Celebrity Equinox Review Feb 17-24, 2018 Eastern Caribbean

Celebrity Equinox Eastern Caribbean Feb 17-24, 2018

This was our first cruise (my mother and I) and we loved every second of it!!! The 16th was my moms birthday, so we called it the Birthday Cruise.

There were 10 of us altogether, with the other 8 being frequent cruisers.

Airline

First time flying American Airlines. Pittsburgh to Miami, round trip, and I think we got a good price.

We were delayed on the way there due to lightening, and delayed 1/2 hour on the way home because

they were waiting for a crew. Nice flights though, and would definitely fly them again.

Left the car at The Parking Spot for $83. This is with a 20% off coupon. I guess worth every penny, as this

place has a roof overhead, and I did not have to give my keys up to anyone.

The other 8 flew from Cleveland, arriving different times and days, and stayed in hotels on the beach.

Me & Kathy on the plane

Miami Hotel

I had originally booked rooms at the Embassy, but with increasingly bad reviews on Trip Advisor I switched us

to the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon. The boat show was in Miami this weekend, and it was also a 3 day holiday weekend (President's Day), and the hotel prices were very high.

We stayed two nights here for $580 total, and there was a shuttle from the airport, and free breakfast buffet

in the mornings. This hotel was super clean and very quiet.

The pool area was nice, and there was a shopping plaza with 3 restaurants within walking distance.

Cuban, Mexican and Italian, and we chose the Italian one for lunch with our friend Jeff. Although small, the atmosphere was very nice and the food was good.

There were many fast food places within walking distance also, along with a Publix and a Burlington, and a CVS and Walgreens.

We had signed up for the 10:00 shuttle to the port Saturday morning and the girl told us to be down in the lobby 10 minutes early. We got there a few minutes before 9:30 to check out and the van was already there, mostly loaded. He asked if we were going to the port of Miami and loaded our luggage. We took off at 9:40 and I'm am still not sure if we got on the wrong one, or if he was just super early. Either way we were thru security and sitting in the Concierge waiting area by 10:15.

We were early, so there were no lines, and we boarded after the suite guests. By 10:40 we were in Cafe Bocio with our Champagne in hand!

Celebrity Equinox

This was our first cruise and we loved every second of it!!! This ship is beautiful, and huge! I can't get over how clean it is. The crew is forever cleaning.

There is beauty everywhere you look, even the bathrooms are pretty. We love the cloth hand towels and the orchids in every bathroom.

We went to the dining room for the Concierge lunch. We each had the chicken and the apple pie.

Our Muster Drill was in Michael's Lounge and lasted about an hour. After it was over the elevators were packed, and while waiting for one we missed sail away. By the time we got to the outside seating area by the buffet we were already out of the port. What a beautiful view.

Being our first cruise we were a little worried about motion sickness. My doctor had written me a script for the Scopolamine patch, but it was over $50 with my insurance. He told me to put it on before I got on the ship, because if I waited until I was sick it would take up to 24 hours to work.

I didn't want to take something if I didn't need it, and I thought the price was too high. Instead I went to GNC and bought some ginger chewy candies, and my mom packed dramamine. I also had peppermint candies, and knew there would be green apples in my room.

Sitting in the muster drill I was getting nauseous so I tried out one of the ginger chews. The nausea went away and I never felt it again, so I'm not sure if it was from the vibration from the boat, or the packed room, or if I was just nervous about being in the middle of the ocean with nothing in sight. My mom didn't feel so good a few times, but never to the point that she was sick. Just queasy feeling. She didn't want to be sleepy, so she passed on the dramamine. The ginger chews worked pretty well.

The first 3 days we had very smooth sailing. Day 4 and 5 we had up to 12 foot waves and this boat was rocking! Not a big deal, just a little wobbly while walking, and an occasional 'bump' here and there.

Room

We had room 1259 on deck 10, port side. I think this was a great location.

At each port our balcony faced the island or water, and not another ship. It was also close to the rear elevators and was so quiet. I could occasionally hear someone in the hall, but I never heard noise from the cabins on either side. While on the balcony I could hear the people next to us only if they were talking loud.

Since the others had cruised before, a room for us thru their TA would have been $30 more each, for a guarantee 2A. Thru my TA I booked a Concierge room for less than that, and picked my room. I had researched the maps and made sure there were rooms above and below me, and I knew I wanted an unobstructed view. Other than that, being my first time I had no idea where I would want my room to be.

The majority of them ended up on deck 7 near the rear elevators, with the exception of one couple that was in 1249 as they booked later than everyone else.

Our view to the front.

Our view to the rear.

I liked being on deck 10, especially when the waves were high. I know people say that the concierge perks are not great, but we enjoyed most of them. The priority seating area and boarding were nice, but we were so early I don't think there would have been a big line anyway. And we got seats, that's how early we were. There weren't many, and a lot of people were standing before we were allowed to board.

We probably enjoyed the foot rests on our balcony the most out of all of the 'perks'. The lunch was nice also. The champagne we had to ask for, along with the tote bag.

There were apples on a tray when we arrived, and my mom ate one of them one day she was feeling queasy. The canopies were laughable, and sometimes left in our cabin for hours before we got there, so we didn't eat them.

The concierge left a message on our phone each night to schedule excursions with him, or for any help we needed. Also on the last night he left a message that concierge class could wait in the Silhouette dining room from 7 until 9:30 with coffee and pastries while waiting to disembark.

One morning I saw a rainbow

Occasionally you would look out and see another ship passing by.

Night is coming.

Dining

Silhouette dining room

The food and the service here were wonderful. The waiters were great and were so eager to please.

My mom and I ate here twice for lunch and 3 times for dinner alone. There were 10 of us 3 times for dinner, and 8 of us once, as two stayed in San Juan to eat. We had Select dining and only had to wait for a table once. It was for a table for 10, and we only waited 5 minutes or so. We ate anywhere from 5:30 to 7:00 during the week.

Shrimp Cocktail

Spinach turnover

French onion soup

Gnocchi with four cheese sauce

Melt in your mouth prime rib

The food came out quick, with the exception of the Evening Chic lobster night. The 10 of us were there 2 1/2 hours and nobody even had dessert this evening. I think everything was so slow because everyone in the dining room was ordering at least 2 appetizers and two dinners. Definitely worth the wait.

Lobster tail

For Evening Chic night the women were dressed in short and long dresses, and a lot in pants or capris and a nice top. The men wore nice pants with a short or long sleeve shirt, some had jackets, and I did see a few suits.

The food was delicious! The prime rib melted in your mouth. The lamb in phyllo dough was excellent. The chicken chiquita was my favorite. It was coconut crusted ham and banana stuffed chicken with coconut rice.

So good! We also enjoyed the blue cheese souffle, the spinach turnover, the shrimp cocktail, the creme brulee and the chocolate lava cake. And so much more. The chicken saltimboca was not my favorite, but I thought I'd try it.

Chicken chiquita

Lava cake with coffee ice cream

Creme brulee

Aqua Spa Cafe

My mom and I ate here twice for lunch. There were plenty of selections of tiny plates, and the atmosphere was nice. We really enjoyed the chicken salad.

Our selections

Room Service

We ordered room service every day. The original idea was to just have coffee at 6 am with something small, like a muffin, and then eat in the dining room around 8:30. We ended up enjoying our coffee on our balcony in our pajamas so much, that we ordered bagels and bacon every morning also and skipped the dining room.

I really wanted to get there for an eggs benedict, but never did. It was nice to stay in the room until 10 or 11, lounging around. We are, after all, on vacation.

The Buffet

We normally love a buffet, but this one was just ok. It seemed to be overly crowded, and lacked organization. People were walking in every direction, running into each other, and there seemed to be a lot of chaos.

Once we went right when they had just put the food out for lunch and it was crazy!

So many people! A couple times we walked thru between lunch and dinner and there wasn't much of a selection.

The food looked terrific! But I think it looked better than it tasted. The meats were all dry and over cooked, and I didn't care for the desserts. But our breakfast on the last morning was good, and for a late night snack we really enjoyed the pizza. The ice cream was really good and I also had one of the best Arancini's I've ever had.

Cafe al Bocio

I feel that we did not utilize this as much as we should have. A couple times we got regular coffee here and a few cheesecakes to take to the room. On the last day I did have an Igloo espresso and some great oatmeal raisin cookies. And my mom had some raspberry tea.

And I had a coconut/pineapple iced espresso at one point, maybe called a shakerito? I should have definitely been getting cookies everyday, but there was just so much food! It was impossible to have any more than we did.

Mast grill

Terri and I each had half a burger and some fries one afternoon at the pool. They were pretty tasty.

Gelato

We did not have gelato, but it looked delicious.

Drinks

While Terri was getting the burgers, I went to the bar to get us banana daiquiris. They were great, even though the service was very slow. It was faster to get our drinks thru the pool waiters than it was to go to the bars. Same thing in the casino.

Thru the week I had fuzzy navels, strawberry daiquiris, piña coladas, and Malibu and pineapples. I also drank about 60 bottles of water.

My Raspberry mojito

My mother's drink of choice was the peach margarita, and she also had several non-alcoholic raspberry fizz's in the dining room. She also drank a ton of water. I had no problem getting a drink and a bottle of water at the same time. I ordered a can of pop in the dining room several times, and also in the buffet. No problem getting a can in either place.

We had the classic package and paid for nothing extra. I also ordered pinot grigio in the dining room and just hand her my card, so I have no idea what kind it was.

Ports

Our ports of call were San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts. My mom and I got off and went thru the shops close to the port. We even played a little in the casino on St. Kitts. Then we got back on the ship. My mom has a bad back and we just wanted to take it easy this trip.

Pulling into Puerto Rico

Docked in St. Kitts

Fueled up in St Kitts

Storm over St. Kitts

Double Rainbow leaving St. Kitts

St. Maarten

The rest of the group did the catamaran tour on St. Maarten, and in hind sight I wish we would have gone. They said it was so much fun.

My one rule for the trip was to not eat or drink anything off the ship. I am sure this is not necessary, but it was our first trip and, well, baby steps. 2 of our group ate spicy 'chicken' at a beach on St Kitts and were sick the next 24 hours.....

The ship was practically empty on port days, and it was nice to relax at the pool without being over crowded. FYI, the pool water is cold!

Casino

I am definitely a gambler, but I didn't really plan on being in the casino much this trip since there were so many other things to do. I have always heard that a cruise ship is the worst place to gamble, and that they don't pay out.

The first night I started with $100 and had some nice hits. I figured I would gamble on that ticket the rest of the week since I was ahead. I ended up coming home with a little more money than I came with, and I gambled every evening for a few hours.

The kitties loved me!!

More kitties.

For some reason I kept having an issue with my sea pass. I tried to keep it away from my phone, but it stopped working at least 4 times and I had to go to guest services and have it replaced. One night in the casino they gave me a seperate card just for gambling and I used that for 3 or 4 days, and then that stopped working. I went to the cashier to have it replaced, and when he brought out the new one he said with an attitude "we have already given you one of these." Right, but it stopped working, so I need another one.....

Activities

I think what I liked so much about this vacation is that there was always something to do, or you could do nothing if you chose to. We spent plenty of time relaxing on our balcony, or on a deck chair just watching the water go by.

I did the archery contest one morning. It was very well organized and there were a lot of people signed up. It was crew versus passengers, and I did not stick around to see who won, as I was meeting Kathy after she went to the art show. The balls were bobbing up and down on a stream of air, and you got 2 points if you hit

the one you called. 1 point if you hit a different color. I hit the yellow one for 2 points with my first shot, and then shot high for my next two. It was a fun event.

There was a lecture by staff captain Matthaios on how they plan a cruise and navigate the ship. It was so interesting! A few things we learned: We were traveling in waters 60,000 feet deep;

They keep a distance of 2 nautical miles between other ships; We had 12 foot waves the day before; The Equinox was as long as the Eiffle tower was tall; and they start planning each cruise 3 years in advance.

We also sat thru a lecture on the archaeology of Florida that was very good.

There were dance lessons, and pool games, and bands playing. There was an art auction. There were multiple casino tournaments and give aways. There were movies to watch, I think mostly geared towards the kids,

of which I saw maybe 20 of during the entire week. There was a baby at the table next to us in the buffet one day and every crew and passenger that passed by stopped to talk to her. She was adorable.

There was a party almost every night somewhere, a few they moved into the solarium because of rain.

The solarium

I went to the sushi making class at Sushi on 5. Great demonstration, and we got to sample what they made.

After the demonstration they gave me a card for $30 all you can eat with no limit. Said it was only good for that day. The next day in the buffet he came up to me again with the same deal. He said he was the waiter at Sushi on 5 and was looking for customers. What I sampled was delicious, but there was free food everywhere. Maybe next time.

We also did the free tour of the kitchen. It was spotless and so well organized. The only draw back was that we were at the end of our group and didn't get to hear our guide very well.

Cruise Director Richard Spacey

I thought he did a great job. I guess I can see why people say he is a little obnoxious, but I think it comes with the job. I think you need a big personality for a job like that and I am sure that it's hard to entertain so many people for so many hours in the day. He was at so many of the activities, starting early in the morning until the parties late at night. Very energetic.

The Crew

Everyone we encountered was terrific. For the long hours they put in they have great attitudes.

Sim, our room attendant, was so nice. When we walked down the hall he would come out of whatever room he was in to greet us, and to remind us to let him know if we needed anything.

I asked him a lot of questions. He works from 7 am to 9 pm, 7 days a week, for a 7 month contract. He

has 13 rooms by himself to take care of. He is from the Philippines and has 3 children. His oldest works on a different cruise line and he did get to meet up with him for an hour, I think in Miami. Great guy, great personality. I handed him a thank you card with extra tip money in it on Friday.

How they split the tips up per day

Sim cleaning our balcony when we arrived in San Juan

The waiters in the dining room were wonderful. They were so nice and friendly, and eager to please. We had a different waiter every night, and I was amazed that they still tried to call us by our names.

Entertainment

We saw two comedians, the first one was good, and the second one was hysterical. The 3 Divas show was just ok, as was the Celebrity show 'Life'.

We are not Cirque people, and left halfway thru Ellysium.

We loved the Frankie Valli show, and could have sat through that again.

Disembarkation

Sunrise in Miami

On Wednesday evening I went to the Shore Excursions desk before dinner and booked us on the Miami Hop On Hop Off for Saturday. She gave us our tickets and told us to disregard the luggage tags if we were doing the luggage valet program. We were to meet in Celebrity Central at 7:30 am on Saturday am.

I then stopped at Guest Relations and inquired about the Luggage Valet program. She gave me the form to fill out and I returned it after dinner that evening. There was never a form delivered to our room, so had I not read about it on CC I would have never known about the program. Friday afternoon the information and luggage tags were delivered to our room and we were checked in with American Airlines, so we didn't have to go to the counter

at the airport. It cost $25 per bag, and worth every penny! We will definitely use this again. They took our bags at 10 pm Friday night and we did not see them again until we picked them up in Pittsburgh.

Also there is no weight limit when you use this program, which is great because my suitcase weighed 48 pounds on the way to Miami. I bought souvenirs on the islands, and also took everything out of my carry~on that I wasn't using and put it in the suitcase. I am sure I was way over the 50 pound limit for the trip home!

We met in Celebrity Central that morning at 7:30 and signed in. At 8:00 sharp they led us off the ship and into the terminal. We had no luggage to retrieve so we headed right to customs. It took about 10 minutes to get thru as there was a small line. We showed our passports and he asked what state we lived in and then

waved us thru. Very simple. However, in the lane next to us they were going thru one woman's purse and suitcase, so maybe it's just random.

The Miami Big Bus/HoHo booth was right there, and one of the workers lead us to the right bus and pointed me in the direction of the bathroom in the parking deck across the street. I should have gone in the terminal before we went thru customs, and will know better next time. Way too much coffee that morning

The parking garage bathroom was in a trailor, and was pretty ewwww, even though the attendant said they were cleaned earlier. But when you have to go, you have to go!

Miami Hoho

As our flight wasn't until 3:40 out of Miami this was the perfect choice for us. The original terminal bus took us to the Bayside mall where we got on another bus for the tour of Miami beach. It was so much fun! It was a little windy, and it rained on us, but we really enjoyed it!

We had signed up for the 1 pm shuttle to the airport (they would have stored our luggage for us also), so we only had time for one tour, or we would have done the other one of downtown.

Gianni Versace mansion

At the Bayside mall we each got a personal pizza, and then the best gelato we have ever had! I got Nutella and Coconut, and Kathy got Strawberry and Coconut.

We watched the boats come and go while we ate, and wished we had more time to do a few boat tours. Next time this is a must do!

We walked around the mall a little bit and then got on the bus to the airport around 12:30.

Our flight was delayed about an hour as there was no crew. I have to say that Miami airport is one of the dirtiest that I have seen.

Over so soon :(

We received a total of $500 OBC and the classic drink package with our cruise. Out of the OBC we spent $210 on Concierge tips, $118 on the HoHo, and $50 for luggage

valet. On Thursday night I figured we had $60 each we cashed in for slot play in the casino. This left a total of $2 OBCR on our account. I checked on the tv before we left to make sure everything was right.

I left the $2 on there as a test to see if it will be refunded to my credit card as it should.

In conclusion

This trip was fantastic! We enjoyed everything about it!

I cannot wait to go again, and have started looking for another Celebrity cruise. I would like a longer trip with more port stops. We really enjoyed having the ship to ourselves on port days.

I really liked Celebrity. Everything was so clean! The crew were so pleasant and friendly. I loved the fact that there were not a lot of kids. And that with 2,850 passengers, the ship never really felt crowded.

I didn't have to wait in line for anything really. The food was great. I can't say enough good things about this

vacation! Loved every second!

Thank you for the detailed and excellent review.

Great review. Thanks for taking the time. Equinox is our favourite ship

Wow, what a great review!! I really appreciate the pictures and LOVE that you did well in the casino. Looking forward to trying my hand at Miss Kitty on Equinox at the end of the month. Thank you for sharing your vacation experience with the rest of us. Glad you had a good time and enjoyed your Celebrity experience.

Christina

Great revue thanks

Thank you for the great review with great pictures! I am boarding in a couple weeks and your write-up has made me so anxious for my vacay!

Great review...I enjoyed reading it! Thank You!

Enjoyed reading your review. Did your purse have a magnetic catch by any chance? This has caused problems for me in the past. Also. did you not get a card cover? It's only one per cabin though.

Great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Cheers

Tom

Thank you for the great review and all the pics! Looking forward to boarding the Equinox in 10 days!

Great review....we are sailing on the Equinox 3/17/18....can't wait!

Thank you for sharing! Really looking forward to our upcoming cruise!