Sailed on the Solstice week of 2/14 with two other couples with adjoining Aqua Class Cabins on forward port side of Penthouse Deck (Deck 11). The cost of this cruise for the Aqua Class cabin, which provided all of the additional amenities received in Concierge Class with the added benefit of water and tea in the cabin, access to the Spa Relaxation Room and Persian Garden and the specialty restaurant BLU was well worth the modest additional cost,however; this was mainly due to the access to BLU.

While Aqua Class did allow access to the spa services without the daily charge it was extremely difficult to gain access to the Persian Garden. The Persian Garden is basically a room with 7 tiled and heated lounge chairs along with a steam room and sauna room located on either side. While my finance and I were able to get into the room, our friends traveling with us were unable to access this room as it was usually full. The spa check-in area managed the number of people in the Persian Garden at any one time and would tell passengers wanting to enter that the would have to come back later if full. After our friends made numerous attempts to secure admittance, they were always denied access and told it was full. Crew working the Spa check-in did not want to create a waiting list even if if you were willing to stay close buy to the desk. They should have also monitored what was going on in the room as it appeared to be a common practice for people to let their friends/family in once they had procured entrance. In summary it was just poorly managed by the Spa crew. The spa treatments themselves were excellent but there were apparently too few nail polish colors to choose from with a manicure.

The main reason to choose Aqua Class is to gain access to BLU. This was a quiet, relatively small dining area next to the other specialty restaurants that served good food in reasonable portions(without rich fattening sauces). We did migrate to the Murano one night for a special occasion but that was a fiasco. Our waiter questioned everyone on why they chose how to have their lobster prepared (broiled or steamed or thermidor)and was overall annoying. The food and service were fair and definitely not worth the additional money. Back to BLU... the service from the maitre'd to the server (Mildred) and her assistant was first class. There was one evening when we sat at a table for 6 in the front of the room (there are only two round tables of 6)where the service was poor. It was night and day compared to the service at the round table of 6 in the back of BLU. Two people at our table ordered Margarita specials and the server (who took the order) brought one frozen and one not frozen. In addition, an assistant brought an entree to the table and asked if anyone had ordered the dish. We said we did not, but he would wander around and actually came back and asked us two other times whether we had order the dish. Read more