Some background -- this is our 18th cruise, mostly Celebrity and Azamara with some other lines thrown in. We were trying the newer, larger Solstice class ship for the first time having mostly cruised smaller and more intimate ships. We did have some concerns prior to this trip about cruising on the larger vessels now becoming the norm.

From day one, we were very impressed with the Equinox. The engineering, design and planning on the ship was to a very high standard. We were constantly surprised at the lack of crowds, and the easy flow around the ship. Apart from the dismal elevator delays (commonplace on most cruise ships I find) there were few if any 'choke points' where you had problems with an overload of guests (apart from maybe when the theater emptied). I was even surprised to find it easier to get a table in the buffet (Oceanview Cafe) for breakfast than it was on Azamara.

Cabins were very well appointed -- elegant colors and fittings with a larger than expected bathroom. We had chosen a port balcony in I think 1A category, so we were fortunate to have a slightly larger balcony that was somewhat sheltered during our transatlantic crossing. Some of the cupboard spaces in the cabin could have been better designed, but overall very impressive, airy and calm environment. Read more