Is Concierge Class Worth It?

[Cruisin_Vol_Fan]

Forgive me if this is redundant...I have looked and can't find these answers on any recent thread...

 

We are booking our first Celebrity cruise (have cruised 3 times on Princess - trying something new) and are debating a Concierge Class room. What 'exactly' do you get for your money. I have read the Celebrity site and I see the list of amenities, and I have read multiple reviews of the cabins but I want to know what the list really means for me. And I paying an extra $300 for a bottle of cheap spakling wine and some fruit? Or are there actual amenities involved that I would not get in another room?

 

-What do they consider priority embarkation/debarkation? Is it really a big deal?

-How is the dining and seating preference going to help me? Does it only really matter if you choose Select Dining (because we prefer traditional seating)?

-Shore excursion preference? Can you just book earlier or does that help with popular excursions?

 

Basically, is it worth the money? Or should we just book a Deluxe Veranda and be done with it?

 

Thanks!

[Gonzo70]

What ship are you looking at? On some ships, concierge class staterooms are a bit larger and have slightly larger balconies than non concierge class ones. The perks are not too great, so for most people it is not worth it if there is a big price difference. Probably the best perk is the extra cruise credit towards the loyalty program (Captain's Club) now that Celebrity has such great perks for Elite (10 cruise credits or more). Another nice perk is the expanded room service menu (i.e. fruit smoothies, fresh squeezed juice and some other treats). There are a few more goodies such as the sparkling wine and fruit - these may make you feel a bit more pampered/special, but do not have a real big dollar value. Some people like them, some don't.

[Cruisin_Vol_Fan]

Yep - that would help! Solstice (Eastern Caribbean, July)

 

We have already ruled out Aqua Class for various reasons (not to sure about dining in Blu all the time, probably wouldn't use the spa amenities enough to make it worth it, would basically just be paying for bottled water!)

[FinelyCruising]

There are some other perks that come with Concierge Class that include a foot stool with your balcony loungers. If you spend time on your balcony and like to read there, its very nice to have for comfort. I second the notion about the expanded breakfast menu. It is more than adequate for enjoying a nice full breakfast on your balcony. Of course the MDR for breakfast is available or the buffet, our personal preference is our balcony.

 

It can be a challenge to decide which is a better fit, and I would suggest that frequently the difference in cost makes it easy to consider the upgrade.

[City_Woman]

 

It can be a challenge to decide which is a better fit, and I would suggest that frequently the difference in cost makes it easy to consider the upgrade.

 

I agree about the cost.

 

I am not interested in Aqua class. However, if Concierge class and regular veranda are around the same price, then I'll take the Concierge class.

 

That is the case in our upcoming cruise.

 

J

[Dharma517]

I decided against CC in favor of a FV. The only thing I am really going to miss is the special CC breakfast menu but I do plan on slipping my steward a $20 in hopes of scoring those menu's. If it doesn't work I will just sit at the waffle bar all week! I reaad the sparkling wine was not all that great.

 

Jenn

[Callandre]

I think the perks are very nice, but personally I am not sure about that much more $...the CC cabin I had in the past and the two upcoming ones were only aoubt $50/pp more. For that much, I'd say it's a no-brainer. I like my fine wine, but sparkling bubbly is fun when it's free, and the afternoon cheese/crackers and fruit tray was a very welcome addition. Again just personal preference, but I loved the fresh flowers in the cabin, which I might add were changed out twice on our last cruise! On Century when we sailed her a year ago, the CC cabins had an additional feature that I just loved: the veranda table was normal dining table height and size for 2...no more juggling plates on your lap while trying to eat breakfast outside, or trying to keep a tray from falling off a tiny little patio table. That made the whole experience so much more upscale for me. Perhaps we just hit the BEST cabin steward EVER, but I will say that on Century, we had the most amazing service. We felt like the Captain's relatives, and lacked for nothing.

The embarkation was perfect: the CC line was empty, we walked right in. Once our paperwork was done, we were escorted right aboard, handed a glass of champagne and led personally to our cabin, with the rep showing all the relevant features along the way! I kept nudging DH and whispering "who do they think WE are???" Okay, so I guess we DO look a bit like Brad and Angie...:D

[teedee]

While the perks are ok, I wouldn't pay much extra for a CC cabin. A few times the cost has only been $100 or even a little less than a regular balcony cabin and I took advantage of it but otherwise it's not worth it to me. The afternoon canapes are not very good IMO. I always ask my stateroom attendant to just bring me the fruit and cheese tray, which I can get in any cabin category.

 

Terri

[greg_atlanta]

If you like to take naps and you're not good about putting the do not disturb sign on the door, you may get annoyed by the frequent service.

 

A friend who did CC on the last X cruise I took felt like he was being stalked. If he was taking a nap the attendant/butler would still be in-and-out of the room bringing stuff (quietly, of course).

[FinelyCruising]

Use those Do Not Disturb door cards!!!;)

[roe2ship]

. Probably the best perk is the extra cruise credit towards the loyalty program (Captain's Club) now that Celebrity has such great perks for Elite (10 cruise credits or more).

Do you know if the loyalty programs are combined with Royal Caribbean?

[FinelyCruising]

If you have an earned level on RCCL that equivalent level is conveyed as your start with Celebrity.

[Gonzo70]

If you have an earned level on RCCL that equivalent level is conveyed as your start with Celebrity.

 

Correct, but only starting at the second level. If you are gold (lowest level with Royal Caribbean) you will not be considered Classic (Celebrity's lowest level) during your first Celebrity cruise. If you are Platinum with Royal, you can call Celebrity's Captain Club and they will recognize you at their equivalent level (Select). If you are Diamond or Diamond Plus with Royal, you will be considered Elite with Celebrity (their highest level).

 

You cannot however combine the individual credits between the two lines - i.e. if you have 3 credits with Royal and earn 2 with Celebrity, that will not give you 5 total credits.

[jerseygirl3]

Forgive me if this is redundant...I have looked and can't find these answers on any recent thread...

 

We are booking our first Celebrity cruise (have cruised 3 times on Princess - trying something new) and are debating a Concierge Class room. What 'exactly' do you get for your money. I have read the Celebrity site and I see the list of amenities, and I have read multiple reviews of the cabins but I want to know what the list really means for me. And I paying an extra $300 for a bottle of cheap spakling wine and some fruit? Or are there actual amenities involved that I would not get in another room?

 

-What do they consider priority embarkation/debarkation? Is it really a big deal?

-How is the dining and seating preference going to help me? Does it only really matter if you choose Select Dining (because we prefer traditional seating)?

-Shore excursion preference? Can you just book earlier or does that help with popular excursions?

 

Basically, is it worth the money? Or should we just book a Deluxe Veranda and be done with it?

 

Thanks!

 

Unless that Concierge Class is putting you in an aft cabin (super huge balcony), I wouldn't pay $300 extra for CC class. If it's an M-class ship, the cabins are slightly larger, but again, I don't think it's worth $300. If it's a Solstice class ship, the cabins are the same size.

 

If you're looking for a larger balcony, book a 2C (again, if this is M-class). Those are the least expensive balcony cabins and the balconies are double the size of a standard balcony. However, the cabin itself is a bit smaller than a Concierge Class cabin.

 

Jo-Ann

[Lsimon]

Unless that Concierge Class is putting you in an aft cabin (super huge balcony), I wouldn't pay $300 extra for CC class. If it's an M-class ship, the cabins are slightly larger, but again, I don't think it's worth $300. If it's a Solstice class ship, the cabins are the same size. ...

 

On the Solstice the balconies in the aft are no larger. They are also uncovered and I wasn't that thrilled with them. Next time we sail S-class I'll take a side facing cabin.

[FinelyCruising]

Unless that Concierge Class is putting you in an aft cabin (super huge balcony), I wouldn't pay $300 extra for CC class. If it's an M-class ship, the cabins are slightly larger, but again, I don't think it's worth $300. If it's a Solstice class ship, the cabins are the same size.

 

If you're looking for a larger balcony, book a 2C (again, if this is M-class). Those are the least expensive balcony cabins and the balconies are double the size of a standard balcony. However, the cabin itself is a bit smaller than a Concierge Class cabin.

 

Jo-Ann

 

There are a few side facing CC cabins with huge balconies on S Class. Those are C-2's and the ones to snap up if you can get them.

[Scrapchick]

I have another question about Concierge Class on the Equinox, if I can hijack this thread... We changed our cabin and got a huge price adjustment a few weeks ago and are now in a Cat 1A balcony cabin on Panorama Deck (Cabin 9207).

 

I didn't think this was Concierge Class, and didn't really care. However, our cruise docs and luggage tags have arrived for our cruise in March and the tags say Concierge Class, but the deck plan on the X web site does not show our cabin as Concierge Class...

 

So is it or isn't it?!

[FinelyCruising]

No its not CC. Its still a 1A. The luggage tags seem to repeatedly read this way though.

[royalcruz]

I don't think it's worth more than $25 pp extra on the ships that have the same size rooms for non concierge-class.

[flvol77]

I figured I would jump in here and ask a couple of questions, no reason to start a new thread.

 

We are looking at the aqua class

 

after a few hours of research this what I know and it seems to be correct:

 

Celebrity has a form of anytime dining? yes

 

Express debark? yes

 

Table for two in Blu? yes and it seems that there is some debate on if its flex dining time but it looks like it is....couple of hour time window.

 

Upgraded room service menu? yes? The smoothie thing is/would be a big deal (yeah I know its funny)

 

Upgraded bedding, in talking to some people that have had a aqua class cabin and a regular balcony cabin they felt the aqua class cabin had nicer bedding (huge deal that the bedding is nice, we sleep on a tempurpedic because of my back)

 

That is all the questions I have so far, we tend to be light sleepers and honestly the noise from above worries us.

 

For us we buy bottle water everyday on our cruises so that is a good thing, we always buy the spa package so that is a big deal, we really like the menus from Blu so another big deal, its seems worth the money. Noise and Bedding are the only concerns, but Princess has horrible beds so I can't imagine them being worse than Princess.

[dukemha]

Recently returned from a 10-day southern Caribbean cruise on the Equinox where we were in CC cabin 1219 on the Sky Deck. The CC category cost us about $300 more per person than an oceanview veranda and if I had it to do over, I would not have selected the CC cabin. The "extras" did not provide sufficient value in our mind - certainly not to the tune of $600. We did learn, however, that your bottle of Champagne can be traded for a white or red. We ended up swapping for a Beaujolais Villages, a red that suited our tastes more than the sparkling wine/champagne. Our stateroom attendant must have been a trainee however, because he failed to follow up on my request to swap it out for four days. It took a complaint to Guest Relations (on a few annoying service-related issues) to light the spark to get the bottle traded out.

[brownz]

We are booked on the Solstice in April--we started out in a 2A, and then after a price drop, we noticed that C3 was only $50/pp more and we switched. Since then, there was another price drop, but it apparently didn't apply to the 2As (and some other balconies). So moving up to C3 actually ended up *saving* us $160 per room! I doubt this is typical, but it doesn't hurt to keep checking the prices.

[jerseygirl3]

On the Solstice the balconies in the aft are no larger. They are also uncovered and I wasn't that thrilled with them. Next time we sail S-class I'll take a side facing cabin.

 

 

Yes, I know that. I think I probably didn't word my post correctly. I meant to say that the M-class aft CC's have the humongous balconies and a slightly larger cabin, but that the cabins only are all the same size on Solstice (meaning balcony cabins).

[FinelyCruising]

We are booked on the Solstice in April--we started out in a 2A, and then after a price drop, we noticed that C3 was only $50/pp more and we switched. Since then, there was another price drop, but it apparently didn't apply to the 2As (and some other balconies). So moving up to C3 actually ended up *saving* us $160 per room! I doubt this is typical, but it doesn't hurt to keep checking the prices.

 

That's the ticket!;)

[SeaBlu]

Forgive me if this is redundant...I have looked and can't find these answers on any recent thread...

 

We are booking our first Celebrity cruise (have cruised 3 times on Princess - trying something new) and are debating a Concierge Class room. What 'exactly' do you get for your money. I have read the Celebrity site and I see the list of amenities, and I have read multiple reviews of the cabins but I want to know what the list really means for me. And I paying an extra $300 for a bottle of cheap sparkling wine and some fruit? Or are there actual amenities involved that I would not get in another room?

 

-What do they consider priority embarkation/debarkation? Is it really a big deal?

-How is the dining and seating preference going to help me? Does it only really matter if you choose Select Dining (because we prefer traditional seating)?

-Shore excursion preference? Can you just book earlier or does that help with popular excursions?

 

Basically, is it worth the money? Or should we just book a Deluxe Veranda and be done with it?

 

Thanks!

 

This is a question that I find impossible to answer. Other than our very first cruise with Celebrity, when cost was everything, we have always had Concierge Class. We have found that some of the amenities mean nothing to us and others we really enjoy and some do not exist - like priority on tenders. It all comes down to a matter of what YOU like. We found on the "M" class ships that we liked the priority embarkation, there is a separate line for CC and we have always just walked right up, registered and then walked right on the ship. Twice we have sailed other cruise lines and had to wait in lines, that is my only comparison. We like the larger, thicker towels, a lot! My DH LOVES the fresh fruit in our room all of the time, we like the canapés in our room, each afternoon, as we always switch it to a cheese plate. I do not know about seating in the dining room, but I do know that we have always asked for a table for two and always gotten it.

 

BUT in the end it has to be YOUR decision - if the expense is worth IT to you! We have also found that by booking a CC stateroom we have a better choice of a stateroom in a location we desire. Whatever you do I hope you have a GREAT cruise!