This was the first cruise that our family of 5 took together - my husband and I and our 3 children, ages 21, 19 and 17. Our daughter, age 21, has cerebral palsy so a cruise, we felt, was the best way to conduct extensive travel considering her physical constraints. We were determined to take the children to Europe, to expose and introduce them to as many iconic European cultural sights as possible. They had never left the mainland US. The Grand Tour of Europe of the Gilded Age was my beacon, but given that we have neither that kind of money, nor the time, and that a child who uses a walker/wheelchair to ambulate puts restrictions on the mode of travel, well, we settled on a Celebrity 11 night Mediterranean cruise and we are so glad that we did. We loved it so much that as a family, we did it again in August 2012, just different ports of call, primarily.

We arrived in Rome three days before the Equinox set sail. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Rome-St. Peter's, which was very nice, but we would never stay there again due to it's essentially suburban location. You can walk literally nowhere from there. They do have a very nice shuttle bus, which we used, but still, it is better to stay in the old city of Rome, if you can. Months before, we had engaged "Romelimostours" - Maurizio and Daniele Miglio - to take the 5 of us around, for 1 and 1/2 days of touring. They were spectacular. They got us past all lines at the Vatican and at the Colosseum. They gave us a highly personalized tour, very informative, and also extremely convenient, especially due to our mobility restrictions. We saw all of the essential sites of Rome for the first time visitor, including the Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, the Forum, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's apartments, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and on and on. We would hire them again, absolutely.

What can we say about the Equinox that is not ridden with superlatives? We absolutely loved it and the attention paid to our daughter was solicitous but not cloying. We brought her walker with us but Celebrity provided us with one of their wheelchairs for the duration of our sailing which we were able to use on shore as needed. We had the second seating in the Silhouette Dining Room - meals varied from excellent to very good although the lobster left us unimpressed - being from New England, only Maine lobster will ever do. Any other lobster simply does not measure up - sorry! Our table servers were top notch - capable, knowledgeable, and lots of fun. The entertainment was fantastic - the production shows, wow!!, so much talent!! - the Cirque du Soleil-style show as well as the individual shows, were top notch (I would pay big money to see these shows on the mainland) for instance the "Magical Mayhem of Neal Austin" and "Comedy and Vocal Impressions of Jonathan Clark", being real standouts! The singing guest was so good, Paul Baker, that he was going to be playing The Phantom, in Phantom of the Opera in London. We played lots of trivia games and had a few massages (however, BEWARE the HARD sell in the spa after the massages to get you to buy their lotions, etc!!); my husband was quickly on a best friend basis with all of the poker dealers in the casino, haha!; our boys frequented the gym and the pool, played in golf tournaments at the Lawn Club, as well as the late night DJ parties. Celebrity has so much for the age group of our children, as well as their parents. Read more