Cruise Review - Equinox Jan. 22 What a Difference Two Months Make!

[Andy]

Hi Anne,

 

Thank you for your wonderful review. I always enjoy reading them !

 

I'm so pleased to hear that you are feeling better about Celebrity. It's always heartbreaking when I read about Celebrity's most loyal guests (like yourself) worrying about the direction of the brand. I often wonder if there's a big difference in the corporate "mindset" on shorter vs longer cruises. I can't put my finger on it, though I seriously believe there's something to it.

 

I'm very happy to hear that you had a great time on Equinox, and I presume you are feeling somewhat better about X. I'm also encouraged about the sounds levels - so thanks for the update on that.

 

You are so right about Hotel Director Christophe Belaubre. He's fantastic, and one of Celebrity's superstars. I'm disappointed that we probably wont be sailing on Equinox this season - but look forward to seeing him on a future Celebrity Cruise.

 

BTW, how was the Internet ? Do you happen to recall the pricing for an unlimited package ? Thanks again for your outstanding review.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Host Andy

[Host Jazzbeau]

Host Anne and Host Andy -- Do you think part of the problem may be Reflection? I read a lot of reviews of people who only sail Reflection and love her, but also many comparative reviews that point out the deficiencies in her design (many more passengers, no more staff = crowded public spaces and poor service).

[Host Anne]

Hi Gang ~ I've been on the road for work the past couple of weeks and have been fighting a cold. I'll catch up on this thread tomorrow and respond to questions....thanks for all the kind comments.

[Host Anne]

We loved the Equinox. Sailed in 2013 and 2014 and then it became a little too pricy We noticed even back then a lack of bar service and many didn't have the drink packages either. Only good drinks, we thought, were at the martini bar. Great service. Great drinks, too. We did enjoy the lounge music at the martini bar, or the club-type music. They didn't play rap back then, so is this something new? [emoji15] was it perhaps EDM or hard core rap? Just curious

 

The past several Celebrity cruises have had rap (and some EDM). This cruise had very little rap (much less than Reflection and our Celebrity cruise in early 2015. But it was hard core rap. No kidding....

[Host Anne]

Thanks for your review...sailing her in a few weeks. Did you review the Reflection? We're sailing in November as well; looking forward to your opinion on what could be the downside.

 

Here's a link to my Reflection review from November 2015. Not nearly the same quality as Equinox....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2286463

[Host Anne]

Thank you for your review, Anne. Equinox was our first S class sailing and we enjoyed it very much. Reflection is the only S class we have not been on. Maybe that's a good thing?

 

Teabag ~ actually, Reflection is a beautiful ship. We love the orientation of the Sunset Bar on Reflection (it different ... and better than all the other S class ships).

 

Maybe Reflection is their "experimental" ship where they try out all kinds of different things to see what works and doesn't. Sadly, Reflection didn't work for us and we'll be sticking to longer cruises on Celebrity ships in the future.

[Host Anne]

Love Equinox. Been on her twice with a third booked. FYI. Eclipse also has the Sunset Bar in middle of the deck. Spent several enjoyable hours there

 

Did they change the sunset bar on Eclipse? I've sailed her twice and my photos of the sunset bar are like Solstice and Equinox. It would be great if they made her like Reflection....a reason to book the 14 night on Eclipse! :) Thanks for the good news!!!

[Host Anne]

Anne - it may have already been mentioned (could not find it though), but how did the Connections Party go on your sailing?

 

Day/time/location?

 

Well attended?

 

Good staff showing ??

 

THANKS,

 

Tom

 

I am embarrassed to say I had the date messed up and missed the party!!! Our cruise began on a Friday and the party invite was in our cabin upon arrival. I opened it and saw Jan. 23rd at 10:30 and for some reason thought that was SUNDAY....when it was actually Saturday! I've never done that before. So sadly, I can't tell you how many or what staff attended. :(

[Host Anne]

Hi Anne,

 

Thank you for your wonderful review. I always enjoy reading them !

 

I'm so pleased to hear that you are feeling better about Celebrity. It's always heartbreaking when I read about Celebrity's most loyal guests (like yourself) worrying about the direction of the brand. I often wonder if there's a big difference in the corporate "mindset" on shorter vs longer cruises. I can't put my finger on it, though I seriously believe there's something to it.

 

I'm very happy to hear that you had a great time on Equinox, and I presume you are feeling somewhat better about X. I'm also encouraged about the sounds levels - so thanks for the update on that.

 

You are so right about Hotel Director Christophe Belaubre. He's fantastic, and one of Celebrity's superstars. I'm disappointed that we probably wont be sailing on Equinox this season - but look forward to seeing him on a future Celebrity Cruise.

 

BTW, how was the Internet ? Do you happen to recall the pricing for an unlimited package ? Thanks again for your outstanding review.

 

 

Hi Andy ~ so good to "hear" from you. Felt MUCH better about Celebrity after this sailing. I don't know if the mindset is different on shorter vs longer cruises (our 4-night on Constellation last March was pretty good). I do think some of the land based staff changes are having a positive impact. I'm hoping it will continue that way.

 

I am still concerned about the overall reduction in crew but those that were on Equinox were excellent.

 

The unlimited internet package was $199 for the cruise. Don't know if it's less on a 7 night versus a 10 night. Internet service was very slow. No improvement on that....but it discourages me from using it and I consider that a good thing :)

 

Hope all is well!

[4cats4me]

The past several Celebrity cruises have had rap (and some EDM). This cruise had very little rap (much less than Reflection and our Celebrity cruise in early 2015. But it was hard core rap. No kidding....

 

 

Yuck, rap sounds so "carnival" cruises.

[Host Anne]

Yuck, rap sounds so "carnival" cruises.

 

Actually, I didn't hear rap on the one Carnival cruise I was on. But that was about six years ago.

 

I think they are trying (desperately) to attract a younger demographic demographic and this is one of the things they think is going to do it. I actually don't mind if they want to do this in say, the Martini Bar. I mind when it's everywhere like boarding the ship, getting off in ports, on the pool deck, in various bars like it was on one cruise in the past 18 months, including some of this on our Reflection cruise in November. Who wants to disembark to rap blarring as you get off the ship in a Caribbean port.

[Host Anne]

Host Anne and Host Andy -- Do you think part of the problem may be Reflection? I read a lot of reviews of people who only sail Reflection and love her, but also many comparative reviews that point out the deficiencies in her design (many more passengers, no more staff = crowded public spaces and poor service).

 

Hi Jazz ~ I don't think it's just Reflection. Sure, I think some of it may be the crew onboard but I think maybe they do use Reflection as the place to experiment with new things to figure out what will or won't work? Or maybe they are trying to make it the "hip" ship? I don't know.

 

I've been on three Celebrity ships in the past 12 months - Constellation on a four night; Reflection on a seven night and Equinox on a 10 night.

 

Certainly, on all the ships, the reduction of crew members is very noticeable. And there was a difference in the overall attitude of the crew between Constellation/Equinox versus Reflection. I think some of that comes from upper management onboard. Crew loved the captains on Constellation/Equinox and it showed in their every day service. I'm not saying the caption on Reflection wasn't good (I noticed him do some things I've never seen another captain do....like visit the specialty restaurants to ask how our meals were). But you could tell there was a difference in the overall crew.

 

By the way, I never expect every crew member to be bright and happy every moment of the day. When you consider the number of passengers they deal with every day (many of who are less than pleasant to them), I think they do an outstanding job. But you can tell (at least I can) when it goes beyond having a bad day with passengers or missing family back home.

 

If it were just Reflection (and she is a beautiful ship) it would be easy to just avoid her. But much of it goes beyond the ship itself. I'm hopeful that our recent Equinox experience is showing more of a balance in appealing to long time, older (that includes me) Celebrity cruisers and the millennials they are trying to attract. There are ways to appeal to a broad audience instead of leaning to one end of the spectrum or the other. Here's hoping Celebrity is figuring that out so they can keep previous cruisers while attracting new ones.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On the Constellation (Thanksgiving 2008) one of the featured musical groups was a polka band.

 

Not that I'm a hip-hop/rap fan (at 53, I'm not!), but I can do without polka music as well. At least in 2008 they were not blaring the polka music elsewhere on the ship. If you wanted to listen to it - you could find it. If you didn't want to listen, easy enough to avoid !!

 

Tom

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks Anne.

[az_tchr]

Definitely agree that the feeling on Connie was excellent and certainly not the same on some of the others. The Captain does set the tone.

[Jiminy1955]

Thank you for the extensive review, I'm so glad I stumbled upon it. We will be on this very same cruise next March 2017. It's only our 3rd cruise & 1st on Celebrity.

[Hocus]

Thank you for your review !

[ClaudiaB]

Great review! We love Equinox too.

 

I didn't read all the subsequent posts, but I do hope you filled out those cards to compliment those people you mentioned in your review. I always fill a card out with details (just like you mentioned -- "whistling, always put me in a good mood..." and "K should be promoted to cruise director....." Those types of comments give absolute instant feedback from the ship to the person. We've had so many people that I've mentioned on the cards come to me THE NEXT DAY and tell me thank you because they got a phone call back home, or an extra shift off or an hour of internet time. And it all goes on their record for promotions.

 

So I'm sure after 30+ cruises you've filled these cards out before. For those who maybe haven't or don't take the time, I'm understand. I didn't do it for a while either. Let me encourage you to take the time to do it.

Nowadays I fill one out about day 3 or 4 on a 2 week cruise and then a couple days before the end. More if I find someone doing something outstanding. What has made my cruises even more fun is I actually LOOK for things to compliment people on as they do their jobs. A constant smiling face on a barrista in Cafe Bacio, the stateroom attendant who is always in the hall working with a "good morning" and the bartender who works hard for hours nonstop.

[Eloise4Ever]

...I do hope you filled out those cards to compliment those people you mentioned in your review...I fill one out about day 3 or 4 on a 2 week cruise and then a couple days before the end. More if I find someone doing something outstanding.

 

Interesting that you have been able to fill out more than one "Attention to Detail" card per cruise. During our last Celebrity cruise we filled out the card that was left in our stateroom one day. There were so many wonderful staff onboard Equinox that we wanted to mention them also so we went to Guest Services to request another card. They refused to give us one and said that there is a limit of one card per stateroom per cruise. We were very disappointed by this as there were many staff members we wanted to praise. We did mention them in the post-cruise survey but I don't believe that has as much of an impact for the crew member as when it's done onboard.

[Northern Aurora]

Interesting that you have been able to fill out more than one "Attention to Detail" card per cruise. During our last Celebrity cruise we filled out the card that was left in our stateroom one day. There were so many wonderful staff onboard Equinox that we wanted to mention them also so we went to Guest Services to request another card. They refused to give us one and said that there is a limit of one card per stateroom per cruise. We were very disappointed by this as there were many staff members we wanted to praise. We did mention them in the post-cruise survey but I don't believe that has as much of an impact for the crew member as when it's done onboard.

 

I suspect that the Guest Relations staff person was misinformed. We generally ask for more than one Attention to Detail card as we also like to compliment specific staff persons while on-board. I know that we have never been told that we were limited to one ATD card, and at this point have completed 24 or 25 Celebrity cruises.

[ClaudiaB]

That's nuts! I have gone to get multiple ones at guest relations. I *do* write small on them so that I can use the entire space back and front to say what I want to say.

 

I would say that next time just get blank paper and write your own if you encounter the same resistance to hand out more copies. If you really want to do it, then there's a way!

[Cancruz]

I asked for 9 Attention to Detail cards at the guest relations desk on a cruise - made me feel like I did something wrong. If I had thought quickly enough, I would have said, "Don't worry, it's not for you."

[Eloise4Ever]

I suspect that the Guest Relations staff person was misinformed. We generally ask for more than one Attention to Detail card as we also like to compliment specific staff persons while on-board. I know that we have never been told that we were limited to one ATD card, and at this point have completed 24 or 25 Celebrity cruises.

 

That's nuts! I have gone to get multiple ones at guest relations. I *do* write small on them so that I can use the entire space back and front to say what I want to say.

 

I would say that next time just get blank paper and write your own if you encounter the same resistance to hand out more copies. If you really want to do it, then there's a way!

 

Thanks for the feedback folks. I will have to be more insistent/creative on future cruises!

 

I asked for 9 Attention to Detail cards at the guest relations desk on a cruise - made me feel like I did something wrong. If I had thought quickly enough, I would have said, "Don't worry, it's not for you."

 

LOL, that would have been a fabulous comeback :). It's such a shame we rarely think of the perfect reply when we need it!