Celebrity Equinox – Western Caribbean Cruise – Best Food Ever On A Cruise!
We heard good things about Celebrity Cruises from people we met from other cruises. We knew it would be a little more expensive than Royal Caribbean or Princess but we were excited to give it a try. Our itinerary was:
- Miami, Florida
- Key West, Florida
- Sea Day
- Costa Maya, Mexico
- Cozumel, Mexico
- Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
- Sea Day
- Miami, Florida
The trip didn’t start off the best as we got to the port and had to line up for 45 minutes just to get our cruise card and get to the ship. Once onboard, we tried to find our room but found out that the rooms weren’t ready so we were waiting in the main hallway for a good hour. Finally, we got tired of waiting as we couldn’t really go anywhere with our bags in tow so we went to the room and it looked ready so we snuck in and dropped our bags and got ready to explore the ship.
Obviously, we went straight for the food and upon getting to the Oceanview Cafe, we have to say that it was pretty darn nice. It had a wide open area with different stations for foods. There were desserts, cheeses and breads, salads, fresh made pizza, and a wide arrange of other foods. It was easy to get the food and find my better half as everything was in one area. There were two main beverage areas (and two smaller ones on each end) that had the fruit juices, teas and coffee. The coffee was the best we have had on a cruise ship (excluding paid coffees like cappuccinos or lattes) as they use LavAzza coffee.
The ship itself is around 122,000 tons which isn’t huge but not small either. We’ve been on Royal Caribbean’s big ships at 225,000 tons which are great ships. Built in 2009 and refurbished in 2014, the ship looks great and not dated at all. We loved the Promenade Deck and especially the Shops on the Boulevard area as it looks absolutely classy. It has a high ceiling being open for two decks and beautiful, modern architecture.
Our first night for dinner was absolutely amazing at the main dining of The Silhouette Dining Room. We were completely blown away with the quality of food! My better half started off with a Organic Roasted Red Beets and it was a plated so beautifully, taste was even better. My main dish was the Home-Style Pork Chop, it was crusted and about an inch thick, I couldn’t believe how well it was cooked with it being so juicy inside and so tender. Absolutely the best pork chop I have ever had. I won’t go into every meal or else this blog will be the size of a novel, but for the main dining, every night was this good. Normally, food this good we would expect to go to the paid dining but the quality was just so consistent on The Equinox that we have to say this is by far the best food on any ship we have ever had. One last thing about the main dining, we have to say we loved the decor of it. It looks elegant and very spacious with a couple of levels. We really enjoyed where we were seated and thank you to our waiters Sudiasa, Floriano, Nelson and our head waiter Slavko.
One night at around midnight we were sitting up in the Oceanview Cafe having a late night snack. A couple of Engineers sat a table away. I asked them if they happened to know if there was a Starbucks on the Cayman Islands, they didn’t know off hand but one Engineer immediately pulled out his phone and called one of his colleagues and asked around. Unfortunately, there was none but these two went above and beyond to find out for us and we really appreciated it. On the last night of our trip, we saw them at the Shops of the Boulevard area and said Hello. We talked with them for a good 20-30 minutes about all the great places we could go in Greece as they were from smaller towns (islands) of Greece. We wished we got their names and a picture with them, they were so nice. One of them was a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan which is our home hockey team so that was surprising. We hope he gets a chance to see a live game one day in Toronto.
We did try a specialty dining at Sushi On 5, we sat near the back and really enjoyed the quiet area where a lot of the ship officer’s ended up dining. We had an array of appetizers, sushi and even a presentation of table side fresh wasabi. The dinner was fantastic and we were really happy with trying it out.
There were two “Evening Chic” nights (more commonly known as Formal Nights), they really upped the ante on the food as we had rack of lamb, duck and filet mignon on the first night and on the second Evening Chic night, scallops to start and lobster and beef wellington as the mains.
For the entertainment, there were a couple of great comedians that did a main show and then on another night they would do a late show for adults only. Both comedians were great and both shows were great but the late show was the best! The theatre was always packed for the late shows and the crowd was so into it that it made it so much fun.
There was one guest singer who had a long list of career accolades. His songs were good but his impressions stole the show. A tribute band to the Beatles called the All McCartney’s also performed. Lastly, the performers of The Equinox had a few shows, they were good, not the best we’ve seen but one women singer was really good out of the bunch.
One evening in the Oceanview Cafe, the chefs put out a huge spread of fresh seafood, from drum fish, salmon, cod, squid and clams. You tell them what you want and they grill it there for you. It was so fresh and quite a nice treat to have something like this in the regular cafe. We ended up eating once here and then later for our regular dining. The next day I had to run an extra 10 minutes on the treadmill!
There were so many extras that we experienced on this ship that made it quite memorable. We had an inside look into the Gallery where we saw the prep of the food area and where they were making all the ginger bread houses for the display that went up a couple of days later in preparation for Christmas.
Another extra that we got was to experience the disembarkation from Costa Maya from the helicopter pad. There were only about 80 of us there and they served orange juice and champagne. I got good use of my new gimbal this time.
There were some fun events as well like Silent Disco which was unique to us and super fun. Nothing like wearing earphones which you can choose up to three different channels of music from the DJ’s and watching everyone dance to different songs and singing out of tune! It was such a hit, they did another extra night of silent disco in the main promenade of the ship where everyone not joining could at least watch from the decks above. It was a blast!
We were so impressed with the Celebrity Equinox, the crew and especially the food. Now it’s just a matter of finding another Celebrity cruise to go on.
Thanks
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