Equinox 25 July 2009

You know that lovely sensation you get when you walk in your bare feet on slightly damp grass? It immediately conveys a sense of freedom. Your cares fall away and you start thinking of all the good things in life. Nothing wrong with that I hear you say!  Well, imagine you are doing just that on a warm and sunny July day on the top deck of a beautiful and sensational cruise-liner!

This is not Astroturf or any other artificial grass product but is in fact the real deal. Under your feet is the greenest and freshest grass you’ve ever seen and yet having just left Southampton we have, floating serenely by on one side, the Isle of Wight and on the other the southern coastline of England

On an area bigger than the centre court at Wimbledon people sat or stood taking in the marvel that is The Lawn Club, a fantastic new and unique attraction on the newly built Celebrity Equinox. The very idea of having a real grass area on a ship was both strange and familiar, so much so that some people felt immediately comfortable enough to get out the tartan blanket and started having a picnic!

I had the rare pleasure to be among invited by Travel Weekly visit and stay overnight on Equinox during its weeklong launch in Southampton and earlier in the day took part in a historic world’s first. A Pro-Am Croquet tournament! On a ship! It was an amazing experience. Let me tell you something about croquet. Forget all the clichés like it being a gentile game played only by Pimms drinking toffs. It is a vicious and nerve wrecking game whereby no prisoners are taken. Without going heavily into the rules you essentially have to make sure you get your ball through the hoop first. Your opponent will do almost anything to prevent this happening. So expect nerves and tempers to get more than a little stressed.

The tournament lasted about two and a half hours and ended in a very sweet victory. My team, with my modest help, won!  Three cheers for the Travel Weekly champions. Hip! Hip!

Equinox is a sheer joy to be on. If you have an eye for these things you will notice that the service is very efficient and at the same time very discreet. I only realised this later when I thought about how the day had flown by and I didn’t have to try and catch the eye of a passing steward or bartender. I know that is a small thing in itself but nevertheless its all part of the Five-Star service offered by Celebrity Cruises and it was appreciated. Well done Equinox crew and stewards!

Dining for me took place in the very smart speciality restaurant “Muranos” To put it mildly this restaurant will make you think you have died and gone to heaven. The food was exquisite and the wine selection absolutely top notch. Celebrity I am sure must be very proud of what they have created here and if I was a food critic I would be recommending a Michelin star or whatever the ocean-going equivalent of that is.

It will take far too long to describe how good the rest of the evening was, the show, the casino, the nightclub, sufficient to say it was all just as you would expect it to be. Fantastic!

Celebrity Cruises is very much a lifestyle choice. The clientele on board are people who really enjoy the finer things in life and on celebrity they are not going to be disappointed. For my short stay there it was wonderful and easy to be enthusiastic about. You can recommend a cruise on Equinox with confidence and I would expect any customer to come back to you singing your praises.

One day I look forward to returning to Equinox if only for the pleasure of having a picnic on the lawn. A real picnic with cucumber sandwiches with the crusts taken off and tall cold glass of Pimms No 1.

Tony Robinson