Cruise Review: On Board Celebrity Equinox

Celebrity Equinox is a modern ship which features a huge array of amenities to keep you occupied throughout a cruise. In the time I was on board I experienced some of these and this review will detail this. I was aboard for a ten night Atlantis Mediterranean cruise and you can read about my Concierge Class cabin in my previous post.

The SeaPass

When you check-in for your cruise you are issued with a SeaPass. This is the most vital item to have with you on a cruise as the card is used to access your room. In addition it is used to charge purchases to your on board account. It needs to be produced each time you order a drink so you need to keep it with you all the time.

Cards are colour coded depending on which class you are travelling. They are dark blue for all Interior, Ocean View and Deluxe Balcony cabins, they are gold for Concierge Class, aqua for AquaClass and they are black for passengers in Suites. People often wear them around their neck on the Atlantis lanyard so you had some idea what class people were travelling.

Molecular Bar

There are many bars on board Celebrity Equinox and my favourite is the Molecular Bar. The intriguing name matched some of the intriguing cocktails and drinks that were served there by the friendly and efficient staff.

The bar does a bunch of special drinks and one in particular caught my attention in the menu. Once the cocktail is shaken, liquid nitrogen is added and it looks quite spectacular.

The cocktail featured Ketel One vodka and tasted delicious. Many of these were consumed by me on the cruise.

Sushi on Five

Dining on Celebrity Equinox is generally free. There are two or three specialty restaurants which attract a $25 cover charge and then there is Sushi on Five. This restaurant is like a restaurant on shore in that you pay per dish. I had a craving for Japanese food so one evening I decided to dine here.

I started with Gyoza which was more substantial than I expected. This was followed by a Lobster Tail soup and finally I had some Sushi. The meal was delicious and extremely filling. Special mention to the wasabi which blew my head off! I have not had such hot wasabi in a long time so that was a big thumbs up from me. The restaurant wasn’t busy so the service was very prompt and the waiter happily told me the story behind my specialty sake which was kinda cool. The meal cost around $40 and I thought it was quite a reasonable price.

The Bridge

The Captain of Celebrity Equinox decided to hold a 2 hour open day on the Bridge and naturally my friends and I went for a peek.

The Bridge is quite enormous and it also affords a spectacular view.

It was an interesting place to visit and you should definitely go if you have the opportunity.

Silhouette

Silhouette is the main dining room on Celebrity Equinox and I ate dinner here several times. Food quality ranged from excellent to very average. There are a decent variety of dishes on offer and the menu comprises of items unique to each evening as well as classic dishes that are always available. Classic dishes included Escargot and Prawn Cocktail starters while items appeared depending on location such as a Caprese Salad one of the nights in Italy. There were usually hot and cold soups such as Strawberry Soup and French Onion Soup. In addition there were a variety of main dishes. I estimate there were around eight to twelve choices of starters and the same for mains with two thirds changing each evening.

The servers are very efficient and sometimes a little too efficient. One night we had 5 different people ask us for drinks orders in a 10 minute period which was quite tiresome. One of the great things about dining on board is that you can order as much as you like. We routinely ordered two or three starters each or two mains and it was no trouble at all. You could try as much as you liked which was excellent.

Equinox Theatre

The ship features quite a sizable theatre which has been very well designed to ensure that everyone has a decent view of the stage. Sitting in various locations I never came across an obstructed view.

Shows were usually twice nightly and there were a good variety of performers on our Atlantis cruise. The shows will be reviewed in more detail in my next post on the Atlantis cruise itself.

The theatre is also used as the staging point for shore excursions in the morning. Everyone arrives and checks in for their tours and then you are released in groups to your transportation. I found that unexpected but a smart use of the space.

Other Facilities

There are outdoor and indoor pools, a Casino, a nightclub called Quasar and many other bars. My group usually met at the Sunset Bar at the back of the ship as it was nice and relaxed and offers great views over the stern. There is also a Martini Bar and an English Pub both of which we visited once. One evening we played some Roulette in the Casino and the minimum we were permitted to convert to gambling chips was $50 so that is what we did. The croupier was very personable and we enjoyed our loss making time there.

The Oceanview Cafe is the self-service buffet that is open 24 hours which is handy for that 4am post-party plate to take back to your stateroom. They do a mean chicken curry in there! What’s also fun is that there is a whole lawn on the top deck which people used for sun worship on our only day at sea. I believe this is a unique feature to Solstice-Class ships.

Near to that was the Hot Glass Show which everyone seemed to slate throughout the cruise though I did see some people attending once. Cafe Al Bacio does coffee for a price – I overheard the Australians teaching them how to make a Flat White. The cakes and tarts from there were sugary delicious and free! There is also a pretty decent library on board for the book worms and I found a book that interested me quite easily.

Overall Thoughts

There is plenty to do on board Celebrity Equinox so a person would be hard to be bored. The on board service is generally superlative. The crew are genuinely nice and fun and they perform their roles with aplomb. We nicknamed the ship the Celebrity Upsell as the staff worked quite hard on parting us from our money. This did get to be a little tiresome and got to the point where a voicemail was left extolling the virtues of the specialty restaurants and encouraging us to make a booking. Despite this I would recommend Celebrity Equinox as it really does have something for everyone and I thoroughly enjoyed my time on board. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments please leave them below.

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