Equinox: Western Caribbean 3/10/18

Thank you for the review. We've done 12 Carnival cruises but this will be our first time on Celebrity. We are looking forward to the experience!

quote=BobbyD;55593704]Just off the Equinox yesterday. My wife and I took this cruise as part of a group of 11, including friends and family. For context, this is our third cruise on X. We are Elite due to our Diamond status on Royal. We have also cruised a few times on Carnival. The following is a brief review based on our experience. We are pretty easy to please so keep that in mind! Any questions, just ask.

Pre-Cruise: Flew into Fort Lauderdale a day early. Chose FLL mainly due to availability and cost of flights from Hartford but stayed at the Hampton Inn Brickell in Miami. Uber from FLL to the hotel was $41. We had dinner on Friday night at Havana 1957, a Cuban restaurant near the hotel. Great place, good food, free entertainment!

Embarkation: Left the hotel by Uber (I think it was around $10) and arrived at the port at 10:30. We checked in right away and were put in a holding area until around 11:15 when they cleared the ship and allowed us to board. Easy process.

The Ship: First time on the Equinox and it didn’t disappoint. A close copy to its sister ships that we have been on (Reflection, Silhouette). The Gastropub was a nice change and new to us. Very clean and well-kept (no surprise). The Hollywood Hot Glass was up and running and there were some demos taking place early in the cruise and then passengers signed up for workshops. We didn’t take part but I heard many people talking quite favorably about the experience. I love the size of this ship. My last cruise was on the Carnival Imagination for a quick 4 night in the West Coast. While the cruise was fun, the ship was very small. Last spring I was on the Allure for the second time. We loved the cruise but do think that the Oasis class is a bit too big for us. The Equinox seemed perfect. My wife said she enjoyed the “smaller ship”. Pretty sad when 120,000 tons is a “small ship”!

Cabin: We were in a 2A cabin (7272) on the hump. We have been in that general location for all three of our X cruises. Perfect accessibility to elevators, stairs, etc. After many cruises, it was our first time with a bed near the bathroom and not the balcony. We really enjoyed it and it seemed as if we had more space. Good cabin steward although we are low maintenance. I only ask for ice each day and that’s about it. He greeted us in the hall daily and was quite friendly.

Food: We ate in the MDR for all of our dinners at a large table in the center of the dining room. Hernando was our waiter and one of the best we have ever had. He was awesome. He was friendly and efficient, making good recommendations along the way. Our wine steward, Rashid, was ever present and with 11 of us having the drink package, just left bottles on the table and kept coming around and filling our glasses if we hadn’t. The menu was great, food was hot and seasoned well. A few in our group had never cruised with X prior and they noticed an uptick in food quality from Royal. Desserts were excellent, as well. We love long and leisurely dinners in the MDR, especially with a group and each night were there until the lights came on! A highlight of each day.

We ate breakfast and lunch each day in the OceanView café and were happy with the selection. I love the Eggs Benedict made to order each morning, a nice touch that X has that Royal does not.

For those who like late night options, the late night pizza ends at 1:00am. My adult son and his friends wish it were available longer. No 24 hour pizza like on other lines!

Many of the group made good use of the Mast Grill with their burgers, toppings and fries. High marks. Various members of our group visited Sushi on 5, Café Al Bacio, and Aqua Spa Café. All good options.

Entertainment: We love the shows at night and went to a show each night. There were three production shows, a comedian/impersonator, male R/B singer, and a Jersey Boys type band. I might be missing something else but overall the entertainment was pretty good and quite entertaining. Lots of activities throughout the ship with late night up in the sky lounge, two nights of parties on the pool deck and the ever popular Silent Disco! Quite fun. I made good use of the casino as my late night entertainment as well!

Service: This is where the ship really shines! Staff is very friendly and accommodating. Every crew member who passed us in the hall, on deck, in lounges, acknowledged us. Their goal is to server the passengers and they do a very good job at it! My last cruise on Royal (Allure) was just missing something, probably due to the size of the ship. Service wasn’t bad but just didn’t have the extra effort that was ever present on the Equinox! Kudos to X.

Ports: Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Cayman. We did Key West on our own. Our first time there and loved it. Did a lot of walking and took the Conch Railroad tram. Very informative. On Costa Maya, we took a taxi to a beach. $2 for the taxi, $10 for the beach, including chairs. We had food there and drinks but very low pressure and good service from our beach waiter. Fun day. On Cozumel we took a private snorkeling excursion. Just 12 of us in a boat, three different snorkeling sites. Saw lots of sea life. Ocean was pretty choppy and some of us were a bit queasy as we were in the water for over 2 hours total. On Grand Cayman we just tendered into town and walked around. Very crowded but we still contributed to the local jewelry economy!

Debarkation: Ate breakfast in the Ocean View and were out of our cabin by 8:00am. We waited in the Tuscan Grill and had our number called at 8:45. We were off the boat and through customs, in a Uber on the way to the airport at 9:30. Plenty of time to make our 11:45 flight out of FLL!

In closing, it was an awesome week. Great weather (although a bit cloudy at times), with temps hovering around high 70’s F. My only complaint was chair hogs were in full force during sea days. We hung out on the Solstice Deck and ended up taking bags off of a couple of chairs that had been unoccupied for almost 4 hours, so that others could sit down. The people came back and were annoyed but I told them I would get a crew member to settle it and they just went off in a huff. I know the rule is 30 minutes but if somebody is gone for an hour, ok, I get it. But 4 hours? I had no guilt about taking their towel off.

Thanks for reading. Any questions, let me know, I’ll try to answer and if I can’t, I’m sure somebody else will be able to!

Just off the Equinox yesterday. My wife and I took this cruise as part of a group of 11, including friends and family. For context, this is our third cruise on X. We are Elite due to our Diamond status on Royal. We have also cruised a few times on Carnival. The following is a brief review based on our experience. We are pretty easy to please so keep that in mind! Any questions, just ask.

 

Pre-Cruise: Flew into Fort Lauderdale a day early. Chose FLL mainly due to availability and cost of flights from Hartford but stayed at the Hampton Inn Brickell in Miami. Uber from FLL to the hotel was $41. We had dinner on Friday night at Havana 1957, a Cuban restaurant near the hotel. Great place, good food, free entertainment!

 

Embarkation: Left the hotel by Uber (I think it was around $10) and arrived at the port at 10:30. We checked in right away and were put in a holding area until around 11:15 when they cleared the ship and allowed us to board. Easy process.

 

The Ship: First time on the Equinox and it didn’t disappoint. A close copy to its sister ships that we have been on (Reflection, Silhouette). The Gastropub was a nice change and new to us. Very clean and well-kept (no surprise). The Hollywood Hot Glass was up and running and there were some demos taking place early in the cruise and then passengers signed up for workshops. We didn’t take part but I heard many people talking quite favorably about the experience. I love the size of this ship. My last cruise was on the Carnival Imagination for a quick 4 night in the West Coast. While the cruise was fun, the ship was very small. Last spring I was on the Allure for the second time. We loved the cruise but do think that the Oasis class is a bit too big for us. The Equinox seemed perfect. My wife said she enjoyed the “smaller ship”. Pretty sad when 120,000 tons is a “small ship”!

 

Cabin: We were in a 2A cabin (7272) on the hump. We have been in that general location for all three of our X cruises. Perfect accessibility to elevators, stairs, etc. After many cruises, it was our first time with a bed near the bathroom and not the balcony. We really enjoyed it and it seemed as if we had more space. Good cabin steward although we are low maintenance. I only ask for ice each day and that’s about it. He greeted us in the hall daily and was quite friendly.

 

Food: We ate in the MDR for all of our dinners at a large table in the center of the dining room. Hernando was our waiter and one of the best we have ever had. He was awesome. He was friendly and efficient, making good recommendations along the way. Our wine steward, Rashid, was ever present and with 11 of us having the drink package, just left bottles on the table and kept coming around and filling our glasses if we hadn’t. The menu was great, food was hot and seasoned well. A few in our group had never cruised with X prior and they noticed an uptick in food quality from Royal. Desserts were excellent, as well. We love long and leisurely dinners in the MDR, especially with a group and each night were there until the lights came on! A highlight of each day.

 

We ate breakfast and lunch each day in the OceanView café and were happy with the selection. I love the Eggs Benedict made to order each morning, a nice touch that X has that Royal does not.

 

For those who like late night options, the late night pizza ends at 1:00am. My adult son and his friends wish it were available longer. No 24 hour pizza like on other lines!

 

Many of the group made good use of the Mast Grill with their burgers, toppings and fries. High marks. Various members of our group visited Sushi on 5, Café Al Bacio, and Aqua Spa Café. All good options.

 

Entertainment: We love the shows at night and went to a show each night. There were three production shows, a comedian/impersonator, male R/B singer, and a Jersey Boys type band. I might be missing something else but overall the entertainment was pretty good and quite entertaining. Lots of activities throughout the ship with late night up in the sky lounge, two nights of parties on the pool deck and the ever popular Silent Disco! Quite fun. I made good use of the casino as my late night entertainment as well!

 

Service: This is where the ship really shines! Staff is very friendly and accommodating. Every crew member who passed us in the hall, on deck, in lounges, acknowledged us. Their goal is to server the passengers and they do a very good job at it! My last cruise on Royal (Allure) was just missing something, probably due to the size of the ship. Service wasn’t bad but just didn’t have the extra effort that was ever present on the Equinox! Kudos to X.

 

Ports: Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Grand Cayman. We did Key West on our own. Our first time there and loved it. Did a lot of walking and took the Conch Railroad tram. Very informative. On Costa Maya, we took a taxi to a beach. $2 for the taxi, $10 for the beach, including chairs. We had food there and drinks but very low pressure and good service from our beach waiter. Fun day. On Cozumel we took a private snorkeling excursion. Just 12 of us in a boat, three different snorkeling sites. Saw lots of sea life. Ocean was pretty choppy and some of us were a bit queasy as we were in the water for over 2 hours total. On Grand Cayman we just tendered into town and walked around. Very crowded but we still contributed to the local jewelry economy!

 

Debarkation: Ate breakfast in the Ocean View and were out of our cabin by 8:00am. We waited in the Tuscan Grill and had our number called at 8:45. We were off the boat and through customs, in a Uber on the way to the airport at 9:30. Plenty of time to make our 11:45 flight out of FLL!

 

In closing, it was an awesome week. Great weather (although a bit cloudy at times), with temps hovering around high 70’s F. My only complaint was chair hogs were in full force during sea days. We hung out on the Solstice Deck and ended up taking bags off of a couple of chairs that had been unoccupied for almost 4 hours, so that others could sit down. The people came back and were annoyed but I told them I would get a crew member to settle it and they just went off in a huff. I know the rule is 30 minutes but if somebody is gone for an hour, ok, I get it. But 4 hours? I had no guilt about taking their towel off.

 

Thanks for reading. Any questions, let me know, I’ll try to answer and if I can’t, I’m sure somebody else will be able to!

Thanks for so much for posting such a wonderful review. We're on her in 11 days and your review only adds to the excited anticipation we've experienced since we booked. I sure your experience will be just as good as yours. Thanks again and happy cruising.

Is Richard Spacey still the Cruise Director?

Is Richard Spacey still the Cruise Director?

Yes he was. He was awesome. High energy. Make sure you see his "Evolution of Dance", a routine he is well-known for. He performed it the last night of the cruise.

Thanks for sharing! I cannot wait to board her on Saturday....especially with the foot of snow we are supposed to get tomorrow.

Thanks for such a perfect description of the great experience we had on the Equinox(Same cruise and dates) We were in an AquaSpa room which puts us in the Blu dining room for breakfast and dinner each day. The food is great and the service top notch. We fin it to be quieter than the MDR and if you would like any option from the MDR menu, they will happily oblige and get it for you. Aqua also gives you unlimited use of the Persian Garden for a quieter experience. With the exception of the the same lounge chair issue on the full sea days we had one of the most enjoyable vacations. If I were to have written a full fledged review, I could not have done any better than yours! We sailed on Equinox last September in the middle of the hurricanes... Loved it, and have another sailing set for October 5th on Equinox! Can't wait to get back on!

It was a 3rd party excursion. We have used an outside company 4 times for Cozumel and have no complaints. I am not sure if I am allowed to say which company it is. We booked last minute (day prior) and the tour I wanted was booked and they offered a more intimate snorkeling tour for cheaper. Lots of fun!

Yes, you can give the name of an excursion company especially in response to a question.

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Best ship ever!!! We were on this sailing as well and loved every minute!!! We have sailed on RCL, Carnival, Costa, NCL and Celebrity (Reflection and Solstice) but this ship was the best. The ship is beautiful and the crew is outstanding! :D

Do you recall the times of the shows?

Yes, you can give the name of an excursion company especially in response to a question.

 

 

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Thanks. I don't want to get in trouble with the CC Gods!

We always use cozumel-tours.com when we are in Cozumel. Great service and a huge selection of excursions.

Do you recall the times of the shows?

7:00 for second seating and 9:00 for first seating. Shows lasted approx. 50 minutes.

Bobby, do you recall if the Imagination(Carnival out of Long Beach) had karaoke onboard?

Excellent report, thanks much!

Bobby, do you recall if the Imagination(Carnival out of Long Beach) had karaoke onboard?

Not 100% certain, but I believe so.