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NEW Cabin Class Category: Club Class Mini-Suite


reedprincess
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Interesting new Princess development - new class of stateroom category! Looks like Princess is following in the footsteps of Celebrity, Royal, MSC, NCL, etc with separate dining/ship within a ship concept for some room classes....

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7001

Edited by reedprincess
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Ahhhh, the caste system comes to Princess! :eek:

 

It was bound to happen I suppose....Princess was one of the last holdouts on making separate dining and such setups for certain room categories.. Most other lines have embraced it for a while - and it apparently works for them, keeping ships full and the money flowing..not surprising Princess is looking to "cash in" on the class system...

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interesting, monkey see, monkey do.

 

We are elite on Princess and Celebrity. Tried the Spa Cabin and BLU (separate dining) on Celebrity... it was not enough of a draw for us to book Celebrity over Princess.... for the extra dollars a Spa Cabin or Club Cabin might costs, I would prefer to spend the same money at the Crown Grill.

 

Princess followed Celebrity with no main deck, disappointing on the Royal and Regal.

 

I wish would follow Celebrity and Holland American design with a forward looking lounge over the bow... love those rooms on both Celebrity and Holland American... have always missed this feature on Princess.

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Princess has decided to add dining perks to full suite passengers. Understandably necessary given what the competition has done.

 

But my guess is the cost-benefit analysis of the new perks concluded that a higher number of paying passengers than the full suite capacity are needed to cover the expense. So the bean counters' solution is to allow a certain number of mini suite guests to "buy in". But as has already been said the cost for them needs to be not more than the cover charge for eating every night in the specialty restaurants or there will be few takers.

 

And I wonder about the economics of hold both "suite breakfast" in a specialty restaurant and "club breakfast" in a section of the MDR. Would be shocked if they weren't merged into a single area.

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Lots of unanswered questions regarding this, as I would expect given the limited info in the article. And all the other articles I've found simply repeat what is said in this one. Will definitely be on the lookout for more info in days ahead. Lots of time till first supposed installation on Ruby this fall..... I wouldn't be surprised to see changes to suite amenities in light of this, or potentially even changes to Captain's Circle either (although this is pure SPECULATION at this point).

Edited by reedprincess
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Princess has decided to add dining perks to full suite passengers. Understandably necessary given what the competition has done.

 

But my guess is the cost-benefit analysis of the new perks concluded that a higher number of paying passengers than the full suite capacity are needed to cover the expense. So the bean counters' solution is to allow a certain number of mini suite guests to "buy in". But as has already been said the cost for them needs to be not more than the cover charge for eating every night in the specialty restaurants or there will be few takers.

 

And I wonder about the economics of hold both "suite breakfast" in a specialty restaurant and "club breakfast" in a section of the MDR. Would be shocked if they weren't merged into a single area.

 

My first thought was There goes breakfast in Sabatinis for suite guests. If the special dining option no longer includes mimosas and espresso drinks, I don't think the Suite guests will be happy, so I think it will be interesting to see how this evolves.

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Yes the Cruise Critic article is maddeningly vague about some "VIP guest services and amenities" :confused:

 

So what other suite perks might (speculatively) trickle down to Club Class:

Mini-bar and bath furnishings?

Separate check-in and pursers desk lines??

Laundry and tendering???

 

In some ways this smells like just an overpriced clone of Carnival's "faster to the fun"

Edited by fishywood
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Any idea when it will be introduced on the Island and Coral Princess.

 

Hi,

 

According to the Princess website, Club Class Mini-Suites will debut on the following dates:

  • Ruby Princess, Dec. 10, 2016
  • Emerald Princess, Dec. 12, 2016
  • Island Princess, Jan. 4, 2017
  • Sapphire Princess, Jan. 7, 2017
  • Regal Princess, Jan. 8, 2017
  • Grand Princess, Jan. 9, 2017
  • Royal Princess, Jan. 29, 2017
  • Coral Princess, Feb. 6, 2017
  • Majestic Princess, March 30, 2017
  • Sun Princess, April 5, 2017
  • Crown Princess, April 8, 2017
  • Star Princess, April 11, 2017
  • Caribbean Princess, April 6, 2017
  • Diamond Princess, April 20, 2017
  • Pacific Princess, June 9, 2017
  • Sea Princess, Sep. 2, 2017
  • Golden Princess, Oct. 2, 2017

Chuck

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If Elite level and book a full suite, other than the cabin space not a real reason to book one anymore. I feel like more and more other than space and balcony furniture (loungers that rarely recline anymore) in full suite nothing special about booking one. We are moving to lux lines because of it. If cruising Princess, I would rather pay for the club class mini, save money and get same treatment and dining amenity as suites, there is always the Sanctuary for the "special" feeling and lounger.

Changes are never ending. Just my opinion.

Sandipalms

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Here's a link to the Club Class info on the Carnival Corporation (not just Carnival Cruises) website about this change:

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2164990

 

Since all cabins are scheduled to get the Princess Luxury Bed, why are they promoting it for this new level of service? It's just marketing hype that isn't unique to Club Class and is falsely promoting something that every cabin will have in it.

 

Upgraded Amenities & Services

Club Class Mini-Suite guests will also enjoy the following additional VIP perks:

 

•The Princess Luxury Bed – Club Class guests will be among the first to experience the "Ultimate Sleep at Sea," in the new bed designed in collaboration with board certified sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus and renowned HGTV Designer Candice Olson

 

It states this is part of their "Come Back New Promise, which is delivering guests a premium cruise vacation"...guess that premium cruise experience comes with an additional cost. One of the things that has kept me from sailing on Cunard is reading about a 2-class system which if this is the first step towards a similar system on Princess will have me reevaluating whether Princess is still my best cruising option.

 

On CC it's regularly commented about how the only extra benefit for a minisuite (beyond the extra room) is a cheap glass of sparkling wine so it's not a big surprise to me that they're adding a couple of extra benefits but I wonder how much extra Club Class will cost?

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Can't wait to see what they'll charge for club class. We like to do Aqua on Celebrity and enjoy the dedicated small, intimate dining room and extremely accommodating service and we also enjoy the use of the spa INCluded with Aqua, but we won't pay more than $25 pp per day over the price of a regular balcony accommodation.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Seems to me that this is reminiscent of the origins of cruising with first class and lower classes, much like the Titanic. That turned out pretty well didn't it?

 

Yup, it turned out so great that most all cruise lines still practice it, with Haven on NCL, Suite Class on RCI and Celebrity (plus Aqua Class on Celebrity), Yacht Club on MSC, Grill classes on Cunard, and so on... Extra perks for those willing to pay more is pretty normal across the lines - Princess is simply keeping up with the times and other lines. Go figure.

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