Live on Equinox - any questions?

[a1betpr]

1 hour ago, desibee said:

We will be on this ship in August so are eager to hear how the food in the MDR is and what the entertainment is like.  I know you said the shows are disappointing so far.  What about general music acts around the ship?  Are there bands that play in lounges in the evening? 

We haven’t eaten in the MDR and don’t plan to so I can’t comment on that.  Tonight we went to the production show Elysium and weren’t impressed. It was basically a mishmash of songs that most people will recognize combined with some truly baffling choreography. I feel bad for the performers because they’re trying hard but the material they are dealing with is second rate.  They must be paying a lot of money for the rights to the songs they’re performing and they should take that money and instead invest in a real cohesive show. We’ve seen a variety of live music around the ship and it’s been good.  There’s seemingly always live music somewhere and usually in many places at once at night. The quartet called Caribe Sensation performs a lot of pop covers and they’re pretty good. There’s a guitar soloist who is talented but tends towards slow, melancholy music so we’ve been avoiding him. We missed the comedian and the female soloist in the show room.  

[a1betpr]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

Sadly we really can't afford a suite, but have enjoyed the Solarium in the past. However, and this was just pre Covid, they were letting kids in before the stated time and wouldn't do anything to police it. We hate the jangle around the outside pool, I think it's rubbish. So it sounds like it's more Adults only in the Solarium again?

There aren’t many kids on our cruise but there are some.  We saw a couple kids in the Solarium hot tub on embarkation day but haven’t seen any kids in the Solarium since then.  It’s been pretty peaceful in there. There is a sign saying it’s adults only.

[funredhead]

Wondering about the beyond the speaker series…Is there a speaker on your sailing, and if so what are the talks?

hope you are having a wonderful vacation!

[a1betpr]

1 hour ago, kathynorth said:

We’ll be on Equinox in Feb with a specialty dining package. It would be great if you could share your experience with specialty dining.

We’ve actually done nothing but specialty dining.  So far we’ve been to Murano and Tuscan Grill twice each and we have Le Petite Chef tomorrow and Murano one more time on the last night. We also had lunch at Sushi on Five today.  Every meal has been great, no complaints at all.  We loved the Murano lobster and the steaks I’ve had in Tuscan were perfect.  DW has loved the lobster pasta twice in Tuscan.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the lasagna or cacio e pepe but the crab cake and meatballs were tasty. Desserts have been fantastic everywhere, especially if you like chocolate.  The chocolate crème brûlée at Tuscan is decadent and so is the chocolate soufflé at Murano. I enjoyed the lemon cheesecake at Tuscan and the strawberry crepe ice cream thing at Murano.  Finally, the tonkatsu ramen at Sushi on Five was tasty and they cooked the egg properly, which is a feat in the US. The various dumplings and sushi we had were good too.

 

Overall the food and service have exceeded our expectations.  I can’t remember another cruise where we’ve eaten this well.  Lots of filet mignon, lobster, and chocolate, what’s not to love?

[Texed]

Thanks for posting your experiences. 

 

 😊

[Cruise till you drop]

9 hours ago, a1betpr said:

we have Le Petite Chef tomorrow 

 

Please share your Le Petit Chef experience in terms of being a gimmick vs an interesting experience, as well as the quality of food

[a1betpr]

13 hours ago, funredhead said:

Wondering about the beyond the speaker series…Is there a speaker on your sailing, and if so what are the talks?

hope you are having a wonderful vacation!

I don’t think this is taking place on our cruise.  I haven’t seen anything related to “talks” unless you’re interested in shopping or art auctions. 😛

[a1betpr]

4 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Please share your Le Petit Chef experience in terms of being a gimmick vs an interesting experience, as well as the quality of food

Will do, and will also try to spell “petit” correctly. 😀

[a1betpr]

23 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Thanks for posting this.  We’ll be on the Equinox in January for a 11 day southern Caribbean.  Very excited.

 

Questions

1) what do you think about the general condition of the ship?

2) how is the martini bar and how crowded does it get pre dinner ?

3) how’s the walking track ?

The martini bar was lively at 6:30 last night but there were still a few seats available. Again after dinner it was jumping with live music but you could maybe find a seat or two. Hope that held!

[bjahil47]

16 hours ago, funredhead said:

Wondering about the beyond the speaker series…Is there a speaker on your sailing, and if so what are the talks?

hope you are having a wonderful vacation!

Just got off a B2B on Equinox Sunday.  The Beyond the Podium Speaker was Jim Kennedy, who has 50 years of space exploration.  An introduction to the triumphs and tragedies of human and robotic exploration of space.  He spoke several times on topics related to space.

[Chanbre]

17 hours ago, funredhead said:

Wondering about the beyond the speaker series…Is there a speaker on your sailing, and if so what are the talks?

hope you are having a wonderful vacation!

Cannot say about this week, but the 30-Sept to 8-Oct cruise had Jim Kennedy a former director of Nasa. He gave three wonderful lectures about Nasa and related topics.

[peanut head]

22 hours ago, a1betpr said:

1) the general condition of the ship is fine.  It’s not perfect, and they could do more to touch up the rust spots that can be found all over the outside areas.  But the interior spaces are immaculate.  Our jetted tub on the balcony has seen better days, and the balcony in general needs a good scrubbing.  But the inside of our cabin is spotless and in very good condition (except for the soap dish in the master bath which keeps falling off the metal arm that holds it up). The shower is terrific and the towels are probably the best I’ve ever had on a ship. The a/c could be stronger but it’s doing its job.  We’ve been told (and you can see in the schedule) that the Equinox will be dry docked for three or four weeks in April 2024 and hopefully they’ll get her back to shiny and sparkly inside and out.  There are people cleaning and painting all the time but the painters can’t keep up with the spots of rust.

2) haven’t made it to the martini bar but I’ll try to give it a look tonight before dinner. We’ve spent most of our pre dinner time in the Retreat lounge or the Ensemble lounge.

3) the walking track is a disappointment.  It wraps around the outdoor pool and is surrounded by deck chairs so you get a lot of interfering traffic if you’re trying to walk during the day. Worse, the track goes right through the Mast Bar where everyone smokes.  So it’s best to go early or late, in which case it’s just fine.  I usually try to walk around a ship’s promenade deck a few times to get my 10k steps (1,237 consecutive days and counting!) but this ship doesn’t have a proper promenade deck.  So it’s been a little bit of a struggle.  

You can also try walking the decks...window shop and look at the art work...as well as the stairs.

[a1betpr]

4 minutes ago, peanut head said:

You can also try walking the decks...window shop and look at the art work...as well as the stairs.

Yep, doing all those things but walking past the shops is getting expensive!  And I especially enjoy walking “by” the gelato bar and Cafe Al Bacio, undoing all the good from walking. But YOLO!!!

[a1betpr]

15 minutes ago, Chanbre said:

Cannot say about this week, but the 30-Sept to 8-Oct cruise had Jim Kennedy a former director of Nasa. He gave three wonderful lectures about Nasa and related topics.

Man, that’s too bad, there’s nothing like that on our sailing.  But we have had a President Laura sighting!  The president of Celebrity is on our cruise.

[Chanbre]

18 minutes ago, a1betpr said:

Man, that’s too bad, there’s nothing like that on our sailing.

We did have two sea days and a sea morning (i.e. a 2pm port arrival) that gave the opportunity to schedule the three lectures.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, a1betpr said:

Man, that’s too bad, there’s nothing like that on our sailing.  But we have had a President Laura sighting!  The president of Celebrity is on our cruise.

did you know that ahead of time?

will she be mingling with guests?

bet she's in a nice suite and eating well!

[CruiserMickey]

Thanks for the info! We will be in Equinox soon and look forward to everything, especially dinners in Murano.

[Cruise till you drop]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:33 PM, a1betpr said:

I am on the Equinox now (10/8 - 10/14) and we don’t plan to get off the ship on either of the remaining port days, so I’ve got plenty of time to answer any questions fellow CC’ers might have.  We’re in a Royal Suite so we can address Retreat questions as well.  My initial observations as a first time Celebrity cruiser but many-time NCL and Princess passenger:

 

- service has been stellar.  Every single staff member we pass by says hello, especially those with bars on their sleeves.  We’ve eaten dinner in Tuscan once and Murano twice and the service has been basically perfect.  We never want for anything.

- food has been great.  We’re eating a ridiculous amount of lobster.  Murano menu specifically states “cold water lobster” and whatever it is it has been good. My filet mignon at Tuscan was terrific, full of flavor and very tender. The lasagna was a miss and the cacio e pepe was a disappointment; a very simple and delicious pasta that’s very hard to get right, and sadly they didn’t get it right here.    

-  they are not charging for cookies anywhere.  The cookie jars at Il Bacio are full and free.  There are no cookies at the Gelato place, which is where I think the sign was that cookies had a cost a few weeks ago.  Can confirm that Royal Suite guests get all the gelato they want for free, and as such I am already half way to trying every flavor.  Our butler also said that laundry was unlimited even though the documents say it’s twice per cruise.

- entertainment is kind of weak.  First night the big show was a stand up comedian, last night was the weird production show Topper, and tonight was a solo woman singer.  We tend to favor big production shows and Broadway musicals so these have been disappointing.  The singers and dancers seem talented but Topper is not a very good showcase.

- internet has been fast and reliable.  We’ve FaceTimed our son a few times without any problems and used WiFi calling without any glitches, and also looked in on our Blink cameras live.  Supposedly we get up to four devices per person being in an RS but DW and I have just used our phones.  Speedtest shows fairly slow connectivity (like 4 - 5 mbps) but it’s working for us. 
- the ship is at capacity but only occasionally feels full.  The pool was a sh@tshow yesterday during the first sea day but the retreat sun deck was pleasantly quiet.

 

i could go on but will wait for any questions people might have.  Let me know  what you want to know!!!

If you were only able to do one specialty restaurant during a cruise, which would you  pick?

[a1betpr]

11 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

If you were only able to do one specialty restaurant during a cruise, which would you  pick?

Definitely Murano.  Each of the specialty restaurants has its charms but Murano is easily the best restaurant on the ship.

[a1betpr]

21 hours ago, hcat said:

did you know that ahead of time?

will she be mingling with guests?

bet she's in a nice suite and eating well!

We did not know ahead of time, our butler told us when we embarked. But she (our butler) also told us that she is not in a fancy suite because “it’s all about revenue”.  She does not seem to be mingling with guests but she did give me a little wink when we made eye contact the other day.  

[a1betpr]

On 10/12/2023 at 9:09 AM, Cruise till you drop said:

Please share your Le Petit Chef experience in terms of being a gimmick vs an interesting experience, as well as the quality of food

I have to say we enjoyed Le Petit Chef.  The animations were cute - generally about 2 or 3 minutes long is all - but poor little Petit Chef tends to get clobbered by someone or something by the end of each scene.  The food was good but in case you didn’t know the menu changes every three days. We chose to go on the day it was burrata - bouillabaisse - lobster - ice cream sundae…we both switched out the soup for a Caesar salad which makes the plate inconsistent with the animation but it’s not a big deal.  All of the courses were very good but the lobster is better in Murano.  The timing of the meal is strict and thus a little slow paced but it wasn’t too bad.  Overall, it’s definitely worth doing once if you have a chance and have multiple specialty dining opportunities.  I don’t know how much it costs compared to Murano since all of our specialty dining was included but Murano is definitely a better dining experience.  But in terms of the gimmicky-ness, it was easy to overlook that because the food was good and the animations were fun.  I wouldn’t do it again now that I’ve done it but I’m glad we tried it.  If I was on a cruise with only say 3 specialty dining nights I probably would go to Tuscan Grill once and Murano twice, but since we had six dinner opportunities including Le Petit Chef was certainly worthwhile.

[SusieAV8R]

On 10/11/2023 at 9:15 AM, a1betpr said:

I can’t speak for the Celebrity Suites, but in the Royal Suite we are basically getting everything for free (well, “free” in quotes).  We’ve gotten Acqua Panna, San Pelligrino, Evian, and regular plastic bottles of water and it’s all been free.  But we also get free beer and sodas and everything in the fridge so I’m not sure if the water is free in a CS or not. Same with the steak and lobster in Luminae - we can get it and it would be free but that could be a RS thing.

The Luminae menu does not have everyday items on it but you can order anything from the MDR and I’ve heard you can always ask for shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad or filet mignon, but I haven’t tried it.  We don’t plan on having dinner in Luminae at all because the menu never has anything me or my wife are interested in eating.  But lunch and breakfast there have been great.

You were in an upper benefit suite (royal & penthouse) so the benefits, like no extra cost water, lobster, etc. generally do not extend to Celebrity and Sky suites. (These benefits account for the general difference in price between RS and CS or SS; it's not just the larger square footage).

[SusieAV8R]

10 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

You were in an upper benefit suite (royal & penthouse) so the benefits, like no extra cost water, lobster, etc. generally do not extend to Celebrity and Sky suites. (These benefits account for the general difference in price between RS and CS or SS; it's not just the larger square footage).

 

4 hours ago, a1betpr said:

We did not know ahead of time, our butler told us when we embarked. But she (our butler) also told us that she is not in a fancy suite because “it’s all about revenue”.  She does not seem to be mingling with guests but she did give me a little wink when we made eye contact the other day.  

Is Katarina your butler?  If so, you have one of the best we have had the pleasure to meet.  Please tell her that Guy and Susan send her a huge hug!

[MattnTricia]

Any comments about the availability of wine on a per glass basis? We are sailing in   November and am curious how the selection is.   Last update I saw from Prof Cruise was back in spring. 

 

TIA for any feedback

[Cruise till you drop]

5 hours ago, a1betpr said:

Definitely Murano.  Each of the specialty restaurants has its charms but Murano is easily the best restaurant on the ship.

I appreciate the recommendation.  Did you book it in advance or when you got on the ship ?