Focus on the positives and take a patience pill when 1) booze cruise-like indications of staff short handedness and disinterest and 2) hiccups resulting from the ship's age and condition pop up, and you'll have an enjoyable trip.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Our very capable agent did us the favor of recommending an upgrade to concierge service. That makes getting on board extremely easy. Unfortunately, the good experience was completely undone when we discovered that our sea cards were incorrectly prepared omitting our beverage plans, and the air conditioning and shower drain in our cabin were badly in need of maintenance.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Celebrity still appears to be struggling with the anytime dining for two concept, but they certainly deserve credit for making an effort to adapt to this preference.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
One of the Infinity's most attractive spaces is the adults only indoor therapeutic pool. It's a quite nice facility, but with passengers selfishly spreading out to claim the oversized sofa/divan-like lounging areas for extended periods, in practical terms the attraction is available only to manic obsessives.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Entertainment during our cruise consisted of three production shows, a comic and a Vegas lounge vocalist. The comic and vocalist were about right for the generally downscale but tolerable flavor of service throughout the cruise. The three production shows were extraordinarily bad -- which is pretty remarkable, given the talent and energy of the young performers recruited for these gigs. Broken Strings was literally unwatchable: we had to leave when a loutish row of indolent, insufferable young passengers began loudly mocking the numbers being performed. In fairness to the performers, Celebrity has to revisit these productions.
Children's Programs
We have no children.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Dining room waiters make it a point to encourage passengers to request assignment to their stations, but that request is pretty much pointless when you make your reservation. So you end up being served by a waiter who's clearly much more focused on his or her preferred clients, and resents having strangers seated in their area. It's a bizarre scheme, one that Celebrity would be well advised to revise.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Ship's perfectly sized for a cruise as brief as the one we took: layout's a little quirky because of its relatively small size, but it's easy to master, and makes strolling about very enjoyable. But the need for a drydocking is obvious everywhere one looks: woodworking joints that have broken apart and never mended, rust and missing paint splotches throughout the ship. The ship's a lovely lady: Celebrity owes her a trip to the beauty parlor.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Cabin's nicely sized -- thanks again to our agent for recommending the concierge upgrade. But the positives are offset by deplorable condition of the veranda -- don't recall ever seeing a shipboard space so badly in need to scraping and painting, and the willingness of Celebrity to allow passengers to enter a cabin where the air conditioning and plumbing were so obviously in need of attention. There's no downturning service in the evening -- which seems odd for what's supposed to be upscale service -- so we didn't discover the absence of a top sheet until we turned down the bed ourselves. Asked about it the morning, the cabin steward explained that he didn't make the bed with a top sheet because the one provided wasn't up to concierge cabin standards. The option of perhaps having housekeeping supply an acceptable sheet apparently wasn't available.
Ship tip
Close your eyes whenever you're in port and docked alongside another Celebrity ship. Remind yourself that they're probably paying a much higher rate to sail aboard a ship that's not months away from major refurbishment.
Excursion to the Mayan ruins on the island itself was most enjoyable, in large part because the tour guides were so transparently proud of their own Mayan heritage.
Nothing not to like about Key West. Having to endure the logistical hassles of being shuttled from the Navy's pier to downtown, only to discover once that the Celebrity Equinox was conveniently docked at a downtown pier, was an offputting experience. Celebrity should work a little harder at masquerading the double standards of service for larger, and presumably more expensive ships vs. smaller sister ships.
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