We've cruised with Celebrity before (on Eclipse) and loved it. Equinox is a fine ship, our restricted view balcony cabin was great (the view was only partially restricted) and the itinerary should have been fantastic. Unfortunately the cruise got off to a bad start as Celebrity decided not to stay in Istanbul. The stay in Istanbul was the main reason for choosing this cruise. The day before we were due to fly out we received an email which was stated to be from Celebrity but was not from a Celebrity email address and had no Celebrity branding. It also had an embedded link which looked extremely suspect - my email system had placed it straight into spam as it appeared highly suspect. It was not until we arrived in Istanbul that we received a message to tell us of the change of itinerary.

Fortunately we had traveled out independently and had some of one day in Istanbul (without incident), but to spend the following day at sea instead of seeing more of the wonderful sights of this amazing city was galling. We are careful travelers and knew that there had been some incidents in Istanbul and been following government travel warnings, but Celebrity's decision to cancel overnight stops in the city is in our view a complete overreaction. If Istanbul isn't safe, why bring us all there to start/end our cruises?? By all means issue warnings/advice if you think there are safety issues but let us make our own decisions as to whether we go ashore.

By the third day of the cruise it was apparent that there was an issue with Norovirus. The buffet self service was cancelled, with items being served by staff for the remainder of the cruise. This led to frustrating experiences with staff often unable to understand what we'd asked for and long queues. The ice disappeared from the Martini bar, which ruined its atmosphere, and items kept being removed from our cabin, never to reappear (cushions, the valance from the bed, glasses, paper) - the atmosphere on the cruise became more and more muted as the cruise went on. To be fair Celebrity were clearly making efforts to sanitise the ship, but it did not make for a pleasant cruise. We were affected by the Norovirus which wiped out our cruise from day 5 onwards, which naturally had a bearing on our enjoyment! Many of the staff had also contracted the virus, which led to poor service due to reduced staff numbers and staff taking on unfamiliar roles. Read more