We selected this cruise for the ports. The ship was very small and old. The cabin was clean but cramped. The bathroom smelled of urine constantly. The food quality in the buffet and dining room was terrible, the worst of any cruise yet. The cruise catered to the Hispanic guests, especially the entertainment. The burger joint, pizza and cantina were the only food of any quality. My prime rib was 1/4 inch thick as was the filet mignon which was over cooked. Dining Staff seemed unhappy, while the entertainment staff acted like celebrities. They were constantly running out of tea and lemonade. Overall it was my most disappointing cruise to date, I do not recommend this ship at all. The cruise director was the bright spot and the Monopop band was awesome. Jerome and Nairi Saenz were great comedians, the adult shows were great! We did appreciate the party for the platinum and diamond members. Read Less

cruise exceeded all our expectations and was fantastic from the food crew and entertainment. only did 2 excursions which were island tours at St Lucia and St Marteen and did our own thing at the other islands. embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly and i was very surprised by this when you consider the amount of people on board. the service was top notch and the crew always had a smile on their faces and were very friendly. waiting staff in the silhouette restaurant were really friendly and efficient and helpful with some good information on the ports we were visiting giving us some good tips cabin was very good and roomy (deluxe veranda deck 8) and kept spotless by our cabin boy overall condition of the ship looked very good and was maintained at every stop my only concern was the quality of the drinks obviously the bottled beer etc is not a problem but i have been a spiced rum drinker for over 20 years and it is mainly what i drink yet at times when getting Morgans Spiced rum with coke it did not seem to taste right, one night you could not taste anything so i got extra rum straight whichI added to the drink and it didn't even make it taste any better - went on the Bacardi Oakheart which was much better Read Less

This was our first time cruising with Celebrity and what a great experience. The embarkation was smooth and well organised. There was a small issues with our cabin which was dealt with.Daniel at guest relation assistance was very good. We ate in the Silhouette Dinning room which was beautiful.on our first night we were welcomed by Linda and we were seated in the section managed by Alejandro , Branson , Nadaha the Sommelier and Amalia, we cannot praise the staff enough they made our dinning experience something to remember. The food suggestions and wine was exceptional. Credit has to given to this group of staff, Each morning we visited the coffee shop Mark remembered our drink order every morning. Juariel in the lounge bar on deck 3 what a guy. Carlos the Cruise Director great effort goes into the planning of the activities well done. Loved the 2 comedians and the final show and the silent disco was fantastic what a laugh. Overall this was a fantastic holiday and I am sure I will travel with Celebrities Cruises in the future. Read Less

My wife and I just returned from the 11 Day Caribbean sailing on the Equinox. The itinerary could not have been any better. 2 Sea Days to get into Cruise Mode and then 6 port stops to be followed by 2 more Sea Days. The Equinox is a beautiful ship that is kept VERY clean! The entire crew were very attentive and gave you a sense that they truly wanted you to enjoy your holiday. We were fortunate to be in a corner aft Sky Suite on Deck 10, number 1403. Being in a Suite we were able to dine in Luminae for most of our meals. The food and service were both excellent. In Luminae Richie and Paul (waiters) and Yan (bar service) each provided amazing service for the entire trip. The full staff in Luminae were all wonderful and welcoming. We also dined with a group in Murano one night and had a spectacular meal. We also used the Oceanview (buffet) a couple of times for lunch and found it to be full of options and also seemed very well maintained and organized. We also enjoyed many of the entertainers and live music. Some other things we really liked: - Being handed a glass of champagne upon boarding - One sunny sea day there was in impromptu sorbet service parade poolside, an actual parade of waiters served sorbet to anyone interested - Being greeted port side with cool drinks and or chilled towels - Cleanest vessel we have ever sailed on - Due to the ship design and implementation live music played in the grand foyer in the evenings was able to be enjoyed from floor 3 through 5 in many venues (martini bar, café bacio, Craft Social etc...) - Activities such as putting in the grand foyer and archery were welcome new events. As were Yes/No and Filthy Feud. - I had read/heard that the entertainment was not at the same level as Royal. Maybe there were no broadway shows but the entertainers did a very good job and there was a show each evening. We also saw two very funny comedians. When the show is not to your liking just move on the next event... - We enjoyed the Sunset Bar/Lawn area for a nice place to chat lawn side and have a cigar. The occasional live music out there was also a very nice touch - Glass blowing class was an amazing experience. Josh and Justin were both excellent. - The retreat lounge was excellent but we did not partake very often due to so many options. Alexandra and Ute (sp?) were both delightful. The only real downer was the Suite Sun Deck. It really is a shame the refurb was cut short because that area NEEDS water. We went up there a couple of times and walked right back out. I guess if you just want a quiet place to bake it is fine but there is no bar (but there is service) and no pool or hot tub or shower or sprinkler.... When the cruise ended the debarkation process was also seamless. We did luggage valet and were at the airport by about 8AM without any struggle at all. All in all, this was a wonderful cruise vacation. Thanks to all the folks who answered all my questions and provided input leading up to this. Read Less

I love this itiniery, not a snorkler but really love Bomaire, but about the cruise. Ship was full (to capacity I believe, never the less, service was excellent. Kathleen my room attendant, who I saw in the corridor, slipped in and out while I was out caring for my cabin and seeing that my ice bucket was always full as I had requested. On the first night In the main dining room I discovered I was seated with a lovely family from Germany. I am a solo traveller. Two of this group of 5 spoke english, but not with limited comfort. the others, did not. I don't speak German. Not ideal for me or them. Second night I spoke with the Maitre D who promptly sat me at a table of women, 3 friends traveling together, another solo and a woman traveling with her elderly mother. What a great group and we all enjoyed each others company, Our servers, Michael and Carlo were GREAT. Food was good. though there were a couple of disappointing creme brulee and an slightly overdone chocolate molten lava cake, The Royal Cheese cake was a hit with all at my table and was orderd several times by many. We also decided this was a healthier choice :) . The entrees were quite good, I particularly liked the lamb chops, and a couple of fish dishes (Talapia, salmon) I had earlier in the cruise. At the Windjammer, food was abundant. I was particularly drawn to and enjoyed the stews, perhaps because I don'y make it at home often. Servers at Windjammer were circulating with cold beverages (water, tea, and a very good strawberry-kiwi punch) and coffee. Most at my dinner table seemed to head for the carving station for lunch at the Windjammer. I did also try the dining room on level 3, for one lunch and one dinner. Here you had the option of a smaller, but very nice buffet, or table service from menu. Nice, simpler and more relaxed for lunch I jusd had soup and salad. Breakfast was fine but I think I needed the activity of the Windjammer to wake ne up. Entertainment was great, Lead Female Singer, I believe a recent graduate on New York Academy of Performing Arts, was SPECTACULAR.. All entertainment was good. Unfortunately, scheduling of Ice Show either conflicted with early dining, or Variety show for second performance, and was sold our for first performance, so I missed it. The service deask and tour desk, was extremely helpful arranging change to departure transportation, I had misread description of arrangements (with tour of Old San Juan) I had prebooked and would have arrived at airport too late for my flight. By the way cabin (inside, deck 8, overloooking promenade was great. I was thinking about changing it, but had read a positive review of this type cabin on message board and so stayed where I was assigned. So glad I did. Only problem was embarcation, long lines, outside in heat not acceptable. One more thought, I really liked the solarium pool area. Read Less

My daughter chose this cruise for her wedding and was truly disappointed her honey moon was ruined.. We were suppose to go to Amber Cove and Turk but on the second day of a 5 day cruise we were told that because of of hurricane Jerry we would not be making our destination which is understandable but later that day we were given a memo saying it was because the ship wasn't working correctly. We were then told we would be going to to the Bahamas which most of us ( there was 45 of us) had already been to. There were limited excursion choices since we weren't expected at this port leaving limited things to do in port. We spent 4 out of 5 days at sea. The bathroom in our cabin smelled like sewer the food was not the greatest. The only good thing was our stateroom steward Sheila she was great and so was our waiter in the dining room can't remember his name but we sat at table 420. The people who did the entertainment like Chris the cruise director tried to make everyone's time at sea the best they could did an excellent job but unfortunately the experience has turned us all off with this cruise line . I am not even sure I will use the 50% off they offered for the next cruise not sure it will be worth it Read Less

I could write a novel about my complaints on this cruise, but I will say that all the ports we went to were beautiful and well worth it. That being said, I have never seen customer service this bad in my 20 years of cruising! The food at the Windjammer was inedible, and the dinning room was barely average. After the 3rd night they no longer sat us at our table. We were told to go in to our table, and grab a menu on the way. Our waiter got increasingly slower, and on the last night, we were in the dinning room for an hour and 45 minutes and still waiting on our dessert before we gave up and left because we wanted to make the show. Our room attendant walked in on us without knocking the first day there. Also our sheets had a stain on them when we got there, and they were not changed the entire week. My husband got sick on the 3rd day and when I went to ask the medical staff a question, she very rudely told me that she could not give me any information, and he would have to see the nurse (obviously a nickel and dime tactic so they could charge us a medical fee). We did not see the nurse because he wasn’t that sick. This was the worst accounting I’ve ever seen on a ship. We were double charged for massages, charged for towels we didn't take (why would I want to seal the rags they were passing off as towels?) and when we tried to adjust the gratuity (because of the abysmal service we received) instead of adjusting it down to $140, they added $140 on top of the $203 we were originally paying. Over the course of the week we were charged over $500 in incorrect charges. There were 2 people in front of us in the Guest Relations line that got charged for 75 pool towels which totaled over $3,000. We went to the customer service desk 5 times, 3 of which had to do with gratuity, and were assured that everything was fine and they would adjust the price on the final bill. Of course that didn't happen. I was at the front desk at 6am trying to get it corrected because we had a flight at 8:45am, again I was told that everything was fine. At 7am when we were trying to exit the ship, they wouldn't let us disembark because of account issues! We were livid! We ended up running through the airport barely making the flight. Vacations (cruises especially) are supposed to be stress free, but this was more stressful than being at home. Why in the world is the default tip more than 21% of the TOTAL COST of the cruise when you get this level of crappy service, and you are even charged for room service now? What in the world am I tipping for when I wasn't even given the bare minimum of service? Everyone I dealt with made it clear they could care less about the customers' experience, and see them as a hassle. Based on this experience, and everyone we've talked to since, I will never cruise Royal again. I turned Emerald on this cruise, but you can guarantee I will not be making it to diamond. Read Less

Please forgive my review, I write reports at work that have to be very matter of a fact. So years of that has drained my creativity, but I will try to make this not boring. My wife and I have sailed on Carnival several times and we have always enjoyed the cruises. But we really wanted to try Royal Caribbean to get a feel for the experience. We went with two other couples and sailed from Puerto Rico to the southern Caribbean from September 15th to September 22nd. We went to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. My wife and I have sailed on Carnival several times and we have always enjoyed the cruises. But we really wanted to try Royal Caribbean to get a feel for the experience. We went with two other couples and sailed from Puerto Rico to the southern Caribbean from September 15th to September 22nd. Getting on the boat was easy. We arrived pretty early at around 11 and were on within twenty minutes. We checked our big bags but carried our little ones onboard. Rooms weren't ready until 1330. So we had to lug our smaller bags around. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind. Also we did bring a power strip as outlets tend to be very limited on ships. They called us down confiscated that from our big bag. I've never had that happen before and it was a little disappointing. We were in balcony 7646. Overall the stateroom was very nice. The bathroom was a bit smaller than we were used to but I feel like Royal Caribbean has more mirrors in the room itself so it despite the smaller bathroom, I felt like it was easier to get ready in the mornings and night. The TV only had a few channels that weren't Royal Caribbean, I think they had a bunch of Royal Caribbean channels, a couple ESPN channels, some news, BBC and a few others I've never seen before (variety type stuff). I would have liked a movie channel or something (they do have expensive pay per view). We aren't ones to spend a lot of time in our room, but we could never find something to watch we were getting ready, relaxing for a few hours or going to bed. Our stateroom attendant Liliana was just lovely. We aren't too needy so we didn't ask for much but still I feel like she went above and beyond for us. It was the first cruise for one couple we were with. After the first night we didn't get any towel animals. They asked Liliana about it and we were told that Royal Caribbean was discouraging the attendants from doing those every night as people would tend to "collect" them throughout the cruise and they would run out of towels. But Liliana made us a deal, she'd do them but we'd have to let her reuse the towels every day. For the next six nights she made us some awesome creative animals. It was a small detail, but made us happy. Overall I enjoyed the ship. The previous biggest ship we had been on was the Carnival Breeze and the Freedom of the Seas is quite a bit bigger, tonnage wise at least. I think it holds a similar amount of guests to the Breeze and overall felt less crowded. I spent a lot of the cruise comparing the two ships in my head. I think the Freedom of the Seas wins out. The Royal Caribbean ship has a lot more decorations, attention to detail, amenities ect. Plus the less crowding is a definite plus. One thing I will say, the Carnival ships I've been on seem to "flow" better as far as the interior goes. I can't really put my finger out it, the Carnival ships just seem easier to explore. Whereas the Freedom was more set up like a mega resort in Las Vegas or something. Everything is there and beautiful but it's more straight to the point and has it's own place. The ship and facilities were well maintained. Given that the Freedom is 13 years old now, there were a few spots where you could see rust or the carpet was getting worn but nothing major. I believe the ship is set to go in for a refurbishment so I'm sure they are going to do some updating. Pools on the Freedom were much bigger than I'm used to. Even on busy days, they would get crowded but we never had trouble finding somewhere to sit. One thing that bugged me is the adults only area isn't particularly well marked and since it is on the same deck open areas as the pool, a lot of families ended up there. Staff would ask kids to leave the pool, but they seemed to tolerate them if they were with adults in the seating area. That didn't really bother me, but I do like how Carnival ships secludes the adults only area. All the employees were great, we didn't have a bad experience with anyone. The bar staff was fun, activities people did their best to make sure everyone was having a good time and our waitstaff was just phenomenal. The food was… well the food was cruise ship food. We definitely had some good meals but after a week it all kind of starts tasting the same. We ate at the dining room two nights, did two nights of speciality restaurants and did the buffet/pizza the rest of the time. The stand out for us was Chops. It was a fantastic meal for the money. We also tried Giovanni's Italian restaurant. The food there was good. But they do dinner Italian style with long breaks between courses. So budget at least 2 hours. I'm sure they would bring things out faster if you asked. We didn't and by the end we were getting pretty bored and ready to leave. The dining room was about what I've experienced in the past. Maybe a step above Carnival in food quality. We got the drink package. I always consider it money well spent since we had at least a couple drinks everyday (and a lot of drinks a fews days :P) My wife is a fountain diet coke fanatic so she loved the coke free style machines shattered around the ship. They did a good job maintaining the machines, only a couple times did we run across machines that were out of service and later they would be back up and running. Shows were good. My wife and I missed the two comedies. The other couples went to one and said he was really funny. We did go to a hypnotist that was pretty entertaining. We also saw a Broadway type variety show. We weren't Broadway fans so we thought it was just OK. If you are a fan you'd probably get a lot more enjoyment than we did. The standout was the ice skating show, that was just amazing. Arrive early because that filled up fast. The ports weren't my cup of tea. I won't ding them for this because I knew what I was getting into. Personally I prefer large ports in big areas. My wife enjoyed the ports more than me. She loves the smaller islands so this was her dream cruise. Given that these ports were in smaller Caribbean nations there isn't a ton to do unless you leave the port on an excursion or take a taxi to do some sight seeing or something. Every port was similar, a handful of shops, maybe a restaurant or two. Some you could walk into town if you wanted. The best by far was Barbados which was absolutely beautiful with great people. We did not enjoy Antigua, everywhere we went we were hounded by taxi drivers and vendors. It's part of cruising to have people to try and sell you stuff but this was over the top. For example after probably turning down 30 tours in port, we ventured a little bit into town. One point immediately when we stepped out of a store just outside the port, two cab drivers approached us after telling them no, a vendor tried to sell us stuff, then immediately after another cab driver stopped, got out and tried to get us to do a tour. And these people would not accept a simple no thank you, they would follow and hound you with their sales pitch. I've never experienced anything quite like it. Maybe I was missing something culturally but it wasn't enjoyable for me. All and all it was quite enjoyable. We will go on Royal Caribbean again. But next up is Norwegian. Read Less

We've cruised various cruise lines but 3 years ago found carnival and loved it. Sadly magic has some serious issues with ship and entertainment which did not make for a good cruise. Air conditioning does not work properly across the ship, barely working at all in some areas, when we made complaints we were told there wasn't a problem, lots of other passengers noted the same, as well as staff commenting it was warm onboard. We've never been on a ship where they place heavy duty fans around the ship! They even have some people fans for their room (but there wasn't a problem!) During the night we were convinced they turned off the air con in our room completely, it was really hot in our room overnight, maybe carnival are trying to save money by turning off the Aircon! The ship is due a dry dock, carpets tatty, air con ducts with mould, ceiling tiles coming off. Overall the ship was not in a good way. The entertainment 'fun squad' were anything but fun, often delivered trivia etc with utter disinterest and sometimes could hardly bother to smile let alone speak. The good- piano bar player probably the best we've seen on any ship. Red frog - bar staff and guitar player fantastic! Overall we were quite disappointed with this cruise, not up to previous standard and I'm glad this wasn't our first cruise otherwise I'd doubt we would do another one! Read Less

My husband and I took this cruise with family to celebrate a couple of birthdays all together. This cruise was the absolute worst experience I have ever had. Leaving out the fact that there is nothing to do on the ship besides drinking or waiting in line for over an hour just to get seats to watch a 30 minute comedian or showtime, the whole thing is just a scam. Even if you add the gratuities into your payments before the cruise, you still have to constantly tip your stewards and servers in order to ensure you have at least decent service. The servers will not bring half of the food you order and they won't remember to refill your water. All of the food was bland and flavorless. They had "filet mignon" on one of the formal nights and it was definitely not filet mignon. They got a cheap cut similar to a sirloin and shaped it to look like filet mignon. All the excursions are way over priced, and most of them are not as advertised. All in all, worst vacation ever. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary which did not disappoint at all! The service in the Cucina restaurant (special thanks to Nikoleta and Milicia who were wonderful) was top notch as was the food. We ate there 3x it was so good as was the steakhouse (1x). The Blue Iguana tequila bar had excellent service as well (Maryann, Borko and Richard are the best bartenders on the ship!). What disappointed was the smell of must and sewage that permeated areas of the ship. It was awful. The service by the waiters in the anytime dining restaurant was lacking except for Hristijan one evening. Breakfast service was terrible and we always had errors with our orders. Having done the Glory a few years ago we found this ships cruise director a bit disappointing. I am giving the service and dining five stars to not take credit away from the Cucina, Steakhouse or Blue Iguana Bar. Met wonderful new friends and did have a great cruise Read Less

First, I was to be front, and advise that I prefer RCCL, over Carnival. However, I had an incredible Players Club casino offer, eight nights for $373, interior cabin. The interior cabin was standard accommodations. Very roomy for a solo traveler. My cabin steward, Randy was very attentive and promptly filled my requests. FOOD: The Lido buffet on deck 10 had standard fare, adequate but not great. There is an Italian restaurant above the buffet, that served a complimentary lunch. It has several pastas to select along with several entrees. I was excellent food and service. Food in the main dining room was good, but I feel RCCL's MDR, has better for and offerings. However, in the MDR of the Carnival Magic was exceptional. ENTERTAINMENT: Production show and audience participation games shows, entertaining but not great The Punchliner comedy club had excellent comedians. POOLS: The main pool is really small for a ship that carries 3500 passengers, The rear adults only pool is also small, but mainly has people that "dip" and get out. As a casino player, the casino has sufficient slots and tables for the gamblers, the casino staff was very cordial. NOW MY COMPLAINT: The Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle never happened. It was originally scheduled for September 17 at 1 p.m. in the Starlight Lounge, when I arrived, I was told it was rescheduled for September 21 at 1 p.m., at the appointed time I arrived and there no staff. I called Guest Services and the representative tried to tell me that it was held on the 17th, I told her it was not and there was a Carnival staff trying to upsell cosmetics. She put me on hold and another person got on the phone to tell me they has no record of the event being scheduled or rescheduled. That was a lie as I had the original Carnival cruise line invitation. All in all I think guest services really suck! Read Less

This is our 10th cruise on Equinox.. It's are go to when we don't want to fly since we live in Florida...Was supposedly revolutionized in May... very little signs except for suite amenities... Michael's club is now The Retreat and is totally redone plus they added a suite only deck area.... This trip we booked Veranda... Only change in cabin were the bed coverings which our now Grey.. Really looks odd because they didn't update the color scheme anywhere else... What we were looking for is new night stands with drawers... Nope old ones still there looking worn as ever.. We really enjoyed the main dinning room, definitely felt the food has gone up a few notches (it was always good)... Enjoyed our one night in Murano.. Still top notch Tuscan grill was the same but found their steaks just didn't match up... Silk Harvest is gone :( replaced by LePetite Chef... Please understand what you are getting into before you spend $55... There are 2 seatings... 5:30 and 8:30, there is a fixed menu with NO choices... Because they project a cartoon on your plate of a tiny chef preparing your meal... 3 courses, 3 cartoons... Some people loved it, most did not... We go to Disney all the time so their concept would make an interesting option there.... So this reviewer gives it a thumbs down... We always love the Sushi restaurant but we're disappointed in quality and service there... Staff and crew outstanding as usual.. And the ship is still excellent and looks great... It's back to blue hulls instead of white... Read Less

We chose this cruise to celebrate my 45th birthday. This was our first time on celebrity but we have cruised with carnival NCL and Holland before. We wanted to splurge a little so we did a 10 day in concierge class aft facing balcony. We did have ups and downs unfortunately and I do feel like we got sold on service that we mostly did not experience. Also the food was no better than what we experienced on NCL. We were on deck 10 in room 1208. Aft was very cool...we liked the room and the way it was set up. Loved seeing the wake every day, nice chairs that reclined on the balcony. Embarkation and Debarkation Both were easy, no issues. We got on in 10-15 mins and off just as easily. Our room was ready at 1 pm when we arrived. We did wait till 930 am to get off as we were staying in ft. Lauderdale for a day afterward. So it was way less crazy at that late hour. Ship It's beautiful but is showing signs of wear. Still very gorgeous. Just things like chair arms, mouldings, furnishings etc need to be replaced or repaired. We really loved the sky lounge for it's fresh 70s look and the theater...perfect seating and comfy chairs. The ship does feel modern but also classic. She's a bit smaller than what we have sailed in the past but still plenty of different venues to hang out. Dining ( average majority) We went daily to the buffet for breakfast. The menu never changes it's always the same and the food is average to less than average. Service was hit and miss. Our first night we ate at Tuscan grille. My steak was awful and I didn't like any of the appetizers. Service was less than impressive. fortunately as time went on specialty restaurants got better. Le petit chef at Quisine, sushi on 5 and Murano were all very good food and service was super at them most of the time. We also did a progressive lunch at Tuscan grille on the last sea day. much better service however some of the food was lacking and they stopped playing guitar in the middle of our lunch. Very strange schedule. Also occasionally we order something and it would never come. It was usually a second app so we figured the waiter just forgot. This happened at least 3 times with different places / people. I have to say the best food was at sushi on five but Murano was a very close second. Bars Service was lacking in the bars most of the time. Craft social was really the worst. they were out of a ton of different beers one time they served warm beer and more often than not they were either under staffed or simply hadn't planned for enough people. Big disappointment for those who love beer. we also had several waiters there that were just plain rude. we also experienced some of this at the sunset bar and at sky lounge. Once you got a drink though it was usually good. I don't drink alot so ordered water or ice tea and almost never got a chance at refill afterward. Disappointing. we had the classic package and felt that it did cover enough alcohol beer and wine to satisfy us. Entertainment Pretty good, we enjoyed both production shows that we saw. Topper and Elysium. We felt one of the male singers was lacking but the female leads were really good. The aerialists were awesome. Our favorite was the comedians. We wish there had been more. Celebrity is not good at telling you when the night is the only night you will have to see that particular show. The seats were comfortable in the theater and we enjoyed all the stuff we saw. Get there at least 10 to 15 minutes early though if you want a decent seat. We also thought we could see adequately from any spot in the theater. We did not participate much in the other activities as most of it was not interesting to us. We don't like trivia scavenger hunts card playing and other activities like that. Excursions I had some big issues with the UTV excursion. It was awful but I don't hold celebrity responsible. Our other excursion was canceled due to lack of wind it was land sailing. I think the biggest disappointment was on my birthday I rented an alcove which is just like a cabana. When we arrived at 9:30 a.m. we found that we had a waiter however had not been told the amenities the Cabana came with. Therefore we had ordered some things to be delivered that we did not need. then we had to go down to guest relations and spend approximately 40 minutes canceling and then replacing some of the items. also one of the items that came with was a bottle of grey goose we asked that we put on ice and it was. When we asked for it at 1:00 p.m. our waiter was going on break, we saw his bus take the bottle from the ice put it in an empty Cabana and then wait a half an hour for him to come back. By then in 90 heat it was warm. Stupid and ridiculous. also no one cleared the plates in our cabana and therefore it got really full and we had to ask three times. we had asked for chocolate strawberries to be delivered at 1:00 p.m. and they never showed up. We left and came back at 3:30 pm and the waiter told us they had been waiting since 3:00 p.m. and were now melting. Really? overall we enjoyed our cruise however we had many disappointments related to service in the bars restaurants and Cabana. silent Disco was probably our favorite activity very fun and we highly recommend it. we would take this cruise again however we would not pay for the extra things that concierge class provides. Read Less

I believe to give a fair cruise review a little back ground about my cruising experience.My first cruise ship I was ever on was when I was in my early 20's and was the SS Norway by Norwegian cruise line. Since those many moons ago I have been on Carnival, Royal Carribean, Princess Cruise, Norwegian(again) and now Celebirty. I can defieanlty say without a doubt there are major differences in service and food on everyone of these cruiselines and the review I am about to give of the Equinox is my personal opinion only. We mainly chose the Equinox based on the cruise critc awards and the reviews of others so I am not sure if this was just us having so many different experiences on so many different cruiselines that the reviews of others maybe don't have or it was just a bad week for equinox in some areas. For example... if you have never been on a cruise ship and you go on a carnival cruise ship for the first time most would say it was the best food and service and the ship was so great...ect...ect .ect but if you were to go on say a Princess cruise ship then a carnival cruise ship you have something to measure it too. It was be like comparing apples and oranges Food and service vs activites, partying.Its just hard to compare and to give a good review. Opinions are so subjective. Never the less this is my only humble opinion of celebrity and the the ship. What helps us to decide on a cruiseship are two things....Service and Food. We are both in our late 40's and waters slides and rock walls aren't on our top of the list. Ship: For those that don't know the ship went throgh a mild remodeling but the ship being about 10 years old was still in top notch shap and the design and colors and interior were execellent. Cabin: We were in an Aqua Cabin 1631...interior was still in good shape, Large flat screen Samsung TV with FREE movies(some were saying that Celebrity has remove the free movies thats not the case) Free movies for us was John WIck 2, Dumbo and US? and they had several others. The channels that are availble on the ship as of this day are ESPN(internaltional ...big difference in American ESPN) ESPN2, CNN, Fox news, FOOD network, Sea movie channel and more.Bath shampoo and body wash by CO Bigelow Dining: So this was average to us ...at best...We thought by getting the Aqua cabin and able to dine in Blu that we would get a little better quality of food but thats not the case. You will be just getting a smaller version of the main dining room.(in my opinion) The food was average at best to us. We were disspaointed cause we read so many reviews of how great the food was on the ship so that along with service we thought how could we lose. We think this happened for several reason...Celebrity probably carries more international passenger than alot of other cruise lines so the dining menu was not our cup of tea. Alot of entrees came with a sauces or a marinde on it and that wasn't the problem..but the timing of it was. You could tell the sauces had been sitting on alot of fish or steak that was being served for a time..now I understanding feeding the masses can be very challenging but it is possibable and still be excellent(Princess cruises).. We really got tired of having not so fantastic food every nightt (dont get me wroing ....it wasn't bad its just average)so we decide to go to Murano which was a specialty resturant...this was Excellent and we were not disappointed so the next night we decide to go to the La Petite chef restuarant...this was more about the 3d aniamation than about the food. So we decide to stop messing around and go for the chefs table we were disappointed except for the dessert and which was a warm moist cake out of the oven and was exellenct. One the main dishes for the Chef table was a Halibut cooked in banana leaf marinated in wine(sounds good ..right?) wrong....we got this dish and opened it up and started eating it and I started to look around the table to see if it was just me but it wasn't ...the fish was very dry and didn't taste like it had anything on it...so I leaned over to the gentlman next to me asked how it was and he said it wasn't only dry but had not flavor...and i proceed to watch couple of people begin to dip their fish in the olive and vinger that was meant for the bread then i knew right there it wasn't just me but it was the fish. Sigh...very disappoinnting. There is one trend I have been noticing on alot of cruiselines and that is if you want execllent culunary food (excluding viking, regent, krystal and other top cruiselines) you have go to specility dining.It used to be you didn't have to do this and that the main dining room was the top notch on all cruiseline for while now its not the same anynmore. The buffet was above average as far as buffet go and as many do we ate there during lunch seeing its so close to the pool. Entertainment: The shows leave alot to be desired having seen broadway shows on Royal and Norwegian cruiseilnes..you wont' find Grease or hairspray or blueman group..this too was a disappoitnement. They did have a comdian and an illustionist and there singers and but they get blown away by Royal and Norwegian in these areas. This makes it very interesting because Royal owns Celebrity you would figure the would be more of a collabartion of sorts. Service: This is were Celebrity shines.....every person that I was in contact with every day called me by my last name and took care of any and all concerns we had...and for the most part did it promptly. Now saying that....there is a reason why this ship has outstanding services....its simple math....2,800 passengers and about 1300to 1400 crew members that ratio is incrediable. Bigger isn't always better when it comes to cruise ships and you do pay above to get on a celebrity ship compared to other cruiselines but there not huge crowds whereever you go and you can get a drink pretty fast no matter where you The Spa...for those interested in the spa.we had an aqua class cabin...if we decide to go back to celebrity again will more than likly not be doing the aqua cabin...we could have saved probably over 500.00 and just got the regular balcony cabin. The persian gardens was one the benefits of our aqua cabin but it wasn't worth it...Its not that we didn't use the gardens its that they kept forgetting to put the essential oils in the aromatic steam room and when that basilcly all you have to offer compared to other ships the you really don't have anything,The whole canyon spa is way over rated...Comparing it to say the Epic ship by Norwegian where you get not only aromatic steam rooms but cold rooms and indoor thermal waters to lay in ...no comparison.... Passengers: Alot were our age late 40 early 50s but there was alot of people late 50's to 60;s too. Don't expect a young crowd. This was a 10 day cruise so there was about 2800 people on this ship. I found out later there was 10 children aboard and I think i saw 3 of them. This is more of an middle to upper income class of passagners on this ship and alot and I mean alot of people from Europe. For those of you that have been on more than one cruise line you will notice small things that add up for this being a premium cruiseline... 1. All public bathroom don't use paper towels but use cottan hand clothes. 2.When you get back on board the ship from long hot day of excursions you will be greeted on the outside of the ship with your choose of ice water infused fruit and a chilled hand towel that has herbal frangrance. 3.I know its not a wow factor but most cruise ships require you to check out a beach towel when laying by the poolthat means having to return it....here you just grab one and go. 4. We learned through our dining experience ...that if there is anything that is wrong about your service or food they do all they can to make it right...example...I am not one to complain at all.. everyone on that ship is on contract so I do all that i can to make sure each crew member(waiter, room sterward,ect)that i am in contact with will get there contract renewed and so I don't complain openly but when I got back to the Blu resturant the next night my waiter asked how we liked our chef table ...we looked one another and said ...it was "ok" within 10 min the head waiter came up to us and applogized for such bad experericed and offerd us a specialty resturant the next night.Now to me that was a wow factor. 5. Room Steward....ok dont' laugh but everytime i was coming down the hallway and my room steward saw me coming...he stopped what he was doing and walked met me at my cabin door and unlocked it and said the exact same words...."How was your day' callign me by my last name...now i cant say that will happen with everyone but I can say Jonthan was very special to us and no he wasnt a butler but he sure could be one if he wanted. 6. The bars: this ship has some of the most exotic drinks and cocktails around. At the World Class Bar on the boat they make everyday all there syrups and fresh juices by hand and its discarded every day...for all their specialty drinks.. 7.On just about every event that they had gave alot of free sparkling wine and i know most cruise lines do this but this happend when first stepped on board the ship throught most of the cruise. Side notes....the interenet connection is "ok " for basic surfing but not for streaming even if you pay for the streaming...I got a max speed of 1.1 megabits on my speed test for a stream.It will be a pixal stream. Enjoyed laying on the grass on the back ot the boat watching movies. We did the mixolgy class and its pretty good deal...you will make yourself 4 premium cocktails and its not only fun but worth the money. One final note...Though celebrity brands themself as "modern Luxury"..this is not a luxury cruiseline its a solid premium cruiseline...I have seen some trying to compare this to a Viking cruise...I just don't think that its possible or fair to celebrity...think more of the lines of Princess cruiseline.... Overall looking back at the past 10 day cruise to southern carribean....it was a very good cruise...just wish the food was more to our liking...Would we go on it again?...probably not anytime soon I think we will go back to Princess or Norwegian or maybe save some pennies up and try for a Viking cruise. Saying that don't let one couples review sway your excitement for upcoming trip with Celebrity...its just an opinion and everyone experience is different...Look forward to sailiing with a good premium cruiseline. HappyCruising Read Less

10 day southern itinerary....we had never been to the abcs before so we chose this. Embarking.....we had expedited arrival on our boarding passes....we arrived at port at 10, got in the doors to ship at 11, drink in hand at 11:15.....staff was so friendly and welcoming!! Love the welcome champagne touch. Cabin....8242 and 8244....on the hump.... Fabulous location right by the elevators....very quiet and wonderful room steward...dwi.....he did everything for us! so kind and friendly!!! super comfy beds and great toiletries!!! Nice big pump bottles!! Ship....i've been on equinox before....2 years ago....since then they have gotten lots of new furniture all over the ship. the public restrooms were always spotless. the entire ship was spotless!!! they were always seen cleaning, wiping, mopping!!! Food....mast grill delicious! buffet... Delicious with huge variety! main dining room....hit or miss with entrees and we had select dining with different wait staff nightly that varied.....not the greatest service. tuscan grille.....loved it! great service and outstanding food...ate there twice. le petit chef......wayyyy too long, food meh and service terrible...rude waiter...would not recommend! al baccio.....went daily for specialty coffees..... Outstanding service! Shows.....boring. Live music all around ......loved it! but needed more younger music.... Seas.....super smooth besides our last night. Ports.... Aruba ..... Disappointed....public crowded touristy beaches but friendly natives! Curacao.....did irie west beach tour....it was eight hours long and half was spent on a super hot bumpy open air bus....i do not recommend! Bonaire.....our favorite!!!!! SO GORGEOUS Grand cayman.....stingrays and royal palms beautiful! Key west....got diverted to labadee and so glad....it's gorgeous! Had a great time there!!! Debarkation.....had luggage valet....best thing ever!! was off the ship in 10 minutes! Overall......super friendly bar staff at the pool and other bars, incredible room steward, all the staff was so sweet and helpful!!! but....never once saw the captain and his daily announcements were useless. GREAT SHIP GREAT ITINERARY Great food and beverages!!!! Outstanding cruise!!!! LOVE YOU CELEBRITY!!!!⚓ Read Less

This is now my favorite route in the Caribbean. Equinox is just he right size ship not too big and not too small. Public spaces are many and Sky lounge was practically empty early morning and late evening The bar tenders in Sky area are also great group. We were in balcony room 9139 and enjoyed having the deck and location close to elevators. Our room steward "Mat" saw to our every need. We were able to dine in Murano, our favorite restaurant. Wonderful food and great wine pairing. We also tried Sushi on Five this trip. Food was amazing and we sampled almost the whole menu with our group. Tuscan unfortunately was again disappointing. Their hand made pasta is the worst of any Italian we have ever eaten. My ribeye steak was good as well as the tiramisu. Wine server filled our glasses once and never returned until the end of our meal to splash a drop in the glass. Outside pool, the usual chair hogs but Celebrity was really good in removing towels from areas vacant for long periods. Plenty of chairs available on higher deck. I did glass blowing and was a real treat. We now have a beautiful vase as a souvenir of our trip. Due to hurricane winds headed for Key West we missed that port and were taken to Royal Caribbean private island in Labadee,Hiati. This was fun but really did not like all the begging for you to shop in their booths. Enjoyed the local music and costumes upon arrival and departure. Embarkation and debarkation using the facial recognition was so easy. Process didn't take more than 10 minutes and we were on board. Same with going thru customs. Read Less

We chose to go on this cruise due to the ports. It was harder to get to than a Florida cruise flying to San Juan. The ship is beautiful. I love the 5th floor promenade floor The whole ship was very clean. the public washrooms were so clean someone must just stay there and clean all day. Our cabin was amazing. We had a 12th floor panoramic ocean view. With only 30 feet to the outside deck we did not even is the balcony and the view we had was second to none. The main dining room food and service was excellent. Louis was our waiter and really made the dining experience excellent. The ports were amazing and since we have cruises so many times it was nice to go somewhere new. Now for the negative- I was not thrilled at all with the entertainment. I did not like the big productions, the skating show was OK, the comedians where good but overall did not like the shows. (compared to MSC Seaside and others) The activities where OK but very focused on the Spanish clientele. it was really the other guests that made this cruise only a 3 out of 5. I estimate that more than 70-80% of the cruise was from Puerto Rico. More Spanish than English. We have done cruises with MSC where announcements are made in 6 languages and I did not find that as annoying as the "loud" shouting Spanish constantly announced. The buffet was OK but being on any kind of restrictive diet really limited what you can eat. My biggest pet peave. saving chairs. There are signs up saying you can't save chairs but no one polices it. Prime chairs had a towel and flip flop on the chair for over 6 hours (that we were watching) and no one every came to sit there. On Celebrity you don't sign out chairs but you also lose your chair if you are not sitting on it (with your towel) there is staff picking up towels all the time. There is really no saving chairs. I wish all cruise lines would adopt this. Read Less

Loved this ship design, loved the itinerary. But the service varied from excellent, to adequate, to poor. First time on one of Carnival's big ships. Plenty to do every day. Cabin service was excellent, some of the best I ever had. Entertainment ran the gamut, some very good music groups, I thought the show performers were quite average (the Cuba show was great), bar service was overall fine, but the dining service was poor. Slow, inattentive, and often wrong. The restaurant management did try to address it, but it never got solved. The comedy club is too small. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early for the adult shows to make sure you get a seat. The main theater is oddly designed. I'd guess at least half of the seats have some level of obstructed views due to odd seating angles, a flat main seating area, and metal posts. Loved the itinerary with plenty to do in all ports Read Less

Ok, so this was my third time on Freedom with my family (hubby and teenager). These are my opinions and not meant to offend or influence but simply share. We went the week of August 25-Sept. 1 and left from Puerto Rico. Embarkation: pretty easy and not much waiting luckily. Room: had a large balcony which was clean and what we expected since we'd been on her before. There are obvious signs of aging and as my husband said, "she's gettin' old" and needs the refurb booked next year. Our room attendant was Sue (short for Sulfina I think....forgive me because I can't recall) and she was wonderful. Not overbearing and waited patiently while we were late leaving some mornings. Dining room: excellent staff looked after us. Alifton and Iputu were attentive and amazing with our teenager. Alifton remembered our favourites and was really nice and friendly. Food was ok/good although I'm not a foodie and ate pretty much the same things. Hubby loves food and he was very happy. The first evening was less than great though we figured turnaround day is challenging and gave it another chance. Windjammer: not my fav but great coffee and service to clear tables/bring drinks etc. It's busy and sometimes people act like animals by using their hands or eating while perusing the buffet. It's what you'd expect from a typical buffet I suppose. Sorrento's: happily surprised by the new pizza that is a thin crust since we last sailed. It was always hot since it was constantly being made. Specialty food: only ate one at Galianos because we got a gift from our TA to go. The service was outstanding! I feel awful because I can't remember his name. He's a tall, has light colored hair and a Ukrainian accent. We left him a nice trip because he made the evening lovely and paced out our meal as the hubby asked. Intimate and delicious but not sure if many would spend the extra money. Solarium pool: busy but nice to soak and have some drinks. I hesitate because you definitely notice those who drink and never seem to get out for hours. Hmmmm....washroom? Hahaha..only can assume. Drinks: had the package and it is 100% worth it for us. Water bottles included made it easy to stay hydrated. Also new system of not signing printout sheets and feeling awkward about tips is great! Apparently the staff get a percentage or something for each drink they serve so you give your card and that's it. Islands: went to Bonaire, st Martin, Curacao and Aruba. Wonderful weather and easy to get off and on each port. Hubby went scuba diving and loved it. We went to the beach only once and walked around on our own but didn't spend too much time. I personally love the ship and sea days so the ports aren't the draw for me but more for the hubby. Tone of passengers: this is not meant to offend nor am I BY ANY MEANS or any type of person who would be racist. I've grown up in a diverse area and have many different ethnicities in my own family. The tone was very much catered to the crowd in terms of music and dancing. Typically we sailed and found most of the music to have more of a carribean vibe and a good variety. This cruise was 95+% comprised of Latin music in the clubs/pool deck music. It became a lot because of the tempo FOR ME. I love dancing and love that type of music but sometimes I felt I needed a little music that had more of a "relaxed tempo"....Bob Marley and such if that makes sense. Leaving from Puerto Rico obviously meant that the majority of the crowd were Spanish speaking which was interesting since I was able to brush up on my Spanish :) Kids: I love them and for those that feel they can overrun the ship, we didn't find that at all. In fact, it was some of the adults that were obnoxious and SOOOO LOUD sometimes. It's a fun ship and people have fun but walking in the halls at 2 or 3 and shouting isn't really acceptable. Also found that people who hang around the pool can talk at a volume that is unreal. I certainly heard things that I maybe didn't really need to know. But again, maybe that won't bother most. Entertainment: great shows as always. Didn't see the ice show because I feel once you've seen it, you've seen them all. Quest game: always a good time and the video playback was new and made it really fun. Katie: cruise director who was pleasant and really ran the activities well. Not overly excitable but friendly and seemed to be well liked. Leaving: the absolute worst we have ever experienced in our 5 cruises with rccl. We waited over an hour outside in the heat of Puerto Rico and then for about 20 inside for customs. Can't really lay blame because rccl seemed to be trying. We exited when our group was called but the bottleneck of people was brutal! Read Less

The entertainment was good, especially Eileen, the black female singer; the Once Upon A Time show; and the murder mystery dinner in Giovanni’s. We found the timing of some shows inconvenient e.g. ice shows are at 5 or 7pm, which is impossible when you have a 6pm dining time. Bingo was fun and much easier now they have electronic tablets instead of paper sheets. Trivia really depended on who was running it - some staff were hard to understand with heavy accents, or went too fast. Others, like Bern running the 80s music trivia on the last night, were amazing. Best food in the main dining room was the Vidalia onion tart, beef tenderloin and rack of lamb, and molten chocolate cake and apple pie. The Tutti salad bar at lunchtime in the main dining room on sea days is really good and a hidden gem. Each day in Windjammer and the cafe, they have a different flavor of pound cake. The caramel toffee bread pudding in Windjammer on day 5 was amazing. Cruise tips. Bring two swimsuits because the first one will not be dry enough overnight to wear again the next day, and putting on wet swimwear feels gross. A highlighter is very useful for marking items of interest in the Compass. So is a travel mug, to allow you to carry coffee around the ship. My white noise machine was invaluable to block out Promenade and hallway noise. Save your trivia answer sheets all week, as they get you extra boards in Bingo. Only a few negatives: 1) Most of the excursions we had booked before the trip were canceled, and one of those cancelations was not communicated, resulting in an unnecessary early wake-up. They canceled the butterfly garden trip in Aruba, the mangrove EcoBoat in Bonaire, the afternoon Segway in Bonaire, and the Adventure Race in St. Maarten. Although in each case we were offered a discount on an alternative activity and ended up having fun, it was still frustrating to get very few of our first choice activities. 2) The early 8am meeting time for many excursions made you not want to stay out late and party or drink much the night before. 3) My only bad food was the duck a l’orange in the main dining room on day 2 or 3; there was barely any meat and it was very fatty. 4) My teenager disliked that very few of the scheduled teen activities happened as planned. The teen staff did not seem interested in enforcing the schedule and just let the teens do whatever they wanted. All in all, we had a fantastic trip. The weather was glorious, the seas were calm, all 4 ports were very interesting to visit, our tour guides were all exceptional, service on board was overwhelmingly good, food options were delicious and varied, and there was plenty to do for all ages. If you go on this trip, you will have a blast! Read Less

We had a great time on the Carnival Horizon. The kids enjoyed the water park and activities. The movie theaters were great and Antonette was always so kind and happy to help. On the last 2 days of our journey, we were in the middle of Hurricane Dorian. The captain did a awesome job in keeping us informed about the situation and how he will continue the sailing. The captain definitely went above and beyond to make us feel safe. The show were great and all the restaurant server, cabin steward, bar staff were wonderful. One thing that can you use improvement is the customer service area. There was always a line if you go after 10:00am. One day, I waited almost an hour just to ask about my card. If you have kids, this will be the perfect cruise to keep them entertained. Overall, great service and great cruise. Will definitely book it again. Read Less

Chose this cruise for the many islands offered and size of ship - just under 3,000 passengers so not too large and many amenities offered. The food unfortunately I would rate 3 out of 5. Same menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner if dining the in the Windjammer. We dined in the evening often in the Dining Room and found that food to be very nice, so recommend this to anyone to use the Dining Room as much as you can. I recommend everyone to book their dinner reservations for specific time for the Dining Room in advance and not do the "my time" dining as you could be waiting awhile. Even with the specific time reservations, we found the line ups very long at times, so be sure to arrive a good 15-20 min in advance of your reservation. The service was always excellent as all the wait staff in the Dining Room and Windjammer Cafe are always exceptionally attentive. The food in the Windjammer cafe was a little boring after being offered the same menu 7 days straight. They even had a "Caribbean Night" which they highlighted so we went their for dinner that night which was nothing special and little variety from the usual being offered. First day of arriving we had an with our room. The line for customer service was ridiculously long with only 4 people behind the customer service desk. I commented on this and I was given an explanation which in my opinion was inadequate. If you have 2,500-3,000 passengers on board and only 10% of them have issues (which is a safe assumption with the number of people in this long line), it makes sense to have more people available at customer service the very first day of arriving. We were in line for over 45 minutes - very irritating and more people definitely needed for customer service (just for the first day people are getting on board) You have to pay for absolutely everything "extra" on this cruise so be prepared for that. We did not purchase the beverage package for ourselves but got the refreshment package for the kids. For us to get a simply water, lemonade which is free was not easily obtained when we were on the deck as we were told only offered in the dining rooms. So basically you get nothing offered to drink (free drinks) while you are out on the deck sunning or swimming (they only offer you the alcoholic drinks, pops or mocktails. That we found was unfortunate, inconvenient and a little annoying. Would give the cruise 3 out of 5 overall. Some of the excursions offered I would re-think as they do not showcase the islands but that is a personal preference. Ports unfortunately really focus on nabbing you for shopping and the piers are built up for tourists - you will have to get a taxi or an excursion to really see the beauty of the islands. Not a problem just a comment for anyone booking excursions to consider. Read Less

This was our 10th Cruise and 7th with Carnival. I have to admit we were skeptical based on reviews and our very last Carnival Cruise. Last August we cruised with Disney and was worried Carnival would fall way short based on Disney’s level of quality and service. To be honest we were 100% pleasantly surprised. I felt the ship was maintained well and generally very clean. I did feel our balcony cabin was OK and could have been a little cleaner in the corners. The bedding was tremendously more comfortable that other Carnival cruises. The last Carnival Cruise was miserable for sleep quality - this Cruise we slept very comfortably. One exception is we could hear EVERY in the adjoining stateroom with connecting doors (doors remained lock). There was an infant that woke us up in the adjoining room every morning at 6:00 and then we listened to their family morning conversations. We felt this ship had the most activities and places to spend time than any other Carnival ship. The sports area was great, trivia was great, on board music options was good. There was a trio of violinist who were amazing. The nightly shows were an improvement from prior cruises. They kept us entertained, but realize Carnival is not the go to ship if you are looking for theater production. Food in the dining room was very good with real top rate service. People comment the portions are small - WHAT? I can seriously eat and did not feel that way. If you must - order multiple entrees. The one complaint I would have is the lines at buffets, pizza or burritos area was long. However I believe the root cause is people hoarding and eating mass quantities of food. I watched a person eat 3 cheeseburgers, fries and a pizza in one sitting??? I actually found some people’s eating and hoarding food as being very grotesque. I am not a health snob and could lose a little weight myself. I enjoy Carnival for their lively activities. If you want a slower paced and less party atmosphere don’t cruise on Carnival. Between the price point of the cruise and the party atmosphere it does attract a different crowd. My point is don’t pay the cheapest price for a cruise and the expect the same service as the most expensive cruise. I personally would rather go on 2 or 3 Carnival Cruises than 1 Disney Cruise for the same price. However, I realize there is a service and quality difference.’ Read Less

Ship: MS Carnival Magic Cruise: 17-25 August 2019 Itinerary: 17: Depart Ft. Lauderdale 18: Half Moon Cay, Nassau – pretty small island with not much to do unless you want to lay out on the beach all day. I took a jitney tour which lasted about an hour and a half. But they showed us the flora and fauna and we got to see where the island staff live. 19: Grand Turk Isle – great bus and boat tour, the guides were lively and funny and I got some great souvenirs 20: At sea – balcony time and watching movies 21: Aruba 22: Curacao 23-24: At sea 25: Arrive Ft. Lauderdale Departure Air: PHL – FTL – Spirit Airlines – godawful airline with cramped seats and no internet access and with some of the homeliest flight attendants ever. Yes, I am that shallow. We left an hour behind schedule because of rain in Florida. Stay away from Spirit Airlines at all costs. The Yugo of airlines. Hotel: Red Carpet Inn, Ft. Lauderdale – nice, reasonably priced hotel. I was only there to sleep, and while the desk staff was nice, the other staff were indifferent and rude. But the beds were quite comfortable. I also forgot my medications for my blood pressure and painkillers for my arthritic neck. I was able to get my doctors to get an eight-day supply of meds at the local CVS. So, I wasn’t really able to relax once I got to my hotel – frenzied phone calls to my insurance carrier and my CVS in Philadelphia. Totally my fault, but this isn’t the way one wants to start off one’s vacation. Return Air: FTL – PHL – American Airlines – leagues above Spirit with free snacks and soda. Bypassed the Wi-Fi packages because it was $14 for a two-hour flight. Still, it was nice to know it was available. Cabin: #2289 Cove Balcony. I bit the bullet and paid single supplement, but didn’t mind because I got a good price and I loved being close to the water. Carnival is for extroverts, but I was able to deprogram on my balcony, using it several times during the day to just chill, listen to music, and nap. My aunt and uncle were so worried that they contacted Guest Services to make sure I was okay because I wasn’t answering my door or phone because I was voiding out on my balcony. Just marvelous. The balcony needs a paint job – the rust was quite evident and my cabin carpet was worn in spots, but it’s to be expected on a huge ship like the MAGIC that carries thousands of passengers on a weekly basis. I loved the shower gel they had, but couldn’t find out who made it. Plenty of closet and drawer space for one person. Food: Carnival has really improved their game in this regard. More choice, higher quality food. Can’t understand why Berlitz always dings Carnival for their food. Lido Marketplace: my go-to place for breakfast and lunch. Lots of salad fixings (much better than on CARNIVAL VICTORY voyage to Canada in 2001). I’d like to see more cheese selections, but everything else was spot-on in terms of taste, quality and variety, especially the desserts Southern Lights Dining Room (late seating): Adi, Aisys and Sendian were our servers, they work extremely hard to provide decent service. My aunt only drinks bottled water and they kept her glass filled. I don’t drink, so they gave me extra ginger ale. Beef tenderloin was tender, as was the braised ox tongue. Did not care for the braised rabbit in puff pastry – too gamy. Still, Carnival is to be commended for taking more risks with their cuisine than they have in the past. And of course, I had the chocolate melting cake for dessert twice. Cucina del Capitano: Uncle treated us to dinner here on the fourth day. Loved it! Ordered a pappardelle pasta dish with huge shrimp and pancetta slices. We got so full we skipped dessert. Guy’s Burger Bar: Only ate here once because there was always a line. But glad I got a chance to try it after we got back from our Aruba tour and most people were still ashore. Good quality ground beef and great fixings. Blue Iguana: Got a breakfast burrito here before we embarked on our Grand Turk Island tour. Decent size and quite tasty. Again, this place was always crowded. Prime Steakhouse: Truly a dining event for our last night at sea. Thanks again Uncle Bob!! I got the NY Strip, mushroom risotto, mashed potatoes w/wasabi (yes potatoes, no wasabi!). The dinner at the Prime Steakhouse was superb, especially the dessert, which was appropriately called Dessert Art. The chef used a white board to “paint” it with fruit compote, jelled candies, custards, chocolate wafers and a huge ball of white chocolate filled with more chocolates and he added ice cream to it after breaking it open. I had to videotape it. It was very good. Caution - the food here is delicious, but quite rich. I got a bit of the agita (sp?) when we went to bed. Pros: Nice, showy décor, good food (superb at times), excellent cabin service (Kadek, thanks again, you are awesome), great itinerary, amazing massage at Cloud 9 Spa, great gym. The Sea Monkeys put on an excellent show at various venues. We also loved the ladies who played the violins in the main atrium lounge – really good music and I loved sitting there with my family, catching up, as well as striking up conversations with complete strangers. We enjoyed great tours of Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Aruba and Curacao. The Bonita Beach Club in Willemstad is so nice and they make great frites cooked in truffle oil and served with parmesan and flavored mayo. Service was great. And finally, the cruise director, Simon and his assistants were brilliant and wickedly funny. Simon is right out of Central Casting. The comedians were funny too at the Spotlight Lounge. Cons: Aruba visit too long (0830-2300), Curacao visit too short (0830-1530); the latter is the nicer port, so maybe Carnival can switch it around. Canceled acupuncture consultation because they kept me waiting for 45 minutes, inappropriate behavior of some younger passengers on Lido deck – doing a disgusting dance, rubbing up against each other in front of children and old people. The DJ actually stopped playing music to admonish them for their vulgarity. Yes, I know, I am older – and GET OFF MY LAWN. Carnival’s Achilles Heel IMO is still the level of clientele that they attract. And the nickel-and-diming, endemic to the cruise industry, needs to stop. Read Less