Celebrity Equinox 11 Day Western Caribbean CruiseMarch 21 - April 1, 2011General Observations:The Equinox is a beautiful ship and Celebrity does a good job for the most part. 11 Days in warm weather in March is nice no matter what. The cruise was fun and we had a ball, but there is room for improvement on Celebrity's part. Nonetheless, with 2800+ passengers on board, the crew and staff did a remarkable job. Boarding: * Very orderly and well handled * Could board as early as 11:30AM; we boarded just after Noon. * Lunch was available at the Oceanview Cafe. * Our room was ready at 1:00PM * Luggage was at our room by 2:30PMThe Ship * Very nice and very well maintained * Bathrooms exceptionally clean - usually staffed * 14 bars - yikes * Only two small pools for 2,800 people. * Easily navigable once one learns "Fun forward, food aft"The Room * Smallish, but adequate * Bed very comfortable. * Plenty of closet space. * 5 small drawers not quite enough, but lots of space in overhead compartments over the bed. * Veranda smaller than expected but ample for two people to sit and watch the sea. * Since the room was on floor 12, there was an right above the veranda that blocked the daytime sun. The overhang was caused by the Sky Deck, which was wider than the rest of the ship. The overhang was a mixed blessing. * Room attendants were wonderful and kept the room clean, beds made up and even folded up clothing left around the room. * Bathroom was great. LOTS of storage and a great shower with sliding doors. * Towels were large, soft and thirsty * Robes were fine, if you're a robe person * Illuminated telephone display was very bright when all the lights were out. I had to cover it up each night. * Only two 120V electrical outlets in the room If one has lots of chargers, one should bring a three plug block and/or an extension cord. No outlet next to the bed.The Food & RestaurantsOceanview Cafe * Food was very, very good for a cafeteria. The selection was large, but rarely changed. * Salads were good and fresh and some changed from day to day. Sun-dried tomatoes were a real treat. * Fresh fruit was good, especially the pineapple. The prepared fruit salad wasn't that good; make your own instead. * Traffic flow was a big problem. One was constantly dodging other passengers who were either in a hurry or aimless walking around looking at what was available rather than where they were going. * At peak hours, seating was a bit of a problem, but we always found somewhere to sit. * The FREE ice cream was just okay to me, but the soft serve with toppings was wonderful. We visited daily, if not more. * Pizza was so-so. Doughy, thick pan pizza. * Coffee was strong but good. * The mini cups of ½ and ½ were a ridiculous pain in the ass. Because the coffee was so strong, I'd end up putting 5-7 containers of ½ and ½ in my coffee. If I was making a cup for my wife as well that was 10-14 cup to open and fiddle with. ALL the other coffee additions (milk, hot milk, skim milk) all had big carafes. PLEASE, put the ½ and ½ in it's own carafe.Main Dining Room * We only ate at the Main Dining Room for dinner, around 9:00PM. * Understanding exactly how booking dinner reservation worked was hard, but once Predrag, the Assistant Maitre D', explained it all to us, it worked out fine. We should have booked our reservations WAY in advance of the cruise, as soon as reservations started being accepted. Nonetheless, Andrea the hostess for Select Dining was wonderful in accommodating our varying seating requests. She was great. * Predrag's advice if you haven't pre-booked a dinner reservation; book a standing reservation for 6:30PM or so, but just show up whenever you want after that time. Doing it that way means you had a table reserved and were "delayed" and as such, they will accommodate you in getting the best possible table as quickly as possible. * I thought the food over all was very good, with several dishes being excellent and exceptional. (I LOVED the Pot au Feu). * It was nice to have the "traditional" menu items always available as a fall back if the special menu didn't excite one's palate. * Service was good and waiters were very attentive to our requests. * I wasn't thrilled by the dEcor; a bit to lavish and Vegas-y for me, but to each their own.Tuscan Grille (our only Speciality Restaurant experience) * Food was excellent, if not VERY filling. A lot of food. * Waiter explained each and every item on the menu, a time consuming and needless exercise. * Service was smothering and intrusive. WAY too many interruptions to ask how we were doing and how they were doing. We just wanted to be left alone so we could enjoy our meal and chat.Bistro on 5 * A gem of a restaurant that nobody used much. * Uncrowded, and open from 6:00AM to 2:00AM * The crepes were novel and very good. The salads and desserts were great too. * Well worth the $5.00/pp charge.Drink/Beverage Plans:I had the Premium non alcoholic package for which I paid $200. I broke even on the deal thanks to the fact I had fresh squeezed orange juice and expresso latte every morning at the Oceanview Cafe. I also had a few speciality coffees in the afternoon or evening. It was great not to have to pay for bottles of water when we were going off ship.I was planning on drinking lots of pina coladas because I love them, but the one pina colada I had was so bad I never had another frozen drink the rest of the cruise.Note: They DO enforce the one drink at a time rule. Every morning I ordered a fresh squeezed orange juice and an Expresso Latte in the Oceanview with no problem. One morning a different guy was on duty and told me that having both the orange juice and the coffee broke the one at a time rule and he was going to have to charge me for one. Fortunately, another server talked him out of it on the premise they were entirely different drinks.One server at the Pool Bar was glad to give me two Diet Cokes at one time, but the other Bar Tender called her on it and she had to only give me one and make me come back for the other. She felt terrible about having to do that and apologized all morning long. There is a yin-yang between offering knock your socks off service and following the rules to the letter.My wife chose not to get an alcoholic drink package and it worked to her advantage. She drank all she chose to and the cost was WAY below the $500 for the all you can drink package. She was glad she didn't feel compelled to drink to get get her moneys worth had she had a package.The CrewExcept for a few bar tenders who seemed to look right through me and gave me poor service, the staff and crew were wonderful and very friendly, helpful and accommodating.Having returned to the ship after a day ashore, a female bartender at the Passport Bar on the 3rd floor seemed almost reluctant to serve me. When I ordered two Diet Cokes with glasses with ice, she begrudgingly plopped two cans in front of me and went to on serve another passenger. When I asked again for two glasses with ice, she gave me two paper coffee cups with ice. Did I look like I didn't deserve even a tall plastic glass? Ridiculously bad service.The ActivitiesThere clearly was something for everyone. The quality of some of the activities, especially the "lectures", were less than great.PROS: * The activities staff was great. Maria was tireless as head of activities and was always doing something somewhere on the ship. * We liked Bingo ,Trivia karaoke (and the Equinox Singing Star/Idol competition) , and some of the pool sports the most. * The talks by former NFL referee Bill McElwee were great. * The nightime comedy shows (Liars Club, Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Game) were lots of fun.CONS: * The talks about fitness and health from the AquaSpa people were just glorified sales pitches. * The talk on Christopher Columbus was geared toward pre-schoolers.The Entertainment and ShowsThe headlining entertainers were good. A magician with great card tricks, a ventriloquist who did some pretty amazing things, and a very funny black comedian were fun. One comedian who purportly did impersonations was terrible. The production numbers by the Equinox dancers weren't very good, but what the heck.The Ports of Call and Shore ExcursionsNone of the ports of call themselves were very interesting. Most were just big shopping stops with touristo type stores selling the same old stuff. * Costa Maya in particular was interesting only in the fact that some brain child decided to build a shopping center in the middle of no where in Mexico, based on the fact that some Mayan ruins had been found many miles away. This was our least favorite port. * White Water Rafting in Limon Costa Rica was great fun and the ferry ride through the Panama Canal was well worth the expense ($150/pp). * The old city in Cartagena Columbia was colorful and interesting but it was VERY hot and VERY humid...not much fun for walking and exploring. An hour and a half was all we could take. A bus tour might be a better way for those who don't like the heat. * Note: If you don't take an excursion booked through Celebrity or another reputable local tour company and choose to "head out on your own"; beware. We had two incidences we regretted: * We decided to go to a fairly remote beach in Cozumel and hired a cab to take the four of use there at a quoted and agreed upon $30. On arrival at the beach (which was great and had a great restaurant), our driver informed us he would be glad to come back and pick us up in a few hours for $80!! The fact that he charged $30 on the way out made no difference and pleading to the restaurant owners to intercede in this rip off was to no avail. Eventually we were able to get the fare for the trip back for $50. We were a LONG way from the ship and had no other option for getting back. The somewhat good news is that when the time came to be picked up, we found out our original driver's van had broken down, but he was reputable enough to arrange for another cab to pick us up at the agreed upon $50. So, a word to the wise; always get agreement on taxi rates and fare for both ways before setting off in a cab. * In Grand Cayman we decided not to spring for the Celebrity excursion to Seven Mile Beach and just hop a cab and find our own secluded section of the beach to spend the day at. The concierge on the ship said Seven Mile would be crowded because five cruise ships were in port that day. He said a cab to Seven Mile Beach would cost $4.00. He recommended that we try going to Rum Point on the other side of the island and said it should cost $15/pp each way. After disembarking, we found that no driver was eager to make the 45 minute drive to Rum Point. Our first quote was $300 for the four of us, a far cry from the $120 the concierge had quoted. We finally decided to bag Rum Point and after a long and very helpful discussion with a uniformed "Taxi Dispatcher" agreed to take a cab to Seven Mile Beach for $5/pp each way. The dispatcher then led us to our taxi which turned out to be a mini bus seating 20 or so and we could not depart until he filled up the entire bus...a wait of about 20 minutes. On the trip to the beach we were informed there were only two stops; Royal Palms Beach which was nearby but offered no shade and the "public beach" at Calico Jacks. We opted for the later. We arrived at a bar (Calico Jack's) with a small jam-packed beach and no available chairs or umbrellas. A walk down the beach took us to another bar, the Tiki Lounge that also had a beach with some available chairs and umbrellas. We soon found out however that nothing in life is free and a chair (with umbrella and a free bad fruity drink) would cost $25/pp. Two of us opted for that while to other two continued down the beach a bit more to the public beach. Shade trees were not readily available, but could be found. We preferred laying on our towels under a tree for free to paying $25 each for a chair.The water was great, but there is coral all along the shore and it is hard to find good sandy places to get through the coral to get in the water. Water shoes help.The ride back on the bus (taxi) took a long time as well since we stopped at Royal Palms to wait until more riders had been found to fill the bus again.Our biggest gripe is that the concierge on the ship failed to mention any of this to us. It would have been VERY helpful to know all this BEFORE we disembarked and headed to Seven Mile Beach on our own.At Sea Days: * Days at sea were a nice respite from shore excursions. Lots of activities on board and lots of time to sleep in and then lounge by the pool. * There is a posted 30 minute limit to reserving seats around the pool by leaving a towel or bag on an otherwise empty chair. Availability of good seats in the shade near the pool is limited and many people stake their claim early in the day, some by laying around others by putting out towels and the like on chairs. Some people respect the 30 minute limit, most don't and don't feel any compunction about breaking the rule. We had a run in with such a person who hadn't shown up for a couple of hours to use the chairs she had "reserved". C'est la vie.Disembarking: * Remarkably efficient. We met in the Equinox Theater at 8:30AM and were off the ship in 15 minutes max. We were at the airport just after 9:00AM. Fare to the airport on mini bus was $10/pp. The fare from the airport to the ship in a conventional cab was $13 for the two of us. * We paid $20/pp for the Valet Luggage Service that send our checked our bags straight through to our final destination. After leaving the bags outside our stateroom the night before, we never saw them again until the came off the carousel at our destination. * Customs and Immigration was a breeze. The Customs Officer grumpily confided in us that he was told "not to ask any questions and just get the people through fast". No one looked at the bags we had with us. I assume our checked bags were inspected somewhere along the line.Other: * Internet access was easy using the computers in the Celebrity Online computer center. One had to be quick at $.65 a minute without a package. Response time was snail slow, but it worked. * The additional fees for so many things were really bothersome after a while. I was okay with the charges for the fancy restaurants, but charging extra for gelato and the Bistro on 5 seemed unnecessary and felt like they were nickel and diming me to death.