I was skeptical at first. After all, how could a ship that carries nearly 3,000 passengers offer really great food and service? The brand new Equinox, Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship, was previewed last week at Southampton, England before starting its European season. It’s a sister ship to the Solstice which came out last year.

So there I was, eating breakfast in the Equinox’s Ocean View Café, with the coast of England in the distance off the port side. Any skepticism was fading as fast as the morning haze over the English Channel. The casual restaurant is laid out in a series of food stations so lines are minimized. Right now, I should reveal that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and, to me, the quality of the dishes are much more important than the quantity. And the quality here is amazing for a large ship.

At one station, there was a bone-in ham being carved and served along with potatoes and other hearty fare. At another, omelets were made to order using real eggs rather than the commercial liquid eggs found on many ships. I counted at least twenty different ingredients you could add to make a custom omelet.  Across the way, another chef stood ready to slice Canadian bacon off a whole smoked pork loin. Smoked salmon, herring, cold meats, and a variety of freshly baked breads and rolls were at other stations. And then there were the fresh fruits. Melons, whole fresh apricots, cherries and peaches were just some of the fruits available on this summer morning. And they were all ripe. The quality and variety of the ingredients easily made this the best breakfast buffet I’ve encountered on any ship. The only thing I missed was fresh orange juice. Some ships do have it and it would have been the perfect addition here.

Service was efficient and the staff cleared and cleaned tables quickly, so that even with the number of diners there was no problem finding seating. As my two-night cruise continued, however, I discovered that wasn’t always the case. Down on Deck 5, Café al Bacio is heavily used since it serves specialty coffees and pastries and is also near the Gelateria. I found tables there were often dirty and customers have to move dirty cups themselves. However, the adjoining Gelateria is well worth a visit. The mango gelato is as good as any in Italy. They even make fresh waffle cones. Across the lobby on the other side is the Bistro on Deck 5. Freshly made Brittany-style crepes are on the menu and it’s very popular at lunch and for desert in the afternoon. The crepes are filled with a variety of savory and sweet fillings. In addition to the casual dining opportunities, there are four specialty dining rooms that provide further culinary adventures serving styles of food from Italian to Asian fusion cuisines. A nice plus is that you can book reservations in these restaurants online. Blu is a specialty restaurant that’s available by reservation only to all and on a complimentary basis to Aqua Class passengers. (More about that a bit later.) The service is what you’d expect in a fine restaurant ashore. I began with fresh endive filled with finely chopped heirloom tomatoes and topped with a light vinaigrette. A rack of lamb was done to a light pink and served with a portion of braised lamb shoulder wrapped in pastry. The shoulder was drier than it should have been but overall the dish and the presentation were not a disappointment. Desert was a poached meringue floating on a sea of chocolate sauce. A meal to be remembered. I also ate in the ship’s two-level dining room. Very few large-ship dining rooms are able to serve food much beyond what you would find in a good hotel banquet and the Equinox is no exception. The food here was good but not exceptional. The service however, was truly exceptional. I didn’t want to eat the entire five-course menu, so I asked the waiter if I could have only a starter and a main course. He was happy to oblige and did something I have never encountered in any other ship dining room: He served them without waiting for the other diners. Let me explain why this is exceptional. Let’s say you are eating at a table for eight. On any other ship I have been on, the food comes out in rotation. If you don’t eat all the courses, you sit there and wait for your course until it comes along with everyone else’s. Your first course comes with the others; then you sit and wait until each course is delivered. Not on the Equinox. The waiter asked if I would like to have my main course early and I gladly said yes so I could leave and catch the show. It was a welcome first.

Celebrity Cruises deserves recognition for maintaining this kind of service quality and for serving great food afloat without pretense, in an atmosphere reflecting today’s casual lifestyle. Next time, we’ll play bocce on the lawn onboard the Equinox.