*** Live from the Celebrity Equinox" June 4-13, 2024 - Western Mediterranean

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Hey guys - I'm no longer on the Equinox, but I'm still planning to share pictures and experiences from the cruise now that we're home and I have more time to put into this.

 

Apologies that this isn't so "live" after all, but the memories are still fresh and hopefully it will be helpful to those of you who will be sailing on the Equinox in the future!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Embarkation:

 

The terminal in Civitavecchia (Rome) is really just a white tent setup outside the ship. I had read somewhere that they're building a new terminal at this port but if they are it's either not finished or it's not for Celebrity (or they may not be building one at all).

 

Whatever the case is, that really didn't detract from the experience.

 

The sequence of events was:

 

• A porter tagged our bags and took them away while pointing us in the direction of the next step
• Somebody waiting at the entrance to the tent handed us a boarding zone number
• From there we passed through security, which took all of 15 seconds (I'm not even sure they looked at our bags in the x-rays as they didn't even ask about my drone which they typically do)
• After clearing security, we would have either grabbed a seat and waited for our boarding zone to be called, or in our case, we were escorted to the Retreat waiting area which had some light food and drinks available.

 

Note: We were fortunate to be staying in the Retreat, but Celebrity does a great job of embarkation for all classes of guests and nobody I spoke to on day 1 had to wait more than a few minutes before boarding the ship.

 

Note 2: While waiting in the Retreat lounge area, this happened to be the only time during the entire 9 days that we spoke with Richard, the Retreat Manager, aside from on Day 8 when I finally got to speak to him (via special request) after asking to several times earlier in the week.

 

We arrived a bit earlier than anticipated getting into the terminal around 10:30am and we ended up being the very first ones on the ship as a result.

 

The entire process took less than 15 minutes and the majority of that was simply waiting for them to have the ship ready for embarkation...had we arrived 10 minutes later it probably would have been less than 5 minutes from start to finish.

 

Celebrity seems to do embarkation better than anybody (MSC's Yacht Club embarkation process aside...that's next level but a separate process than standard embarkation).

 

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Pictures

 

Note: Some of these pictures are blurry as they're screen captures from video footage that is in motion...apologies in advance about that!

 

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Terminal Tent

 

 

Entering the Canopy, Prior to the Tent Itself

 

 

Receiving Our Boarding Zone # Upon Entering Tent

 

 

Proceeding to Security Check, Waiting Area to Left 

 

 

Security "Line"

 

 

Gen Pop Waiting Area

 

 

Retreat Waiting Area (w/ my wife patiently waiting and letting me do my thing!)

 

 

A Look at the Retreat Goodies Available (there was coffee/tea/soda/more treats available to the right of these)

 

 

Walking from the Tent to Board the Ship

 

 

 

That "I'm About to Board the Ship" Smile We All Have in Those Final Steps!

 

 

Security as you Board the Ship

 

Edited June 16 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Specialty Dining: Murano

 

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Ambiance: 

 

All of the specialty restaurants (aside from Luminae) are located on Deck 5 and aside from Sushi on 5, they're all located in proximity of the Ensemble Lounge.

 

It is nicely appointed with what I believe is new carpet (one of the view visible changes following the recent dry dock). The decorating is more formal, fitting given it's French menu.

 

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Ensemble Lounge - Murano Entrance through Doors to Right of Piano (to the left of the bar)

 

 

Murano Lobby

 

 

First Glance

 

 

Table Setting

 

 

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Experience:

 

Murano is the French-inspired specialty restaurant on the Equinox with a memorable part of the experience being that certain menu items are cooked on a grill right in front of your table.

 

 

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Food:

 

The food was good, but not great. The Murano Lobster dish in particular that was prepared table side had a lot of flavor, but it wasn't really a good blend of flavors. (I prefer my lobster more unadulterated with just some warm butter)

 

The Crispy Pork Belly during the first course was very tasty and the Diver's Scallop Wellington-style were both pretty tasty (and better than the signature Murano Lobster).

 

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Chef's Amuse-bouche

 

 

Crispy Pork Belly

 

 

Wild Mushroom Cappuccino 

 

 

Diver's Scallop Wellington-Style

 

 

Lobster Murano

 

 

Chef's Bonus Dessert (pretty, but not tasty)

 

 

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Service: 

 

This sailing was very close to sold out but the specialty restaurants were never very busy for some reason.

 

As a result, the service was at times too much, and this was the worst in Murano as we could barely drop a crumb without somebody cleaning it up.

 

We would have liked a bit more privacy to enjoy our dinner than what was afforded to us.

 

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Overall:

 

We enjoyed every restaurant on the Equinox (including the Silhouette MDR) and of them all, this was probably our least favorite. 

 

The food wasn't spectacular, the service was too much, and although the table-side grill was neat, it wasn't enough to make up for the other deficiencies.

 

Score: 6/10

Edited June 16 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Equinox Theatre

 

The main theater on the Celebrity Equinox is a classic-style cruise ship theater with the main seating area on deck 4 + upper mezzanine seating on deck 5.

 

There was a small bar at the rear left of the theater which was really just a bunch of bottles on a folding table where you could order basic cocktails + wine. If you didn't get a drink early, the line got long and they were very slow to work their way through the line.

 

They also had a couple crew members walking through the seating taking drink orders as well before the show started if you didn't want to wait in line (and were lucky enough for them to come by your seats).

 

An interesting observation here is that our indulgence in drink packages must have grown over the past 15 years as the drink holders built into the seats 15 years ago were no longer large enough to hold the glasses.

 

Score: 7/10

 

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Entrance
 

 

View from the Back

 

 

View from the Front

 

 

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Cruise Director - Drew

 

Some cruise directors are undoubtedly better than others. However, how much that actually impacts the overall enjoyment of the cruise is up for debate...some people think the CD is an essential part of the cruise and others couldn't care less.

 

For us - we're likely somewhere in the middle of that debate, but we still appreciate a quality Cruise Director, and Drew fit the bill.

 

From the UK (as many CDs seem to be), Drew's signature sign off (that they all seem to have) was a simple, "Cheerio!"

 

I had a few conversations with him throughout the week and he was always friendly and upbeat (part of the job I know).

 

Score: 8/10

 

 

Show Quality

 

Celebrity may not have aqua shows and ice rinks like their Royal counterparts, but their shows are every bit as good.

 

The guest performers were all fantastic and the in-house performers were amazing as well.

 

I'll review some of them individually but overall the shows on the Equinox were very good.

 

Score: 8/10

 

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Night 1 - Rebel

 

I mentioned these guys already earlier in the thread but they were great so I'm back to tell you how great they are again here.

 

Rebel is a 3-man singing group that covered classic rock songs and they were absolutely remarkable. In my opinion, they were the best show of the entire 9 nights.

 

They performed a 2nd night in the atrium later in the cruise but we didn't see that, but everybody we talked to absolutely loved this group's performances.

 

Score: 10/10

 

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A Special Version of the Rock Hand Sign I taught them (I had to promise they wouldn't be cancelled, which they should be safe from outside of Texas)

 

 

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Night 2 - Yoomia

 

Yoomia is a hip hop violinist. If you're not familiar with what this is (look up Lindsey Sterling!), it's essentially what would happen if you mixed a rock show with a classic violinist.

 

She wasn't as good as Rebel but she was still extremely entertaining and we very much enjoyed the show.

 

Score: 8/10

 

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Night 3 - Intimate Broadway Cabaret

 

This was the first show featuring the in-house performers and while this wasn't their best show, it was still very much enjoyable.

 

This was a mix of the different singers on the ship performing Broadway songs that most people knew.

There wasn't any element of a story in this show, rather it was 45 minutes of back-to-back singing and dancing.

 

Score: 6/10

 

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Night 4 - Stand Up Comedian: Russell Hicks

 

The comedian did crowd work his entire set and he was genuinely hilarious.

 

The majority of the set was a mix of making fun of seniors and Floridians (the two things there were the most of in the audience), but his best joke was probably when the topic of kids came up, when he said something along the lines of:

"I get it, I get it, my wife and I do not want kids either, which came as a real shock to our kids."

 

Score: 8/10

 

 

 

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Side Note: Cruise Director Drew did a colleague of his that usually works behind the scenes a solid by allowing her to be the MC this night to try and give her a bump in her career, showing the powers that be that she can do the job of a CD.

 

She did a great job and hope she gets that opportunity.

 

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Note: I'm going to publish this post now and finish in a 2nd post so I don't accidentally lose all my work as happens sometimes. 

Edited June 16 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Show - Night 5: Topper

 

This was a performance by the in-house performers and was a mix of Alice in Wonderland w/ modern pop music.

 

If you don't enjoy more modern music then this may not have been the show for you, but we genuinely enjoyed it.

 

The choreography was great, they had good song selection (in our opinion), the stage props were well done, and we enjoyed that there was an element of storytelling with this show (vs. just music). This show also featured the ship acrobats as well.

 

Score: 9/10

 

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[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Chef's Table

 

We didn't get to see the show on Day 6 as we did the Chef's Table experience which overlapped both show times so it seems appropriate to insert that here.

 

The Executive Chef aboard the Equinox is Denton Laing from Jamaica and he is fantastic. Not only is he a talented chef, he shared many stories of his upbringing that taught us how important focus and discipline was to his father (who was also a premier chef), which led to both him and his two brothers all being high-level chefs.

 

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Onboard the Equinox this experience was shared with 8 total (my wife and I + 6 others) and had the sequence below:

 

• The experience started at a table at the rear of Craft Social on Deck 5 where we had a Prosecco toast + amuse-bouche 
• From there, we had before doing the galley tour with the Executive Chef where he taught us about the different areas of responsibility, the handkerchiefs the crew wear around their necks to display their seniority, and taught us about the different equipment in the galley as well.
• Following the galley tour was a multi-course dinner with a menu specially designed by the Executive Chef onboard with him introducing each course + a sommelier introducing a paired wine with each course as well.

 

Often when we've done these, the food is great but it's not very filling and you end up heading to the buffet to finish your dinner despite the high cost of the experience (it was $160/person for the food/experience + an additional $85/person for the wine pairing. 

 

However, the food for this meal was not only great, it was also very filling as well.

 

By the end of the dinner everybody was quite full, but the wine loosened everybody up and we sat and talked for another hour following the dinner as well.

 

It was a great experience and the best Chef's Table I can remember doing (and we've done many).

 

Note: My wife is a vegetarian which can complicate these as they have to adjust her meals based on her dietary restrictions, but they did a great job with this during each course.

 

Score: 10/10

 

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Chef + Guests

 

 

Chef during Galley Tour

 

 

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First Course - Curried Cauliflower Soup

 

 

Second Course - Mushroom Risotto Persillade

 

This was fantastic.

 

 

Third Course - Seabass w/ Za'atar 

 

 

Fourth Course - Duo of Beef Filet and Short Rib

 

 

Fifth Course - Java Grand Cru Cacao, Sumatra Coffee Cremeuse, and Chocolate Borneo Spice Ice Cream

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Night 7 Show - Elysium

 

We were back in the theater on night 7 to see Elysium, the next show put on by the in-house performers.

 

This was a mixture of a fantasy story w/ classic songs that had a modern flare (i.e. Song of Silence and We Will Rock You), including acrobatics.

 

This was another great performance by the ship performers that we, along with everybody else, seemed to enjoy.

 

Score: 7/10

 

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[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Night 8 Show - Magician: Matt McGurk

 

The magician was a guest performer who did a mix of card tricks and illusions.

 

I don't know if I've just been on too many cruise shows at this point or what it is, but he seemed to do the same tricks all the other cruise ship magicians do: sleight of hand card tricks, slicing an assistant into thirds and then putting her back together, escaping chains, etc.

 

The only thing that really differentiates these magicians are their personalities/stories they tell, and McGurk wasn't the best.

 

He wasn't a bad performer, just unremarkable.

 

Score: 5/10

 

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[Jim_Iain]

On 6/6/2024 at 4:23 AM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I definitely wish it was as advertised. 

 

I haven't come across the daily feedback form... Is that in the app?

Look in the daily and you will find a QR Code for Attention to Detail or Comments.   It is posted daily.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Final Night Show: Life

 

The last show of the cruise was another by the in-house performers - Life.

 

In addition to having the show include the singers, dancers and aerialists, they also brought in a larger band for this + the captain brought a large number of the crew members out for recognition during the show (a nice touch).

 

This was another great show they we enjoyed. It lacked the impressive stage props of Topper earlier in the week, but the performers did a great job. 

 

Score: 7/10

 

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[FamilyAtSea.travel]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Look in the daily and you will find a QR Code for Attention to Detail or Comments.   It is posted daily.

I actually found the QR Code for this in the daily program but the QR Code was broken so it couldn't be used...who knows how long it's been broken, but it was for our sailing.

 

I mentioned the internet in the post-cruise survey but I'm sure they're well aware of how bad it is and they're okay with it.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Alright - I'm at my limit for this evening...I'll put some more work into things this week if you guys are still interested.

 

If not, that's okay as well.

 

You guys figured out with a different recent thread that we make content for a different platform. I won't be promoting that here, but for those of you that are curious, we'll have stuff published in a month or so (we're still working on content for our side-by-side Yacht Club cruises in April and then have a small amount to make for a sailing on the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise).

[Reel Love]

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Alright - I'm at my limit for this evening...I'll put some more work into things this week if you guys are still interested.

 

Thank you so much for your review/comments.  I for one am still interested, and would love to hear more of your thoughts (although understand it is a lot of work).  Appreciate your efforts!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

For any of you following along - what sort of information or perspectives would be helpful for this cruise or our future sailings?

 

Selfishly part of me doing these is to help preserve my own memories of things as it will be fun to look back on some day (a journal of sorts), but I want to provide content that people find useful/interesting. 

[Jim_Iain]

15 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I actually found the QR Code for this in the daily program but the QR Code was broken so it couldn't be used...who knows how long it's been broken, but it was for our sailing.

 

I mentioned the internet in the post-cruise survey but I'm sure they're well aware of how bad it is and they're okay with it.

 

Not sure if it is the same situation but for some reason, I have never been able to access using my PC.   It goes to Microsoft Office.     When I use my Phone it connects immediately.

 

Also on one cruise, it was broken.   I wrote and attention to detail letter addressed to Hotel Director =  First line ---Attention to detail is to fix your broken Attention to Detail Form.   It was fixed within hours and my other issues were also fixed immediately.

 

 

 

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Not sure if it is the same situation but for some reason, I have never been able to access using my PC.   It goes to Microsoft Office.     When I use my Phone it connects immediately.

 

Also on one cruise, it was broken.   I wrote and attention to detail letter addressed to Hotel Director =  First line ---Attention to detail is to fix your broken Attention to Detail Form.   It was fixed within hours and my other issues were also fixed immediately.

 

 

 

 

For us the QR code itself was actually misprinted so it couldn't scan (I tried with multiple devices).

 

I should probably tell somebody but I didn't!

[desibee]

Thank you for the detailed summary of your trip!  It’s been very useful to us newbies to Celebrity who will be joining the Equinox for the first time in August.

 

We would most like to know about the specialty dining and what’s worth spending money on, since we have the trio dining package and will need to choose which restaurants we want to sample.  
 

Any info on the Celebrity hosted excursions would be very useful too!

[DaKahuna]

@FamilyAtSea.travel 
I really do not have any suggestions.  I like what you did and the way you did it.  Your opinions/observations based on you and your family's experiences.  Most things related to a cruise, especially food and beverage, are subjective and depends on individual preferences, which vary from person to person so just having you 'tell it like it is from your perspective' is all I can ask for.  

 

 Regarding the Attention to Detail feedback -  on our last cruise the Attention to Detail QR code never showed up in the daily planner, only a printed paper form to fill out in our stateroom with the regular evening fliers.  I submitted feedback saying that I preferred the QR code we had on our previous sailing on the same ship.  Never heard anything back.  

 

[JeanieC,Aston]

Not completely sure but I think ‘Rebel’ in a previous life on Celebrity was a group called ‘Tenors of Rock’.

The guy in the kilt could be Celebrity CD Sue Dennings son.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

35 minutes ago, desibee said:

Thank you for the detailed summary of your trip!  It’s been very useful to us newbies to Celebrity who will be joining the Equinox for the first time in August.

 

We would most like to know about the specialty dining and what’s worth spending money on, since we have the trio dining package and will need to choose which restaurants we want to sample.  
 

Any info on the Celebrity hosted excursions would be very useful too!

We did all of the specialty restaurants so I'll be sure to cover each of them! 

 

We did some fantastic excursions but we didn't do any through the cruise line so I won't be able to offer much there. 

 

Are you doing a Med cruise or somewhere else?

[desibee]

2 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We did all of the specialty restaurants so I'll be sure to cover each of them! 

 

We did some fantastic excursions but we didn't do any through the cruise line so I won't be able to offer much there. 

 

Are you doing a Med cruise or somewhere else?

We are doing a 9 night Barcelona to Rome with stops in Italy and the French Riviera.  And all our excursions are through the cruise line for simplicity’s sake and we got good deals on them through various sales so I don’t feel like we are paying that much more for them.