Celebrity Equinox Review May 5th - May 15th 2017

[MR_T]

Celebrity Equinox May 5th - May 15th 2017 -

 

Us -

 

We are a couple that love cruises and have been on 11/12 celebrity cruises each, we are in our mid 40's... [emoji848] and live in Montreal, I arrived as excess luggage last year from England but Julie is a Canadian national, we have a fur baby but thankfully no one else that depends on us so holidays are very important to us, so it's vital we can book things we know we are going to love, and cruising fits perfectly into that plan,

 

Embarkation -

 

After a little bit of traffic returning our hire car to Avis downtown we finally ended up at the port at 10.15am, it was already busy with a long line of body's trailing around the outside of the building, at first I was a little annoyed as I generally arrive at the port around 9-9.30am and at that time I'm in the first few people there so I guess I just thought the worst and assumed I'd be waiting there & inside for ages, however the line started to move pretty much as soon as we joined it and we were inside the building in no time at all [emoji106]🏻 things continued to improve and we were checked in in no time and told to wait in a separate area for concierge class guests, after around 10 ,ins of waiting there we saw a lady head to the back of the area (I guess where the first to arrive were sent) and said they could head upstairs to board the ship... so we just headed straight up and was onboard in no time, from memory I think we were onboard around 11.15am so very happy in the end [emoji4]

 

First impressions -

 

Well, this cruise wasn't our first experience of celebrity nor was it our first cruise on the Equinox so we did indeed know what we was getting, however I'll never get fed up of that feeling you get when you board the ship and don't think the will change anytime soon [emoji4] for us knowing what we are going to get and what we want to do is great and we have a routine of what we are going to do first and how we will spend the first few hours of the cruise...

 

We are now on the ship -

 

First thing we always do is get our reservations booked up for our speciality dining package, for this cruise we booked the 6 dinner package as we booked while there was a deal on for 20% off packages so we thought that was the best option for us, I go more into the dinners a little later,

 

Then we went to the concierge class lunch in the MDR, it was the first time we have done this and to be honest it might be the last time also... don't get me wrong the food was very good but I just felt the service was a little slow and I'm not the best person at the best of times to be sitting around a dining table... plus as we are generally on early we tend to head to the buffet before it becomes a mad house so I thing for me (us) that is the better option,

 

Then just as we were getting up they announced the cabins were ready so we headed straight for that, my case arrived pretty much straight away so that was great as I could then unpack and get out of the way for when Julies case arrived, unfortunately that only happened after muster drill but I guess that fact it did arrive has to be good [emoji106]🏻

 

Muster drill was quite pain free as we were in ensemble lounge and arrived early so we could get 2 seats right by the entrance so not only was it comfortable it was close to the exit so we could make a quick getaway once it was completed, on completion we did the walk up to deck 10 to watch sail away on our balcony, this was the first time we have done this as normally we head to deck 14 sunset bar but now a lot of people have the drinks package it tends to become a zoo up there so just thought as we were doing this cruise on our own we would try the balcony option, it was a nice way to start the journey just Julie & I [emoji4]

 

Cabin -

 

We were in cabin 1150 which is a standard C3 concierge class cabin on deck 10, I personally like the c/cabins as I like the location and some of the benefits you get with it, it's not for everyone but for me it's worth the extra I paid for it,

 

Our cabin steward was good, we don't tend to ask for anything after day 1 so don't really have much to report on that, he did everything we expected of him and was always polite & welcoming when we did see him,

 

One thing I was disappointed in with regard to concierge class was that they have now replaced the leather embossed see pass holder with a cheap rubber alternative which In my opinion is RUBBISH... Looks cheap and I can only imagine that's why they changed it to cut costs... but it's not going to turn me away from celebrity but it's a little annoying when you notice little things like that at the beginning of the cruise, it still listed the leather ones on the website and even on the welcome letter in the cabin...

 

We didn't have any issues with our cabin but did have loud people next to us but I guess that's something you can't really control... but thankfully they were generally quiet by bedtime so not too much of a problem, we did heard some banging each night when we first arrived back but couldn't work out from where it was coming... again it stopped after a while so nothing too serious [emoji106]🏻

 

Public areas around the ship -

 

To be honest I'm always surprised how great every ship I get on looks considering there age & usage, +-3000 pax on them every day of the year without any rest, the crew onboard really do do an amazing job and I've never seen anything other then spotless in all areas around the ship,

 

All crew we came in contact with were amazing and very friendly, yes I know that's their job but I notice a difference for other cruise lines I've experienced, I did at the beginning and still do think celebrity have great crew members all over the ship [emoji106]🏻

 

Restaurants -

 

MDR - we only ate here for 3 nights but all 3 meals were great and we had good servers (same lot all 3 nights) we did a table for 2 each night as we (I'm) not really a table sharing kind of guy... nothing against people (mostly anyway) I just don't like to sit for dinner any longer then I have too,

 

Murano - we ate here 2 times and had a decent meal both times, service as usual here was great and a step above anywhere else on the ship by far, we had Nenad looking after us both times and he was great too,

 

Tuscan - after our last couple of experiences of Tuscan this was the one we were looking forward to the least, however the one night we booked was early on and we had a great night there for both food & service so we ended up changing our plan slightly and choose to eat there again [emoji39] both times we had great food & service, a little disappointed that they no longer do the chocolate fondue for dessert as that was my second favourite celebrity dessert... (first is the tombstone @ qsine)

 

Silk Harvest - I was looking forward to this more then Julie as I'm a big Asian food fan, like other times the appetisers we had were great and enjoyed them very must but the main dishes were a bit disappointing to be honest... simple things that just ruined the food for us, but maybe next time we should just have more from the small plate (appetiser) section,

 

Sushi On 5 - just was looking forward to this one more as she is a huge sushi fan, plus we had 2/3 great experiences for this place on the reflection last year, unfortunately although it was good it just wasn't as good as on the reflection so we were just a bit disappointed, and because of this we did change our second booking there for the previous mentioned extra night at Tuscan, however just did order a takeaway roll for lunch one day as they now have that as an option on the room service menu and that time Julie really enjoyed it so I guess her faith has been slightly restored,

 

Buffet - we ate here most days for breakfast & lunch and it was as expected with plenty of choice for both meals, we did eat there for one night but it wasn't as good for dinner so we decided we wouldn't do that again,

 

Mast Grill - we do like this place and this cruise didn't disappoint and the burgers were as tasty as ever [emoji39][emoji106]🏻

 

Aqua Spa - we didn't try this place

 

Cafe al Bacio - a firm favourite of mine and enjoyed a coffee and some evilness at least once a day, the mini chocolate/lemon tarts are amazing [emoji39]

 

Bars -

 

Passport Bar - we do like this place as it just seems a little calm spot to people watch either walking by of watching them dance in the foyer,

 

Martini Bar - pretty much the same as usual, but without putu there it did seem a little quieter and less entertaining, drinks were good and strong [emoji483][emoji106]🏻

 

WCB - we are not fans of this place but did give it another go, still not fans... please bring back the molecular bar... please,

 

Pool Bar - great drinks & service as usual

 

Sunset Bar - only used this a couple of times and one very good and one very very bad... still can't work out what they did to what was meant to be a Miami vice... [emoji33][emoji13]

 

Al Bacio 2 (buffet) - great & friendly staff as usual

 

Casino Bar - only used a couple of times but all good

 

Casino -

 

I like to play the slots and generally have a set amount for my donation to the cause... sometimes a come back with a small amount left and sometimes nothing, on a very rare occasion I've come back with nearly as much as I started with [emoji12][emoji23] on this occasion I actually came back with around double the amount of cash I started with... however to get this I did use the OBC we had from celebrity but managed to convert the same amount into real cash I could take out, so I'm very happy with that,

 

Shows -

 

Theatre - We went to a couple and the ones we saw were very good, the first one was a comedian/singer/piano player and he was very good, the second was a celebrity production show which was a singing/dancing show with pop songs but in a west end/broadway style and that was also good, I'd say both were an improvement on what we have experienced before,

 

Glass Show - Didn't go!

 

Other Areas - As for other activities around the ship that's not really our thing so we can't really report on any of them,

 

Pool & Area -

 

We are morning pool people and like to enjoy it before it gets so busy it resembles human soup, this generally happened around 11am onwards... we tend to get down to the pool around 7am and on this occasion the chair hogs were in full force... the same people every day had their stuff out only to show up at some point later in the morning/day... some people much later in the day/afternoon... [emoji33]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[MR_T]

Disembarkation -

 

This was one of the best ever, we decided to walk off with our luggage and was planning to head down around 6.45am to join the queue, they actually announced around 6.45 that walk off was now ready and to head to deck 5, so we grabbed our stuff and headed down with our bags, straight off the ship and straight through customs & immigration and in a cab to the airport before 7am so all good,

 

We rented a car from the airport so we had transport for the day, Julie is heading home to Montreal today from FLL and I'm travelling back to London/Rome from Miami for a little extra trip,

 

All went smoothly with our plan today and Julie is well on her way home and I'm sitting in the lounge at Miami airport waiting for my night flight to London,

 

It's never nice to say goodbye to a loved one at the airport but this trip was booked a while ago and hopefully it'll be the last time we head off in separate directions after our future cruises,

 

 

 

 

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[lizmit]

Thank you Mr. T you did an amazing job on the review. Happy Sails

~ Liz

[easyboy]

Thanks for the detailed review.

 

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[Clarea]

Enjoyed the report, thanks.:)

[a.madruga]

Thanks for information

[cruisingqueen62]

Great review I will be sailing on 7/2... just got off the rReflection TA and can't wait to leave again!

 

 

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[Princess Fi]

Thanks for the review. Really enjoyed. We are on the Equinox in October. Our first on the Equinox but our 7th Celebrity cruise.

 

 

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[BettyPC]

I loved the descriptions & your impression of the dining and Bars. We are going on Celebrity for the first time in 2018 - and I love to plan!

 

Betty

[wallie5446]

Did you ever try the GastroBar and the small plates there?

[MR_T]

Did you ever try the GastroBar and the small plates there?

 

 

No not on this trip, we talked about it but didn't make it in the end

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[MR_T]

The only way to get over getting off a cruise is to get on another on...

 

This time it's NCL Epic for a 7 night Mediterranean cruise [emoji41]

 

 

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