Just off Equinox 12 night Med - any questions

[EtherlyCC]

Hi all, we have just returned today from our 12 night cruise round trip from Barcelona.

 

If anyone has any questions or queries please ask away and I will try to answer.

 

We had an S1 corner aft suite, drinks package and a great time. Food was excellent and the weather was mainly good.

 

Any questions?

[CruiserRev]

We will be on board in 5 weeks. What were the food highlights, for you? How was the butler service? We are still sitting with a Suite Guarantee, with only 7 suites showing available, so I'm suffering from "double anticipation".

[TheWren]

Welcome back Graeme ! What a kind offer & very useful to others :)

I've been on Equinox before .... but things change. Was it the "Venice Overnight" that you were on ? I'm off on that one in 2 weeks time, so my head is full of cruise things ! :D

 

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of questions now .....

 

~ Who was the Cruise Director (had heard it was Jason Ward, but that he was moving on) ?

 

~ Was there any particularly enjoyable entertainment events /parties ?

 

~ What sort of Guest Entertainers were onboard ?

 

~ Was there any Wine & Cheese type music events on the Lawn ?

 

~ Can we rest assured that the standard of the meals has not dropped (I seem to have read alot more negative comments over the last few months regarding the decline of quality of the food) ?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[DebbieMacG]

We will be on board in 5 weeks. What were the food highlights, for you? How was the butler service? We are still sitting with a Suite Guarantee, with only 7 suites showing available, so I'm suffering from "double anticipation".

 

7 VERY nice suites as well :D

[dodger1964]

Do you know if they had cooked to order salmon during lunch at the aqua spa cafe?

 

Was there a "helipad sail away"?

[Karynanne]

We are also back home after a wonderful Med. cruise on Equinox. We had a terrific Royal Suite #1118.

 

Yes, there was helipad sailaway, but it was by Invitation Only. We really enjoyed it.

 

Food is a very subjective issues. We found the meals in the MDR to be very good. The only meal that just O.K. was in Silk Harvest. The presentation was beautiful, but the food itself was either over-salted to over-spicy. But that's just our opinion.

 

The ship itself is beautiful. It still feels very new and fresh. The staff was so friendly and warm.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Thank you for asking, I do have a few questions :)

 

1.) Did you get welcome aboard champagne?

2.) Was escargot in the MDR?

3.) How do you get invited to the heli-pad sail away ;):rolleyes:

4.) And as someone mentioned above, who is the CD?

 

Thanks!

[CruiserRev]

7 VERY nice suites as well :D

It could just be a hold (and reappear), but the lone CS just vanished, leaving 5 RS and the 2 PS. Anything could happen.......

[dodger1964]

Yes, there was helipad sailaway, but it was by Invitation Only. We really enjoyed it.

.

 

Which port was it?

[Karynanne]

Which port was it?

 

It was Venice.

[EtherlyCC]

We will be on board in 5 weeks. What were the food highlights, for you? How was the butler service? We are still sitting with a Suite Guarantee, with only 7 suites showing available, so I'm suffering from "double anticipation".

 

Hi Rev, Food overall was very good but I think the best meal was the last formal night, my wife had the beef wellington (she said it was fab) and I had the lamb cutlets and they were wonderful. We also ate in Murano's and Tuscan Grille, both were good but not sure if they are worth the full $$ extra, but as suite guest we had 2 complimentary.

 

Our butler was John whowas very good. We did not use him a lot but he served us breakfast in suite every morning and sorted out the laundry.

 

Hope this helps and good luck with the suite.

[EtherlyCC]

Welcome back Graeme ! What a kind offer & very useful to others :)

I've been on Equinox before .... but things change. Was it the "Venice Overnight" that you were on ? I'm off on that one in 2 weeks time, so my head is full of cruise things ! :D

 

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of questions now .....

 

~ Who was the Cruise Director (had heard it was Jason Ward, but that he was moving on) ?

 

~ Was there any particularly enjoyable entertainment events /parties ?

 

~ What sort of Guest Entertainers were onboard ?

 

~ Was there any Wine & Cheese type music events on the Lawn ?

 

~ Can we rest assured that the standard of the meals has not dropped (I seem to have read alot more negative comments over the last few months regarding the decline of quality of the food) ?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

Hi Jennifer, answers in order:

Yes Jason was the CD and not sure when he will be getting off.

Entertainment wise, the singer and dancer shows were all good especialy the cirque de solia. The band called Spitfires were excellent and on most nights in the sky lounge until 'late'.

Guest entertainers were good, magician hector was very good and the gaucho show was excellent. Elton John tribute was good as well.

Did not see any wine parties on the lawn only a golf game and we were at the sunset bar most afternoons.

The food was as good as any we have had before in our 14 cruises.

 

Hope this helps.

[EtherlyCC]

Do you know if they had cooked to order salmon during lunch at the aqua spa cafe?

 

Was there a "helipad sail away"?

 

Dodger, Not sure about salmon to order in the Aqua spa cafe as we never ate there.

As mentioned Helipad sailaway was in venice and also open going into Kotor.

 

Hope this helps

[EtherlyCC]

Thank you for asking, I do have a few questions :)

 

1.) Did you get welcome aboard champagne?

2.) Was escargot in the MDR?

3.) How do you get invited to the heli-pad sail away ;):rolleyes:

4.) And as someone mentioned above, who is the CD?

 

Thanks!

 

Gatorgirl, yes we got champagne when boarding as we were suite guests, not sure about everyone else.

Yes you could have escargot every night in the mdr.

We were invited as suite guests.

Jason is the CD

 

Hope this helps.

[TheWren]

Thanks for your earlier answers.

I've thought of a few more questions !

 

• Were you handed a welcome aboard glass of "champagne" getting on ?
   
   
  
• Do you know what themed "parties" there were at night ? (that's probably not the right title for them).
   
   
  
• What were the highlights for you ?
   
   
  
• What would you say is the thing you'd say to someone : "you really must do ....." ?
   
   
  
• Oh, and, just as important, anything you weren't too happy about ??
  

 

 

You might regret offering to answer questions :p !!!!

[Tudorcruisers]

we

Gatorgirl, yes we got champagne when boarding as we were suite guests, not sure about everyone else.

Yes you could have escargot every night in the mdr.

We were invited as suite guests.

Jason is the CD

 

Hope this helps.

 

Yes - champagne was on offer to everyone when we boarded and we weren't in the posh section that EtherlyCC was in :) We did get a lovely invite to his suite though for last day sail-away which was much appreciated :) :)

 

Heli-pad sail-away invite was also something else we got and I guess that was due to being Elite guests.

[jennifers490]

did you use the internet ? how was the speed and what was the cost? i know you had drink package but did you notice any drink specials like 2 for 1 at certain bars at certain hours?

 

thanks!

[cruisingaussies]

Thanks for the kind offer!

 

In Venice did you use the X transfer to get to St Marks? We were there last year and I seem to remember there is a public boat right next to where the X transfer boat left, which was a fraction of the price.

 

Unfortunately the day we arrive the Venice marathon is being run so the weekend crowds will be even bigger, we are trying to find a quiet area to explore when we get there, and hoping the crowds will have dispersed by 5 or 6 pm

 

Any info on this would be appreciated.

[ship2ship]

Hi- we are planning this trip as a present to my mother-in-law (2 adjoining balconies)-- she is 80 years old in good health but may not be able to handle extensive walking. I've got the Rome and Florence ports covered with tours-- do you have any specific suggestions for the others (I'd like to stay away from the big bus tours). Thanks-- Marilyn

[NCruiser2012]

Did you take any of the ship tours? Were there any tours you did/did not enjoy?

[EtherlyCC]

Thanks for your earlier answers.

I've thought of a few more questions !

 

• Were you handed a welcome aboard glass of "champagne" getting on ?
   
   
  
• Do you know what themed "parties" there were at night ? (that's probably not the right title for them).
   
   
  
• What were the highlights for you ?
   
   
  
• What would you say is the thing you'd say to someone : "you really must do ....." ?
   
   
  
• Oh, and, just as important, anything you weren't too happy about ??
  

 

You might regret offering to answer questions :p !!!!

 

Hi Wren, sorry for delay been away for the weekend and just returned.

 

Not many themed parties on deck but there was a 70's, and an 80's night. There was 1 deck party but was a bit chilly so we never went.

Highlight for us was just being on a cruise as we love it all.

Must do's ....mmm well everyone is different but Venice is a must do and enjoy yourself is a must.

We found every thing to be fine, no issues with anything.

 

Hope this helps.

[EtherlyCC]

did you use the internet ? how was the speed and what was the cost? i know you had drink package but did you notice any drink specials like 2 for 1 at certain bars at certain hours?

 

thanks!

 

Yes we used the internet but we are elite members so we get 2 x 90 mins free. I used my own laptop in my cabin all the time and speed was not to bad.

Drinks specials, saw buckets of beer at 5 for 4 a few days and cocktails 2 4 1 at some times.

 

Hooe this helps.

[EtherlyCC]

Thanks for the kind offer!

 

In Venice did you use the X transfer to get to St Marks? We were there last year and I seem to remember there is a public boat right next to where the X transfer boat left, which was a fraction of the price.

 

Unfortunately the day we arrive the Venice marathon is being run so the weekend crowds will be even bigger, we are trying to find a quiet area to explore when we get there, and hoping the crowds will have dispersed by 5 or 6 pm

 

Any info on this would be appreciated.

Hi Aussie, we used the X transfer on the 2nd day which was $15 each as many times as we wanted to use it. 2 day pass was $30 each. There was the local boat next to it but not sure of the price or frequency.

 

Hope this helps

[EtherlyCC]

Hi- we are planning this trip as a present to my mother-in-law (2 adjoining balconies)-- she is 80 years old in good health but may not be able to handle extensive walking. I've got the Rome and Florence ports covered with tours-- do you have any specific suggestions for the others (I'd like to stay away from the big bus tours). Thanks-- Marilyn

 

Hi Ship, Kotor is very nice, small walled city with narrow cobbled streets with lots of restuarant bars and quaint shops, cheap as well. Dubrovnic was very busy but we had 4 ships in on our day there. Naples is busy city and venice is quite easy to do but also busy.

 

Hope this helps.

[EtherlyCC]

Did you take any of the ship tours? Were there any tours you did/did not enjoy?

 

We do not normally do any ship tours as most can be done on your own at a fraction of the cost. However we did do 1 on this cruise as we wanted to see the Murano glass being made and we had a good OBC so we used some of that. The tour was as usual for ships, lots of travel time short glass blowing demo and then hard sell on the product.

 

We did Pisa with another couple on our own. We took the ship transfer to town (5 euro each), got the local bus to the train station (1.2 Euro each each way) (no 1 I think) then the train to Pisa (5 Euro return each). Total cost for us both was 24 euro. Ship tour for same for 3 hours cattle herding was $50 per per person, you do the math.

 

Ther should be plenty of people on your thread wanting to share tours, start early and you will save a fortune.

 

Hope this helps.