Regal Princess Suites

We are new to Princess Cruises (many RCCL and Celebrity cruises) and are considering a cruise on the Regal Princess. I have read the info on the website about the different suites and am somewhat confused. I am interested in the actual suite location, layout and size, not the amenities. The amenities are well documented on the Princess website. The descriptions all seem very similar so it is hard to differentiate between Premium, Penthouse and Owners. Other than the large aft balcony on the Owners, what are the differences?

Recommendations and pros/cons would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Check the deck plans.

The premium suites are on the bow, for example deck 12.

The penthouse suites are along the sides, for example deck 14.

They really don't do a good job of explaining differences.

Check out this videos on youtube.

Penthouse suites:

Premium suites:

Owners suite:

You'll note that the balconies on the penthouse suites are very small.

The balconies on the owners suites are, IMHO, the only ones of sufficient size to be useful. But be careful, the balconies on these suites vary in size and the amount of overhead coverage. Baja and Dolphin are the largest and have the most coverage. Some have reported soot issues. We had a Dolphin and it was wonderful with minimal soot. We would only book owners suites since we like large balconies.

The premium suites are on the bow and they can have wind issues.

Unlike other ships, there is no advantage to booking on Caribe deck.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

They are not worth the $$$.

They are not worth the $$$.

They are to others who fill them up every cruise.:)

We are new to Princess Cruises (many RCCL and Celebrity cruises) and are considering a cruise on the Regal Princess. I have read the info on the website about the different suites and am somewhat confused. I am interested in the actual suite location, layout and size, not the amenities. The amenities are well documented on the Princess website. The descriptions all seem very similar so it is hard to differentiate between Premium, Penthouse and Owners. Other than the large aft balcony on the Owners, what are the differences?

Recommendations and pros/cons would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

The Regal will be a very different experience than you are used to on RCCL. For us, the cost of a suite is worth it. You will find the Regal suites smaller than ones on RCCL and the balconies are a real small when compared to RCCL. The exception is "some" of the aft corner balconies are very nice in size. Rocket Man also identifed what I also believe are the two best decks for size and coverage.

Hey Straughn -

Here is a link to a thread with excellent pictures of the Royal Strern See post #3 for an idea of the different balcony sizes.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2212564

Thanks to all for the links to the videos and the pictures. We may have to rethink this. The balconies on the premium and the penthouse won't work for my SO as he spends 80% of the daytime on the balcony reading and he is used to the large balconies that Celebrity offers. I like the Owner's Suite, but the possibility of soot will be a big issue. He cruised on another line and had an aft balcony and the soot was a huge problem, so he is not wild about having an aft cabin.

Maybe Princess is reading this too....

We prpbably would be on Royal too, but I just needed to try the Regal. The corner aft cabin will be good for us.

We will be in an aft corner owner's suite on the Regal in less than two weeks.

We were in the same cabin category two years ago on the Royal.

We love this cabin, and most importantly, the large wrap around deck, where we spend much of our time, enjoying view and the wake. We would not book any other cabin on this ship for this reason.

Soot was not an issue on the last cruise and we don't expect a problem on this cruise.

We will be in an aft corner owner's suite on the Regal in less than two weeks.

We were in the same cabin category two years ago on the Royal.

We love this cabin, and most importantly, the large wrap around deck, where we spend much of our time, enjoying view and the wake. We would not book any other cabin on this ship for this reason.

Soot was not an issue on the last cruise and we don't expect a problem on this cruise.

This is great to hear. May I ask whyich deck you where/are on? The configuration of the balcony is wonderful and we would really like to try a new cruise line, but the soot has the potential to be a big issue.

This is great to hear. May I ask whyich deck you where/are on? The configuration of the balcony is wonderful and we would really like to try a new cruise line, but the soot has the potential to be a big issue.

We were on Emerald deck on the Royal, and we will be on Dolphin deck on the Regal, as the deck is larger and partly covered.

They are to others who fill them up every cruise.:)

I made the mistake of booking an Owner's Suite on the Royal. It was an obscene waste of money in my humble opinion.....

Bob

I made the mistake of booking an Owner's Suite on the Royal. It was an obscene waste of money in my humble opinion.....

 

Bob

To each his own, we never book any thing other then a suite. But we can afford it! The cost is not important .:)

To each his own, we never book any thing other then a suite. But we can afford it! The cost is not important .:)

In my case being able to afford it isn't the question; rather it is value for money. No doubt others reading this thread are in the same boat, so to speak:D.

As someone who has sailed in a full suites on a number of other Princess ships, we were so extremely disappointed with the suite layout and size, deck furnishings, and lack of entertaining space that even if soot wasn't an issue (and it was horrible on Royal's Dolphin deck in December 2013) we wouldn't pay for an Owner's suite on a Royal class ship ever again (and I wouldn't pay for the other category suites because they have many of the same features but narrow, narrow balconies).

We did like the Royal and are booked for 20 days in October in an MA mini-suite with angled balcony with a big "Do Not Upgrade" note attached to our booking.

From my review (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1956349):

This is great to hear. May I ask whyich deck you where/are on? The configuration of the balcony is wonderful and we would really like to try a new cruise line, but the soot has the potential to be a big issue.

We were in D726 on Regal last March. We booked that cabin because we wanted to experience Regal and because we felt that only the owner's suites had usable balconies. We found Regal to be absolutely gorgeous and we booked another cruise as soon as we got our FCC. If soot had been an issue, we would not have booked the exact same cabin for our next cruise on Regal.

The soot issue seems to be very hit or miss. Whether you will have soot, and all aft cabins on all cruise ships will have soot from time to time, will depend upon many variables. Temperature, humidity, wind direction, ships speed and direction, etc. The more cover over the balcony, the less chance for soot as well.

Suggest you take the advice up thread and examine the photographs of the aft cabins. You will quickly notice that size and coverage vary significantly. We picked Dolphin because it had the largest balconies with the most cover. Baha would also be acceptable.

I just found full suites to be more than what two people really need. But it is not always just the two of us sailing, though. The suite perks are nice, but they only partially offset the additional cost. Mini-suite seems to be the sweet spot for two people. I will certainly pay for more space and some perks, but the value I place on that and what Princess wants for it can be very far apart, at times. Now if I have a party of 6, one full suite (+ 2 OV cabins) starts to make a lot more sense.

To each his own, we never book any thing other then a suite. But we can afford it! The cost is not important .:)

You are right. I work a ton of overtime so I can afford both a suite and business or first class air so DW's back won't suffer. I was just saying that to me it was a waste of money. After I got over the OS suite issues, I still had a good cruise.....:):):)

Bob

We were in D726 on Regal last March. We booked that cabin because we wanted to experience Regal and because we felt that only the owner's suites had usable balconies. We found Regal to be absolutely gorgeous and we booked another cruise as soon as we got our FCC. If soot had been an issue, we would not have booked the exact same cabin for our next cruise on Regal.

 

The soot issue seems to be very hit or miss. Whether you will have soot, and all aft cabins on all cruise ships will have soot from time to time, will depend upon many variables. Temperature, humidity, wind direction, ships speed and direction, etc. The more cover over the balcony, the less chance for soot as well.

 

Suggest you take the advice up thread and examine the photographs of the aft cabins. You will quickly notice that size and coverage vary significantly. We picked Dolphin because it had the largest balconies with the most cover. Baha would also be acceptable.

We had D726 on the Royal. The balcony was arguably the best balcony we've ever had with the exception of the daily soot issue.....

Bob