What's better on M-Class, Sky Class Suite Guarantee or Family Veranda?

[mahdnc]

22 hours ago, njsmom said:

Hey, the Ultra Deluxe is already showing available again if anyone wants it, room #8166 - I know it's a fantastic room. They are super fast updating in real time on their site, eh?!

 

Your UV cabin is gone.  That was fast.  It reminds me of those synthetic isotopes that are made in the laboratory and only exist for a few minutes. 

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Your UV cabin is gone.  That was fast.  It reminds me of those synthetic isotopes that are made in the laboratory and only exist for a few minutes. 

Not surprised.  IMHO those are the absolute best cabins to sail to Alaska on cruises through the inside passage or fjiord.  I'm usually a 'grab a suite if you can afford it' type of person but in Alaska scenery is king and since this cruise I assume sails through the Inside Passage that would have been the #1 cabin for viewing.  But suites are also awesome so I'm sure the OP will have a great time

[Sigyn]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Your UV cabin is gone.  That was fast.  It reminds me of those synthetic isotopes that are made in the laboratory and only exist for a few minutes. 

Wow, that was fast! Funny analogy. 

[Sigyn]

53 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Not surprised.  IMHO those are the absolute best cabins to sail to Alaska on cruises through the inside passage or fjiord.  I'm usually a 'grab a suite if you can afford it' type of person but in Alaska scenery is king and since this cruise I assume sails through the Inside Passage that would have been the #1 cabin for viewing.  But suites are also awesome so I'm sure the OP will have a great time

That was a tough call for me. That deck looked superb! 

[Sigyn]

Interesting - received a MoveUp email a few hours ago and Celebrity based it on the Ultra Deluxe Veranda that I was in until yesterday. I've attached the screenshot below. The top one, with the name cut off, is the Royal Suite, at $1,500 pp minimum bid, and the bottom one is the Sky Suite at $700 pp minimum bid. I paid $1,940 more to get the suite guarantee yesterday, so $540 higher than the minimum MoveUp bid and I get all of the goodies such as Premium Drinks, Premium Wi-Fi and gratuities that come with doing it that way and not as a MoveUp. (I think those aren't included in MoveUp bids, at least.)

[mahdnc]

10 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Interesting - received a MoveUp email a few hours ago and Celebrity based it on the Ultra Deluxe Veranda that I was in until yesterday. I've attached the screenshot below. The top one, with the name cut off, is the Royal Suite, at $1,500 pp minimum bid, and the bottom one is the Sky Suite at $700 pp minimum bid. I paid $1,940 more to get the suite guarantee yesterday, so $540 higher than the minimum MoveUp bid and I get all of the goodies such as Premium Drinks, Premium Wi-Fi and gratuities that come with doing it that way and not as a MoveUp. (I think those aren't included in MoveUp bids, at least.)

 

The minimum bid doesn't guarantee that you will win the Move Up.  So a successful Move Up bid could likely be higher.

 

My understanding is that whatever perks you had with the original booking (gratuities, etc) is what you have after the Move Up.

 

Also you don't get the extra Club Points (loyalty club brochure) associated with the cabin one successfully moves up to.  However in your case, you do.

 

Plus you save $200 today.  You should feel like a winner.

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by mahdnc

[AF-1]

I just got off Apex in a Sky Suite.  It was my first Celebrity cruise.  I was impressed with the Sky Suite cabin, it was very modern, the bathroom was great;  our butler was great and chatted with me every day to see if I needed any thing.  The Retreat Hosts were superb.  They rebooked a couple shore excursions for me.  All in all a very nice trip.  Cheers

[Sigyn]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

The minimum bid doesn't guarantee that you will win the Move Up.  So a successful Move Up bid could likely be higher.

 

My understanding is that whatever perks you had with the original booking (gratuities, etc) is what you have after the Move Up.

 

Also you don't get the extra Club Points (loyalty club brochure) associated with the cabin one successfully moves up to.  However in your case, you do.

 

Plus you save $200 today.  You should feel like a winner.

 

 

Okay, that's what I thought. So if I had won the MoveUp with the minimum, I would have just had the cabin, with no perks like drink, wifi or tips. Yup, I feel like a winner today. And I have the extra $200 off. 

I'm looking forward to the cruise. I am well aware that I will likely fall in love with the suite life and never want to go lower. But I'm also too cheap to pay high prices for suites. So it's a quandary. Not gonna worry about it, tho. Just gonna enjoy. 

[Sigyn]

I just received a MoveUp email offering new prices and reflecting the fact that I'm booked for a Sky Suite at this point. I'm going to have to make a few offers. Quite tempting! The only rooms that even show availability on the sites that show all of the open cabins are one penthouse suite and one aqua suite. So I doubt there will be much of an opportunity for MoveUps. Still, it's always fun to give it a go. 

[neverlaysup]

If the math works out to be equal, book the suite. The extra points, Retreat and Sundeck will make it a better experience. I have been in the FV and the room is huge as well as the balcony but I would still take the suite if you were already planning on buying drinks, WIFI....

[mahdnc]

Since you are new to Celebrity:

 

Here is a Celebrity brochure giving you more information about the amenities for each different type of suite: link.  The amenities chart is in the screenshot below and if you tap/click on it, it will be more readable.

 

A few comments that I have from observation and study (versus actual suite experience, so take it with a grain of salt):

 

1. The Penthouse Suite first appeared on Century class ships (those ships are long gone) and has been on every class since then (Solstice and Edge classes).  There are some suite enthusiasts on this forum that will say that they like the Millennium class version of the Penthouse Suite the best.  

 

2. The Royal Suite does pick up some nice additional perks that the lower suites do not have.  This is evident from the chart.  Everyone who stays in one seems to like it.

 

3. When the Millennium class ships were first built, the Celebrity Suite did not have a balcony.  The designers evidently felt that the large panel of floor-to-ceiling windows would be enough.  Celebrity obviously decided in hindsight that this was a big error and they retrofitted the Celebrity Suites with balconies years later when the ships were drydocked.  I know when I first read about the Celebrity Suites, I thought that it was a big mistake not to have a balcony.  However I thought that it might be very advantageous for cold weather scenery such as Alaska--these are one of the best views from a cabin window in the fleet..  Now with a balcony, maybe you get the best of both worlds for Alaska.  I am not familiar enough with the retrofitted balcony design to know how usable the balcony really is--in other words did they design it to be deep enough to be usable or were there concessions made because of other limitations.

 

4. Aqua Sky Suites were formerly classified as Sky Suites--although these Sky Suites were considered to be superior because their balcony was bigger than the normal Sky Suite (interior for a couple of them are larger than the normal Sky Suite, too).  They have been re-branded as Aqua Sky Suites with spa perks and an additional higher cruise fare.  AquaClass cabin passengers eat at the Blu restaurant (supposed to have healthier food I think), but I think Aqua Sky Suite passengers are assigned to Luminae but may have access to Blu by request (I am not completely sure about that last sentence).

 

Remember that you will not pick up the higher Club Points per night for the any of the suites if you get them through a MoveUp.  You will still get the 8 points per night that is assigned to your Sky Suite--still not shabby.

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by mahdnc