Celebrity Infinity: Sunset balcony or CC?

[Eli_6]

So, I am looking at booking a 2025 cruise to Egypt and Jerusalem from Athens on the Celebrity Infinity because the dates work with my kids' spring break and they would only have to miss 1 day of school--i.e. the day we fly home.  (I was hoping HAL or Royal would come out with their summer 2025 Europe cruises to see if they offered anything, but since the dates work so well my kids won't have to miss much school, I am thinking that I will likely book the Celebrity cruise rather than going to Egypt in the summer anyway.) 

 

My kids are 9 and 10 and would be 10 (almost 11) and 12 at the time of this cruise.  (This would be their 4th Europe/Med cruise and their 10th overall cruise...so they are well-traveled and know how to behave.)  When we cruise, I prefer to cruise with two rooms so that we have two tvs and two bathrooms. Sometimes we book adjoining rooms and sometimes across the hall.  Both have worked out well. Only time I ever had an issue was on our very first cruise when my then 4-year-old didn't want to sleep in his room with the nanny and Mom and Dad were in an adults only part of the ship down the hall...so now we don't book in "adults only" section. (Also, I don't even think Celebrity has an adults only section.) 

 

The sailing I like has a sunset balcony directly across the hallway from an interior room on decks 7, 8, and 9.  They also have a concierge class balcony near the suites on deck 6 that looks huge, but then our "inside" room would have to be on a different level or we would have to book two concierge balcony rooms (and they would not be adjoining) because there are no available inside rooms on deck 6.  From the best I can tell, the only way to get two adjoining rooms would be to do two inside rooms and I really don't want to do that...or to do a much more expensive (like 4 times the price) suite adjoining to a balcony and I don't really want to do that either on a cruise we are taking mainly for the ports. 

 

Which would you recommend for my situation:

A. Two non-adjoining concierge balconies down the hall from one another? (for about $2500 more than option B or C) -or-

B. A sunset (aft view) balcony directly across the hall from an inside room? -or-

C. A concierge balcony on level 6 with an inside room on level 7? 

 

Is concierge class worth the hassle of the rooms not being next to one another?  I am thinking probably not...  

 

Also, if we go with option B (sunset across from inside room), does anyone have a particular deck on the Infinity between decks 7, 8 and 9 that they prefer? 

[mahdnc]

I will tell you that Infinity has awesome aft balconies (better than Solstice class) and so I am biased towards the SV option.  The SV balconies are large (they have a lot of depth) and you have a choice of being on the portion of the balcony that has an awning above you if you want shade (or shelter from the rain) and you can also choose an area of the balcony (closer to the rail) if you want sun.  The SV balcony is easily large enough for all 4 of you to be out on the balcony at the same time with plenty of room to spare.  If you choose an SV, I prefer to stay away from Deck 9 since there is a public deck above you.  Deck 7 and 8 are great although I am partial to Deck 8 for no good reason.

 

We have been on 14 Celebrity cruises with our two kids but have always been in one cabin.  If we were to split up into two cabins, I dislike Option A (price) and Option C (don't want to be split apart on different decks).  I would prefer the Option B arrangement.

 

Aft balconies on Summit (Infinity sister), Jan 2015, St Maarten.

Edited July 20, 2023 by mahdnc

[jelayne]

I would go with option 2, SV and inside across the hall.

[mahdnc]

Just to give you an idea, here is a view of the sunset and SV balconies:

Millennium, near the Strait of Messina, Jun 24 2007

[jt1120]

Millennium class afts are the best in the fleet. Your balcony is about as big as your cabin. Can't recommend it enough.

[ConnMom]

I would definitely choose the aft sunset balcony. . The Millenium class afts are definitely the best balcony staterooms we have ever had.  

[wrk2cruise]

Aft balcony and the inside across the hallway.  Stay away from deck 9 if you can as the oceanview outdoor dining and bar are directly above.   We love SV on deck 8.   The concierge on deck 6 are ok.  They are about 1 foot wider than other cabins and the balcony is deep but nowhere as deep as the SV.

 

The extra Concierge perks are not worth it.   The SV cabin used to be Concierge so is larger than standard verandah rooms on this ship around 191 sq ft + balcony.

[hcat]

On 7/20/2023 at 4:42 PM, jelayne said:

I would go with option 2, SV and inside across the hall.

agree!  good plan!