Equinox, returned May 5, short review

[Pia1913]

Linda/Lou, thank you for the information. We board on June 18th. I would never have thought to go to the martini bar, but now I will make the effort just to see the "entertainment."

[Oskial]

We were also on this sailing. I agree with most of what your review said except for the wine selection. I found it to be OK. They have a nice red called Ellegance that I had every night and quite enjoyed it. I would agree that it isn't the best wine selections but it served its purpose for me. For anyone wanting more of a wine selection you may want to bring your own to the table. You're allowed 1 bottle per person when you embark. If you bring it to the dining room there is a $25 corkage fees but for some that may be worth it. I never had any wine left at the bottom of the glass at the end of a meal so it couldn't have been that bad.

We went to the festival on the Friday and it was fabulous. Bring a stool or chair to sit on. We have a stool/backpack thingy and it worked out great. Lots of people had those collapsable chairs. The food there was very good. The Crawfish Monica is not to be missed. There are lots of places that sell beer and if you can't find one there are a bunch of people walking around with wagons that carry a large chest full of ice and cold beverages. We never went thirsty. There is a tram that you can take to Sanchez dock that costs $1.25 or if you are a senior it is only 40 cents. From there we took a bus that put us in the fair grounds and it was $20 a person that included the return ride back to Sanchez.

Saturday morning we did a four hour tour of New Orleans we got through "Viator". Highly recommend this tour. They take you to a number of places that includes a cemetery, a mansion and a very informative historical tour of the city and a stop where you can , and should, buy some binietes. (sp?) Sunday (the day of the storm) we went to the World War II museum. Wow. The place is huge and you should be prepared to stay for a few hours. If you are a WW II buff this is not to be missed. They have it separated into 3 areas. The war in Europe, the war in the Phillipines and a separate building that has a number of planes hanging from the ceiling.

As stated already the ship is immaculate. This was the third time we were on the Equinox and the service is second to none. We did select dining but ended up at the same table at the same time every time we ate in the Main Dining room. Roger was the head waiter and he and his staff were amazing. They were friendly, attentive, funny and all in all just a pleasure to have them serve us every night. We also had a dining package for 3 nights and went to all three of the specialty restaurants. They were all very good.

The only really negative about the cruise was that our room (8337) was noisy. We mentioned this at Guest Relations and they did investigate. It seems that our room is in a position where the toilets flushing from other rooms (don't know what rooms) were very loud in our room. Our cruise companions were in the next room to us and they never heard anything. We never had this problem on any of the other cruises. I suppose if we put up a fuss they would have moved us but we decided to just stay there.

Freeport was a disappointment. They still haven't recovered from the hurricane they experienced a few years ago. Sad really because we were there in 1988 and it was great. Here's hoping they can recover soon. I can't imagine the hurt they are going through.

At Cozumel we did the Nachi Cocum beach again. It is our favourite beach destination. They only allow 100 people a day at the resort that includes food, all beverages, chairs and a palapa umbrella for $55 a person. Can't go wrong.

 

Key West is a lot of fun. Lots to do and see here. We went to Hemingway House (very interesting) and then did a little bar hopping. We also did the hop on hop off tour.

Costa Maya has a brand new port and dock and it really is quite beautiful. It was at the end of the cruise and we did't do anything here except go to the port, have a look around and couple of drinks. Lots of bars to choose from. There are a few beach resorts here that you can get a taxi and visit them if you like. Originally we had figured to get to one but change our minds and just goofed around at the port.

 

All in all I would do this cruise again in a heart beat. It's just that there are so many more to choose from and we want to visit them all!! However, the budget doesn't allow for that. If you do choose to sail on the Equinox you won't be disappointed.

[bluecruisin]

One last question please. Did anyone go to the WWII museum? Any idea how far it is from the port or from Garden district and can you take the trolley> Thanks!!!!

[bluecruisin]

oskial, Ok, I am totally blind. I did not see your above review!! Could you please tell me how far it was from the ship and how you got there? Thanks also for your review!

[Oskial]

oskial, Ok, I am totally blind. I did not see your above review!! Could you please tell me how far it was from the ship and how you got there? Thanks also for your review!

 

It was about a 15 minute walk. No problem. When we finished with the museum it was raining so we took a cab back to the port. Cost was $8 plus tip. If it wasn't raining we would have walked back too. We ended up at a bar right by the ship and had lunch there just because we wanted to have another experience at New Orleans. Can't remember the name but it started with an "M" and was pretty good.

[JaniceB]

So glad you had a great time! We live in Fl so couldn't use the valet program. Agree the storm was pretty nasty. Yes, we will go back knowing we can sit!

I went to jazzfest, on Saturday not on the cruise, and I found some very light weight chairs that I brought on the plane and could put in a backpack on Amazon., people use them when hiking. I will bring them on a cruise and any festivals we go to from now on. I can take them to the beach and not have to rent chairs. Sunday was not a complete wash out but I have been to jazzfest in the rain and it is a mud pit, so we passed and went to Frenchmen St. for some jazz music. Love that Celebrity does these cruises to New Orleans, I will have to book one in the future.

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

We were also on this sailing. I agree with most of what your review said except for the wine selection. I found it to be OK. They have a nice red called Ellegance that I had every night and quite enjoyed it. I would agree that it isn't the best wine selections but it served its purpose for me. For anyone wanting more of a wine selection you may want to bring your own to the table. You're allowed 1 bottle per person when you embark. If you bring it to the dining room there is a $25 corkage fees but for some that may be worth it. I never had any wine left at the bottom of the glass at the end of a meal so it couldn't have been that bad.

We went to the festival on the Friday and it was fabulous. Bring a stool or chair to sit on. We have a stool/backpack thingy and it worked out great. Lots of people had those collapsable chairs. The food there was very good. The Crawfish Monica is not to be missed. There are lots of places that sell beer and if you can't find one there are a bunch of people walking around with wagons that carry a large chest full of ice and cold beverages. We never went thirsty. There is a tram that you can take to Sanchez dock that costs $1.25 or if you are a senior it is only 40 cents. From there we took a bus that put us in the fair grounds and it was $20 a person that included the return ride back to Sanchez.

Saturday morning we did a four hour tour of New Orleans we got through "Viator". Highly recommend this tour. They take you to a number of places that includes a cemetery, a mansion and a very informative historical tour of the city and a stop where you can , and should, buy some binietes. (sp?) Sunday (the day of the storm) we went to the World War II museum. Wow. The place is huge and you should be prepared to stay for a few hours. If you are a WW II buff this is not to be missed. They have it separated into 3 areas. The war in Europe, the war in the Phillipines and a separate building that has a number of planes hanging from the ceiling.

As stated already the ship is immaculate. This was the third time we were on the Equinox and the service is second to none. We did select dining but ended up at the same table at the same time every time we ate in the Main Dining room. Roger was the head waiter and he and his staff were amazing. They were friendly, attentive, funny and all in all just a pleasure to have them serve us every night. We also had a dining package for 3 nights and went to all three of the specialty restaurants. They were all very good.

The only really negative about the cruise was that our room (8337) was noisy. We mentioned this at Guest Relations and they did investigate. It seems that our room is in a position where the toilets flushing from other rooms (don't know what rooms) were very loud in our room. Our cruise companions were in the next room to us and they never heard anything. We never had this problem on any of the other cruises. I suppose if we put up a fuss they would have moved us but we decided to just stay there.

Freeport was a disappointment. They still haven't recovered from the hurricane they experienced a few years ago. Sad really because we were there in 1988 and it was great. Here's hoping they can recover soon. I can't imagine the hurt they are going through.

At Cozumel we did the Nachi Cocum beach again. It is our favourite beach destination. They only allow 100 people a day at the resort that includes food, all beverages, chairs and a palapa umbrella for $55 a person. Can't go wrong.

 

Key West is a lot of fun. Lots to do and see here. We went to Hemingway House (very interesting) and then did a little bar hopping. We also did the hop on hop off tour.

Costa Maya has a brand new port and dock and it really is quite beautiful. It was at the end of the cruise and we did't do anything here except go to the port, have a look around and couple of drinks. Lots of bars to choose from. There are a few beach resorts here that you can get a taxi and visit them if you like. Originally we had figured to get to one but change our minds and just goofed around at the port.

 

• All in all I would do this cruise again in a heart beat. It's just that there are so many more to choose from and we want to visit them all!! However, the budget doesn't allow for that. If you do choose to sail on the Equinox you won't be disappointed.

Hi,question on the anytime dining. We usually book the fixed 2nd seating but on our upcoming cruise that is waitlisted. We love having the same staff and table every night. How did you arrange the same table?

[SunSandSea]

Since all of you just got off the EQ perhaps you will have some answers for me.

1. Do you know for sure that the main DR is open to Elite and Elite+ for embarkation lunch? Never heard this before.

2. How much do you, or others you know, tip (cash) to breakfast room service delivery person?

3. Does anyone know of hotels in MIA that give credit slips (50%?) to park at Port of Miami parking instead of at the hotel?

Thanks...........Peg We sail Monday - Whoopee!!!!! Packing tomorrow.

[Oskial]

Hi,question on the anytime dining. We usually book the fixed 2nd seating but on our upcoming cruise that is waitlisted. We love having the same staff and table every night. How did you arrange the same table?

 

On the first night we just happened to enjoy the wait staff we had and the time we were given. (7:45). The time was good because it was just ahead of the 7:45 - 8:00 crowd that were at the show. The hostess was fabulous and she was able to secure that table for about the same time for the rest of the cruise. We arrived at her desk about 7:25 and she gave us one of those buzzer/light things. However there were a couple of nights we didn't get our table until about 8:00. No big deal. We just had another drink in the Gastro Bar lounge which is right beside the entrance. The martini bar is close by too. Bottom line is all you have to do is ask. The staff on the Equinox is very pleased to accommodate any reasonable request. If Roger is still there when you go on your cruise, he and his staff are very good.

[Oskial]

Since all of you just got off the EQ perhaps you will have some answers for me.

1. Do you know for sure that the main DR is open to Elite and Elite+ for embarkation lunch? Never heard this before.

2. How much do you, or others you know, tip (cash) to breakfast room service delivery person?

3. Does anyone know of hotels in MIA that give credit slips (50%?) to park at Port of Miami parking instead of at the hotel?

Thanks...........Peg We sail Monday - Whoopee!!!!! Packing tomorrow.

I know that the Main DR is open for concierge. Not sure about Elite. We normally tip a couple of dollars each time we had room service. We used Safe Cruise parking. Price was about $110 for the 11 day cruise. Parking at the port is $20 per day. At least it was last month. We had no problem with the Safe Cruise people. Would do it again.

[LSauls7537]

Hi,question on the anytime dining. We usually book the fixed 2nd seating but on our upcoming cruise that is waitlisted. We love having the same staff and table every night. How did you arrange the same table?

 

When we checked in on night 2, we just asked if we could have the same table, we like our wait staff and the table next to us was a 4 top of friendly people. We told them we would let them know if we weren't going to be there as we did one night when we ate at Tuscan. There was no problem.

[LSauls7537]

Since all of you just got off the EQ perhaps you will have some answers for me.

1. Do you know for sure that the main DR is open to Elite and Elite+ for embarkation lunch? Never heard this before.

2. How much do you, or others you know, tip (cash) to breakfast room service delivery person?

3. Does anyone know of hotels in MIA that give credit slips (50%?) to park at Port of Miami parking instead of at the hotel?

Thanks...........Peg We sail Monday - Whoopee!!!!! Packing tomorrow.

I don't know of any hotels giving credit for Miami parking.

 

We tip $3 for room service delivery.

 

Other questions, I can't answer, sorry

[Pia1913]

Enjoy your free room service delivery while it lasts. Inasmuch as RCI instituted a $7.95 fee as of March 30th, I see Celebrity doing the same thing in the near future.

[helen haywood]

MDR lunch on embarkation day is only for Concierge Class.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[wallie5446]

Our favorite ship, about to do our fourth on Equinox. Thanks for the review.

We are on with Pat n Joe for the 3rd time in Nov!

Thanks for the appetizer! 😁

[SunSandSea]

Enjoy your free room service delivery while it lasts. Inasmuch as RCI instituted a $7.95 fee as of March 30th, I see Celebrity doing the same thing in the near future.

WOW?..hadn't heard about that! Thanks.

[SunSandSea]

Thanks,everyone, for your replies. We are concierge so will try MDR on embark. Fifth time on EQ....hope it's as great as all the other times. Crew always exceptional. Sixth time will be in November. Then we move to FLL .....too far to MIA when FLL is closer. Depends also on other prior cruise friends plans. Happy cruising🚢🚢🚢. Peg

[cruisin lady ca]

One last question please. Did anyone go to the WWII museum? Any idea how far it is from the port or from Garden district and can you take the trolley> Thanks!!!!

 

Also on this cruise, we went to the National WWII Museum on the Sunday we were in NOLA as our walking tour in the Garden District was rained out. I am afraid I can't answered your question about using the trolley. Distance wise, it seemed to be pretty close to the Garden District as riding from there to the museum didn't take very long.

 

We used Uber and Lyft to get around and found that the majority of rides went very smoothly. We did have one less than favorable experience with a driver who didn't know her way around and didn't use GPS for directions either. She got lost a number of times, resulting in an extended journey back to the ship from the fairgrounds (location of Jazz Festival). We submitted a "protest" to Uber and they reduced the fare for that ride.

 

The National WWII Museum is well worth your time. An afternoon is not enough to cover the entire museum. My DH is still talking about the museum whenever he is asked about our cruise. The exhibits are comprehensive and very informative. It is a world-class museum. Do purchase the ticket for the movie that is narrated by Tom Hanks. Excellent!

[cruisin lady ca]

Hi,question on the anytime dining. We usually book the fixed 2nd seating but on our upcoming cruise that is waitlisted. We love having the same staff and table every night. How did you arrange the same table?

 

We enjoyed having Select Dining as it gave us tremendous flexibility. Some evenings we went to dinner Before 6 pm. Other evenings we are late - between 7 and 8 pm, or even later when our excursion ended late.It is possible to ask to be seated in the same section each night. Our personal preference was to be seated in the "private" area at the back of the MDR because the noise level was much lower away from the area that overlooked the lower level of the MDR. We discovered Our favorite waiter, Reymond, and sommelier, Jelena, in that section - and were very glad we did. Reymond was our waiter in Blu on Reflection last year and is now on Equinox. He made our dining experience memorable!

 

 

It took us a few days to arrive in Reymond's section in the dining room. We bounced around on the other side of the dining room and weren't impressed by either the sommeliers so we opted to try the other side. Lucky for us, we were put in Reymond's section and requested seating in his section each of the remaining nights of our cruise.

 

 

I also decided that I would ask for the wine list each night. It was not offered and the the wines listed on the dinner menu did not adequately cover the range of wines by the glass available with premium beverage package. The wine list gave us more to work with.

 

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[cruisefreaks]

I just returned from the Constellation (LOVE that ship) and the room service was $3.95 after midnight. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were no charge, or delivery fee.