Just off Equinox - Review

[SusieAV8R]

11 hours ago, PatandStu said:

The NASA speaker was Jim Kennedy. He has a website & was fascinating to hear. 

 

11 hours ago, PatandStu said:

The NASA speaker was Jim Kennedy. He has a website & was fascinating to hear. 

Yes, DH just confirmed that's who he listened to and found him equally fascinating.  (Retired Kennedy Space Center Director in 2007.)

[kywildcatfanone]

Just now, SusieAV8R said:

 

Yes, DH just confirmed that's who he listened to and found him equally fascinating.  (Retired Kennedy Space Center Director in 2007.)

Is this person on the ship regularly?

[SusieAV8R]

2 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Is this person on the ship regularly?

I believe I heard Mr. Kennedy tell DH (they had a conversation a day or 2 later) that he has been giving seminars like this on cruise ships for a number of years.  (He usually gives 3+ seminars per cruise, he advised.) He generally cruises with his wife who is a veery nice lady with a beautiful smile.

[Smmessineo]

12 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Is this person on the ship regularly?

We did a b2b on Equinox in December 2022, he was on, and gave a bunch of different presentations. It was great!

 

[funredhead]

Thank you so much for the info on the speaker series.  I hope Jim Kennedy is on for our 10/22 sailing.  Sounds like an amazing speaker. 

[sunkey1]

11 hours ago, Host Anne said:

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Pat & Stu for taking the time to share their review with us.  I felt it was well balanced and provided their honest cruise experience.

 

It’s completely inappropriate to accuse members of lying here on Cruise Critic.  It’s fine to believe or not believe what someone posts but it’s not OK to call other liars.  If you have an issue with something that is posted, we have an alert system that allows you to report a post.  But please be considerate when posting.

 

Next, I want to share an experience my husband and I had on Equinox in the summer of 2022.  I wrote (but never posted) a review.  But here’s one thing that REALLY happened….We decided to do a quick last minute cruise on Equinox to the Caribbean.  We just wanted to get away.  We chose Celebrity Select dining and did a mixture of dinners in the main dining room and specialty restaurants.  We ate in the main dining room for both Chic evenings on the upper level of the room. 

 

On one of those evenings, we were seated at a two-top next to the railing, overlooking a table for four just below us.  We were surprised when four guests were seated at the table and one of the gentlemen had a button down shirt open to his belly button, shorts and a backwards baseball cap on.  While we typically don’t care how other people dress, this was pretty noticeable because I don’t think in my 30 plus cruises on Celebrity had we ever seen someone dressed like this in the main dining room, let alone on a Chic evening. 

 

So out of curiosity, I asked the Maître ‘d and we were told that the staff was no longer permitted to turn anyone away from the dining room because of their attire.  I was pretty surprised but at the time, cruise lines were simply thrilled to have passengers sailing again.  I believe that attitude has morphed into the norm these days.

 

Do I like it?  Not particularly because I think the lack of respect for rules and others in general is gone.  I’m happy to read about cruisers like Pat & Stu that enjoyed their cruise.  I just wish others would respect cruise lines rules (or don’t have them) and other passengers….and Cruise Critic reviews.

 

 

That's really sad to hear. We saw someone get turned away from the MDR on an NCL ship for wearing shorts. They were nice shorts and he was wearing a golf polo but the MD was having none of it. I was thrilled to see them actually enforce a policy that we were following. If you don't like it, go to the buffet, it's not like you can't eat, just not in the MDR. Yes it's your vacation, but it's also mine and if I can follow the few, relatively minor guidelines, I think you should be able to as well. Just my thoughts.

[sunkey1]

On 9/30/2023 at 1:37 PM, PatandStu said:

We saw it most nights in the MDR. Disappointing when it was permitted on chic night. Men & women in shorts, tee shirts & flip flops. 
But, some very snazzily dressed folk too! 

Agreed, enforce the policy or remove it, you can't have it both ways - or I guess they can....

[deliver42]

As time goes by, Celebrity is getting more like Royal, and Royal is getting more like Carnival, so you know where this is going.

[di T]

14 hours ago, Host Anne said:

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Pat & Stu for taking the time to share their review with us.  I felt it was well balanced and provided their honest cruise experience.

 

It’s completely inappropriate to accuse members of lying here on Cruise Critic.  It’s fine to believe or not believe what someone posts but it’s not OK to call other liars.  If you have an issue with something that is posted, we have an alert system that allows you to report a post.  But please be considerate when posting.

 

Next, I want to share an experience my husband and I had on Equinox in the summer of 2022.  I wrote (but never posted) a review.  But here’s one thing that REALLY happened….We decided to do a quick last minute cruise on Equinox to the Caribbean.  We just wanted to get away.  We chose Celebrity Select dining and did a mixture of dinners in the main dining room and specialty restaurants.  We ate in the main dining room for both Chic evenings on the upper level of the room. 

 

On one of those evenings, we were seated at a two-top next to the railing, overlooking a table for four just below us.  We were surprised when four guests were seated at the table and one of the gentlemen had a button down shirt open to his belly button, shorts and a backwards baseball cap on.  While we typically don’t care how other people dress, this was pretty noticeable because I don’t think in my 30 plus cruises on Celebrity had we ever seen someone dressed like this in the main dining room, let alone on a Chic evening. 

 

So out of curiosity, I asked the Maître ‘d and we were told that the staff was no longer permitted to turn anyone away from the dining room because of their attire.  I was pretty surprised but at the time, cruise lines were simply thrilled to have passengers sailing again.  I believe that attitude has morphed into the norm these days.

 

Do I like it?  Not particularly because I think the lack of respect for rules and others in general is gone.  I’m happy to read about cruisers like Pat & Stu that enjoyed their cruise.  I just wish others would respect cruise lines rules (or don’t have them) and other passengers….and Cruise Critic reviews.

 

 

Well said! To those who have never witnessed these people who turn up on Chic night in shorts, it happens I have seen this on a few Celebrity cruises.Last time was 3 weeks ago and heard from a staff member that they don’t turn anyone away! Not so long ago I remember even someone who’s luggage had gone missing they were turned away and would have to go to the buffet,but that was the rules.

[kywildcatfanone]

24 minutes ago, di T said:

Well said! To those who have never witnessed these people who turn up on Chic night in shorts, it happens I have seen this on a few Celebrity cruises.Last time was 3 weeks ago and heard from a staff member that they don’t turn anyone away! Not so long ago I remember even someone who’s luggage had gone missing they were turned away and would have to go to the buffet,but that was the rules.

Wouldn't a simple solution for the dress code problem be to have dining rooms that adhere to things like Chic/Formal nights and those that don't?  That way everyone gets what they want.  

[The Fun Researcher]

I just wish they offered lunch in the specialty restaurants.  Not sure why they don't.  We especially like a specialty lunch on embarkation day to avoid the mess of the buffet that day.

 

[hcat]

On 10/3/2023 at 10:27 AM, kywildcatfanone said:

Wouldn't a simple solution for the dress code problem be to have dining rooms that adhere to things like Chic/Formal nights and those that don't?  That way everyone gets what they want.  

that's what the buffet is for.

[The Fun Researcher]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

that's what the buffet is for.

Didn't Celebrity severely cut back the offerings in the buffet for dinner?

[hcat]

On 10/3/2023 at 7:19 AM, deliver42 said:

As time goes by, Celebrity is getting more like Royal, and Royal is getting more like Carnival, so you know where this is going.

 

[kywildcatfanone]

58 minutes ago, hcat said:

that's what the buffet is for.

Not at all.  You would have a point if you could order from the MDR menu, but it's different food.  What's the harm in having one MDR designed smart casual on formal nights.  It would keep people who ignore the dress rules from upsetting those who follow them, since the cruise lines won't enforce them.  Seems simple enough to me.  What's the downside?

[hcat]

there are NO formal nights on Celebrity..not in a long time.

In our experience, the Chic night dress suggestion is so broad that most any nice outfit fits in..The range is fancy to smart casual..just not tee shirts /shorts or  beach wear. Interpretation of  Chic is what u make of it..not a big issue on board with few exceptions!

 

Dining is complicated enough already!

[bEwAbG]

On 10/5/2023 at 3:25 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

Not at all.  You would have a point if you could order from the MDR menu, but it's different food.  What's the harm in having one MDR designed smart casual on formal nights.  It would keep people who ignore the dress rules from upsetting those who follow them, since the cruise lines won't enforce them.  Seems simple enough to me.  What's the downside?

 

Most of X's fleet have a single main dining room. 

[desibee]

Personally I’m in the main dining room to eat not look at what other diners are wearing.  If someone chooses to wear flip flops or shorts, it has no effect on the taste of my dinner.  Why would I care?