Celebrity Equinox Review
First time with Celebrity - was just Okay
Rating by category
Additional details
We were a large group of 10 family members - all adults with one 17 yr old. I have cruised over 20 times, mostly on Royal, several times with Princess and once with Carnival. We tried Celebrity because I had often heard it was "a notch above" Royal Caribbean. This was not our experience.
Embarkation was awful - we had Elite status but the Celebrity member controlling our line was never paying attention. After waiting 45 minutes in a line to check in - we finally just went over to the regular check in line and were taken so fast.
We also knew that the ship was going in for refurbishment (after we booked of course) so I was not expecting the look to be great. It was fine, carpet styles were dated and deck chairs etc showing wear but the ship was very clean so it passed in my book. The biggest reason for 3 star rating was honestly the food. I can be pretty objective since I have cruised many times. We ate in the main dining room every night. 80% of my meals were honestly just awful and the 20% that weren't - the portion size was so small as to be laughable. My ravioli dinner was 3 raviolis. I ordered the shrimp louie appetizer and it was seriously about a tablespoon worth. My shrimp scampi was shrimp skimpy - only 3 shrimp on the side. Seriously?! Even our head waiter acknowledged that it was bad and started bringing our sons extra dinners. We are not snackers or breakfast eaters so we were basically eating 2 meals per day. It is the first cruise I have ever been on where I felt hungry. The overall quality was just poor. Some meats were so tough that our drinks would spill when someone at the table was using a knife to saw through the cut. I understand cost cutting on portions but they are seriously in need of a new chef too! Two bright spots to recommend - the burgers at the Mast Grill and Sushi on Five (my crew did it for lunch). We did not try the other restaurants because it was a Holiday cruise and they were charging $70 to $120 per person cover charges. When you have 10 people that gets to be ridiculously expensive. The Buffet was not great. Again, hit or miss but more than anything it was just chaotic at lunch time trying to find an open table and get your group together. I wish all cruise lines would figure out a way to make this better. We did not do the dining room for lunch based on our dinner experience.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Veranda 1A
This cabin has ample room to move around with a couch, chair and vanity area closest to the balcony. Only two outlets makes it tough to keep things charged. Outlets also don't provide enough juice to power a curling iron. I have never had that experience on any other cruise ship. Not much drawer storage but big compartments over the bed and lots of room in the bathroom. Large shower compared to other cruises we have been on.
Port Reviews
Key West
We enjoyed walking around Key West and just wandering in and out of the Shops and Bars. Several of our grown children walked to the Beach in the State Park and said they liked it.
Costa Maya
We booked ahead of time with Jimmy's Blue Reef. It was an all inclusive beach day for $55 per person. Very nice - would recommend.
Cozumel
We have been to Cozumel many times. The ship was not in port very long - had to be back on board by 3:30 pm. There were also 6 other Ships in port that day. We walked around the shops and then went back on board to enjoy quiet time on the Ship.
Grand Cayman (Georgetown)
We booked a non-ship excursion with Acquarius and Capt. Mario. Very professional - we did snorkeling, starfish point and sting ray city. Our tour was 26 people plus 2 little kids and was only supposed to be 24 max. It turned out great anyway even with the crying babies (little kids on this type of excursion is a bad idea)