Is Concierge Class worth it on S-class ship?

Given that a Veranda and Concierge Stateroom are identical in size and layout on S-class ships, is the additional fare charged for a Concierge cabin worth it?

Before you answer, assume that the two cabins that I am being offered are almost identical in location, halfway between the two sets of elevator banks, with the C2 Concierge cabin on deck 10 and the 1B Veranda on deck 9.

So the question is are the additional amenities/services worth the extra cost for the cabin. For me the extra cost would be about $275 for a 7 day cruise. On the one hand that is not a lot of money unless the "extra's" are of little value. For me, please assume the following have no value:

• The upgraded toiletries; I always bring my own preferred brands
  
• Extra hair dryer; I don't even use the one provided
  
• All dining room arrangements and specialty reservations have already been completed and I got all my first choices
  
• Shore excursions are all arranged
  
• I don't drink blanc du blanc wine--it give me a headache
  
• I pack my own satin robe; I find ship provided robes too warm in the tropics
  
• Express Luggage delivery and priority disembarkation have no value as I carry my own luggage on and I use early self disembarkation
  
• I will embark around 2pm so there will be no wait and I will not use a special port lounge for concierge class passengers
  

So beyond what I won't need or use, is the "Personalized Concierge service", some fruit and canape in the room, more breakfast choices on sea days when I order room service, a free shoe shine, a massaging showerhead (don't all staterooms have handheld showerheads, perhaps sans massage?) 2 footstools on the veranda and perhaps services and amenities that I don't know about (and would love to hear about) really worth the extra cost of $40/day. BTW I am not mocking what is provided, I am just making clear what will be of little or no value for me.

Really interested to hear from Celebrity Cruise loyalists who have experienced both.

The most valuable perk is the extra cruise credit earned...if you have not already achieved elite status with Captain's Club. I find the fruit and fresh flowers to be delightful but I could surely do better for $40/day. Yhe footstool may well be worth it....alas, value lies with the consumer.

The most valuable perk is the extra cruise credit earned...if you have not already achieved elite status with Captain's Club. I find the fruit and fresh flowers to be delightful but I could surely do better for $40/day. Yhe footstool may well be worth it....alas, value lies with the consumer.

Totally agree with you. Save the money and spend it on something else. JMHO!

the difference between balcony and concierge for our trip was $100pp. We are new to Celebrity and booked it for the extra Captain's Club point. $100 is less than we would pay for any cruise and gets us closer to the next level that much quicker. If we were already Elite, I would not book it. I do like the bubbly wine, fresh fruit and flowers, but the extra point is more valuable to me at this stage.

If you are not in search of an extra point to boost your CC standing, it doesn't appear the concierge class will offer you anything better than what you could get in a standard balcony. We always cruise concierge class or Aqua but that's simply because I like the flowers, I like seeing a bucket of bubbly greeting me when I first open the door, and I like having that footrest. YMMV ;)

We just did a Concierge cabin a couple of weeks ago strictly for the extra point to get us to Elite, other than that we found no real value in the CC cabin.

...So beyond what I won't need or use, is the "Personalized Concierge service", some fruit and canape in the room, more breakfast choices on sea days when I order room service, a free shoe shine, a massaging showerhead (don't all staterooms have handheld showerheads, perhaps sans massage?) 2 footstools on the veranda and perhaps services and amenities that I don't know about (and would love to hear about) really worth the extra cost of $40/day. BTW I am not mocking what is provided, I am just making clear what will be of little or no value for me.

 

Really interested to hear from Celebrity Cruise loyalists who have experienced both.

We used to always book CC on the M class ships largely for the larger cabin. On S class we do not any longer although we do consider AQ as we enjoy Blu (not everyone does). The only reason I'd book CC again on the S class is if we wanted the cabin location due to the location of friends on board or if the price difference was very insignificant in relation to our cruise budget.

As far as I'm concerned the only amenities worth considering are the slightly nicer sheets and linens and the footstools on the veranda. And we don't really miss these too much when in a standard veranda.

As far as the other items in your last paragraph:

Fruit & Canape: You can get plenty of snacks in the buffet or from room service. Having the fruit handy is nice but 80% of it just goes to waste in our cabin and the canape's are not very good.

Free shoe shine: I don't know how much that is worth or how good it is as I've never used it.

More breakfast choices: I don't think the differences are as significant as some on Cruise Critic think it is. With the exception of a couple odd items, and smoothies, everything is available in a standard cabin. Take a look at this thread I started which includes copies of all the breakfast menus of all cabin types on board: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1752753

Massaging shower head: I don't know about the shower head itself but I don't recall a difference and neither the CC cabins nor standard cabins on S class have handheld showers. If you want that you'll have to upgrade to AQ or higher.

The bottom line is you have to decide if the minor upgrades are worth the $275 to you or if you'd rather spend the money on a couple of nice bottles of wine or something else on board.

We have enjoyed:

the fresh flowers and expanded breakfast menu are two benefits we like/use. The extra point is nice, but realize you are paying for it if that is your motivation and at $275 extra with no value placed on other benefits of CC, that would be pretty expensive. We tend to say that for $10/day more the extra features have sufficient benefit to us to justify, but that is us, others may value them more and in your case, you would value them less as you have alternatives for them and would not use them. We sleep in the cabin, change clothes and for most part are not in our cabins. I do like balconies, but have found on last 1-2 cruises, not spent much time on them.

Others have mention getting to Elite status in Captain's Club program. It has some very nice benefits in addition to CC category. I will say that based on your non use of CC benefits, I would look at Elite status benefits to see if they would be used prior to spending more money to reach that level quicker.

Personally, I would go for it and try CC yourself.

We like concierge for the dining table on the balcony. We enjoy breakfast served on the balcony every morning, with a table cloth and flowers, and that is the only reason we buy that level as the little cocktail table just wouldn't do. The other perks are nice(flowers, sparkling wine, appetizers) but is not a deal breaker. The table is my main reason.

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

Just my opinion, but I don't believe any of the perks are worth the extra money. I booked my first CC cabin on upcoming B2B cruises because of the location on the front of the hump on a deck that was higher up then the regular balcony cabin. For me, it's all about location. It would seem based on your post that the regular balcony would suit you just fine.

We like concierge for the dining table on the balcony. We enjoy breakfast served on the balcony every morning, with a table cloth and flowers, and that is the only reason we buy that level as the little cocktail table just wouldn't do. The other perks are nice(flowers, sparkling wine, appetizers) but is not a deal breaker. The table is my main reason.

 

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

Breakfast in that fashion sounds lovely, but that was certainly not our experience in a CC cabin. I don’t recall any tablecloths at breakfast.

M

We like concierge for the dining table on the balcony. We enjoy breakfast served on the balcony every morning, with a table cloth and flowers, and that is the only reason we buy that level as the little cocktail table just wouldn't do. The other perks are nice(flowers, sparkling wine, appetizers) but is not a deal breaker. The table is my main reason.

 

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

On S class ships, balcony cabins have a nice table-height table.

The only reason we booked CC on our upcoming Alaska cruise was because it was actually $10 pp CHEAPER than the standard veranda cabin. Not only cheaper, but a bigger OBC and of course the extra point (altho we are already elite due to status on RCL). A win, win, win.

But this is a rare case and I would usually agree with most of the above posters that the perks of a CC are not worth it to ME, especially if it is significantly more $$$.

I just booked an April ’14 Western Caribbean cruise and opted to take the upgrade to CC – it was $.95 per person/per day and the cabin offered was in a better location than the one I was originally interested in booking. I don’t think any of the benefits listed are worth $275, but for less than $21 (3 people/7 days) it would be silly of me not to give it a try. Its not too difficult to find $21 worth of benefits...$275 is another story altogether!

We've had that happen on two cruises now. We just book the veranda room and then watch the prices and sometimes the CC cost actually goes below what we originally paid for the veranda then we switch. The amenities are nice and we use most of them. Don't care about the extra cruise points since we are already at the top level, but if they ever change that to add another level then that might change.

The footstools are really nice for us tall people. We like to sit on the veranda and read on sea days. It's a great way to decompress. We also like the upgraded bedding and we typically drink the sparkling wine and, at least eat the grapes from the fruit (we usually tell them we only want grapes) and pick at the canapes.

But, mostly we've done it since it actually saved us money since they tend to have trouble selling them.

Tom

The only reason we booked CC on our upcoming Alaska cruise was because it was actually $10 pp CHEAPER than the standard veranda cabin. Not only cheaper, but a bigger OBC and of course the extra point (altho we are already elite due to status on RCL). A win, win, win.

 

But this is a rare case and I would usually agree with most of the above posters that the perks of a CC are not worth it to ME, especially if it is significantly more $$$.

Othe than the extra point, which I soon will not need, there is little merit in booking a cc cabin.

We do like aqua class provided the extra cost is not too much. I like the shower and my wife likes Blu but ther is a. Limit as to what I would pay for it. On a recently booked European cruise the extra cost over a 1A cabin was £1000. I booked the 1A with a bigger balcony and can go to Murano every night and still be in pocket.

I would never book a CC cabin

Othe than the extra point, which I soon will not need, there is little merit in booking a cc cabin.

 

We do like aqua class provided the extra cost is not too much. I like the shower and my wife likes Blu but ther is a. Limit as to what I would pay for it. On a recently booked European cruise the extra cost over a 1A cabin was £1000. I booked the 1A with a bigger balcony and can go to Murano every night and still be in pocket.

 

I would never book a CC cabin

You actually raise a good point, that you are upgrading from standard veranda to CC, but not enough to get to Blu. Never been in AQ category or suite, so can't attest to value of Blu. Last cruise we were CC on 15 day Southern Caribbean and ate 4 times in Speciality restaurants and others in Main, all delicious meals and great dinner companions.

Not sure how much more AQ is above CC when comparing, i.e. aft CC to aft AQ.

I think it is an interesting issue for Celebrity.

You actually raise a good point, that you are upgrading from standard veranda to CC, but not enough to get to Blu. Never been in AQ category or suite, so can't attest to value of Blu. Last cruise we were CC on 15 day Southern Caribbean and ate 4 times in Speciality restaurants and others in Main, all delicious meals and great dinner companions.

 

Not sure how much more AQ is above CC when comparing, i.e. aft CC to aft AQ.

 

I think it is an interesting issue for Celebrity.

We can only go by our limited experience of Celebrity which was over 2 cruises in Nv last year, both in AQ which we thoroughly enjoyed. Didn't experience MDR at all nor will we on our Feb cruise which is also in Blu.

We got a great deal on each of these cruises so we booked AQ.

As far as we are concerned, on S class it is only AQ. On M class it is only CC.

As far as we are concerned, on S class it is only AQ. On M class it is only CC.

Must respectfully disagree. On M class, corner FV is the only way to go. ;)

I must admit I have never cruised on Celebrity before, but a Solstice cruise coming up on March 4. We got the 'free upgrade' to Concierge Verandah. But reading the comments on here re CC 'perks' CC just seems a gimmick to me, I don't think I would pay that much extra for the 'bits and pieces' once receives.

Just my two cents worth.

We had concierge on our last Solstice cruise but I didn't book it for the next one as I couldn't justify the price for a few insignificant things. The extra $40 per day would just about buy you the basic drinks package and that would be a better option for me.

Must respectfully disagree. On M class, corner FV is the only way to go. ;)

That is nice, but my wife was always concerned that since there are only two of us, that there was a possibility that we would be bumped.

The only things worth it to me in CC are:

extra point

better bedding and extra large bath towels

foot stools

If you don't like white bubbly you can usually change it for red

That is nice, but my wife was always concerned that since there are only two of us, that there was a possibility that we would be bumped.

I've heard those stories, but on my last cruise thru the canal, my friends and I booked 3 of the 6 FV corner cabins and none of us got moved. My feeling is I'd book it if available and assume I'm good until told otherwise. Then I'd push for a suite. :rolleyes: