Is The Retreat Worth It?
Is Celebrity Cruises’ “The Retreat” worth it? We see this question asked often online and hear it when we’re aboard Celebrity Cruises ships. The Retreat is ship-within-a-ship concept offering specialized, upgraded amenities and services for those who book suites. All suite categories (Sky Suite and above) have access to The Retreat.
Regular readers of this blog know that we adore cruising – especially with Celebrity Cruises. We’ve purchased 34 Celebrity Cruises since 2013 and 27 of them have been in The Retreat. We enjoy cruising so much that we’re even hosting a Postcard Jar Friends Cruise aboard the Celebrity Reflection in January of 2025 to the Western Caribbean and the Celebrity Silhouette to the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) in January of 2026. You should consider joining us on our next one!
What’s included in The Retreat on Celebrity Cruises?
The first thing you’ll notice that makes The Retreat worth it is the priority boarding. Suite guests have access to their own, typically quickly-moving line. In Celebrity’s Terminal 25 in Fort Lauderdale, there is even a private boarding lounge for Retreat guests. With comfortable seating, fresh-baked pastries, and drinks, you’ll wait in style for your turn to check in.
The check-in process is super-easy, as well. You just sit in one of the comfy chairs until a staff member comes by with an iPad. They scan your documents, review your medical information, and check your passport. The next thing you know, you are scanning your boarding pass and are on board. On the last cruise we took out of Fort Lauderdale on the Celebrity Beyond, it took a total of about 12 minutes to get from curbside at the port to the martini bar on the ship.
The lack of lines doesn’t stop there. When it’s time to tender ashore, suite guests have priority boarding, just as they do on the morning of disembarkation. After sailing a 38-night cruise including several stops that required visas and special procedures, moving to the front of the line was a big benefit of being a Retreat guest. It’s just one of the little details that makes life in The Retreat so, um, suite sweet.
