Upgrade to Sky Suite worth it?

[Guest BigRoger]

Hi folks, we’ve sailed a few times on Celebrity but usually go with royal Caribbean. 
 

This time in a few weeks we’ve gone for Concierge class balcony however we are considering an upgrade and possibility to a sky suite (I think it’s essentially the equivalent of a junior suite on Royal???) and would really appreciate a view as to whether the upgrade suite benefits are worth the up sell or not.

 

Basically we are not bothered about the butler aspect (frankly don’t want someone doing my unpacking!) but would love to get perspectives from experienced solstice class passengers as to what they found to be a wow with the suite aspect - any help will be very much appreciated.

 

all perspectives valued!

 

all best,

 

roger

[K12Guy]

In my opinion Luminae, alone, is worth the upcharge. Over the last ten or so years on a number of Celebrity sailings we have become used to being pampered in Luminae and we now routinely cancel specialty (Tuscan or Murano) to eat at Luminae. Michael's Club (The Retreat Lounge) and The Retreat are also great included perks that justify the upcharge, and if you get an S1 you will also get a very good location. S2, maybe not so good, just so you know.

[jelayne]

The Sky Suites on Celebrity come with full suite benefits, unlike the Jr Suites on Royal.

The suite restaurant, Luminae is excellent in both food and service.  Michael’s Club/Retreat Lounge is for Suite Guests, VIP and the Zennith level Captain Club members.  Quiet place with refreshments from morning until about 11-12.  Drinks,  Continental breakfast, tea and canapés. You didn’t mention which ship, some have a Retreat Sun Deck exclusively for Suite guests.  The ships are being updated and as a part of that the Retreat Sun Decks are being added.

 

BTW, few have the butler pack or unpack as you must be present when that occurs so not much point unless you have some physical limitations.

[varoo]

 

55 minutes ago, BigRoger said:

 

This time in a few weeks we’ve gone for Concierge class balcony however we are considering an upgrade and possibility to a sky suite (I think it’s essentially the equivalent of a junior suite on Royal???) and would really appreciate a view as to whether the upgrade suite benefits are worth the up sell or not.

 

For us, it depends on the price they are charging for the suite for that particular cruise. 

Prices for the exact same suite can vary greatly from one cruise to another.

 

Sometimes the  suite benefits are worth it to us, and other times they are not.

 

We also consider the value of whatever perks are included in each offer, (how much those perks are really worth to us, not how much the cruise line claims they are worth).

 

We are pretty much "do it yourself" types so having a butler is of no importance to us, although it may be a major consideration for someone else.

Some of them do go a bit overboard with their fawning, obsequious behavior, although we realize that they mean well.

 

                       

Edited October 13, 2019 by varoo

[39august]

We are Pinnacle on RCI, but will be doing Celebrity for the future. The ambiance, service, and atmosphere are for us far superior. We did our first Sky Suite on Equinox a couple of  weeks ago and tho' the size is comparable to RCI Jr. suite, nothing else is! Better decor, huge storage, drinks not just from 5-8:30 but all day in Michael's/ Retreat lounge, and outstanding service in all venues. Our experience in Luminae was fabulous: decor, service, food, even the canned music,  were far superior to anything we ever experienced on RCI. I only asked my butler for two things: a makeup mirror, which he brought in maybe 5 minutes, and a cheese plate delivered each evening. We will be booking mostly  sky suites in the future. Only you can decide if the upgrade is worth it. 

[Guest BigRoger]

Thank you very much those who’ve replied so far - your perspectives are valued and very much appreciated.

 

All other views from anyone will be equally gratefully received!

 

all the very best,

 

roger

[George C]

I love perks that you get with sky suites, I have done suites many times on rccl and a few times on HAL. Celebrity perks are great, service in luminae is totally great , food is equal to specialty restaurants. Suite lounge again has great service and free drinks from early morning to late evening, you can skip drink package if you like. Sky suites on M class on on the small side but bigger than there other categories. Doubt if I would cruise on celebrity without being in a suite.

[cynbar]

The perks are great, if you can easily afford the upcharge, I would go for it and then make your own decision on worth. We never book anything below a Sky Suite with Celebrity now, so you know the price difference is worth it to us! Michael's (AKA Retreat Lounge) does have free drinks whenever open, quite handy if you don't have a beverage package. But even if you do, it's nice to have a quieter spot where you always get great service, even at peak times when other bars are jammed. The bartenders will try hard to make you happy and will get your preferred brand for you to have there if available anywhere on the ship. We are also low maintenance people but have enjoyed having a butler, who will be as available or unobtrusive if you want. Your butler will bring you room service if you order it, with more of a flair than a regular room service delivery. He will arrange for snacks in your room, offer to take care of thinks like shore excursion reservations or a key card that doesn't work, whatever needs to be done. You set the tone, nothing will be forced on you but you will feel pampered.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Go suite or go home!  At least that's our motto since taking the plunge into the suite life several years ago.  We find the up charge worth it in all aspects, though we do our own unpacking and rarely use butler services...  There's much, much more to the suite life than the butler service..priority embarkation/disembarkation, luminae, larger stateroom, personalized attention from the concierge in Michaels/Retreat lounge, and the list goes on.  I like the Sky suite as a great entry level.  We eventually graduated up to the RS and find that level of service outstanding.  Whether entry level or top tier, you can't really go wrong.

BTW...having done a jr. suite on RCI I can tell you the suite life on Celebrity is no comparison.   

[sdnich]

I also think it’s worth it depending on the price we are going to be in a Sky suite in less than two weeks and are looking forward to seeing the new retreat deck on the equinox even though they didn’t finish all the refurbishment! We were on it a couple years ago and it’s a beautiful ship! We love The food and service in Luminae and  visits to Michael’s lounge ( retreat lounge) before and after dinner! But for our cruise next year from Boston to Canada 13 day the difference between an Aqua class and a sky suite was $7000 !!! And we booked the day it came out and has gone up !! So we booked Aqua class and will book a 5 or 6 night specialty dinner package and upgrade to premium bev package some excursions and still save $5000 !

so in the end for me it all depends on $$

But will probably walk by Luminae and be a little bit sad!! Or just meet a new friend in a suite and gladly pay the $50 pp extra 

[George C]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Go suite or go home!  At least that's our motto since taking the plunge into the suite life several years ago.  We find the up charge worth it in all aspects, though we do our own unpacking and rarely use butler services...  There's much, much more to the suite life than the butler service..priority embarkation/disembarkation, luminae, larger stateroom, personalized attention from the concierge in Michaels/Retreat lounge, and the list goes on.  I like the Sky suite as a great entry level.  We eventually graduated up to the RS and find that level of service outstanding.  Whether entry level or top tier, you can't really go wrong.

BTW...having done a jr. suite on RCI I can tell you the suite life on Celebrity is no comparison.   

Jr suites have very little perks on rccl . I do love the larger suites grand and owners suite but even with larger rccl suites half there ships have no suite lounge and even when they do there suite dinning room costal kitchen is no match for Luminae, and there suite lounge has free drinks for just 3.5 hours a night , not the full day like celebrity. But rccl entertainment is hard to beat.

[TeeRick]

A junior suite on RC is just a larger cabin, period.  No real suite perks as others have said.  Definitely do the Sky suite on Celebrity.  

[4774Papa]

18 hours ago, BigRoger said:

Hi folks, we’ve sailed a few times on Celebrity but usually go with royal Caribbean. 
 

This time in a few weeks we’ve gone for Concierge class balcony however we are considering an upgrade and possibility to a sky suite (I think it’s essentially the equivalent of a junior suite on Royal???) and would really appreciate a view as to whether the upgrade suite benefits are worth the up sell or not.

 

Basically we are not bothered about the butler aspect (frankly don’t want someone doing my unpacking!) but would love to get perspectives from experienced solstice class passengers as to what they found to be a wow with the suite aspect - any help will be very much appreciated.

 

all perspectives valued!

 

all best,

 

roger

We upgrades from our usual balcony to a Skysuite on Millie in our Japan and China cruise 2015.  The suite was great, as was the huge balcony.  Our stateroom had over 300 sq ft. and bathroom had double sinks, a tub and separate shower.

 

We loved dining in Luminae.  The food was great.  One issue with dining in Luminae was that others that we had meet at the CC Meet and Greet couldn't dine with us unless they or us paid $50 per person.  That didn't happen.

 

The butler was nice, he came by ever day at 4pm with tea and cookies or a snack.   Frankly, we got a bit tired of the extra food and declined it after a few days.   When we were in port and missed, he always left cookies that we didn't want, since when we returned dinner was in a couple of hours.

 

We only paid $800 total (not each) for the upgrade.  I am glad that we had the experience, but we both agreed that we would never pay much for an upgrade like this again.  We missed dining with our cruise friends.  Luminae was great and the large cabin and bath were nice, but we are happy with a balcony.  Had we had more than two persons in the cabin (we did 3 on an NCL cruise to Alaska-3rd person was free), we might want to upgrade.

[Georgia_Peaches]

3 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

One issue with dining in Luminae was that others that we had meet at the CC Meet and Greet couldn't dine with us unless they or us paid $50 per person.

I can totally see how this would be a bit of a drawback.  We haven't sailed with friends but we have sailed with family and we always get the same category in order to avoid this kind of situation.  I'd rather be in a balcony room and be able to dine together than have perks that aren't available to everyone in the party.

 

On another note, am considering a move to St. Simons.  Do you love it?

[4774Papa]

1 minute ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I can totally see how this would be a bit of a drawback.  We haven't sailed with friends but we have sailed with family and we always get the same category in order to avoid this kind of situation.  I'd rather be in a balcony room and be able to dine together than have perks that aren't available to everyone in the party.

 

On another note, am considering a move to St. Simons.  Do you love it?

Peaches,

We love it down here.  Brunswick was my home town in Junior and High School.  While in college my Dad passed away, Mom went back to Texas, were she was from.   I didn't visit much until 1996 for our 30 year Glynn Academy reunion.  My wife loved it here and we decided to retire here.  I worked for the Federal Government and was lucky enough to get my last job here at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, so I worked three more years and that was great.

 

We live at the north end of the island were lots are one acre and you worry more about running into a deer than a car on the highway.  

 

St. Simons is a little bit touristy, but still more a place where people live.

 

I know you are from Atlanta, but some people from the northern part of the USA and Canada move here and the first Spring discover that we have serious bugs.  The gnats in the Spring are not fun, so you must wear insect repellant.   Some can't handle it and move.  We do have some people that live here six months out of the year, usually the Winter and Fall.

 

If you have more questions, email me at geovagriffith at comcast dot net

[hcat]

Depends on the ship, the itin and the cabin offered...

 

We usually cruise AQ Class...reg size balc,  which comes with BLU dining  which we enjoy, and access to Persian Garden ( interior on M Class, much nicer on S Class with heated loungers.)

 

We booked our first( and likely only)  suite, an  S 2 on Connie  out of Tampa for a great rate and promotion....Expecting a possible  partial obstructed view and having the  high bathtub/ shower combo..But we are giving it a try..

 

If upgrade is not too much  $$$, you may as well try it  knowing you will get suite perks ( Michaels, Luminae, other priority treatment)  but maybe not a great cabin location.

 

Let us know how it works out!

Edited October 14, 2019 by hcat

[ECCruise]

I really don't know how anyone can answer this question without knowing the money involved.

 

Of course if the upgrade amount is $100 a day, then definitely it is a smart move.  If the upgrade amount is $1000 per day (not that unusual in the current suite mania environment) then it is an incredibly bad deal.

 

Plus, we never do an upgrade without knowing the cabin #.  There are some pretty bad cabins out there that we wouldn't take at any price, Luminae and Michaels/Retreat lounge included.

[mac_tlc]

23 hours ago, George C said:

Jr suites have very little perks on rccl . I do love the larger suites grand and owners suite but even with larger rccl suites half there ships have no suite lounge and even when they do there suite dinning room costal kitchen is no match for Luminae, and there suite lounge has free drinks for just 3.5 hours a night , not the full day like celebrity. But rccl entertainment is hard to beat.

We have done a JS, GS, CLS and ATS on RCCL and will be doing our first Sky Suite on Equinox in January. All suites are not created equal. On Oasis class and Quantum class that have a dedicated Suite Lounge, there are free drinks from 11AM to 11PM.

 

The Sky Suite is as big as a JS on but the perks seem more like that of a GS or CLS with comparable pricing. Looking forward to comparing the two, especially Luminae.

 

So far our favorite suite is the CLS, with the ATS having no comparison to any cabin we have ever seen (except for, maybe, the Iconic Suite on Edge). 

 

 mac_tlc

[George C]

18 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

We have done a JS, GS, CLS and ATS on RCCL and will be doing our first Sky Suite on Equinox in January. All suites are not created equal. On Oasis class and Quantum class that have a dedicated Suite Lounge, there are free drinks from 11AM to 11PM.

 

The Sky Suite is as big as a JS on but the perks seem more like that of a GS or CLS with comparable pricing. Looking forward to comparing the two, especially Luminae.

 

So far our favorite suite is the CLS, with the ATS having no comparison to any cabin we have ever seen (except for, maybe, the Iconic Suite on Edge). 

 

 mac_tlc

Oasis class may have free drinks from 11am to 11pm , but other than 3.5 hours free drinks are just beer and cheap wine. Where you can get real drinks all day in celebrity suite lounge . We were not impressed with oasis suite restaurant but loved luminae. Sky suite is ok , much prefer rccl grand or even better there owners suite. Also I believe rccl has best entertainment .

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, ECCruise said:

I really don't know how anyone can answer this question without knowing the money involved.

 

Of course if the upgrade amount is $100 a day, then definitely it is a smart move.  If the upgrade amount is $1000 per day (not that unusual in the current suite mania environment) then it is an incredibly bad deal.

 

Plus, we never do an upgrade without knowing the cabin #.  There are some pretty bad cabins out there that we wouldn't take at any price, Luminae and Michaels/Retreat lounge included.

I agree that you cannot answer the question about worth if you do not know the cost.

 

Obviously you will never participate in the bidding process even if could win with a $10 bid for a suite, since you would not know the cabin number in advance.

 

i would take a Sky Suite or above at any location. I know that some of the SS's are below the pool and buffet area, but at a low enough price it would be worth it IMO.  People stay in those cabins on every cruise.

[TommyD3]

It all depends how often you sail and how much you are willing to spend. Every time I look at cruise pricing Sky suites are AT LEAST twice the price of Concierge or Aqua Class. I personally would rather sail twice as often - especially if dining in Blu. We are Zenith so we get most of the suite benefits except Luminae. Were in Luminae on Eclipse earlier this year for 3 weeks and was not impressed !!! VERY limited menu. Yes you can order off the MDR menu but why should I if spending twice the price !!! Best bang for the buck is Aqua Class !!! Blu is 90% of Luminae. Or just book a lower level cabin and dine in specialty EVERY night for less than half the cost of a Sky Suite !!! Been on over 150 Celebrity cruises on every ship !!!

[Mynki]

On 10/13/2019 at 9:59 PM, BigRoger said:

Hi folks, we’ve sailed a few times on Celebrity but usually go with royal Caribbean. 
 

This time in a few weeks we’ve gone for Concierge class balcony however we are considering an upgrade and possibility to a sky suite (I think it’s essentially the equivalent of a junior suite on Royal???) and would really appreciate a view as to whether the upgrade suite benefits are worth the up sell or not.

 

Basically we are not bothered about the butler aspect (frankly don’t want someone doing my unpacking!) but would love to get perspectives from experienced solstice class passengers as to what they found to be a wow with the suite aspect - any help will be very much appreciated.

 

all perspectives valued!

 

all best,

 

roger

 

As has been mentioned it's hard to say without knowing the cost implications. 

But to add to what others have said, also bear in mind :-

Your butler / suite concierge will be able to make dining reservations and book excursions for you. When in a suite we literally write a list of everything we want doing, pass it them and so don't have to bother with lines elsewhere on the ship. The next day everything is all sorted. I doubt many people ask the butler to unpack for them!

There are a few other nice little touches too. You'll probably be invited on a bridge tour and helipad sail away etc. 

You'll find the service from your butler and concierge far superior to guest relations. 

If you're happy with the price I'd say go for it. Only then will you have a meaningful idea of what suite life is all about and if it's worth it for you on future cruises or not. 

Either way have a great cruise. 

[Guest BigRoger]

Just to say again, thank you to all for your wisdom and sharing experiences and perspectives.

Maybe it was ‘my bad’ in terms of loose language but I wasn’t looking for people to ‘tell me’ the answer hence I deliberately didn’t include anything about pricing (I had worked out that if it was a silly price then maybe not upgrading was the right solution....).

 

i guess I was looking for what many people included in their posts which was what they viewed to be their ‘value’ of distinguishing features as they saw them. It was excellent to receive perspectives around the aspects which made it ‘worth’ the up sell to fellow cruisers.

 

We thank you all who went to the trouble of submitting their thoughts, they were all gratefully received.

 

ps based on this feedback we went for the upgrade!!!!! Money involved - NOT DISCLOSED!

[Hlitner]

It is interesting that this thread is only comparing X to RCI.  There are certainly a few other cruise lines that should be in the mix, especially at the SS price point.  Consider that a SS often goes for over $400 a day.  Now compare that to the MSC's Yacht club which has been about $300 a passenger day which gets you an entire ship within a ship rather then just a dining room and Michaels.  And we recently cruised on Seabourn for about $400 a day and that is truly all-inclusive with little things like all the good caviar you can eat   I do think that the SS cabins make sense if one is determined to cruise on X....but otherwise we would sure look at other cruise lines.

 

Hank

[George C]

31 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

It is interesting that this thread is only comparing X to RCI.  There are certainly a few other cruise lines that should be in the mix, especially at the SS price point.  Consider that a SS often goes for over $400 a day.  Now compare that to the MSC's Yacht club which has been about $300 a passenger day which gets you an entire ship within a ship rather then just a dining room and Michaels.  And we recently cruised on Seabourn for about $400 a day and that is truly all-inclusive with little things like all the good caviar you can eat   I do think that the SS cabins make sense if one is determined to cruise on X....but otherwise we would sure look at other cruise lines.

 

Hank

We are trying msc yacht in 6 weeks, what I still love about rccl is entertainment, doubt upscale lines can come close. My celebrity cruises on limited to music charters with great live music from 2pm to 2am. Although would like to try Viking or Seabourn, we do like caviar.