former uses.  The one use that we recall best is karaoke, which was held on the average of every other night (more often if there were an extra-large bunch of good and willing singers aboard).  We think that karaoke was cut back (or even temporarily eliminated) on some ships, because of the desire not to share a microphone, expel a stream of germs, etc..

[zackarykeef]

20 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Great review! So who was the lead flair bartender at the Martini bar? Do you remember names?

 

I definitely remember Arie. I think another was I Putu. The others are on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t remember! I had one of their business cards, but I can’t find it now either 😭 they are all great!

[zackarykeef]

1 hour ago, jg51 said:

.

Hello, Zack.

 

We think that, when the virus crisis has ended, Quasar will revert to its former uses.  The one use that we recall best is karaoke, which was held on the average of every other night (more often if there were an extra-large bunch of good and willing singers aboard).  We think that karaoke was cut back (or even temporarily eliminated) on some ships, because of the desire not to share a microphone, expel a stream of germs, etc..

This makes sense. There was no karaoke at all the entire week.

[cheeseheads4ever]

 

Thanks Zackarykeef,

I doubt it was the same Putu that was on the Equinox in 2018 that I met at the Martini Bar. I think Putu may be a common name from the country they are from. But not sure.

If any other names come to mind please share.

 

[jg51]

3 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

 

Thanks Zackarykeef,

I doubt it was the same Putu that was on the Equinox in 2018 that I met at the Martini Bar. I think Putu may be a common name from the country they are from. But not sure.

If any other names come to mind please share.

 

.

When you meet a cruise-ship crew member who has "I Putu" [Ni Putu for a woman] on his/her name-tag, you can be sure that he/she is from the Indonesian island named Bali.  (It is one of few [if not the only] predominantly Hindu island in predominantly Moslem Indonesia.)

 

Balinese names are very different from what we encounter elsewhere in the world.  A Balinese crew member does not have a family surname, but he/she probably has a "personal" name that is not normally seen on a name-tag.  Instead, we will see, "I (or Ni) xxxxx," where "xxxxx" is a numerical word that lets us know whether the person was the first-born, second-born, third-born, etc., within his/her family. 

 

The following values of "xxxxx" are used:

~~ First and fifth child: Wayan, Putu, or Gede ...

~~ Second and sixth child: Made, Kadek, or Nengah

~~ Third and seventh child: Nyoman, Komang

~~ Fourth and eighth child: Ketut

 

As a result of the use of this system, you may encounter two or three or even four Balinese crew members with the same name on the same ship.  You may even encounter two or more bartenders with the same name.  Naturally, they may cause some confusion!

.

[jg51]

.

Although we are open to correction, experience has taught us that the above names are pronounced as follows (with upper-case indicating the accented syllable) ...

 

Wayan is like the English words, "WHY on."

Putu is like the name of a famous bear, etc.: "POOH too."

Gede is like "geh-DEH" (not GAY day).

 

Made is like "MAH-deh."  [When you first see his name tag, you may do a double-take, because it will say, "I Made," and you may wonder, "What did he make?"]

 

Kadek is not like Cadillac!  It is like "kah DECK."

Nengah is hard to spell phonetically, but you will be close if you just accentuate the second syllable.

 

Nyoman starts with the sound of the "ni" in "onion," so it is like "nyoh MAHN."

Komang is like "koh MAHNG."

 

Ketut is like "keh TOOT."

 

You can pleasantly surprise Indonesian crew members by saying one or both of these:

[Thank you:]  Terima kasih = teh-REE-mah kah-SEE

[You're welcome:]  Sama-sama = SAH-mah-SAH-mah.

.