Hopefully Live Celebrity newbs on the Equinox

[desibee]

We went to the Oceanview buffet for breakfast and it was very crowded although we were able to find a small table relatively quickly.  Chris got an omelette and I got the French toast although unfortunately it was lukewarm at best.   The bacon and sausage were good, as were the pastries and fresh baked banana bread.  Afterwards we wandered down to Cafe Il Bacio for coffee.  My caramel latte was excellent and I will definitely be getting it again this trip.

 

 

After breakfast we changed into swim suits, dropped by the library to see if there was anything interesting to take to read by the pool (there was one book I was interested in but like most times I find something on cruise ships it’s the second book in a series) and then headed to the Solarium.

 

We were there early enough to have our pick of loungers but very soon after we arrived the Solarium filled up with people.  If you got there at 10:30am or later you would be hard pressed to find a spot.

 

The pool temperature is just cool enough to be refreshing and the hot tubs are actually hot!  This is a pleasant change from Royal Caribbean where the hot tubs were the temperature of a baby’s bath water at best.

 

 

After a morning spent at the pool we decided to try the main dining room for lunch since it only operates on sea days.  The service took a little while since lots of people seemed to have the same idea.  The mozzarella sticks were very good and my panini was just okay (and far too much food for a lunch portion!).  Chris enjoyed his burger though he said the patty was the same as at the Mast Grill it was just the quality of the toppings and the bun that elevated it.

 

 

After lunch we headed up to the Sky Observation lounge again to watch the sea views and take a nap and read.  They did some trivia in the afternoon although the music trivia was all questions about songs from the 70s so if you didn’t know that era then you were out of luck.  There were no prizes for trivia unlike with Royal Caribbean or NCL, it was just for fun.

 

It being a Chic night, we returned to our cabin to get dressed up for dinner.  We stopped at the World Class Bar for before dinner drinks and it was absolutely empty which is a pity because it gave me the best cocktail I’ve had so far on the cruise (called The Violet Hour, if anyone wants to know).  It was citrusy and herbal and so well balanced.  And such a pretty purple colour.

 

After drinks we hurried to the main dining room for dinner.  We were seated right away and although use made reservations there never seemed to be a line up to get into the main dining room.  The service was wonderful and we flew through dinner service in about an hour and ten minutes.  Everything we had to eat was great.  Very high quality.  I was very happy with our main dining room meal.

 

After dessert we headed to the martini bar for more dessert in liquid form.  There was a short flair show that everyone gathered to watch.  Then it was off to the theatre for the first main cast show, Life!

 

The show was very good, not many songs I was familiar with but well sung and the dancers were great and the acrobatics made me gasp with how risky some of them were on a moving ship with no nets.  At one point the moving platform malfunctioned during the big finale and they had to pause the show and fix it, which happens when technology and mechanical things are involved.  It took maybe five minutes to repair so no harm done.

 

After the show we went to see the Silent Disco which was amazingly popular.  It seemed like the entire ship was there and they were rapidly running out of headphones.  Apart from enjoying how everyone is singing along to their own channel without having a clue what they sound like, it wasn’t really our thing.  So we passed along our headsets and went back to the Sky Observation lounge to listen to the live band play.

 

Our girls were playing for gold in volleyball but unfortunately not on any of the tvs in Craft Social so we went back to our room to watch.  And that was pretty much our whole day!  A very relaxing sea day with a good show, good food, excellent drinks, and a port to visit tomorrow.

[chemmo]

Enjoying your review. So pleased you are enjoying your cruise so far. We have cruised and enjoyed Equinox three times! Have you arranged to dine in Murano? Our favourite on board restaurant.

[desibee]

27 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Enjoying your review. So pleased you are enjoying your cruise so far. We have cruised and enjoyed Equinox three times! Have you arranged to dine in Murano? Our favourite on board restaurant.

Yes!  We have made reservations for Murano on night 6 so still looking forward to that.  Today I think we will try Sushi on 5 for lunch.

 

It’s lovely being on the pool deck while everyone else is in port.  Much less crowded than yesterday, the pool is practically empty.

[zitsky]

On 8/8/2024 at 6:51 AM, cruisegal1970 said:

YOU must be joking.

Just disembarked Equinox, far from relaxing with many unruly children the worst of all were American teenagers with total disrespect for everyone

I hate it when I’m playing Billy Idol on my Bluetooth speakers at the pool, and the teenagers ask me to play Taylor Swift.  They have no respect for their elders!  😭

[desibee]

So after hanging out in a nearly empty pool all morning, we decided to go to Sushi on 5 for lunch and use up some of our on board credit.  
 

The best thing we had was the chicken gyoza and I think we would have been happy with just a few orders more of that.  The lobster and shrimp wontons were good as well, and so was my udon and the salmon nigiri but nothing really stood out as exceptional but the chicken gyoza.  
 

 

After lunch we ventured ashore.  At La Spezia you can’t walk around the port as it’s a military area so Celebrity gives you a free shuttle to the cruise ship terminal.  From there, we walked along the marina and then up into the city.  It was horrifically hot, like surface of the sun, burn all your skin off, brutal heat.  We brought water bottles with us but they immediately went warm and I had mild heat cramps by the time we walked back to the cruise terminal.  At least the terminal was air conditioned and the icy towel and water that Celebrity greets you with upon returning to the ship was much appreciated.

 

 

After cooling off with a swim in the Solarium, we changed and went to dinner in the main dining room again.  Tonight I had the lemon-herbed roast chicken and pasta and it was a huge portion and very tasty.  Chris had aged  sirloin and he said it was very good.  So far Celebrity has not missed with dinner service.  We finished with some dessert and now we are in Craft Social listening to the Queen sing-along.

 

 

Tour tomorrow to Florence and an early morning!  I heard many passengers had difficulty today with the trains to Florence and Spezia so I hope our tour tomorrow goes smoothly.

[desibee]

We were up early this morning for our tour of Florence.  We had arranged to do the Leisurely Florence by Electric Cart excursion offered by Celebrity.  The shuttle ride into Florence from La Spezia was about 2 and a half hours but the bus is well air conditioned.  I’d say about 50 people were on the bus.

 

We stopped at a Leather factory on the way and took the opportunity to use the washroom facilities and buy a souvenir.
 

Once we arrived in Florence there was a short, 10 minute walk to the church of Santa Croce.  We had about an hour of free time to go sightseeing so we walked up to the Duomo about 15 minutes away and caught a little ceremony happening to celebrate the anniversary of the dismantling of the fascist regime in Italy.

 

After that we walked back to the Church to start our cart tour.  The little electric carts hold four to six people and they are shaded/covered but that makes it a little difficult to see the sights and take photos.  Still, it was nice not having to walk in the oppressive heat and we saw all the big tourist attractions.  We stopped on the ponto di vecchio for a photo before heading back through the town.  The tour took maybe an hour.

 

After the tour we had another hour of free time to spend so we found a restaurant to eat some gnocchi and pasta in and a geletaria for a filled brioche.  Then it was back to the Church to meet up with our guide and the walk back to the bus.

 

 

On the way back we stopped at a look out point for another photo op.

 

 

As I write this, we are heading back to the ship; hot and sticky and tired but having seen Florence.

[hcat]

very nice photos..we enjoyed Florence.. nice leather goods for sale there!

 

We may try sushi on 5 on Silhouette for a lunch.. but my husb is allergic to lobster..hope the chicken and noodles are not cooked or stored near anything lobster ???

[helen haywood]

Do you remember if the leather factory was Peruzzi?

[desibee]

On 8/11/2024 at 5:18 PM, helen haywood said:

Do you remember if the leather factory was Peruzzi?

It was not Peruzzi.  The leather factory we stopped at was Pierotucci.

[desibee]

After we headed back to the ship on Sunday, we changed out of our sweaty clothes and went to the Solarium pool to cool down a bit before dinner.  Our main dining room meal was probably the best I’ve had yet on the ship.  We had lamb wrapped in phyllo and tiramisu for dessert.

 

 

After dinner we went up to the Sunset bar to watch the sunset.  They were going to play the Olympics closing ceremony on the large screen but they had some difficulty switching it over from the end credits of the previous movie that was playing so we missed the beginning.

 

 

There was a pop up performance called Reigning Rocks or Royal Rocks or something?  In the foyer so we abandoned the Closing Ceremonies for a while to go watch that.  It was pretty good but some people just stand in front of you and block your view with absolutely no manners.  

 

And that was the end of Sunday.  On Monday another port excursion, this time to Santa Margherita and Portofino.

[desibee]

Monday morning we were tendering at Santa Margherita to do another ship excursion, this time to Portofino and Brown Castle.  Our excursion didn't start until 9:00am so we had breakfast as usual at the buffet first.  The tender boats were very stuffy and crowded and I had regretted not sitting up top because I was feeling very claustrophobic and hot by the time we reached the pier of Santa Margherita.

 

 

The tour operator gave us a little headset so we could hear her commentary as we walked around the very crowded streets for a tour of Santa Margherita before our ferry to Portofino.  It was already extremely hot by this point and I was beginning to regret this excursion.  Boarding the ferry to Portofino was again very crowded and hot.  They have no fans going in the ferry so the air is stifling.  Once we got to Portofino it was almost unbearably hot and the tour guide marched us up a steep hill to the Church of St. George where there was some shade and a breeze, thank god.

 

 

She started to hike us up more steps to the castle but at that point I was done and I told Chris to go on without me and see the Castle Brown while I sat and recovered a little.  The views were beautiful and if it were even 5 degrees cooler I think I could have stuck it out but it was just impossible for me in that heat and crowd.

 

 

After meeting back up with the tour we wandered a little and got gelato and then I cooled my feet in the Ligurian sea while we waited for the ferry again.  The tender line to go back to the ship from Santa Margherita stretched all the way down the street.  I think everyone had realized that it was too hot and crowded to make a good port day and just wanted back into the air conditioning like I did. 🤣

 

This time on the tender I sat up top in the open air and it was a much better experience.  I got some lovely photos of the port too.

 

 

We immediately ate some lunch at the buffet and then got our swim suits and went to the pool to cool down.  Our dinner reservations that night would be for La Petit Chef.  You apparently need to get to the restaurant 15 minutes before the reservation starts although I am not sure why.  The restaurant was very empty when we went for the early seating.  Maybe only three tables including ours were eating.  They were very keen on selling us another meal at the restaurant but we have so much booked already and to be honest I have been enjoying the main dining room a lot so I’m not that keen to add more specialty restaurants.

 

The animations on the table at La Petit Chef were cute and only about 5 minutes long.  I could see it being a big hit with children except the menu probably wouldn’t appeal to a child’s palate.  I had mostly the main menu (the one that matched the animations) except I substituted chicken for lobster.

 

 

The food was okay but not spectacular in my opinion.  I had better chicken in the main dining room.  The potatoes and vegetables were done very nicely though.  Chris enjoyed his lobster very much and they gave him two tails so it was a lot of food.  The cocktails were very good as well.

 

After dinner we headed to the Martini Bar for a drink.  I had something with lemon and basil and I think it might be the best thing I’ve had to drink yet.  We caught the Broadway review in the theatre from the main cast and the show was excellent.  They performed some medleys from West End and Broadway musicals and some full songs with the live band backing them.

 

 

After that we had just enough time to run back to the foyer to catch a pop up performance from the guest singers who performed in the theatre the first night, doing a classic rock tribute.  They were excellent too.  All the entertainment has been extremely good this cruise.

 

A few more drinks later found us in Quasar doing karaoke to a pretty empty room (but that’s okay with us, less pressure to perform well) and then it was time for bed.

 

We are not planning to leave the ship while in Villefranche so we will have a nice, relaxing lie in.

 

 

Edited August 13 by desibee

[Torfamm]

I’m enjoying following along!

[desibee]

Yesterday we docked in Villefranche which looked lovely from the tender but we chose to stay on the ship while everyone else is off in port because I love the lack of crowds at the pool that this causes.

 

We slept in until almost 10:00am and then got a bite and a coffee from Bacio before going to the pool and spending the rest of the morning swimming and relaxing.  
 

We went to the buffet for lunch and it was French food highlighted but we did not have too much because we were scheduled to eat at Murano that night for dinner and we wanted plenty of room for that.

 

 

The decor in Murano is very elegant if a little dark.

 

All the food we had was delicious.  They prepares the lobster and carved the beef tableside which was fun but more importantly it tasted wonderful.  Definitely the best meal we have had in any of the speciality restaurants so far!

 

 

After dinner we grabbed a martini and then headed to the featured show in the theatre which was a man named Salvatore Hassard and he was very good.  Played five instruments and sang very well back by the live band.  When he was finished we rushed to the pool deck to catch the dancers Sizzle production of Latin dancing and then it was time for bed.

 

[desibee]

I’m writing this on the bus ride back to the ship.  This morning was our excursion to Rocher Mistral which is a brand new little theme park that just opened up a few years ago centred around Castle Barben and it’s history and the traditional history of Provence.

 

 

There were two walk-through exhibits inside the castle which sometimes has live actors reenacting scenes but since we were trying to cram everything in to our short time we went before the actors had set up yet.

 

 

Then there are two projection mapping shows, on the interior castle walls, showing the history of the region and the castle itself.

 

 

There is a garden area to walk through and look at the exterior grounds and a little park with food carts and seating and lots of traditional games to play and a carousel for children.  You could rent traditional costumes to roam around the castle in or buy souvenirs.

 

 

Our last activity was the main one for the daytime, which is the sword fighting/combat show which was funny and very good.  Then we had to rush to get back on the bus.

 

 

I liked this excursion a lot and not just because it was a little bit cooler today and we were mostly in the shade. 😂

 

Rocher Mistral is very much what you would expect out of a medieval theme park and you can tell the people that work there have fun with it.  Their audio guide in English worked pretty well most of the time.  They are still working on it, as we are pretty much the first foreign tourists to come to the theme park since it opened.  I would have loved to have an overnight in port so we could see the night shows, where they do projection mapping over the exterior with lights and fountains and fireworks.  There is a zoo in the area too, so I think if you are able to make it back to Provence and make a trip of it it would be neat to do both parks and stay in the hotel.

[cruzfiend]

We board the Equinox next month. Could you tell me if you have a night light in the bathroom? Thanks

[cruisetonowhere10]

On 8/8/2024 at 11:57 AM, desibee said:

We have no choice but to go during school breaks since I teach the little darlings.

 

But so far the Equinox has been very relaxing.  We are on the ship and have tried out Craft Social, the Martini Bar, and Chris went to the World Class bar while I got my hair done at the salon.

 

We are listening to live music in the atrium at the moment while we wait for our dinner reservation at Tuscan.  The band sounds pretty good.  The champagne is excellent.  And no unruly teens so far! 😆

Another teacher…I too am confined to school vacations but have not experienced unruly teenagers.  On our recent cruise, we had some kid noise when in our stateroom and whale calls late one night but to some degree I expect that if there are kids there will be a certain amount of kid behavior.  By in large, we experienced well behaved kids who did not detract from our trip, despite making some amount of noise.

[hcat]

nice excursion pics..sounds like a unique stop...combines history, nice castle,  gardens and fun! Will pass that one along..good for families!

[DaKahuna]

@desibee Thoroughly enjoying your review.  Brings back a lot of memories of our two Med cruises. 

 

 I think the martini you had was the Lemon-Basil-Ade .. It's is light and refreshing. 

 

 I also like the Cucumber, Sidecar, Espresso and my DW likes the Lychee martini's.  

[desibee]

Hello!  Currently reporting from our last port Naples before we disembark in Civitevecchia or however you spell it.

 

Yesterday was a sea day so nothing very new to report except it was Lobster night in the main dining room and so the dining room was much more crowded than usual.  Chris got the lobster and said it was good but not as good as both Murano and La Petit Chef’s lobster so keep that in mind.  I had the beef Wellington and it was excellent but not very crispy on the pastry side.

 

 

We also saw the show Topper which was interesting and a little more “out there” than the other, more traditional shows.  Still very well performed though.  All the singers and dancers and instrumentalists on the cruise have been amazing.

 

 

Today we did a morning excursion to Pompeii which was very cool (historically speaking!  Temperature wise it was boiling hot).  We are enjoying our last evening on the ship trying cocktails we haven’t gotten around to sampling yet and listening to the music in the foyer.  I will be very sad to leave the ship tomorrow however we have one last disembarkation excursion!

 

[desibee]

On 8/14/2024 at 4:32 PM, cruzfiend said:

We board the Equinox next month. Could you tell me if you have a night light in the bathroom? Thanks

I’m not sure if it’s a night light exactly but there’s this kind of blue lighting around the bottom of the bathroom at night which lets you see well enough without having to turn the light on and disturb your cabin mate.  But the flush of the toilet will still wake them up, sorry to say.

[desibee]

On 8/14/2024 at 4:53 PM, cruisetonowhere10 said:

Another teacher…I too am confined to school vacations but have not experienced unruly teenagers.  On our recent cruise, we had some kid noise when in our stateroom and whale calls late one night but to some degree I expect that if there are kids there will be a certain amount of kid behavior.  By in large, we experienced well behaved kids who did not detract from our trip, despite making some amount of noise.

 The only time I really observed poorly behaved children was at shows.  If you went to an early show then you could expect to hear some precocious five year old giving their commentary throughout the performance and having to use the bathroom and ushering in and out of the rows.  My advice is to plan around attending the late show at 9pm after the kiddos are in bed.

[cruisetonowhere10]

3 minutes ago, desibee said:

 The only time I really observed poorly behaved children was at shows.  If you went to an early show then you could expect to hear some precocious five year old giving their commentary throughout the performance and having to use the bathroom and ushering in and out of the rows.  My advice is to plan around attending the late show at 9pm after the kiddos are in bed.

On edge we sat upstairs at the early show and there were typically no kids so we lucked out as I am an early to bed gal. 😂

[cruzfiend]

Thank You, Desibee. 

[desibee]

This morning we disembarked the Equinox in Civitavecchia, so sad.  We opted to do a disembarkation tour with Celebrity that would drop us somewhat close to our hotel in Ostiense.

 

So having put our luggage out in the hallway with tags on the night before, we got up at 6am to head to the buffet for breakfast one last time and then to Quasar to wait for the tour to start.  At 7:30am we made our way off the ship, collected our bags, and boarded the tour bus to Rome.

 

We stopped at a gas station first so people could go to the bathroom and then headed to the Vatican.  After a half hour or so for photos and to use the facilities again, we reboarded the bus to go to central Rome.  We stopped near the Trevi fountain which was very crowded but beautiful. From there, we walked along various streets learning about the history of the area until we got to the Forum and the Arc and then walked further to the Colosseum.  The tour only allowed enough time to get photos of the exteriors of these places.  If you wanted to actually go inside, say, the Basilica at St. Peter’s or the Colosseum then you would need to return later and purchase tickets.

 

 

Anyway, by the time we made it back to the bus it was almost 12:30pm and we were all very hot and tired.  From the Colosseum it was a short ride to Ostiense station where Celebrity’s tour dropped us and an even shorter taxi ride to the hotel Abitart.

 

 

Our room is quite large and the air conditioning is quite squeaky and the beds are quite hard but we are only here one night until we fly out tomorrow morning.  Looking to just relax during the heat of the afternoon and then head out to sight see and have dinner somewhere later tonight.

 

It has been an excellent cruise.  I will return to give final thoughts/scores out of ten later when I am back home.

[hmcrn]

Curious how disembarkation went? We are disembarking in Civitavecchia in 3 weeks.  

Was it organized to get off the ship and through to your bags?  I realize you took a tour, but did it seem crazy busy outside to get to transportation? We have a private car picking us up, so are curious how difficult it will be to find him.  Thank you!!