Tips for stateroom location Celebrity Beyond?

[westscot]

Brand new to the forum!
 

We are a youngish couple looking to book an Aqua Class room on the Celebrity Beyond cruise, the third in the series of their new Edge class ships. I would like to make it clear this will be our first ever cruise holiday, hence looking for some advice on things which might seem relatively simple to those who have cruised a few times. We are currently looking at the Italy/Montenegro/Greece trip (departs from Rome) in mid-August of this year.

 

We are looking at staying in Aqua Class, and got as far as the stateroom location selection page which brought up a deck plan of the cruise, and it’s obviously vast.

 

We are looking at whether someone could please offer useful advice on which stateroom locations tend to be best on the Celebrity Beyond and/or the new Edge class of cruise. For the Aqua Class of stateroom, the option is limited to staying either the 9th or 10th floor. I think it’s a 16 floor cruise liner.
Would staying on either the 9th or 10th floor feel the same, or is the higher or lower floor preferable?

 

I also realised we need to also decide between staying in a stateroom located on either port side or starboard. The particular trip we are looking at heads eastwards initially but is pretty much a loop from what I can see on the itinerary. So I’m guessing it doesn’t really matter between portside or starboard.

 

Main questions:

 

1) Should we go for or avoid staying in a stateroom located on the same side as the “magic carpet”? I wondered whether that side may possibly be a bit noisier. Or does it not really matter if the Aqua Class staterooms are nearer the rear of the ship anyway?

 

2) The Aqua Class staterooms are located towards the rear end of the ship. Is there such a thing as being “too close” to the rear of a cruise ship, ie would it impact on the comfort of the journey? Would it be preferable to select an Aqua Class room more towards the middle, or should it not really make any obvious difference?

 

3) We would hope to get some great views from the Infinity veranda in the Aqua Class staterooms. Do we need to avoid staying too close to the mid-section of the ship which I noticed appears has rooms that jut out a bit, as thinking that may impact on the overall field of view when we look out from our room?

 

4) If anyone on this forum has been in the Aqua Class staterooms before on Celebrity Beyond, or on any of the other Edge series of Celebrity cruises, do you have any other personal tips for room location?

 

I think I’m probably overthinking it but keen to avoid making any rookie errors with this being our first cruise.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Edited January 30, 2023 by westscot
Removed links

[MamaFej]

Welcome! I imagine that you will find that most posters here on Cruise Critic are friendly and helpful.

 

While I have not sailed on any Edge class ships, and cannot help with most of your questions, I can offer a bit of advice for the day you sail into Motor, Montenegro. I am so grateful that another cruiser told us about what a beautiful sail-in it is. Based on her advice, we got up very early and went up to a top deck to enjoy the views. We were on a ship where all folks were allowed on all deck areas. 

 

You might consider editing out the links you posted, as promoting travel agents or sites with cruise booking deals is not allowed on this forum. I'd hate to see your thread removed before your questions are answered.

 

Also a wee warning: cruising can be addictive. It's a wonderful addiciton to have. 

[StellaTN]

We've been on the Apex, and have booked the Beyond twice (once for 2023 and once for 2024). I've been studiously studying prices for the last couple years for both ships.  We found we enjoyed our Concierge Class cabin on Apex (sister to Beyond with almost identical layout), due to the higher level deck location (12), one flight down from the Solarium. However, the Aqua Class cabins were much higher priced and located on less desirable lower decks (9 & 10) and were nearly identical to regular balcony cabins. 

 

If it were me, I'd book a Sunset Veranda cabin on your sailing, if they are still available. But if Blu dining is a deal breaker for you, I'd still book a nicely located regular IV cabin and plan to use Move Up to move up to an Aqua Class cabin a few weeks prior to sailing. (Currently, for our Mar 19 2023 sailing, our move up offer for SV to Aqua class is only $200 PP, which is much cheaper than the ~ $1500 PP it was when we originally booked last year.

[eas2225]

We were on the Beyond this past October, stayed in Aqua cabin 10202, and loved it!

 

This location was just forward of the rear elevators, and we thought it was close to everything and very convenient.  

 

We never heard any noise from anywhere and the views were just wonderful!

 

Most breakfasts and dinners were in Blu, which we both enjoyed, although I ordered some things from the Main Dining Room menu, although not sure if that's still available.

 

Enjoy your first cruise...I'm sure it won't be your last!

 

  

[jelayne]

We have stayed on Deck 10 in both Aqua and in a Suite. Both times on the port side and near the rear elevators.

We prefer Deck 10 or 11, not to high as should the ship encounter rough seas the motion is felt more the higher up you go.

We stayed in 10239 when in Aqua and it was far enough from the cabins that jut out that our view wasn’t obstructed. 

 

[MamaFej]

2 hours ago, MamaFej said:

I can offer a bit of advice for the day you sail into Motor, Montenegro.

Kotor, obviously.

 

🤦🏽‍♀️

[westscot]

5 hours ago, jelayne said:

We have stayed on Deck 10 in both Aqua and in a Suite. Both times on the port side and near the rear elevators.

We prefer Deck 10 or 11, not to high as should the ship encounter rough seas the motion is felt more the higher up you go.

We stayed in 10239 when in Aqua and it was far enough from the cabins that jut out that our view wasn’t obstructed. 

 

Thank you. We are looking at the Aqua Class staterooms along that side not far from 10239 (further towards the rear), also to the rear of that bit that juts out. We noticed some of the staterooms are directly opposite interior rooms. I assume the ones on the deck plan which are not opposite the interior rooms are just opposite the interior walls where there is blank space seen on the deck plan? Is there anything noisy on that corridor which isn’t shown on the deckplan, ie no ice machines or anything? Better to be further away from the stairs and elevators due to less footfall going past the room? We’re fairly light sleepers!

[westscot]

7 hours ago, StellaTN said:

We've been on the Apex, and have booked the Beyond twice (once for 2023 and once for 2024). I've been studiously studying prices for the last couple years for both ships.  We found we enjoyed our Concierge Class cabin on Apex (sister to Beyond with almost identical layout), due to the higher level deck location (12), one flight down from the Solarium. However, the Aqua Class cabins were much higher priced and located on less desirable lower decks (9 & 10) and were nearly identical to regular balcony cabins. 

 

If it were me, I'd book a Sunset Veranda cabin on your sailing, if they are still available. But if Blu dining is a deal breaker for you, I'd still book a nicely located regular IV cabin and plan to use Move Up to move up to an Aqua Class cabin a few weeks prior to sailing. (Currently, for our Mar 19 2023 sailing, our move up offer for SV to Aqua class is only $200 PP, which is much cheaper than the ~ $1500 PP it was when we originally booked last year.

Thanks for that. Interesting to see the option of the sunset veranda for this ship, hadn’t realised that was a choice. We would likely be going for the “All included” option so the sunset veranda along with that package would be an extra £400 ($450) or so each compared with Aqua Class which comes with the “All included option”. I noticed some lines on quite a few of the sunset veranda rooms, does that mean they are interconnecting as we don’t need that? Does that sound about right?

[OysterD]

Currently looking at the same Beyond cruise but in September. Curious if you've found better prices through a travel agent versus booking directly through Celebrity? We're also looking at Aqua class and found adding the all included option to a normal balcony cabin brought the price very close to AQ which has it included by default.

 

We did find a couple of online TA's who appear to be selling a flight, stay and cruise package for about £1000 less than the cruise only price but we need to call them to confirm whether the drinks/wifi/tips are included because it doesn't explicitly state. 

 

Regarding room choice, we'll try and pick ones a bit more central and closer to the lifts as it can get a bit tedious having to trek from the centre of the ship all the way to the back down the monotonous corridors! 

[natshala]

I was on a B2B on Beyond in Nov-Dec in AQ 9282. I loved the room. It was a good walk from the aft elevators but I always consider that part of my daily exercise. My room was always very quiet. I chose AQ because I got a great deal and I really like Blu.
 

To be honest, Blu has gone downhill food wise but the staff and ambience was wonderful. The spa thermal suite, for me, got old quickly so it’s no longer a draw. I have a B2B coming up soon on Apex. For this one, I didn’t even consider AQ. 
 

Have a wonderful cruise! Beyond is magnificent.