My review - Equinox 25.6. - 2.7. western mediterrian

[Hermann Cruiser]

Me and my wife cruised on Celebrity Equinox 25.6.-2.7.2016 from Rome to Barcelona. Ship´s itinerary were Rome – Livorno – Villefranche – Ajaccio – Palma de Mallorca – Barcelona.

 

 

This was my second cruise and this is my first review.

Embarkation

We flew to Rome one day before the embarkation. We spend the day sweating in really hot Rome (temperature 36 celsius) and stayed for a night in Royal Santina hotel, only few steps away from Termini railway station.

 

 

 

On embarkation day we had some issues with the train service. We had planned to travel from Rome to cruise terminal in Civitavecchia by train. We had booked train tickets in advance. Our tickets were in the first class, in the coach number 1. In termini station we realized that the train did not have coach number 1 at all! On the platform there were luckily some American tourists whom had the same issue with pre-purchased tickets. Trainstaff did not help us at all, but the American tourists did. They knew that we could enter coach number 3 instead, and so we did. In the end, we had a nice ride to Civitavecchia with a nice another American couple embarking the same cruise as we. Finally we found that Civitavecchia´s train station is old and have few stairs to climb on. That´s good to know in advance.

 

 

Actual Check-in facilities were really well organized and we did not have to wait at all. Just walk right in to the ship.

 

 

Tips for embarkation: Do not trust the Italian railways, if you´re going to use train, leave on early one. Embarkation is swiftly when you come to harbor in early hours (around 1 pm).

Equinox

 

 

We were on the Equinox two years ago, on our honeymoon, so we already knew what to expect. Ship is beautiful and huge. We especially enjoy the Café Al Bacio. It has really nice beverages and establishment offers the best service in the ship. Speaking of, we really enjoyed the friendliness of the staff. Especially the cabin attendant and the waiter in the main dining room did their best on serving us. Food on the ship is fabulous. Ocean view café has so many options to choose from. We liked it so much, that we dined only twice in the main dining room. We also tried Silk Harvest (specialty restaurant, serving orient food) once. We can´t complain that either.

 

 

Equinox is built on 2009 and I have to say that in some areas this shows. Not badly, but still, there´s rust and stuff around. On a sundeck there was occasionally too many chairhoggers, so we had to go to the library to read our books instead.

 

 

Entertainment on board was numerous. To be honest we did not attend to so many shows, but if you´re into that, you´ll surely don´t get disappointed. As a younger cruiser, I personally would have liked to see some stand-up comedy or rock ballads – show on the ship. On the sea day there were several interesting seminars to participate. We attended the galley tour also and it was interesting. I wish one day it would be possible to see those ships magnificent Wärtsilä diesel engines also (made in Finland :)).

 

 

Only thing we really disliked was the first night´s aggressive marketing of the premium beverages packages. We had been saving about a year and a half for this trip to come true. We had carefully considered that the classic package offers us all the drinks we possibly might need and more. And know when our dream holiday finally starts, we hear in every bar and restaurant how stupid we are because we don´t want to buy premium beverage package only for 80$ more per person more. It was annoying and made us feel like being in Turkish Bazar instead on a luxury cruise liner. I´m sad, that those wonderful staff members are forced to sell these packages in every turn.

Itinerary

Livorno

We attended a Celebrity´s shore excursion to Cinque Terre. An Unesco world heritagesite, which has amazing views from the shore boat. This was really nice excursion. We especially enjoyed our tourguide Andreas, which was the best tourguide we´ve ever met. He was funny and talkative and took very good care of the whole group. He could create a nice and unique atmosphere among the group. Cinque Terre consist of five small villages on a shore line of Italy. There are many tourists, but the place is really unique. Mostly, we spend the day in Monterosso and Portovenere.

Villefranche

This was really nice small village by the sea. We went to the beach and afterwards walked around the town. People were really friendly and we felt really comfortable in here. We liked it so much, that I and my wife are now considering leaving just to there for a small holiday someday.

Ajaccio

Corsica´s biggest city was also a surprise for us. Harbour is just in the heart of the city and it made it really easy to go exploring on your own. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, so we went to his birthplace, which is a museum nowadays. I guess this is the biggest attraction on the island, so be early if you want to avoid the touristrush. City itself is really beautiful; there are lot of palm trees and many shops to choose from. Ajaccio was the biggest positive surprise on our trip.

Palma de Mallorca

Ship stayed for overnight in Palma. They had organized a shuttle transport from the dock to the Cathedral of Palma (center of the town). This was convenient and we found it to be a well spent money. First day on Palma we attended our second shore excursion. We went to the Valdemossa village about 40 minute drive from the city. There was a tour on the Valdemossa´s monastery (where Chopin had lived) and then some shopping time on your own. Monastery was exiting place and the views from the gardens were nice. Although we would have enjoyed a little bit less monastery time and bit more shopping time. On our way back the bus did made on mandatory stop on some kind of glass factory. This seemed to be just a deal made between Celebrity and the glassmakers. Factory did not offer anything special and the prices were just normal too.

 

 

Second day on Palma, we explored the town on our own. There are plenty of shops to go and nice restaurants here and there. We enjoyed our stay very much.

Disembarkation

Like embarkation, disembarkation was organized very professionally. We did not have to wait in any lines (except few minutes for the taxi). There were taxi handlers, so there were no problems with the que for the taxi.

Overal pros.

+ Cruiselife is just so easy, great food, no packing and unpacking, plenty to see

+ Staff friendliness is awesome

+ Variety of food is overwhelming

+ Liked Villefrance and Ajaccio very much

+ Café Al Bacio is the place to be while onboard

Overal cons.

- Bazar-like aggressive marketing of beverage package upgrade

- Some of the bartenders did not want to be polite or friendly

- Only few pizza options available (would be a great thing to bring a decent pizzeria onboard!)

[wallie5446]

"Only few pizza options available"

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write and let us relive our time on the Equinox thru you.!

 

Would you go into a bit more depth about the pizza, please.

 

We have sailed on the Equinox the last 2 Thanksgiving's. My wife has Celiac. The staff in the buffet were amazing at preparing her GF pizza! No item was too difficult. For her, at least, it was just like a "decent pizzeria onboard" Her option's were unlimited.

EW

Edited July 11, 2016 by wallie5446

[Pavovsky]

"Only few pizza options available"

 

 

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write and let us relive our time on the Equinox thru you.!

 

 

 

Would you go into a bit more depth about the pizza, please.

 

 

 

We have sailed on the Equinox the last 2 Thanksgiving's. My wife has Celiac. The staff in the buffet were amazing at preparing her GF pizza! No item was too difficult. For her, at least, it was just like a "decent pizzeria onboard" Her option's were unlimited.

 

EW

 

 

 

Hearing that is very impressive. I quite liked the pizza too. But the review by the OP is very honest - good and not so good.

 

We had a strange experience with the premium beverage package. We purchased in advance and got poor service from the sunset bar staff on reflection as a result. They were chasing commission or whatever on selling packages and we got poor service the first few days. Friends bought the package at another bar and got a cold shoulder as a result from some bar tenders. Agree on the Cafe - best place on the ship.

[Pavovsky]

Thanks Hermann for the nice review.

[andrea2609]

Thanks for the review. I'll be sailing on Equinox on the 6th of August (9 days western Mediterranean). I'm now concern about chairhoggers, this really upsets us. Any deck you would recommend (we don't mind sitting on the pool side). I also hate to wake up early to get my place.....!

Can I expect any picture?

Thanks again!

 

 

Italian Cruiser

 

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

[wallie5446]

FYI

 

If you decide to sail the Equinox again, the flat breads in the GastroBar put the pizza to shame! Well worth the added cost.

Sorry Herman, didn't mean to hijack you! :D

EW

[AidenL]

My wife and I were on this cruise too - really enjoyed it :)

[Pavovsky]

Thanks for the review. I'll be sailing on Equinox on the 6th of August (9 days western Mediterranean). I'm now concern about chairhoggers, this really upsets us. Any deck you would recommend (we don't mind sitting on the pool side). I also hate to wake up early to get my place.....!

Can I expect any picture?

Thanks again!

 

 

Italian Cruiser

 

Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

 

 

 

It is a port intensive cruise. We are on it too. On reflection last year there was usually chairs and space available on the top deck. We even got chairs on the pool deck in the afternoon.

[Clarea]

Nicely written review, thanks!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Hermann Cruiser]

Thank you all, for your kind words!

 

Few comments:

 

Wallie, for my experience Ocean View cafe offers 3-4 different kind of pizza slices (I did not dare to order my own). Comparing to variety of other food items, I felt that options are too limited. I just ment, that I would enjoy if Celebrity could bring a stand along pizzeria or italian restaurant onboard. And thank you for that Gastrobar tip!

 

Andrea, we suffered from the chairhoggers mostly on a seaday, when everyone is always planning to be on the deck. Unfortunately we did not find any "hidden places" where chairs would be free to take. It was annoying when there is a row of chairs and only few people sitting on them. Others are filled with bags and towels. But don't worry this is mainly only seaday issue on my experience.

 

Once again, thank you all for the supportive replies!

[wallie5446]

Thank you all, for your kind words!

 

Few comments:

 

Wallie, for my experience Ocean View cafe offers 3-4 different kind of pizza slices (I did not dare to order my own). Comparing to variety of other food items, I felt that options are too limited. I just ment, that I would enjoy if Celebrity could bring a stand along pizzeria or italian restaurant onboard. And thank you for that Gastrobar tip!

 

 

 

Once again, thank you all for the supportive replies!

 

FYI!

They will gladly make you one to your specifications on any Celebrity ship.

But we would never have known either if not for the wife needing the GF one.

EW

[Frampton]

Me and my wife cruised on Celebrity Equinox 25.6.-2.7.2016 from Rome to Barcelona. Ship´s itinerary were Rome – Livorno – Villefranche – Ajaccio – Palma de Mallorca – Barcelona.

 

 

This was my second cruise and this is my first review.

Embarkation

We flew to Rome one day before the embarkation. We spend the day sweating in really hot Rome (temperature 36 celsius) and stayed for a night in Royal Santina hotel, only few steps away from Termini railway station.

 

 

 

On embarkation day we had some issues with the train service. We had planned to travel from Rome to cruise terminal in Civitavecchia by train. We had booked train tickets in advance. Our tickets were in the first class, in the coach number 1. In termini station we realized that the train did not have coach number 1 at all! On the platform there were luckily some American tourists whom had the same issue with pre-purchased tickets. Trainstaff did not help us at all, but the American tourists did. They knew that we could enter coach number 3 instead, and so we did. In the end, we had a nice ride to Civitavecchia with a nice another American couple embarking the same cruise as we. Finally we found that Civitavecchia´s train station is old and have few stairs to climb on. That´s good to know in advance.

 

 

Actual Check-in facilities were really well organized and we did not have to wait at all. Just walk right in to the ship.

 

 

Tips for embarkation: Do not trust the Italian railways, if you´re going to use train, leave on early one. Embarkation is swiftly when you come to harbor in early hours (around 1 pm).

Equinox

 

 

We were on the Equinox two years ago, on our honeymoon, so we already knew what to expect. Ship is beautiful and huge. We especially enjoy the Café Al Bacio. It has really nice beverages and establishment offers the best service in the ship. Speaking of, we really enjoyed the friendliness of the staff. Especially the cabin attendant and the waiter in the main dining room did their best on serving us. Food on the ship is fabulous. Ocean view café has so many options to choose from. We liked it so much, that we dined only twice in the main dining room. We also tried Silk Harvest (specialty restaurant, serving orient food) once. We can´t complain that either.

 

 

Equinox is built on 2009 and I have to say that in some areas this shows. Not badly, but still, there´s rust and stuff around. On a sundeck there was occasionally too many chairhoggers, so we had to go to the library to read our books instead.

 

 

Entertainment on board was numerous. To be honest we did not attend to so many shows, but if you´re into that, you´ll surely don´t get disappointed. As a younger cruiser, I personally would have liked to see some stand-up comedy or rock ballads – show on the ship. On the sea day there were several interesting seminars to participate. We attended the galley tour also and it was interesting. I wish one day it would be possible to see those ships magnificent Wärtsilä diesel engines also (made in Finland :)).

 

 

Only thing we really disliked was the first night´s aggressive marketing of the premium beverages packages. We had been saving about a year and a half for this trip to come true. We had carefully considered that the classic package offers us all the drinks we possibly might need and more. And know when our dream holiday finally starts, we hear in every bar and restaurant how stupid we are because we don´t want to buy premium beverage package only for 80$ more per person more. It was annoying and made us feel like being in Turkish Bazar instead on a luxury cruise liner. I´m sad, that those wonderful staff members are forced to sell these packages in every turn.

Itinerary

Livorno

We attended a Celebrity´s shore excursion to Cinque Terre. An Unesco world heritagesite, which has amazing views from the shore boat. This was really nice excursion. We especially enjoyed our tourguide Andreas, which was the best tourguide we´ve ever met. He was funny and talkative and took very good care of the whole group. He could create a nice and unique atmosphere among the group. Cinque Terre consist of five small villages on a shore line of Italy. There are many tourists, but the place is really unique. Mostly, we spend the day in Monterosso and Portovenere.

Villefranche

This was really nice small village by the sea. We went to the beach and afterwards walked around the town. People were really friendly and we felt really comfortable in here. We liked it so much, that I and my wife are now considering leaving just to there for a small holiday someday.

Ajaccio

Corsica´s biggest city was also a surprise for us. Harbour is just in the heart of the city and it made it really easy to go exploring on your own. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, so we went to his birthplace, which is a museum nowadays. I guess this is the biggest attraction on the island, so be early if you want to avoid the touristrush. City itself is really beautiful; there are lot of palm trees and many shops to choose from. Ajaccio was the biggest positive surprise on our trip.

Palma de Mallorca

Ship stayed for overnight in Palma. They had organized a shuttle transport from the dock to the Cathedral of Palma (center of the town). This was convenient and we found it to be a well spent money. First day on Palma we attended our second shore excursion. We went to the Valdemossa village about 40 minute drive from the city. There was a tour on the Valdemossa´s monastery (where Chopin had lived) and then some shopping time on your own. Monastery was exiting place and the views from the gardens were nice. Although we would have enjoyed a little bit less monastery time and bit more shopping time. On our way back the bus did made on mandatory stop on some kind of glass factory. This seemed to be just a deal made between Celebrity and the glassmakers. Factory did not offer anything special and the prices were just normal too.

 

 

Second day on Palma, we explored the town on our own. There are plenty of shops to go and nice restaurants here and there. We enjoyed our stay very much.

Disembarkation

Like embarkation, disembarkation was organized very professionally. We did not have to wait in any lines (except few minutes for the taxi). There were taxi handlers, so there were no problems with the que for the taxi.

Overal pros.

+ Cruiselife is just so easy, great food, no packing and unpacking, plenty to see

+ Staff friendliness is awesome

+ Variety of food is overwhelming

+ Liked Villefrance and Ajaccio very much

+ Café Al Bacio is the place to be while onboard

Overal cons.

- Bazar-like aggressive marketing of beverage package upgrade

- Some of the bartenders did not want to be polite or friendly

- Only few pizza options available (would be a great thing to bring a decent pizzeria onboard!)

My husband and I were on this cruise too, really enjoyed it.

[Aussie One]

My wife and I were also on this cruise and noticed most of the wait staff were from eastern block countries and not that friendly but overall it was a great cruise and will cruise Celebrity again Aussie