Is Aqua class worth it?

[happyscmom]

Now that they have added back the promotions to March sailings, I called and found out that I can pay extra to upgrade my cabin. There isn't a huge difference in the cost of concierge and aqua class. Is Aqua class worth the extra money? I may eat breakfast in Blu, but I love having a big table in MDR for dinners. Thoughts?

[Patrick IL.]

I believe it is. Dining in Blu is the main reason for us. Even at breakfast its nice and calm vs fighting through the buffet.

[happyscmom]

I believe it is. Dining in Blu is the main reason for us. Even at breakfast its nice and calm vs fighting through the buffet.

 

Do you have to eat dinner in Blu, or can you stick with the MDR and just do Blu if you want it? I like getting to know a table of people.

[Patrick IL.]

You can always do select dining in the main dining room, although you would not be with the same group of people. You could always ask the Matri Di (sp) in the main dining room if you could be assigned to a table that has an opening. Blu is always an option for you. You would meet folks in blu also, the tables are very close together and you tend to make friends while dining.

[hypercafe]

I like it because Blu is a calm place to eat rather than the hubbub of the MDR and is resort casual all the time.

 

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[dkjretired]

The major reason to book Aqua is for Blu, makes no sense to upgrade to Aqua if you are not going to eat dinner there.

[ozark74]

Now that they have added back the promotions to March sailings, I called and found out that I can pay extra to upgrade my cabin. There isn't a huge difference in the cost of concierge and aqua class. Is Aqua class worth the extra money? I may eat breakfast in Blu, but I love having a big table in MDR for dinners. Thoughts?

 

We love Aqua, in fact that is all we book. Eating in Blu is the most important thing. You can eat when you want, not at a set time. Sometimes we just order the main and not all the other courses. You don't have to wait for everyone at a big table to finish all the courses. Mostly tables for 2 thought there are big tables. The other big thing is I do not take a suit or formal wear. Smart casual all the time.

Edited January 15, 2015 by ozark74

[vulcan1971]

Do you have to eat dinner in Blu, or can you stick with the MDR and just do Blu if you want it? I like getting to know a table of people.

 

As other posts have commented, the main draw is Blu, but there are other wonderful perks that are fully described on the Celebrity website. If eating at a larger table is of interest to you, you can inquire with the host at Blu to see if they can seat you with a larger party.

 

However, if you would prefer to eat in the MDR and are only interested in the spa benefits, I would recommend to not upgrade. You can look into getting a day or week pass for the Persian Gardens at the spa.

Edited January 15, 2015 by vulcan1971

[Tricia724]

Something that I consider an advantage that others may not is that the Aqua cabins are limited to two people, so no 3rd and 4th occupants to add to the traffic flow and noise factor. There are never any guarantees that you won't have a noisy neighbor, but with fewer people living on your deck, the odds are better for a quiet cabin (unless you book one under the pool deck or gym -that's a different kind of problem.)

[CathyCruises]

We are among the apparently very vast minority who prefer dining at a large table in the MDR. We tried AQ, but it wasn't for us. DH and I eat dinner alone almost every night so we really look forward to making new friends from around the globe during our evening meal. To each hiss own.

 

Personally other than Blu, I did not find the perks of AQ to be all that. Mostly meaningless to me, other than possibly the footstool. Meh.

 

Also as to the comment about limited to 2 persons, I have never found any issue at all with crowded hallways or extra noise in any cabin, but we don't travel during peak periods, either.

[Iamthesea]

Now that they have added back the promotions to March sailings, I called and found out that I can pay extra to upgrade my cabin. There isn't a huge difference in the cost of concierge and aqua class. Is Aqua class worth the extra money? I may eat breakfast in Blu, but I love having a big table in MDR for dinners. Thoughts?

 

Depends on the cost difference, but I would upgrade from CC to AQ just to eat breakfast in Blu. We love dinners there, too.

 

Sadly, I cannot upgrade to AQ from our CC in March because the AQ stateroom will only hold 2. My girls and I loved eating breakfast in Blu last spring when we had a Suite. :)

Edited January 15, 2015 by Iamthesea

[welshfamily]

We would recommend Blu wholeheartedly unfortunately it is the only thing which makes AquaClass worth paying for.

If you can get a good deal it is certainly better than concierge which we personally would not pay for.

 

However if you love the large tables in the MDR We would tell you to save your cash for other treats on board.

[phoenix_dream]

If the price difference were fairly minor, I would pick AQ just to have the Blu breakfasts alone, even if you decided to eat in the MDR each night. The other benefits are very insignificant IMHO. I also enjoy a large table when DH and I are traveling alone, but if you enjoy socializing in most cases you can converse with the couple(s) in the tables next to you if you want to (although on M class they are not right on top of each other - a blessing or a curse depending on your desire for socializing). For us the benefits of Blu outweigh the minuses. And the M class Blu restaurants (at least the one we had on Summit) were much better than the S class IMHO as far as design and layout

[Northern Aurora]

We are great fans of Blu and book Aqua Class cabins for that reason. We also enjoy meeting our fellow passengers and have no problems meeting folks in Blu. The tables for two tend to be close enough that we frequently find ourselves conversing to the table beside us.

 

We have been in Aqua staterooms on both M-class and S-class ships. I agree with phoenix_dream -- I also prefer Blu on the M-class ships.

[suziec]

Now that they have added back the promotions to March sailings, I called and found out that I can pay extra to upgrade my cabin. There isn't a huge difference in the cost of concierge and aqua class. Is Aqua class worth the extra money? I may eat breakfast in Blu, but I love having a big table in MDR for dinners. Thoughts?

 

We have gone Aqua about four times. Depending on how much extra they charge. I really enjoy Blu. If they are asking a lot of difference in price we pass on it as we can eat in the specialty restaurants for less. The food in MDR is good the service is better in Blu only because smaller room.less people and the help has more time to cater to you.

[Duanerice1]

Price based decision for me. Our 10 night Eclipse ended up being only $200 total to upgrade so I jumped on it.

 

Like others have said, you sit so close to people that you can't help but strike up a conversation although you'll meet new people every night, maybe. If you tend to eat at the same time nightly you usually end up near the same people. I think they even have a larger table in Blu, not sure how you sit at it, if it is random or a set group of people every night.

 

So for us it is worth it. But if you look forward to large tables and the same group of people nightly then it's probably not for you. And if you don't go to Blu then you lose a lot of the value of Aqua Class.

 

Duane

[catugirl]

If you're in Aqua Class, your assigned dining room is Blu for breakfast and dinner. I have read on other threads that you need to talk with the maitre d if you want to eat in MDR instead. For us, Blu is great (except for a couple of dinners on Reflection when the selections were too goumet for our taste). We also enjoy the other amenities that are included in AQ. The flowers, fruit iced tea and bottled water are nice touches. We even like the canapes (although many people don't). You can request cheese and crackers if you don't care for the canapes. We really enjoy having complimentary access to the heated loungers in Persian Gardens. Also love the upgraded toiletries and the shower with all the jets. Of course priority embarkation is also a perk we really appreciate.

[bigbenboys]

For us it is the shower and location. We like AC cabins center or center aft on a high deck. We mostly book CC cabins. The spa heated table just not my thing. The food in Blu is ok. The 1st night we usually eat at Select Dining. Blu seems not to do prime rib that often and I like prime rib over a steak. The Kobe meat loaf in Blu was so bad. I always do find something to eat. You can get a steak, salmon or chicken off the left side of the menu every night. The service in Blu is great!! We normally cruise with 4 people in Aqua. We get a table of 4 in Blu. Our next cruise it will just be the 2 of us. So we will see how that goes. The food at breakfast is very good. But the tables of 2 are so close together. I'm not that interested in talking to strangers in the morning over breakfast.

 

March will be our 3rd try in Aqua. June we are in CC with group of 9 (friends and family). Aug cruise back in AQ with family.

 

Time will tell what 2016 will hold.

[colombiangirl]

Yesssssssss, Yes, Yes! We love Aqua. The only reason I didn't book my next sailing on Infinity in an Aqua cabin is because there are 3 of us. I did however score a corner aft family veranda. I will miss Blu and hope I'll be able to have dinner and breakfast at least one morning and night there. For our 2016 Equinox Transatlantic sailing we have booked AQ again. Grab it and enjoy!

 

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[melsuli]

Its worth it to those people who believe it is.

[phoenix_dream]

Just be aware there are differences by ship type. M class does not have footstools on the balcony, they do not have those nice heated loungers looking out to sea, and the spa is smaller. The showers in the cabins have glass doors, but are not comfortably sized like S class. S class Blu is a much more cramped environment, with most two-tops right on top of each other. On M class the tables are a bit more spread out and there are more window seats available. We preferred Bu on Summit over that of Solstice although be liked both.

[pmacher61]

The Celebrity Infinity had a separate, upscale breakfast room for Elite + when I last sailed. I assume this is true throughout the Celebrity fleet. The availability of this breakfast room was a pleasant perk and would further marginalize the benefit of Aqua's Blu restaurant.

Another factor further undermining the value of dining in Blu is the availability of discounted specialty restaurant packages. I have not been in Aqua or Blu, but I believe the Samsara class dining room on Costa is a similar experience. Assuming it is, I would much prefer the upscale dining in the specialty restaurants because the cost of these multi meal packages strikes me as significantly less than the cost of an upgrade from a reg veranda cabin to an Aqua class and the meal is much better. The spa admission, extra snacks, or one time flower offer, upscale soap, etc is of no importance to me.

 

For me, as an Elite+, combining a multi night specialty dining package with a reg veranda is a better value than popping for the additional cost of an Aqua unless that additional cost were on the order of $30 per day per cabin which I believe is typically a small fraction of the actual cost differential.

Edited January 16, 2015 by pmacher61

[ghstudio]

The Celebrity Infinity had a separate, upscale breakfast room for Elite + when I last sailed. I assume this is true throughout the Celebrity fleet.

 

 

There was no separate elite + breakfast area on last fall's transatlantic on the infinity. Perhaps this is something new, or something they tried on your cruise.

All elites had the same breakfast area.

[pmacher61]

There was no separate elite + breakfast area on last fall's transatlantic on the infinity. Perhaps this is something new, or something they tried on your cruise.

All elites had the same breakfast area.

I was onboard for 8 weeks from Jan 2014 to March 2014. The ship was in So American waters. I will be disappointed if this was an isolated phenomenon.

[Oxo]

My girls and I loved eating breakfast in Blu last spring when we had a Suite. :)

What did you love so much eating breakfast in Blu? Thank you!