Having been on quite a few Royal Caribbean cruises and reached Diamond Plus, our objective was to take a cruise with Celebrity and see if the theoretically-equivalent Elite level actually is equivalent. We booked a 4-day cruise on Celebrity Constellation out of Ft Lauderdale in January 2016. Constellation was built in 2002 and renovated in 2013. Passenger load is slightly over 2,000 people. Constellation is a Millennium Class ship (Solstice Class is the other Celebrity class with passenger loads around 3500).

We originally booked an interior room, but about 2 weeks prior to the cruise, Celebrity called with an offer to upgrade to a Concierge Class room for $150 or an Aqua Class room for $200 (for both of us). We elected Aqua Class, and it was a great choice. Aqua Class rooms are 192 ft2 with a decent sized balcony, plus access to their own dining room, Blu (which, not surprisingly, has a modern, blue-colored theme). The shower in the Aqua room was the best we have ever had in any category of room, including suites. It was rectangle-shaped, had two full-height glass doors with ample room inside, a bar upon which the ladies can place their feet for leg-shaving purposes, and six water jets that will spray the body, vice just using the single normal overhead shower head (which is adjustable to fit humans of any height).

Aqua Class also includes free and unlimited access to the Persian Garden, a spa within the main spa that has its own showers, three saunas (one dry and two steam) and a heated sitting/relaxing bench. This is a very nice amenity. Read more