is aqua or concierge worth it ?

[sullyd]

we are thinking about it for 5 day dec. 2021.

[bama4cruisin]

We have not sailed aqua class so I can't comment on that.

 

re:. Concierge Class . . . I don't find the majority of the perks very significant, though I realize that is quite subjective.  For me, it depends on cost difference and which ship we are booking. On M-class ships, Concierge staterooms are noticeably larger than standard veranda.  Also, if you are close to changing tiers in CC, i.e. close to reaching elite or elite+, you would have 10 additional points.

 

we did enjoy the lunch in MDR at embarkation, but who knows if that may be impacted post-Covid.

[Caribbean Chris]

Aqua, yes.

Concierge, no.

 

With Aqua, you have and good room location and dinners nightly in the small Blu restaurant. Also use of some spa facilities without paying more.
 

With Concierge, other than a good room location, there’s not much beef IMHO.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Caribbean Chris

[39august]

Depends on how much more aqua is pp. No to concierge. With aqua you get a separate dining room,, Blu,  for both breakfast and dinner every day. Better service. Also you can ask for something off menu 24 hrs. in advance if you wish. You also have the option of ordering from the MDR menu on S class ships, and I believe on M class as well. We figure up to $400 pp over veranda  is worth it for aqua. 

[jelayne]

On a M class ship the  CC and AQ cabins are 20 sq ft larger than the regular verandas.  On the S & E class Ships the cabins are the same size.

 

IMO Concierge class are not worth more than $5 a day.  We book Aqua or Suites.  For us we prefer the AQ class dining room Blu over the main dining room.

Smaller venue less noise better service & food.

[Fouremco]

I'll only book Concierge if the price difference with a 1A is quite small as the benefits are minimal.

[garyl62]

We book concierge to get the additional Captain's Club points. Won't book Aqua because we don't really like the setup of Blu and to us the menu is just ok. Usually we book suites but if we want to save some money we'll go Concierge for the points and then book a 5 night specialty dining package. Usually ends up around the same price as Aqua give or take roughly $50 PP.

[DominicAUS]

It always pays to cost it all out. I priced a 1A to CC and CC came out cheaper than a 1A with a cabin on the hump with a bigger balcony, So it does pay to cost it all out and see what each category comes out and what’s important for you when cruising. 
 

 

 

[Pinboy]

1 hour ago, sullyd said:

we are thinking about it for 5 day dec. 2021.

Because it is a relatively short cruise , I would not book either if you are on an S Class ship.

The cabin size will be the same unless you book one on the hump which has a larger balcony.

Instead, prior to sailing, have a look at the MDR daily dinner menu on Celebrity's app and if you are not happy with the choices, treat yourself to a Specialty restaurant. You can see a sample menu of each on line. IMO, Murano is the best .

[DrKoob]

We book Aqua on S-class because we want Blu. The advantage is the smaller room (much quieter than the MDR) and you can eat an amazing breakfast there (really early if you are going off the ship on a port day). You also have an outstanding service staff who greet you by name on the second morning. Best service I have had on an X ship. 

 

On an M-class we only book Concierge to get an aft cabin with one of those amazing and huge verandahs. We have been in them every single time we have sailed on an M-class ship (8 times) and we love them. If we can't get an aft, we skip both because we don't like Blu on the M-class as the dining room is carved out of the MDR while it is built from scratch on the S-class.

 

Hope this helps.

[Cruise a holic]

Having sailed both multiple times, the perks include extra captains club points for both.  The location of the Concierge class cabins is better, and supposedly you get better towels and linens.  AQ gives you some additional (useless) perks in your cabin, smelly atomizer, horrible tea- The biggest difference for AQ is Blu- which we didn't enjoy.  Some people rave about the mixed cereal- which we can eat at home- so really not special.   Tables for two on top of each other- one long row- food not great at all IMO.  You do get access to the persian lounge- which we used once.  The location of the cabins, especially on the M class ships isn't ideal.  Priority boarding with both- doesn't really save you much or any time.

 

If you do not need the CC points, and cannot do a suite- I would highly recommend a well located balcony cabin and with the money saved, book multiple dinners in speciality restaurants.

 

My opinion, others might disagree.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Cruise a holic

[leck57]

We have done Concierge and wouldn't waste the money again. The extras are not worth it - the binoculars were barely better than having none, and on a cruise you hardly need the afternoon canapes. I would wonder whether paying extra just to get extra points would turn out to be worth it and in my opinion, why try to be tied to one cruise line anyway. 

[hcat]

We have  almost always booked AQ Class for better boarding position ( no longer always the case vs Concierge),  full access to  Relaxation Room, Persian Garden/Thermal suite ( very nice on S Class ships,  amazing on EDGE) ; and access to BLU ( smaller dining area,  healthier food,  great breakfast, better service & usually quieter than the din in the mdr) 

 

 .Exception was EDGE where we preferred the 4 mdr plan compared to BLU...on EDGE we disliked the loation, lack of view and acoustics in BLU and had slow  service from the kitchen.

 

On some ships Concierge offers larger cabin, more storage shelves unless they have been updated..but stil favor AQ Class

[1025cruise]

I've booked Concierge, mainly because I like the cabin location. The double points is nice, as is the embarkation lunch. Otherwise, that's the only reason I book it.

[K.T.B.]

15 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

Aqua, yes.

Concierge, no.

 

With Aqua, you have and good room location and dinners nightly in the small Blu restaurant. Also use of some spa facilities without paying more.
 

With Concierge, other than a good room location, there’s not much beef IMHO.

 

Completely the opposite for me.

 

I hated Blu.  I much prefer the main dining room.  And while the spa facilities are nice, we weren't able to take full advantage of them because, on our cruise, it was always crowded.  It was not an enjoyable experience for us.

 

I really like Concierge, I do like the perks, plus location, location, location.

 

I'd rather spend less money for the perks minus the spa and separate dining room.  IMO, rather than make Blu the only option, they should give people the choice when booking where they want to dine.  Then I might reconsider.  We had to "jump through some hoops" to go to the main dining room and get away from Blu.  We ended up making it any time dining then.

[Saturngrl]

I love Concierge class!   Better cabin location, the embarkation day lunch in the MDR (preventing me from dealing with buffet crowds),  the welcome bottle of bubbly, the occasional surprise event (like sailaway on the helipad from some ports) for Concierge and the dedicated disembarkation day lounge are all worth it to me. 

 

I appreciate the mixed reviews on Blu....I've looked at the menues and they never tempted me to go Aqua class.  

 

To each his/her own. 

[Langley Cruisers]

7 hours ago, leck57 said:

We have done Concierge and wouldn't waste the money again. The extras are not worth it - the binoculars were barely better than having none, and on a cruise you hardly need the afternoon canapes.

Agreed - the afternoon canapes were sad little morsels, barely edible if they had been sitting for hours until you finally got back to your cabin to eat them. 🤪 We didn't use the binoculars (wouldn't anyway), but we did order the bottle of sparkling wine and shared a toast with my sister and BIL who were traveling in another cabin. That was nice, but not worth the extra money, for us.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Langley Cruisers

[njcanuck]

We love Aquaclass and Blu and have done it several times on the S-Class ships.   We always try to book on the Port side forward on deck 11 so we can use the back door into the Relaxation lounge which many times is totally  private and a great place to hang out in the early evening before dinner.

 

I usually visit the Persian Gardens once or twice as well.  (I enjoy some time on the heated lunges for my back)

 

On the M-Class we have only had 1 cruise (1 in the future).  Both times the price for Aquaclass was too high so we booked one of the sweet sixteen cabins and did a couple nights of dining in the specialty restaurants the 1st time.   Next time we have $800 in OBC so we have Chief's table + Tuscan Grill + Qsine booked.

 

Overall anything below $3-400 delta and we would go Aquaclass.  I don't see any reason we would go for concierge.

 

We haven't been on the E-class ships yet, with the 4 MDR's to sample I'd probably skip aqua the first time and then decide.
 

[QCAZ]

We do like Concierge and what we book.  Better cabin locations and depending on class larger.  We do like the more relaxed boarding day lunch.... not fond of buffets anyway and boarding day usually very crowded and hectic ... also able to leave carry on luggage (though now can drop off in cabin I guess).  We switch out the bottle of bubbly for Prosecco.  The little canapés are kinda fun and generally get them right about the time we return to the cabin.  We also really like having the expanded room service menu for breakfast as found we prefer to have breakfast on our balcony .... nice way to start the day and we don’t need to rush getting dressed and out.  The double points and other little perks are nice as well, but not the main draw.  
 

Aqua does not appeal to us mainly because most cabin locations are not desirable.  Persian Gardens and the other perks over concierge not a draw.  Know many people love Blu but for us menu just not real appealing and though the dinning room may be smaller it is still crowded and tables very close together.   We get a specialty dinning package and break up MDR with that  ..... far more enjoyable.  

[D C]

On 9/15/2020 at 6:01 AM, Cruise a holic said:

Having sailed both multiple times, the perks include extra captains club points for both.  The location of the Concierge class cabins is better, and supposedly you get better towels and linens.  AQ gives you some additional (useless) perks in your cabin, smelly atomizer, horrible tea- The biggest difference for AQ is Blu- which we didn't enjoy.  Some people rave about the mixed cereal- which we can eat at home- so really not special.   Tables for two on top of each other- one long row- food not great at all IMO.  You do get access to the persian lounge- which we used once.  The location of the cabins, especially on the M class ships isn't ideal.  Priority boarding with both- doesn't really save you much or any time.

 

If you do not need the CC points, and cannot do a suite- I would highly recommend a well located balcony cabin and with the money saved, book multiple dinners in speciality restaurants.

 

My opinion, others might disagree.

 

 

This sums up our opinion pretty well.  We've not been impressed with Blu.  Better service, yes, but the menu generally isn't to our liking over the MDR.

 

Extra points are nice in either Concierge or Aqua if you see $ value in attaining Elite faster.

 

The cabin size on M-class is nice, and it's hard to put a value on that for someone else.   We'll shoot for angled balconies on the hump to get more space there, regardless of room category, so no need to pay for a bigger balcony.   Though we will pay a bit more for Aqua rooms on Deck 11 on M-class despite not caring much about the other "perks".  Love the location!

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, D C said:

 

 

This sums up our opinion pretty well.  We've not been impressed with Blu.  Better service, yes, but the menu generally isn't to our liking over the MDR.

 

Extra points are nice in either Concierge or Aqua if you see $ value in attaining Elite faster.

 

The cabin size on M-class is nice, and it's hard to put a value on that for someone else.   We'll shoot for angled balconies on the hump to get more space there, regardless of room category, so no need to pay for a bigger balcony.   Though we will pay a bit more for Aqua rooms on Deck 11 on M-class despite not caring much about the other "perks".  Love the location!

Actually we dislike the location of the cabins on Deck 11.  Under the gym and pool.  The only cabins that worked for us were directly under the hair salon- some however are slightly obstructed.  But we preferred them to other locations.  Since we no longer book AQ no longer an issue.  Cabins above and below and midship is our preferred location on all ships.

[wrk2cruise]

I'm sure they were talking about deck 11 on "M" class ships where there are no cabins above you and the area is fairly private.  We like this area as well.

[D C]

30 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

I'm sure they were talking about deck 11 on "M" class ships where there are no cabins above you and the area is fairly private.  We like this area as well.

Correct. The only potential issue is noise from the lounging area where they play movies.  We were last in one of the deck 11 rooms towards the front of that area and it was fine. 

[dani negreanu]

We like the location of Concierge cabins. M-class -- much roomier.

 

Usually we book balconies, and then start monitoring rates. Our last 3 cruises, the rates for Concierge went down considerably after FP, and we were able to upgrade for free.

 

I wouldn't pay more, but if it's free -- why not? And having the concierge take care of our check in and boarding passes is a nice perk.

 

We tend to eat only on buffets, so Blu doesn't appeal to us, and neither the additional points, since we're already Elite (by way of being Diamond on Royal). Being Elite, you can also have a nice b'fast in Tuscany....

[Pinboy]

10 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Being Elite, you can also have a nice b'fast in Tuscany....

The Tuscan Grill is a great spot for a second breakfast ( after the MDR ) --- excellent selections, 3 cappuccinos , quiet, relaxing , excellent service ---  We are going to miss it.