Celebrity Equinox Review Dec 2009

Celebrity Equinox
December 2009
10 Day: St. Thomas – St. Kits – Barbados – Dominica -- St. Marten

The following review of our cruise is an opinion only.
It may be inaccurate in parts as to fact and is only presented here as
a report of our experience and perceptions of our cruise. It in no
way suggests that the reader should cruise or not cruise on the
Celebrity Equinox. The reader is urged to do their own investigation
before deciding on choosing the Celebrity Equinox.
Their experiences may differ completely from ours.

Embarkation
We arrived by car at 10:00 A.M. on Monday at Port Everglades at the
new Oasis of the Seas Terminal (Oasis was not in port). A few
passengers were still leaving from the previous Equinox cruise, but
the terminal was spacious and easily accommodated the new arriving
passengers. We breezed through the check in process and were on the
ship in 30 minutes. A sign told us that staterooms were not ready
until 1:30 p.m. We made our way to the Oceanview cafe and then toured
the ship. We were not prevented from going up to our deck 11 aqua
class stateroom to see if the room was ready, so we would periodically
walk by the room. By 12:45 p.m. we found the cabin was ready and we
took possession.

Stateroom
(Aqua Class): Our cabin with balcony on deck 11 Penthouse deck had
plenty of room, including the bathroom which was spacious. Our
stateroom class was “Aqua” at the front 1/3rd of the ship. The
remaining 2/3rds of the Penthouse deck had their balconies beneath the
overhang of the Pool deck above – no sun there and no suntan.
Aqua class staterooms come with perks, some of which a
“Lighting, sound, and aromatic elements to bring the soothing power of
the sea into your stateroom oasis” – we are still trying to find the
guy who wrote that. The lighting had a dimmer switch, the aromatic
element was a small bottle of perfume with a wick, and we don’t know
what the sound element was.
“Hansgrohe showerhead” – a multi spray shower that had nozzles from
your knees to your head and was enjoyable.
“Unlimited access to the Aqua Spa relaxation room” – the room at the
front of the ship on deck 11 directly above the Bridge was available
to everyone on the ship. It was seldom used by anyone.
“Frette bathrobes” – extremely fluffy and heavy bathrobes more suited
for an Antarctic cruise. They were soft and comfortable but too heavy
for the warm Caribbean weather.
“Slippers” – small and ill fitting, we did not use them.
“Bottled water” – this was a nice perk and we had all the bottled
water we wanted along with a bucket of ice.
There were other perks that were either ok or we did not use, or did
not find them to be remarkable here. You can find them on Celebrity’s
website.
“Specialty Restaurant, Blu pre assigned seating for Aqua class” – not
true. Blu was a big disappointment for us. We had requested Main
seating and our documents specified main seating. Blu is open
seating. We patronized Blu on the first night and found the décor
somewhat subdued and the menu different from the Main Dining Room
(MDR). Blu had more seafood and more exotic food which is not our cup
of tea. We asked to be assigned to the MDR main seating and they
found us a table for 2 which was very nice. Continuing on with the
review of the stateroom, we found it to be comfortable, of adequate
size, and enjoyable. We did notice that the staterooms at the bottom
of the ship seemed to have the same size room as ours and we realized
that we could have paid less for much the same room lower down. Our
television was flat screen, large, and interactive. We were able to
view our account, see our photographs that were taken on formal nights
(most photographs were a hefty $20 each including the welcome aboard
photo), order room service, and select from many free movies. The
interactive part of the television took a little getting used to and
at times the controls were lethargic. We want to mention here the
stateroom attendant who was a wonderful person: friendly, and very
professional. The hours they put in on a ship are overwhelming. We
saw our attendant in the passageway at 8:00 a.m. and at night at 10:30
p.m. The amount of cabins our attendant had to care for prevented
just about any interaction between us. The extremely long hours and
hard work of the attendant was evident to us.

Elite Member Benefits (*After 10 earned tier credits)
One category upgrade prior to sailing (when available) – since we
booked Aqua class and were assigned to Blu, we think this knocked us
out of the box for an upgrade. We did not get one.
A premium onboard discount booklet filled with special offers -- A
disappointment. On other cruise lines including RCL, coupons were
valuable and entitled us to real discounts. None of the coupons on
the Celebrity Equinox Elite Class were valuable unless we purchased
something else first and then the coupon would give us something off
on the additional purchase. We did not use any of these coupons. We
felt cheated by this marketing ploy by Celebrity.
Priority embarkation, … waitlist, …etc., etc. – a lot of baloney. No
one knew of our status or cared.
“Internet” – this was a nice perk. 3 hours of wifi internet in our
cabin for the 2 of us. The internet speed was excellent and we were
able to email photos taken during the day on our evening internet
sessions. For those without a laptop, the interactive TV had a
keyboard for internet, or we could use the internet café onboard.

The ship
The ship is new and clean, but disappointingly plain. We felt that
Celebrity had decorated the ship on the cheap. All the “art” in the
passageways and landing were framed photographs of art or photographs
of odd shapes and colors. Extremely low end and unappealing. The
atrium was glass, aluminum, and stainless steel with some curtains
hanging for effect. Very plain and more contemporary than the
elegance we were promised.

The pool deck
Bumper to bumper lounge chairs and shoulder to shoulder passengers.
In port there were less people at the pool but on sea days it was
jammed. Crowded or not, the closeness of the lounge chairs left
absolutely no room. We did not use the pool or chairs on the entire
cruise because of this.

Dining
There are several specialty restaurants but we did not use any of them
– Murano’s charge was a hefty $30 pp. Our experience with Blu was
already mentioned and Blu is only accessible to Aqua class
passengers. The MDR has a main level and one balcony. We were on the
balcony level. We basically were presented with a menu with a
predetermined selection of food -- mixing and matching was difficult
or not possible. The dining room staff are extremely overworked and
they have absolutely no time to interact with passengers. On our
second night in the MDR or waitress had to be replaced because she
became ill from the workload. We were told she was changed to an area
with less tables. As always the staff was efficient, friendly, and
always smiling no matter how hard and long they work.
Oceanview Café – a real gem, every type of food you could want, neat,
clean, spacious, and a pleasure to go to. Finding a table was
somewhat difficult but slightly easier then on other ships. Lack of
trays made several trips necessary but this was not bothersome.

Daytime activities
Little to none. Nothing at all on the pool deck. Days at sea were
long and we spent much of it in our cabin and on our balcony availing
ourselves to room service.

Evening Entertainment
The main production shows were excellent. The most physically fit
dancers and singers of any ship we have been on. The evening
entertainment on other nights was extremely disappointing. A Russian
classical pianist, a violinist, a guitarist/comedian, a male singer
who forgot the words, and a female classical singer who mixed street
humor with highbrow singing. With the exception of the guitarist/
comedian, the others could put you to sleep and indeed we saw many who
were. Between little to no activities during the day and poor one
person shows at night, it made for a boring cruise.

Ports of Call
With the exception of the St. Maarten Golden Eagle Catamaran tour, we
did not book any other tours with the ship. The prices are extremely
high and no longer a value for services received. We have seen some
of our old tours double in price. In most ports we were able to get a
taxi/van for $20 pp and were taken on a nice 2 hour tour with
excellent commentary. Our 4 hour catamaran tour was $82 pp for a
total of $164 for 4 hours. To add insult to injury, we had 2 RCL
ships passengers on the tour with us. The RCL passengers paid less
for their tickets than we paid on Celebrity, even though both are part
of the same RCL company and on the same tour. We brought this to the
attention of the shore excursion desk onboard and were given a blank
stare. We suspect that Celebrity is charging its passengers more
food, drinks, etc., than RCL is their passengers, even though it is
the same company.

De-embarkation
Smooth and uneventful.

Overall
We have many cruises under our belts on most of the big lines and we
are used to not everything going our way. We make allowances for
that. However, we would probably not book with Celebrity again,
definitely would not book on the Celebrity Equinox again, and would
not recommend the line to others. Activities, entertainment, ship
appearance – all below par. We paid a hefty price for our aqua class
stateroom we were expecting more for our money. What we got was a lot
of hype and being sold overpriced goods at every turn – we felt as if
we were trapped in an auto dealership full of salesmen, and there was
no exit. Our advice for anyone wanting to try Celebrity is to book an
inner cabin on this ship, pay much less than we did, get a comparable
room to our aqua class stateroom from what we understand, and purchase
little to nothing. That would be a much better value for your money.
We are going to give Princess another look and we are cancelling our
future inaugural cruise on the future 2010 Celebrity Eclipse.

We wish we could be more positive about this ship. The crew was all
fantastic. We feel the shortcomings and disappointments we
experienced were the result of Royal Caribbean’s management policy on
how to market the ship as upscale and elegant, while doing it on the
cheap, yet charging upscale and elegant prices. We have a letter of
inquiry to Royal Caribbean management asking why we were charged more
for the same tour as the Royal Caribbean passengers we were with.
Perhaps Royal Caribbean has overextended themselves on ordering 2 new
mega ships – Oasis and Allure -- and is experiencing a cash flow
problem.

On 12/26/2009 6:18 PM, whata stupidjerk wrote:
We have many cruises under our belts on most of the big lines and we
are used to not everything going our way. We make allowances for
that. However, we would probably not book with Celebrity again,
definitely would not book on the Celebrity Equinox again, and would
not recommend the line to others.

Thanks for the review. As an Elite Member, it is especially sad to see
you come to this conclusion.

Bill

On 12/27/09 12:18 AM, in article
, "whata
stupidjerk" wrote:

Celebrity Equinox
December 2009
10 Day: St. Thomas * St. Kits * Barbados * Dominica -- St. Marten

The following review of our cruise is an opinion only.

Thank you for that well-balanced and in-depth review.

Elite Member Benefits (*After 10 earned tier credits)

Is there no Captain's Club Lounge or equivalent on the Equinox, where you
can have free drinks before dinner?
We have a letter of
inquiry to Royal Caribbean management asking why we were charged more
for the same tour as the Royal Caribbean passengers we were with.

I would also copy the letter to Celebrity management and include a copy of
this review. A verbal review like this is worth at least as much as one
hundred questionnaires returned.

In article , Cruise
Crazy wrote:

I read your review/opinion and found myself thinking 'That's so true".
Having become jaded with the popular middle priced cruise lines, we have
decided that oceania and the luxury lines will be our future cruise
lines. Unless, of course, we find a terriffic bargain on Princess or
Royal Caribbean.

The bargains are part of the reason the mass market lines have become
watered down experiences. Cutting staff and overworking them is what
the cruise lines are doing to compensate for low fares.

However it seems the the other persons main beefs were the Aqua Spa
class and the shore excursion price.

On the Aqua Spa class and also Concierge Class. Those seem to be
obvious marketing gimmicks where for some gloss that does not cost the
cruise lines much to provide they extract a higher fare from passengers
that is not of real value to passengers.

On excursion prices being different on Royal Caribbean than Celebrity.
That is not really a surprise either. It is like what merchants do in
so called upscale neighborhoods. For example supermarket prices are
lower in Baltimore County Maryland than Montgomery County Maryland. The
counties are not that far apart. Same with gas prices. They charge what
they think the market will bear.

--
Charles

I have been hearing this alot lately that Celebrity has changed and
alot of folks are saying to the point of being boring....
I just had someone come back from the Aqua Class and they said it was
not what they were thinking it was to be and that BLU was so
overrated.

Now about the Excursions You would think they would jnot mix RCCl with
the Celeb if they are charging different fares!
Hmmmm...

Sue

"Charles" wrote in message
d...

The bargains are part of the reason the mass market lines have become
watered down experiences. Cutting staff and overworking them is what
the cruise lines are doing to compensate for low fares.


Not sure I agree. Cutting staff that relies totally upon tips doesn't cost
the cruise line much (other than transportation costs a few times a year).
Cabins on the ships used by staff are already built (and passengers can't
use cabins on those decks), so whether they are filled or not doesn't
matter.

Overworking them is more likely a function of the waiters wanting more
tables so they can get more tips.

--Tom

In article , Tom K
wrote:

Not sure I agree. Cutting staff that relies totally upon tips doesn't cost
the cruise line much (other than transportation costs a few times a year).
Cabins on the ships used by staff are already built (and passengers can't
use cabins on those decks), so whether they are filled or not doesn't
matter.

Cutting staff saves money even with low wages. The staff still gets a
wage even if it is low. Every penny counts Also besides housing the
staff they have to feed the staff.....

And it is obvious they have cut staff. On mid level mass market lines
like Royal Caribbean and Princess they cut the wine stewards and bar
waiters in the Main Dining room. On Celebrity and Princess which are
upscale mass market they still have wine stewards and bar waiters in
the main dining room. And that is what we see. We don't know what staff
cuts have been made behind the scenes in the galley, engine room etc.
The cruise lines no longer staff the library. Celebrity used to have a
full time person. HAL is the only mass market line I am aware of that
has a Librarian.

--
Charles

On Dec 28, 12:51*pm, Charles wrote:
On mid level mass market lines
like Royal Caribbean and Princess they cut the wine stewards and bar
waiters in the Main Dining room. On Celebrity and Princess which are
upscale mass market they still have wine stewards and bar waiters in
the main dining room.

Charles, you might want to re-read what you wrote.

Does Princess have wine stewards or not?

FYI, RCI still has bar waiters in the dining room - at least they did
last month on Navigator of the Seas. The bar waiters
do not take wine orders, but they do take all other paid drink orders.

Warren

In article
,
Warren wrote:

Does Princess have wine stewards or not?

No. I meant Holland - America.

--
Charles

On Dec 27, 3:59*pm, Charles wrote:

On the Aqua Spa class and also Concierge Class. Those seem to be
obvious marketing gimmicks where for some gloss that does not cost the
cruise lines much to provide they extract a higher fare from passengers
that is not of real value to passengers.


We were upgraded in to Aqua Class (Solstice in May) as the fare kept
dropping after having booked a minimum balcony category. I agree with
the review that I would not pay extra to book directly in to Aqua
Class, but a few of the amenities were nice to have:

1) free bottle of water per passenger, daily. This came in handy when
touring the Greek islands.

2) the multi-shower head was nice

3) free unlimited access to the thermal suite (not just the relaxation
room)

4) binoculars

5) a very large umbrella suitable for 2

6) daily canapes delivered late in the afternoon every day

We were in an aft section Aqua Class beneath the overhang. It wasn't
shady to the extent that the review claims. We had plenty of sun most
of the day depending on which direction our side of the ship was
facing.

We enjoyed Blu. We had an assigned table and seating time every night.
The dining room is small and subdued, service was very attentive with
the chef visiting the tables on a couple of evenings. It was possible
for any passenger to dine in Blu either by reservation or even as a
walk-in. There were plenty of tables available. While seafood was
featured, there was plenty of pasta, chicken and beef on the menu. My
partner does not eat seafood and had a good selection to choose from.
We were told by our waitress and the restaurant manager that we could
also order off-menu within reason or even customize the preparation of
menu items since Blu has it's own chef with relatively few passengers
to cook for. This is something not publicized but is a definite perk
of being assigned to Blu. I likened the experience to being assigned
to one of QM2's grills.

It was possible for us to dine in the main dining room any night if we
wished as walk-ins as well. We had dinner in Tuscan Grill one evening
and enjoyed it. The menu was basically the same as RCI's Portofinos.

I thought Solstice was very chic. My only major complaint is the lawn
which needs to be re-purposed and used as a semi-shaded lounging area
(I'd keep the awnings). One other minor complaint is the amplification
of the piano in Michael's Club. Amp the singer, but the room is too
small for the piano to be miked. Nothing is worse than piano music
blasting so loud overhead that you can't have a conversation in what
should be a quiet piano lounge. Our solution was to just go somewhere
else, usually to the lounge just outside of Michael's.

I agree with the review about the coupon booklet, however having just
returned a few weeks ago from Navigator of the Seas I can say that
RCI's coupon book has become just as worthless. Nearly every
"discount" required a full price purchase with the discount only
available if a second item was bought. There used to be a coupon for a
free Johnny Rockets cover charge. Now the coupon is for a free
milkshake if you buy one milkshake. The cover is no longer free. Who
can drink 2 milkshakes (on top of all the fries and the burger)? Most
of the coupons were for the casino or bingo and required spending
money before getting any kind of benefit.

Warren