Celebrity Equinox Review

So far, I’ve written a lot about our ports of call, but not much about the ship or cruise line we were on. As stated in earlier posts, my mother and I went on the Western Caribbean Cruise on the Celebrity Equinox, from March 24th-31st of 2018. (Spring Break!)

The Equinox is a Solstice-class ship, inaugurated in 2009. Its occupancy is 2,850 and the crew-passenger ratio 1:2. My perception of Celebrity is that it’s an upper-middle class cruise line, with a slightly older clientele. There’s less to do on ship (smaller pools, no water slides, fewer family-centered activities) and the focus is on food and service. The ship's décor toes the line between modern and Middle American Mall, with lots of warm and brown tones to offset the blue of the ocean.

So what did I think of my first cruise?

PUBLIC SPACES

* The grass 'Lawn Club' was the best feature. Unfortunately, Celebrity had just done away with the blown glass show, one of the few interesting free options, but having a lawn to lay out on while at sea just felt... luxurious.

 

* The pools were too small for the number of people on board to bother using. (The picture above was taken within seconds of getting on the ship - it never looked like that again!) It was next to impossible to get a deck chair on sea days. The Solarium indoor pool was a bit better (no kids under 16, not that Celebrity has that many to begin with) and had a bit of a retirement community spa vibe.

*Mom wasn’t a fan of the canned pop music, but I appreciated the pool DJ to liven things up a bit. There's nothing like a bunch of tipsy Spring Breakers busting out into "BUM-BUM-BUM"s when 'Sweet Caroline' plays.

*The card/game room was small but fun for a few hours. We got free playing cards from guest services.

VERANDA CABIN

 

*The cabins were well-designed, with plenty of places for two people to put stuff (under bed, over bed, closet, drawers).

*The bathroom was so much better than I'd expected - thoughtful storage, nice supplied toiletries, surprisingly good water pressure and heat. The toilet wouldn’t always flush on first try, but waiting a few seconds and trying again always did the trick for me.

*Waffle-weave robes were provided. Apparently if you upgrade, you get terry robes instead, but for a Caribbean cruise, I preferred what we got.

*If I lived within driving distance of the port, I would pack a suitcase with extra pillow and duvet. The sheets/covers were a little flimsy - nicer bedding would add so much perceived value.

*We loved our balcony – excuse me, veranda. When Mom told me she was splurging on this, I was excited, but it honestly made the cruise.

*Our family hotel ritual is watching HGTV before bed, so Mom and I were happy it was one of the channels provided. We also liked the music channels when getting ready for dinner, and appreciated we could check our tabs and get other important information via our television.

DINING OPTIONS

*In the Main Dining Room (The Silhouette), you have two options - a fixed seating time and table, or a come whenever window between the two seatings. We took the traditional option of the early (6:00 PM), seated dinner. We were seated at table for 10. Two evenings were slightly dressier, or 'Evening Chic'. 

*It was fun and felt kinda old school to be seated with strangers. We were seated with three couples and an additional couple joined us after being invited by some of our seatmates. Toward the end of the week (as we got to know one another) conversations got a little political, which was… interesting. In my experience, it seems you’re less likely to run across very conservative people while traveling. This is because they cruise, I guess?

* I thought food was quite good. You could order more than one appetizer or entrée - I usually ordered two appetizers, just to try things.

* Instead of chicken or beef, most non-veg entrées included duck, lamb, pork, and various types of fish. I had escargot on more than one occasion.

*Mom and I chose to order a glass of wine with dinner each night, along with a few other drinks here and there. We spent about $20 a day on drinks, while the beverage package costs ~$50 per day. I missed soda for the week (especially with burgers for lunch), but living off water and juice from the Oceanview Café probably good for me, lbr.

*Rashid, our sommelier, recommended a paid wine tasting activity, which was fun and comparable to what we’re used to spending for wine tastings on shore (about $30). Later in the week, he topped off our glasses and tried to sell us another event, but when we weren't interested, he didn't press the matter.

* The Equinox has several pay restaurants. While some people extoll $30 extra as good value, my feeling is you've already paid for your food... why pay again?

* We ordered room service for breakfast multiple times. The food was okay, but the experience was so nice and relaxing.

* The buffet, the Oceanview Café, was a little crazy at times, but had a good variety of dishes. The ice cream there was a nice treat.

* The Poolside Grill had decent hamburgers, though the line was understandably a little chaotic at lunch time on sea days.

* Bar drinks were expensive, but a nice splurge. We enjoyed Piña Coladas in the indoor Sky Observation Lounge, and Margaritas as we sailed away from Mexico at the Sunset Bar at the rear of the ship.

ENTERTAINMENT

* I'm a bit of a theater snob and have unfairly high standards for shows, unless they're being put on by a local high school.

* The one show I went to was 'Life', a disjointed jukebox musical. The singing and dancing was... okay. One thirty-second Latin dance number had me imaging how I'd build a show around that theme if I were a cruise director, instead of trying to appeal to everyone at once.

* The aerialist and acrobatic dancers were most impressive part of show. How do you pull that off on a moving ship?

* We also went to the comedy show one night. Rondell Sheridan was the headliner - he definitely appealed to the over-50s audience, but also made fun of Canadians, which is always good, clean fun. Mom thought there was a bit too much bathroom humor in the over-50s bits.

SERVICE

* Our room steward, Jayson, was great. We requested a pitcher of ice water the first day, and he kept it filled – we’d return to our room after an excursion and we would have a new one.

* Housekeeping was great too. We managed to lock ourselves out of our room the final night when we were packing and placing suitcases in the hall, and she saved us the embarrassment of going down to Guest Services in our pajamas.

* We tipped upfront, but also left small additional tips for our steward, dining staff, and housekeeping

* Service was great, but you also get the sense that these are very competitive jobs for very small amounts of money. We felt kind of guilted into giving more than suggested - less from anything Celebrity employees said or did, than from chatting with our fellow cruise mates.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

* The western Caribbean itinerary had a nice mix of ports (4 total). It was easy to get in a city walk, Mayan ruins, a beach day, plus one day for whatever you wanted. Costa Maya, the port I wasn’t sure about, ended up being pretty neat.

* Coming back from shore excursions was where you felt the Celebrity difference. Short or no lines, tents for shade, cold towels, and your pick of fruit-infused ice water.

* Not yet a shore excursion, but a fun note - on our final sea day, I got lunch at the Pool Grill while Mom read in cabin. I took my food up to the lawn club and sat on the grass to eat. Suddenly, I realized I could see Cuba - an island with a beautiful, dramatic mountain range, fairly close. Quickly, I finished my lunch and went to go get my camera and Mom. The mountains were a little gentler by the time we got back, but it was still neat to see. Anyway, it had me thinking about what an amazing and convenient stop Cuba will be if our country and theirs ever get our collective stuff together.

Some things that felt a bit weird, a bit nice, or just different to me as a first time cruiser...

* Using your key card for everything.
* All the "free" food.
* The up-sell - especially for the beverage package - makes it a little hard to relax entirely.
* Cruise culture is kind of weird (I spent a lot of time reading the CruiseCritic boards beforehand, which may have contributed to this observation).
* Different packages on the Equinox have a different dining room, etc, which does feel a little steerage vs. first class-y.
* It's nice to have your stuff in one place and not have to worry about anything (I never even got foreign currency).
* Cruises aren't very physically or intellectually challenging – this could be a plus or minus, depending on what you want.

Overall: Mom and I would be both be willing to go on a cruise again, especially if the itinerary was a unique location that is best visited by ship. But I think both of us enjoy tailoring our own land-based trips too much to make cruising a regular thing.