Concierge Class ... no more

My TA got a call this morning that our concierge class rooms are going away and being re-branded as Aqua.

Works out better for us, but I’m curious as to the change.

Anyone else hear this?

I wonder if it was maybe just our rooms?

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Just got an email from Celebrity, our rooms were one of 10 that have been changed from CC to AQ.

Lucky us!

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Congrats to you! Glad only 10 additional cabins and not all Concierge class. Blu would get really crowded!

Mit

Good news for you although you will lose the embarkation lunch ...bad news in general for AQ class and BLU? More rooms, BLU which seems not very large will be more crowded.

Is this for both sailings you listed?

What rooms were re designated, are they near the other AQ rooms.?

Do they have the Infinite balcony?

Would be odd if any of them were already booked with more than 2 people,,,

Guess alot is still in flux re EDGE....

What was the deck number of these cabins; that was upgraded to AQ Class ?

Which are the rooms in question, please?

See the link below for a fairly recent (Sept 2017) Cruise Critic article summarizing Aqua Class vs. Concierge Class on Celebrity.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1910

When comparing 2 sets of deck plans for Edge deck 9, a deck plan website shows E1's (brown color) for 9291-9301 and 9292-9300 and the X website shows AQ (blue color) for those 10 cabins.

When I checked a big box TA site, all of the Edge cruises that I looked at (~5) have sold out those 10 cabins. They appear brown underneath the shading that indicates they are sold, like the E1's in the deck plan website plans. I imagine some, like the OP, will be happy to change to AQ and Blu (and other perks), though others may have looked forward to being in the 4 MDRs (and maybe still will be able to). I wonder if they did it to increase revenue for those cabins in the future or possibly they are trying to decrease the number of people using the 4 MDRs - maybe they are having a hard time giving people which restaurants/times they are requesting since there is no way that it will be an even split for requested reservations (I prefer two of the restaurants and would stick mostly to those if dining in the MDRs and I'm sure others have preferences). Anyway, just speculating.... I really hope the system works out well because I like the concept.

deck 9 with E1's - click on deck 9

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/Celebrity-Edge

deck 9 with AQ - scroll down to see Edge deck plans and click on deck 9:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-ships/celebrity-edge

We got the call too - delighted!

Comparing Aqua Class cabin and Blu numbers on Solstice vs. Edge: 149 cabins on Solstice with 130 seats in Blu. 104 + 2 accessible cabins on Edge with 126 + 22 outside seating in Blu on Edge. Adding 10 more shouldn't put a strain on seating capacity in Blu. Seems like a simple "generate more income" decision to me. Aqua Class guests can always go to the main dining room if they choose - so changing cabin designations to limit reservations in the MDR doesn't make sense. The guests in the 10 cabin upgrades got a sweet deal!

Comparing Aqua Class cabin and Blu numbers on Solstice vs. Edge: 149 cabins on Solstice with 130 seats in Blu. 104 + 2 accessible cabins on Edge with 126 + 22 outside seating in Blu on Edge. Adding 10 more shouldn't put a strain on seating capacity in Blu. Seems like a simple "generate more income" decision to me. Aqua Class guests can always go to the main dining room if they choose - so changing cabin designations to limit reservations in the MDR doesn't make sense. The guests in the 10 cabin upgrades got a sweet deal!

I assume that the AQ people will likely still be able to dine in the MDRs on the Edge, as available, but may have less choice for dining rooms/times since the people whose main dining area is the MDRs can book pre-cruise (or can AQ book the MDR ahead of time now? I haven't tried it :)).

Anyway, I was thinking more that it would keep 20 people out of the MDR the majority of the time (and maybe it is more than 10 cabins since people are reporting concierge changes and what I saw was E1 changes, according to the key for that deck plan). It wouldn't make make much of a difference though, so I agree that the reason is likely the extra future revenue. It doesn't seem to be that the AQ are in higher demand because the cruises I looked at seemed to have more AQ than E1 or concierge available.

It's interesting to think through the possible reasons. I will ask onboard if no one else finds out before then.

Congrats to those who were upgraded to AQ! :D

Comparing Aqua Class cabin and Blu numbers on Solstice vs. Edge: 149 cabins on Solstice with 130 seats in Blu. 104 + 2 accessible cabins on Edge with 126 + 22 outside seating in Blu on Edge. Adding 10 more shouldn't put a strain on seating capacity in Blu. Seems like a simple "generate more income" decision to me. Aqua Class guests can always go to the main dining room if they choose - so changing cabin designations to limit reservations in the MDR doesn't make sense. The guests in the 10 cabin upgrades got a sweet deal!

How many accessible Concierge Cabins were included in the upgrade?...just curious

Other than breakfast..those outside seats for BLU may not be in such hi demand unless they are well sheltered. It may also affect service having waitstaff going in and out..

We will hope to arrive early for inside seats...We might try an alt mdr restaurant once but only if we can get res at the ones we like...bets are some will be less booked than others based on their sep menus

Adding more to AQ also adds to those with passes to Persian Gardens.., so that may affect others not in AQ..

Much is up in the air.. hope we will enjoy our adventure..but our next X bookings, if any, will likely find us back on EQ or Silho...our 2 favorites...we like the ships and the programs.. hope they are not changed all that much during "Edgeification."

Looks like the upgrades are cabins 9291 to 9300.:D

Looks like the upgrades are cabins 9291 to 9300.:D

That is what it looks like from those two deck plans I found (see post #8), although the old plan that I found called them E1's, not concierge (and I have since found an older version of the deck plans on the X website and they are labeled E1's on that plan as well). It's a bit puzzling.

vtcruising - you are right...E1 up to A2. So were the other posters talking about additional concierge cabins converted to Aqua as well? Hope the original posters give us more details (cabin #s). Rebranding E1 to A2 increases Celebrity's bottom line by several hundred dollars per cabin! At least on our cruise in March, the Aqua cabins sold faster than regular Edge cabins, even with the price difference, so a smart move for Celebrity.

How many accessible Concierge Cabins were included in the upgrade?...just curious

 

Other than breakfast..those outside seats for BLU may not be in such hi demand unless they are well sheltered. It may also affect service having waitstaff going in and out..

 

We will hope to arrive early for inside seats...We might try an alt mdr restaurant once but only if we can get res at the ones we like...bets are some will be less booked than others based on their sep menus

 

Adding more to AQ also adds to those with passes to Persian Gardens.., so that may affect others not in AQ..

 

Much is up in the air.. hope we will enjoy our adventure..but our next X bookings, if any, will likely find us back on EQ or Silho...our 2 favorites...we like the ships and the programs.. hope they are not changed all that much during "Edgeification."

I guess I only pictured eating outside at Blu for breakfast in port (didn't think about while at sea). You are right about needing shelter out there. Hopefully, if they plan to serve out there at sea they will have something to block the wind.

Due to the prices on the Edge, we may jump ship as well after our 3 booked cruises (we booked early at more reasonable fares). If we really love the ship and what she has to offer we will likely book a sunset veranda (I don't think we would like the Infinite Veranda because the balconies seem too closed in for us, but hope to see them on our cabin crawl - maybe we will like them). I will wait to see if the multiple MDR concept works out well and see what people think about Blu and then make a decision (and see if an improved Persian Garden might make AQ worthwhile). I can't wait to hear your opinion on Edge AQ, Blu and PG! :D

We also got the email! We booked a C2, 10185, for a summer 2019 cruise, and have been told it has been reclassified to Aqua but we don’t have to pay any extra. We’ve actually already booked a 4 night speciality dining package (all I could afford is a 7 night cruise!) and three nights in the different MDR’s but we love Blu. Probably keep at least three of the nights of the speciality restaurants - planning Eden for my special birthday.

Wendy

We also got the email! We booked a C2, 10185, for a summer 2019 cruise, and have been told it has been reclassified to Aqua but we don’t have to pay any extra. We’ve actually already booked a 4 night speciality dining package (all I could afford is a 7 night cruise!) and three nights in the different MDR’s but we love Blu. Probably keep at least three of the nights of the speciality restaurants - planning Eden for my special birthday.

Wendy

Interesting - that may mean that the 10 C2's together on that deck are all AQ now (10181, 10185, 10186, 10187, 10188,10189, 10190, 10194, 10196, 10198). They are still called C2's (purple) on the X website deck plan.

I looked at a cruise to get a sense of price difference and for a March cruise of 7 nights an A2 was ~ $1500 PP more than a C2 on deck 10! :D

Congrats on the upgrade Wendy! Eden will be an interesting adventure for a birthday dinner. I'm sure the food will be amazing and the entertainment unforgettable.

On our cruise planner it still says Concierge but we all know what the website is like! For our cruise there isn’t that much of a difference in price but it was enough not to make me book Aqua in the first place. Also we were intending doing speciality restaurants and I hoped the split MDRs may make them quieter. Now we have nothing to worry about!

We are actually cruising in the Edge stateroom on Constellation so we can try out the infinity balcony in July - will be an interesting trial! We also Edge at Le Petit Chef on Reflection in April which was amazing.

On our cruise planner it still says Concierge but we all know what the website is like! For our cruise there isn’t that much of a difference in price but it was enough not to make me book Aqua in the first place. Also we were intending doing speciality restaurants and I hoped the split MDRs may make them quieter. Now we have nothing to worry about!

We are actually cruising in the Edge stateroom on Constellation so we can try out the infinity balcony in July - will be an interesting trial! We also Edge at Le Petit Chef on Reflection in April which was amazing.

I think Blu might be really nice on this ship - just a feeling. I am in a sky suite in December and will probably at least try it for breakfast.

That's cool that you are in the Edge IV stateroom on Connie. Be sure to let us know what it is like. :D

10 more AQ cabins should only equal a max of 20 more people for BLU, if they stick to the 2 per AQ cabin rule...

Hopefully, the suite guests are admitted for dinner on a space available basis as they are on other ships ,,, They will have their own amazing area so maybe fewer will come to BLU.

Looking forward the continuation of the less hurried more personal service in BLU..... one reason we have abandoned the MDR...

So it seems that its deck 9 and 10, so potentially 20 cabins??

I’m in 10196, and would not be happy if we were changed to AQ.

I’m in the I’m not particularly fussed about aqua team, Ive booked all our dining for our May 2019 cruise.

I wonder if its only for certain cruises?

I believe celebrity have previously rebranded standard balcony cabins as concierge for some sailings...

For now Ill wait and see if we get a email.

For those of you that have been given the email can you let us know what cruise you are booked on?

Thanks

So it seems that its deck 9 and 10, so potentially 20 cabins??

I’m in 10196, and would not be happy if we were changed to AQ.

I’m in the I’m not particularly fussed about aqua team, Ive booked all our dining for our May 2019 cruise.

I wonder if its only for certain cruises?

I believe celebrity have previously rebranded standard balcony cabins as concierge for some sailings...

For now Ill wait and see if we get a email.

 

For those of you that have been given the email can you let us know what cruise you are booked on?

Thanks

We have been speculating due to some reports of change. One person was told 10 concierge cabins were changed to AQ and one was C2 10185. That cabin happens to be in a cluster of 10 C2's, so we were speculating that those 10 may have been changed. Maybe it is just for certain cruises, as you said. If it were me, I would call them and ask if there are any changes for your cabin, but that's me. :)

When looking at the 9th deck yesterday, it was noticed that the X website has 10 cabins as AQ, but they are E1's on other websites. It just may be an error on the X website, but happened to notice it when looking at those websites and thought that might be the 10 cabins that were changing. Those cabins may not be affected (maybe X's deck plans are older version).

Hopefully, your cabin will stay concierge. If not, maybe they will let you keep all of your dinner reservations.

So, if you did a booking and transferred it to a TA, would Celebrity have sent the notice to the Travel Agent?

I am in a CC cabin in January and this is the first I have heard/read anything about these cabin changes.

So, if you did a booking and transferred it to a TA, would Celebrity have sent the notice to the Travel Agent?

I am in a CC cabin in January and this is the first I have heard/read anything about these cabin changes.

The OP got a call from the TA first that his CC was rebranded as AQ and then an email from Celebrity saying 10 cabins were changing from CC to AQ. wendyam76 said it's not showing up on her cruise planner so probably the only way to know is to call them (or the TA).