choosing between RCCL Splendour and Celebrity Equinox

[redridinghood]

I have also posted this in the RCCL section, I hope that is allowed :)

 

Hi there, could I please ask for some advice?

 

DH and I are looking at cruises this November to Greek Isles, Nov 10 on the Splendour and Nov 16 on the Equinox and cannot make up our minds! We know the weather is not going to be ideal at this time of year but both cruises offer something different, would appreciate advice from anyone who has sailed on both ships.

 

We are in our late 30's, have cruised on Eclipse and love the Celebrity product but have been curious about RCCL for a while. I feel that we will get more luxury onboard Equinox but may well be wrong. We would be booking a gaurentee suite on Splendour and balcony on Equinox, though there is an upgrade option to Aquaclass which is tempting but we would have to book our flights to Rome and transfers seperately with that offer.

 

Any thoughts?

[illiniwahoo]

We sailed the Greek Isles in May 2011 on the Splendour, then the Caribbean in March 2012 on the Equinox. We are also in our 30's.

To me the ships are quite different.

Splendour is smaller and one of the one of the oldest ships in the fleet. I'm not sure if it has be dry docked since our cruise (so don't know what's changed), but some things looked dated, e.g. the pattern on fabric on the theater seats had to be from the 80's or early 90's, old clunky TV in the stateroom. The Equinox is new, larger, with neat features like the lawn and the glass blowing studio.

On Celebrity, I usually have a hard time picking from all the great choices what to eat. On Splendour I always found something good to eat, but I thought the overall choices and food quality to be lacking. I often had to stop myself from ordering more than one of each course on Celebrity is all looked so good!

My husband doesn't like to sit still a lot, so we played ping pong, mini-golfed, and rock climbed on the Splendour, and played pin-pong, croquette, and boccee on Equinox.

Contrary to most people's opinion of the two lines, I thought the service was better and more personal on Splendour.

I thought the Equinox was pretty dead late at night (~midnight). I can;t really comment on the Splendour in this respect as Greece was about ports for us, so we were always in bed earlier!

It's a little thing, but I HATE having to check out towels on the ship. RCCL has you check out towels, and celebrity does not. Little touches like this do make me think celebrity is more luxurious.

 

We cruise the Caribbean for the ship, and Europe for the ports. We LOVED both vacations and I don't think you could go wrong with either ship. I'd do whichever was cheaper and had better ports.

I looked up the two itineraries and am so torn for you! I immediately thought go with the longer on on the equinox for the same price, but I really loved Corfu. Corfu and santorini were my favorite ports. On the other hand, I have always wanted to go to Ephesus, as my parents thought the ruins there were more interesting than in Athens!

 

Let us know what you pick!

[redridinghood]

Thank you so much for the info. Splendour was reburbished last year.

Cruises are not the same price but they work out at roughly the same per night We've done some of the ports before so they are not the biggest consideration. I love the lawn and the hot glass show and know that the food is lovely on Celebrity, think the shows will be the same as we have seen before though. I guess we are leaning towards Equinox, just thought we should maybe mix it up a bit!

[jacketwatch]

Even though the Splendour was refitted recently (we sailed that ship in 2002 BTW) I can't imagine it comparing to the Equinox. The E is such a new generation of ships that its like comapring a Polaroid camera to a modern DSLR. I would derinitely go with the E, esp. for the about same price.

Cheers, Larry :)

[bdpnatl]

Having not sailed on any RCI ships I am not unbiased. We really liked our cruise on the Equinox. The ship was fantasitic and the crew was great. We met the HD and CD as well as the crew assigned to our cabin and table. All of them were very friendly, attentive and approachable. Of the two, I woudl pick the Equinox.

 

I will have to admit to being very curious about actually sailing on the Allure or the Oasis. Having watched a few TV programs about the ships, I would like to try one of them out just to see what they are really like.

[Solstice23]

I have seen splendor and sailed in equinox no comparison in ship equinox stands way ahead

[redridinghood]

Thank you lovely people! I knew I would get the help I needed here :)

 

We are booked on Equinox, got a steal on an aquaclass (though sadly it is under the overhang...) now I just have to figure out transfers and pray for some warm weather out there!

 

I'd love to share where I found the deal but I'm not allowed to say on here am I?