CELEBRITY EQUINOX January 15 - 25, 2010 Cabin 8344, Sunset Veranda Keep in mind - this was my experience and others may experience a cruise differently from me! ENJOY! EMBARKATION We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale the evening prior to sailing as we always do. We like to enjoy a relaxing dinner with friends at Il Mulino on Sunrise and wake up leisurely on the morning of embarkation and arrive at the port by 11:00 AM. We were aware that the sailing before ours experienced a Norovirus outbreak and that our embarkation would likely be delayed due to extensive cleaning after passengers disembarked. We were sailing with 14 people from our neighborhood. We decided to head to the port at 11:00 AM anyway and figured we'd rather be at the front of the line during the wait instead of at the end. The check in process began within 15 minutes of our arrival. We were at the new Royal Caribbean terminal built for Oasis of the Seas. It's a lovely building with plenty of check-in desks available. Actual check in took less than ten minutes. We then headed up an escalator to a lounge waiting area. On a typical embarkation day, this area would have been quite sufficient for the usual short wait to embark. However, the delay for this sailing was significant. We knew that and had planned to play cards or get some work done on my laptop to pass the time. The area was broken up into sections - SUITES, AQUA CLASS, CONCIERGE, ELITE, and everyone else. Celebrity had several tables set up with complimentary bottled water, small wrapped sandwiches and cookies. A nice touch except that they stopped serving far too soon prior to boarding. As you can imagine, by 1:00 PM, the area was filled to the max. Passengers were getting restless; the sound system was inaudible so you couldn't understand announcements; pier staff was trying to walk through the crowd and explain how they were going to handle the actual embarkation. Sadly, what some staffers were telling passengers was the opposite of what other staffers were saying. Consequently, once one section of people stood up to board, the entire lounge got up and started heading towards the gangway because of the conflicting instructions pier staff were relaying (plus people don't listen to instructions, either). All things considered, most people were grateful for the extra cleaning the ship was undergoing and when embarkation finally began about 2:15, while it was longer than normal, people were happy to be heading towards the ship. Two things they could have done to help the situation immensely: Given out numbered tickets in groups and called groups to board by number. Maybe 50 or 75 people in group 1; 50 - 75 people in group 2, etc. It would have prevented the mass rush of everyone all at once heading to the gangway. Second, they had the machines that take your photo for your sea pass card INSIDE the lounge area the entire time we sat and waited. If they had taken photos while people were waiting, it would have saved a fair amount of time once they began allowing people to board. Once onboard, we were told that the cabins were not ready and that an announcement would be made when they were. We headed to the Oceanview Cafe for a bite to eat and wait for the cabin to be ready. It was after 4:00 PM when they allowed us to head to our cabin. Fortunately for us, our luggage was delivered within minutes of getting to the cabin and we were completely unpacked in 20 minutes. THE SHIP Overall We had sailed on Solstice several times so we were anxious to see the differences between Solstice and Equinox. In many regards, they are very, very similar. The ships' main areas - dining room, restaurants, bars, cabins, spa, pools, buffet area - were essentially the same. Subtle differences were the entrance to the Ensemble Lounge (roses and ants on Solstice; painted metal pin-wheel type flowers on Equinox); the large art sculpture at the entrance to the Specialty restaurant area (a bronze heart on Solstice; a glass blue circular piece of art on Equinox); a beautiful large tiled artwork featuring lemons in Tuscan Grille on Equinox (which is just a white painted wall on Solstice); the library; the container that holds the atrium tree. Little things that set the ships apart but you definitely know you are on a Solstice class ship because of the similarities (down to the furniture in many outlets). I liked that. One of the things that was so impressive about Solstice was how comfortable all of her furniture in the public areas seemed to be. Happily, this follows through to Equinox. With the exception of the beautiful tile art in Tuscan Grille, I prefer Solstice just a little bit more. Some things, like the metal pinwheel art at Ensemble didn't seem to fit. It's like they wanted to do something different but as an entrance to an elegant lounge/bar, the painted metal flowers seemed out of place. One beautiful art element of Equinox is the many glass pieces you'll find throughout the ship (vases and bowls). You'll see them in cases near guest relations, in nooks outside the Celebrity Theater and in stairwells. For my tastes, the glass vases and bowls were much more attractive than much of the artwork that adorned the stairwells. But keep in mind, this is only my preference and others may love the stairway art. After sailing on the second ship in the Solstice class, my feelings for this class of ship were reconfirmed. This is my favorite class of ship of any line I've sailed. I'd be happy sailing on any ship in this class and look forward to see what little nuisances Eclipse will have that makes her just a little different. Cabin I really like the cabins on this ship. There are certainly some areas that could be improved but overall, it's very comfortable. The bathrooms are among the best at sea for standard cabins. They are large, have nice spa amenities (even in standard cabins) and have sufficient storage. My only bathroom comment concerns the towels. I'm a relatively small person and the bath towels are VERY skimpy. It would be nice if the standard cabins had decent size bath towels. I think they are the smallest bath towels at sea. There are two nice waffle robes in the cabin; pillows were fine; bed was comfy. Veranda furniture is very nice and I liked that they moved the safe from the closest to a space above the mini-fridge. The full size couch is nice but for us it became the collection area for "stuff." It would be really nice if they took the area under the couches that are not a trundle bed and turned them into two storage drawers. That would make this nicely appointed cabin fantastic. For longer cruises, I can see where it might be a bit tight on storage, especially since a good amount of storage is in two cupboards above the bed. Tough to reach for someone short like me. We never heard either of our neighbors when we were inside the cabin. The flat screen TV is very nice and does pull away from the wall and swivel so you can see it from the bed if your cabin configuration has the bed by the balcony door. Soot on the balcony was not a problem on this particular cruise. Pools The pool areas (main pool and Solarium pool) on Equinox are beautiful. On this cruise, there were plenty of lounge chairs to be found at any time of day. We went in one of the hot tubs on one afternoon and the chlorine was so strong that we only lasted about ten minutes before our eyes started to burn. That did it for our hot tub visits. We did not use the Aqua Spa Cafe but several in our group dined there regularly and really enjoyed it except for the limited table seating in the area. FOOD Main Dining Room - Silhouette We had late seating at large tables (our group of 14 was seated at two tables - one for six and one for 8) on the lower level of the main dining room. I realize that food is very subjective but my husband and I agreed that the main dining room food was probably the best we've had on a Celebrity cruise. Most evenings there were at least two or three entrees that were appealing. Nearly every night I asked for an appetizer-sized portion of the evening's pasta entrEe and each were delicious. This was always accommodated with a smile. I think the "always available" menu is larger than I remember as well and while I didn't order much from it, the things I did were very good. Some of my favorite entrees from the cruise included: Coc au Vin and the Chateaubriand. There were many wonderful desserts and as I mentioned above, every pasta dish I tried was terrific. Our waiters were top notch - always smiling and always ready to please. Our head waiter was be heading home on vacation as we disembarked. It was wonderful to hear his excitement about seeing his family again. Our assistant waiter, Ida, always had a huge smile on his face. He will definitely work his way up quickly. Our Sommelier, Marina, was also fantastic. She recommended great wines (and reasonably priced) and wrote them all down for us so we could purchase them at home. Buffet - Oceanview Cafe I love the layout of the buffet area on this ship. Once you figure out where everything is, it becomes quick and easy to get food. It was a bit trickier on this cruise because all items (and I mean ALL items) in the buffet were distributed by the staff. No plates, silverware, cups, salt & pepper, sugar, butter, etc. were out to be picked up by passengers. Everything you got was served by the crew from behind the counter. It did slow things down a bit but it wasn't too bad, really. The coffee/juice/water areas saw the worst lines. I appreciated the extra effort to keep the passengers safe. Beyond being served everything, I thought the food up here is awfully good. Much of it is prepared on the spot - waffles, pancakes, omelets, fried eggs, stir fry, pasta, pizza, and made to order sandwiches head the list. There were always several featured items that changed daily along with a complimentary ice cream bar and bunches of desserts and cookies. By the way, the ice cream was yummy. Mast Grille We enjoyed a couple of items from the grille area that sits above the pool. Burgers, hot dogs, fries and onion rings were all good, especially if you got them at peak times when they were serving everything fresh off the grill. At times, the lines were extremely long. Some of it was due to the fact that you couldn't get anything for yourself (even things like ketchup were served). Tuscan Grille This is my favorite specialty restaurant on the ship. Everyone in our group dined here together one evening. Again, two tables. We enjoyed a wide variety of the food on the menu and everything was outstanding. I had the Tuscan onion soup and the veal parmesan. Some had the filets; other had fish. We shared a side of pasta. The staff was friendly and provided a very high level of service. Silk Harvest We dined at Silk Harvest later in the cruise. Again, everyone in our group joined us. We had one long table for 14 (it was a beautiful wood table just inside the entrance). Since our group was fairly large, we decided to let the staff select menu samplings from the menu for our dining experience. They did a fantastic job. We got to taste nearly everything on the menu (they actually brought too much food) and everything was very good. We had three guests with specific dietary requests and they happily accommodated each of them. Bistro on Five I really wanted to try out this creperie this time around but it was not to be. They've added some fun design elements to this area and there were often people eating here. It just didn't work into our schedule. Hopefully next time. Cafe al Bacio Great cappuccinos here and a nice spot to sit and relax and watch the world go by. Didn't try any of the pastries here although they looked great!

ENTERTAINMENT Equinox Theater - We enjoyed several shows in the Equinox Theater. The opening show did a nice job of showcasing the various acts that we would see throughout the cruise. The Celebrity singers and dancers were introduced; the a cappella group - These Guys - performed; we also enjoyed the comedian, Jeff Nease in the theater (he also did a late night show in Celebrity Central) and Equinox, The Show. Equinox, The Show is a Cirque-du-Soleil type show that is also on Solstice. The shows are different, however. Different talent performing different acts. I thought the Solstice show was a little better but both were very good considering the things they are doing on a moving ship.

Celebrity Central - Took in two shows in this smaller nightclub-type venue. One was the comedian again for late night and the other was the Newlywed type show (very funny). Miscellaneous Entertainers - There was no shortage of live entertainment throughout the ship all week long. The entertainers included a jazz quartet with a female vocalist who was outstanding (Vanessa Trouble). She was temporarily filling in for the regular singer and only on board for a couple of sailing. She, and the musicians, were outstanding. The a cappella group, These Guys, were also very good although I didn't think they were scheduled to perform as regularly as some of the other a cappella groups of the past. The new guitarist, Justin Wade was very good and two other individual performers, one on steel pan drums and the other on piano were also good. We didn't make it into Michael's Club to take in the regular piano-man type singer. Too many other things to enjoy in the evening. The string quartet that performed in various spots around the ship were very good and the pool band was also very good but the decibel level on the pool deck was over the top. We couldn't stay out there and enjoy them because the music was so loud. I guess if you were on the Solstice Deck it might have been OK. The Celebrity Orchestra was outstanding and it was nice to see them used in the centrum area and feature some of their musicians in various shows in the theater. We did skip most of the theater shows. Jimmy Walker was a guest one night. I didn't care for him when he was young and on TV. Others seemed to like some of the production shows but we only made it to Equinox, The Show. Overall, I thought the miscellaneous entertainment on Equinox was among the best we've seen on any ship. PORTS OF CALL St. John (when docked in St. Thomas) My favorite island of all. Pre-arranged for a taxi for the day with a driver we used on past cruises. Toured the island as most of our neighbors had not been there before; stopped at Maho, Annaberg ruins (old sugar plantation); all the scenic overlooks; and then to the east end of the island to Shipwreck Landing for lunch: http://www.shipwrecklandingstjohn.com/. Food here is great as well (we enjoy good food). Dropped some in our group at Trunk Bay for a couple of hours while others went into Cruz Bay (Mongoose Junction) to shop. A great time was had by all. It is one beautiful island! St. Maarten Kakao Beach Restaurant & Bar, Orient Beach - www.sxm-restaurants.com Great spot. Very nice beach chairs and umbrellas (nicer than most of the other spots along the beach). Terrific food and service ($12 for cheeseburger and fries but it was really good). We'd been to Orient Beach several times in the past. This was the nicest spot we'd been to. Located in the center of Orient. Our taxi driver dropped us here. We'd go back! Barbados Took a taxi to Earthworks Pottery to shop for some wedding gifts and pick up a few pieces for home. http://www.earthworks-pottery.com/ I've been collecting pieces from here each time we've stopped at Barbados. The wonderful Caribbean colors already take me back to the islands. This was the only thing we did here. A tour with Cameron Reid fell through when those in my group decided they didn't want to tour. Cameron was gracious and understood. I hope we can use him the next time we are in Barbados. Dominica It had been a long time since we stopped here. It is a beautifully lush island. We toured with Levi from Bumpiing Tours. http://www.bumpiingtours.com/ We had a wonderful day here. Levi was a fantastic guide. Eight of us were joined by another Cruise Critic couple for a day of hiking to waterfalls, a swim in mineral springs, snorkeling at Champagne Reef. St. Kitts Chose to stay onboard Equinox and enjoy the ship. Days in port where you can enjoy the ship by yourself are a real treat. A delightful day. SERVICE I'm saving the best for last. One thing that has always stood out about Celebrity was their service. This cruise was no exception. Especially since the crew was pulling double duty so to speak with the constant cleaning due to norovirus the week before ours. I didn't hear of anyone ill on our cruise but others said they did. I actually thought that some of the cleaning was a bit over the top. Spraying the buffet counters as people were getting food seemed a bit dangerous. I also saw some folks at Guest Relations with clothing that had been damaged by bleach. From our cabin attendants who were pleasant and eager to please, to our dining room waiters, bar servers and cruise staff, the crew on Equinox was outstanding. I can't say enough about these hardworking individuals and what they do to make our cruise experience happy and memorable. Dru Pavlov was the cruise director for our voyage. This was the fourth time we've sailed with Dru. He is among our favorite CDs. He's personable, visible, funny and most of all, sincere. He genuinely cares that the guests have a memorable cruise. His staff that ran the many activities on board (Matt, Adriana, Ian and Andy) were top notch also. They definitely made our cruise a great one. We are very appreciative to the entire crew on Equinox for once again making our cruise a wonderful one. ELITE PERKS The new and improved benefits of being Elite with Celebrity are VERY nice. We appreciate all of them even though we didn't have the chance to utilize each of them this time around. The 90 minutes complimentary internet service and the laundry coupons are terrific. The Elite breakfast in Michael's Club was great, too. My only comment that isn't quite a positive is the 4 - 6 time frame for drinks. On our cruise, there were too many Elite's to hold the afternoon drinks in Michael's Club so it was moved to Sky. We visited on the second day (a sea day). After 20 minutes without a server stopping for a drink order, I went back out to the Capt Club hostess to ask about being served. After another 15 minutes without a server stopping, we left. We tried again two days later and decided that it just wasn't worth it for a free drink. It wasn't an atmosphere to meet and chat with others. Service was slow and at time non-existent. Really, this is just a perk for those with early dining. Even at that, it wasn't overly crowded. My suggestion if would be if Celebrity really wanted to provide Elites with a drink each evening, they could provide a sheet of drink coupons (like they do the other coupons now) that included a coupon for each day of the cruise, marked Day 1, Day 2, etc that stated it would be good for one drink in any lounge on the ship. It could have a time limit on it - 5:00 - 8:00 PM so it would catch all Elites before dinner. You could have to show your cabin key that had your Elite status on it as well. Just some thoughts. We did appreciate the new benefits and are grateful Celebrity is making the effort to improve what they offer loyal cruisers. NORO & BLEACHING There is no question that most of us appreciated the extra effort Celebrity took to keep the ship clean and passengers healthy. There was an inordinate amount of bleach being used, however. And it was used everywhere. I'd recommend that if you are on a cruise where the ship is constantly wiped down with bleach, be sure that you get outside often and breathe lots of fresh air. DISEMBARKATION The easiest and quickest we can remember. Since we were driving home, we had the last disembarkation time - 9:50 AM. At 9:50 they announced that all disembarkation numbers had been called and everyone left could disembark. We enjoyed a breakfast and late coffee on the aft deck of the Oceanview Cafe. We made our way to the terminal, grabbed our luggage, went through customs, loaded the car and were on the Interstate home by 10:20. Within 30 minutes we went from sitting on the 14th floor of Equinox to being on the highway. Pretty darn good. Looking forward to our next Celebrity cruise! It can't come soon enough!