Celebrity Equinox Review - Ultimate Caribbean Cruise, January 30th - February 10th

[Pier290]

Are the helipad invites typical on sailings for concierge? ?

 

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[JenGTravels]

Pier290 - I'm not sure if they always invite Concierge passengers to the helipad. It was the first time I was invited and I've sailed concierge a couple of times previously but it has been a few years. Both of my sisters have been invited before but they are Elite and also were staying in Suites at the time.

 

cruisetimeforme - I did spend a few minutes watching the hot glass show. They had an evening show with an acoustic duo playing music. It's pretty cool to watch and definitely worth checking out at least once. I will be honest and say I didn't care for the entertainment in the theater all that much. There was a show of Broadway tunes one afternoon on a sea day and while they all had nice voices, it wasn't the best arrangement of songs. There was a comedian who was surprisingly funny as it was billed as a "clean, family friendly" show. I went to one other event there but I couldn't tell you much about it as it wasn't all that memorable.

[JenGTravels]

Day 11 - At Sea

 

One of my favorite activities during this trip was the "Behind the Scenes" tour we took on the last sea day. For anyone that likes to know how things work, it was a fascinating look into what they have to do to keep a ship of that size running smoothly. We started the tour in the Gastropub where the tour guide gave us earpieces so we could hear her speaking through the microphone. This was a great idea because some of the locations we visited were quite loud and it would have been hard to hear.

 

Our first stop on the tour was the Dining Room. There, we heard about the different napkins folds they do for different occasions, the wine room, and quite a few other interesting facts. Then we went into the kitchen. The executive pastry chef was the guide for this part of the tour and he showed us where all of the desserts are made:

 

 

He then brought us through the rest of the kitchen and explained how it all works. It's really interesting too see how they put together so many delicious meals for hundreds of people.

 

The next stop was storage:

 

 

Keep in mind, this was the last day of the cruise. Imagine how full it was on the first day.

 

 

They have two storage rooms. One is for cold storage and the other is for regular storage. Next they took us down the long hallway that goes the length of the ship that they call I-95:

 

Next we went into the trash and recycling room:

 

The way they handle garbage was fascinating to hear about (no joke!). They recycle as much as they possibly can. The food waste gets turned into pulp that they are allowed to release into the water to feed the fish as long as they are a certain distance from shore and going a certain speed. I was really impressed with all that they do to prevent waste.

 

Next we went to the engineering room after a quick security check.

 

 

I was surprised we were allowed to take photos here but the engineer said it was allowed. He explained how the ship runs, showed us the engine room cameras.

 

More to be continued in the next post!

[JenGTravels]

Day 11 - At Sea Day Continued:

 

They have cameras on the engines at all times:

 

 

That guy was monitoring them and dealing with any alarms that went off.

 

Our next stop was the laundry room. This was the Laundry Master showing us how the irons work:

 

This is the little machine that puts the stickers on your clothes with your room number so they don't wind up going to someone else:

 

 

The crew gets their uniforms washed for free but personal clothes they have to pay for just like we do or there is a very small laundry room they can use.

 

Next, we went up to the bridge:

 

This gentleman was the only Irish person on the crew. Also pictured is the radar they use to see other vessels in the area.

 

Overall, it was a fantastic tour. My only minor complaint is that they should have split us into two groups rather than one large group. It was about 20 people and it was hard to cram everyone in to these small spaces and still be able to see everything. Even with that minor annoyance, the tour was totally worth the $99 and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the goings on behind the scenes.

[JenGTravels]

We've come to the end of our trip. A few odds an ends:

 

This is Pedro and Albert. Anyone would be lucky to sit at their tables in the main dining room.

 

 

This is stateroom 1054:

 

 

 

 

We did eat at Silk Harvest but apparently none of us took any photos of it. The food was really delicious.

 

 

Luggage Valet is back as we've heard from others on the board and completely worth it. My luggage was picked up the night before and I didn't have to see it or worry about it again until I arrived to my home airport. Another wonderful thing about the luggage valet is no overweight baggage fees.

 

 

This is the naughty table of confiscated items that people were to pick up on their way out:

 

 

 

It's hard to tell but it is mostly irons and extension cords. If you need an extension cord for a medical device (like a CPAP), you just have to fill out a form on the Celebrity website and the stateroom attendant will provide one for you when you arrive.

 

 

Overall, this was a fantastic trip on the Celebrity Equinox. The ship itself is beautiful. Every single person that I encountered was friendly and helpful. They all just seemed really happy so either they are all very good at faking it, or the vibe on the ship is generally a good one.

 

 

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. I'm sure there are things I've forgotten to include.

[Pier290]

Incredible review. Thank u for your efforts!

 

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[NemoCrownie]

Wonderful review! We were also on this sailing and thoroughly enjoyed the Equinox and the crew. My girlfriend did the behind the scenes tour and said it was fascinating. Thanks for doing this review.

 

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[LucasLounger1]

Thanks for the review - I think! We were booked on this very cruise but ended up transferring to a less expensive cruise. We were even planning to do an Oscar Brown tour and Nachi Cocom! We just couldn't justify the expense and the price never dropped a penny from booking until our decision to move.

 

The only good thing is that my cruise is yet to come and not past!

[Melissa at Mohair Meadows]

We took this cruise a few years ago. Thanks for the memories. No cruise this winter so I have to read reviews and enjoy it vicariously.

 

Melissa

[JaniceB]

Very nice review thank you!

[FlorenceItaly]

Wonderful review. Thanks so much for sharing. We have the Equinox booked but not until 2018.

[wallie5446]

Excellent write up!

We are back on the Equinox for the 3rd time this yr.

Did you get to try the GastroBar? If so, have they updated the beer choices?

Thanks,

EW

[kannna]

As your room mate on this cruise, I find this a very accurate and lovely review of a fabulous girls cruise. And I mean lovely in the New England sense not the southern sense. :cool:

 

PS. I enjoyed the sushi so much I went back for lunch twice.

 

We went to Elite Cocktail hour a couple of times and there was always someone there quickly to take your drink order and replenish if needed. This is better than previous cruises where it had been hard to find cocktail servers. It would however be nice if the nibbles were more plentiful.

[easyboy]

Thanks for your review.

[redransom]

That was a really enjoyable review. 5/5

 

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[Hatteras51]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on Equinox in Sept. I would love to do the behind the scenes tour. Did you have to climb up any steps on this tour? I have read that you have to go down a lot of steps to get to the galley on some of the ships.

[JenGTravels]

Thanks for all of the nice comments! To answer the questions:

 

GastroBar - I didn't get a chance to check it out or really peruse the beer menu. I meant to since I like to try different beers but I never made it.

 

Behind the Scenes Tour - There is a lot of walking on the tour but we did use the crew elevators instead of taking the stairs. The "Heart of the Operation" tour did have some stairs as we went from Deck 3 to Deck 5.

[Hatteras51]

Thanks for all of the nice comments! To answer the questions:

 

GastroBar - I didn't get a chance to check it out or really peruse the beer menu. I meant to since I like to try different beers but I never made it.

 

Behind the Scenes Tour - There is a lot of walking on the tour but we did use the crew elevators instead of taking the stairs. The "Heart of the Operation" tour did have some stairs as we went from Deck 3 to Deck 5.

 

 

 

Thanks. That answers my question.

[landlockedinco]

Such a great review and nice pictures as well! What delicious-looking food and great weather!

 

Glad you had a fabulous time :)

 

Thanks for sharing!

[ChucktownSteve]

Great review. Thank you for taking the time to post the pictures. I especially enjoyed your tour pictures since I didn't do that on my December Equinox cruise. I too found Silk Harvest very, very good and worth the price of admission!

 

My opinion of the Equinox is higher than her sister the Eclipse. I felt the Equinox had a much better overall crew and attitude even though there were some gems on the Eclipse that made the difference for me.

[telnshell]

What a great review and a wonderful insight to the Equinox. We are first time cruisers booked on this ship in September. I would really appreciate if anyone could take time to answer a few questions. We have classic drinks package, ideally don't want to upgrade to premium unless we need to. The things we are hoping for from this would be a nice (not expensive) wine with dinner, a nice beer for the men and a few nice cocktails for the ladies. Do you think this will work or would it be beneficial to upgrade? We also wanted to book some speciality dining but wasn't sure if our package would cover wine in these restaurants or that we would have to buy it. Could someone confirm this? Also please could someone advise which restaurants are included at no extra charge and which would be included in the specialty package? One more thing before I leave, can we get soft drinks and bottled water for our room or excursions? Many thanks in advance ;p

[up north girl]

Day 7 - Puerto Limón, Costa Rica

 

I organized a tour with Oscar Brown Tours for this port. There were five of us and it was $45pp for the tour and it lasted about 4 hours. Definitely worth it.

 

Our first stop was at the side of the road to see a monkey in a tree:

 

 

He also showed us a lipstick plant:

 

 

Our next stop was a farm stand where he explained a lot of the plants to us that were growing around the stand and then we got to try some fruit.

 

 

I had the best banana of my life at this farm stand and bought some coffee and chocolate to give out back home.

 

We then went on a boat ride on the river. It was raining so I was glad I had my poncho. We saw a lot of different birds, some sloths, howler monkeys, a baby alligator and a Jesus Christ Lizard:

 

 

Sloth:

 

After that, he took us to the top of a hill that had a view of the ship in port before bringing us back. This is another port with a very long walk from the entrance to the ship and there is not a shuttle for this one.

 

 

You were okay with this excursion? Someone else on CC said the river tour was terrible. Do you remember the names of the tours you took? Both the Cartagena one and the Costa Rica one thru Brown tours?

[Gsuzy]

Great review I enjoyed rembering all the things we did together and all the fun times we had together!! :D

[Young22]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. A question about the "behind the scenes"; I've read other cruise lines give out souvenirs on their ship tours- did celebrity have any swanky gifts?

[rxs148]

Liked reading your review... did you keep copies of the daily schedules??