Equinox review - Nov 12th -21st 2022

[vji6697]

We are new to cruising, only having done 1 cruise previously with RC on Voyager of the Seas (Honk Kong -> Singapore) which we loved.  After a number of covid related cancellations, we booked this Caribbean cruise as I wanted to get one in this year and November was the only month we could fit it in.

 

Initially booked the last remaining sky suite on deck 12, under Oceanview, but a month or so later, an Aft corner sky suite on deck 8 became available and moved to that an no additional cost.  So, first time on Celebrity and so looking forward to it.

 

Then Storm Nicole came..  bit of a worry as we were flying in from the UK, but I had booked out flights for the 10th, so I was confident we would make it, and indeed we did, stopped at the Best Western Plus in FLL which was ok, not flash, but had a decent breakfast.

 

Anyway, onto my short review :

 

Embarkation: Got off to a wobbly start as I booked a lyft and the driver was useless.  I told him we were on pier 19 (i think) and he took us to 25, then dropped us off on the main road near the 19 sign. so we had to trundle our bags, on the road towards 19.  Not a great start, but things started to get better from then. It was around 10:30am, there were a lot of folk milling outside who had just got off and were waiting for cabs/coaches, but we saw the porters and dropped our bags off and went thru to check in and were quickly processed and led to the retreat waiting area.  Bit basic there, some pastries and some soft drinks.  Laura, one of the retreat concierges was there welcoming folk.  Probably waited about half an hour before we were escorted onto the ship and to our room

 

Room:  We were in 8132, a corner aft suite.  Had initially booked one on deck 12, but then this one came up so switched over straight away. suite had plenty of room and storage. only 1 pole to deal with and that was on my side of the bed and I am quite proud of the fact that I did not bang into it at all, despite being a bit merry on a few days 🙂

 

Room Steward:  Ours was great, his name was Narendra and always greeted us when we saw him, if he saw us coming back to our room he would open the doors for us etc, he is a real star

 

Butler:  a bit of confusion here to be honest, our room had cards for Mohammed, but when we got back from lunch, a chap called Izzy introduced himself as our butler.  I did prepare a short list of likes which he did not read, I said that the note I just passed him had our likes for Canapés , morning coffee, drinks etc, he just put it in his pocked without reading and said they no longer do Canapés, and we just need to head to the retreat lounge for them.  He called us on day 2 to see what else he could do and I asked him specifically if he had read our note (he hadn't), I just said, please read that as that will tell you what we would like.  One of the major things in the note was to ensure he would check that Luminae had our list of dietary requirements - he failed on this and I had to mention in to Daria in the retreat lounge and she sorted it all out for us.  As the days went on, he did get better and filled our fridge with water and beer, but I am at a loss at how clearer I could have been in terms of how he could make our stay perfect.  

 

Entertainment:  We went to a few shows which were enjoyable, but this cruise for us was more about us time rather than mingling, so no real comment on other activities

 

Food:  We ate dinner at Luminae every evening, we had Jaun Pablo and Vinod as our waiters and oh my, 2 great guys, they were great each and every day.  Fodd was good, they did struggle with my wifes dietary requirements and I have realised that we need to be much more specific on what she likes (I felt the chefs had no issue producing great food, just that comments from us to the waiters to the chefs got diluted).  Breakfast and Lunch was in the buffet as we like choices and more informality (much to the disappointment of Vinod how seemed hurt each evening as he would say "didn't see you for breakfast today) 🙂  Cafe was great too.  No complaints from us.

 

Bars: Oh my, just how many bars are there ? we were gonna hit the sunset bar for when we left FLL but the bottle of bubbly and our balcony + the chap on FB who takes pics meant we were in our balcony for it.  Before the cruise I thought our fave bar would be the martini one as I love an espresso martini, however I was dismayed by the pre-mix and felt it tasted awful, so ended up frequenting the world class bar where Hendri and Adrian kept us entertained.  Even took the mixology course with Hendri and it was great fun.  Enjoyed the others apart from the Ensemble lounge.  My wife does not drink alocohol, so we asked them to make a mocktail, when they came, the waiter was not sure which was which, did not bother checking and when I tasted them, both had alcohol. was not impressed. Non of the other bars had issues making mocktails, indeed at the world class bar, they would ask what my wife felt like having and make something up on the fly.  Didnt really drink at craft social, but always did a fly by and grabbed a couple of bottles for my room.  Sky lounge was a bit hit and miss, had a great cocktail on one day by the bartender who is courting Larissa in the retreat lounge, other days, other barmen, not so great.

 

Excursions: This was our first time in the Caribbean and to be honest was not somewhere we would normally go (this was the 3rd attempt of a cruise for our 30th due to covid cancellations). We did not really fancy any of the excursions so we just walked around the port area and beyond, Highlight was Eagle beach in Aruba where we grabbed a cab to take us to the top end (Amsterdam?) and then walked it back to the ship.  We are not swimmers/snorkellers/happy to sit on a beach for hours, so this will prob be our one and only Caribbean cruise, though if we were in Florida, I can see the attraction,

 

As it happened, some 2025 deals were released in conjuction with their black friday deals so we took advantage and booked the Edge for a Aus -> NZ cruise in Jan 2025 with a hefty OCB.

 

Lessons Learnt : Love the brand, so am happy to stick to it.  We need to be clearer with our butler from day 1 and also with Luminae (things improved after we spoke to a chef) - I will insist on that day 1 next time.

 

Happy to expand on any point if you have specific questions.

 

 

 

[jean87510]

Thanks for the review.  We are in an AquaClass in February and I do have food issues so am a bit nervous about Blu but plan on just checking ingredients before I choose.  Thanks for the update re bars.  I'll have to check the world class bar but will watch a show at the martini.  Were you able to get up to the lawn area at all?  We rented an Alcove for the day on one of our sea days as we aren't pool people (have our own).  

[Oceangoer2]

We were on that cruise and in a suite...so Luminae dining each night (except for Tuscan/Murano).  Staff was wonderful...celebrated my b'day and our anniversary with hearty barbershop quartet singing.  A little noisy for the rest of the room no doubt.  Both Retreat concierges were great....balloons on the cabin ceiling for my b'day and they spread (fake) petals on the bed for our anniversary....haha!  Did you enjoy the Retreat sundeck?  Mohammed was our butler...guess he switched from deck 8 to deck 12..but maybe there's more than one M.

[vji6697]

3 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Thanks for the review.  We are in an AquaClass in February and I do have food issues so am a bit nervous about Blu but plan on just checking ingredients before I choose.  Thanks for the update re bars.  I'll have to check the world class bar but will watch a show at the martini.  Were you able to get up to the lawn area at all?  We rented an Alcove for the day on one of our sea days as we aren't pool people (have our own).  

 

Hi.  My wife did end up ordering from the MDR menu a few times, but I  would recommend taking the time to speak to the Maitre'd at Blu and also ask to speak to a chef and your main waiter on day 1 to explain your requirements.  Once they know (and understand) they will make sure you are looked after.

 

I think I caught one flair show at the martini bar, but to be honest, I wanted a good drink, so swiftly moved on 🙂

 

re the lawn area, did not spend a lot of time there, just whilst getting our daily steps in, it looked pretty quiet, though I think we had around 2000 pax rather than 2700 so there was a lot of space.  Personally would not pay for the alcove/cabanas (We did not see many people in them) as there were plenty of placed to grab a drink and chill in the sun or in the shade

[vji6697]

1 minute ago, Oceangoer2 said:

We were on that cruise and in a suite...so Luminae dining each night (except for Tuscan/Murano).  Staff was wonderful...celebrated my b'day and our anniversary with hearty barbershop quartet singing.  A little noisy for the rest of the room no doubt.  Both Retreat concierges were great....balloons on the cabin ceiling for my b'day and they spread (fake) petals on the bed for our anniversary....haha!  Did you enjoy the Retreat sundeck?  Mohammed was our butler...guess he switched from deck 8 to deck 12..but maybe there's more than one M.

 

The anniversary thing had me remembering that our initial cruise booking was for our 30th in NZ in March this year, so there was a note on our booking and on day 1 or 2, we had a little song and the petals and cake in our room too - no balloons though 😞    🙂 

[vji6697]

33 minutes ago, vji6697 said:

 

Room:  We were in 8132,

 

 

 

apologies, we were in 8345 not 8132 🙂

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, vji6697 said:

 

Hi.  My wife did end up ordering from the MDR menu a few times, but I  would recommend taking the time to speak to the Maitre'd at Blu and also ask to speak to a chef and your main waiter on day 1 to explain your requirements.  Once they know (and understand) they will make sure you are looked after.

 

I think I caught one flair show at the martini bar, but to be honest, I wanted a good drink, so swiftly moved on 🙂

 

re the lawn area, did not spend a lot of time there, just whilst getting our daily steps in, it looked pretty quiet, though I think we had around 2000 pax rather than 2700 so there was a lot of space.  Personally would not pay for the alcove/cabanas (We did not see many people in them) as there were plenty of placed to grab a drink and chill in the sun or in the shade

Thank you.  We had some OBC to burn and as I don't like ship excursions, I decided to just get the Alcove for one of our 4 sea days.  If it's a one and done, then no loss on our end.  They actually all sold out on my cruise for the sea days.

[vji6697]

35 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

We had some OBC to burn 

I would then suggest the casino/slots - load it up, play some, then cash out 🙂

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, vji6697 said:

I would then suggest the casino/slots - load it up, play some, then cash out 🙂

lol.  Im not always that lucky or that wise especially after martinis.

 

[mailmama]

We were on the sailing the week before you. We also had the team of Vinod/Juan Pablo. Loved them in Luminae! Vinod was horrified one night when we left before dessert! We actually had to keep explaining we were just too full to eat dessert and No, we didn't want it sent to our room for later!! They both made dinner such a pleasant and tasty experience!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

12 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Thanks for the review.  We are in an AquaClass in February and I do have food issues so am a bit nervous about Blu but plan on just checking ingredients before I choose.  Thanks for the update re bars.  I'll have to check the world class bar but will watch a show at the martini.  Were you able to get up to the lawn area at all?  We rented an Alcove for the day on one of our sea days as we aren't pool people (have our own).  

I was just in aqua class on the Reflection. I told them once I don’t do dairy and they were very careful not to serve me any. 

[chamima]

23 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Thanks for the review.  We are in an AquaClass in February and I do have food issues so am a bit nervous about Blu but plan on just checking ingredients before I choose.  Thanks for the update re bars.  I'll have to check the world class bar but will watch a show at the martini.  Were you able to get up to the lawn area at all?  We rented an Alcove for the day on one of our sea days as we aren't pool people (have our own).  

 

We are also in Aqua in February. My husband is a vegan and I am a vegetarian who eats fish but not shellfish. We always explain our requirements to  the Maitre D' and to our waiter. Once we find a waiter who "gets it" we stick with him/her for the rest of the cruise. Checking ingredients on the menu doesn't always work because we've had our waiter tell us, after ordering something that looks ok, that there is something in it that  isn't.

 

And @vji6697 If Vinod is who I remember from pre-Covid in Blu - he's great!!! 😁

[chamima]

 

 

Whoops

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by chamima

[kearney]

I am wondering if your butler could read English... it is one thing to speak a second language and another to be fluid when it comes to reading and writing in that language...just a thought.

[stl82]

We were in a Celebrity Suite last month on the Equinox, and also had Izzy (pronounced "Easy"). He spoke perfect English, but I don't know if he read English. He was OK, not great. Kept us supplied with large bottles of still and sparkling water (we don't drink alcohol much in the stateroom); brought us breakfast each day on time; brought, or had delivered if he was busy, cheese/meat plate every afternoon. The stateroom attendant, Arvin, was absolutely wonderful as was the Luminae staff - Jesus, Pablo, and Vinny (yes Vinny) the sommelier. 

[wallysdtr]

 

We were on this same cruise in November.   Brought a novice couple with us .  AquaSpa cabin on deck 9.  jason was our cabin stewart and he was wonderful;  We will be back on the Equinox in March but Jason will be in a different location on deck 9.  We dined in Bluwhich was wonderful!

Our friends were so happy with the cruise they booked a cruise in Hawaii on the Edge.