Equinox - fun for families?

I am looking for advice from you regular Celebrity cruisers and in particular, on the Equinox, that can contrast it with the larger RCL ships. We are considering booking a week this July on the Equinox to the Eastern Caribbean.

We are a family of 6 (my wife and I plus 16, 14, 12, and 11 year old kids). My family just finished a week on RCL's Harmony of the Seas and loved it. And last year we were on RCL's Oasis and had a great time as well. My family loved all of the activities and the kids in particular enjoyed making friends with other kids/teens onboard.

What I am wondering is if my kids will enjoy the pace and activities on the Equinox like they did on the RCL ships. Any advice would very much be appreciated!

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Equinox has nothing like the 'bells and whistles' of the big RC cruises. It's focus is on rest and relaxation.

There are children's clubs and activities but there are far fewer children on Celebrity. There are far fewer activities too (no climbing walls, crazy golf, flow rider, ice skating or belly flop competitions).

If you all board willing to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere but knowing there are no bumper cars on board you will enjoy...if you compare X to RC for activities they will be far behind....Very ironic, as most of us here choose X bizarrely because they do focus on less activities and more R&R...

The Equinox is in Celebrity's S class of ships. I have not been on the Equinox but sailed on the sister ship the Silhouette. There is very little to compare between Celebrity's S class and RC Oasis class in regards to activities. Celebrity is much more laid back and relaxing. RC is more energetic from the moment you enter the ship's promenade on deck 5. I think your kids will be disappointed with the activities on Celebrity after being on RC.

A win for Celebrity is the food.

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With 4 teenagers, If it was me I would stick with RCI for that reason alone.Although Celebrity is an excellent cruise line,I think your kids would be bored within the first day.You all have already been on RCI,s biggest ships ,so go with RCI. Maybe someday you and your spouse could experience Celebrity ,just the two of you without kids!;p I have been on the Oasis and it completely different than a Celebrity ship.Hope that helps. Enjoy no matter which one you choose.

Thanks everyone. I am thinking we will wait for a time without the kids.

For sure, skip Celebrity with kids that age. I took mine and they killed me. Really! I'm writing this from beyond the grave;p. They complained the whole cruise. That was our first celebrity cruise so we really didn't know any better. They are all "adults" now, and we are going to try celebrity with them again in June. And them being adults, why am I still paying?:confused:.

For sure, skip Celebrity with kids that age. I took mine and they killed me. Really! I'm writing this from beyond the grave;p. They complained the whole cruise. That was our first celebrity cruise so we really didn't know any better. They are all "adults" now, and we are going to try celebrity with them again in June. And them being adults, why am I still paying?:confused:.

That made me laugh out loud!! By any chance, was that sailing a Pacific Coastal on the Infinity or the Century? We were up in the Sky Lounge in Monterey where there were kids that age up there with their mother and another woman. I overheard the kids complaining that 'this is intolerable'...those were their exact words. I was cracking up then, too. I have just never seen a lot of kids on Celebrity and the few times I have, they seemed completely bored to tears!

Have you considered NCL? The Escape would be a very good choice for the whole family and something different. Plenty of things to keep the teens entertained as well.

If my parents took me on Celebrity, I would have been pretty board unless I had many friends my own age to pal around with. [emoji851]

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I have to agree with the post above. I even find at 77 YO that there are too few active activities for me to enjoy. Ships with more activities keep the kids from running up and down the corridors banging on doors and playing chase in the elevators. Having said that, all families and there kid are different, only you really know your kids and what they like.

Think RCCL as a cruise with theam park activities, and Celebrity as country club activities.

We are on the Equinox for the 3rd time his yr. We are Diamond on RCCL, In my experience sailing both lines, your 4 would be highly 'under whelmed' with the Celebrity experience at this time.

We've sailed on Oasis and Allure many times and Equinox several times. Honestly, if I had teens the age of your children. I'd stick with Oasis, Allure or the newer Harmony. I'd even book Royal's Freedom Class ships before I'd book the staid, elegant Solstice Class ships of Celebrity.

We love Celebrity but we are in our mid-seventies. Even so, we are booked on Harmony in December. There are times when we want the extra entertainment and choices on RCI big ships such as their jazz club and comedy club.

There will be lots of time for Celebrity when your family is grown. The only reason you might really prefer Equinox is the itinerary may be very attractive and something different for your family to experience.

I looked at the same for our family. I determined that Royal Caribbean or Norwegian were probably our best options. We are going on the Equinox in August, but it's just my wife and I and our adult friends. There just aren't enough activities and younger people on board to make it enjoyable for them at this time (ages 15-9). I think it's going to be perfect for our group in August, even if we will be on the younger side of the demographic. (we're all 38-45)

Dan

One small thing in Chrispmor's favor for staying with his July Equinox booking is that there will probably more teens on board at that time of the year than almost any other time except perhaps Christmas holidays.

We cruised with our now 30 year old son on Celebrity primarily since he was 3 years old. He vastly preferred the one time we went on the Freedom of the Seas, but at the same time he really enjoyed his Celebrity cruises as well. It depends what kind of temperament your kids have. Mine enjoyed relaxing and lazing around. If you want a lot of activity, then don't book Celebrity. The one exception might be a cruise with a lot of port stops, like a deep southern out of PR (if they are still offering them, haven't checked lately). Then the kids get all worn out from the beach days and are fine with taking it easy in the evening.

As I think about it, since the OP would be going in July, there might be a lot of kids. Celebrity ships have not ordinarily sailed the Caribbean during the summer, and they have been running a lot of promos which seem to entice families so only time will tell. There actually could be a lot of kids on board

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Think RCCL as a cruise with theam park activities, and Celebrity as country club activities.

 

We are on the Equinox for the 3rd time his yr. We are Diamond on RCCL, In my experience sailing both lines, your 4 would be highly 'under whelmed' with the Celebrity experience at this time.

Without the golf and tennis;p

Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

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Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

 

 

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Our kids have always had a great cruise on whichever ship they have sailed. Meeting new friends and socialising has been first on their list. They are now teens have experienced so many different cultures and sights all over the world (see my signature). We do make the most of any port we visit and have always tried to involve them in the decision making of 'things to do' at each stop. Next year will be our third time on Equinox, so it can't be that bad :D.

We switched back to celebrity from rccl as their ships tend to get ' overrun ' with kids in the holidays .

My two adored the eclipse . So much so that we are going again with them this year .

There was tons to do in the kids club and out and about . The pool weren't busy and they had a ball .

I wouldn't knock it unless you've actually tried it .

An awful lot of celebrity cruisers on CC are anti kids , but on board we never experienced any comments whatsoever , the stark opposite actually .

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Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

 

 

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I for one am not thrilled about water slides on a ship. Not sure why though. They just seem out of place to me. A little too garish maybe?

I fully expect your kids to have an amazing time. I think that the more we cruise with our kids, the more they will gravitate to a more relaxing cruise without the need for all the bells and whistles.

Dan

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For sure, skip Celebrity with kids that age. I took mine and they killed me. Really! I'm writing this from beyond the grave;p. They complained the whole cruise. confused:.

Omg, this is great! [emoji23]

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The question may very well be what your kids' interests are. One of my sons was very into books and loved nothing more than sitting quietly reading a book. Any ship would do for him. MY other son was very outgoing and really enjoyed making new friends, going to arcades and trying out fun new things. I still don't think Celebrity would be a first choice of many kids, but would be perfectly fine with others. You also have to decide what the parents want too.

I do recall so vividly an encounter we had on an Eclipse elevator with a young teen, maybe 13 or 14. We asked him if he was enjoying his cruise and he replied with a heavy sigh that he was "counting the days" until he could get off that boring ship. This kid was not a happy cruiser.

Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

 

 

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Now in this instance I think they will be just fine.

Our Daughter had sailed with us on 5 diff lines. Over the Christmas holiday her Sr yr in HS she chose Celebrity over the others for our cruise. She worked on ship for RCCL in 2004, went on the Freedom OTS with us in 2011, and all week said we should have booked Celebrity.

Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

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As long as your eldest is still 11 y/o during the cruise you should be fine. Our child enjoyed the Celebrity Fun Factory, though once turning 12 and moved into X Club our child has spent no time in Celebrity kids activities. Our child just doesn't want to be put into an unstructured program with little planned activities to hang out with strangers. We still will go with Celebrity, but only if the ports are interesting, not for the kids club.