Celebrity Equinox Reviews

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Parking at Park and Go was very easy and affordable. Included in their price is readily available transportation to and from the cruise ship. Boarding was fast and easy. The spacious and well laid out Oceanview Cafe was open and ready for lunch. Many different types of food was available and the ice cream cones were a special treat. Finding a place to put all our clothes in our cabin was a challenge. The drawers are shallow and small, the closet with large sliding doors is hard to get to since the bed is right in front of it, and the shelf where you would put your folded clothes is 6 ft up and over the bed! Not handy unless you are near 6' tall or like to stand on the bed, balancing your clothes while trying to put them up on the shelf! Very stupid design! When we entered the cabin for the first time it looked liked a liquor store. We asked the cabin steward to take all the bottles out but he said they had to stay in the cabin - so, under the bed they went!! Our largest suitcases stayed under the bed also, 1/2 full because that was the only other place to put things. The head was spacious and the glass doors on the shower sure beats curtains! Our cabin steward never called us by name, but then, we only saw him a total of about 4 times during the whole cruise. Not what we're used to on Princess. Memac and Dennis were more than efficient at our dinner table for 6. They were fast, knew and supplied our usual orders and were very personable. They made each dinner time very enjoyable. We enjoyed most of the shows but were disappointed they didn't have more scheduled after the 9:00 show. Where were the piano players? The few big shows they had were good but the singer, Ms.Broadway, left at lot to be desired, the comedian was dirty and I don't even want to imagine what his adult show was like! Then the woman imitator, singer ? was terrible. Again, Princess wins. When the shows were over, events were going on but there was never a place to sit down. So, if you wanted to stand, I guess you could watch karaoke, the band, or dance. We watched the dance party a few minutes but had to sit on the edge of the hot tub. Most nights we just went back to our cabin. For the Celebrity excursions, if you sign up at home on the net, you have to pay for them ahead of time, not at the end of the cruise like we're used to doing. With Celebrity's way, you cannot use your on-board credits for excursions - a drawback in our case as that is what we use them for. You can buy your excursions on-board but you risk the possibility of the one you want, being sold out. They also have an age limit of 70 on some excursions but they say that is the vendor who does that! Funny, but the same vendors don't put a limit on the same excursions on Princess! Hm-mm??? Interesting! It would really be nice if Celebrity went totally smoke-free. We appreciate the no smoking areas but you can still smell that odor even from one side of the ship to the other. And up on the grassy area - forget it. Couldn't stay up there at all! We liked the pool areas very much since they are relatively quiet. However, at times when the band did get loud, we could go to the indoor pool. We also liked how the pool crew picked up the towels reserving lounges. Thank you! That is something Princess could learn from Celebrity! When we disembarked the ship, they did give my husband back the 3 bottles of beer they confiscated from his suitcase when we boarded. We found out you can take wine on with you but not beer. Go figure! So, a good time was had by all but.....comparing the two cruise lines,I think we'll stick with Princess for our next cruise!

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Just returned from our 30th wedding anniversary cruise on Celebrity Equinox. We had an Aqua class room that was really nice. Loved the shower and amenities.We had some nice extras - fresh fruit each day, 2 bottles of water each day, tea and juice daily. Room was nice size and balcony was very nice. Ship was well appointed and still appeared new. We ate in each of the specialty restaurants (Murano, Tuscan Grille and Silk Harvest). They were well worth the extra money. As Aqua class, we had our own assigned restaurant - Blu. It was fabulous - much smaller than main dining - with a varied menu each day - again fabulous. We did eat in the main dining one night just to see what we might be missing - nothing, although it was also nice. Shows were OK, but nothing to rave about. Singers and dancers only performed twice. Other entertainment included some enrichment seminars and a glass blowing demonstration (very impressive)! Ports were great. Santorini is a must see. Istanbul has much culture and history, but also very crowded. Kusadasi and Mykonos were also quite interesting. Athens was a disappointment. The Parthenon was not only inaccessible, but covered in construction equipment - made picture taking impossible. We took a private tour of Amalfi coast - definitely the way to do it. The roads are congested and narrow for big tour buses. Debarkation was smooth. Ship got in early and most flights were easy to make.

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Background: My DH and I are in our 40's and this was our 5th cruise. We choose the ship for the ports and the because we wanted to try the Celebrity product. We got a great deal on a suite and decided to treat ourselves for our 20th anniversary. Our typical vacations involve renting a house or apartment for a few weeks and living like locals. We use cruises to explore areas where we may not want to stay that long - like the Greek islands. Hotel: Stayed one night pre-cruise at Hotel San Giorgio in Civitavecchia. Rented a car at FCO with a one-way drop off. This was cheaper than a limo service and allowed us to stop at a grocery store the morning before we boarded the shop. Driving in Italy is not for the faint of heart! We have driven here before and always marvel at how anyone lives into old age with the crazy driving we see. Hotel was good. Found a good restaurant nearby to have dinner and enjoyed walking along the waterfront. Used the hotel shuttle to reach the ship. Embarkation: Boarding the ship was a breeze. Basically no wait and we were enjoying lunch at Bistro on Five within a 1/2 hour of arriving at the pier. Ship Info: The ship was beautiful. We were very happy with the layout of the ship and had no issues getting elevators or ever having to wait in long lines. All the areas we saw were well maintained and in good condition. It never felt like there were another 2,500+ people on the ship with us. The crew was very friendly. Loved, loved, loved the Solarium area and spent quite a few days just lounging and reading by the pool. Activities: Due to a recent foot injury I could not take part in a lot of the activities I was interest in. However, we did watch a lot of the dance classes and everyone seemed to have fun. Also enjoyed the Behind the Scenes tour of the galleys and a cooking demo. There was plenty to do everyday especially days at sea. Service: All of the service we received was excellent. We had a drink package and did not seem to have too much trouble getting service. Our butler and room steward were excellent. Overall no complaints. Ports and Shore excursions: We do not feel like we have to see everything every time we travel and we like to be on our own instead of in large groups so we can meet local people and actually experience the culture of a place. Therefore we did not take any ship based shore excursions. In Santorini we took a private excursion organized by someone our role call. We had a wine tasting, visited Oia, and watched the sunset before returning to the ship. Lovely island but very touristy. In Istanbul we took the tram to the Sultanahmet area and visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the grounds of Topaki Palace, the Basilica Cistern and then went to the Spice Market. From the Spice Market we wandered the back streets and shopped and saw few other tourists. Enjoyed doner at a small food stall while watching the local people shop. We loved Istanbul (if you can ignore everyone trying to offer you tours or wanting to sell you something). We will return on a land vacation someday to spend more time in this fascinating city. Kusadasi was an off day for us. We were talking to a private guide for a tour and before we paid we realized that we were exhausted and that since we were planning to return to Turkey that we would enjoy a slow day instead of heading to Ephesus. We just walked off the ship and kept walking until we were no longer being bothered by shop keepers. Then we relaxed and wandered around local shops, sat in a park, made friends with the owners of a gourmet food shop (they stuffed us with free samples of their food) and finally found a restaurant where we were the only tourists and had a late lunch. We rounded out the day by stopping in a grocery store and buying some Turkish food to bring home. A perfect day for us. We did not get off the ship in Athens. Wanted the ship to ourselves for a day and we didn't regret having a full day to lay by the pool and read. Mykonos - since we had an International Drivers Permit we decided to rent a car from Avis for the day and drive around the island. We left Chora and headed out to Paraga beach to have lunch at a taverna called Thassos. The beach was beautiful and the food was great. Everything we ate was sourced from the island itself and tasted wonderful. We then drove around the island stopping as we wanted to take pictures or shop. The cost was less than any tour and the roads were easy to drive compared to Italy. For our last port - Naples - we really wanted to see Capri. After getting off the ship we purchased jet boat tickets. From the port we took the funicular to Capri town then took a bus to Anacapri. In Anacapri we enjoyed lunch then took the chairlift to the top of the hill. The views were amazing!!! It's worth the effort to get there. Getting onto the jetboat on the way back was a mess. There was a huge crowd and a lot of pushing - not sure why since everyone got on the boat and had a seat. A great but very busy day. Cabin: We got a fantastic deal on a Sky Suite. The space was wonderful. We had enough storage space for all of our clothing. The cabin was under the Ocean View cafe and although we could hear carts overhead a few times a day it was not constant enough to be a bother. We would bookj a cabin on this deck again. Dining: No complaints about the food on the ship. The buffet had special food a few nights related to the port we were visiting. We tried and liked all three specialty restaurants. Enjoyed breakfast in Blu. Quite a few nights when we were tired from the port we had our butler serve us dinner in our suite using the MDR menu to order. This worked well and we enjoyed all of our meals. Disembarkation: Walked off the ship, found our bags and was in the van heading to the airport in 15 minutes. Summary: Although we have traveled on Regent and Cunard we found the Celebrity product to be our favorite. We thought the value of the cruise and the atmosphere on the ship to be perfect for us. Although we prefer land based vacations we have identified a few more Celebrity itineraries that interest us and plan on sailing on X again in the near future.

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My girlfriend Judy loves cruising. So do I! I'm 35 - 54; she is 55 - 64. We especially love sea days. Plus we are running out of Caribbean islands to see, so we wanted new ports and even more sea days than we usually get on Caribbean itineraries. So this was an obvious choice, especially since my girlfriend had taken a cruise with her lady friends on the Solstice just a month before. We live in South Florida, so it was just a twenty-minute drive from Judy's house to the port. We were dropped off at the port and were on board in ten or fifteen minutes. We were handed some sparkling wine and directed where to go. Unfortunately it was the wrong direction so we had to walk back and go the other way. Not the best start, but we did pick up more champagne. We unpacked, did the muster drill, and then finished unpacking. Then we headed to the main dining room to check on our table. Judy and I always have the second seating and a table just for two; we wanted to make sure. We did have a table for two, and it was right next to another table for two. We lucked out; that table next to us was occupied only on one night, then that couple switched to the first seating. Later we had our first dinner. Thoughts on the MDR: We weren't lucky with our waiter M and bread and water person N(names not used here because I gave them a bad review by name on the comment card.). M barely talked with us except to remind us to fill out the comment card. N was a bit slow and inattentive, plus her personality wasn't a good fit to deal with the passengers. Judy was upset on the lobster tail night; she thought M should have asked her if she wanted more. She saw diners at the next table get three servings after being asked by their wait staff. M never asked us, and Judy never asked him. The wine girl Ana was really good (although we only drank the two bottles Judy's travel agent had waiting for us in the stateroom). The soda girl (forgot her name but she was from Mexico) was really good; after the third night she remembered we liked a can of Diet Coke and a bottle of San Pellegrino with each dinner, and it was there waiting for us. I enjoyed the food. I don't remember any standouts (aside from the Grand Marnier souffle), but I don't remember any big disappointments either. There was one or two small ones; one dessert didn't work for me and I had to order another one. I like trying new things and there were enough of them to try. There were also old standbys like onion soup. Judy loves shrimp cocktail and had that every night. Specialty restaurants: We ate at the steak one and the Asian one. Great settings, great service, great food and presentation, but WAY too much of it (not that that is a problem!). Plus Judy wasn't feeling well both nights and had to go back to the stateroom early. Both times the waitstaff graciously had the leftovers and desserts sent to our room! I found room in the minibar for it and we ate them over the next few days. Definitely worth the upcharge. Next year we will try the third one we missed this time. Stateroom: we loved it. Since we love sea days, and had six in a row and then two in a row after the first port, we spent a lot of time in that stateroom just relaxing. (All those activities listed every day in the circular? We tend not to do any of them). I spent a lot of time on the balcony sunning, reading, and drinking Jack (we got a bottle for the room). I also spent a lot of time lying in bed doing word puzzles and just being there with Judy. Unfortunately our room steward P sucked. Three times I had to call to have him bring room service menus (we love room service breakfast in the morning) because he didn't leave us any. We also had to make a special trip to the guest services desk to get our comment card and our luggage tags for disembarkation! The backup guy sucked also. I had called for a bottle of San Pellegrino a few times, and one time the backup guy forgot to bring a bottle opener! Even though I had the soda card, he had charged me three times (only noticed in time once to have the charge backed off). I am also pretty sure he was scoping out Judy in her bedwear. We liked the TV available. Our favorite channel is HLN, but that only lasted two days. Then we watched our second favorite, Fox News, and after Judy would fall asleep, I watched my personal favorite, Cartoon Network! Something for everyone! Let me lighten the mood by mentioning The Molecular Bar. We loved stopping there and having one of the unique concoctions before heading into the show. One of the best parts of the whole cruise was the bartender who was there from six to seven o'clock, Sludjana (full name used because I praised her on the comment card!). She was fun to talk to as she made and served the drinks. She also worked at the coffee bar, and made that fun to go to. Unfortunately she won't be back next year when we come back; she will be in Asia on the Eclipse! We also enjoyed the clubby feel of the Ensemble Bar, a perfect place to enjoy specialty bourbons! The public spaces on Celebrity Equinox (the bars on the stern, the Sky Bar) are done really well. Entertainment: it doesn't take much to keep us entertained. We don't expect much when we take a cruise. Which was a good thing on this ship. The musicians that played in the public spaces (foyer, various bars) weren't really that good. The group that played behind the acts in the theater was pretty good. The acts themselves were hit or miss, mostly miss. The worst was the guy who did his Dean Martin act from The Rat Pack show. The best by far was the comedy juggler Pete something. He was great as both a juggler and a comedian. Damian the cruise director was pretty good staying enthusiastic through it all. Can't forget about the buffet on the fourteenth deck. There was enough variety to keep me enjoying the food for all fourteen days. I loved the Indian food, the ice cream and the other desserts, and being able to get Red Bull on the soda card. Unlike another ship on another line, we didn't have to search hard for open tables to sit down at. The Mast Grill was a favorite of ours. Those were really good burgers and fries! We came back from one port tour cold, tired, and famished. Those made-to-order burgers really hit the spot! Now to mention a "Major Fail" (I used those exact words on the comment card). I have been on ships from four different lines over the past year and a half, and by far the worst Internet service was on this ship. It was frustrating trying to connect, both in the online center on the sixth deck, and on our handhelds using Wi-Fi in the stateroom. Even worse, we thought we were using one account, and it really was two (twice the charge). When I handed in my comment card, I even personally mentioned all these negatives I have mentioned here to the crew member. Let me say that the guest relations staff was top-notch, even when explaining problems to them. I filled out a comment card the fourth night about a few issues, including needing toothpicks, and the next night they were available at the dining room. I even got a letter in the stateroom a few nights after thanking me, and after we got back Judy got a phone call thanking her for bringing problems to their attention! The casino had my favorite (Dean Martin's Wild Party) and her favorite (Da Vinci Diamonds) slot machines. I doubled my money! I was tempted to play craps, but if the dice aren't with me, the money isn't either. What else? The port calls! Judy always likes paying the extra for the ship's tours because she doesn't like waiting in line to get into museums, and she doesn't like worrying about getting back to the ship in time. We went to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, then Cartagena and a bus ride to Murcia in Spain, then Barcelona, then we docked in La Seyne-sur-Mer in Provence and took a bus trip to a town on a hill called Le Castellet, then a small town by the sea called Sanary-sur-Mer, then Florence, then to Rome to fly home. All the trips were really interesting. My personal favorite was the amazing city of Barcelona. I can't even tell you what exactly about it was so great. Judy was not as impressed as I was; she thought the Sagrada Fam?-lia was, well, "gaudy" and designed by Tim Burton. We were in Florence on April 29, on a Sunday, part of an Italian three-day weekend. It was a zoo; we could barely move around through all the people there that day. The two small towns in Provence, the one on the hill, and the seaside town, were very nice, and the people there were warm and friendly. Disembarkation was pretty smooth. The flight home was not. The line to get on the airplane in Rome was another zoo (although there was hardly any walking once we got into the terminal). I didn't sleep the whole ten hours to Philadelphia. Luckily we had a row of two seats to ourselves way in the back of the plane. Clearing customs and going through security again at the airport in Philly was the absolute worst part of the trip! Good thing Judy had ordered a wheelchair, because we had to walk from one side of the airport to the other and it got us through the grossly inefficient security line slightly faster. Hopefully next year we will get a direct flight home to Fort Lauderdale from Barcelona. After the long flight from Rome, the three-hour flight from Philly to FLL was not as bad, but it still sucked. There is a reason why we hate flying. Did I cover everything? One little thing that really added to the trip was the (more-or-less) daily crossword puzzle, and the printed news fliers for each country. It was fun reading the American news, and the news from Canada and the UK (hockey and soccer scores; was a real blow to read how the Panthers lost their last game in the second overtime!), and even the Russian news from the words I could sound out! I can't really speak to the pool since we only got into our suits once, on the first day. Other than that we got pretty lazy and spent most of the day in the stateroom. I did get active a few days; I went all over the ship to find all of the art described in the glossy book in the stateroom. As the other review mentioned, the promenade deck didn't go around the stern, and was blocked by the lifeboats. I usually find the jogging tracks on ships too crowded for when I get motivated to do some exercising so was a little disappointed. I think I saw a total of ten people under the age of eighteen the whole trip (definitely saw the baby at the nearby table at dinner though!). Since we don't know from having children, and also not many parents will take their kids out of school for two weeks soon after spring break, I don't think we will see many children on board next year either. We enjoyed the festive atmosphere on the ship as we transited to the Med and saw the Rock of Gibraltar slide by. Now we had been thinking about doing another transatlantic at some point, and when we read that the Equinox would be going to Gibraltar next year, AND ending in the amazing city of Barcelona, AND adding another day for SEVEN straight days at sea, we booked for next year, same ship, same sailing, even the same stateroom! Because the reservation computers were down both times we looked into it, it took a few tries, but we got it booked, and got the five hundred dollars in ship-board credit too. So there are only forty-nine more weekends to get through until April 15, 2013, when we set sail for Nassau, Bahamas; then SEVEN sea days!; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Lanzarote, Canary Islands; sea day, Lisbon, Portugal; Gibraltar, United Kingdom; last sea day, Barcelona, Spain. Guess we liked it, even with all the negatives, since we are doing it again. Lessons learned: Ask for more lobster tail! Make sure we get only one internet account and double check. Don't get the soda package. Even with all the mineral water, Red Bull, and soda that I drink, it still wasn't a bargain. In fact it was a mistake. Check every receipt and check the folio on the tv to make sure we are getting charged correctly. Take our jackets with us on the tour bus even if we don't think we need them; living in South Florida, we forget how cold it can get in April "up north", even in Europe. Run the numbers to see if the drink package makes sense. With tips, we spent almost eight hundred dollars on alcohol - those Molecular Bar drinks are twelve dollars plus three sixty in tip each and they add up fast!

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I booked this cruise a month before departure because of the special pricing. I had recently completed my first Celebrity cruise in January. Before that I had only cruised on Regent. I booked Aqua Class because I enjoyed the food in Blu on my previous January voyage on the Infinity. The ship is beautiful, modern and clean. The room seemed new, even though it's over two years old. The shower is great and very functional compared to Regents , and Infinitys shower. The flat screen TV is powered by Apple, and has more channels than I expected including 4 news channels. The storage is a bit cramped. I travelled alone so it wasn't an issue, but it would be tight for two. I found the menus in Blu to be a little more boring than I had experienced on the Infinity. I don't eat red meat, so that restricts my options. I ate with others that ordered the meat courses, and they looked great. Blu is run like a real restaurant, not a banquet hall like the MDR. I also ate at the three specialty restaurants. I took advantage of the 3 for $70 pricing when I boarded the ship. I liked both Tuscan grill and Murano. My favorite dish at Tuscan grill was the tuna with olive tapanade, medium rare. I ate their 3 times! Murano is a high end French dining establishment. I ordered the duck breast which was done perfectly. I didn't order any of the drink packages. I preferred to order wine by the bottle, since they keep the unused portion for the next evening at any restaurant. I found the wine by the glass selection to be not great on the ship. The night life wasn't especially lively on the ship. There were people in the casino, or at the martini bar most evenings though. Cellar Masters only had business in the early evening. I liked the selection of food at the oceanview lunch buffet. I was able to grab things from different stations to concoct great salads every day. Go to the sandwich area, and top off your salad with a scoop of either tuna or chicken salad. The two bars at the back of the ship are the best places to hang out, especially at the end of the day. Great views off the back of the ship. We had 8 sea days, so I found a different spot on the ship each day to read my Kindle. I especially liked the caffe Bacio . I loved their fresh pressed iced tea. The pool areas were crowded on nice afternoons, but I was always able to find a spot. I booked my shore excursions with people on my roll call, not thru the ship. I recommend that everyone join and participate in the roll call. The people I met on it, are the people I ate with every evening. I enjoyed the Azores, very different. It's lush, green and beautiful and populated mainly by milk cows.. I opted to just get off the ship and walk around Cartagena Spain. It has a nice pedestrian street. I took the HOHO bus in Barcelona , and got off to walk the Rambla. The Toulon stop was a highlight. We used tours of Provence to give us a tour of Aix. Wonderful, and I highly recommend them. Lastly we took a tour of Sienna. It was a rainy day, but the Tuscan countryside was beautiful . All in all a terrific cruise on a wonderful ship!

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