Loyal HAL Cruisers try Celebrity for the first time, WOW!

[Cruiz'nBaers]

We are recently off of Celebrity Equinox Southern Caribbean sailing, October 6-16, here are some of my thoughts.

 

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on Oct. 5, we like flying Southwest and like Ft. Lauderdale's smaller airport. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Airport/Cruise Port North, modest and adequate, offering shuttle service from airport and morning breakfast. There were a few places to eat in the evening within walking distance, so it served our purpose. We had arranged to shuttle to the Port of Miami the morning of the cruise for $20.00 pp, it was about a 30 minute drive. We arrived at the port around 11ish and were on the ship by noon. Check in was very easy and the lines not too long; however, shortly after arriving and getting in line we noticed that the lines were getting much more crowded and longer. Timing was just on our side that day. We had the Classic Beverage package and some onboard credit as part of our cruise package, we stopped in at a bar to talk to the bar tender about the need to upgrade to the premium package at a cost of $10.00 a day plus 18% gratuity, total of $11.80 day. We probably could have made due with the Classic Package, but, decided to upgrade to Premium, we like martinis and a couple of liquors that were only available on the Premium Package. We could have just paid the difference in price for the drinks, but we had OBC so what the heck.

 

We had lunch in the Ocean View Café, HAL's version of the Lido Marketplace, it was very nice, and while crowded, handled the crowd very well. The food stations are set up nicely, a island type of set up versus the cafeteria style set up on HAL. This seemed to make the process of selecting your food items much simpler. They had a grill area, carving station, custom made sandwich station, salad station, plus more than I can remember at the moment. The food was exceptionally good for a buffet style setting. I have been to HAL's Lido many days and walked through the selections without having anything there that appealed to me, this was not the case on the Equinox. In fact, the last full day of our cruise was a sea day, and at lunch they seemed to go all out, it seemed like the Grand Finale of Food. There were beautifully roasted Thanksgiving style turkeys, garlic and butter sautéed peel and eat shrimp, along with a wide assortment of entrees. The desert station had a larger than usual array of deserts, in addition to a chocolate fountain with the accompanying treats to dip in the chocolate. It was quite an extravaganza. Overall, I give high marks to the Ocean View Café for breakfast and lunch, it surpassed HAL's Lido, imho.

 

I am going to break this review up into several entries, I think it will make for easier reading.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Shortly after lunch, our stateroom was ready. We had a verandah cabin on deck 7, #7301 aft starboard side. It was a very nice stateroom with enough storage for 2 people, a third person would have made it tricky. The bed was nice, we had a sofa & table and a very nice desk/makeup area next to the patio door, with plenty of lighting for makeup and enough electrical outlets for hair drying and styling. There were 2 nice chairs, with reclining backs, and a table on the verandah, it made for a beautiful sail away as we were leaving Aruba and Curacao after dark. The bathroom was adequate, although tight on space. The room only had a shower, but with a nice door instead of a flimsy, clingy curtain, there was also a step for us girls for elevating our legs for shaving. But, with the nice vanity set up in the room, my dh and I could get ready at the same time without a problem. HAL's desk/vanity situation is less than ideal, the light seems dims and the mirror seems to have a smoky finish. The small lighted makeup mirror is not much help to me, maybe it works for others.

 

There were 2 banks of 8 elevators each on the ship, one more forward and one more aft, that seemed to work very good at moving the passengers. When exiting the elevators there was good signage that made maneuvering the ship very easy. On HAL it takes me a few days to get my bearings on the passenger decks, not the case on the Equinox.

 

We had fixed early seating in the dining room and were assigned a 6 person table. We were very lucky to have great tablemates, 2 couples that were about our age and very easy to get to know. Angel and Juan were our waiters and they both did an outstanding job. Miraslav was our wine steward and kept our glasses full. Like all other cruise lines, the cutbacks in the wait staff in the dining room is obvious, but all of our guys did their best and had us out of the dining room most nights by 7:45, enough time to enjoy a cocktail before the evening shows.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

The shows are what you would expect on a cruise ship. There were 3-4 (?) production shows, some had aerialists performing along with the singers and dancers, they were a nice addition to the shows. we also had a singer, magician, comedian and singer/impressionist. Overall, the shows were a nice way to spend an hour after dinner before hitting the bars for the evening.

 

We spent a lot of time in the Martini Bar, the guys there are some of the hardest working people on the ship. It can be hard sometimes to find a seat there, because, everyone else seems to enjoy that bar as much as we did. Later in the evening there is more seating available, but earlier seating is at a premium. We visited the Gastro Bar, Casino Bar, World Class Bar, Pool Bar, Ocean View Bar, and Mast Bar, plus some that I'm sure I'm forgetting, all very run very well. We had burgers at the Mast Grill twice and they were very good.

 

We were given a dinner at the specialty restaurant of our choice by Celebrity, so we choose Murano. It is a described as a French dining experience and cost $50.00 per person. We both had the lobster which was just OK. If we had to pay for this dinner, we both would have been very disappointed. Next time, we will try the Tuscan Grill, we heard good things about it.

 

There were two formal nights, called chic nights, and like all other cruise lines, the trend seems to be much more casual. At our table, my dh was the only one to wear a suit and tie each night and I wore my sparkly suits. Most people were very casual, with some of the women wearing dresses and most men wearing dockers and sport shirts. The second chic night, I did see a few tuxes and evening dresses. My dh still likes to wear a suit, so we will probably continue with our more formal tradition, but, to each his own. We did receive several comments about how nice we both looked.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

One area of the ship that we did not frequent was the Lawn Club, we were only there on the first day while we were exploring the ship. It was very pretty, had a bar and nice seating. This was the location for the two Hot Glass Shows that were presented during the cruise on sea days. We were just too busy, can't do it all, so that will have to wait for another Celebrity cruise.

 

The ship did seem to have a livelier vibe than HAL, on the last several HAL cruises we have been bored on sea days. The ages of the passengers was probably a big factor in the atmosphere, there was a much more diverse age difference from the HAL cruises we have been on. The entertainment staff appears to have been cut back on HAL, someone told me they were told by a cruise director that HAL's focus is on the port days, but a person still needs something to do to pass the time away on sea days and trivia is not the answer for everyone. Maybe the difference is that the last 2 cruises we were on with HAL was that they were cool weather cruises, New England/Canada and Alaska, and we enjoy the sun. One of the areas that I found a little lacking on Celebrity is the pool deck. They have 2 pools in the main area, one is approx. 3 feet deep and the other is approx. 6 feet deep which makes it a little tough for short girls in the deeper water, we either have to cling to the edge or tread water. The pools also seemed very crowded, and instead of having a nice aft pool, they had a solarium pool for adults only. This pool area filled up very quickly, and I can see how it would be great for cool weather cruising, for the Caribbean nothing beats HAL's beautiful aft pools. We did notice a lot of saved loungers in the morning on sea days, we usually pick a chair right after breakfast and park ourselves there on sea days, but if we had waited much longer, getting a chair could have been a problem.

 

There were several evening dance parties on this cruise. Silent disco was held twice, a little crazy like you would expect, but fun. On the evening we sailed away from Aruba, they held a Full Moon dance party on the pool deck. We went for a little while and enjoyed a drink, but returned to our room to watch the sail away from Aruba. One evening my night owl husband went to karaoke with some new friends, said he had a good time.

[canadianbear]

Enjoying your review/comparison. Our TA (who was a friend first) keeps telling us we'd enjoy Celebrity. We will probably venture to a different cruise line next year to compare.

 

 

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[Cruiz'nBaers]

I am not going to spend a lot of time on the ports, they have all been places we have been to before, with the exception of Falmouth, Jamaica, which was a substitute port for Key West. The first stop was Grand Cayman, a place we have been to before and have already done several excursion there, so we just headed via taxi to the Royal Palm Beach Resort. They have a bar, grill, pool and restrooms, along 7 Mile Beach. I don't think it's a great beach, many do, but our day there was fine, Sun and drinks on the beach, not a bad way to pass the time. When we have been to Aruba in the past, we went to Palm Beach, a very crowded area. This time we opted for Eagle Beach, must less crowded and a much nicer beach. We went to the Coco Loco Beach Bar, it sits right at the beginning of Eagle Beach, it has a bar, grill, showers and restrooms, and loungers that you can rent. We just laid our towels on the beach and enjoyed the lovely water and soft, white sand. The water temp was perfect and so was the beach. Took the public bus to and from, the buses run frequently and for around $2.60 each way per person, it is a pretty inexpensive way to get there. In Bonaire we decided to snorkel, we picked an excursion on the Sea Cow, called the double dip. This was a very professionally run excursion with guides in the water with you pointing out sea turtles, squid, barracudas, rays and a large variety of colorful fish. The equipment was very good and the rum punch was good, too. Curacao is a port that we just walked around the downtown area and did a little shopping, found a nice place to sit and have a drink, then returned to the ship to enjoy the rest of the day. Falmouth, Jamaica, has a very nice looking port area, but we didn't spend much time there. We had an excursion called the Bamboo Beach Break VIP Package. We had a bus full of approx. 45 people, and after about an hour and fifteens minutes, we arrived at a very rustic beach. We had two hostesses on our bus that were supposed to take care of the people and deliver drinks and food to them. We were supposed to receive rum punch, frozen cocktail, beer and soda, along with a "gourmet" meal of lobster and jerk chicken. Some buses had a much smaller capacity, but also had two hostesses. Our bus should have had more help, in fact, the entire beach could have used more help. It would have worked out much better if we could have gone to the bar ourselves, but our hostesses had to serve us, even though we all had wrist bands to identify us as having the all inclusive package. It would also have gone much smoother if the food would have been available through a buffet line. Overall, I do think that this excursion was poorly run, and I told the staff at the excursion deck about it. They said they have just begun using this company and were glad for the feedback. We did have a fun day, thanks to the people we were with, we just made the best of it because, after all, we were on a beach with sun, sand and blue water.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Disembarkation went very smoothly, we had a 1:50PM flight home, so we were among the later groups to leave the ship. Unlike HAL, we were supposed to leave our rooms at 8AM, we left around 8:15 and headed to the show lounge, our designated waiting area. We were called to leave the ship around 9AM, our appointed time. We found our luggage on a carousel, like the airport, gathered it up and went through customs. We did not have to fill out the usual form, so we breezed through customs and were through in a timely manner. Once out of customs, I called our transfer company. The transport waiting area was very chaotic and crowded and we were happy to get out of there and onto our shuttle and head to the much smaller Ft. Lauderdale airport, after about a 30 minute ride we were there.

 

Some final thoughts. We really liked the Celebrity Equinox and had a great 10 day cruise. We will still cruise HAL, in fact, we have a 23 day Panama Canal cruise booked for April on the Zaandam. We do feel that Celebrity has a much livelier atmosphere, and that the food (although food is subjective) was better all the way around, although the choices in the MDR were fewer than HAL (not much lamb or Oso Bucco, for example) and Murano was definitely up to the Pinnacle Grill standards The Equinox did have a very nice layout, with much activity revolving around the atrium area. Maybe we were just ready for a change, and it's nice to know that we have more choices. Any questions that you may have, I will answer to the best of my ability. Thanks for reading.

[Cruising-along]

Thank you for your interesting and informative review. We sail both Celebrity and Hal, we like them both for different reasons.

 

About the only things I dislike about Celebrity is that unless you're Elite level or better, it costs an arm and leg to get laundry done. Also I miss the wraparound promenade deck. But they do have better entertainment IMO, and more choices for dining.

 

 

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[Cruiz'nBaers]

Thank you for your interesting and informative review. We sail both Celebrity and Hal, we like them both for different reasons.

 

About the only things I dislike about Celebrity is that unless you're Elite level or better, it costs an arm and leg to get laundry done. Also I miss the wraparound promenade deck. But they do have better entertainment IMO, and more choices for dining.

 

 

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We also missed the promenade deck for walking. Celebrity did have a small walking track, but I believe you had to do 8 or 9 laps to equal a mile. It was a crowded and boring walk, so we only walked it one day. Thanks for pointing this out, it was something I wanted to mention, but forgot.

[ski ww]

Thanks for the comparison. Have not tried Celebrity, sounds like it's a great line.

Allan

[Iwantacruisenow]

Was on the Equinox in June and it was great. Going on HAL (1st time) Westerdam for Christmas. How did the HAL shows compare to Equinox, which did you like better? How would you compare the food in the main dining room between the two?

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Disembarkation went very smoothly' date=' we had a 1:50PM flight home, so we were among the later groups to leave the ship. Unlike HAL, we were supposed to leave our rooms at 8AM, we left around 8:15 and headed to the show lounge, our designated waiting area. We were called to leave the ship around 9AM, our appointed time. We found our luggage on a carousel, like the airport, gathered it up and went through customs. We did not have to fill out the usual form, so we breezed through customs and were through in a timely manner. Once out of customs, I called our transfer company. The transport waiting area was very chaotic and crowded and we were happy to get out of there and onto our shuttle and head to the much smaller Ft. Lauderdale airport, after about a 30 minute ride we were there.

 

Some final thoughts. We really liked the Celebrity Equinox and had a great 10 day cruise. We will still cruise HAL, in fact, we have a 23 day Panama Canal cruise booked for April on the Zaandam. We do feel that Celebrity has a much livelier atmosphere, and that the food (although food is subjective) was better all the way around, although the choices in the MDR were fewer than HAL (not much lamb or Oso Bucco, for example) and Murano was definitely up to the Pinnacle Grill standards The Equinox did have a very nice layout, with much activity revolving around the atrium area. Maybe we were just ready for a change, and it's nice to know that we have more choices. Any questions that you may have, I will answer to the best of my ability. Thanks for reading.[/quote']

I meant to say that Murano was NOT up to the Pinnacle Grill's standards.

[kenevenpar]

I meant to say that Murano was NOT up to the Pinnacle Grill's standards.

 

While the Lobster Dinner, prepared table-side, is the signature dish, it is not the best thing on the menu. We find that Murano is far above PG. We have never paid close to $50 to eat there as there are frequent significant discounts. I also absolutely love the cheese course, all gourmet cheeses, for lack of a better term.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We have been doing =X= of late, and are going to try the Konigsdam in a few weeks.

 

Ken

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Iwanttocruisenow, I believe the shows on the Equinox are comparable to HAL, the addition of the aerialists to some of the production shows was nice. The guest entertainers were comparable to HAL. The food in the MDR is comparable, with HAL maybe having the edge in variety. But food is such a personal preference. I found both MDR's kept us well fed. Throw in the bonus of not having to cook or clean up and you have a win/win situation.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you enjoyed your Celebrity cruise.

Thank you for taking the time to do a comparison of the 2 cruise lines.

Did the Equinox have a real library?

[zelker]

On the Solstice-class ships (of which Equinox is one) there are two library areas, one above the other. Both are open to the many-decks-high atrium so not exactly quiet and IMHO don't have that good of a book selection. There are some comfy seating areas on both decks but they lack views to the outside and to my knowledge, none of the Celebrity ships have librarians (but HAL no longer has librarians either, does it?).

 

IMHO (again), nothing compares to the HAL libraries and I'm sorry to hear that the newest ships don't have them. :(

[kenevenpar]

Library as discussed:

 

[Cruiz'nBaers]

The library looked like a nice place to sit and read. I did not see a librarian, but I did scan the shelves and there appeared to be a good selection of books. The last HAL library I was in was on the Amsterdam in May, there seemed to be mainly travel books.

[Aquahound]

Thanks for your review. Solstice Class ships are my favorite ships at sea. I enjoy HAL too but if X and HAL had the same itinerary at comparable prices, X would win every time with me. Especially Solstice Class...I love how modern and beautiful they are.

[iancal]

We are in the same place as Aquahound. Not committed to any one cruise line but all things being equal, or close to it, a Celebrity Solstice class ship will win out every time. DW loves the ship, the layout, and the choices. SImply down to personal preference.

 

We should add, on several Solstice ships the team has located a coffee and tea station just outside the main floor of the library. Very handy for us when we have had cabins nearby....most especially in the morning.

[jhsocal]

Did you ever have room service? We enjoy that for breakfast sometimes. Like the fact you can remain in your cabin until you disembark, and enjoy room service that morning.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you everyone for reporting on the Libraries and showing me a pictures,

HAL has done away with the Librarians. And a couple of ships have had the libraries removed.

[Cruise a holic]

You missed Qsine which is a great fun restaurant on the Celebrity Ships. My Dh and I really enjoy the food and the presentation. You should also consider Royal, Oasis class ships. A more diverse age of passengers. While the ships are large, the entertainment and restaurants are very good. Loads of choices. Thank you for your review

[NCTribeFan]

I really need to try X. I'm leaving soon on my 3rd HAL cruise (my "Welcome to Medicare" birthday cruise to myself). While I really like their ships (K looks gorgeous), I just think X might be a better fit.

 

I have 27 cruises on Carnival and really enjoy them, but they try too hard to shove the FUN FUN FUN down your throat that there's actually too much going on and not a single place to find any peace and quite other than your cabin and I don't cruise to sit in my cabin!

 

I also think I'd really like the non-smoking casinos on X.

 

Haven't priced any cruises lately. Hope they offer a bit of a break for us solo cruisers.

 

Thanks for your review. Very helpful!

[kenevenpar]

I also think I'd really like the non-smoking casinos on X.

 

Haven't priced any cruises lately. Hope they offer a bit of a break for us solo cruisers.

 

The single supplement discounts are far and few between. There were a few Summit cruises where it was 225% :eek:

 

Best place to find a discount seems to be on =X= exciting deals, which lately have not been that exciting, except for Summit which home ports in San Juan. The primary reason we are going HAL again is itinerary and price.

 

 

Ken

Edited October 27, 2017 by kenevenpar