My take on Aqua Class

[Zenica]

We just returned from a seven day cruise to Bermuda aboard the Celebrity Summit.

We were in Aqua class on deck nine. Our Steward was Antonio/Anthony, depending on his name tag or how he would sign a note left that day.

 

 

 

He was fantastic. Attentive and considerate. He has a gentle nature that is soothing and positive. He's been working on cruise ships for 20 years and is due to retire next year. We had zero complaints or issues with him. If he is your steward, you can at least rely on that aspect of your cruise not causing any angst.

 

 

 

From moment one in the cabin it was apparent that this ship needs an overhaul, badly....and needed it 2 years ago.

I'm including pictures of our cabin bathroom. After spending thousands, I wouldn't expect to see this or have a shower that leaked every time you used it. Anthony never questioned why every towel had to be used to sop up the water. I can only imagine he is familiar with the situation.

 

 

 

I would have asked him to have it corrected but a cursory examination quickly revealed the cause of the water escaping the shower. The seal at the bottom edge of the french door glass doesn't actually make contact with the sill. It also never will unless they lower the door, raise the sill or use a different sealer to bridge the two inch gap. The one they use leaves a 1/4 inch gap for water. Only on the 4th day did it dawn on me, leave the french doors inward a bit, just enough so they still touch but so that the glass now overhangs the sill on the inside. Water running down the glass simply drains into the shower. It took 3-4 inches away from the space in the shower but it was a compromise. Again, not one I should be making after spending thousands. This of course was probably the source for the mold in the bathroom which I cleaned each day and it was back by the following morning. I tried to explain it to Anthony but I guess it was getting lost in translation.

 

 

 

Then the A/C failed. On day three the room was warm and humid. A quick search for Anthony (it seemed he never left our hallway) and he called in to have it fixed. We return to the cabin that evening and the room was an ice box. We lowered the thermostat thinking it would warm up but I woke up at 2am freezing cold. The unit would NOT shut off. I had to jam a towel in the vent. The noise was almost as bad as the cold. Once again a quick look for Anthony and he made another call to maintenance. By that evening it was finally working correctly.

 

 

 

Our cabin was quiet in terms of ship sound or sounds from other guests. Smartly, the decks have a foam to buffer noises from tables and chairs. Something the NCL ships we have been on lacked, even in The Haven.

 

 

Restaurant Blue was good. Certainly on par with the premium dining and better than anything on NCL. Only breakfast was a let down but I'll preface that with I have a very high standard for breakfast. The syrup is a real maple/corn syrup blend which shocked me. The fact it had any real maple at all nearly made the dry, cold and flavorless pancakes edible. Nothing could save the french toast. The eggs Benedict was perfect every time so I enjoyed them frequently.

 

 

 

Cafe Al Bacio was our go-to place. Rose Marie is under paid. I have no idea what she is paid but I can say with certainly, it isn't enough. She memorized my coffee preference the first time I gave it and always had it ready. She is friendly, professional and always chipper. We will miss this place for a while, especially since we have nothing like it near us.

 

 

The bars on the ship always had the driest staff. They were incapable of making drink suggestions based on a preferred ingredient. They never smiled. Like, ever. It was like having drinks served by Steven Wright, without the (dry) comedy.

 

NCL has an edge over Celebrity Summit in this regard. Our experiences in The Haven bar and elsewhere on NCL ships was the polar opposite.

 

 

 

We had a brief conversation with the Captain, he was nice and spoke with you out of a genuine concern for the passengers enjoyment. He struck us as someone that cares for his crew and passengers alike.

 

 

 

We enjoyed the trip and the people are what made the cruise more memorable than our experiences with NCL. We would have preferred a cabin that was maintained better and kept in a condition equal to the cost which I suspect will be remedied after the refit.

 

 

 

The toilet paper holder cover was held in by two incorrect and oversized rusty screws. Like...seriously?

 

 

 

Oh well, on to the pictures.

 

EDIT:

I am not one of those people whose VCR, if they still made and sold them, would be flashing 12:00 but for the life of me, I can't get pictures to load. Unlike 95% of sites I post to that allow some direct image hosting, this one does not and URLs from hosting sites like Flikr and Imgur that I try adding won't show as a picture.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Zenica
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[Zenica]

I give up. I have now tried three image hosting sites, none of the links will display here.

[Duanerice1]

I give up. I have now tried three image hosting sites, none of the links will display here.

 

Ha ha - I agree. They don't make it simple do they.

 

Thanks for the review. I love M class but agree, time for an upgrade

[Cachecara]

I am sorry your aqua class experience was below par.

We, per choice, always go verandah because we have found for our needs, it fits “us”. I know aqua appears to cost a bit( or a lot depending on the cruise) more than verandah, so I would be disappointed in the same room issues you detailed. Again, I’m sorry those issues occurred. It does not sound like your stateroom should be utilized for any paying customer period, IMO.

We were on Summit in July. We had no complaints. That was our 4th Summit cruise and we found a great deal for mid-Oct. and will be sailing Summit again in 6 weeks.

We spent time daily at the Martini bar, the Casino bar and one of the pool bars and always felt the bar staff was friendly and at times entertaining.

I think the point I’m trying to make is services can be subjective. I enjoyed sharing recipes with the bartender in the casino nightly while DH gambled. He was very personable. I hope he is still onboard in 6 weeks.

[miched]

We had the cabins on deck 11 a few times on the Summit. Once was right after they were installed. The showers leak like a sieve. We would grab a few from the pool every time we went past and used them as a dam along the shower threshold.

 

Also on deck 11 a few years back there was a issue wit( the AC. It didn’t work. All of the cabins on the starboard side were without AC.

 

Concerning the syrup. If you are on a cruise to Quebec you can get pure maple syrup right from the source to use on board 🤗. It won’t be any better or different than the same pure maple syrup that you can buy from Costco except for the price. Costco is much cheaper. The only difference is in Quebec you can get light medium or dark.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[lais]

I give up. I have now tried three image hosting sites, none of the links will display here.

Do you use the cruise critic forums app? Easy to upload pics through the app.

[Zenica]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zenica]

Do you use the cruise critic forums app? Easy to upload pics through the app.

 

 

I don't but will check it out.

[Cachecara]

I have to agree, those photos are gross. That needs to be dealt with.

[Toronto Guy]

Celebrity simply is not maintaining their millennium class ships to the standard they should be. We were on Summit last Summer and the upholstery in the lounges and bars was absolutely filthy. I was even shocked at condition of some of the upholstery on the Eclipse this summer. They need to pay attention to these kinds of details and clean the fabrics and drapes etc. Disgusting at times.

[FlorenceItaly]

Celebrity simply is not maintaining their millennium class ships to the standard they should be. We were on Summit last Summer and the upholstery in the lounges and bars was absolutely filthy. I was even shocked at condition of some of the upholstery on the Eclipse this summer. They need to pay attention to these kinds of details and clean the fabrics and drapes etc. Disgusting at times.

 

Well said! Their (high) pricing reflects "Modern luxury", but, unfortunately their product does not. This is especially true with the M class(jmo). For POF, we do have an upcoming cruise on the Summit next month, Oct 7-21, but am comfortable with our price point(inside room). We did cruise in AQ in 2016 on Summit and in 2017 on Eclipse.

 

OP, your disappointed is warranted. I am happy to hear you had a wonderful room steward. The room steward absolutely makes a difference in the on board experience.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We want to book an Alaska cruise again on Millennium in 2020 and a Canada cruise in 2021, yes we plan ahead. We were on Millennium last year in Alaska and our suite was in fairly decent shape but we are glad they are going to be up graded.

[warmwinds]

Yes, those pictures are awful. We've been on Summit each of the last 2 years and they have never been that bad.

 

However, I think they are deferring all maintenance since the ship, early next year, will be Edgified or Revolutionized or what ever term they are using. Hopefully it will help with a lot of the issues.

 

And the AQ shower doors have been that way since the beginning - it is a well-known hack on this board to pull them a little in, like you figured out, but that doesn't mean that it's right they should be like that. Since we knew the trick from the beginning we just do it and it has not bothered me. But your mold and whatever that white gross stuff is was really disheartening to see.

[cruisestitch]

I know that you talked to your steward, but did you escalate this to the Assistant Head Housekeeper for your area?

[hcat]

Gross AQ cabin as far as the shower and bathroom! That they would put pax in that room is a disgrace...Summit has been in need of a re do for quite awhile, We enjoyed cruising on her to Hawaii, Carib several times, but for Bermuda more recently, she seemed old and worn out.

 

On our Infinity cruise we were in AQ...same leaky shower situation.,.,had to finagle the doors to limit flooding. There was mold on the retractable shower cord and mold that no amt of bleach could clean on the shower floor, We left the bathroom door open when we left the room to air out the moldy odor, It was not the faukt of the attendant...just poor design and deferred maint,

 

Infinity BLU was okay... there were too few staff members but they worked hard and we enjoyed the menu. Overall the ship is very tired and worn,...Persian Garden also looking aged.

 

We had complete AC failures several times as did others on our corridor, Luckily no sewage back up as other cabins experienced.

 

We would not consider any M Class ship unless they rip out all the plumbing, a/c, and electrical when they do the upgrades. Cosmetics not enough...

[miched]

Celebrity simply is not maintaining their millennium class ships to the standard they should be. We were on Summit last Summer and the upholstery in the lounges and bars was absolutely filthy. I was even shocked at condition of some of the upholstery on the Eclipse this summer. They need to pay attention to these kinds of details and clean the fabrics and drapes etc. Disgusting at times.

 

I make up a lot of of signs that I take on board and lay them on the seats. My wife always shakes her head and tells me to grow up. I just laugh and say why would I what to do that and be a old fart that is a lead into the the signs: “Don’t fart in the cushions”. 😱🤗

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Zenica]

I know that you talked to your steward, but did you escalate this to the Assistant Head Housekeeper for your area?

 

I did not. I figured any meaningful repair would be more disruptive than the mold, water leak and what ever the heck that other stuff is, be it just corrosion or a combination of that and some kind of growth. Needless to say I used my sandals as shower shoes. I was there to vacation, not wonder who is in my cabin and will I be able to go back and relax after a nice afternoon in the sun. I actually used the gym shower a few times after using the gym. Killed two birds with one stone.

[the_dylaness]

Wow. That is absolutely disgusting. Those are the conditions I would expect to see in the locker room of a public middle school, not a 'modern luxury' cruise ship.

[varoo]

When we cruised with Celebrity years ago, they used to take great pride in Attention to Detail, and even featured that phrase in their advertising campaigns.

Their meticulous attention to detail was one of the features that got us hooked on Celebrity.

What a shame that it is no longer a priority.

Based on our own recent experiences, we have had the impression that they are neglecting routine maintenance, just waiting for the upcoming major refurbishments.

 

As someone previously mentioned, all the shower doors we have had on Celebrity ships leaked.

We were in an aqua cabin that had signs of wear, the most obvious being a badly damaged mirror in the bathroom.

We did not want to make an issue of it at the time because we did not want workers in our cabin doing major repairs while we were there.

We were thinking that it may have been an anomaly; possibly damage from some rowdy previous occupants that had just occurred recently and that they had not had time to repair.

 

But sadly, the photos posted here speak volumes and now I am wondering how many other cabins are also in such dreadful condition.

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by varoo

[Cirdan]

I want just to remember that one room in such gross state does not mean all ship is so bad. We had in this forum a B2B cruiser who had on one cruise a very bad room and in the next a normal room.

 

 

Also on our flats, when there is a problem on a bathroom, the whole column should be closed for a few week.

 

 

It is a bad decision of Celebrity: cancel some rooms (booked far in advance, so disappointing many people), or let room in such state for few months (also disappointing many people). I would prefer the first possibility (but I think bad press convinced Celebrity that second option is better). But if Celebrity will keep few cabins for emergencies and problems (see also the topic about vibrations), we will be happier all (keeping 5 cabin every thousand, it would be just 5 dollar every 1000 dollar. A good assurance (and I do not think we need 5/1000, probably much less, with few more just every few cruises, for maintenance works).

[jasm8449]

IMHO, wear and tear is one thing (though there needs to be a reasonable point beyond which it should not be allowed degenerate before refurbishment is done), but there is no excuse whatsoever for mold, especially to the extent shown on these photos. Mold is easily dealt with by the room steward using the appropriate mold cleaning solutions. I can't understand why the OP feels the room steward was so amazing if he did not clean the mold, or report it to his superiors for assistance. I personally would not have accepted a bathroom in such a gross and unhygienic state.

[bermadu22]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow. I can hardly believe they put people in this cabin, with the bathroom being this gross. And it's not even a lack of daily cleaning, this looks like mold and rust from years worth of water accumulation. It looks like the refit is overdue in some areas, this cabin being one of them.

[jdg623]

Been following this thread - we will be on the Summit in Jan. 2020 (post refurb) in an Aqua Class on deck 9, our first Celebrity cruise. Sure hope this problem is fixed by then as would be totally grossed out if our bathroom looked like those photos. :mad::eek:

 

Does anyone have any details about what will be done during the upcoming dry dock refurbishment?

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Those AQ shower doors have leaked since the day they were installed. Bad design.

I sailed on the Summit three times last year and never encountered a bathroom in that bad shape.

[cb at sea]

Whether it's one bathroom or ALL of them...that is totally unacceptable. I like things clean...and there is NO WAY that kind of "corrosion" is clean.