Newbie looking for reassurance before I book Celebrity Solstice Aqua Aft Alaska!

Hello,

I'm brand new here and have never been on a cruise. My fiance and I are both in our 30s, and are looking to book an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon June 2015. Based on my research I'm leaning toward Celebrity Solstice Sawyer Glacier (inside passage) cruise, Aqua class, rear-facing aft balcony cabin number 1674 on the 11th floor.

I've noticed it's quite a bit more to get a rear-facing aft balcony (price for 2 jumped from $3700 to $4400). But a lot of reviewers said that aft is awesome on an Alaskan cruise. On top of that, it's an extra $100 for that aft to be Aqua class (Blu really appeals to us, plus the additional little spa perks). So my total for 2 is $4500. Is this outrageous, or an average price? This would also include an extra bonus- we would choose free classic beverage package (including gratuity).

I'm about to take the plunge tonight or tomorrow, but just want to make sure I'm making a good decision! Thank you so much in advance!

If you are talking about a 7 day cruise we think its a ridiculous amount (many will disagree). We would normally expect to pay about $2000 (perhaps a bit more) for a balcony cabin on a 7 day cruise (we are talking about total cost for 2) We have an upcoming 14 day Celebrity cruise where we booked one of the higher priced "hump" balconies and are total cost is $4200 which includes the drink package, pre paid gratuities, some OBCs, etc. Having cruised a few times in Aqua Class we think that its worth about $20 per passenger day to be in Blu. As to aft balconies, you get a 180 degree view which is about the same as any other balcony. We understand that some folks just love those aft balconies, but we just do not think they are worth much extra money. As we said before, there are going to be others that disagree with our assessment, but that is what makes the world go round :).

Hank

Hello,

I'm brand new here and have never been on a cruise. My fiance and I are both in our 30s, and are looking to book an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon June 2015. Based on my research I'm leaning toward Celebrity Solstice Sawyer Glacier (inside passage) cruise, Aqua class, rear-facing aft balcony cabin number 1674 on the 11th floor.

 

I've noticed it's quite a bit more to get a rear-facing aft balcony (price for 2 jumped from $3700 to $4400). But a lot of reviewers said that aft is awesome on an Alaskan cruise. On top of that, it's an extra $100 for that aft to be Aqua class (Blu really appeals to us, plus the additional little spa perks). So my total for 2 is $4500. Is this outrageous, or an average price? This would also include an extra bonus- we would choose free classic beverage package (including gratuity).

 

I'm about to take the plunge tonight or tomorrow, but just want to make sure I'm making a good decision! Thank you so much in advance!

If you take the 0ceania air credit (instead of "free" air) and compare the amenities, you could have a balcony on a 10 day Alaska cruise on Oceania (plus TA perks and any other discounts Oceania may be offering)..

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If you take the 0ceania air credit (instead of "free" air) and compare the amenities, you could have a balcony on a 10 day Alaska cruise on Oceania (plus TA perks and any other discounts Oceania may be offering)..

 

 

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Oops! Misread your OP - I thought you were looking at $4500/person. Sorry. Nonetheless, I'd still look at Oceania for the food, small size, service etc. if you worked it right, your out of pocket cost for 10 days could be under $3500 per person (I.e., $350/day).

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Hi Hank, thanks for the reply. I've looked at quite a few travel websites, Costco, and Celebrity themselves and those were the prices. Do you think if I were to wait until closer to June that would make more sense? Where do you normally buy your cruises? That is WAY cheaper for a balcony than anything I saw online. Thanks again!

The board guidelines prohibit me from posting the name of our favored cruise agencies. But I will tell you we do not use the warehouse clubs. As to waiting, if you are booking with the Celebrity promotion, we do like their drink package. It is hard to justify delaying because if the price drops prior to final payment you can normally have the cruise "repriced" to the lower price.

As to where to buy, the only advice we can offer is to shop around among several of the major reputable online Cruise Agencies. Just Google "Discount Cruise Agencies" and just start checking out some of the agencies. We tend to start on the 2nd page of listings (just a habit). When dealing with the online agencies always check-out their cancellation terms (some charge an extra fee...which we usually avoid) and also whether they charge a fee if you later ask them to rebook the cruise (to get a lower price). Once you find 1 or 2 agencies that seem to have the best deals (online) try calling them (they all have toll free numbers) to ask if they can offer you a better deal over the phone (sometimes they are not permitted to put their best deals on the web).

Regarding one of the other posts in this thread, it is true that most of the time the agencies will offer the same exact price as the cruise line web sites. But, they then will often sweeten the deal with generous OBCs, pre paid gratutities, etc. We recently took a 25 day Princess cruise where we had so much OBCs (about $1900) that Princess had to send us a check (to refund the unused amount) when we got home. For Celebrity, it is usually easy to get an agency to at least cover gratuities. So for example, we have an upcoming Celebrity cruise that we actually booked onboard because we were able to get a hump cabin, an Elite upgrade, OBC, and drink package (normal promotion). We then immediately transferred the booking to one of our favored cruise agencies who agreed to pre pay all of our gratuities (about $350).

Hank

One consideration: excursions at Alaskan ports are very expensive. This can almost double the cost of your cruise.

I would rather save the money by not booking the AQ or the aft cabin.

The dining room food and service has been outstanding on our Celebrity cruises.

A side-facing balcony near an elevator lobby is an excellent choice.

Put the extra money towards your onboard purchases, excursions, or even a future cruise.

Recently I was attempting to book a cruise with what is probably the biggest online agency there is. Their representative started the hard sell to buy up in cabin category. After eight cruises I am somewhat savvy on the subject of cruising. As part of the upsell the representative sprinkled in a few lies. When I questioned his statements, he persisted even after checking with the cruise line for verification. I then followed up with my own call to the cruise line for further verification only to find out how bad the original representative's lies really were.

I then called the company and asked to speak to a manager who said she couldn't book the cruise after I explained the problems.

Once again I called the cruise line and found that the manager was misinformed in the information that she provided.

I followed up with another call to the major online cruise company to speak again to the manager. A friendly recording told me how important my call was to the company along with a promise from the manager to call me right back. The return call never came.

Subsequently, I called the cruise line and my call was answered promptly by a live person. My questions were answered promptly and accurately and I had my booking completed in just a few minutes. No interminable 'holds'. No repeated transfers. No repeating my identifying information over and over (three times actually). No insincere recordings about how important my call is (was).

What more could one ask for? Henceforth, I will only book my cruises directly through my selected cruise line.

Personal preference.

We love the corner aft Sky Suites. Personally, I would pay more for this and select late seating in the MDR where a honeymoon table for two will be much more private than any table for two in BLU.

If the Sky Suite is not in the budget, take an aft Concierge Class. For the difference you can pay for Persian Gardens and any other spa amenities are negligible. (You get water with aqua but if you have the drink package that doesn't put you ahead either.)

Have a fabulous honeymoon.