We sailed the Celebrity Reflection from Rome thru the Eastern Mediterranean in 2013 and it was a wonderful experience. With that in mind we choose the Celebrity Equinox for our first Transatlantic crossing ending in Barcelona. We have sailed often from Fort Lauderdale as it is only three and half hours from Sarasota. We spend the night before in the Hilton just across from Port Everglades, drop off our one-way rental car and shuttle to the ship. Embarkation went smoothly and in 30 minutes we were boarding the Equinox. The layout is similar to the newer Reflection which is less nautical (like Holland or Princess) and more like a resort hotel. The large atrium extends from deck three to the Lido deck and does channel any noise or music all the way up through the Library, Card area, and the cabins. We knew this and since we wanted a comfortable ride we chose our cabin so as to minimize motion from the seas and selected our cabin on deck six just towards the stern from the stern elevators. The cabin was just like our cabin on the Reflection except 6239 was at the point were deck six bumps out and that meant we had an angled balcony. There is plenty of storage and the bathrooms are a nice size.

The problems began when we noticed that the smoking area just below our balcony was often very busy and the smoke rose making our use of the balcony unpleasant. Celebrity does not show this on any of their deck plans. We approached our Steward who said that every cruise he loses a couple of cabins due to this smoking. Smoking areas should NOT be by guest rooms. There are plenty of other open deck areas. After expressing our displeasure, we were offered a move to a different part of the ship but we did not want the inconvenience of moving all our belongings, and it would mean being in an area of the ship that would clearly have greater motion from sea swells, and did not want to deprive our steward who would lose gratuity supplement.

The next disappointment was the food in the Dinning Room. Dinning on the Reflection was a real treat with great food and service not so much on the Equinox. The entries were of considerably lower quality in the dining room from our past experience on the Reflection. If you wanted local flavors and taste experiences you had to go the Oceanview Cafe; they were not offered in the dining room. The fish did not smell fresh and was clearly over cooked, dry, lacking flavor; non-dairy dessert options for people with milk allergies was reduced to fresh fruit or sorbet or the same mediocre apple pie every day. Even our dining experience in the Tuscan Grille, which was overall excellent, the dessert options for my husband with the milk allergy was nil....the waitress had to go to the Silk Harvest to find him something and guess what....that was SORBET. Read more