Just booked M class Penthouse. First time Celebrity cruiser...what to expect?

[Nunswithknives]

     Just booked an M Class penthouse for our at sea wedding and wanted to know what to expect to get maximum enjoyment from our first Celebrity cruise. I'm fully expecting the ship and cabin to show its age (it's the Infinity) but the only other cruise ships I've been on are NCL Jade and Pearl so I'm not sure how the ship stacks up against those. 

 

     I'm pretty easy to please regardless so I'm more concerned with what to expect from the service standpoint so I can make this trip as special for my fiancée as possible (hopeless romantic over here 😅).  What tips/advice can you give us that first-timers might not be aware of? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 😊

[begood2me]

You should get a call from the shoreside concierge as you are in the top suite.  They will ask about all your needs prior to getting on board.  The penthouse on the M class ships is in the back of the ship on deck 6.  It's a wonderful suite with a large living room and dining room for hosting events.  There is a large player piano that you can either use manually or they can load music electronically which you might want to use for the wedding.  It adds a nice touch.  The balcony is enormous and I would suggest a perfect place for the ceremony if it's a nice weather day.  There is not much shade or cover in case of inclement weather.   There is a small staircase near the corner of the balcony that leads down to the restaurant.  I'm not sure if this is still used, but it was convenient when it was in use.  

 

As far as the services, you will be well taken care of in this suite.  You will have a butler along with stateroom attendants.  The butler's job is to make your cruise experience excellent.  He will work with the Suite Concierge and the Suite Manager to take care of any needs you may have.  I would suggest that you speak with Celebrity either directly or indirectly to let them know about your wedding plans as soon as possible.  You can arrange for the ceremony and the reception.  If you have specific questions about the suite, i'm happy to answer.  

 

When is your cruise?  It could be after the next dry dock for the ship.

[Nunswithknives]

Thanks for the information! Lots of helpful suggestions. The cruise is in November. We figured it would be a great space to host our guests and relax to make it as stress-free as possible. 

[begood2me]

57 minutes ago, Nunswithknives said:

Thanks for the information! Lots of helpful suggestions. The cruise is in November. We figured it would be a great space to host our guests and relax to make it as stress-free as possible. 

Well, it's a year before dry dock, so it will not be updated with the new suite retreat.  You will have an excellent time and in my experience the staff love to make events special for guests, especially for big occasions like a wedding.  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We hosted a wedding renewal ceremony for friends in an M class penthouse.  The staff had it set up on deck, but then it started to rain.  They efficiently moved everything to the living and dining area and everything went well.  You picked an excellent location.

[Olive1950]

16 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

We hosted a wedding renewal ceremony for friends in an M class penthouse.  The staff had it set up on deck, but then it started to rain.  They efficiently moved everything to the living and dining area and everything went well.  You picked an excellent location.

 

Hey Linda:

 

WE did?

 

Or was it I DID?

 

As I recall, Stan and Pam were in the PH with me on that cruise....

[Olive1950]

5 hours ago, Nunswithknives said:

     Just booked an M Class penthouse for our at sea wedding and wanted to know what to expect to get maximum enjoyment from our first Celebrity cruise. I'm fully expecting the ship and cabin to show its age (it's the Infinity) but the only other cruise ships I've been on are NCL Jade and Pearl so I'm not sure how the ship stacks up against those. 

 

     I'm pretty easy to please regardless so I'm more concerned with what to expect from the service standpoint so I can make this trip as special for my fiancée as possible (hopeless romantic over here 😅).  What tips/advice can you give us that first-timers might not be aware of? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 😊

 

Hi, if you send me an email (cef530@icloud.com) I'll be happy to share with you how the 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony took place, and how I handled it.  I understand that yours will be a wedding ceremony, but there are many similarities you might want to think about.

 

Include your screen name in your email to me.

 

Cheryl

Edited January 31, 2019 by Olive1950

[Nunswithknives]

Thanks for the heads up on the dry dock. Maybe we'll check it out for our one year anniversary... Probably not booking the penthouse for that one 💸💴🔖

[Nunswithknives]

39 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

We hosted a wedding renewal ceremony for friends in an M class penthouse.  The staff had it set up on deck, but then it started to rain.  They efficiently moved everything to the living and dining area and everything went well.  You picked an excellent location.

 

I thought out of all the suites I've seen that the deck on the penthouse was too good to pass up. Glad to hear that the staff is so accommodating! 

 

And Cheryl, I'll send you an email soon! Any insight is helpful. I've never planned a wedding before, let alone a destination/cruise wedding so I need all the help I can get. 

[chemmo]

The PH is a fantastic space, we have enjoyed a few cruises in there on sister ships.

 

The staff really will go out of their way to look after you and any guests you invite back to your room. I don’t know how many friends and family will be with you but it will really help the staff if you can give your butler as much information as possible about your plans, not just the wedding plans but when you plan to entertain on other days. For example, you may want to arrange a sail away from your suit after boarding (the shore side concierge can liaise with your butler) and then he will arrange snacks and soft drinks. On another evening you may decide to dine in your room with  some of your family, he will happily set that up for you too. Dining for just the two of you on the balcony at night is a not to be missed experience....The butler will sort that too.

 

Re the rest of the ship. You will have access to the suite lounge (Michael’s Club) and the Suite restaurant (Luminae). If some of your guests are in standard rooms they will not be able to acces Michael’s and Luminae only by arrangement and by paying a fee. If you wish to dine with some of your guests in the MDR the butler will sort it for you. Again having a basic plan at the start of the cruise may enable you and your guests to better sort time together and time apart....

 

Finally, whilst you have a premium drinks package and in suite bar set up and presumably drinks included with your wedding package it is nice to have extra wine in the suite for get togethers. Every cabin can bring on board two bottles of wine (including champagne) so I suggest you and all your guests make the most of this. The butler’s pantry has plenty of storage space and chilling and on days when there are lots of you in the suite you will have drinks on hand....It saves you either incurring extra costs by buying wine on board or asking your guests to come to the room with a drink in hand! 

 

Hope you have a fantastic wedding, sincere best wishes...

[crazyman3]

5 hours ago, chemmo said:

The PH is a fantastic space, we have enjoyed a few cruises in there on sister ships.

 

The staff really will go out of their way to look after you and any guests you invite back to your room. I don’t know how many friends and family will be with you but it will really help the staff if you can give your butler as much information as possible about your plans, not just the wedding plans but when you plan to entertain on other days. For example, you may want to arrange a sail away from your suit after boarding (the shore side concierge can liaise with your butler) and then he will arrange snacks and soft drinks. On another evening you may decide to dine in your room with  some of your family, he will happily set that up for you too. Dining for just the two of you on the balcony at night is a not to be missed experience....The butler will sort that too.

 

Re the rest of the ship. You will have access to the suite lounge (Michael’s Club) and the Suite restaurant (Luminae). If some of your guests are in standard rooms they will not be able to acces Michael’s and Luminae only by arrangement and by paying a fee. If you wish to dine with some of your guests in the MDR the butler will sort it for you. Again having a basic plan at the start of the cruise may enable you and your guests to better sort time together and time apart....

 

Finally, whilst you have a premium drinks package and in suite bar set up and presumably drinks included with your wedding package it is nice to have extra wine in the suite for get togethers. Every cabin can bring on board two bottles of wine (including champagne) so I suggest you and all your guests make the most of this. The butler’s pantry has plenty of storage space and chilling and on days when there are lots of you in the suite you will have drinks on hand....It saves you either incurring extra costs by buying wine on board or asking your guests to come to the room with a drink in hand! 

 

Hope you have a fantastic wedding, sincere best wishes...

 

Excellent advice! Love it!

[WonderMan3]

On 1/31/2019 at 10:58 AM, Nunswithknives said:

Thanks for the information! Lots of helpful suggestions. The cruise is in November. We figured it would be a great space to host our guests and relax to make it as stress-free as possible. 

 

Hopefully you will have Chip as your butler. We just had him on Summit in the Penthouse a couple weeks ago and he said he was transferring over to Infinity this month when Summit goes into drydock. He was absolutely fantastic and really helped make our cruise a great one.

[Nunswithknives]

7 hours ago, chemmo said:

The PH is a fantastic space, we have enjoyed a few cruises in there on sister ships.

 

The staff really will go out of their way to look after you and any guests you invite back to your room. I don’t know how many friends and family will be with you but it will really help the staff if you can give your butler as much information as possible about your plans, not just the wedding plans but when you plan to entertain on other days. For example, you may want to arrange a sail away from your suit after boarding (the shore side concierge can liaise with your butler) and then he will arrange snacks and soft drinks. On another evening you may decide to dine in your room with  some of your family, he will happily set that up for you too. Dining for just the two of you on the balcony at night is a not to be missed experience....The butler will sort that too.

 

Re the rest of the ship. You will have access to the suite lounge (Michael’s Club) and the Suite restaurant (Luminae). If some of your guests are in standard rooms they will not be able to acces Michael’s and Luminae only by arrangement and by paying a fee. If you wish to dine with some of your guests in the MDR the butler will sort it for you. Again having a basic plan at the start of the cruise may enable you and your guests to better sort time together and time apart....

 

Finally, whilst you have a premium drinks package and in suite bar set up and presumably drinks included with your wedding package it is nice to have extra wine in the suite for get togethers. Every cabin can bring on board two bottles of wine (including champagne) so I suggest you and all your guests make the most of this. The butler’s pantry has plenty of storage space and chilling and on days when there are lots of you in the suite you will have drinks on hand....It saves you either incurring extra costs by buying wine on board or asking your guests to come to the room with a drink in hand! 

 

Hope you have a fantastic wedding, sincere best wishes...

 Unbelievably helpful and specific! Thank you very much for taking the time to type up such great rundown. I'm definitely going to print this out and use it for planning. Thank you also for the kind wishes, you're the best kind of person. 

[Nunswithknives]

2 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

Hopefully you will have Chip as your butler. We just had him on Summit in the Penthouse a couple weeks ago and he said he was transferring over to Infinity this month when Summit goes into drydock. He was absolutely fantastic and really helped make our cruise a great one.

I'll keep my fingers crossed! Sounds like a good guy 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

22 hours ago, Olive1950 said:

 

Hey Linda:

 

WE did?

 

Or was it I DID?

 

As I recall, Stan and Pam were in the PH with me on that cruise....

Too many cruises, can't keep them all straight.  Sorry to steal your thunder.

[raudacruise]

Our very first Celebrity cruise was in a PS on the Summit back in 2002. It is indeed a perfect gathering spot. We hosted a couple of parties and had a lovely dinner for eight. The Butler’s Pantry is a kitchen with full-sized appliances. 

 

For your future anniversary cruise you might consider a Royal Suite.  They are very nice on both the Millennium and Solstice class ships. 

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Nunswithknives said:

 Unbelievably helpful and specific! Thank you very much for taking the time to type up such great rundown. I'm definitely going to print this out and use it for planning. Thank you also for the kind wishes, you're the best kind of person. 

 

Glad you found it useful....As you get nearer to your cruise just ask if you need extra advice/information.

 

Over the years we have found Cruise Critic amazing at enabling us to make the most of our cruise experiences.

 

As your cruise and wedding draws nearer ask for more specific advice re your wedding package, room, full ship facilities etc. The more specific you label a thread the more specific the answers often are. For example, you could in a month or two start a thread on ‘Getting married on board, advice please’  and another on ‘Making the most of the Infinity PH’. 

 

Again sincere best wishes for your cruise and marriage, I will look out for further posts and please post us live (if only briefly) about your cruise and wedding!