Back from Equinox in the Southern Carib - A few thoughts

[GoodScout]

Just finished the 11-day Southern Caribbean trip on Equinox. My wife's second and my first Celebrity cruise. Some thoughts and tips: 

 

1) This was the last voyage for Captain Kate before her vacation. She left the trip with us on Friday. The good news: She signed a new contract and will be back.

2) The shows are exceptional, and you won't have a bad performance. The standups booked were great, the cast shows while not up to Broadway calibre were certainly better than those on other cruise lines. Topper has gotten some grief over the contrived plot, but if you let that go, the performances themselves are great. The team has three great acrobats/arialists, and they've done a respectable job of weaving them into the singing and dancing performances. 

3) The ships Cruise Director and and Activity Directors, Dan and Therese, are frikkin EVERYWHERE. And always with a smile on their faces. And always funny. (Dan, a redhead and a touch portly, jokes that he looks like what Prince Harry would look like if he let himself go). 

4) Pool deck staff did a good job of taking up towels from chairs when they were left for too long. Sea days chairs in the sun were almost impossible to find, but they were filled with people, not "holding towels."

5) We had the Classic rather than the Premium drink package. It was fine for us. I like Grey Goose over other vodkas, but it wasn't worth $20 a day more. Even if I'd ordered it for 4 drinks a day, with only a $2 uncharge per drink I would have come out ahead. It also covered canned sodas and custom coffees, so I was very content. 

6) Excursions:

• St. Thomas is without a doubt the worst stop in the Caribbean. Once you get into downtown, you get to spend the day having shopkeepers harassing you to come into their shops. We had rain the first half of the day, but when it broke we took the Water Island Ferry across the bay, rented a golf cart for $40 and toodled around the island, settling on a small dive beach bar just a mile up from the ferry landing.
• Antigua is the second worst because you get harassed by a million drivers trying to take you to a beach. After 20 minutes of nonstop browbeating we surrendered and ended up at a beach just north of Ffrey's Beach that was nice, with great sand and water, and a decent bar/restaurant shack. My tip - pick an older driver - he's more dependable and has been there longer, so knows more about what you might want.
• St. Croix can be a cheap stopover. Walk just a mile to the left of the dock along the road and you'll come to Honeymoon Beach with a nice place to rent chairs/umbrellas and an excellent restaurant/bar. 
• If you've had enough of living, rent a car in St. Lucia. Aside from driving on the left while in the right side of the car, all the roads are incredibly narrow, and no matter where you go, you're going to be heading up mountain roads filled with hairpin turns. We drove to the batik place just outside Castries, and then on for two more hours to see the Pitons. It was enjoyable for my wife but stressful as hell for me. I drank three greyhounds as soon as I made it back to the ship.
• St. Martin is still working to recover from Irma. The French side's recovery has been much slower, and the entire island was working hard to give tourists a reason to come there and spend their dollars to aid the recovery. We love Grand Case, and it was sorely in need of visitors to help out.

7 ) Service levels are excellent. Our room steward, Paulino, was beyond attentive and hardworking and no matter how often we came in and out of the room, every time we came back it always looked as pristine as the day we boarded. Gilbert our waiter in the MDR knew us by heart by our second visit. Room service was provided by Raj each morning, and he always delivered a smile with our meal. 

8 ) Tipping- We prepaid tips but made sure to deliver additional tips to those mentioned in item 7. 

9)  Balcony vs. Concierge vs. Aqua - We started off with a deck 6 balcony with an obstructed view and through our cruise agent gradually worked ourselves up to an unobstructed deck 8 balcony. Then we got an offer to upgrade to Concierge for $150 each. For reasons mentioned in previous threads we did. We then got an offer to upgrade again to Aqua for another $350 but chose not to, fearing a room right under the pool deck. We liked our final choice, and I'll tell you why. It wasn't one big thing - it was lots and lots of little things:

• The first-day luncheon in the MDR was a great benefit to us. We liked not being part of the masses jamming the buffet on Oceanview, instead enjoying a relaxed, civil discussion at a table for 8 meeting other guests. 
• We liked our Deck, Deck 10. Easy to walk down 2 flights of stairs from the pool.
• Loved getting a tray of canipes every afternoon. Loved getting fresh fruit in the room each day.
• Not a big wine drinker, so took the sparkling wine home. Appreciated the gesture, however.
• We had no issues getting a reservation for dinner. Not sure how much Concierge Class had to do with that, if anything.
• Had 2 social events just for Concierge people: A sail-away champagne reception on the helipad, and a brief behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen.
• Nicer cotton bathrobes in our room. We like hanging out on the deck for breakfast, so they were used.
• There were a couple of room service menu items exclusive to our class, but none of them appealed to us. 

10) Spa - I scheduled a couples massage for our first day at sea, and it was wonderful. I originally scheduled a 50-minute and decided to upgrade it to 80 minutes soon after boarding. They accommodated me, and I strongly recommend doing the longer length. It was expensive ($219 per person) and my wife appreciated the thought, but kept reminding me it was very expensive later in the cruise. Persian Gardens was nice, but it wasn't a perk worth moving me up to Aqua. We did a Cruise Critic Cabin Crawl and got to see an Aqua room. The body shower was nice, but not a must-have for us. Would have loved to have tried Blu, but oh well.

11)  Restaurants - We ate at 3 specialty restaurants, closing to eat at the MDR most other nights, and Oceanview once. Some thoughts:

Murano - Took advantage of the first-night discount as anyone should if they want to try one of them. It's everything it's built up to be. Stellar service, luxurious surroundings and delicious menu choices. We shared the chateaubriand and it practically melted in our mouths!

Tuscan Grill - My wife is more into Italian food than I, so this was her night. She had the chicken parm, and raved about it. The view out the back of the ship is nice, but of course at night you don't get to see a lot unless you're sailing away from an island. 

Sushi on Five -  We enjoyed some great sushi here (my wife is not a big sushi fan, but enjoyed the tempura roll). Everything here is a la carte and excellent. Quick note: If you are used to a little dab of wasabi in your roll, make sure to ask for it. The ship's policy is for them not to put wasabi in rolls unless asked.

Main Dining Room - We don't do regularly scheduled times, and had no trouble getting seating. Watch out with the wine stewards and those bringing you cocktails if you have a Classic beverage package. Sometimes they'll try and charge you an uncharge for a glass of wine or drink covered by your package. 

Oceanview - They do a good job of keeping the quality and quantity of food up here. Service for drinks can be hit or miss depending on the time of day.

Cafe Al Bacio - My first stop each day. Great coffee drinks. Get in line if you need one to go; have a seat if you plan to stay and a waiter will come take your order. Also the quickest place on the ship to get a can of soda if you have a Classic or Premium drink package.

12) Pool & Hot Tubs - Very busy on sea days. Staff does great job cleaning up constantly. Pools are big enough, but hot tubs only hold 6 comfortably and get crowded early.  If you don't mind the DJ and occasional "guess the song contests," the main deck is find. If you want a little more quiet, sun yourself on Deck 16. Solarium will be popular on rainy days.

13) Internet- Bought a one-device package and it was fine. Rarely needed to have 2 devices online at same time. Bandwidth was adequate, and we were even able to FaceTime without too many glitches. Upload speed is slower than download, so if you do call, there's a ½ second delay from when you say something to when your other party hears it. Devices tend to forget you're on the wifi network if they go to sleep, so bookmark the login page because you'll be visiting it often. You can visit the iCafe and logon or use your own devices in your room, the performance is the same. If you're considering buying something from the iCafe (the prices are pretty much Apple's pricing and you'd avoid sales tax) realize their inventory is practically nil. They have one model of Apple Watch to chose from, for example, so you won't find much to work with.

14) Bars - Martini Bar is the best bar for a good show by the bartenders. Pool bar is the busiest and best for frozen drinks. World Class Bar is underwhelming - they can't do exotic cocktails other than the ones on their limited menu. Gastrobar is a good beer pub. Didn't get a chance to sample the Passport Bar or Ensemble Lounge. 

15) Hot Glass Class - My wife participated in this, but sadly you don't get to do as much to make the items as you'd like. She made a nice gift for my mother, but probably touched the item twice during it's construction.

16) Embarkation/Disembarkation - Don't pay attention to the "recommended times" for you to arrive at the Cruise Terminal. They don't check. Show up when you need to. We arrived at 10:15am and were on the ship by 10:30. Bring a change of clothes/swimsuit if you want to get up on the pool deck first thing. We saw a couple of people who's first stop was one of the bars, and we figured we'd see them parked there all week. Leaving for us involved an early self-departure since we had an 11am flight out of Fort Lauderdale. If you don't leave your bags out in the hall the night before, you can roll off at 7am with them and be on your way quickly. 

 

Overall, we rated almost everything on our cruise a 10. A great experience and we put a deposit down on a future cruise based solely on our experience last week. Hope some of this information is helpful for future cruises. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by GoodScout

[cmhdoogalsatsea]

Thanks for the the great review!  Sounds like it was a super week.( One of the things I value most about some ports are that they provide me with a fabulous reason to stay on board and enjoy a quieter day!:-)  )

[davekathy]

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. 

[mjmagee]

Thank you for the thorough review.

 

[Luvtoeat]

Great review. Was on the ship this past September for 11 nights and booked onboard for next September for 11 nights. Took the drink package as one of the perks. How did you find the cocktail choices in classic drink package? Just wondering if its necessary to upgrade to premium. It would be great if someone could post the current drink price lists to see how many drinks are outside of the classic package. 

[chemmo]

Thanks for the review!

 

We are back on Equinox next year after her refit, looking forward to it already!

[mrsgoggins]

Thanks for the detailed report.  It is very useful and I too have made notes about some of the ports, even though we have visited all before.  Being Brits, driving on the left in St Lucia should not be quite so traumatic and I did like the idea of hiring a golf cart in St Thomas.  We'll be on Equinox for 2 weeks in January.  Bring it on!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[bigbeergut]

9 hours ago, GoodScout said:

Just finished the 11-day Southern Caribbean trip on Equinox. My wife's second and my first Celebrity cruise. Some thoughts and tips: 

 

1) This was the last voyage for Captain Kate before her vacation. She left the trip with us on Friday. The good news: She signed a new contract and will be back.

2) The shows are exceptional, and you won't have a bad performance. The standups booked were great, the cast shows while not up to Broadway calibre were certainly better than those on other cruise lines. Topper has gotten some grief over the contrived plot, but if you let that go, the performances themselves are great. The team has three great acrobats/arialists, and they've done a respectable job of weaving them into the singing and dancing performances. 

3) The ships Cruise Director and and Activity Directors, Dan and Therese, are frikkin EVERYWHERE. And always with a smile on their faces. And always funny. (Dan, a redhead and a touch portly, jokes that he looks like what Prince Harry would look like if he let himself go). 

4) Pool deck staff did a good job of taking up towels from chairs when they were left for too long. Sea days chairs in the sun were almost impossible to find, but they were filled with people, not "holding towels."

5) We had the Classic rather than the Premium drink package. It was fine for us. I like Grey Goose over other vodkas, but it wasn't worth $20 a day more. Even if I'd ordered it for 4 drinks a day, with only a $2 uncharge per drink I would have come out ahead. It also covered canned sodas and custom coffees, so I was very content. 

6) Excursions:

• St. Thomas is without a doubt the worst stop in the Caribbean. Once you get into downtown, you get to spend the day having shopkeepers harassing you to come into their shops. We had rain the first half of the day, but when it broke we took the Water Island Ferry across the bay, rented a golf cart for $40 and toodled around the island, settling on a small dive beach bar just a mile up from the ferry landing.
• Antigua is the second worst because you get harassed by a million drivers trying to take you to a beach. After 20 minutes of nonstop browbeating we surrendered and ended up at a beach just north of Ffrey's Beach that was nice, with great sand and water, and a decent bar/restaurant shack. My tip - pick an older driver - he's more dependable and has been there longer, so knows more about what you might want.
• St. Croix can be a cheap stopover. Walk just a mile to the left of the dock along the road and you'll come to Honeymoon Beach with a nice place to rent chairs/umbrellas and an excellent restaurant/bar. 
• If you've had enough of living, rent a car in St. Lucia. Aside from driving on the left while in the right side of the car, all the roads are incredibly narrow, and no matter where you go, you're going to be heading up mountain roads filled with hairpin turns. We drove to the batik place just outside Castries, and then on for two more hours to see the Pitons. It was enjoyable for my wife but stressful as hell for me. I drank three greyhounds as soon as I made it back to the ship.
• St. Martin is still working to recover from Irma. The French side's recovery has been much slower, and the entire island was working hard to give tourists a reason to come there and spend their dollars to aid the recovery. We love Grand Case, and it was sorely in need of visitors to help out.

7 ) Service levels are excellent. Our room steward, Paulino, was beyond attentive and hardworking and no matter how often we came in and out of the room, every time we came back it always looked as pristine as the day we boarded. Gilbert our waiter in the MDR knew us by heart by our second visit. Room service was provided by Raj each morning, and he always delivered a smile with our meal. 

8 ) Tipping- We prepaid tips but made sure to deliver additional tips to those mentioned in item 7. 

9)  Balcony vs. Concierge vs. Aqua - We started off with a deck 6 balcony with an obstructed view and through our cruise agent gradually worked ourselves up to an unobstructed deck 8 balcony. Then we got an offer to upgrade to Concierge for $150 each. For reasons mentioned in previous threads we did. We then got an offer to upgrade again to Aqua for another $350 but chose not to, fearing a room right under the pool deck. We liked our final choice, and I'll tell you why. It wasn't one big thing - it was lots and lots of little things:

• The first-day luncheon in the MDR was a great benefit to us. We liked not being part of the masses jamming the buffet on Oceanview, instead enjoying a relaxed, civil discussion at a table for 8 meeting other guests. 
• We liked our Deck, Deck 10. Easy to walk down 2 flights of stairs from the pool.
• Loved getting a tray of canipes every afternoon. Loved getting fresh fruit in the room each day.
• Not a big wine drinker, so took the sparkling wine home. Appreciated the gesture, however.
• We had no issues getting a reservation for dinner. Not sure how much Concierge Class had to do with that, if anything.
• Had 2 social events just for Concierge people: A sail-away champagne reception on the helipad, and a brief behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen.
• Nicer cotton bathrobes in our room. We like hanging out on the deck for breakfast, so they were used.
• There were a couple of room service menu items exclusive to our class, but none of them appealed to us. 

10) Spa - I scheduled a couples massage for our first day at sea, and it was wonderful. I originally scheduled a 50-minute and decided to upgrade it to 80 minutes soon after boarding. They accommodated me, and I strongly recommend doing the longer length. It was expensive ($219 per person) and my wife appreciated the thought, but kept reminding me it was very expensive later in the cruise. Persian Gardens was nice, but it wasn't a perk worth moving me up to Aqua. We did a Cruise Critic Cabin Crawl and got to see an Aqua room. The body shower was nice, but not a must-have for us. Would have loved to have tried Blu, but oh well.

11)  Restaurants - We ate at 3 specialty restaurants, closing to eat at the MDR most other nights, and Oceanview once. Some thoughts:

Murano - Took advantage of the first-night discount as anyone should if they want to try one of them. It's everything it's built up to be. Stellar service, luxurious surroundings and delicious menu choices. We shared the chateaubriand and it practically melted in our mouths!

Tuscan Grill - My wife is more into Italian food than I, so this was her night. She had the chicken parm, and raved about it. The view out the back of the ship is nice, but of course at night you don't get to see a lot unless you're sailing away from an island. 

Sushi on Five -  We enjoyed some great sushi here (my wife is not a big sushi fan, but enjoyed the tempura roll). Everything here is a la carte and excellent. Quick note: If you are used to a little dab of wasabi in your roll, make sure to ask for it. The ship's policy is for them not to put wasabi in rolls unless asked.

Main Dining Room - We don't do regularly scheduled times, and had no trouble getting seating. Watch out with the wine stewards and those bringing you cocktails if you have a Classic beverage package. Sometimes they'll try and charge you an uncharge for a glass of wine or drink covered by your package. 

Oceanview - They do a good job of keeping the quality and quantity of food up here. Service for drinks can be hit or miss depending on the time of day.

Cafe Al Bacio - My first stop each day. Great coffee drinks. Get in line if you need one to go; have a seat if you plan to stay and a waiter will come take your order. Also the quickest place on the ship to get a can of soda if you have a Classic or Premium drink package.

12) Pool & Hot Tubs - Very busy on sea days. Staff does great job cleaning up constantly. Pools are big enough, but hot tubs only hold 6 comfortably and get crowded early.  If you don't mind the DJ and occasional "guess the song contests," the main deck is find. If you want a little more quiet, sun yourself on Deck 16. Solarium will be popular on rainy days.

13) Internet- Bought a one-device package and it was fine. Rarely needed to have 2 devices online at same time. Bandwidth was adequate, and we were even able to FaceTime without too many glitches. Upload speed is slower than download, so if you do call, there's a ½ second delay from when you say something to when your other party hears it. Devices tend to forget you're on the wifi network if they go to sleep, so bookmark the login page because you'll be visiting it often. You can visit the iCafe and logon or use your own devices in your room, the performance is the same. If you're considering buying something from the iCafe (the prices are pretty much Apple's pricing and you'd avoid sales tax) realize their inventory is practically nil. They have one model of Apple Watch to chose from, for example, so you won't find much to work with.

14) Bars - Martini Bar is the best bar for a good show by the bartenders. Pool bar is the busiest and best for frozen drinks. World Class Bar is underwhelming - they can't do exotic cocktails other than the ones on their limited menu. Gastrobar is a good beer pub. Didn't get a chance to sample the Passport Bar or Ensemble Lounge. 

15) Hot Glass Class - My wife participated in this, but sadly you don't get to do as much to make the items as you'd like. She made a nice gift for my mother, but probably touched the item twice during it's construction.

16) Embarkation/Disembarkation - Don't pay attention to the "recommended times" for you to arrive at the Cruise Terminal. They don't check. Show up when you need to. We arrived at 10:15am and were on the ship by 10:30. Bring a change of clothes/swimsuit if you want to get up on the pool deck first thing. We saw a couple of people who's first stop was one of the bars, and we figured we'd see them parked there all week. Leaving for us involved an early self-departure since we had an 11am flight out of Fort Lauderdale. If you don't leave your bags out in the hall the night before, you can roll off at 7am with them and be on your way quickly. 

 

Overall, we rated almost everything on our cruise a 10. A great experience and we put a deposit down on a future cruise based solely on our experience last week. Hope some of this information is helpful for future cruises. 

 

 

 

 

 

We were on the same cruise and also enjoyed the cruise.  We would also rate it a “10” but our experiences differed from yours in a couple of areas.  We almost never saw the officers or CD on this cruise.  We are accustomed to seeing the officers and staff and staff greeting the guests when they leave the ship at each port or walking throughout the ship during the cruise.  We never saw any of that.  The pool staff did nothing to police chair hogs in the Solarium.  I saw people claiming chairs in the Solarium at 6:30 am and no one coming back until 10:30.  I even saw one towel and book untouched the entire day (I made several trips there during one of our rain days).  We ate around 7 in Select dining and the system worked great.  Never a wait for a table and we always had the same waiter.  We also had the Classic package and no one ever tried to up sell us on wine or drinks.  There was always someone there refilling our wine glasses.

 

We are Elite and we stayed in a regular Veranda cabin.  We don’t need the bottle of wine since we have the drink package and I always cancel the afternoon canapés.  I don’t need to be bothered with two pieces of cheese.  We made our reservation through a big box TA and somehow we were invited to a helipad sail away leaving Miami with the Future Cruise Team.  It was great.

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

[ASell]

thank you folks

I am, impatiently, chomping at the bit to get on board Dec 1 for a getaway.

I very much appreciate hearing your experiences.

[jeno]

I was surprised that you were able to eat in the MDR for lunch on embarkation day.  We usually do that on Princess, but don’t remember eating in the MDR on Celebrity.  Please give more information on that when you have a chance. Thanks! 

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, jeno said:

I was surprised that you were able to eat in the MDR for lunch on embarkation day.  We usually do that on Princess, but don’t remember eating in the MDR on Celebrity.  Please give more information on that when you have a chance. Thanks! 

The OP was in a Concierge class stateroom. One of the benefits of that class stateroom. 

[andymattmom]

We were on this cruise also in Aqua Class. I will say the Pool bar staff was horrendous! Rude and unfriendly- went several times and never polite. I understand they are busy but the behavior we experienced horrible. Made comment to Assistant Bar Manager ( of entire ship)  day 3- nothing changed. At various bars handed wrong seapass cards - charged for drinks we didn’t order at Sunset bar (charge reversed). We had classic beverage package. By far Gastro Pub bartenders the best - best drinks and always happy! 

 

Shows- Rondell Sheridan was fantastic! Did one production show Topper- horrible. Magician was cheesy- previous Equinox cruise had great magician, Uptown was great on final night. Know entertainment views are subjective!

 

Captain Kate was great - went to her Q&A the final day and it was funny and informative! Did a free tour the second or third day on the behind the scenes kitchen (just saw listed in daily). Very interesting! 

 

I did blown glass class- agree you don’t do much hands on but it was fun! Pool hogs yes out daily! Did see a couple of times the pool attendants remove stuff but we go early and sit for a bit and leave. We had no issues mid afternoon finding chairs in Solarium.

 

Blu (Aqua Class restaurant) food was good. Ocean view was good also. Overall a wonderful cruise! 

[aquidneck1]

Thanks for the review.  I don't think that there is a Honeymoon Beach in St. Croix.  Which beach did  you walk to - Rainbow?  

How was the walk - I have heard that there is no edge to step off the road.   Thanks!

[2Long2NxtCrz]

Thank you for the detailed summary!  We're embarking on the Equinox this Saturday and it will be our first Celebrity cruise.  We also have a Concierge class room and are glad that you thought the 'little things' were worth it.  I'm actually looking forward to a pillow menu.  It's also so hard for me to find a squishy enough pillow, so I hope this pans out.  (I think I'm the only one that cares about that, though.)

[rollie]

Thanks for the review.  We’ll be aboard for a B2b next month.

 

Rollie

[bluwes]

Thanks for the review. we have sailed on her twice before and I think she is now our favourite ship. We had Dan as our CD on the Summit this summer on the Independence Day sailing. He looked like a red lobster on some of the sunny days. Typical pale skinned Brit with bright red hair.

[4cats4me]

On 11/17/2018 at 11:59 PM, chemmo said:

Thanks for the review!

 

We are back on Equinox next year after her refit, looking forward to it already!

 

What will occur during the refit? 

[BosoxI]

And this, folks, is what a review should be. So-called reviews that address what Aunt Tilly wore to dinner on the third night are travelogues, not reviews in my book. Thanks, OP.   We were on the Equinox in September for the first time in  many years and loved everything about it.

[maggieq]

Thank you for the lovely review. We were very pleased with our June cruise on the Equinox. We hadn’t sailed celebrity in a while and got a deal we couldn’t refuse.  The only negative was the lack of solid entertainment but we go on the bigger Rccl ships for that. 

 

I am am actually considering the equinox for our feb 2019 cruise.  

[Sunnydayzs1]

Great review! Thanks for the tips

[Silkroad]

Enjoyed your review. Thanks for the port tips.

[chemmo]

12 hours ago, 4cats4me said:

 

What will occur during the refit? 

 

If you look up Celebrity Revolution it will tell you in detail. Changes include the rooms being refurbished and a deck area for suite guests. Lots of details missing at present (like will the speciality restaurants change?)....

 

It will be interesting to see! 

[swcruise]

Thank you for your review and helpful insight. Sorry to miss Captain Kate as she is spoken about so highly on this board.

Getting super excited now as boarding on the 15th Dec..

[Flafun888]

thanks for review. If you get to st thomas next time, consider a 1/2 day champagne catamaran excursion to St Johns - it was an amazing day - with a great crew, stunning beach. We really enjoyed it.

Edited November 25, 2018 by Flafun888