7 days in the PH or... 7 days in a CS PLUS 7 in CC?

[ECCruise]

I would jettison both the PH and the CS and do 3 sailings.

[Lane412000]

We did a seven night Summit cruise in the PH in February 2020.  It was an amazing experience. One other couple (in a different cabin) on the cruise with us.  We thoroughly loved the balcony throughout the cruise. In St. Thomas, we just stayed on the balcony the entire day and had a blast.  If you bring a Bose speaker, bring also an extension cord, as no outlet on the balcony and the wifi is not strong enough outside the cabin to keep things running smoothly.

 

Now, I would also vote for two 7 day cruises, although as someone else posted, find a 14 day cruise instead of two - seven day cruises.  

 

Let me know if you have any questions about the Summit PH suite.

[benjoon]

We did 14 nights in the penthouse on the Constellation. Even with all those days I don't think we used all the features of the cabin. It was wonderful having the extra bathroom as we had our teenage daughter with us. We had one afternoon tea there with a few people we had met. We were thinking of booking a suite on the Edge next year but it's port intensive and we opted on two connecting cabins. It came up $4000 less then the celebrity suite. Again having two bathrooms are a bonus.

 

I would go for the two 7 day cruises if the extra cost of flights don't make the cost unreasonable.

[JFontaine]

I vote for the Penthouse. It’s an extraordinary experience from beginning to end. Then save like crazy for the next one.  My equal choice to this would be the villa suite on the Apex. 

[garyl62]

Thanks for all the opinions so far.  I appreciate the ideas of changing to longer trips or other options, but due to vacation limits, and reservations already locked in at price points, my decision really comes down to the choices in my OP.  To add a couple other details based on comments, we typically only travel as a couple, our friends tend to be AI Resort people where they can walk the beach several times a day so we'd probably be sailing as a party of 2 and no others.  The islands on the PH cruise are almost all ones we've seen before, so it would be easy to stay on board to enjoy the space.  

 

I'm holding off to see how things with airfares (we have canceled flight credits) and cruise fares play out.  Will probably decide in 3 to 6 weeks, but still interested in learning what any of you would decide.

Edited April 11, 2020 by garyl62

[phoenix_dream]

I would in all likelihood decide on more cruising versus a shorter one in a better cabin, even a PH suite.  That said, if it is a once-in-a-lifetime wish to sail in the PH, then perhaps it is worth going with it.  Truth be told, I only wish I had this problem🙂.  The largest suite I've ever stayed in (and only 3 times in 60 cruises) is a Sky Suite.  I thought that was the height of luxury.

[bigbenboys]

Hi Garyl62,

We cruised on the Edge in a mid ship S1 and enjoyed our suite, but not the ship. I dont plan on sailing on Apex. I would go for the PH. We have a Alaska cruise booked on Millie for June 2021. 

Our Asia cruise in 2017 on Millie. We and others in suites where invited a number of times to the PH for parties. I'm assuming the penthouse guests sat down with the suites concierge and went through the suite guests to decide who to invited to the parties. I want to say about 10 people showed up for parties. We missed one party, our butler must a lost or not gotten invitation. It was one of the few cruises that many people in MC socialized. Just a thought.

[garyl62]

Getting close to making our decision.  A few things that keep floating to the top of the thought process.....

 

Not sure we'll have a shot at a PH again, by combining FCC, and our typical cruise budget we're right at about the price of the PH, when we add in a nice OBC we're being offered by a TA we'll be spending less out of pocket than usual.  The 2 for 1 option doesn't work out like that with the OBC, since part of cost of the 2 fer is a second airfare and one of the cruises was already booked on a $25 deposit that we can't assign to TA.   So that starts to tip toward the PH.

 

We can always do AK in the future, and we'd probably add a land tour which would not be in the budget for this time.

 

The Apex will be around for a while, so no rush to jump onboard right away.

 

Finally, DD is getting married summer of 2021 so AK trip would have to be early in season, couple that with all the planning the wedding will take, may be better to just stay home and cover details that pop up 6 weeks before the wedding and not be cruising 2,500 miles away.

 

Looks like the PH will be the winner!  Thanks for all the comments and thoughts, always appreciate the insight all of you have.