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December 28, 2024

In October I took a cruise on Celebrity Equinox, my first Celebrity Cruise. The company claim to be a premium cruise line and over the years have produced some excellent and innovative vessels with features including restaurants furnished with fittings for old ocean liners such as White Star Line’s Olympic.

They also created real grass lawns on their ships and their latest innovation a ‘flying carpet’ which extends beyond the sides of the ship to create an innovative bar, but it can also be lowered and used as a boarding platform for tenders. All very novel but a million miles away from the theme parks at sea that many ships have become, and that, is no bad thing. At 15 years old, Equinox is approaching midlife but has enjoyed a number of refits to bring her up to date. She now boasts a glass blowing workshop on her outside deck for example.

We boarded the ship in Barcelona and were immediately struck by the opulence that lay before us. The ship has plenty of art on board, dark wood panelling and luxurious tasteful carpets. Its clear that she was very much designed to be premium. Intended primarily for middle age cruise passengers, the ship does have facilities for children, but this is certainly not a ship that I would take a young family on.

The ship has a 12-deck high atrium and numerous other double height spaces which add to the air of luxury and sophistication. This includes the double height restaurant which is a huge space. Sadly, menu choices are very predictable and the choices I found to be somewhat limited. There was plenty of steaks, pasta dishes and heavy soups, there was little in the way of healthy choices.

The Oceanview Café at the top of the ship on the other hand had a huge array of choices including Mexican, Indian, Italian and Carvery stations as daily runners with ‘flavour of the day’ station changing every day. These included British, American, Spanish, German, Portuguese and more. Breakfast had American and British stations as will as pastries, fruit etc. For me, the provision of fruit cocktails, Lemonade, and Iced Tea available all day was perfect as I do not drink fizzy drinks and thanks to the exorbitant alcohol prices (think US$18 for a class of Sauvignon Blanc) I was pretty much off the booze.

The ship has a large indoor pool area which I enjoyed on sea days, few people sawn in the pool but plenty of people sat around reading, snoozing, or watching movies on their phones.

The main show lounge was lovely and boasted some exceptional guest artists. The resident show team performed four out of 9 nights and were very good, but I felt their shows plots were wafer thin. The space offered excellent sight lines from all seats and sound and lighting as well as stage management was excellent. There were plenty of shops on board with premium boutique shops on Deck 5 offering fine jewellery, fragrances etc and more run of the mill shops on Deck 4. One shop in particular was interesting as it was termed a pop-up shop and its contents changed seemingly daily.

There was a small cinema onboard although there was only, I think four films which were rotated, the film selection on the on-demand TV was also extremely limited. There was a wide selection of news and entertainment channels on the cabin TVs, however. Cabins themselves were well specified with forty-three” TVs in all, large and extremely comfortable beds and large well-equipped bathrooms which had proper glass shower doors. There was also a nightlight feature which was especially useful. Cabin sizes were also particularly good.

There are a number of speciality restaurants on board and the food is displayed on the first sea day of the cruise outside the Oceanview Café. There was a moderately enthusiastic push for sales and the food certainly looked OK, but nothing really took my fancy. It is ironic somewhat that after years of berating the buffets on ships, on this one, it actually was my favourite venue for food, and as the cruise went on, it certainly seemed that I was not alone as the Main Dining Room lost patronage to the Buffet. On the last night of the cruise, in the main dining room, there were just three choices of starter (aside from the always available) two soups and a salad. Deserts were tiny and there was no coffee service after the meal unless you wanted to pay $5 for one.

This captivating cruise itinerary began and ended in the vibrant city of Barcelona, offering an enchanting journey through the cultural and historical gems of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. The voyage took you to Lisbon, Portugal’s charismatic capital known for its colorful architecture and rich maritime history. Next, we explored Porto, famed for its picturesque riverside views and world-renowned port wine. In Cadiz, one of Europe’s oldest cities, we immersed ourself in the charm of Andalusian culture. Tangier, Morocco, provided a taste of North Africa with its bustling markets and fascinating blend of cultures.

The ports of call were all good with complementary shuttle buses where needed. I particularly enjoyed Tangiers, and it was great to get back to Lisbon and Porto and a first look for me around beautiful Cadiz. Lisbon was an overnight stay with a late morning arrival on the first day and an evening departure on the second. The ship operates three different cruises in rotation on her summer European season with calls around the western and eastern Mediterranean.

The clientele onboard was made up of America, British, Spanish and others, so a mixed bag. The whole cruise was just OK. I certainly would not rush back to Celebrity but given the cutting back across brands I would not go back to any more mainstream lines either. And that is a sad statement to make. At 122,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 2,800 passengers, the Equinox is considered mid-size these days, but for me, she was at the absolute limit of acceptability in terms of size.

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Christopher Brindle

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