*** Live from the Celebrity Equinox" June 4-13, 2024 - Western Mediterranean

[DaKahuna]

19 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

It has Starlink but whatever they've done to throttle connectivity or just the WiFi infrastructure in general is extremely disappointing. 

Celebrity deliberately throttles the Premium Internet at speeds at 5 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. 

[DaKahuna]

14 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

In the daily paper, there should be a QR code , that code takes you to the form ,

the one time I filled in code , I did get a call from Hotel Director the same day 😉

 

On our Millennium cruise last month it was a paper form delivered with the Daily Planner and advertisements instead of a QR code that could be used to electronically provide feedback. 

 

14 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I definitely wish it was as advertised. 

 

How is it advertised?  I cannot recall any specific speed mentioned. 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

On our Millennium cruise last month it was a paper form delivered with the Daily Planner and advertisements instead of a QR code that could be used to electronically provide feedback. 

 

 

How is it advertised?  I cannot recall any specific speed mentioned. 

 

I was wrong to say advertised... Looking around the internet, all I can see is they advertise Starlink high speed internet.

 

US regulations state that high speed internet is 25 Mbps or faster, which they clearly aren't offering if throttled at 5mb down/3mb up.

 

"U.S. regulators have set the standard for high-speed Internet as services that offer download speeds of 25 Mbps or faster."

[Saturngrl]

Following because I have friends on this sailing! 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

We've set a goal of visiting each bar on the Equinox and asking the bartender to make us their personal favorite drink (not in one day) and we've not only had some great drinks, we've met some truly great people. 

 

---

 

Celebrity Sky Lounge 

 

The Sky Lounge is a beautiful bar and lounge space on Deck 14 at the forward of the ship. 

 

It has amazing 270-degree views with comfortable seating and a stage for entertainment.

 

Alex at the Sky Lounge is one of the best bartenders we've come across on any cruise line in a very long time. 

 

There's good reason for that though as he's currently doing his 16th contract! 

 

His first 10 were with MSC in the Yacht Club and the last 6 have been with Celebrity.

 

He's not only a bartender, but he can also do card tricks, sing, and who knows what else. 

 

After talking with him we learned he loves to experiment with drink recipes and even introduced my all-time favorite cruise drink to the Yacht Club on MSC - the Salted Caramel Espresso Martini (the recipe Celebrity uses is far different).

 

For us he actually shared 3 drinks with us:

 

- Chocolate Mint Martini 

- A pineapple drink he just made for the first time yesterday

- A coconut martini that he said is best with coconut around the rim of the drink

 

We will definitely be back to see over the remaining 5 days of this sailing to see Alex! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We've set a goal of visiting each bar on the Equinox and asking the bartender to make us their personal favorite drink (not in one day) and we've not only had some great drinks, we've met some truly great people. 

 

---

 

Celebrity Sky Lounge 

 

The Sky Lounge is a beautiful bar and lounge space on Deck 14 at the forward of the ship. 

 

It has amazing 270-degree views with comfortable seating and a stage for entertainment.

 

Alex at the Sky Lounge is one of the best bartenders we've come across on any cruise line in a very long time. 

 

There's good reason for that though as he's currently doing his 16th contract! 

 

His first 10 were with MSC in the Yacht Club and the last 6 have been with Celebrity.

 

He's not only a bartender, but he can also do card tricks, sing, and who knows what else. 

 

After talking with him we learned he loves to experiment with drink recipes and even introduced my all-time favorite cruise drink to the Yacht Club on MSC - the Salted Caramel Espresso Martini (the recipe Celebrity uses is far different).

 

For us he actually shared 3 drinks with us:

 

- Chocolate Mint Martini 

- A pineapple drink he just made for the first time yesterday

- A coconut martini that he said is best with coconut around the rim of the drink

 

We will definitely be back to see over the remaining 5 days of this sailing to see Alex! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

interesting carpet..looks like wine was spilled!

 

do u know the purpose of those monitors in the last photo?

[DaKahuna]

12 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I was wrong to say advertised... Looking around the internet, all I can see is they advertise Starlink high speed internet.

 

US regulations state that high speed internet is 25 Mbps or faster, which they clearly aren't offering if throttled at 5mb down/3mb up.

 

"U.S. regulators have set the standard for high-speed Internet as services that offer download speeds of 25 Mbps or faster."

 

 I see your point.  Starlink is High Speed Internet and Celebrity's internet service provider is Startlink but they do not offer high speeds to customers onboard since they cap it at 5/3 for Premium.  

 

 I had no idea that the US had a regulation stipulating High Speed Internet had to be 25 Mbps or faster.  Thanks for that information. 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

47 minutes ago, hcat said:

interesting carpet..looks like wine was spilled!

 

do u know the purpose of those monitors in the last photo?

I was actually wondering the same thing... If I see them in use later in the cruise I'll report back!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

interesting carpet..looks like wine was spilled!

 

do u know the purpose of those monitors in the last photo?

Most restaurants order carpet that will hide stains,

found that out working on Wendy’s restaurant , their carpet was out of this world , so I asked their project manager about design 

[mlink87]

Will be on this ship in October. Following along and excited to see your trip and your photos!

[DaKahuna]

@FamilyAtSea.travel You doing  okay? No post about your cruise in a couple of days.. 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

@FamilyAtSea.travel You doing  okay? No post about your cruise in a couple of days.. 

 

Thank you for the prod! 

 

This is a very port intensive sailing so I've been tired by the time we get back to the ship but I still have plenty to share! 

 

We're in Cannes, France tomorrow and taking a tour of Nice and Monaco so we should have some drive time for me to share some more experiences. 

 

Things I should be sure to write about: 

 

- Chef's Table 

- More of the bars (I've had a bartender at every single bar make me their favorite drink) 

- Solarium + Main pool

- More of the shows (we had to miss our first one tonight for the Chef's Table)

- Retreat Concierge + Butler 

- Specialty restaurants (we've done all of them at this point) 

 

With three nights left and having done all of the specialty restaurants, we need to decide if we want to do Luminae the final three dinners or if we'd like to try Blu and the Silhouette MDR (I'm honestly not sure).

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

This is a very port intensive sailing so I've been tired by the time we get back to the ship but I still have plenty to share! 

 

 Perfectly understandable.  Take your time, I just wanted to make sure nothing unforseen had happened to interrupt your cruise. 

 

[shell15]

On 6/5/2024 at 2:59 AM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

The first show in the Equinox Theater was Rebel: A Classic Rock Experience, and they did not disappoint. 

 

These guys were extremely talented and entertaining. I even took a moment to grab a photo following the show and they were kind enough to take part in a twist on the classic rock hand gesture - Horns Down!

 

The Cruise Director, Drew (unsure of last name), did a great job of getting people excited and ready for the show (and the rest of the cruise).

 

Celebrity definitely does entertainment right! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be on the Equinox in July with my 15 year old guitarist son. Can you tell me what kind of songs they played? He might really love this! TIA!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

On 6/10/2024 at 5:39 AM, shell15 said:

We will be on the Equinox in July with my 15 year old guitarist son. Can you tell me what kind of songs they played? He might really love this! TIA!

Rebel was a guest act so they likely won't be on the ship when you're on here unfortunately, but they played some truly amazing classic rock and 80s rock songs.

 

They were one of my favorite guest performances we've ever seen on a cruise ship and we rarely miss a show.

 

Celebrity's entertainment isn't quite as flashy as Royal but it's fantastic and truly enjoyable....both you and your son will enjoy it I'm sure!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Today is our final port day here in Marseilles, France, but after a very port intensive cruise + 3 days in Barcelona full of all day tours, we decide to skip our wine tour of Provence today and simply enjoy the ship.

 

Looking around the ship, we're not the only ones who decided to do this as it's a lot busier than ships typically are on a port day (not busy, just busier). Some of that is probably also due to the fact that Marseilles isn't exactly an idyllic port. In fact, Drew, the Cruise Director, described it during the show last night as, "a working port, not as nice as the other places we've been on this sailing."

 

In any case - that means I'll have an opportunity to catch up on some of these Live reactions that I've been neglecting the past several days, so stay tuned!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

9-Day Sailing vs 7-Day Sailing

 

This isn't a reflection on the ship, but it's been very nice to be on a slightly longer cruise.

 

Had this been a 7-day sailing, we'd have disembarked the ship this morning, but instead we still have today and tomorrow.

 

With that said, the unavoidable existential dread has certainly fully set in. We're doing an Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Encore next month so we have that to look forward to, but I'm still sad to be leaving the lovely Celebrity Equinox in less than 48 hours.

 

We have a couple days in Barcelona before we depart but that's not the same as being on a cruise ship. 

 

This has been a great cruise so it will be sad to disembark in a couple days, but we'll make the most of it in the meantime.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

I'm currently sitting back on one of these large, round loungers in the Solarium overlooking the Mediterranean with a mojito beside me.

 

 

 

As I looked out, I thought I saw a Carnival ship in the distance but as I zoomed in using my Galaxy S24 Ultra's 100x zoom feature, I realized it was actually a ferry from Tunisia ferries.

 

I don't know how nice it is inside, but from the outside it appears to be one of the nicest ferries I've ever seen (the ones that run from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen are pretty nice as well, though not as large).

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

For those of you interested, I'm doing a comparison of the Yacht Club vs. Retreat in a separate thread, linked below.

 

I started to add this to this post but realized it was better for its own thread so this thread can remain focused on our current sailing vs. comparing to the YC.

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

For those of you who are interested in the Horizon Suites, I haven't seen one personally but based on a couple conversations, I do believe these were revolutionized.

 

With that said - one potential drawback our butler mentioned is that these being at the forward of the ship and not near any other suite rooms, providing butler service to these is proving to be a challenge, which has led to some unhappy guests.

 

Personally - we rarely use our butler for anything so we wouldn't mind this as much, but I know some people really want this personal service so if that's you, the Horizon Suites may not be a good option.

[di T]

3 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Today is our final port day here in Marseilles, France, but after a very port intensive cruise + 3 days in Barcelona full of all day tours, we decide to skip our wine tour of Provence today and simply enjoy the ship.

 

Looking around the ship, we're not the only ones who decided to do this as it's a lot busier than ships typically are on a port day (not busy, just busier). Some of that is probably also due to the fact that Marseilles isn't exactly an idyllic port. In fact, Drew, the Cruise Director, described it during the show last night as, "a working port, not as nice as the other places we've been on this sailing."

 

In any case - that means I'll have an opportunity to catch up on some of these Live reactions that I've been neglecting the past several days, so stay tuned!

Hi, have enjoyed your posts! We will board on Thursday for our b2b just getting ready to go to the airport. Enjoy your last days on board.

[Susanb10567]

Thanks for your review…we set sail on the Equinox on July 2nd ..very excited!! 

[miched]

I was told that the grass is removed when sailing in Europe because of the agricultural laws.  
 

We recently sailed on the Silhouette and part of the grass areas along the sides of the ship were removed and converted into patio type seating,   The main area in the center of the ship was left and used for lawn seating to watch movies and etc.  

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[CanadianCruiser1985]

Thanks for the great info @FamilyAtSea.travel! We will be sailing on Equinox next summer to the French and Italian Riveria. I was wondering since they removed some of the grass up on the top deck do they still have the lawn games? We'd love to play some bocce!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

2 minutes ago, CanadianCruiser1985 said:

Thanks for the great info @FamilyAtSea.travel! We will be sailing on Equinox next summer to the French and Italian Riveria. I was wondering since they removed some of the grass up on the top deck do they still have the lawn games? We'd love to play some bocce!

I didn't play any but I think I remember seeing them on the schedule.

 

I'm still planning to come back and add some more information once I get home and have some free time, but overall it was a great cruise.... I'm sure you'll love this ship like we did!