Aqua Class vs. Concierge

[edgee]

Hi, the S class ships all have shower doors. The M class and Century

have curtains.

 

Not true in AQ class. We just got off of M class cruise in AQ class and had shower door..not curtain. We were on new deck 11 cabin on Summit; not sure if " converted" older AQ class cabins on deck 9 also have shower doors, however.

[kissimmee family]

I wonder if you have actually stayed in Aqua Class. Snacks are usually delivered at 4:00 pm. Gives just enough time to finish them and go to Elite Hour for additional snacks. After that right to dinner. Just can't figure out why my pants shrink so much around the waist when I cruise.

 

It's that nice sea air... plays havoc with belts and fabric.

[Orator]

It's that nice sea air... plays havoc with belts and fabric.

 

Thanks! I think you found the answer :)

[Jade13]

Hi Jade, he was directing his post at me:rolleyes:....but thank you:) as

I also know folks who can afford every cabin category on the ship

and they choose not to book an Aqua Class cabin. And yes, they

have been in AQ before but not necessarily a 2nd time or 3rd

time, etc

Oh, I have not idea what the beaches of Southwest Florida and Aqua Class

have anything to do with each other either.......

 

I knew that :)

[Jade13]

I think he meant he does not cruise to go to nice beaches but for the experience he gets in Blu/ Aqua especially. However, he should know better than to say people have budget concerns if they do not care for Aqua.

 

And, we do not take any cruise for the beaches. We are just not beach people.

[kissimmee family]

Nov. will be my first X cruise. We had a B1 balcony (9139) booked at $1,129 for the 13 day Transatlantic on Reflection. The last day before penalties kicked in I looked at the number of rooms still available and decided to cancel. In the past if prices fell some lines would make an adjustment. Apparently not so with Celebrity. So I gambled and crossed my fingers. (20th anniversary and the wife would toss me overboard if I messed up)

 

The GTY balconies were going for $969 but there was a good chance we would end up on deck 6 above a nightclub so I wasn't going to go there.

 

Today the Concierge class balcony GTY popped up at $1,039 and I booked it. So I saved about $200 over a basic balcony. An hour latter they had converted our GTY into a C3 class room 9277. A call to my TA and they moved us to a C3 on deck 10 forward, one deck almost directly above our original cabin.

 

So I read this thread to see what I had to look forward to by moving up to Concierge. I think I got a feel for it despite the lively tone of the discussion.

 

I do have a couple questions for those that have done both concierge and aqua.

 

1 ) it talks about earlier boarding and a separate lounge with refreshments. Since our cruise leaves from Barcelona and my memory is that the facilities there were ultra spartan, does anyone know what we should expect in terms of boarding time etc?

 

2 ) Would I be correct that the major differences between Con. and Aqu is Blu and the Spa access? Since we have never done a spa treatment that perk has little attraction.

 

What has surprised me though this adventure is that all the balcony cabins are remarkably similar in size and appointment but the prices between a basic deck 8 balcony and an aqua class is dramatic. Are the amenities worth the cost?

[Jade13]

deleted

[Jade13]

Nov. will be my first X cruise. We had a B1 balcony (9139) booked at $1,129 for the 13 day Transatlantic on Reflection. The last day before penalties kicked in I looked at the number of rooms still available and decided to cancel. In the past if prices fell some lines would make an adjustment. Apparently not so with Celebrity. So I gambled and crossed my fingers. (20th anniversary and the wife would toss me overboard if I messed up)

 

The GTY balconies were going for $969 but there was a good chance we would end up on deck 6 above a nightclub so I wasn't going to go there.

 

Today the Concierge class balcony GTY popped up at $1,039 and I booked it. So I saved about $200 over a basic balcony. An hour latter they had converted our GTY into a C3 class room 9277. A call to my TA and they moved us to a C3 on deck 10 forward, one deck almost directly above our original cabin.

 

quote]

 

 

 

You sound like a risk taker.

 

I do have one question. Had you already paid for insurance, and if not, have you looked at the ones with pre-existing condition waivers that can be paid at final payment? I don't know if anything has changed, but I looked into this extensively a number of years ago and those policies would have the pre-existing condition waiver voided for anyone who cancels and rebooks. The reason is that they do not want people canceling and rebooking cruises just to pick up the insurance because they now have a condition.

 

This may not be your issue, but just fyi to others who may consider canceling and rebooking cruises. I don't know if this policy has changed but it was on both the CSA and HTH policies previously.

[kissimmee family]

Nov. will be my first X cruise. We had a B1 balcony (9139) booked at $1,129 for the 13 day Transatlantic on Reflection. The last day before penalties kicked in I looked at the number of rooms still available and decided to cancel. In the past if prices fell some lines would make an adjustment. Apparently not so with Celebrity. So I gambled and crossed my fingers. (20th anniversary and the wife would toss me overboard if I messed up)

 

The GTY balconies were going for $969 but there was a good chance we would end up on deck 6 above a nightclub so I wasn't going to go there.

 

Today the Concierge class balcony GTY popped up at $1,039 and I booked it. So I saved about $200 over a basic balcony. An hour latter they had converted our GTY into a C3 class room 9277. A call to my TA and they moved us to a C3 on deck 10 forward, one deck almost directly above our original cabin.

 

quote]

 

 

 

You sound like a risk taker.

 

I do have one question. Had you already paid for insurance, and if not, have you looked at the ones with pre-existing condition waivers that can be paid at final payment? I don't know if anything has changed, but I looked into this extensively a number of years ago and those policies would have the pre-existing condition waiver voided for anyone who cancels and rebooks. The reason is that they do not want people canceling and rebooking cruises just to pick up the insurance because they now have a condition.

 

This may not be your issue, but just fyi to others who may consider canceling and rebooking cruises. I don't know if this policy has changed but it was on both the CSA and HTH policies previously.

 

Interesting question. This actually played into my decision. My (unnamed) TA took my deposit in early August and then charged the final payment a couple weeks before the Sept 4th no penalty cancel date. Turns out that their insurance required selection within 24hr of the final payment in order to extend the no pre existing condition clause.

 

Now I had thought the Sept 4th deadline was the cut off for the insurance. After working with my TA and the insurance company last friday they basically said it would take two weeks to rule on making an exception.

 

Since I had not purchased the insurance yet I was free to cancel and rebook in which case I was within the 24hr window and qualified for the pre existing condition waver. So it all worked to my advantage ... This Time.

[Jade13]

 

Interesting question. This actually played into my decision. My (unnamed) TA took my deposit in early August and then charged the final payment a couple weeks before the Sept 4th no penalty cancel date. Turns out that their insurance required selection within 24hr of the final payment in order to extend the no pre existing condition clause.

 

Now I had thought the Sept 4th deadline was the cut off for the insurance. After working with my TA and the insurance company last friday they basically said it would take two weeks to rule on making an exception.

 

Since I had not purchased the insurance yet I was free to cancel and rebook in which case I was within the 24hr window and qualified for the pre existing condition waver. So it all worked to my advantage ... This Time.

 

Which policy?

 

I am always very firm with my ta not to charge the final payment until a specific confirmed date, so I have time to purchase insurance.

 

Both CSA and HTH (at least a couple of years ago) said you could not cancel and rebook the same cruise or the pre-existing condition waiver would be voided.

[momofmeg]

And, we do not take any cruise for the beaches. We are just not beach people.

 

We go to the beach for vacation and stay on the beach when we want to do the beach thing. My hubby does like to go diving when in the Caribbean, which is why we do so many in that area-but that is out in the ocean-not the beach. We have been to a few beaches when on cruises through the years, like the famous Bermuda pink beaches and Magen's Bay in St. Thomas, but no, we would not keep going on cruises for the beaches. That is why Turk and Caicos, and the private islands do not really appeal to me much

 

I doubt most people who take at least one cruise a year do it for that reason either.

[Jade13]

 

Interesting question. This actually played into my decision. My (unnamed) TA took my deposit in early August and then charged the final payment a couple weeks before the Sept 4th no penalty cancel date. Turns out that their insurance required selection within 24hr of the final payment in order to extend the no pre existing condition clause.

 

Now I had thought the Sept 4th deadline was the cut off for the insurance. After working with my TA and the insurance company last friday they basically said it would take two weeks to rule on making an exception.

 

Since I had not purchased the insurance yet I was free to cancel and rebook in which case I was within the 24hr window and qualified for the pre existing condition waver. So it all worked to my advantage ... This Time.

 

Fyi from CSA's policy (HTH's was identical when I looked at it previously)

 

"Your trip must be “the first and only booking for this same destination and dates of travel” as a condition of waiving the pre-existing medical condition exclusion. The reason is that you cannot cancel your trip & re-book it to just reset your initial trip deposit date. "

 

"Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Waiver

 

CSA will waive the Pre-existing Condition exclusion if you meet the following requirements:

■You must purchase the CSA Freestyle or Freestyle Luxe Plan plan prior to or within 24 Hours of your final Trip payment

■All insured travelers must not be disabled from travel at the time they pay their premium.

■The booking for this trip must be the first and only booking for this travel period and destination"

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/how-travel-insurance-pre-existing-medical-conditions-coverage-works/

[kissimmee family]

BTW I minimized the risk by putting a similar cabin to my original booking on 24hr courtesy hold. If the prices had not fallen I could still return to where I was before I cancelled.

 

To be honest the whole process is less than perfect. I appreciate what the Cruise lines are trying to do but these hard dates and change rules are punishing their return cruisers more that the opportunistic cruiser like me.

 

I remember doing the first Disney eastern Trans-atlantic and Med. cruise B2B. We had two inside Cat. 11 cabins and every week the price fell again. Back then Disney refunded the difference each time. By the departure date the price has dropped from something like $3000 for each cabin to about $1300. At the port they offered upgrades and we ended up in a cat 5 balcony for another $300 per cabin.

 

We were part of a large online group on that cruise too and there were several that had booked a cat 4 or 5 with their Vacation Club points and those were done at the rack rate for those cabins. In a nut shell they were livid with Disney because they had paid the equivalent of 7 or 8 thousand for what we got for $1,800. There was talk of law suites and it spoiled the cruise for many who felt taken advantage of.

[kissimmee family]

 

Which policy?

 

I am always very firm with my ta not to charge the final payment until a specific confirmed date, so I have time to purchase insurance.

 

Both CSA and HTH (at least a couple of years ago) said you could not cancel and rebook the same cruise or the pre-existing condition waiver would be voided.

 

I guess I am less experienced but I will follow your advice next time. Since I had not purchased insurance yet I was told I would qualify for the waver.

 

Am I allowed to post which TA and insurance company it was?

[Orator]

 

I guess I am less experienced but I will follow your advice next time. Since I had not purchased insurance yet I was told I would qualify for the waver.

 

Am I allowed to post which TA and insurance company it was?

 

Sorry, you can't. Violates the posting rules. This really should be a separate thread since it really doesn't deal with the OP's question which I believe has been more than answered.

[kissimmee family]

 

Fyi from CSA's policy (HTH's was identical when I looked at it previously)

 

"Your trip must be “the first and only booking for this same destination and dates of travel” as a condition of waiving the pre-existing medical condition exclusion. The reason is that you cannot cancel your trip & re-book it to just reset your initial trip deposit date. "

 

"Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Waiver

 

CSA will waive the Pre-existing Condition exclusion if you meet the following requirements:

■You must purchase the CSA Freestyle or Freestyle Luxe Plan plan prior to or within 24 Hours of your final Trip payment

■All insured travelers must not be disabled from travel at the time they pay their premium.

■The booking for this trip must be the first and only booking for this travel period and destination"

http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/how-travel-insurance-pre-existing-medical-conditions-coverage-works/

 

Interesting. Both my TA and the Insurance provider knew what I was doing and neither said it would not restore the waiver. IN fact they were both certain that an exception would be made on the waiver except that it would take a couple weeks to process and with the deadline to cancel a day away I decided to do it this way. I will look at my policy and see what it says. You may be right and my TA screwed me. Mind you, we are both healthy with no known conditions so it is not a huge deal.

[Jade13]

 

I guess I am less experienced but I will follow your advice next time. Since I had not purchased insurance yet I was told I would qualify for the waver.

 

Am I allowed to post which TA and insurance company it was?

 

You can post the insurance company, CSA. HTH, Travel Guard......

 

But, this really shoud be taken to another thread such as the Insurance section of CC.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

[kissimmee family]

 

You can post the insurance company, CSA. HTH, Travel Guard......

 

But, this really shoud be taken to another thread such as the Insurance section of CC.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

 

I answered you in the other thread.

[cambriah]

First of all, let me thank all of you who responded to my "Thread".

I had no idea that the few questions I asked would be so controversial and would create such a fire-storm of strong opinions. Based, in part, on responses to my Thread we have decided to book a Concierge Class Stateroom since we have no interest in The Spa, and prefer to have dinner in a larger Dining Room where we will have a chance to meet and mingle with other Cruisers. ( That is not to say that we didn't consider Aqua Class.)

 

Besides, the Cocierge Class was only $50 more than the Standard Balcony Stateroom and since we will be celebrating our 50th Anniversary while we are on this cruise, this seemed to be the right choice for us.

 

My wife thinks that I am the last of the big time spenders, and my reply to that (being from New York is) ... "FUGGEDABOUTIT"!

 

 

Happy cruiising to all and THANKS AGAIN!!!

 

Lee and Janet (The OP)