Cat 3 vs 4

[hjensen]

We havent vacationed in 4 years!! The extra privacy with my DH is priceless to me!! I really dont care if my child is in the room with me or not! That bedroom door closes and I have the rest of the suite and the verandah!! Plus when he naps during the day I have the rest of the room to enjoy!! I can not wait to use my Cat. 3!!!

 

[Connor' Dad]

What are the midship Cat. 3 numbers?

 

[hjensen]

Midship Cat. 3 rooms are 8032,8034,8532,8534!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Does anyone have experience and info on stateroom 8022?

 

[CACruisin']

We were 8022 last June. The arrangement was great for us. DD9 and DD11 slept on the pullout sofa and DD2 slept in the Pack and Play in our room. The location was very peaceful and quiet. I spent a couple afternoons reading on the verandah with room service and a glass of wine while DD napped

DH enjoyed watching watching the docking process and the captain on the little "deck" when we were in port.

It was very easy to get to either the midship or forward stairs/elevators. I had thought the easy access to the quiet cove pool and hot tub would be a nice too, but I never got to use them.

There was also tons of storage for our family of 5 even with the added diaper genie and high chair that we had our room steward bring in.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[lillygator]

We were in 8022!! What specific questions do you have?

 

[CRSNDSNY]

CACruisin' -- That sounds great!

We will have our daughter with us who will be 2YO by then. So we are hoping to take advantage of things like the in room extended dining menus (especially breakfast), the privacy of our own room separated from where she will be napping, etc. Many of the reasons we enjoy the DVC villas -- for privacy and more room.

How about noise -- any noise issue above you?
Thank you Vanessa & CACruisin'!

 

[lillygator]

Our two girls were with us...3 and 10 months....we did not use the Murphy bed which was in our room the eldest slept on the fold out couch - she had her own TV! There was noise above but nothing that was unbearable.....room service breakfast on the disembarking day is great!!! Definite plus!
Conceirge also left DD personalized coloring books, arcade cards, candies, autograph book, etc. They were wonderful!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Sounds fantastic! This will be a really special cruise!

 

[sweetsue]

I had a Cat 3 in September and it was worth it's weight in gold. We were re-routed from an Eastern cruise to a Western cruise because of Hurricane Rita. That meant we ended up in ports we didn't expect with absolutely no plans. As concierge level guests, we received excursion information on all ports and were able to book those excursions before the regular guests at 5pm. People waited in line from 3pm on just to get the booking they wanted. For us, we lounged in the couches and sat at our dining room table figuring out what we wanted to do. Once we decided, we picked up the phone, talked to Erica and the tickets were hand delivered to our door.

When we went to Cozumel, the water was rough so a few of the excursions were cancelled. A quick call to concierge got us all booked on another "full" excursion.

We had a party in our stateroom and concierge had huge fruit and cheese platters delivered along with chocolate covered strawberries. YUMMMM!

We had unlimited Palo reservations. If you wanted, you could eat at Palo every night.

Change in plans? Concierge booked everything we asked for - and they NEVER said no. We changed our minds constantly (something about the whole Eastern turned Western really had us upside down). Each time it only took a phone call and voila, new tickets or ressies! Just way too easy!

Free DVDs (they have DVD players now, not VHS players). Lots of stuff to choose from. TWO TVs so the kids can watch one thing while the adults watch another. A separate bedroom so napping children can rest without being bothered by the adults or vice versa!

Room service - FIVE MINUTES! One time they told my mother it'd be 20 minutes for her iced tea - then they said "Oops - you're concierge, it'll be 5 minutes".

It was definitely worth it for us (and we didn't even have a midship room!).

I do have one word of warning though - if you ever sail concierge - you'll be spoiled for life!

Sweet Sue

 

[CRSNDSNY]

WOW, Sweet Sue! Sounds like you really enjoyed concierge!

It makes me even more excited now!

 

[hjensen]

Thank you to everyone about the info that they have posted on the Cat. 3's!! We weren't really sure that we did the right thing when we upgraded but the more I read the more excited I get and I dont doubt the decision anymore!! Only 2 more months of waiting!!!

 

[CACruisin']

No noise at all for us in 8022. I really liked the forward location for that reason. We used room service several times for breakfast. I also ordered the cheese platter a couple of times and our older DD's ordered dinner the night that DH and I went to Palo. As others have said, concierge was fabulous with a little one. They easily co-ordinated our flounders, Palo, and spa ressies for whenever we wanted. We used Flounders four times, I think. DD really liked it there. Concierge was also great about arranging to cancel our Flounders and Spa ressies with no penalties on our last day when DD started running a fever. (turned out to be an ear infection.)


Have a great trip! You are going to love 8022!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

As others have said, concierge was fabulous with a little one. They easily co-ordinated our flounders, Palo, and spa ressies for whenever we wanted. We used Flounders four times, I think. DD really liked it there. Concierge was also great about arranging to cancel our Flounders and Spa ressies with no penalties on our last day when DD started running a fever. (turned out to be an ear infection.)

Those are many of the reasons we're looking forward to cruising in this category. I'm just afraid that we might get totally addicted after this trip, though!!!

Thank you so much everyone for posting your experiences. It really helps to make me feel better about the extra $$$ it is going to take.