Tommy3putts

Michele

Great to hear. Next time while on board be sure and visit Future Cruises. Sometimes you can get added incentives by booking future cruises while on board (not always). For example, we got an extra $200 OBC for booking our 2019 cruise.

Cheers

Tom

We were on the same cruise! Our pictures are pretty much the same, except I didn't do the excursions that you did. I did manage some great sunset pics on Thursday night, but the other nights were very cloudy, or I was in the dining room. It looks like you had a great time. I agree with almost everything you wrote. I didn't really care for the buffet, and I usually LOVE buffets. Everything looked so much better than it tasted and was so crowded the few days we went to lunch there. I did enjoy my breakfast there Saturday morning before we left though. You should have gone to see the second comedian on Friday night, he was hysterical!!! We also walked out of the theme show "Elisium". Not for us, but it turned out great, as I had some decent hits in the casino instead. This was my first cruise and I am going to attempt a review soon. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I hope you enjoyed your first cruise and sail with Celebrity again.

Cheers.

Tom

Thanks for taking us along. We tried Celebrity for the first time last summer with a B2B on the Equinox. We were hooked. Tried the Reflection in November and had a great time. We’re now booked for 4 cruises on the Equinox this year. We’ll try our first suite in December. I’ll be happy to take over holding those bar stools down for you!

 

 

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Thanks to everyone for all the nice words about the review.

Haven’t done a B2B or a real suite yet. We did a Jr Suite on Allure a few years ago. Great cabin class. A B2B is on my to do list. I’m thinking of a 10 and 11 night B2B as a retirement present in 3 or 4 years.

Final thoughts

We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and recommend it. Was in a perfect cruise? No. But we had a memorable week and loved the ship and the ports of call. The only problem is that it was too short. Seven night cruises just seem to be over before they get started. We like longer cruises/vacations but realistically can only do it once a year. So for our winter getaways we are left to a seven nights in warm weather.

This was are first Eastern Caribbean Itinerary(we did the Eastern Mediterranean in 2014, I guess I was having subliminal thoughts of that when I was typing the title to this thread). We enjoyed this itinerary and look forward to more E and S Caribbeans in the future.

Despite a couple of windy days the weather was enjoyable for the cruise. Perfect temps and only a shower or two in the morning. We also had a lot of movement to the ship for the middle four and 1/2 days of the cruise but it wasn’t bad for me. It made for good sleeping at night.

Equinox is a great lady and we would gladly sail on her again. However, I think I would give the “edge” ([emoji12]) to the Reflection. In general Celebrity and the Solstice Class ships just seem to fit our style and I’d like to have the chance to sail on all of them. But Reflection is our favorite so far. We also look forward to sailing on Edge in the next few years. We booked our next Celebrity Cruise while on board the Equinox. We’re going to do an Adriatic Cruise on the Constellation in the summer of 2019.

A final note to the new cruisers who are lurking to see if Celebrity is right for them. Please don’t pay too much attention to the growing number of doom and gloom posts in the Celebrity forum about how bad Celebrity has become and all the bad things they have to say about the cruise line. Yada, yada, yada. Sure also take my review with a grain of salt too. But all the negative threads out there are mostly disgruntled trolls with an agenda. Celebrity is a great product and with the new Edge class there are exiting cruises out there to try.

Thanks for following along; typos and all. I’m happy to answer any additional questions

Cheers

T3P!

Our Next Cruises

October 2018: Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas Transatlantic

February 2019: NCL Bliss (First NCL cruise)

September 2019: Celebrity Constellation

Equinox Grades: “Let me sum-up” (useless trivia—name the movie). I’ll summarize here my overall .02 grades for our cruise (All ratings are in beers).

Embarkation 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

Fairly easy and quick process from bag drop off to registration. With Aqua Class you get a designated waiting area and priority boarding. We got there early so there were no real lines to checkin for the cruise so I doubt there was much of an advantage for being aqua class (in our experience there usually are bigger lines for the priority check in groups than normal checkin so we usually just go to the general check in line)

Food 4 and 1/2 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

Blu. With the exception of the ribeye, the food and wine was excellent. We enjoyed the menu offerings tremendously

Buffet. I love the Windjammer It is the best buffet at sea that I’ve have been to. Used primarily for breakfast and lunch. Great food and service. I especially like the ocean view bar in the outdoor dining area.

Food service staff 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

Great service in almost all of our dining venues.

Specialty Restaurants—Tuscan Grill 4 1/2 our of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

We dined in the Tuscan Grille and this was a great experience; as always. Here the ribeye was thick and prepared exactly to my liking

Bars 4 out of 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

I like the mix of the bars on the Equinox. The vibe around the Martini Bar and Gastro Pub at night was much more electric. Love the Gastro Pub over cellar masters.

Bar service staff. 3 1/2 out ouf 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2.

All the bars except the Gastro Pub had prompt and friendly service.

Gastro Pub bartenders aren’t very attentive and often don’t follow up on orders. Twice I had a bartender take my order and sea pass card and disappear. I had to get another bartender to finish my order and return my card. This happened twice!!!!

Internet 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] [emoji481]

Keeps getting better and better. See above post.

Entertainment 3 1/2 out of 5. [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

It seemed like there were a lot of fun activities on sea days around the pool. Everyone looked like they were having fun and the contests were fun to watch. The cruise director (I don’t remember his name) seemed good to me.

I was underwhelmed with the various entertainment. The house band and jazz combo were “ho-hum.” The lead female singer wasn’t great. The solo guitarist was “okay.” Nothing memorable here

I didn’t see any of the shows. But the rest of the group went to the comedian and the main theme show on Sunday night. The comedian was average and they left in the middle of the theme show.

Room Steward - 4 out out 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

Hector was good but not great. He was very responsive and fast to our requests. But missed on stocking some of the routine supplies. Yep we ran out of toilet paper one morning.

Cracker Cruncher Factor - 3 1/2 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481] 1/2

There were kids of all ages on this cruise but not many. Most were well behaved and only saw a few running amok but they weren’t bothering anybody

Ports of Call 5 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

We loved this itinerary. The perfect blend of sea days and port days. The late arrival to San Juan made if feel like we had a fourth sea day. St Maarten will take several years to fully recover so be prepared to be flexible in your plans. St Kitts was our favorite stop we thoroughly enjoyed our day there. It is a defiinte “visit again.”

Ship excursion—Zip Line in St Kitts 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

We rarely do ship sponsored excursions. My wife likes the zip-line thing so I booked this for her. She loved it and said she’d definitely do it again. The only criticism was the lack of organization and start onboard in the theater. Typical for a ship excursion.

Chic Nights 5 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

I am a huge fan of the switch to dressy versus formal. As a business professional I get to were suits and ties during the work week. I’m looking more for a casual vacation. As for the Chic nights themselves I did not see much formal wear at all, and only slightly more coats and ties. Most gentlemen wore dressier casual attire (including blazers)and women wore cocktail dressers.

Disembarkation 4 out of 5 [emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481]

We self disembarked. Once it got started it was a breeze. Took all of 20 minutes once we started to leave. The window was supposed to be 7-7:20 but it didn’t start until 7:15. There was a designated GOES line but it was not open. It didn’t make much of a difference as they were not using any customs forms. The boarder agents just looked at our passports asked a few question and we were on our way.

I’ll finish up with some final thoughts and wind up this review in a separate post

Internet and the new Celebrity App

The internet on Celebrity seems to get better and better with each cruise. It’s not to the caliber of the O3b speed on RCI’s Oasis and Quantum class ships, but it was good. I was able to easily check email, receive iMessage and WhatsApp texts; check facebook; stream YouTube videos and do this review with photo uploads. My sister easily made several AT&T Wi-Fi calls using the internet and she stated the quality was excellent.

I never really had any issue being able to use the internet. There were times during the day when it was slower than others, but it was still useable. Better yet the ship’s network was much better, I was able to access Wi-Fi from my balcony with a great signal. A first for me.

What I did not like was the process to register and log on on the first day of the cruise the material and steps required to log on are not explained well and really can be much more easier than they have now.

New Celebrity App. This is a home run! Down load it now and check it out. It’s only available for Constellation and Equinox sailings but its fun to play around with. It has so much potential for use during the cruise. I hope Celebrity builds on this App and deploys it across the fleet. Kudos Celebrity.

Thank you for your review. I boarded today. Love the ship. If you could tell me where I can catch an Uber at debarkation I’d appreciate it. Thanks again!

Hi

It’s way too soon to think about getting off the ship, but when you are forced to disembark on Saturday when you exit terminal G, the pick up area is to your right near the points 7, 8, 9 and 10. You’ll see numbered signs and signs for “prearranged transportation”. Your driver will likely call you tell him/her which location you are standing.

Have a great cruise. Tell Kumar at the Sunset Bar that “Mr Tom” says hi.

Bon Voyage

Tom

Lawn Club Area

I like the concept of open air spaces and Alfresco Dining. It seems to me that there is so much wasted space in these lawn areas. Especially on the Equinox. With the exception of sunbathing on the side areas, there were few of any events in the main lawn club area.

I’m a huge fan on the Lawn Club Grill on the Reflection and i missed not having it on the Equinox.

The glass blowing venue was closed and I was hearing word that it will reopen as a new sort of glass blowing exhibit. To bad in my opinion. They should put in the Lawn Club or some other sort of dining venue.

(I’m really eager to see what Celebrity does with area on the Edge class ships)

The Bars were great. We primarily visited the Martini Bar, Gastro Pub, Ensemble, Passport and of course my favorite, the Sunset Bar. The service was generally great at all these venues.

I really liked the Gastro Pub on the Equinox over the Cellar Masters on the Reflection. I like wine but I’ve never cared for the Cellar Masters. Never anyone in there and the service was terrible. Contrast that with the Gastro Pub which was often busy and had a good selection of beer.

As for the Sunset Bar, this was a very popular venue for a late night drink under the stars and my favorite place to be on the ship. However, I think the revamped version on Reflection is far better. It has better flow and far better seating. Don’t get me wrong l like the SSB on Equinox, but IMHO Reflection easily beats Equinox here.

Equinox

Reflection

Yes there was! You did not go to the Mediterranean.

 

 

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Yea it’s another typo in in the title. Couldn’t change it. I’ve got a med cruise coming up next.

Thanks for following along.

Ocean View Cafe (Buffet) was great. I used it mainly for morning coffee, breakfast and lunch. I especially like the poached egg station and pizza and pasta.

The coffee seemed a lot better and stronger. Actually very good this trip. I didn’t need to resort to my Starbucks Via stash to make it tolerable.

Blu— with aqua class cabins you get a smaller dining room (that’s really all it is). The food and service were great. I think Equinox’s Blu might be slightly better than Reflection, but the are basically the same. The big disappointment for me (as always) was the Ribeye. I love ribeyes and Blu always serves them as thin as a sheet of paper. My first one was thin and well done. The second try was better. Be sure and ask for a thick cut.

We had a party of 6 and dined every night around 7. At the start of the cruise I sought out the Maitre D and prearranged a dining window for our group. With one exception, we had the same table and servers every night. Never had to wait. A great sommelier gave perfect wine pairing recommendations.

Also 3 of our group ate breakfast in Blu every morning and enjoyed the food and service.

Ok on to the my .02 about the ship. A disclaimer: this is written from the perspective of a 50 something, balding horizontally challenged DINK. I did my best to avoid the kids, the art shows and the pool side loungers. I never set a foot in the theater. Didn’t see any shows.

I mostly wandered about the ship observing the passengers and the pool deck and spent most of my time at the Sunset Bar. These are my thoughts and opinions and don’t mean to offend anyone. I am often wrong and seldom right. YMMV.

Also l’m going to compare Equinox with our previous experiences on the Reflection.

Our Cruise Cabin 1605–Deck 11 port side, “on the hump” with a very large balcony.

We had the same cabin on Reflection. We love it. Note it’s directly under the pool deck, but we never heard any noise from above. The bed is near the balcony facing forward. Other than that it’s a typical Celebrity veranda cabin.

You’re doing great tommy3putts. I’m not sure I ever met you, but I was sailing, and drinking along with you. We had a blast! We may have took over the sunset bar after you left each night. Closed it and moved to Sky lounge some evenings. Missed you at the Slot Pull. 30 of us had a pretty good time. I’ll see if I have anything to add or any photos. I did save all the paper work if anyone wants to see anything special.

Thanks. Too bad we didn’t bump into one another at the SSB. Or maybe we did and didn’t know it. [emoji3]

Please feel free to share whatever you like here. I didn’t save any paperwork. In fact I use the iPhone App most of the Cruise.

Cheers

Tom

We'll be waiting to hear your verdict! Hope you got over your disappointment in the change of itinerary. :p

Fortunately there was no itinerary change on this cruise.

Disembarkation. We self disembarked. We left the ship at 7:15 and were in an Uber headed to Ft Lauderdale by 7:35. It was a great easy process. Longest wait we had was for the process to begin. It started 15 minutes late. There were a large number of folks getting off early so it was crowded at the start but went fine.

Thanks for sharing. Have a great cruise

I’m not done yet with this thread. I still have my thoughts bout the Equinox and our cruise and will do so over the next few days. So please stand by.

Cheers

Tom

Day 8 -Miami

Well we are back in Miami. Beautiful morning. We watched the MSC Seaside and NCL Escape come in behind us.

“....well the first thing you know old Jed’s a millionaire.”

Why yes I did! TYVM!

Lighten up Francis!

Too funny.

Day 7– Great lazy day at sea. Typical do nothing day for me at the Sunset Bar. It’s a great place to escape the madness of the pool deck. Just sit with a beer in hand and watch the sea go by. Busy day at the bar, looks like the secret is out.

Yes! I used the app as well. It was useful, but I wish it had a chat feature.

I think the App has a lot of potential and hopefully will make it fleet wide with various features including the ability to see your onboard account during the cruise.

One of the more memorable events of the cruise was the sail away from St Kitts. As we were leaving, a few showers were chasing us. And we got some great views. It was really cool.

Kept getting closer and closer

Towards the end it was upon it and we could see both ends. The full rainbow was well over 180 degrees. This pic doesn’t do it justice.

No Gold though [emoji35]

Here are a few pics of our morning arrival

One of the neat things about St K’s was this view. Atlantic on the left; Caribbean on the right

A few shots returning to ship