Quai-Evil review Celebrity Equinox Eastern Med Feb 17-24-my .02

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

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]

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.

 

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]

I see you did find the gold after all:D

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

Why yes I did! TYVM!

Day 8 -Miami

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Fortunately there was no itinerary change on this cruise.

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

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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.

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

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)

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!

Just get off and request one from the app. Stay in place. I generally call the one I get and tell them what terminal and exact location we’re at...and a description of what we’re wearing.

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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

Just get off and request one from the app. Stay in place. I generally call the one I get and tell them what terminal and exact location we’re at...and a description of what we’re wearing.

 

 

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We generally take a cab to/from MIA. Runs about $27.00. Haven't tried Uber for transportation to/from terminal. Is it cheaper than a cab? Does Uber have the same airport origination fees as most cab companies?

Thank you!

We took Lyft from the terminal to the airport in MIA and we think it was around $15 dollars. I don’t think there are origination fees either.

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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.