Same Ship Different Season: An Equinox LIVE Solo Review (6/18/22)

[Warmer Climes]

I just want to say that you look fantastic and I love your cruise wardrobe. Your live review is really making me excited for our January cruise!

[kpark895]

@GenerationXYou may want to follow this review when you get a chance - it is going to be from the Summit, leaving a week from today (same cruise I will be on).  Since I usually fail spectacularly when it comes to taking pictures on a cruise, or even writing short reports, bnurick's review will probably be a success.

[GenerationX]

A relaxed and rejuvenated GenX here checking in from the busiest pool deck I’ve seen since the restart.  Which makes sense because according to the crew members I’ve talked to this is also the fullest capacity sailing for the Equinox since the restart. 

 

I’m told we’re sailing with about 2500 passengers.  I think capacity for Equinox is 2850 so we’re pretty close to full. There’s been waits of 5-10 minutes to get drinks at the bars. I set a stopwatch on my phone to keep track of how long it’s actually taking because it does feel like I’m waiting much longer thanks to months of being spoiled by sailing on half full ships!

 

Very few folks are wearing masks and I would say we have about 2 dozen young kids onboard.  I will not be telling GenZ this because it would only make her madder that I didn’t bring her along.

 

I just finished my spa morning and am getting some fresh sea air on the deck before my Sushi lunch reservation. If you head to the spa, ask for Iva for your pedicure and Mandy for your facial. They both did a fabulous job, were very friendly and not at all pushy on product sells.  I did end up buying some things from each of them because I use Elemis as part of my skin care routine and was running a little low.  The products are priced cheaper online, but when I buy on the ship I don’t pay shipping or sales tax and I think the spa workers get a commission and I like to help out the folks who give me great service a little more.

 

I also realized I forgot to post my pics of my stateroom (1652). It’s in an aft location, quiet and an easy short walk to the pool, spa and buffet.  BTW pro tip: see that long white cord going across the floor in the middle of the room coming from the desk outlet?  That’s a 10ft iPhone charge cord that I bought on Amazon and it’s my solution to the lack of a bedside outlet for phone charging on Equinox.  Just be careful if you’re not sailing solo, you don’t want your spouse on the other side of the bed coming around and tripping over it in the middle of the night.

 

Talk to you guys again after lunch!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruiseNYC]

Absolutely loving your review!  Thank you so much for taking time from your amazing cruise to bring all of us along with you. We are on the Equinox a year from now.   Already can’t wait. 
Meantime, I noticed that you’re also on the Summit to Bermuda on July 24. We, too!  Do you mind if strangers just walk up and introduce themselves to you?  

[GenerationX]

I was just sitting on my veranda reading  (btw @cinderellen this is my book for this cruise! I’m about 100 pages in, so far a nice read, would be good for a Mediterranean cruise) when my stateroom attendant Ana popped out to deliver me a snack.

 

It looks like Celebrity has stepped up its canapé game since I last sailed in concierge class.  Im still pretty full from Sushi lunch, but there’s always room for cured meat and cheese.

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

33 minutes ago, CruiseNYC said:

Absolutely loving your review!  Thank you so much for taking time from your amazing cruise to bring all of us along with you. We are on the Equinox a year from now.   Already can’t wait. 
Meantime, I noticed that you’re also on the Summit to Bermuda on July 24. We, too!  Do you mind if strangers just walk up and introduce themselves to you?  

Thank you! No I don’t mind at all, please do come say hello! I love meeting new people. Looking forward to sailing with you!

[swigso]

10 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

We enjoy the location, decor, happy hour, and more!  With that said, we now only stay in the newer portion which is labeled "executive tower" rooms.  I say newer very loosely, lol.  We've had special times there, and this is part of why it is so special to us.  I hope this helps.

Many thanks booked it 👍

[GenerationX]

Quick Report:

 

I had to run down to guest services to put some cash on my onboard account and while standing in line I noticed that the forward hallway on the port side of deck 3 is closed off and had this sign. It’s tough to see even with me zooming in (for obvious reasons I wasn’t going to get any closer) but the Healthy at Sea logo is at the top of the sign. According to the deck map there are staterooms down that hallway.  I wonder if this may be the quarantine area?

 

[Jim_Iain]

11 hours ago, GenerationX said:

The big crowd in the sky lounge, which looked like it heavily trended towards 20-somethings, was partying like this is a long weekend cruise

 

Since this is  Holiday Weekend maybe they have extended their LONG weekend  into a full week summer break.   Sounds like a fun active cruise.  

[GenerationX]

It’s our first evening chic night on Equinox!

 

I planned to split my pre-dinner cocktail time between Ensemble Lounge and World Class bar but Radio Duo is killing their set tonight at Ensemble and every time my Grey Goose cosmo starts to get past half empty, here comes Komang or Abdul with a shaker filling it back up.

 

I guess I’ll adjust and plan to stop by World Class after dinner in Tuscan Grille.

 

The ships is rocking a bit tonight, so I think I’ll be calling it a night with my book and glass of wine after that.

 

Tomorrow morning I want to get up early and hit the gym before my room service breakfast arrives.

 

Cheers from Equinox!
 

 

 

[Wink87]

11 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

It’s our first evening chic night on Equinox!

 

I planned to split my pre-dinner cocktail time between Ensemble Lounge and World Class bar but Radio Duo is killing their set tonight at Ensemble and every time my Grey Goose cosmo starts to get past half empty, here comes Komang or Abdul with a shaker filling it back up.

 

I guess I’ll adjust and plan to stop by World Class after dinner in Tuscan Grille.

 

The ships is rocking a bit tonight, so I think I’ll be calling it a night with my book and glass of wine after that.

 

Tomorrow morning I want to get up early and hit the gym before my room service breakfast arrives.

 

Cheers from Equinox!
 

 

 

Love your dresses!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

How do you just hit the gym? Do you at least have coffee?

[bunnyette]

Love your reviews!   Also like your nighttime style, a book and a drink.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, GenerationX said:

It’s our first evening chic night on Equinox!

 

I planned to split my pre-dinner cocktail time between Ensemble Lounge and World Class bar but Radio Duo is killing their set tonight at Ensemble and every time my Grey Goose cosmo starts to get past half empty, here comes Komang or Abdul with a shaker filling it back up.

 

I guess I’ll adjust and plan to stop by World Class after dinner in Tuscan Grille.

 

The ships is rocking a bit tonight, so I think I’ll be calling it a night with my book and glass of wine after that.

 

Tomorrow morning I want to get up early and hit the gym before my room service breakfast arrives.

 

Cheers from Equinox!
 

 

 

 

 

I love that dress! And WOW shoes!

I am enjoying your report. We will be on the Equinox next month.

[cnkgirl]

3 hours ago, GenerationX said:

It’s our first evening chic night on Equinox!

 

I planned to split my pre-dinner cocktail time between Ensemble Lounge and World Class bar but Radio Duo is killing their set tonight at Ensemble and every time my Grey Goose cosmo starts to get past half empty, here comes Komang or Abdul with a shaker filling it back up.

 

I guess I’ll adjust and plan to stop by World Class after dinner in Tuscan Grille.

 

The ships is rocking a bit tonight, so I think I’ll be calling it a night with my book and glass of wine after that.

 

Tomorrow morning I want to get up early and hit the gym before my room service breakfast arrives.

 

Cheers from Equinox!
 

 

 

I’m loving your review as usual GenX! And I love this dress on you can you please tell me where you got it 😊

[GenerationX]

4 hours ago, Arzeena said:

I love that dress! And WOW shoes!

I am enjoying your report. We will be on the Equinox next month.

Thank you!  The dress is actually a $40 Amazon find. It comes in several prints. LMK if you’d like the link.

 

And aren’t these shoes the best??? Believe it or not, they’re Badgley Mischka and I paid like $35 for them on a Nordstrom spring shoe clearance rack!  
 

The wide block heel makes them perfect for cruising on a rocky ship! I have so much respect for the women who dare brave wearing full stilettos onboard.  I fractured my ankle once in my 20’s in a pair of Jimmy Choo’s on an uneven sidewalk (soooo embarrassing, and that after countless years of being thrown from horses and coming out of it every time with nothing more than a bad bruise!)

 

Ever since then I’m very careful about my shoe choices when footing may not be optimal.

[Redking]

57 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

Thank you!  The dress is actually a $40 Amazon find. It comes in several prints. LMK if you’d like the link.

 

And aren’t these shoes the best??? Believe it or not, they’re Badgley Mischka and I paid like $35 for them on a Nordstrom spring shoe clearance rack!  
 

The wide block heel makes them perfect for cruising on a rocky ship! I have so much respect for the women who dare brave wearing full stilettos onboard.  I fractured my ankle once in my 20’s in a pair of Jimmy Choo’s on an uneven sidewalk (soooo embarrassing, and that after countless years of being thrown from horses and coming out of it every time with nothing more than a bad bruise!)

 

Ever since then I’m very careful about my shoe choices when footing may not be optimal.

I was going to say what about the shoes but you already did it.

 

Hearing you about the heels. I have a whole collection of what I call crane me in shoes. They are sadly only now worn when I basically can stand in the same spot and not have to walk much 🤣

 

Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise.

 

[GenerationX]

Good Morning Everyone!  

 

Remember that plan I had to get up early this morning and go to the gym before breakfast?  Well, if by “early” I meant “15 minutes before the start of my selected room service delivery window” and by “gym” I meant “my veranda in my robe with a bottle of cold water”, mission accomplished.  I can totally explain though.

 

I’ll start with dinner at Tuscan Grille. 

 

On my previous two Equinox sailings (one pre and one post pandemic) I remember most of the food in Tuscan being particularly good on this ship.  That trend continues and for the most part this was a significant redemption from my “meh” food experience in Tuscan on Millennium in March.

 

Another perk of solo travel: if you reserve your specialty restaurants in advance, you’ll often get one of the best seats in the house.  Tonight I was escorted to a table directly overlooking the center of our wake.  I love it when I can get a wake seat at Tuscan. I swear I could sit and sip wine and watch that water churn all night.  Kinda made me miss having a sunset veranda.

 

The bread that came to the table was actually served WARM.  I had no business eating it given how nuts I went with my dinner order (we’ll get to that in a moment), but my Italian mother in law would have a fit if she heard that I ever turned down warm bread with fresh basil and good olive oil.

 

For dinner I ordered the calamari and Caesar salad to start.  I normally get the ribeye for my dinner steak but I decided to splurge on the $18 up charge dry aged porterhouse.  Because clearly what I need in my life right now is more carbs, I ordered a side of spaghetti and meatballs with my steak and the sommelier poured me a decent Valpolicella, $13 a glass (so included in the premium package) to pair with it all.

 

The calamari was perfectly cooked and tender. If you get it, don’t forget to squeeze some juice from that grilled lemon on the side on top before you dig in.  That makes it!

 

The Caesar salad was the one low light of the meal. I remember being unimpressed by it last Equinox cruise too and sad that it wasn’t even as good as one I got in the buffet. Sadly there’s still a temperature issue. Nobody likes a room temp salad.  As much as I love a good Caesar, I think I’ll probably give up on this salad and save the stomach space on future Tuscan trips. It’s not like fresh vegetables are that important for one’s diet anyway. lol

 

The spaghetti and meatballs was a vast improvement from the watery, flavorless sauce on the one I had on Millennium.  And unlike Millennium I was offered (and took full advantage of) fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top.

 

As for the steak…this is the first time I’ve had the dry aged upcharge steak.  I’ve always avoided it on principle because I’ve already paid for the restaurant so why would I sign up for an extra price steak when the ribeye (my favorite) is included.

 

I’m glad I stepped out of the box though because that dry aged porterhouse is a very good steak.  Cooked medium rare exactly as requested. My knife cut through it like butter.  It had a subtle smokey flavor at the finish.  I don’t think I’d take a hit to my credit card balance for it (because again, Tuscan has such a good ribeye) but if you have OBC to burn (or are sailing in an upper level suite where specialties are included, so the $18 charge is the only hit your account will take) in my opinion it’s worth the upgrade to that bad boy.

 

Plus when I thought about the math, the total cost for Tuscan dinner cover charge and this porterhouse upcharge was about $80 after tip/service charge.  I’ve seen steakhouses in STL charge that just for a comparable size/quality porterhouse without any sides, much less including 3 other courses with it in the price. So the upcharge doesn’t seem so unreasonable.

 

After the entree I felt like I was in an either or scenario: either I was gonna have dessert and port at Tuscan OR I was gonna make it to World Class Bar.  No way I would pull off both without collapsing.  

 

My wonderful server Ashlam, however, swooped in with all journey wonderfull  logic and reminded me that I can sleep at home after the cruise for free and brought me an espresso to ensure that I could hold it together for both fig gelato (my favorite Tuscan dessert, made fresh onboard BTW) and tawny port and a World Class night cap.

 

When I got to World Class bar, Z and Putu were hard at working serving some new friends that I made the night before.  Despite the best made plans of mice and men to go to bed with my book, the espresso kicked in right about then and I ended up two Kentucky Callings deep and headed to shut down the martini bar with my new friends.  Once again at 1am when I finally headed to bed, the ship was by no means a ghost town and there was a decent crowd clamoring to get one more drink order in with the martini guys before they shut down for the night.  As for me, I took my regrets and 2 bottled waters to go and finally put myself to bed.

 

My breakfast should be arriving any minute now so after I eat I’ll get myself fit for public viewing and then report on my plans for the day.

 

Wifi seems a bit fickle this morning but I promise I’ll post pics from last night as soon as I can get them to load.

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

9 hours ago, cnkgirl said:

I’m loving your review as usual GenX! And I love this dress on you can you please tell me where you got it 😊

Thank you!  I’m so glad you’re enjoying the review! Here’s a link to the dress. It packs well and is very comfortable. I bought it in 3 different prints!

 

GRACE KARIN Sleeveless Solid Floral Summer Cocktail Dress A-Line Wrap Wedding Guest Dress

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TWK2LX3/ref=cm_sw_r_api_i_PMKSPA35EAJC72DBAMXA_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[39august]

Charla, try the parmesean and arugala salad at Tuscan next time.  My fav. 

[PcolaCruzers]

Not sure if you were there at the 9pm show last night - Capt Matt said our passenger count of 2500 is the highest on any Celebrity ship right now. Certainly seems a bit more crowded than our last cruise on Apex in January! 😀

[GenerationX]

It’s a lovely breezy morning at sea as we steam towards a 4pm arrival at Puerto Rico.  

 

Post-room service breakfast I’m curled up in a chair by the sunset bar watching the activities team set up the lawn club golf putting area.  I get the shanks bad playing around water hazards and since the world’s largest water hazard currently just to starboard, for the safety of my fellow guests and Celebrity’s golf ball supply, I’ll sit this one out and have a cocktail instead.

 

I’ve decided to stay onboard for PR, but have plenty planned. Today’s agenda:

 

-Morning reading and sipping

-Food and Wine Pairing Workshop 

-Perhaps another lunch at Sushi on 5

-Afternoon pool olympics 

-Dinner #2 at Murano

-Full Moon Pool Deck Pride Party

 

After tonight I have GOT to ease up on the late night antics or I may be dead on my feet by Tortola.

 

 

[spammie]

Absolutely LOVING your live review!  We did this same ship and itinerary in May and are back on again the end of August.  After 30 cruises, Equinox is still our favorite ship!  Can't wait for more!  Wanda

[GenerationX]

2 hours ago, 39august said:

Charla, try the parmesean and arugala salad at Tuscan next time.  My fav. 

 Thank you! I’ll definitely give it a try my second night.