Celebrity…I hold you responsible!

[dougocam]

Our last two cruises have been in Edge Villa’s, one the Edge and the other on Beyond. Now we are spoiled to do anything less. I blame Celebrity for this. They surely knew this would happen when these suites were originally designed. Carelessness or wreckless abandon? I don’t know, but I highly recommend you try one.

 

I will grant that they are too expensive much of the time, but you can catch bargains here and there. Well below $20,000 for two if you look for bargains. When you have an Edge Villa, your suite will be a huge part of the experience. We spent a ton of time inside our room. We aren’t in that group who cruises six times a year, so maybe once a year splurging. We love everything about them. 
 

The open two story concept makes it feel bigger than it is. The lower level is on a hallway that includes a Backdoor into the Retreat Lounge making it very handy to peek inside and see what goodies are out or to grab a cocktail, although, the full alcohol bottles they placed in the room with mixers make that largely unnecessary. The upstairs exit was slightly different on each ship. On the Beyond, we had a small sitting area that was fully covered from the elements. We did actually sit there several times. Luminae was on that deck meaning we exited from the bedroom level when dining there. However, since unlimited speciality dining is included in that suite level, we did tend to eat dinner at those. We did send a bag of laundry and some dry cleaning out, it was returned within 24 hours and looked amazing all at no charge. 

We utilized the balcony daily and spent a fair amount of time in our little pool/hot-tub. The balcony was what I consider 100% private. So if you wanted to get naked or giggy, I suppose you could. 
 

Two full bathrooms, plenty of storage, comfortable furniture, great AV equipment, full glorious two story tall windows, considerate Butler service, daily in-suite snacks and probably much I have forgotten about make these a must do if you can swing it. My next trip is on an older ship, so we will see how the Royal Suites stack up. 
 

I’m telling you….figure out a way to do this at least once in your lifetime. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

I completely believe you and have no doubt that they are wonderful!  We can swing the cost but it would blow our cruise budget for the whole year...and then some.  I like cruising too much to sink my entire budget into a single cruise.  I will have to live vicariously through others who are kind enough to share their experiences...so glad to know they live up to all the hype!  🙂

[3dog]

Yep, cruise ships and airplanes are all responsible for my travel spoils.

[Lastdance]

1 hour ago, 3dog said:

Yep, cruise ships and airplanes are all responsible for my travel spoils.

I know what you mean!

[George C]

Definitely not interested in any two story suite , although I am sure it’s spectacular. We have done penthouse on edge and loved it , last few M class has been royal suites which has same perks, free specialty restaurants and two liters of your choice of liquor. We normally bring home both bottles unless we throw a small party in suite . 

[peanut head]

Thank you for posting.  We will be in an Edge Villa on the Ascent next year and I don't hear too much about it.  So nice to hear you had a great time.

 

Out of curiosity, were your suitcases delivered to the bedroom level?

[cruisetonowhere10]

I’m in…if anyone would like to help me out the move up on my upcoming Alaskan cruise has a minimum bid of $2750pp! Looks amazing!

[George C]

17 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

I’m in…if anyone would like to help me out the move up on my upcoming Alaskan cruise has a minimum bid of $2750pp! Looks amazing!

I got my penthouse with a move up bid , I doubt 2750 will do it but you never know.

[cruisetonowhere10]

4 minutes ago, George C said:

I got my penthouse with a move up bid , I doubt 2750 will do it but you never know.

Very much not in my budget although someday when they start giving teachers bonuses I’ll spend mine on that.  😂

[George C]

36 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

Very much not in my budget although someday when they start giving teachers bonuses I’ll spend mine on that.  😂

We booked our share of inside cabins, it’s celebrity’s fault that we got addicted to suites they gave us a free upgrade on our first celebrity cruise about a dozen years ago.

[Trent0341]

You scared me with the title as I'll be in an EV in a couple of weeks.  Not our first time in an EV (second haha) but thought this post was going to be a rant about how bad something was.  Good to hear you were as happy as we were in it.  

[DaKahuna]

@dougocam  i can understand and appreciate your affinity for these suites but I will go on record and say they are not for us.  

 

 We sailed in a Crown Loft (2 story) suite on an Oasis class ship and my DW was not a fan of having to go up and down the stairs all the time.  She made me promise never to book a two story suite again. 

 

 I am assuming the price you mentioned was for a 7-night sailing.  We paid something around that price each for a 15 night, for an 13 night and for a 17 night sailings in Sky Suites.  I'd rather get double the number of days on a ship even though specialty restaurants, two bottles of liquor, and a larger suite are included.  Sky Suites are large enough and comfortable enough for us and I can force myself to make do with the Premium Beverage Package and having to go to a bar for a drink over making my own drinks in my room. 

 

 Lastly they are only available on Edge class ships and Edge class just happens to be our least favorite Celebrity ships to sail on. Granted we only sailed once on Edge (Feb 2020) but it so far has been our least favorite Celebrity experience.  Not saying we will never do Edge class again but if we do, it will not be on Edge. 

 

 Again, I appreciate your sharing your experience and recommendation but I hope you will realize why not everyone will immediately go out and book an Iconic Suite. 

 

[dougocam]

1 hour ago, peanut head said:

Thank you for posting.  We will be in an Edge Villa on the Ascent next year and I don't hear too much about it.  So nice to hear you had a great time.

 

Out of curiosity, were your suitcases delivered to the bedroom level?

They ask us which level we wanted them delivered.

[dougocam]

16 minutes ago, Trent0341 said:

You scared me with the title as I'll be in an EV in a couple of weeks.  Not our first time in an EV (second haha) but thought this post was going to be a rant about how bad something was.  Good to hear you were as happy as we were in it.  

Well, since you mentioned it….the pool was maybe or one or two degrees cooler than I like forcing me to push the button to raise the temperature. Additionally, once we were down to one can of Diet Coke before they refilled the frig. Who needs that level on anxiety on vacation? Lastly, I sprayed myself with cold water in the shower. If we had been with US territorial waters, I would have notified the FBI. But otherwise,it was good. 

[samplecd02]

3 hours ago, dougocam said:

Our last two cruises have been in Edge Villa’s, one the Edge and the other on Beyond. Now we are spoiled to do anything less. I blame Celebrity for this. They surely knew this would happen when these suites were originally designed. Carelessness or wreckless abandon? I don’t know, but I highly recommend you try one.

 

I will grant that they are too expensive much of the time, but you can catch bargains here and there. Well below $20,000 for two if you look for bargains. When you have an Edge Villa, your suite will be a huge part of the experience. We spent a ton of time inside our room. We aren’t in that group who cruises six times a year, so maybe once a year splurging. We love everything about them. 
 

The open two story concept makes it feel bigger than it is. The lower level is on a hallway that includes a Backdoor into the Retreat Lounge making it very handy to peek inside and see what goodies are out or to grab a cocktail, although, the full alcohol bottles they placed in the room with mixers make that largely unnecessary. The upstairs exit was slightly different on each ship. On the Beyond, we had a small sitting area that was fully covered from the elements. We did actually sit there several times. Luminae was on that deck meaning we exited from the bedroom level when dining there. However, since unlimited speciality dining is included in that suite level, we did tend to eat dinner at those. We did send a bag of laundry and some dry cleaning out, it was returned within 24 hours and looked amazing all at no charge. 

We utilized the balcony daily and spent a fair amount of time in our little pool/hot-tub. The balcony was what I consider 100% private. So if you wanted to get naked or giggy, I suppose you could. 
 

Two full bathrooms, plenty of storage, comfortable furniture, great AV equipment, full glorious two story tall windows, considerate Butler service, daily in-suite snacks and probably much I have forgotten about make these a must do if you can swing it. My next trip is on an older ship, so we will see how the Royal Suites stack up. 
 

I’m telling you….figure out a way to do this at least once in your lifetime. 

I agree with everything you mentioned here. I did my first EV on the Apex on a 10 night British Cruise for around 20k (in 2022 so they were recovering from Covid) and have my 8 night ABC islands on the Beyond (also around 20k) coming up on July 13 also in an EV.  Cant  wait to be on the ship

[KKB]

@dougocam Glad you enjoyed it!

 

We tried a Sky Suite last year--under $5K for a week with $800OBC made it not much more than we have paid for balconies so thought we'd try it.

It was nice. But we are rarely in our room & like to partake in activities & shows around the ship.

We decided we would rather sail 2 weeks for that price (even in an interior--the HORROR!)

For 20K we can probably sail 7 weeks on Eclass.

 

But I get it. SIL would LOVE an Edge Villa--she would rather travel infrequently, but in style.

 

It's good to have options for all styles of travelers.

Edited Tuesday at 12:26 PM by KKB

[Denny01]

We’ve done a suite - Sky suite - on a TA, then tried the Move Up on our New Zealand cruise and got it! Love the Retreat and I agree, it is Very dangerous because I just booked another for our Norway cruise. Im in trouble and its All X’s fault.

 

We started with OV, and X offered up an upgrade to a balcony on our next cruise and I said, why not…..never went back! And that was why I didnt even want to try a suite…..oh well

 

Am going standard Balcony on a few other cruises, but I look at any cruise with some At Sea times and decide it is a Retreat option

 

I thought what would I do with a butler and I kind of worried about not being around younger people and getting isolated. Not true. I mentioned to the butler that we wouldn’t be dining the next night, we had reservations for Eden and it was a bit later than normal…..the butler stepped out and called, and came back with the time we wanted. Had my birthday and yeah, previous stewards have decorated, but this time I had balloons all over the place - a great cake and a bottle of bubbly!

 

And the Retreat was grand. Very helpful in many ways - had the future cruise guy come up and meet us; knew our drink preferences; and met lots of younger people and all we met were very nice and low key. And kept enjoying the rest of the ship even though the Retreat was special. I didnt feel isolated at all.

 

I love the X common areas and I didnt see the Retreat as a Ship-within-a-Ship. Could enjoy it but not end up just there. You can do that but all X class ships have such neat common areas and we love to enjoy many of them. The Retreat is an addition, not a replacement. For us. 

 

Enough. I have to accept I wont be passing on quite as much as I had planned to the kids. At least I wont leave charge cards with a few Retreats on it for them to pay off……I hope!!

 

Den

[PTC DAWG]

19 hours ago, Trent0341 said:

You scared me with the title as I'll be in an EV in a couple of weeks.  Not our first time in an EV (second haha) but thought this post was going to be a rant about how bad something was.  Good to hear you were as happy as we were in it.  

Funny how some immediately think negative..I have personally never had a bad cruise..

Edited Tuesday at 04:47 PM by PTC DAWG

[Itchy&Scratchy]

22 hours ago, dougocam said:

Well below $20,000 for two if you look for bargains.

lol, the bargain I am looking for is under $3K for the 3 of us.

[Cruise till you drop]

Do they allow lounge chairs on the balcony 😂 

 

Sorry I couldn’t resist

[cruisetonowhere10]

18 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

lol, the bargain I am looking for is under $3K for the 3 of us.

@Itchy&Scratchy you and I must be on the same budget.  🙂 Next April the 3rd us are doing a 4 night for $1300 if I recall correctly including gratuities, air is free with points, as is hotel, not doing the drink package (going to see how it goes with such a short cruise) and will look for a deal on WiFi for 1 person 2 devices…

[cruisetonowhere10]

5 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

@Itchy&Scratchy you and I must be on the same budget.  🙂 Next April the 3rd us are doing a 4 night for $1300 if I recall correctly including gratuities, air is free with points, as is hotel, not doing the drink package (going to see how it goes with such a short cruise) and will look for a deal on WiFi for 1 person 2 devices…

Should say 3 of us and that’s a balcony 

[jagoffee]

23 hours ago, dougocam said:

Our last two cruises have been in Edge Villa’s, one the Edge and the other on Beyond. Now we are spoiled to do anything less. I blame Celebrity for this. They surely knew this would happen when these suites were originally designed. Carelessness or wreckless abandon? I don’t know, but I highly recommend you try one.

 

I will grant that they are too expensive much of the time, but you can catch bargains here and there. Well below $20,000 for two if you look for bargains. When you have an Edge Villa, your suite will be a huge part of the experience. We spent a ton of time inside our room. We aren’t in that group who cruises six times a year, so maybe once a year splurging. We love everything about them. 
 

The open two story concept makes it feel bigger than it is. The lower level is on a hallway that includes a Backdoor into the Retreat Lounge making it very handy to peek inside and see what goodies are out or to grab a cocktail, although, the full alcohol bottles they placed in the room with mixers make that largely unnecessary. The upstairs exit was slightly different on each ship. On the Beyond, we had a small sitting area that was fully covered from the elements. We did actually sit there several times. Luminae was on that deck meaning we exited from the bedroom level when dining there. However, since unlimited speciality dining is included in that suite level, we did tend to eat dinner at those. We did send a bag of laundry and some dry cleaning out, it was returned within 24 hours and looked amazing all at no charge. 

We utilized the balcony daily and spent a fair amount of time in our little pool/hot-tub. The balcony was what I consider 100% private. So if you wanted to get naked or giggy, I suppose you could. 
 

Two full bathrooms, plenty of storage, comfortable furniture, great AV equipment, full glorious two story tall windows, considerate Butler service, daily in-suite snacks and probably much I have forgotten about make these a must do if you can swing it. My next trip is on an older ship, so we will see how the Royal Suites stack up. 
 

I’m telling you….figure out a way to do this at least once in your lifetime. 

We won a bid for Edge Villa on the Edge when cruising restarted.  Many great features as you mentioned.  The second full bath/shower and massive closets were awesome. The only negative for us is that there was little shade on the balcony.  Most of the time there was no shade.  

[dougocam]

20 hours ago, samplecd02 said:

I agree with everything you mentioned here. I did my first EV on the Apex on a 10 night British Cruise for around 20k (in 2022 so they were recovering from Covid) and have my 8 night ABC islands on the Beyond (also around 20k) coming up on July 13 also in an EV.  Cant  wait to be on the ship

Tell 15106 that I miss it.

[Trent0341]

2 hours ago, dougocam said:

Tell 15106 that I miss it.

I'll pass it along lol... looking forward to it.  I'm also looking forward to seeing the difference in design in the EVs between Beyond from the last ship we were in (older E Class)... I believe it has a second outside area close to the retreat sundeck and is close to Luminae?