I cruised on the first Celebrity Equinox Mediterranean cruise on the 18th Aug. with my husband and 13 yr. old son. The ship is very beautiful and the staff are very friendly. We had a great time. My son absolutely loved the "Tweens" Club. It was hard to get him to eat with us or hang out with us on the ship as he wanted to spend all his time there. Even one of the younger children at our dinner table just wanted to spend all her time in her Club on the Children's deck!!! We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel pre and post cruise. I would suggest that anyone travelling to Rome arrive there on the day of the cruise as we arrived quite early from New Jersey for a one night stay (I didn't want to miss the ship!) and had to wait in the lobby all morning before getting a room. The room was very comfortable - loved the bathroom! We stayed in a suite before the cruise and a double after the cruise. Tours - we did the Amalfi by boat and Pompeii tour - Very, very hot walking through Pompeii, the cruise on the Amalfi coast was spectacular and the shopping was nice. I would say that there is not much time at all to shop if you take any of the tours. They allow you about 1/2 hr. which is not much time at all!! You really have to rush. Turkey was my best port as the ship docks in a port within walking distance to shopping, and I loved the gold jewellry there. In Haifa, Israel we did not take a tour but we went to the Kenyon or Canyon Mall which was close by - about 10 Euro taxi drive. It is a 3 story mall like the ones in the US. Tons of shops!! In Ashdod we did the Jerusalem/Bethlehem tour - fantastic!!. In Egypt we did a 1/2 day of Alexandria which included the Library (I wished I would have gone straight to a bazaar!) In Cairo, there was not much time for shopping at all. I found that the Cartouche that you order on the bus and pick up at the Papyrus Institute is not of a good quality. I later found that the ship has a better quality Cartouche that you have to order through the ship and they will mail it to you (for a hundred dollars or more, but you will note that the quality is more superior!). In Cairo we did the Lunch on the Nile River and the Pyramids and Sphinx. We all got a bit of the "runs" I believe from the luncheon on the Nile River (I was not impressed with the Nile River - very dirty and no, you will not see any desert on the side. It's quite built up. We had Police in boats on each side of our River Boat, and we travelled in a convoy to Cairo with a Police escort on each bus - however, I did not feel threatened or afraid - it's done as discretely as they can, and somehow you just don't feel frightened. The people in Egypt are very pleasant. Even venturing to Bethlehem throught the security checks where our tour guide had to get off the bus as they cannot enter Bethlehem. We had a tour guide from Bethlehem get on our bus there. Getting on and off the ship is very well organised - it's a breeze, really. All in All this was the best cruise we've ever taken.