Celebrity Equinox Review

Great Second Celebrity Cruise Except for Three Issues

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Equinox
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Saber27
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Dec 2014

This was our second Celebrity Southern Caribbean Aqua stateroom cruise and we planned it with a great couple from Tennessee that we met on the Eclipse last December. The staff was consistently friendly and went out of their way to anticipate our needs and please us. We are still amazed how Celebrity maintains their high level of crew professionalism. The 3 tours we booked through them were excellent: Grand Cayman - Sail Catamaran 2 Snorkel Stop Excursion; Cartagena, Colombia - 2 1/2 hour historic bus tour (best tour guide we ever had bus # 27) even though it took longer because of construction the tour guide made us want to stay on the bus; Belize - Powered Catamaran underwater reef glass boat tour and snorkeling at a private island that was about 400 feet in diameter. The tour guide was excellent and the staff on the island was too and the food and drinks were all under $5 and they did BBQ the hamburgers and hotdogs right there; Cozumel, Mexico - we decided to try the America's Cup 12 Meter Sailing Race Excursion!!!!!!!! GREAT FUN!!!!!!! We will do that one again for sure.

Now for the three negative issues: 1. The Aqua experience from 2013 to 2014 has somewhat diminished with Celebrity reductions to services. For those that have done it often you will know what I mean but the couple we cruised with have been doing Aqua since the first version and they pointed out additional things. A small example is that when we booked there was to be fresh flowers in the room -not anymore. May not be a big thing to everyone but watch what you signed up for and what you get. A stop at the Customer Relations desk to ask got us an immediate "So sorry but that has changed” but the representative called and two hours later a beautiful arrangement arrived in our room. Can't say enough positive things about the CR staff!!!!!!! 2. The BLU dining experience food quality seemed to be less of a great experience than last year. We four dined at the main dining room three times and were very much more pleased with the presentation and quality of the meals. Can't quite put a finger on it but the BLU was not where we eventually wanted to go for dinner. 3. The most serious issue was that there was a travel agent that monopolized future bookings and brought in customers and took time to "sell" her business sitting in front of the Celebrity FC representatives. When you went to check on a booking or ask questions it seemed she was often there and had a group with her. I went there 7 times and she was there four of the seven and 6 times had to wait 20 minutes or more to see an agent and she was "selling why they should use her through Celebrity", why "Celebrity will do whatever she wants as she brings them over $1 million in revenue".... This is while other passengers are sitting there waiting to see the FC staff. Many other passengers mentioned the same thing happened when they went and I as did. When other passengers saw her outside FC office or inside just they as I did three times turned around and left. It appeared that the Celebrity FC staff was acting as her agents supporting her business by them not asking her to do her "selling" before they came in. I met with the Celebrity Senior Officer that had FC under him and he graciously discussed about my concerns and insured me that it would stop and in no way was that kind of business should be happening. However, at dinner that night our friends were discussing their "private bridge tour" and he mentioned a woman had a group there and she was boasting of how she could get Celebrity to do almost anything she wanted. A couple came by elevator 10 that were not on the invited list and she told them and everyone that she could get them on the bridge tour. The couple said no thanks but the impression was that she could order a Celebrity ship's officer to do most anything for her customers. In addition, she TOLD a ship's officer what she wanted her to do for the transfer off the ship of "her" customers the next the officer responded like it was an order received. The impression is left that this travel agent has implied approval of Celebrity management to respond to her above and beyond any other Celebrity customer no matter what their loyalty or status is in the Captain's Club. We are booked on the Eclipse next December and are contemplating a transatlantic this spring but I do hope that any kind is identified by Celebrity management and leadership and "controlled".

Cabin Review

Cabin AQ

Cabin 1570 (starboard) was supposed to be one with the bed by the balcony but it turned out that it was not.When we booked on the Eclipse last year the agent checked her chart to make sure and we unfortunately did not check online for reviews to make sure the CHART" WAS CORRECT. Lesson learned - always go online and search for the cabin but realize that during ship refurbishment cabin setup sometimes changes.

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