Equinox 21st May Review - Long

[agathasmum]

I just submitted my review of the 21st may Equinox sailing to the review section. It is pasted below for those who can't wait!

 

Equinox May 21 2015

 

We are a couple in our early 50’s/60s, currently from the USA. We have cruised a fair bit over the last 15 years, predominantly with Celebrity. We cruise more for the ports and less for the ship board activities and entertainment. This is a review of our recent Equinox cruise from Rome to Barcelona via Istanbul and the greek islands, a dream itinerary, which we booked as a last minute replacement for a long-planned cruise later in the year, which we had had to cancel. I am usually the “uberplanner”, researching ports and booking private excursions months in advance. This time we did a mixture of joining other people’s tours, small group tours, ship tours and “winging it”! We usually travel Aqua class, this time we had a 1A hump cabin with select dining. Here’s how we got on!

 

We flew to Rome on United, four days ahead of our cruise. We upgraded to Economy Plus for the extra legroom and lucked out mealwise as they inadvertently loaded asian vegetarian meals on board, and the vegetable curry turned out to be far better than the usual “chicken or pasta” offerings. Our flight landed early but we waited half an hour on the tarmac for a gate and then 1 1/2 hours in the arrivals hall to pass through immigration. FCO is still chaotic (mid-May) as a result of the recent fire. (Italian immigration came back to haunt us at the end of our trip transiting through Geneva as our passports were only stamped very faintly at FCO airport). Once past immigration it took us another half hour to find our bags which had been taken off the carousel and left in different areas of the baggage hall. The one nice thing at the end of all this hassle was to find that well over 2 hours after our flight landed, our driver was still waiting for us. Thank you Romecabs!

 

There is a 6 hour time difference between home and Rome. We shifted our body clocks 3 hours before we left, took a 2 hour nap when we arrived and really didn’t notice any jetlag for the rest of the trip. Amazing!

 

We stayed at the Hotel Lancelot, a very nice family run hotel in a neighbourhood close to the Colosseum. We have visited Rome several times before so we had none of the usual big tourist must do’s on our agenda. We visited a few nice churches, sat in the rose garden, ambled around, looked through the Knights of Malta keyhole, ate, drank and generally soaked up Rome.

 

We shared a Romecabs transfer to Civitavecchia with two couples from our roll call. Boarding Equinox was quick and easy with no line at the Elite Plus counter. Within no time we were in Cafe al Baccio, trying out our drink package, and then enjoying a quiet, civilised lunch in Bistro on Five.

 

We had a 1A hump cabin, 7290, 2 decks above the smoking area. I mention this because I went backwards and forwards over “big balcony v chance of cigarette smell” when we booked. I did occasionally get a whiff of smoke. I’m not sure if it came from the smoking area or someone having an illicit cigarette on their balcony nearby. The cabin was close to the aft stairs but very quiet. The bed is near the verandah, so we had easy access to the closet and lovely views of the sea from the bed! Our stewards were Jenny and David, who came from the same home village. Perhaps that’s why they worked so well together? I think they were the best room stewards we have had in a long time. I am allergic to feathers and flowers, and the cabin was already set up with the hypoallergenic bedding before we arrived, which doesn’t always happen. I mentioned we usually stay in Aqua, and to be honest we didn’t really notice that much difference between the 1A and Aqua cabin-wise, other than the fabulously large verandah crying out for a pair of footstools. Slightly smaller towels perhaps, waffle weave robes v super thick ones, a less elaborate shower and no bottle of fizz.

 

There was, however, most certainly a difference between Blu and the Silhouette dining room, think calm refined dining v pandemonium in a madhouse and you’ll get the idea. The lower floor of the dining room (early and late fixed seating) has had a chunk carved out of it to create Luminae for suite guests. OK you pay more for a suite, so you deserve a nice space to eat dinner in a pleasant relaxing atmosphere, that’s fine, enjoy it. The knock on effect is that there is now less space for fixed seating dining which means more people are allocated “select dining”. Add to that the fact that suite people can also choose to eat in the main dining room “select dining”, (as can Aquaclass passengers), instead of their own assigned dining room, which means even more people trying to crowd into a finite number of seats in “select”, resulting in chaos. We had a reservation every night at 8pm, which I booked before we boarded. At each entrance to the dining room was one line for reservations and suites, and another for people with no reservations, who invariably ended up with a beeper. It seems a bit unfair that suite passengers who have their own dining room can get priority seating in the main dining room, over people who are assigned to “select” and have no other options other than the buffet or a speciality restaurant with a fee.

 

The atmosphere in the select dining room is tense because of tightly packed tables. “Here’s your table for 2 for 10 madam”, as you are shown to the middle table of a line of 5 two tops with 2” between them. Waiters and Maitre D’s are constantly running around resetting tables with crumpled tablecloths and napkins, and hopefully a full place setting. You may or may not get bread or water. The atmosphere is very stressful and not conducive to a relaxing dining experience. There is one nice quiet section hidden away at the back, where the tables are spaced further apart, and the waiters walk, and have time to make recommendations about the menu. We managed to get seated in there twice. It was really nice. My guess is it’s a secret section of “select” reserved for suite passengers!!!!

 

Despite the chaos of the dining room, the food itself was pretty good. We had a couple of nice soups, some very good chilled seafood appetisers, nice salads and some excellent fish entrees. The wine and beverage service was very good too. We had the premium beverage package and found that there were some nice wines available by the glass, and unlike previous cruises, it was easy to get a top up.

 

The dining room for lunch (sea days only) was a nice quiet experience compared to dinner. The food and service were very good on the day we tried it.

 

We also tried some alternative venues for dinner. The menu for “Top Chef” night in the dining room looked ghastly, so we headed to the buffet for curry that night. While the food was very tasty it was lukewarm, so not very appetising, and we weren’t tempted to go there again. They did offer bar service at the table which was nice.

 

We visited Bistro on Five four times. It is now $10 a person which is a bit high, but they have expanded their offerings beyond crepes. There is now a daily entree special, as well as soups, entree salads, a burger, dinner crepes and sandwiches. The chicken noodle soup and the cobb steak salad (also available with shrimp or chicken if you ask) were good, as was the burger.

For me desserts were a bit “meh” though, either sweet crepes or milkshakes. A healthier dessert option like berries would have been nice.

 

We had 2 formal night reservations in Silk Harvest as the husband chose not to bring a suit, which made the dining room technically off limits to him those nights. The decor here is lovely and the service was excellent, but the food is bland, bland, bland. They seem afraid to spice up the food in case people don’t like it. I think it would make a pleasant change. On the bright side while we enjoyed the spring rolls and crab and shrimp potstickers, the tempura shrimp was more Bonefish Grill than japanese, and as for the satay, well that was just plain nasty. “Stewed meat on a stick with a gloopy sauce stuck to it” it may have been, but satay it was not! The tom yum soup lacked flavour, and although the presentation was nice, (pouring the broth over the ingredients in the bowl at the table), it left you with a warm, rather than a hot soup. For mains the whole fish was nice, better steamed and filleted than crispy and whole, but crying out for flavour, thai green shrimp curry was tasty, but the spicy shrimp was bland as was the chicken in bean sauce, even though we asked them to spice it up a little. Dessert was a miss too, fried bananas with an overly sweet, underly coconutty coconut ice cream. As I said earlier, the service and the venue were nice, but horribly let down by the food. At the going rate of $35 per person it was grossly overpriced, and even getting it at a discount, we didn’t feel it was value for money. The husband’s verdict? “Next time I’ll bring a suit”!!! Yes we could have gone to Tuscan Grill at (I think) $35, or Murano at $45, but we find their food very stodgy and heavy. I think it’s time Celebrity had a revamp of their specialty restaurants as they are no longer value for money. The prices go up but the menus never seem to change.

 

One new venue we tried for food (and drinks) was the gastropub. It became our new home! They had a good selection of beers and knowledgable bartenders, and a really nice sparkling rose. The menu offerings were a bit eclectic, (we passed on the bone marrow and chicken livers!), but the steak and ale pie at $12 was rather good and big enough for two to share for lunch.

 

We had onboard credit to spend, so we booked a couple of massages. I had the Canyon Ranch Swedish massage, and the husband tried the Thai massage, which he said was “unlike anything else he had ever experienced.” It must have been good, he booked a second one….! We found the spa staff very professional and although there was a post-massage sales pitch, it was easily nipped in the bud with a polite, but firm “no thank you”.

 

We sampled a few of the bars, and throughout the ship there definitely seem to be more bartenders and drinks waiters than before, so it was much easier to get a drink, even with the drink package! Cafe Al Bacio is usually my favourite place, but this time it just wasn’t right. On Equinox it felt very claustrophobic. The yellow chairs were too tall, there were too many of them blocking the view of the sea, and the tables were too high. When you sat down they were at shoulder level, I kid you not! I’m glad they sorted this out on the later S class ships, but it just didn’t gel on the Equinox. Service here was pretty haphazard, with orders getting mixed up a few times. I am a latte person, plain, nothing fancy, but several times I got one that had some sort of sweetener or flavouring in it.

 

The Martini Bar was nicely set out, with cosy little rooms off it, but It didn’t seem to have much of a buzz this cruise and never seemed busy. The Passport Bar was a good place to watch the water close up. We didn’t really spend much time in the outdoor bars because it was windy and plagued with plinky plonky synthy (and I’m sure very trendy) music.

 

Oh yes the music. A positive for us was that the Miami DJs (people who drum over a backing track) and DJ and Lady Sax (people who play sax over a backing track) did not cross the Atlantic. We had a classical guitar violin duo who were excellent, and two women with a synth and a bad sound system (Limelight Ladies), who weren’t. The house band were decent, the jazz ensemble were excellent, and then there was Canaan Cox, (aka Mr Misery), a maudlin country singer-guitarist, who could turn any song into a song worthy of slitting your wrist to. Not my cup of tea, but seemed to have his fans. The overall volume of music was good. It certainly wasn’t ear-splittingly loud anywhere.

 

We don’t tend to go to the shows, but we did quite enjoy the one with the female trio covering motown, soul and disco songs. Other shows we missed included a man playing a swarovski encrusted violin, a couple of ex-West End singers, a comedian, and a Cirque d’Equinox type of show. The Beyond The Podium speakers were a historian lecturing on great civilisations of the Mediterranean, and a comedian speaking about comedy, Robin Williams, and also presenting an improv workshop. Other for fee activities, (wine and malt tastings, spa activities, ipad classes, watercolour classes), were offered along with free trivia, Art auctions (!), and Top Chef themed events.

 

If you are familiar with S class ships, you will know that many of the bars and Bistro on Five are open to the Grand Foyer on Deck 3. When live music is played there, it can be heard on several decks in the background which is quite nice. However when that same space is used for an egg drop contest, or a dance lesson, or some other event that involves talking on a microphone, but is really only of interest to those people directly participating, it can be really annoying and you have no way of escaping it even if you are reading quietly in the library on Deck 8 or sitting in the card room on decks 9 and 10!

 

There are plenty of activities available for people who want to be entertained, plenty of places to go, lots to do. If you want to be quiet though, and sit and read or write, or daydream, it is very hard to find somewhere to go to do this. It used to be that bars that were closed were a good option, but now they have piped in music in them. Even the crows nest venue, up top and far forward, which used to be a haven for readers and snoozers, was invaded by noise, either from youngsters playing the piano very badly, or people walking into a room full of people being quiet and starting to play a card game that involved yelling and screaming. What I would give for somewhere other than my cabin to go for some peace and quiet. How about it Celebrity? One small area that isn’t being used for any activity at the time being designated as a fee free quiet space, with a “Shhhh, Quiet Please, People Relaxing” sign outside. That would be Modern Luxury for me!

 

We are Captain’s Club Elite Plus, (with no chance of ever attaining a higher status in this lifetime!), and find some of the benefits useful. 240 minutes of free internet was just enough for 12 days, and the wi-fi on the whole was pretty good in both public lounges and in the cabin. Two bags of free wash and fold laundry per person was also useful, considering that the day they had the “stuff the bag with laundry promotion”, they were charging $45 a bag! We also used the discount coupons for the Specialty restaurants. The lunchtime Captains Club party was nice with upscale hors d’oeuvres and free flowing Sparkling Celebrity Vintages champagne. The waiter with the mantra “One for him, one for her, one to share” is how we came to end up with 3 glasses of fizz on the table at a time! We visited the evening social hour a few times, although being introverts, more for the lovely view than the daunting “chit chat” aspect of it! We only visited the Tuscan Grill for the coffee house breakfast once. We found it a bit uncomfortable, going very late in the cruise when I think it was assumed we should “know the ropes”, but I have to say the bagel and smoked salmon platter they served was delicious. There was a helipad sailaway from Souda, (originally meant for the Santorini sailaway, but cancelled due to the weather), for Elites which we really enjoyed.

 

We missed the Cruisecritic meet and greet as it was held at 8pm the night we boarded, which conflicted with our dinner reservations.

 

This itinerary was a good balance of interesting ports and four sea days.

 

Our first port was Salerno (the jumping off point for Pompeii, Capri and the Amalfi Coast). We joined a private tour with AP Tours visiting Herculaneum, then a climb up the crater of Mount Vesuvius and a visit to Ravello for a lovely lunch overlooking the bay. It was an excellent day! We did hear that some people had problems getting back to the port because of traffic, and the ship did wait for them and sailed late.

 

In Piraeus, (the port for Athens), we joined a private tour with PK Tours with a scenic coastal drive to the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, and then lunch in a restaurant with lovely sea views on the way back.

 

We have stayed in Istanbul before and wanted to see things we had missed out on last time and revisit a couple of favourite places. We had an overnight in Istanbul and the first day we booked two small group tours with Effendi Travel, a morning tour of the Suleimanye Mosque and the Chora, and an afternoon walking tour of the old town including Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, ending at the Grand Bazaar. They threw in a delicious free lunch. The second day we walked to Taksim Square and back.

 

Mykonos was a DIY day. It was a tender port and we had priority tender tickets courtesy of our Elite Plus status, which saved us queuing for tender tickets and allowed us to be on the first tender to shore. We have visited Mykonos before, so took a few photos of the windmills and the town and had a seafood lunch in “Little Venice”.

 

Santorini was the one port where we took a ship tour, because we wanted to be in the first group of people in Oia and in this port ship tours tender first. We had beautiful weather in Oia but by the time the ship tour ended in Fira it was windy and stormy. We had a rough ride down in a cablecar and a very rough tender back to the ship. Shortly afterwards the cable car closed because of high winds and people either walked down to the tender port or were bussed to an alternative tender port by Celebrity.

 

Souda was our last port and we couldn’t find much information about it before we left. We winged it and took the local bus (1.50 Euro per person each way) from the port to Chania, which turned out to be a hidden gem. There was good shopping, a lovely walk around the Old Port and Venetian Harbour, and lots of great local restaurants for lunch. What a great port!

 

Disembarkation in Barcelona went well. We had asked for an 8am timeslot and our number was called at 7:30. We waited in the Elite lounge (Tuscan Grill) until 8. Once off the ship we waited a while at the carousel for our bags, even though we were well after our time slot had been called. There was no immigration or customs control at Barcelona as our entire cruise had been within the EU.

 

We had been forewarned that taxis would be hard to come by, (and the taxi line truly was long by 8:30), so we booked a half day small group tour with Barcelona Day Tours that picked up at the port, went up Mont Juic, visited Park Guell with skip the line tickets, did a bus tour of the city, concluded with an outside visit of Sagrada Familia, and then dropped people either at their hotel or at the airport. It was a great tour and very inexpensive and convenient.

 

We spent 4 days in Barcelona at the Hotel Jazz, which I would highly recommend. It’s just off Las Ramblas, and the rooms are modern, well appointed and quiet. They offer a vast breakfast buffet, free wi-fi, and have a lovely rooftop bar and swimming pool. We spent a lot of time just wandering around Barcelona, eating, drinking and soaking up the atmosphere for four days. The inside of Sagrada Familia is a must see, and timed tickets will save you a two hour wait. We had a guided tour and entrance to the towers. We also took a full day tour to Montserrat and a boutique cava winery, again with Barcelona Day Tours, and again had door to door pick up and drop off. I was very impressed with this company and their guides, who were very knowledgeable, spoke excellent english and had a good sense of humour.

 

Our flight back to the USA was routed via Geneva where we had an awkward run in with an immigration official because he had difficulty finding our entry stamp from FCO in our passport as the stamp was so faint. He was convinced we had used a different passport, (english accent, american passport), but we hadn’t. While it’s nice to know they are on the lookout for suspicious people, they had us worried as we had a tight connection. We did make the flight in the end.

 

All in all, despite less planning than usual, we had a fantastic trip. We loved the Equinox and her happy, helpful crew, and wouldn’t hesitate to cruise on her again. One thing we have learnt is that in future we will pass on the flexibility of select dining in favour of fixed late seating as I think it would offer a calmer more relaxing dinner experience that we would prefer.

 

Did I mention we booked another cruise while we were on board :)

[Lois R]

Thanks for the detailed review:)

 

Question for you....you mentioned something about A Captain's Club

Lunchtime Party.....? Is this something new?....I have been sailing

with X for quite a few years and don't recall a lunch party.....unless

it is one of the Capt's Club Events that has been changed to a lunch?

 

Glad you had a good cruise:)

[agathasmum]

Thanks for the detailed review:)

 

Question for you....you mentioned something about A Captain's Club

Lunchtime Party.....? Is this something new?....I have been sailing

with X for quite a few years and don't recall a lunch party.....unless

it is one of the Capt's Club Events that has been changed to a lunch?

 

Glad you had a good cruise:)

 

Lois it wasn't a sit down lunch but a Captain's Club event held in the Sky Lounge around lunchtime. The lounge was packed so it may have been a levels of Captain's Club. They served heavy, upmarket hors d'oeuvres (different to the evening cocktail hour ones), and later petit fours. There was a heavy presence of officers, and live music. All in all very pleasant.

[Lois R]

Lois it wasn't a sit down lunch but a Captain's Club event held in the Sky Lounge around lunchtime. The lounge was packed so it may have been a levels of Captain's Club. They served heavy, upmarket hors d'oeuvres (different to the evening cocktail hour ones), and later petit fours. There was a heavy presence of officers, and live music. All in all very pleasant.

 

Ahhh ok...thanks....yes, the usually have an event for all levels...

Glad you enjoyed it.:)

[workstocruise]

We were on the same cruise and also thoroughly enjoyed our trip. The Equinox is a beautiful ship and everywhere we went we had excellent service. I will say we had select dining and we did not make any reservations but went every night around 7 and were seated immediately. There was never any commotion or hustle and bustle among the waiters or assistants. For us it was a very calm enjoyable experience. We had the same table and waiter every night. We chose not to do formal and ate both nights in the buffet which was just okay. Next time DH will bring a jacket because I think we missed the best food on those two nights. We were a party of four so getting a table was probably easier. I think all of the Cruise Lines should rethink their tables for two!

 

We also booked another cruise while on board.

[pjs678]

Great review. We loved the Equinox. Sorry you missed the Circ-style show as it was one of the best shows we've ever seen on a ship. Next time!

[agathasmum]

I will say we had select dining and we did not make any reservations but went every night around 7 and were seated immediately. There was never any commotion or hustle and bustle among the waiters or assistants. For us it was a very calm enjoyable experience. We had the same table and waiter every night.

 

Perhaps eating early is the key then. All the drama would have happened after you had finished dinner!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[MarshaTN]

The highlight of this wonderful cruise was for me was the Corning glass studio outdoors under a nice roof. The two-hour sessions almost daily and sometimes twice a day were informative with the three artists rotating their roles of narrating, blowing, and assisting for each piece they produced. I learned so much about this exquisite craft. I took home one of the auctioned vases and will probably book another Celebrity ship with this activity just for its studio.

 

We had all good experiences and tremendous service. If someone couldn't have an overall fabulous time on this ship, then...

 

Marsha D in Tennessee

cabin 6176

[retired4213]

So much information and concise. We are leaving on the Equinox on 8/24 from Istanbul and I felt like I took your informative journey with You. We will be staying in Istanbul and at the Ambassodor Hotel and boarding the Equinox on 8/24. Thanks for your review.

[Grandma of five]

The highlight of this wonderful cruise was for me was the Corning glass studio outdoors under a nice roof. The two-hour sessions almost daily and sometimes twice a day were informative with the three artists rotating their roles of narrating, blowing, and assisting for each piece they produced. I learned so much about this exquisite craft. I took home one of the auctioned vases and will probably book another Celebrity ship with this activity just for its studio.

 

We had all good experiences and tremendous service. If someone couldn't have an overall fabulous time on this ship, then...

 

Marsha D in Tennessee

cabin 6176

 

Marsha

We also live in Knoxville & will be on the Equinox next May

Tanya

[MarshaTN]

Marsha

We also live in Knoxville & will be on the Equinox next May

Tanya

 

Hi, Tanya.

 

A friend told me after our return that his neighbors across the street here in Knoxville verified they were on our same cruise! It is indeed a small world, and in much of my travels I meet people who know people I know. I have experienced this on a ski slope in Austria, having a spa service in England, on a flight to Paris, and numerous times and places here in the US. It is said that most of us are just 6 degrees or less away from being connected to everyone else in the developed world.

 

Enjoy!

Marsha