We have so appreciated the reviews on cruisecritic that I thought I would post our recent experience. We are first time cruisers but regular travellers. Initially I was a little worried about feeling overwhelmed with all the people or not liking the food. Celebrity Equinox exceeded most of my expectations. The ship did not feel full, we never waited in lines, and the food was pretty good. The more modern design is awesome and will keep us sailing the Solstice class boats. The boat was kept extraordinarily clean. The only qualms I would have is the big push to sell all the extra things like photos and alcohol-perhaps this is the same on all ships. When I did fork over the 4$ for a latte (2x), they weren't very good. Most of the service was attentive but it wasn't always friendly (sometimes cool). Our cabin attendant did not speak English well and our few requests were a struggle to communicate. The Internet service was expensive and inconsistent. I finally learned that going into a port or leaving, it's at its worst and not worth the money-but that was printed no where. Many people complained but were not given the reason. I'm a big foodie, so I will share a bit about our experience-we dined mainly in the main dining room. It was very good 80% of the time. Things arrived hot, properly cooked, and in a timely manner. Sometimes the food was inconsistent- the quail was badly overcooked and the cream puffs were still frozen. They were attentive to sending things back, even when I said it was fine. Everything seemed UNDERsauced(except the pasta) so things seemed a little on the dry side. I imagine they would have tasted even better with more than a drop of the proper sauce to accompany the meat etc. Portions were generally small but totally appropriate for 4 course dining. Too us, Murano was not worth the extra cost (my lobster tasted awful, the sweetbreads were fried not pan sauted), although the service was quite good. The Mast grill can get busy-the chicken wings are good-the hotdogs are awful-the hamburgers are somewhere in between. THe Ocean View Buffet was very good at breakfast and lunch (pizza dough rolled out and pizza cooked right there). Dinner was lackluster but did have some surprising finds like the curries. Ports-we loved the destinations but some of the ports were pretty blah. Porto Limon in CostaRica and Colon Panama is really there just as a jumping off place. I was disappointed we didn't go through the locks. There were supposed to be educational talks about each port but these were lead by the shopping guide, Jennifer, and were really geared to sell the stores they wanted you to go to and the cruise's own tours. She actually dissuaded people from shopping in the Colon port (where there are no diamonds international stores) by inciting anxiety about saftey. Instead, we found the port quite charming and very safe-the port duty free was very cheap and the grocery store sold lots of good goodies. The SAME souvenirs from the chi chi Carteghena port store were WAY cheaper in Colon. Shame on you Jennifer for inciting fear to steer customers! It was the only and last port education seminar that I attended. Otherwise, we loved the experience. It was our best family holiday yet. My daughter loved the kids club. They were very responsive to our concerns and kind to our daughter-she did not want to leave! In the end, none of us wanted to leave:)