Short Equinox review

[klflote]

Just back from the *real* inaugural sailing of the Equinox (that extra sailing before ours didn't count). I had been on the Solstice in January, and frankly I can't really differentiate between the two ships: they are both amazing, wonderful, fabulous, ...

Here are some quick notes for the ship and services:

Pre-Cruise: We opted for the Celebrity pre-hotel package at the City Inn Westminster, which is a good hotel with a great location. The hotel was a bit full of themselves, but I'd stay there again. Celebrity's handling of the arrangements was excellent and included a full breakfast buffer (hotel price: 17 (!) euros) on the morning of departure. The Celebrity on-site representative was a bit overwhelmed (the Constellation also left that morning, so she had 4 busses of people to deal with). Grade: A.

Check-in: After a lengthy traffic delay getting to Southampton, check-in took about 5 minutes for a 2:15 pm arrival. Grade: A+.

Stateroom: Much has been said about these on the Solstice, and they are identical on Equinox. We had a C2 room with the bed next to the closet. I love the room, finding it to have plenty of storage (I have no problem utilizing the storage over the bed), and the bathroom is incredibly well-designed. Grade: A+.

Main Dining Room Food: Elegant, plush, lovely. The menus have changed since I cruised last January: one welcome addition is that each menu features a dish from one of the specialty restaurants. They are not always exactly the same (DH had the Mushroom Cappuccino from Murano, which for example came without the side of Mushroom gelato you get in Murano) but the ones we had were always excellent. The new menu featured rack of lamb twice in 10 days, which made me quite happy. [Sorry; I'm not a seafood person, and I didn't even notice what the lobster situation was.] In general, the food was excellent and the new menus were great. Grade: A.

Main Dining Room Service: Our service was sometimes slow, which we also experienced on the Solstice. When something like this is wrong, I generally think it is the luck of the draw: the waiter having a bad day/week, or whatever, rather than it being a systemic problem. But I'm beginning to think that the kitchen on these ships just may be undersized/understaffed. Though I noticed some stations in the dining room didn't seem to have slow problems, so I'm not sure what's up here. Grade: B.

Specialty Restaurants: I will likely post a separate review of Murano, but all this talk about the "dumbing down" of the specialty restaurant is, in my experience, just bunk. Our evening in Murano was truly memorable. We also ate in Silk Harvest, which was also very good. And I was thrilled one night when exhaustion set in and I didn't want a full dinner and had the option of Bistro on Five, which was excellent. No visit to Tuscan Grill. Grade: A+.

Oceanview Cafe: Really the biggest improvement over other X ships, both in layout and in quality of food. Never had a problem getting a seat. Even the slippery floor problem we sometimes experienced on Solstice seemed to be less of an issue. Grade: A.

Captain's Club Perks: Sad to say, I did not make it to the Elite club (which was moved to a section of the Oceanview cafe rather than Michael's club); the time just didn't work out -- but also, if the hours were later, I probably still wouldn't have made it because we met too many new friends to have drinks with before dinner. Loved the internet and laundry perks, which are enough for me to grade this as an A. But the special highlight was a bridge tour as we docked in Gibralter so we could see things in action. Final grade: A+.

Itinerary: It was really a repositioning cruise, so perhaps not reflective of what to expect. In particular, when the Eclipse next August sails a similar (but round-trip) itinerary from Southampton its schedule includes a stop in southern France (very sad we didn't have that) and Cadiz instead of Cartegena (which would have been quite preferable) -- though the Eclipse skips Cherbourg, which with a visit to Normandy was a real highlight for us. Still, we were in Paris and Barcelona on Sundays (lots of closed things...) and in Cartegena on a national holiday (again, everything closed), so the timing of the itinerary wasn't the best. Grade: B.

Entertainment: The usual fare: the Celebrity Orchestra on this ship was better than usual, the Inspiration Strings were excellent as usual, and there was an outstanding Jazz group in the Ensemble lounge in the evenings. [Those are my favorites; I'm not a huge Jefferson Ang fan but he was on the ship, as well as the usual a cappella group and other groups.] Shows were average for Celebrity. Grade: B+ (I did miss having a late night comic -- or any comic for that matter.)

Staff: Everyone -- from the front desk personnel to the bar staff to the people cleaning the rooms to officers encountered in the hallway to Simon Weir, the amazing hotel manager -- did a super job: friendly, helpful, ready to help with anything. Grade: A+.

Morning croissants in Cafe al Baccio; white chocolate martinis in the Martini Bar; lazy sea-day afternoons in the Solarium; being on cruise: A+.

Disembarkation: X divided us into 60 or so groups, and so it proceeded efficiently and was stress free. Bags were easy to locate, everyone was pre-cleared through customs, and there were never any lines. It was like walking out of your house. Still -- they actually made us get off the ship, so I have no choice but to grade this as an F.

[ellbon]

ship sounds the same as Solstice. I hope i like the piano player when i am on or the jazz band will be good. i found some nights it was hard to find good music.

thanks for the review

[JennAngel9]

Sounds delightful, sorry they made you get off.

Can you elaborate on your Bistro on 5 experience?

[Texed]

Originally Posted by klflote

Just back from the *real* inaugural sailing of the Equinox (that extra sailing before ours didn't count). .

I was on the "other" inaugural". Thanks for the report.

[earl_m]

Glad you enjoy your cruise, Unfortunely I have to wait 6 months , before I cruise on her

[patwin]

Enjoy reading your review.

Did you try the caviar at the "crush"? How much is it ?

P & W

[Cruiser Susie]

Thank you for your well written review... I am really looking forward to being on the Equinox in November.

I would guess the Elite happy hour was moved because more room was needed? Your bridge tour with the timing scheduled as it was sounds just wonderful.

So glad you enjoyed your trip, and thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

[Morris4me]

Thanks so much for posting our review. It's wonderful for those of us sitting here, biting our nails, waiting to sail. I hope the music is good when we're on board because we are music buffs - jazz, instrumental, pop and even head-bangin stuff. We like it all.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Great review. 3.5 month and it is our turn.

Mary Lou

[satchiesmom]

What a wonderful review, short but sweet and you covered all of the salient points (at least to us). Thanks so much.

[FunCruiser56]

thanks for a lovely review. Sounds like we are in for a wonderful cruise experience in December, counting the days!

Bev

[gundlach]

Just got back from cruising on the new equinox. This is our third cruise on a celebrity ship and we were not disappointed. The food, entertainment, cabins were all excellent.

The ports of call were a little disappointing, but we expected this as it was a repositioning cruise.

There was always beds available around the pool decks even on sea days.

There was ample room in the cabins and we loved the variety of animals which our stateroom attendant made every evening.

There was nothing that we could complain about at all, staff were attentive at all times. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

We went to one of the Speciality restaurants and found it to be the most wonderful experience, its worth going there for at least one meal over your cruise.

Can't wait to sail on another celebrity ship again, although don't think we will be sailing on the eclipse next year, the itinerary looks similar to a P & O one we went on some years ago and would rather have sun straight from the start of a cruise and better itinerary.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Kiflote..... Very good review......were you early or late dining ?

[gundlach]

We were allocated early seating, but when we arrived we went to restaurant and there was no problem changing to late. We were on table for eight people, six from the states and us from the UK.

[audrey]

Thanks for the review we have six months also but am looking forward to not only to ship but visiting new islands

[sweepea12]

Thank you for the great review........4 mths till our sailing

[klflote]

Can you elaborate on your Bistro on 5 experience?

We'd been on lengthy tours for two days, so when 8:45 PM rolled around, we were too tired to change and go for a 2-hour dinner. So instead, we rested a little and then just went to Bistro on 5. For $5, we had an actual meal: soup, a dinner crepe (they had about 12 kinds of various fillings), and dessert (crepes available, but also some additional choices). At 9:30 on other ships, we'd have been limited to room service or maybe pizza. So it was great to have a choice, and the crepes were very tasty. Plus the restaurant was empty, so the service was quite prompt and attentive (though on our last cruise, we ate there for a lunch when they were pretty busy, and the service was just as good).

Did you try the caviar at the "crush"? How much is it ?

Sorry to say I did not; nor did I look. Though our dinner at Murano began with an amuse bouche of avocado cream with a small dollop of caviar. Not sure if they have better caviar at the "crush", but what we did have was very good.

I would guess the Elite happy hour was moved because more room was needed?

That was my initial guess, but I'm not really sure how many Elites were on board. We did go by the Oceanview Cafe one evening during the event, and there were fewer than 8 people there, which made me think maybe they had a different reason (wanting to keep Michael's club open?).

were you early or late dining ?

Late. We had a table for 2, but not really -- it was one of the tables that is really for 4 (or 6) because the 2-tops are so close together. Which worked out fine given our nearby tablemates, but I did have to disagree with the Maitre 'd when he proudly said they'd honored our request for a table for 2. There are a few actual tables for 2 in the room (more than I remembered from Solstice, actually, but we still didn't score one), and a fair number of slightly-separated tables that are claimed to be for 2.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

[quote=klflote;20888530]
Late. [quote]
The reason I asked is we were also late seating , and just about our only gripe with both our Solstice and Equinox [ great ships ! ] cruises was that we felt the timing of the entertainment seemed to focus around the first diners. We never got to hear the pianist in Michael's Club as he was only there around the time we were in dinners, or in the show, or late in the evening. The same applied to the Acapela group. Often they would start at 8.30 at the other end of the ship. We did get to see much more of the acts you mentioned though, probably for the same reason.

[CTLeeA]

Originally Posted by Morris4me

Thanks so much for posting our review. It's wonderful for those of us sitting here, biting our nails, waiting to sail. I hope the music is good when we're on board because we are music buffs - jazz, instrumental, pop and even head-bangin stuff. We like it all.

Been a a while since a Celeb. cruise.....Videos on you tube really make it look special.

[SailAway78]

Originally Posted by klflote

Still -- they actually made us get off the ship, so I have no choice but to grade this as an F.

It's very disappointing to hear Celebrity is still doing that. I must remember to pack handcuffs this time!

The TA can't get here soon enough and then it will pass too quickly! Thanks for sharing your cruise report with us.

Bonnie