Southern Caribbean Holiday Cruise on the
Celebrity Equinox
12/22/2021 to 1/3/2022

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Page 1 – Embarkation, Ship
Page 2 – Ship (continued), Cabin, Dining, Activities, Entertainment
Page 3 - Ports of Call: St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; St. John, Antigua and Barbuda; Bridgetown, Barbados; Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Ship (Continued)

Library – The library is located on decks 10 and 11 alongside the atrium area; but since there does not appear to be a way to get up to the books on deck 11, it was merely a room with a high ceiling. Cathy made use of the library and picked up a book one day.

The Lawn Club – This has always been a unique feature of the Celebrity Solstice class of ships. It is located on the top of the ship on deck 15, so the natural grass can get plenty of sunshine. In addition to the large video screen, there is a bocce/lawn bowling area on the sides leading toward the back of the ship. It is nice to have the grass, but it must be a challenge to keep it healthy. There are always large areas that can’t be walked on due to browning.

Jogging Track – This is an area designated by a colored path on the sunning area of deck 14. With us being at sea for 6 days and the weather normally being in the 70’s, there were many people walking around the ship. The track is an eighth of a mile long.

Solarium – The Solarium is a lovely and very comfortable area for relaxing, swimming and just hanging out in a hot tub. Since we live in South Florida, laying around a swimming pool isn’t that special for us when cruising. With the pool being covered, it is very popular during bad weather.

Promenade Deck – The promenade is less desirable on this class ship than some other lines, who have promenade decks that go completely around the ship. Those type promenade decks make for a great walking track. Also with this class, the lifeboats obstruct the view of the ocean, meaning there aren’t many good areas for the lounge chairs on the deck. The offset to this is that there are more cabins that don’t have the lifeboats obstructing their view.

Swimming Pool Area – There are two main pools. The area is nicely designed and during this cruise, with the lowered occupancy, there always seemed to be deck chairs available. There is a stage at one end where music was played by a DJ or one of the musical groups. I wish that they still had the padded chairs they had when I was last on the Equinox in 2015 rather than the firm stretched plastic. But it was still a great place to relax.

There is a lot of covered deck chair areas also on deck 12 around the pool.

It is quite lovely at night when it is lit up.

Outer Deck Area – There are many areas to sun on the outer decks around the pool and jogging track. This area is on deck 15 outside of the basketball court.

One area that is a great place for sunning, but even a better place for taking photos when arriving in port is the deck 12 Spa Veranda. It is right in front of the ship and accessed through the Fitness Center.

Retreat Sundeck – This is a private sunning area at the front of the ship on Deck 16 for suite guests. It can only be accessed by stairs from deck 15. I couldn’t access it.

Grand Foyer – This area in the center of the ship on deck 3 was used for many activities. It is an attractive area, since the large atrium extends up to the top of the ship. This allows people to look down on the various activities taking place on deck 3. This is needed, since the main activities take place between the grand staircase and the back of the elevators. This arrangement doesn’t allow for a lot of people to sit or stand around to see what is going on. The main negative, to me, about using this area is that the sound carries to all areas open to the atrium. The singers/musicians would perform there until almost 11:00 PM. Our cabin was close to the middle of the ship on deck 7, so we could hear the music quite well in the hallway; but the room was soundproofed enough so we did not hear it inside.

For Christmas, this area was nicely decorated.

A standard feature on all of the Solstice Class of ships is the live tree suspended between the elevator banks. On the Equinox it is in a container that looked like a large goblet.

The views into the atrium are always impressive; but even more so with the Christmas decorations.

Above the tree between the elevators were the words “Here Comes the Sun” with one word on each consecutive decks. This was apparently the theme for the Equinox when it was inaugurated.

Guest Relations – This customer service desk is located on one end of the Grand Foyer area. The few times I needed their assistance, they were friendly and helpful.

Shore Excursions – This area for learning about and booking shore excursions is at the other end of the Grand Foyer. This is always a busy place at the beginning of a cruise, but with the itinerary changing during the cruise, it kept busy until the end.

Basketball Court – Located on the front of the ship on deck 15 is the basketball/soccer court. To me the location couldn’t be worse since there is no protection from the winds there. But then again, it wasn’t used very much and normally just for people shooting hoops.

Ping Pong Table - The ping pong table used to be located on the pool deck, which took up covered deck chair space. It was moved to outside the deck 15 elevator bank. There isn't as much room, but being inside, it is air conditioned. It did seem to be used a lot on the cruise.

Cabin

Once again, I was able to book a hump cabin, 7286. I have had this type cabin on 8 previous Celebrity cruises. Its location on the hump is perfect in that it is close to the midship elevators. This is important on the Solstice Class ships, since there is no aft elevator. Cabins near the back of the ship require much more walking to get to different areas of the ship. This cabin also has a balcony that is 3 times larger than the standard balcony, because it is on the edge of the hump.

The cabin is nicely arranged and relatively roomy for a non-suite cruise ship cabin. The air conditioning worked quite well, and we were able to leave it on the same setting for most of the cruise; which is quite unusual.

We had plenty of storage space in the closet, drawers and over bed storage bins. The luggage fit nicely under the beds too.

The desk has two US plugs and one European two post plug. The safe was above the refrigerator next to the desk and drawers. It is convenient to have the safe high enough up to be able to easily use it. Some ships have them at the bottom of the closet. Once again I was able to use my multi head plug adapter with USB ports to greatly increase the charging ability for all of our electronics. With there being no other plugs anywhere in the room, some type of device is required to prevent massive frustration with charging. Additionally, since I use a CPAP machine, one of the US plugs was taken up by an extension cord that went across the room to the bedside. I can't imagine why a ship cabin would be designed without plugs of some type near the beds. The newer ships do, thank goodness.

The bathroom is adequately sized and there is plenty of storage space. I also like that they have a night light built into the light fixture.

With the cabin veranda being about 3 times the size of a standard veranda, it is a real benefit on a Caribbean cruise.

The view to the front and back of the ship is nice; and the view down to the water is pretty much unobstructed.

We had an awesome Cabin Attendant named Karl from India. He was so very pleasant, helpful and efficient. As has been the case since 2016, Celebrity’s cabin attendants don’t have assistants; but they have less cabins to clean than when they did have the assistants.

Dining (Link to Menus)

I have included copies of the menus for the main dining room along with photos of some of the food items at the Menus link just above and at the top of each page of the review.

Main Dining Room - We were very pleased with the main dining room food on this cruise. Even when we looked at the menu for the evening beforehand and thought it might not be a good dinner, it turned out great. The food quality and preparation were for the most part better than average for Celebrity. Which is very good. We only ate there in the evening and never went for breakfast.

Oceanview Café - Once again, the buffet was outstanding. The food variety and quality couldn’t have been better. Even the scrambled eggs at breakfast weren’t runny like on some ships. We ate at the buffet every day for breakfast and all but one lunch. It was always a treat to walk in at lunch and see what delicious looking food was waiting for us. The biggest problem was deciding what we would have to not have, since it all looked so good. This ship had great kitchen staff.

Mast Grill – With the buffet having such great food, we only ate at the grill one time during the cruise. We were disappointed in the hamburger we had. It was dry, rather than the juicy ones we are used to. I did see some guests that had burgers that did look much better later in the cruise; but we never went back. We just didn’t want to miss out on something wonderful from the buffet.

Murano – This is the only specialty restaurant that we went to for dinner on this cruise. It is a more elegant and quieter restaurant, so it makes for a special dinner. We love French cuisine, so it is a treat to pick out something on the menu. Several items are prepared tableside and flambeed. The first night there Gail and I both ordered the Murano Lobster. The smell of it being prepared was amazing. The delicious sauce enhanced the flavor of the lobster to a very nice level. The second time we went there, all of us ordered the lobster. By then the lobsters they had left were getting smaller, so they gave each of us two of them.

For dessert one night I ordered the Crepe Ballon Rouge. It is vanilla ice cream wrapped in a crepe with an amazing strawberry sauce that is prepared and flambeed at the table. Too Yummy! We really enjoyed Murano on this cruise.

Sushi on Five – Sushi isn’t one of my favorites; but the various items they have at this restaurant in addition to some very tasty sushi are just outstanding. I had loved the Scallop and Shrimp Dynamite when having it at the Captain’s Table lunch on a cruise. I looked forward to having it again and to have Cathy experience this wonderful dish. We both loved it. Cathy also ordered the Lobster Ramen and thoroughly enjoyed it. The unique cocktails were also quite delicious.

Activities

With this being a holiday cruise, there were several special activities that were most enjoyable in addition to the normal ship activities.

Enrichment Speaker

Phil DeMeulenaere – Phil was quite a character. In addition to being a most interesting and entertaining public speaker, he was also a clown at one time. It shows at at times. He has an assortment of about 70 different subjects he can talk about. His slide shows contain lots of humorous slides to keep his talk interesting. With the cruise being 12 days with an adjusted 6 sea days, he ended up giving 15 unique talks. It was fortunate that he had many talks to pick from.

Ohter Activities

A December to Remember – The production cast sang songs in the Grand Foyer at 8:00 PM. We heard a bit of it near the end after dinner, but with the crowds around stair rails, it was difficult to see anything.

Holiday Caroling with the Officers - After the second evening show, the officers went to the stairs in the Grand Foyer and sang holiday carols. It was also a very crowded event, but I was able to get a decent photo by taking the elevator.

Santa Claus Gifts – On Christmas morning Santa Clause was in the Grand Foyer in front of the Christmas decorations. He was passing out gifts to the children that came to see him.

New Year’s Eve Celebration – On New Year’s Eve there was a large party on the pool deck. They also had some other inside venues to celebrate the new year, but they weren’t attracting many people. The pool deck was packed and there was lots of dancing and festivities going on to welcome in the new year. Probably not the best thing during a Covid outbreak on the ship. We were only out there for the last 10 minutes or so, but it was an impressive event.

Craft Social Tastings – The Craft Social bar had several tasting events during the cruise. We went to the Macallan and Jack Daniel’s tastings. They had a very nice selection of spirits and we enjoyed the companionship of the other guests at the event.

Entertainment

I have to say that we had some of the best entertainment ever on a Celebrity ship. The production cast singers were all fantastic, which is most unusual. The individual performer selection provided some great talent with a nice variety of skills. We didn’t get tired of seeing the same type show each night. It kept us interested in going every night. The Cruise Director was Shawna Hachey. She is a very high energy person. She is constantly moving around while telling us about the show or other activities. Her movements are somewhat distracting, but she communicates very well and creates a mood of excitement for the show. Additionally, she did yoga dancing sessions on the pool deck many days. She never slowed down and got large crowd involved with her every time. She is quite a special type of CD.

Captain Matthaios Karandreas or Captain Matt was spoke at the first and last production shows. He was also a speaker/participant at some of the special activies during the cruise. He was very available for the guests and happy to talk with them at anytime.

Performers –
Jason Neistadt – He is a very good impersonator comedian. He put on a very entertaining show. He did impersonaltions of some of the normal personalities like Willy Nelson and Jack Nicholson while creating a lot of humor out of it.

Cece Teneal – She is a powerhouse singer who did an Aretha Franklin tribute show. Just outstanding! She also did a matinee later in the cruise with a song mix from other artists. Another great show!

NYC3 – This is a boy band type group of three New York City singers. They did a good job of entertaining the crowd, particularly the younger girls in the audience.

Dan Wilson – He is an outstanding comedian. His jokes are hilarious and accompanying sound effects and body movements make for a great show. He also had a late-night show for adults only. That show fell a bit flat in places, since it appeared that he was coming up with stuff as he talked with people in the audience. It was a bit disappointing, but he is a great comic.

Claire Gobin – She is an amazing violinist. Her music selection and playing ability wowed the audience. She is also the wife of the impersonator we had the first night, Jason Neistadt.

Tian Jiang – He is an internationally renowned pianist. He has played at Carnegie Hall and had 14 albums. He played along with a video of one of his biggest hits that he composed, Shanghai Dream. It was a treat to see him perform.

Todd Murray – Todd is a crooner with a great voice. He has performed all over the world and was an audience favorite.

James Cielen –He is a Gold Medal winning illusionist. And he is a good one! He has a great personality and is a true entertainer. He performed some great tricks and kept the audience amazed. I saw James on the Reflection just before the Covid lockdown. This was basically the same show, but still enjoyable.

David and Dawn Meyer – David is a Xylosynth player. It is a type of xylophone. It really wasn’t our thing, so before Dawn came out, we left. I’m sure most people enjoyed the show. With it being a 9:00PM show on the last night of the cruise, we needed to put out our luggage by 10:00 PM, so that was a priority.

Production Shows –
Broadway Cabaret – This was a concert style performance with each of the 6 singers paying tribute to Broadway and West End favorites. With the excellent voices, each performance was a treat.

Holiday Spectacular – This is a custom show for the holidays. The production cast picks the songs they would like, and they make a show out of it. This was the first time we were able to see the very talented specialty acts doing their aerial and gymnastic feats. It was also very enjoyable show.

Topper – We had seen this show a couple times before. It does have a silly story line, but this time it was much better than before. Paul thought that they had changed the music. I don’t remember what they played the other times, but it was a better experience, especially with the cast’s great voices. The specialty acts put on a great show too.