Summit deck 11 AQ aft balconies & SECRET PERKS !!!

Just off the Summit, repo San Juan to Bayonne. I had spend a few months trying to figure out the balcony configurations on those deck 11 aft cabins. I was scrambling for any photos that were s-l-o-w-l-y leaking out.

There were lots of theories about privacy, how they compared to the port and starboard deck 11 AQ cabins, smoke from below, soot from above, noise from below, sun from above, etc, etc.

This is something that I had made up some time ago based on what I was seeing. I had changed the shape of the aft balconies:

This turned out to be pretty accurate.

Overhang

Cabin 1130, 1138, 1140, 1141, and 1133 all have a five foot long overhang above your head that extends from the sliding door aft. This is GREAT for rainy days, getting out of the sun, and privacy from above.

You can see the overhang here:

Now compare to the overhang on the port and starboard cabins:

They have a two foot overhang at the most.

Balcony Length

The aft balconies extend this far (measured by size 12 shoe):

Cabin 1140: 13 feet from sliders to railing on both sides.

Cabin 1138: 13 feet from sliders to railing on one side.

9 feet from sliders to railing on the other side.

Cabin 1141: Same as 1138.

Cabin 1130: 9 feet from sliders to railing on both sides.

Cabin 1133: Same as 1130.

All of these balconies are very large and comfortable, especially in comparison to the port and starboard balconies which are smaller and more exposed.

You can see the extension of those balconies here:

Back to the aft cabins:

Privacy from below

Cabin 1140: The most private because the side walls extend the farthest and the canvas from the Sunset Bar completely surrounds this balcony.

Cabin 1138 and 1141:

People at the aft corners of the Sunset Bar can see you if your are at the railing due to the angle of the rail and the fact that the canvas cover over the Sunset Bar stops just past this balcony.

Cabin 1130 and 1133:

The least private because the canvas covering the sunset bar does not extend under this balcony and the fact that these balconies are closest to the stairs leading to deck 11.

This was taken from the extreme starboard corner of the Sunset Bar:

This was taken from cabin 1138:

There is a small space between the canvas top over the Sunset Bar and the floor of all the aft balconies. Not a big deal but something to consider if you are standing on your balcony about three feet from the railing wearing something less than acceptable for public viewing. You would have to be sitting at the tables in the Sunset Bar and really trying to sneak a peak to see anything up there. I never once say anyone looking up through this peephole.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Thanks for the pictures and description, this really helps to understand the pluses and minuses of these cabins!

Thanks so much for posting this! I know exactly which AQ cabin I want to book for our Bermuda cruise now. :)

Thanks so much for the info. It has been hard to find info on these cabins I have cabin 1141 booked for our upcoming cruise this is are 1st time on celebrity. Can't wait to hear more. Thanks again.

Privacy from above

There is a very large deck above the deck 11 cabins. It is very quiet up there and there are a few loungers. I wasn't able to find many pics of this deck before my cruise. So here is one that I took:

There was never much activity up there during the cruise. One sea day I saw a dozen or so people in the chairs near the structure and a couple of people in chairs near the railing. It was always VERY windy up there.

Looking down on the aft balconies:

Down from starboard side (same on port side of course).

Down from midship.

All of the cabins have the same amount of privacy from above because they share the same overhang. After the overhang stops cabin 1140 continues further out on both sides, and cabins 1138 and 1140 also continue out further but at an angle. There is plenty of room to sit out in 1140 and the two angled balconies (1138 and 1141) and not be seen by anyone from above on deck 12 or from anyone below on deck 10 for that matter. I figured that you could be about 7 feet from your sliders and be in complete privacy on these three balconies. Now if someone had long arms and a camera, they might get a better view.:D

You can also see the small space between the canvas of the Sunset Bar and the floors of these balconies. The Peephole :)

Here is a pic of the starboard side deck 11 balconies from above:

Smoke from below

Cabin 1138: We didn't smell any smoke on this balcony. Even when one woman was smoking at the bar on the starboard side. She was even in the last seat on the starboard side...naughty, naughty.

Smoke from above

One day we noticed soot on the balcony. Just little black specks on the floor. It was enough to make your feet dirty, and as my wife put it, enough to really make you mad if you had sat out there in your white dinner dress prior to going down to dinner.

Other days, we didn't notice it at all.

Noise from below

In the morning you might here an occasional plate clanging here and there with the breakfast people coming out from the trough.

Conversations were rarely ever heard, even in port. You could hear typical bar noise like alcohol induced cackling from time to time, but I knew that going in and it never bothered us up there. Although we left the aft bar one afternoon due to few people making sure that they got way more than their monies worth from their "package". Once up top, they blended well into the background.

Noise from above

On one morning you could hear the faint footsteps of a jogger that went beyond the red "track" and headed upstairs to deck 12, made a loop around the big space up there, and trampled off the other side. I was surprised at how muffled it was. Not anything that would have bothered my sleep.

Other than that it is very quiet from above.

Wind

This is one of the best things about these aft cabins...NO WIND. I found this ship to be very windy, even at the pool. In fact on the last sea day heading to NJ from Bermuda it was so windy and cold at the pool we went back to the aft balcony. The wind was gone completely. This had to be the best seat in the house that day.

More to follow

I wish I had your review a few months ago! I was so afraid of problems with the aft cabins I stayed away from booking them on our Bermuda cruise next week and on our next cruise in October and decided to stay with one of the other deck 11 cabins. One of my biggest concerns was the smoke coming up from the Sunset Bar, especially the cigar smoke at night which can be very overpowering.

Thank you so much for your review.

Gail

Cabin 1138 Secret Perks

This only applies to the Summit and this particular cabin. I found two very interesting things on day one.

First, the mirror in the bathroom is heated. Yes, heated. It was hot not warm almost every minute of the entire cruise. I first noticed this when I bent down to brush my teeth. You could feel the heat as you got closer to the mirror. You could put your hand on the mirror and it was hot to the touch. Some of the benefits of this arrangement are that the mirror NEVER fogged up. The hottest shower produced no fog whatsoever. You never had a cold toilet seat either. You could hang wet clothes on the line in the shower, leave one of the doors open and I can guarantee that your clothes dried quicker than anyone else's did.

I asked a few people on the same deck about their mirrors and nope, we were the only cabin with a heated mirror. There must be something behind it that generates heat and this heat is transferred to the mirror.

I never did ask the room attendant about it. I meant to but never did get around to it.

the second perk can only be described with a photo:

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Yes, those are two padded loungers !!!

I thought that we might end up with two plain chairs, or be thrilled with two reclining chairs, or be in seventh heaven with two reclining chairs and a footstool.

But padded loungers :D

On the first day, we were on the boat ahead of most people and I took the opportunity to peak around a couple of corners and guess what. Everyone else seems to have gotten chairs and footstools.

This was a pic of 1140 from day one...

Nice, but not padded loungers.

I did have one of the best naps ever on my secret perk. One afternoon on a sea day I went out there with a couple of pillows from the bed, a couple of big 'ol pool towels, a couple of cocktails, and what a nap.

Thanks to whoever put those out there. If Celebrity is reading this...I'm making this whole thing up. I Photoshop'ed those in there and there is no need to go look. You'll only embarrass yourself when you get there. :p

MORE TO FOLLOW

I almost forgot a perk

I believe that all of the AQ cabins have these...

My wife absolutely loved this. She said that she wants one in every bathroom in the house. Go figure.

Final Thoughts

These aft cabins do have pro's and con's.

In the end was this cabin the right choice???

Now that I am back home I can reflect on my time on the Summit. I have another four or five paragraphs in my head, but instead, how about this for my final thought about whether we made the right choice...

Thanks for this. We are booked in 1130 for Jan 2013.

Are you saying that if we are sitting on our balcony under the overhang that we can be seen?

... the mirror in the bathroom is heated. Yes, heated. It was hot not warm almost every minute of the entire cruise. I first noticed this when I bent down to brush my teeth. You could feel the heat as you got closer to the mirror. You could put your hand on the mirror and it was hot to the touch. Some of the benefits of this arrangement are that the mirror NEVER fogged up. The hottest shower produced no fog whatsoever. ....

The fog-free mirror is a standard feature of AQ staterooms on all ships. It is listed on Celebrity's web site as "Stateroom Feature" in the general description of AQ cabins and benefits. I was pleasantly surprised by this on our last cruise (first time in AQ) as well. I looked it up after the cruise and saw it listed as a feature. http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/level3Type3.do?pagename=onboard_celebrity_staterooms_aqua_class&parentpage=onboard_celebrity_staterooms

Final Thoughts

....my final thought about whether we made the right choice...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you can tell a professional sun worshiper by the quality of the tan on the feet. Nice tan on those feet! And yes, this picture is worth at lease a thousand words.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations.

Thanks for this. We are booked in 1130 for Jan 2013.

Are you saying that if we are sitting on our balcony under the overhang that we can be seen?

Probably.

The fog-free mirror is a standard feature of AQ staterooms on all ships. It is listed on Celebrity's web site as "Stateroom Feature" in the general description of AQ cabins and benefits. I was pleasantly surprised by this on our last cruise (first time in AQ) as well. I looked it up after the cruise and saw it listed as a feature. http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/level3Type3.do?pagename=onboard_celebrity_staterooms_aqua_class&parentpage=onboard_celebrity_staterooms

I'll be derned. Was your mirror actually hot? I had never read about this before and had asked a few people that we met...in AQ.

 

 

Probably.

Love it!:rolleyes:

I think you can tell a professional sun worshiper by the quality of the tan on the feet. Nice tan on those feet! And yes, this picture is worth at lease a thousand words.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations.

Thanks,

Yes we spent quite a few hours on beaches that week, plus four extra days in PR as well. We went to Flamenco Beach on Culebra while we were there. That beach is one of the prettiest, most natural beaches I have ever seen.

Here is a pic that I took...

Oh, that's right I don't have any pics of Culebra as my well researched, purchased two months ago, super-duper, semi-pro, $420.00, Canon s100 pocket camera, with a hundred hours of self training preparing for this trip, crapped out on me in PR. :mad:

Thanks a lot Canon, you owe me one trip to Culebra Island. I'll be waiting by my mailbox out front.

All pics were taken with a cheapo Panasonic backup camera. :)

I'll be derned. Was your mirror actually hot? I had never read about this before and had asked a few people that we met...in AQ.

I never touched it to see. But was impressed that there was a definite no-fog zone. We considered buying medicine cabinets for a bathroom remodel that had electric fog free mirrors in a bathroom remodel a few years back but found some "regular" ones that were about $1,500 less and decided to wipe the fog off manually.

Great pictures thanks so much. Did you have any of your meals in blu? Do you have any more pictures of your cabin? Does those stairs lead us right down to the bar if so I would think this is another perk of these cabins.

Thank you for your info. We will be staying in 1138 in sept. Hope the loungers are still there. Just a question -are the rooms set up with storage above the bed and the closet next to it on the side? Great pictures. Can't wait.

I never tested our mirror on Eclipse in April, but thinking about it I don't remember it fogging up after a shower!

Thanks for the pictures and info! We are booked in 1138 on Summit next March!!

Could not get these cabins for our Alaska cruise....sold out....and took 1111 and 1113. I hope the overhang will at least keep out some of the rain.

Will the Deck 11 balcony partitions open? Looks like they are solidly connected to the rail, but the inner section might?

 

 

Probably.

Will the Deck 11 balcony partitions open? Looks like they are solidly connected to the rail, but the inner section might?

These two photos of starboard balconies and aft 1139 show partitions in open position

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=32807270&postcount=1

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mnm0eyEFS5U/Ty7FYiMKBOI/AAAAAAAAASo/glrKrFhdii8/s640/DSCN0639.JPG

MrJulius, thank you....thank you...thank you! My wife and I will be in 1138 on June 17th, and it's all I can do NOT to think about this cruise every waking moment (41 days and counting!):)! Seeing the pictures of the stateroom has me even more excited to set foot on the Summit. And the padded loungers....icing on the cake! Thanks a bunch for taking the time to write a review and take some awesome pictures!

My husband was fascinated that only the part of the mirror above the sink in our AQ cabin on Silhouette was clear after a shower. He also touched it and found out it was heated as compared to the other side (I just thought they had sprayed it with an anti-fog spray). I can't remember for sure, but I think he determined that the heater was activated when the bathroom lights were turned on. He was so impressed he vowed he would install a heater in our bathroom mirror when we remodel next.