Splashing Out with Celebrity Aqua Class
We are spoiled brats. We’re now in Barcelona (loving it!) and we kinda miss that ship.
We told you that – with all the uncertainty and drama surrounding China/India not working out and the associated red-hot rage directed at Delta – we decided to temporarily avoid flying. We also told you that we scored a ridonkulous last minute cruise deal on Celebrity. What we haven’t told you, until now, is that we decided “what the hell” and went full-on fancy schmancy for our trek across the Atlantic.
For less than $10 a day (for each of us), we upgraded from an already low priced standard balcony stateroom to Celebrity’s Aqua Class. We have only two words:
Hot. Damn.
Aqua Class, introduced on Celebrity’s newest Solstice Class ships, offers typical balcony cabins with a whole lotta perks.
For instance, look what we found waiting when we arrived. Never the type to refuse champagne, we got things started on the right, wobbly foot.
In addition to the fruit being replenished regularly, we always returned to our cabin to find fresh flowers and tea each day.
Aqua Class also boasts cool little extras like a pillow menu and aroma scent selections.
Enjoying smelling nice, we also loved the upgraded shower products that paired perfectly with the Hansgrohe shower panel (with multiple jets). See, I told you we got fancy.
The virtual worker in each of us was thrilled with the location of our 200 square foot home for the crossing. Aqua Class occupies premium space on the uppermost deck for cabins. Because of that, we had a welcome overhang that kept us sailing along in the shade. We could work and/or chill out on the balcony for hours without getting fried. Here, you can see how far the overhang extends; I think it was about 15 feet. Oh, and you can see the nice weather.
According to Celebrity, these cabins occupy this prime real estate so that Aqua Class guests are closest to the fitness center and spa. Speaking of the spa, another benefit is unlimited access to the ultra serene Persian Garden, which serves up an aromatic steam room, an herbal sauna and warmed tile beds on which to relax and watch the ocean. Serious unwinding goes on in there, but no picture taking. Thankfully.
All that stuff is nice, no doubt, but the real reason we loved Aqua Class is one word: Blu.
Blu is a specialty restaurant – exclusively for Aqua Class guests – that serves “clean” dinners without compromising flavor. Before embarking, we weren’t sure what to expect. We like to eat reasonably healthy, but we also need a consistent infusion of cheese, desserts, etc.
Blu did not disappoint. Have a look at this pumpkin gnocchi with greens and chèvre.
We also enjoyed eating at Blu for breakfast. There was no fighting for a window seat.
As a matter of fact, we were often alone at breakfast. What a way to wake up!
Let’s break it down. This view, along with fresh squeezed orange & grapefruit juice and incredible, Seattle-worthy (strong!) coffee.
Followed by, on this particular day, a made to order veggie omelet with a side of avocado and a few potato wedges.
And how could I forget. Smoothies. Every day. All included in the base cruise price.
There are a bunch of other goodies that come along with Aqua Class, but we’ve already gone on long enough. It goes without saying that, despite having to work quite a bit, all these Aqua Class benefits (and a fantastic crew) kept us blissed out in the perfect state of mind to enjoy what really mattered – the magnificent world around us as we crawled across the ocean.
Maybe China / India not working out isn’t such a bad thing after all.
OMG!!!!!!! This. Is. The. Only. Way. I. Want. To. Travel. — Good on you two
It was VERY nice and went a long way to make us feel better about the downside of cruising (which we’ll get into in another post).
How luxurious!! I am pretty sure if I could experience a cruise like this, I’d be all for it! What a great experience.
Celebrity is definitely on to something with Aqua Class. And their new ships are ridiculously nice.
Money wisely spent gentlemen. Just the smoothies would be worth the cost to me.
The smoothies and fresh squeezed juices were among our favorite things. Now, off the ship, we’re trying to break the habit
I got a lot of crap for “rubbing it in” when I wrote about my luxury wine vacation in Cafayate, Argentina. I have a feeling you might experience the same
I am not a big fan cruises, but I think the upgrade option would make me quite happy on this one.
You WOULD be happy on this cruise because you are a sane person
Oh. My. God.
That just might convince me to take a cruise (never been). That looks like the way to go! In fact, I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t have a balcony (I’m claustrophobic). I’m never one to pass up that kind of upgrade either. Good for you!
Perhaps someday you will share the secrets of these good deals you are finding?
Here’s an idea… The Solstice (one of Celebrity’s nice, new ships) is going to be doing Alaska RT out of Seattle in 2013. So you can…
1) Do an Alaska cruise, as we discussed previously.
2) Try Aqua Class
3) See us!
Done, done and done.
Sign up for Celebrity’s e-deals. That’s how we were alerted to this fantastic deal. I’ll keep an eye on them for you as well
I want to get all fancy schmancy with you guys. That’s my idea of cruising.
Let’s do a Seattleite cruise. What say you
I’ve always thought cruising wasn’t my style, but I think I could be converted for an experience like this!
Trust us… you could be.
It certainly ticks a lot more boxes than just the “getting from a to b” one, I’ll say that!
It sure does. But, post cruise, you’re left with some serious recalibrating to do. What??? No gnocchi every night???
Whaaa, this definitely looks like something I could do.
I am going to submit it as an idea for a travelers’ conference. Wishful thinking.
That sounds like all kinds of amazing!!!
Thanks, RP!
If I didn’t love you, I’d hate you.
Don’t hate us because we can manage to score a good deal every so often
Our next accommodation on this round of travel will be far from fancy. Single tear.
Hugs to the CARE group. Have a good meeting!
It’s just my green eyed monster coming out to play. I know you’re no strangers to roughing it. I seem to remember a story about bears in the backcountry……miss you guys. XOXO
I mean… lol … that’s all!
This is just amazing!! Th fabulous service is just unheard of at such cheap rates! And that dining place is heavenly with all the blue sea.
Continue with your fabulous journey!!
Ohhh I could get used to this too! Luxury is easy to take into habit! Looks like you’re having fun
Wow! That gnocchi looks really delicious! That’s what I’d call yummie! I shouldn’t read your post before lunchtime because now I got hungry…
I’m not really a cruise person, but I think I could handle this!
I could do that….
Glad you had such a great experience!
No vacation required INDEED
So how much was the ticket per-person in total then? I always wanted to take a cruise, and esp after seeing stuff like this but it’s hard to do if your solo. Nice to see you guys took advantage and lived it up some!
wow. i’m afraid of cruising [afraid to be trapped on the boat and can't get off!] but this looks super nice!!!
[by the way, i'm hatin' on delta, myself...i'm right there with you!]
Yup. We need to do this. Looking at last minute cruises right now!
Thank you for posting this! I recently booked my boyfriend and I on the Reflection in an aquaclass stateroom (deck 12), transatlantic from Miami to Rome April ’13
We’re so EXCITED and your blog reinforced what I thought sounded like an awesome experience!!!
Just a couple of questions I hope you can answer:
- In regards to the dress code for Blu, I noticed you guys wore shirts and shorts, which is awesome, but didn’t seem like the “smart casual” described on the website. My boyfriend is a t-shirt/shorts kind of guy and was worried he’d have to wear pants just to go eat…so is that attire acceptable?
- I noticed you wrote that the smoothies served in Blu were complimentary (part of the base price), so did you guys get a beverage package and (if we don’t really drink a lot of alcohol) is a beverage package necessary or is the complimentary stuff good enough?
Thanks again for your helpful review! Btw, we’re both from Hawaii (Oahu) and I love what you wrote about the ALOHA SPIRIT
))
Mahalo nui,
Vanessa *:)
Hi, Vanessa – glad you found us!
Regarding your questions…
-Shorts and t-shirts only work in Blu at breakfast. For dinner, he’ll need a collared shirt.
-You should be fine without a beverage package. Tea, lemonade, coffee, smoothies – all included. Soda and/or alcohol lovers seem to dig the beverage packages, so you may want to check them out.
Aloha!
I really enjoyed your review. Blu looks amazing. I’m booked in Aqua class and was a bit concerned about having a balcony on the top deck under that massive overhang canopy. But your review suggests it was actually a plus? I’d be interested to hear more about that. During your transatlantic, did you get any sun at any time of day? Any problem with noise from the top pool deck?
Hi, Mark – thanks for the message!
Yes, in the end we thought the overhang was a big plus. I don’t know that we got much direct sun, BUT the overhang kept us from getting baked by the sun (something people on other decks complained about). We did hear some noise from the deck above – nothing too bothersome though.
Thanks for this boys. We are doing a transpacific on Solstice in October 2013. HNL to SYD. We were a bit nature whether dishing out the extra bucks was worth it, but from your review it seems we am hae hit the jackpot. It als seems your style of cruising is similar to what we enjoy.. Thanks
That’ll be a good one!
When yo boys as you need a collared shirt for dinner in Blu, is a polo shirt acceptable? Is it open for lunch?
Cheers
Yes, polo shirts were fine.
Thanks for the update. We are really looking forward to this cruise.