Lisa!!!
You're back!!!
How was your trip?
It was great! I LOVE Chicago. Everyone is so nice, seems a bit small town with how everyone is nice. But it has all the big city feel too. I'd like to go back with the whole family some day.
HELLO!!!!
I think my husband and I will book the EBTA on our next cruise this Nov 15 (Western). We are concerned about the temps and/or rainfall in Spain during April. I also wondered If anyone knows how rough and choppy the Atlantic waters tend to be during the Spring. Also We are looking into booking a CAT 3 ( or at least attempt a booking in this CAT.
We may be waitlisted!
) Has anyone stayed in a CAT 3 -1 bedroom suite? I would love any insight on the ROI (return on investment) of this CAT when compared to lower CAT's
Thank You for your time
We haven't stayed in a Cat. 3, but we did stay in Cat. 1 before. The pluses I see is that you will have no concern at all as to booking Palos, spa, shore excursion. The suites get priority and they will make sure you get pretty much everything you want (which is what I found). It is also nice to have such a big living space, which the Cat. 3 will have as well. It felt more like "home" than a cabin room. I think for these longer cruises it would be heaven as you might want to stay in your cabin more than if it was a quick 3-4 or 7 day cruise. I loved having room service, although I think Cat. 3 does not get Palo's. You might want to post on the main thread for clarification on that. But I do know you can order from the main dining areas and have it delivered to you room - so you have an expanded room service. Having eggs benedict in bed was great. You will also have a larger balcony which is nice to entertain (Nan, do you think that hint was obvious enough??
) You never need to go to guest services for anything. Your crew takes care of you for anything you need. You get to board early. And sometimes suites do get priority with tendering...that seems to be questionable though so I wouldn't count on it. You have more storage space, which may be a plus for a longer cruises.
The downside...frankly, it is just a cost factor. If cost was no factor, then I'm not sure why anyone would turn one down. Hence, cost is a factor for most Americans these days, even those ultra rich. So I guess I would look at the difference in cost - for us on the WB PC, the difference was $10,000 to upgrade to Cat. 1 (we were on the waitlist in our connecting Cat. 9s and got called). After much debate with my fellow DISers, we determined that cost was not worth all those extras above. If they said - $1000 more - I'd jump on it. We all have different comfort levels of what makes something "worth it." For someone else, the suite would be worth it for $10,000 more, others wouldn't find it worth it for $1000.
I do like balconys. On our last 15 day cruise, we didn't have one but it worked fine as DH got up every morning and left the room to work. Usually, he sleeps later than me, and I usually would head to the balcony to hang out until he wakes. But because he was gone, it wasn't an issue. This time, we are HOPING he won't have to work so we went ahead an upgraded our two 8s for 2 6s. It was $2700 more. For me, having the balcony for 14 days is worth it. For many, it would not. I do have a method to my maddness though....see I'm waitlisted for Cat. 1 & 2 again so if it goes through, the delta shouldn't be as great as it WOULD have been had I stayed in Cat. 8. Maybe I can then "justify" that increase....
Ah, the things we do to trick ourselves.
Lastly, I guess I would say how often do you travel? I think when people travel more often, they can make do with less with the accomodations. After all, perhaps their next trip is just two months away. For us, this is the big one after our 08 Panama Canal one. We won't fly anyway until then, and so basically....it is the "all in" theory. Others might want to travel more so they spend less on things that aren't a necessary. We travel less, so we tend to "go all out."
Ok, one more thought....people in the inside cabins get the same food, service, entertainment then those in the largest suites. That is one of the benefits of cruising on any ship other than Queen Mary (which does has classes I think). So no matter what cabin you are in, we are all in the same boat! Hope I gave you enought food for thought!
Mary, I just noticed your tag - you have 6 children??? Wow. And close in age. I'm 1 of 6. My mom had 6 under 8 - looks like you beat her by a year!
Lisa
We booked the cheapest cabins we could for this one. It seems the more I cruise the less I care about the cabin. I had a balcony on my first 2 cruises(non 
). We did a little DIS board meet when we were in Cat. 1 and that was a lot of fun, although it wasn't a big DISer cruise. I also liked being the meeting place for my family that was traveling with us. If you have in-laws or parents coming on the cruise as well, it is great way to have them hang with the kids as you go Rockin Bar or take a stroll and since it has a living room, you don't have to tidy up your cabin! Man....all this talk is sure getting me going. I wonder how much those Cat. 1 & 2s are on this cruise??
They will not be running down the halls or pushing all the buttons on the elevators.
