Just back Apr 4-15th Equinox Obsrevations

[reaperman]

Ok, I'm going write down some things I observed while taking this 11 night cruise. First off this was my first X cruise, we took this cruise because the dates fit into our schedule and because of some ports we haven't visited. My wife and I have cruised several times before on other cruise lines. We are not fussy or specific about which cruise line we will sail on. We are both 50 yrs old. Some of the things I'm going to jot down doesn't mean I agree or disagree, but rather things I observed.

 

First off, I haven't observed many "real" differences between different cruise lines. We have been satisfied with all of the cruises we have taken. No particular cruise ship or company stands out over the others. The staff on all ships have always treated us very well. They all work hard.

 

Compared to our last cruise (not mentioning the company) was we were not badgered by X to purchase bingo cards constantly. This was very refreshing. The last ship we were on was almost as bad as the street vendors we fight off on the islands. I cant count how many times per day the cruise director would come on the PA system announcing, whatever bingo they were playing that day. It did get old.

 

The food was about as I expected. Hats off to the bakery on the equinox, they back some delicious bread, buns, etc. My wife loved the indian curry on the buffet every day. She ate it every lunch and a couple of suppers. The food in the MDR was delicious, no complaints.

 

Breakfast on the Equinox isn't designed for the early riser. Any real food isn't served until 7am. Continental breakfast starts at 6:30 if your a coffee and roll kind of person. If someone says they can get a omelet earlier than 7am I'd like to see how. There were times after 7am that one omelet station would turned me away, saying they weren't open yet. Room service doesn't count.

 

Coffee, tea, and juices are available in the buffet area 24 hrs, so they say. But if your a decaf coffee drinker, you wont find that after 10 pm, only regular, didn't figure that one out. Each nigh after the evening show ended (approx. 10pm) we would head to the Oceanview café for a late night snack. Three coffee makers would have regular coffee, and the decaf machine would be turned off. The first night of our cruise I figured the decaf machine was out of order. But 10 nights later there was still no decaf, I see a pattern, no decaf.

 

Another observation, the Equinox lacks a decent size common area for functions like a dance class, larger cruise ship games, aerobic class, and thing like that. Many times during the cruise the grand foyer was used for dance lessons, dances, and even dance shows by the ships dancers. Come on Celebrity, there is no room for these kind of functions in the foyer. Especially performances by the ships dance performers not to mention a audience.

 

This next one may be a personal gripe but here goes, lifeboats. I couldn't get over the idea of having the lifeboats clutter up the 5th floor balcony area. Tuck them under the cabins where lifeboats belong. Which brings up another observation. The exterior of the equinox not being flush. Why aren't all of the balconies inline with one another like any other cruise ship? If the middle and rear cabins were pushed out as wide as the "hump" and front cabins were. The lifeboats would have a place to tuck under. That outside design, to me, takes away from the overall appearance of the ship.

 

I read about people wondering about having a cabin that adjoined with another. How this works is all of the cabins front doors set back about 3 feet in from the hall way in groups of two doors together. Example, room xxx1 and xxx3 would be side to side. Adjoining cabins each have an additional front door that closes flush with the hallway wall. So the main front cabin doors can open, and the second, outside doors can close. So there is no lost space in the cabins themselves.

 

Cellular service. The departure day, I had (at&t) service, outside on the upper decks as long as we were sailing past the Florida keys. Which was way past midnight. And coming home, the same thing in reverse. Once we were within reasonable distance of the Keys, I had service again. Which was about 10pm on our last night.

 

Overall, we did enjoy or cruise as we always do. We value out time away from our 7 day/week occupations. I may add more observations when time permits. I didnt touch on ports of call, but if I had to skip one on this itinerary it would be Cartagena. What I liked best about this port was the little zoo upon exiting the port.

[Cindy]

Breakfast on the Equinox isn't designed for the early riser. Any real food isn't served until 7am. Continental breakfast starts at 6:30 if your a coffee and roll kind of person. If someone says they can get a omelet earlier than 7am I'd like to see how. There were times after 7am that one omelet station would turned me away, saying they weren't open yet. Room service doesn't count.

We were on the Equinox in March. I absolutely agree with this -- it was our only real complaint. I was also surprised and disappointed they didn't meaningfully adjust the breakfast hours to accommodate early port times. We were in AQ, and there were many days we had to eat breakfast in the buffet instead of BLU because we couldn't make it to breakfast and be on time for a tour.

 

 

I read about people wondering about having a cabin that adjoined with another. How this works is all of the cabins front doors set back about 3 feet in from the hall way in groups of two doors together. Example, room xxx1 and xxx3 would be side to side. Adjoining cabins each have an additional front door that closes flush with the hallway wall. So the main front cabin doors can open, and the second, outside doors can close. So there is no lost space in the cabins themselves.

 

I think that's a clever design and a good way to do it.

 

 

...if I had to skip one on this itinerary it would be Cartagena. What I liked best about this port was the little zoo upon exiting the port.

 

Sorry you didn't care for Cartagena. It was far and away our favorite port on this cruise, and one of our best port experiences ever.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.:)

[ClaudiaB]

Thank you for your review. We love Equinox and have sailed on her 4 times so far and on her sister ship Eclipse 4 times.

I have seen dance classes, art classes, large trivia and bingo games up in the sky lounge many times. I agree the foyer gets crowded at times for things like dancing. It's probably one of my two biggest "wish list" items for the new Edge ships - a much larger open foyer and a true promenade all around the ship.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for sharing your observations.

 

Keith