aquaclass vs sky suite

[Lonedaddy]

I've stayed in a sky and royal pre"retreat" days with luminae.  Look at 12 day apex out of Rome and comparing the two since the "sky"" suite prices have "sky" rocketed it seems to me.  with the sky it costs around 15,000 and the aqua 10,800 (with the streaming premium and credit package) .  with the aqua you gain the thermal spa (not sure how much that package is but last time I looked it was like 50 a day so 600 for 1 person ( DW would use it, i'd use it if included but wouldn't pay extra)

 

So with the aqua you have blu vs luminae.  (luminae is much better imhop) but for the price difference almost 5K - you can eat at a specialty every night.  I guess the other perks lost are the butler, the retreat pool and lounge priority boarding privileges.  - are there any other big lost perks that I'm missing.  just trying to rationalize spending the extra on the sky suite.

 

has anyone else done this analysis?

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

I've stayed in a sky and royal pre"retreat" days with luminae.  Look at 12 day apex out of Rome and comparing the two since the "sky"" suite prices have "sky" rocketed it seems to me.  with the sky it costs around 15,000 and the aqua 10,800 (with the streaming premium and credit package) .  with the aqua you gain the thermal spa (not sure how much that package is but last time I looked it was like 50 a day so 600 for 1 person ( DW would use it, i'd use it if included but wouldn't pay extra)

 

So with the aqua you have blu vs luminae.  (luminae is much better imhop) but for the price difference almost 5K - you can eat at a specialty every night.  I guess the other perks lost are the butler, the retreat pool and lounge priority boarding privileges.  - are there any other big lost perks that I'm missing.  just trying to rationalize spending the extra on the sky suite.

 

has anyone else done this analysis?

If you base your choice primarily on overall bottom line cost of your cruise then Aqua will always win.  So if money is the most important factor go with Aqua and dine in Blu and in Specialty restaurants as you point out.   If you want a larger room and all benefits of the Retreat and Luminae and those are very important factors - or a significant value to you over the cabin cost alone- then a suite.  

[DCPIV]

I think you pretty much got it figured out, other than loyalty points and missing out on any events that may be scheduled for Retreat only (officers reception, helipad sailaway).  I don't know if that's really a "big perk."

[Panzano]

Another factor is that aqua class staterooms on Edge Class ships have infinite verandas.  For us that’s a deal breaker as we don’t like infinite verandas.  We’d choose a sunset veranda over aqua on Edge class ships anytime.   

[go.without.you]

7 minutes ago, Panzano said:

Another factor is that aqua class staterooms on Edge Class ships have infinite verandas.  For us that’s a deal breaker as we don’t like infinite verandas.  We’d choose a sunset veranda over aqua on Edge class ships anytime.   

That's the exact reason I went with SS on Edge next March. It will be my 1st time on one of the newer ships but I don't really like the infinity balcony concept.

[Lonedaddy]

27 minutes ago, Panzano said:

Another factor is that aqua class staterooms on Edge Class ships have infinite verandas.  For us that’s a deal breaker as we don’t like infinite verandas.  We’d choose a sunset veranda over aqua on Edge class ships anytime.   

good point

[ChucktownSteve]

The price gap seems extremely huge for the difference between the AQ and SS cabins.  I like the Sunset veranda option even  better. It's less expensive and has the real balcony.  However I suspect availability choices are slim due to the high pricing.

 

I don't know that I'd be willing to pay so much for the ability to eat in Laminae and board early.

Edited November 5, 2021 by ChucktownSteve

[NavyCruiser]

On the other end of the scale, we were offered only $700 more for the both of us to upgrade from interior cabin to aquaclass cabin for a 5 night cruise.  We jumped on it.

The pricing for suites were "sky" high...

[mfs2k]

I went the other way than you in my thought process.  Maybe this will help you decide. 

 

My last Celebrity cruise was on "Equinox" in an Aqua cabin and we loved Blu and everything else that came with Aqua was nice but not overwhelming for us. 

A few weeks ago we booked "Beyond" for 9 nights in an Aqua cabin but a week later we started considering a Sky Suite.  

Our decision to upgrade was based on a few factors:  The Retreat deck on Beyond looks super inviting.  The extra size in the cabin was a big influence.  The upgrade to Premium beverages; wifi and an extra OBC was something we would have paid for anyway, so I factored that in the cost difference. Having a Retreat host was nice as well as priority boarding.  Luminae vs Blu wasn't very different to me, and the Retreat lounge wasn't a big factor either with so many bars already to choose from.

Ultimately we decided the extra cost was worth it and also we felt we deserved to splurge for our first post Covid real vacation.

PS:  You'll be happy either way.  Enjoy your cruise. 

[SueMo]

We’re currently on the Edge for our first Sky Suites experience, this being our 29th Celebrity cruise.  We were very excited to eat in Luminae, and to be honest, did not find it to be any better than Blu.  As a matter of fact, we ate in Blu one night and we found the food and service to be the best of the week.  
We loved our cabin, and would choose it over an infinite balcony any day of the week.  Our cabin was spotless, but the cabin steward never figured out we were early to bed early to rise people, so one night we arrived at our suite (about 9 pm) and our room hadn’t been made up for the night.  
Our butler brought us a fruit plate once, but other than that, he was pretty much invisible.  We aren’t very comfortable with asking for extra service, so that’s probably our fault.  We saw him picking up some coffees from Cafe Bacio for other guests at the end of the week, and it never occurred to us that this could be something we could ask for until it was too late.

If there were events for suite class passengers, we were not made aware of any.  

 I think in the future we would prefer Solstice class or Millennium class ships in Aqua. Or, we would consider Edge class guaranteed suites and skip the AI since our elite plus status would give us the drinks and internet.

[mark46]

isn't there a large difference in room size?

[terrydtx]

On 11/5/2021 at 10:45 AM, Panzano said:

Another factor is that aqua class staterooms on Edge Class ships have infinite verandas.  For us that’s a deal breaker as we don’t like infinite verandas.  We’d choose a sunset veranda over aqua on Edge class ships anytime.   

That's a great reason for a Sky Suite,  all have conventional balconies,  we do not like the IV, but love the Retreats in E class ships. 

[ChucktownSteve]

5 hours ago, mark46 said:

isn't there a large difference in room size?

 

According to the Celebrity website, Apex/Edge Sky Suites range from Sq ft: 254-362 interior / 57-102 terrace while Aqua is 201 Sqft and the Veranda is 42 Sqft

[terrydtx]

After our first Sky Suite experience on the Equinox, after several Aqua Class cruises, we decided to only book Sky Suites on future Celebrity cruises. Our two cruise lines of choice are now Celebrity and Oceania and when we book a cruise, we look at itineraries and then compare O to X. On O we like their concierge class, cabins which on the newer ships are about the same size as a Sky Suite. On our upcoming cruises, O was a better deal on the Baltic cruise and Celebrity was better for our 3 cruises booked on the Apex and the Edge. The Apex cruise in 2023 is 12 nights from Amsterdam to Athens and the O cruise on the Marina was 10 nights from Southampton to Barcelona, the 12 nights in a Sky Suite was actually about the same cost as 10 nights on the Marina.  Our 2024 Edge cruise with a B2B New Zealand/ Australia for 21 nights, the Sky Suite was a lot less than the 2023 O cruises. O has not released their 2024 Down Under cruise schedules yet and when they do, we will do a comparison of the two. Our Sky suite on the Edge in 2024 for the first leg of 12 nights is about $1500pp less than the same cabin on the Apex in 2023 for 12 nights.

 

So, for us the Retreat is a smaller ship within a bigger ship experience, specially, on the E ships. The Retreat is comparable to the more expensive Premium cruise lines and very competitive too. The nice thing is, with so many varied cruise lines, we are all free to make the decisions on which ones and which class of service fits our needs and pocket books best.

[jelayne]

7 hours ago, mark46 said:

isn't there a large difference in room size?

There is a difference in sq ft, but a Sky Suite is still 1 room with the same bed, vanity/cabinet and uncomfortable sofa.  They do have a low table and a larger bathroom.  
On E class for us the decision is SV vs Sky Suite since they both have a balcony.  We did AQ once on E class and wouldn’t pay extra for it, simply because the 4 MDRs  are excellent and Blu is the reason we booked Aqua on M & SClass ships 

[graphicguy]

Obviously, this is dependent on the cruise, itinerary, ship, etc.

 

But, did this same exercise this past summer.  Granted, I got some really good deals on one particular cruise on the EDGE ($3,800 all in for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean EDGE Retreat-S2).  But, looking (I’m always looking) at some of the others to the Caribbean on the APEX next month, the Sky Suites are around $5K, give or take.

 

You get $600 OBC, Premium Drinks, Streaming WiFi, Tips included, Access to Blu (just like Aqua Class).  How much is all that worth?  I dunno….maybe an extra $1,000?  You get the premium cabin, Concierge, Luminae, Butler, Retreat specific lounges and pool areas.  But, you give up access to “free” spa you’d get with Aqua Class.

 

The delta between the two shrinks quite a bit if you look at the entire picture.