We just returned from the 10 day Eastern Mediterranean cruise on the Equinox and it was unbelievable. Since I learned so much from reading other CC posts, here is our trip summary. Who we are: second time cruisers, upper 40's with two teenage boys, 16 and 13. First time in Europe for three of us.

Boarding in Civitavecchia was a breeze. We arrived 11 am, checked in, walked on the ship and enjoyed lunch in Ocean View. Staterooms were ready by 1:15. Disembarking was easy, although they have you gather in the theatre at your assigned time, to basically tell you as a small group that you can leave. There was nothing anyone checked, so really you can just walk off at your time and skip the theatre. The time of leaving just corresponds to the mountain of luggage that awaits - it is nicely organized by when you need to go if you completed the survey they give you a couple days before leaving.

Staterooms - we had two adjoining concierge class rooms. It is very clever how they have the rooms designed with a double door to the hall that opens to a shared foyer of two single rooms. We were very glad to have gone with two rooms for 4 people. We had plenty of storage - luggage fits under the beds. The bath was crazy smart with storage options. I had purchased a hanging toiletry gadget and ended up unpacking all of my items into the cabinets and putting the hanging gadget under the bed! The closet has lower shelves like a rack that can be folded out - so you have two tiers to hang items if you need. I brought clothes on hangers with cascading hooks so I could get 2-3 shirts hung from one hanger and all fit nicely. We had our attendant empty both mini fridges so we could use them for bottled water - and had brought bottled water on board. The only minor items were the hairdryer is the kind you have to keep pressing the button for it to work, which makes styling a trick (so if you have a complicated hair style bring your own hairdryer ) and our rooms were next to the hump of the ship, so when guest on the hump were out on their veranda they could see into our veranda, etc which was a little weird for us. Our rooms were 1251 and 1253. I am not sure you are missing much if you go without concierge class - the benefits are neat but not necessary. Read more