Moveup Aqua vs Concierge Class and cabin location

We have cruised several times on Celebrity. We typically go for veranda cabins, and have tried concierge and aqua once each. For our upcoming Constellation cruise we have a concierge cabin - only reason for this is we booked onboard and there were 2 perks for concierge vs 1 for veranda, so the extra perk more than made up for the difference in price.

We got the moveup email and I am trying to find a complete list of the perks for both aqua and concierge to help us decide whether it is worth it. For example, I know that one of them (can't remember which one) has a footstool on the balcony. In searching the Celebrity website and the forum I don't see footstool listed in the amenities of either.

Also, while searching the website, I came across this:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/blog/tips-for-choosing-cabin-for-cruise

it states: Another thing to consider is what side of the ship you’ll be on when you’re in port. If you have a window or a balcony, select a cabin on the port side (which will be on the left when the facing the bow or forward part of the ship) for an unbeatable view of Venice, Italy, say, on European Cruises.

Is it that simple? We are going to Venice and it looks like we are on the wrong (ie starboard side).

Thanks

The biggest difference between Aqua and Concierge is dining in Blu instead of the MDR. People will argue one way or the other but we happen to like it. You also get complimentary access to Persian Gardens. If you're cruising Europe on the Constellation, an M-Class ship, it's not as glitzy as on the S-Class ships but it's still a nice perk. I think Aqua cabins all have footstools.

Regarding which side of the ship faces the port, there is no predicting what that will be. It's possible that there are some ports where the ship always docks in the same direction but I don't know of any. Often, it's as simple as they want to repaint a certain side of the ship that day so that side is next to the dock. The terms "port" and "starboard" have no meaning other than as identifiers for your location on the ship.

Portside cabins are recommended for the sailaway from Venice as that is the side you will see St Marks, the Bridge of Sighs, the Doges Palace and the start of the Grand Canal. It won't make any difference which side you are on when in port

Portside cabins are recommended for the sailaway from Venice as that is the side you will see St Marks, the Bridge of Sighs, the Doges Palace and the start of the Grand Canal. It won't make any difference which side you are on when in port

Excellent point! I’ve sailed out of Venice three times, you’d think I’d remember that. However, you can enjoy the sailaway from other parts of the ship. Last time we had an aft cabin and discovered that there’s lots to look at on both sides, although the port side has the view of iconic sights.

Excellent point! I’ve sailed out of Venice three times, you’d think I’d remember that. However, you can enjoy the sailaway from other parts of the ship. Last time we had an aft cabin and discovered that there’s lots to look at on both sides, although the port side has the view of iconic sights.

Yes port side is better for sail away from Venice if you want to be in your cabin. But there is nothing like the sail away from up on top, especially when they play music.

Blu is the only real advantage of booking Aqua over Concierge (to us) although my mother enjoys the Persian Garden. We would always book Aqua over Concierge.

Just off Eclipse in an A1 (#1552)...yes it had a foot stool and loved the daily tea and the flowers.

In March I was in concierge class on Millenium. Last week I was in Aqua class on Summit. There were no footstools in either cabin. Aqua class cabin on deck 11 on the side seemed a bit smaller than the concierge on deck 8. The concierge cabin had a covered veranda and was midship. Cabin was in the shade and was often dark. The aqua class cabin veranda had no cover and was small. When it rained, the veranda stayed wet. Cabin was bright. It had a good sun load. We liked Blu. The service and food presentation was better than the MDR. Given a choice, I would probably choose Aqua class if the price is the same as comcierge. However, in many cases, aqua class can be more costly than concierge. On our next cruise we are in a standard S class veranda hump cabin. Booked it over a year ago. until recently, only interior cabins were showing available. After last week's stay in aqua, we checked to see what it would cost to upgrade to aqua. It was about $1000 pp more than what we are paying. Not worth it.

Thanks all. I should have mentioned we are sailing into Venice. Cruise is Barcelona to Venice. The minimum bid to upgrade is $200 per person. Sounds like Blu is the main difference and footstools may not be on either category any more - perhaps that is why no mention on website. While I liked Blu DH wasn't a big fan. I think I will let the move up pass. The suites look very tempting but too rich for us lol. Could go on a whole other cruise for what it costs.

Absolutely perfect cruise on Celebrity two years ago: great service, great food, super v

Veranda sunset stateroom, dandy entertainment, etc. Looking forward to next one in October. But ...Celebrity cruise planner misinformation lost us an Aqua Class stateroom. In March, booked Celebrity Millennium October27 cruise, Veranda. Upgraded to Concierge. Then saw deal on Aqua -- same price as Concierge. Compared amenities, as shown on website. CC offered priority boarding and debarkation. AC had Blu Restaurant, spa, BUT NO MENTION OF PRIORITY BOARDING/DEBARKATION. Made no sense that higher class lacked priority boarding. Called cruise planners; told this was correct. Since priority board was key for us, after second cruise planner said (after presumably checking with someone else), that AC did NOT have priority, had Blu, we stayed with our CC reservation. Recently found out that AC DOES have priority. Confirmed this. Not happy that lost deal due to misinformed cruise planners. Spoke with Beatriz, original cruise planner (not one of those who said no priority on AC). She confirmed priority with AC but couldn't let us have AC room at March price. She spoke with supervisors, got us two nights for two people in specialty dining. Nice, but I'm still upset that misinformation caused loss of great deal on AC. I think they could have let us have access to Blu/ spa. No need to move our room (and AC sold out). Wouldn't cost them any extra, as far as I can tell. And would actually correct problem caused by misinformation from their cruise planners.

About having priorities, it depends on the terminal. The ad-hoc terminal do not have much place to split groups.

If I remember correctly the website tell you that "priority" is the normal status, but not available on all ports.

AQ boarding didn't seem any different than any other class, including Suites. Priority boarding, in our experience, isn't a big deal and has not hasten our embarkation by more than 15 minutes in our past 8 Celebrity cruises (3 in AQ & 5 in Suites). On our last cruise (in a Celebrity Suite) we were asked to wait before boarding (after check-in) in a "special" suites area (just a bunch of seats in an open area). We walked over to the area as asked, waited for 5 minutes then decided to board. I imagine they would have escorted us on (though that wasn't mentioned and we could not have cared less about that). It certainly delayed our boarding.

Recently off a sailing on which we were in Concierge, and sailed last summer in Aqua. Had priority boarding and footstools on both. Personally, I’d stick with the Concierge you have.

Just off Constellation, deck 11 Aqua and we had foot stools on the balcony. As for which side to be on for Venice, you’ll be sailing in about 5.30am. Do it for Blu - amazing food and service!

In previous post, I said I liked Celebrity but was unhappy about missing chance for Aqua Class Stateroom at Concierge Stateroom price. Just had a call from a Celebrity person who was most sympathetic about what had happened. She offered to increase the number of specialty dining opportunities for us and gave us $50 OBC to use in the Persian Gardens. She explained that Blu restaurant was quite small and that could not give access to anyone other than AC passengers. I feel she was most helpful and I greatly appreciated the perks she gave us to express their regret that we'd missed out on AC opportunity. I am very happy with Celebrity's response -- it is exactly the kind of customer service I had experienced in the past with this cruise line. REally looking forward to our Millennium cruise in October. Thanks, Celebrity!

Thanks all. I should have mentioned we are sailing into Venice. Cruise is Barcelona to Venice. The minimum bid to upgrade is $200 per person. Sounds like Blu is the main difference and footstools may not be on either category any more - perhaps that is why no mention on website. While I liked Blu DH wasn't a big fan. I think I will let the move up pass. The suites look very tempting but too rich for us lol. Could go on a whole other cruise for what it costs.

Although I like Blu, I would not pay an additional $200.00 a person to upgrade from Concierge to Aqua. I'm with you, I'd let that offer pass.

Although I like Blu, I would not pay an additional $200.00 a person to upgrade from Concierge to Aqua. I'm with you, I'd let that offer pass.

Just goes to show you that we all can have different points of view.

We have recently upgraded to AquaClass for a 15-night transpacific on the Millennium and are pleased to have had that opportunity as we really enjoy Blu, and the other minor amenities provided by AquaClass.

We are also on a 13-night B2B around Japan (Sept. 30th), and have received a Move-Up email for that cruise, but the minimum bid for upgrading to Aquaclass is $505 USD and the maximum is $1200 USD. We are in Oceanview for that cruise, so upgrading is naturally a bigger leap, but the oceanview was quite expensive, and what they are looking for as a bid to upgrade is more than I'm willing to pay at this point.That particular cruise is very spendy, for some reason, although there were quite a few cabins available last week. The A2 at the Resident Rate (no perks) is $3999 per person. Concierge class is almost as much, and there are more than 20 cabins open. I think the "Move-up" program is keeping the list prices high so that the suggested bids seem more reasonable.

We have frequently sailed AquaClass and Concierge and have always had footstools. If there is anything missing from your cabin that you expected to have, your stateroom steward can almost always get it for you. With exception of the embarkation lunch for Concierge guests, almost everything from Concierge Class is included in AquaClass. (I can't think of anything that is not, but some one will correct me if I have missed something.) It doesn't hurt to bring a printout of the amenities that you have been promised by the stateroom description on the website, or the FAQ's, etc.