Infinity Aqua Class deck 9 or 11?

[joseph123]

I am currently booked in cabin 9114 which is mid-ship under the Oceanview Cafe with the balcony overhang. Celebrity is offering an upgrade at no additional cost to cabin 1113 which is a category higher with an open balcony, but the open deck with movie screen is just above. Any thoughts on which is the better option? Concerned that there might be more noise on deck 11. Are the cabins on 11 more up to date since they were added later? Any advice would be appreciated.

[varoo]

 

There are pros and cons whichever way you choose.

 

The standard rule of thumb is to select deck 9  (very large overhang) if you are a shade lover and select deck 11 (only tiny overhang) if you are a sun lover.

 

The deck 11 balconies get very hot on warm weather cruises and they get wet whenever it rains due to  lack of cover.

 

There are some backward facing aqua class cabins with larger balconies at the rear of deck 11,  but those have some serious flaws of their own:

(1) There is a very large public deck extending out directly below them that blocks off the downward views from these cabins.

(2)  They provide limited privacy as the people out on the public deck below can look up into your balcony or in some cases even right into your cabin itself.  

(3) They can be excessively noisy at times, especially when music and/or a movie soundtrack are blasting at you from both above and below.

 

Yet, reading the reviews you can see that there are some people who really like them.

 

On deck 9,  you can sit out and enjoy your balcony in comfort whenever you like, staying dry even in pouring rain.  But many dislike the deep overhang and supporting struts that can interfere with star gazing or even just taking photos from the balcony.

 

Since both cabins that you are considering are the same price, it just comes down to personal preference.

  If it were my choice, I would stay in 9114 which is in a nice, quiet, convenient central location and I prefer having the covered balcony and the shade.  But that is just me.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by varoo

[rachiem]

That's a good informative summary Varoo...

We were unsure and for us, the overhang and our love of sunbathing made us choose deck 11.

I've read that it can be noisier but we are on a summer Med holiday and would like to sit on the balcony in the sun.

Deck 11 cabins do tend to get filled quickly, so if you do want to move, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

[terrydtx]

11 hours ago, joseph123 said:

Are the cabins on 11 more up to date since they were added later? Any advice would be appreciated.

Not sure when your cruise is sailing but the Infinity will be Revolutionized in Nov 2020 and all cabins will be totally updated.

 

We are booked on a 2021 Infinity cruise of Spain and Portugal in an aft facing AQ 11th deck cabin #1138. There are only 5 aft facing AQ cabins in the AQ M Class ships and they are all on the 11th deck. This is our first AQ class cabin but we are very happy that we got one of these 5 cabins. My sister  a veteran Celebrity cruiser, who only books AQ cabins, told us that the overhang on the 9th deck is a real pain and the noise from the 10th deck pool and Buffets can be very annoying in the early mornings. She said the overhang gives her the feeling of being in a cave. BTW she hates the Edge infinity Verandas for the same reason. Her favorite AQ cabin on M class ships are the aft facing ones. There is also a stairway  next to these aft cabins that goes down one deck to the sunset bar. She and my BIL love being able to walk down the stairs and get drinks that they can enjoy on their veranda overlooking the bar. They can also enjoy the live music from the Sunset bar from their balcony. Her experiences sold us on AQ and the aft facing cabins. I asked her about the noise from the out door movies and she said sometimes you can hear it on the veranda but not inside the cabins and the movies only last until 9pm or so.

Edited December 13, 2019 by terrydtx

[Miaminice]

They are not more updated than the ones on deck 9. On a ship after revolution (Millennium, Summit) they are the same „age“ anyway.

 

For me they have one big advantage: they don’t have the huge overhang which I really dislike.

As a Captain‘s Club member you should habe received a free upgrade to A1 (deck 11) from A2 (deck 9) anyway when you booked (if available at the time).

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Miaminice

[jmfdr]

5 hours ago, rachiem said:

That's a good informative summary Varoo...

We were unsure and for us, the overhang and our love of sunbathing made us choose deck 11.

I've read that it can be noisier but we are on a summer Med holiday and would like to sit on the balcony in the sun.

Deck 11 cabins do tend to get filled quickly, so if you do want to move, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

since you enjoy the sun, I think you made a good choice with aft facing deck 11 room.  We have had those cabins several times and really enjoy the location.  We have never had any movie noise from the theater above.  As far as the limited privacy is concerned, we have never found it to be a problem with a partial view down to the public deck below.  From the balcony you can look down and see and/or hear folks eating, but the balconies are so large that if you sit back aways toward the cabin you see no one and no one can view you on the balcony.  I don't see how it would be possible for someone on the public deck below to look into the cabin itself.  Noise from this deck below has never been a problem.  Perhaps we have just been lucky!

[Cruise a holic]

Stay on 9.  11 will be noisy and very hot.

[joseph123]

Thanks all for the input. I have decided to opt for deck 11, cabin #1113 which is in-between the outdoor movie area on the deck above and the elevators (7 from the left and 10 from the right in the photo attached), so hopefully far enough away from each to avoid the noise which was my main concern. I think I will be OK with the sun vs the overhang, so hope it was the best decision. I will be sailing in Jan, so unfortunately not after the revolution refit, so I am sure things will be a bit tired but hopefully not too bad. If anyone has only specific thoughts on the cabin location I would appreciate it. I could have also chosen #1104 which is closer to the forward doors but thought #1113 was the better option? I can still change it I am sure if I do so in the next day or say.

Edited December 13, 2019 by joseph123

[joseph123]

 After searching for more reviews and finding the video below which better shows the layout of the deck, I decided to switch to #1104. I read that there is not much noise from the heavy door that leads out to the deck nearby or the elavators and it is further away from the large screen on the deck above so less chance for noise from that. Now they are offering me a deal to move up to a Sky Suite on deck 6 for $250.00 more, so trying to decide if that would be worth it??? I would get $200.00 more in OBC, so it is tempting, but this cabin and deck seem really nice so to give it up. I is only a 5 day cruse so not sure what to do? Any thoughts on this option?

 

 

[Tomato53]

1104 is good.  You won't get noise from the movies above and the stairs to the buffet are right by the stairs.  The elevators are also right there so it's easy to go to the Blu and Cellar Masters.

[lousyman]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 9:32 PM, varoo said:

 

There are pros and cons whichever way you choose.

 

The standard rule of thumb is to select deck 9  (very large overhang) if you are a shade lover and select deck 11 (only tiny overhang) if you are a sun lover.

 

The deck 11 balconies get very hot on warm weather cruises and they get wet whenever it rains due to  lack of cover.

 

There are some backward facing aqua class cabins with larger balconies at the rear of deck 11,  but those have some serious flaws of their own:

(1) There is a very large public deck extending out directly below them that blocks off the downward views from these cabins.

(2)  They provide limited privacy as the people out on the public deck below can look up into your balcony or in some cases even right into your cabin itself.  

(3) They can be excessively noisy at times, especially when music and/or a movie soundtrack are blasting at you from both above and below.

 

Yet, reading the reviews you can see that there are some people who really like them.

 

On deck 9,  you can sit out and enjoy your balcony in comfort whenever you like, staying dry even in pouring rain.  But many dislike the deep overhang and supporting struts that can interfere with star gazing or even just taking photos from the balcony.

 

Since both cabins that you are considering are the same price, it just comes down to personal preference.

  If it were my choice, I would stay in 9114 which is in a nice, quiet, convenient central location and I prefer having the covered balcony and the shade.  But that is just me.

 

 

Let me add another point

(4) The port side of the public deck below is a smoking area (at least it was a couple of years ago), On "cigar night" it was for us impossible to enjoy the balcony. Unfortunately Management didn't enforce the "smoking area", resulting in that even our cabin 1140 in the middle was effected. The restaurant crew also looked the other way and provided ashtrays, tips are just more important.

 

Lousyman

[wrk2cruise]

There is now no smoking at the aft bar due to the issues with the cabins above on "M" class ships.   I agree with your choice to move to 1104.  Have been in 1106 and 1108 and love the location.  It's quiet and the balcony is a little bit bigger due to the curved areas in the buffet below.

[Redtravel]

Got a deck 11 cabin as the result of booking a gty.    I hated the deck 11 cabins. Verandas are open.  The cabins closest to the stairwell can smell the food from the buffet. The motion on deck 11 aft can be bad.  Deck 9 has shade.  

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

There is now no smoking at the aft bar due to the issues with the cabins above on "M" class ships. 

Thank you for the good news, any smoking would have been bothersome to us, but if the ship is moving I would suspect the smoke would blow out to sea.

[joseph123]

Does anyone know if the balconies are larger on deck 11 than standard veranda/aqua class cabins? I read somewhere that they are slightly deeper but hard to tell from any of the photos/videos I can find.

[terrydtx]

49 minutes ago, joseph123 said:

Does anyone know if the balconies are larger on deck 11 than standard veranda/aqua class cabins? I read somewhere that they are slightly deeper but hard to tell from any of the photos/videos I can find.

I was told that only the aft facing cabins on deck 11 are bigger, they are much deeper. I believe all other AQ cabins have the same size balconies. 

[K.T.B.]

On 12/13/2019 at 10:36 AM, Cruise a holic said:

Stay on 9.  11 will be noisy and very hot.

 

I agree about the hot (it's excessive some days), but not the noise.  I didn't have any issue with it when I was on 11.

[bigbenboys]

We had cabins 1114 and 1116 in the past and love them. We now book Sky Suites deck 6 on the M Class ships. I enjoy Luminae very much and like that you can also order off the MDR menu at dinner or lunch.

[phoenix_dream]

We always pick Deck 11 AQ cabins on M class if we can catch a good one (don't like the aft facing particularly).  We love the location and find the cabins generally quiet.  On occasion, sitting out on our balcony, we could hear the movie being shown above, but it has always been more of a background noise that never bothered us.   It can get very hot due to the lack of overhang, and in very warm sailings like our Panama Canal one the cabin at times was a bit warmer than I prefer.  But overall these are definitely our go-to cabins on M class and we sail AQ regularly.

[wrk2cruise]

We were in 1106 and 1108 and thought the balcony was a bit bigger due to deck curving out over some windows in the buffet below.  As you can see on the deck plan there are some which are a bit larger.

 

[joseph123]

Hmm, that deck plan looks different than any I have seen and none of the photos or videos show the balconies with varying sizes. Are you sure that is the Infinity vs one of the other M class ships? I am happy with my cabin #1104 choice and am sticking with it vs upgrading to a sky suite.

[edgee]

One caution re: dining in Blu on M class ships. Must be due to the size of Blu, but if you go to dinner anytime between 6:15 and 7:00 be prepared to find Blu full and having to take a beeper and wait up to 30 minutes to be seated. Seems to happen more often on first or second nights of the cruise, not sure why. This has happened to us consistently on M class ships and also on Edge, but never on Solstice class.

[rachiem]

5 hours ago, edgee said:

One caution re: dining in Blu on M class ships. Must be due to the size of Blu, but if you go to dinner anytime between 6:15 and 7:00 be prepared to find Blu full and having to take a beeper and wait up to 30 minutes to be seated. Seems to happen more often on first or second nights of the cruise, not sure why. This has happened to us consistently on M class ships and also on Edge, but never on Solstice class.

We've had pagers too on S class ships...usually when we hit the restaurant between 7 to 7.30pm. Never more than a 30 min wait though (we were a party of 4)

Edited December 19, 2019 by rachiem

[CruiserfaeFife]

I suppose it’s possible Deck 11 on Infinity is different but we’ve been in 1108,1107 and 1120 on other M-class ships and they all follow the pattern in wrk2cruise’s post. The difference is only a few inches so not worth stressing over, but definitely a variance as they follow the windows of the Oceanview cafe below. Here is a photo of the fire exit notice from the back of our door on Summit from January.
 

FWIW we would always go for deck 11 because of the deck 9 overhang.

 

and yes, pagers were the norm at Blu in January if you arrive 7-7.30 but wait time usually  10-15 minutes or so. Time for a quick one at Cellarmasters! 🍸

 

[terrydtx]

7 hours ago, edgee said:

One caution re: dining in Blu on M class ships. Must be due to the size of Blu, but if you go to dinner anytime between 6:15 and 7:00 be prepared to find Blu full and having to take a beeper and wait up to 30 minutes to be seated. Seems to happen more often on first or second nights of the cruise, not sure why. This has happened to us consistently on M class ships and also on Edge, but never on Solstice class.

Does Blu have  set dinning times like the MDR or is it anytime dinning? Can you also make a set reservation ahead of time? We will be on the Infinity in 2021 in AQ.