Celebrity Equinox Review

Adequate but not exceptional in any way

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Celebrity Equinox
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UnicornRancher
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jun 2016
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 1B

We chose Celebrity because of rave reviews online and from friends. While we loved our ports of call in the Greek Isles, we did not fall in love with the Equinox.

The pros: everything was clean, bed was comfortable, and many of the staff were gracious and kind. Our cabin steward was efficient and unobtrusive and kept the room sparkling clean. Seas were calm and sailing was oh-so-smooth. Elevators were excellent.

The cons: with few exceptions, food was mighty ordinary and often disappointing. Almost daily, I wished I could have access to the kitchen and whip up some food for myself. Service was inconsistent. There was lovely staff who were smiling and gracious, but there were more indifferent bartenders and servers than I've ever encountered. Once we waited over an hour for our entree to be served and when it arrived, it was not worth the wait. Overall, if the Equinox were a restaurant instead of a cruise ship, I would have visited once and never returned, but I was stuck there for a week. The cruise got off to a bad start since dock workers were on strike when we embarked. That meant we had to drag our luggage all over the port and then up to the 7th floor without assistance. It was an unpleasant introduction to Celebrity, but it would have been softened if only we had been told why no one was helping us. We didn't learn about the strike until later in the day. To compound the problem, the staff was called to do extra duty to cover for the strike that day, and I think the whole ship was fatigued at the start of the cruise. The room was quite unattractive to me: a beige/brown motif with a bulky, ugly sofa in the center and unattractive art on the walls. However, the size was fine and the balcony was quite lovely. The room was quiet. In the beginning, I smelled a lot of cigarette smoke but the staff worked hard to find the smoker and that was fixed. Usually, I am a joyful traveler, but not on this cruise. I complained a lot and the staff responded quickly and tried their best to remedy things. I appreciated their concern but they could not fix the tasteless soup and boring meals that followed. Fortunately, food off ship was often divine and tasty and delightful. We only did one Celebrity shore excursion. The guide was a tedious bore, intent on focusing on himself and taking us to bad shopping. Shame on Celebrity for charging high prices for a tour and then allowing us to be funneled into a high-priced carpet showroom while exiting the bus. (We escaped by literally running away!)

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 1B

Clean and comfortable, but not very attractive. Nice bathroom. Great balcony.

Port Reviews

Athens (Piraeus)

Private tour of amazing city.

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