OldRockr1

We sailed on the Equinox when it was new and we really enjoyed the ship. I can't remember if the ship has a promenade area with cafes/shops to sit and relax and have a snack and watch any extra enteretainment?

 

Thank you,

 

brmom

Decks 4 and 5 the shops and some bars. There was music most days on deck 3 by the main elevators and stairs midship.

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Great review and photos thanks. What pier did you dock at in Cozumel? Was there shopping within walking distance?

It was the Royal Caribbean spot that has Margaritaville by the entrance. We didn't go into town but there were shops there.

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A few more pics from around the ship.

Overall the cruise was great and the ship is gorgeous. I would give it an overall 4/5 stars.

The food was good but not great as I mentioned.

The entertainment is not my thing and it never really works for me on any cruise. I'm more the concert type. The shows were...silly. I will say Victor Cruz who played solo guitar, was awesome and we caught him in the Ensemble Lounge most nights before dinner.

The service was good overall but a little too impersonal. This kind of hampered the MDR experience for the both of us. The bartenders also seemed a little too quiet. I have to say Carnival's bartenders have them beat.

Would I sail Celebrity again? Absolutely. We like the mellow, relaxing vibe. Other than atmosphere was it all that different from Carnival or Norwegian? Not really, at least for us. In the future it really comes down to price and itinerary. As long as it isn't one of those floating monstrosities I'll give any line a chance.

Thanks for checking my review out and Happy Sailings and smooth Seas to you all.

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The next port was Cozumel. We did the Fury Catamaran and Beach Club excursion which we had gone on about 15 years ago. Still a great time. Here's a few pics.

The beach club now has all those blow up slides which the kids there seemed to love. Too much work for too little thrill as far as I'm concerned!

After a quick lunch at Margaritaville, it was back to the ship for a nap before dinner. Cozumel always ends up being too much fun.

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We have driven back and forth to our Fla condo for yrs..( twice one yr) with cats etc. Long grueling drive, big trucks, rain, etc....This yr we said no more...we bought a car to stay down there...so now just thd SW torture from LI to Tampa ( only non stop)

 

Have fun on Eq...also enjoying the review....love the photos

A friend of mine has a house down there. They do the drive 4-5 times a year. I could never do it.

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Great review, my wife wants to know where she can get the grumpy tee shirt. My family thinks I am always grumpy. One of my staff went to Disney, brought me back a grumpy coffee cup!!

It was one of those Facebook ads. Now get off my lawn! ;-)

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Here is one of the ship in port.

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Costa Maya was my favorite port. No fancy excursions just a great day at the beach. I had reserved 2 loungers in advance (no fee) at the Tropicante and Steve the owner sent me some info on the area. The Tropicante is right in the middle of "downtown" and is easily reachable via the tram from the terminal for $3 each. Someone from the Tropicante was waiting for us at stop 2 and we were escorted to the beach club. Cain set us up with chairs under a palm tree right near the water. All they ask is you buy your food and drinks from them.

The food was great and the Cervesas ice cold. Prices were very reasonable and in dollars. Bring cash...no cards accepted.

Cain and the staff were absolutely awesome. If you are ever in Costa Maya do not hesitate to go to the Tropicante.

The port area looks new with a beautiful pool and lots of food, drink and shops. All of which are much cheaper in town!

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Loved your nighttime photos of Key West. We cruise there next month but leave before it gets dark.

That was sunrise from up one of the top decks.

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Thanks for posting, I'm enjoying your review. We are doing this same cruise departing Dec. 30. I have a couple questions for you:

1) Did you do an excursion in Key West or just walk around on your own?

2) Where is the Ensemble Lounge?

 

Thanks.

We did a self tour. The hop on hop off trolley was $25 each for the day. Worth it for sure.

The Ensemble Bar is on deck 5 by the specialty restaurants.

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On the first sea day we ate breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe and it was pretty good. English bacon? Who knew?

We got to the pool around 9:30'and had no trouble finding loungers in the shade by one of the hot tubs. In fact the chair hogs seemed to sleep in most of the cruise!

Beautiful day at sea with lots of folks using the pool. Entertainment staff got people involved after lunch. Great day all around. We tried the martini bar but it really wasn't for us. The ensemble lounge was a better choice for before dinner drinks.

I really did find the ship relaxing this cruise.

I often get accused of being a grump so take my complaints with a grain of salt...

Next up: Costa Maya

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A few shots from around the ship the second evening.

Next up 1st sea day

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Sorry for multiples of the same pic. I was trying to upload a panorama and it kept cropping the shot.

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One more

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Key West has HOT. The weather app had it at 89 feels like 107! Frankly it kicked my a$$ so we headed down to Capt. Tony's to get out of the heat...

Here are a few random shots from around Key West. I need to go back when it is a little cooler.

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One more food/beverage thought...I thought that the coffee was only ok. I'm not a fancy coffee guy and the Lavatta they had was just OK. Then again I love 7-11 coffee!

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We were on the July 30th cruise and they had Grand Marnier Soufflés one night. It was not on the menu but it was an addition told to us by the waiter. Perhaps the night you went to the speciality or your waiter missed it?

Entirely possible.

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All of my pictures were taken with my Galaxy S8+ for those who are interested. It is definitely an improvement over my S6.

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DW also is ticked that they never did souffles on any night which we always had on previous cruises at least once.

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Home on Long Island...finally. The previous posts were from yesterday. I couldn't post it as one from my phone so I split it up today.

No food porn pics but here are some of my thoughts on food and drink.

We had the premium beverage package which was part of our deal. We only paid $330 for all 4 perks so we were already ahead of the game. We definitely had a few each day and the drinks were good. Beer choices also decent. Anytime we got a soda it was in cans for those who asked in other threads. In fact I always saw soda served in cans wherever I was.

We were in the MDR all but one night and chose select seating. We ended up with a window table for two each night (just different tables). The food was good but not great as expected. Service was fairly fast and each night we were done in about 1:20. Eating at 7:15 we were able to make any 9:00 show.

I do think select dining diminished the feel we got on other cruises as a result of different waiters. Not bad service, just a little impersonal.

Silk Harvest was our one night in a specialty restaurant and it was pretty good. A ton of food.

The Mast Grill Burgers weren't bad at all and made for a nice pool side lunch on sea days.

The buffet at lunch was meh (also expected) but was pretty good for breakfast.

Overall food was 3/5 for us. Drinks were good so no complaints. We did notice that all of the bars with the exception of the Martini Bar were never very crowded which was a bit of surprise considering that there were 3100 people on board.

Next Up: Key West

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Here are a few shots of Miami during sailaway. The drill was at 2:45 and we left right around 3:30.

Next Up: Food and Drink

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Ok so we are almost through GA...yippie! Awful rain in FLA on the drive this morning so the going was a little slow.

We were allowed to the cabins sometime after 1:30. 1044 is a starboard expanded balcony which was AWESOME!

The balcony was really deep and the extra room was so great to have. Most of the time you could put the chairs and stools in the sun or in the shade.

Our steward Wayman was great. Everything was always just so and he always managed to pop in while we were gone. We had a few technical glitches that were remidied quickly. Overall the cabin was great. It was also very quiet with respect to ship noise but you could always hear the wind and sea outside which was not at all unpleasant. Celebrity wins over Carnival with sliders instead of regular doors to the balcony.

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The lawn appears to be enjoying the Summer heat and humidity of the Caribbean :)

 

Great start and will look forward to the rest of your review and pictures!

It was a little more work by the end of the cruise with no rain for a week.

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My Daughter and I are on the Equinox in April Concierge class. What was on the menu for lunch? Thank You!

Salmon, chicken or grilled veggies. It was ok but much more comfortable than the buffet.

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On the long ride back to NY and I thought I'd try my hand at this review thing. My wife and I are both 55 and this was our first cruise on Celebrity and 4th overall. The short review is that this was a great cruise with fantastic weather. The long review will be in pieces.

We decided to drive to Florida to spend a few days with family first and the drive was uneventful. Just long and dull.

The night before we stayed in Miami at the Hilton Downtown which was very nice and really close to the port. The Equinox was outside when we got up on Sunday Morning.

We headed over to the port just before 10. After dropping off the bags and parking the car we got through security, checked in and were in the waiting room around 10:40. Boarding was just after 11:00.

We booked stateroom 1044 which is concierage class on the front bump out slant. After taking advantage of the welcome aboard lunch in the MDR we headed up to the lawn for a drink before the cabins were ready.

Next up: Sail Away and some cabin pics.

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