Suite vs. Mini Suite Star Princess Alaska

Looking at Alaska 2018 on the Star. For 2 of us, it would cost close to $2,000. more for a suite vs. a mini suite. We are trying to figure out if it is worth to us. Looking at $2K only, it isn't worth it for the full suite, but wanted to survey the experienced cruisers.

I would love to have someone else do my laundry. I don't think I'd rack up a very high bill for laundry, though. Does anyone know if the prices for laundry are similar to land based laundry services?

What are the offerings in the Elite Lounge? It looks like a 2 hour happy hour. Does that include any/all drinks for free? What type of food do they have? Can anyone seriously eat and drink here and then go eat dinner? I cannot eat very much in the evenings, while my husband can binge eat like a sumo wrestler. He'd probably have 4 drinks and I'd probably have one or half of one.

Having loungers on the balcony sounds good, but I've been on a couple Alaska cruises before (both Disney) and found it too cold to sit around. I tend to be up walking the decks all the time. Anyone have any comments about that?

Can we have dinner served to us in our room from the normal MDR in the suite?

Anything else I should know about the differences? $2K is a lot of money. Of course, if we decided this would be our last Alaska vacation, it would be fine. I've already been to all the ports and won't be spending much money on anything at any of those.

Decisions, decisions! I can only tell you that "the Suite Life" is worth it! We have been both ways and both are great cruises. Our first cruise was on the Sun Princess in a mini D751. What was not to love!

Our second was on the Star Princess in a Suite C415, it was sooo awesome that words cannot describe it. But I tried to:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g28923-d144468-r141015107-Inside_Passage-Alaska.html

When you have the chance to book a suite for less than $2K always go with the suite. On our next Oct 2017 cruise we skipped the chance to book a suite because of the cost: :mad: $6.5K additional and I regret it even now. :loudcry: But they were sold out within 4 days!

Just Mike

From a financial perspective, I do not think suites are "worth" it. That said, we always stay in a Vista aft suite over the wake for the space and view. My husband is up during the night, and with a suite, we not only have extra space, but there is a heavy curtain to separate the sleeping area from the sitting area. We also enjoy having the larger balcony. Since we are in an aft cabin over the wake, when we leave Glacier Bay, we sit out there with snacks (with our coats on), and enjoy the scenery - we are on deck while going into Glacier Bay. with an aft balcony, you are protected from the wind, so the temperature has never been a problem for us.

On most of the ships, there's a two room bathroom, so the person on the toilet can have privacy while the other person uses the shower, tub, or sink.

The other benefits are nice, but I doubt the dollar value comes up to the added price - breakfast in Sabatini's, laundry, expanded room service menu, bar set up, etc. And yes, as a suite passenger, you can order dinner from the MDR menu. Sabatini's is not open on debarkation day, so you can order a hot breakfast from room service - you just need to be out of the room by 8:00. Only suite passengers can order room service on debarkation day. And if you prefer picking your dining room time, you can make reservations in the Anytime Dining Room at the same table for every night.

As for laundry, I love it. We take only about five days worth of clothes, and go home with all clean clothes. No pile of laundry to do when the vacation is over.

We never go to the lounge, so can't comment on that. I guess it depends on what you want from the vacation and where you want to spend your money. A suite is not a bargain. A mini suite gives you more room than a standard cabin, but is quite smaller than a suite.

hope my comments help!

Of course this is a purely personal decision based on wants, needs and finances. As for the latter, I can cruise twice as often by not sailing in Suites. We travel as a family of three and it is often more than twice the price to sail in a Suite than it is in a Mini Site. For us, cruising is more about the itinerary and destination to the point where the perks and luxuries of the ship are not where we derive our biggest benefit. Things like minibar set ups and cocktail hours will never amount to an even trade for an additional cruise. My math is: (2 Cruises in Mini Suites @ $3,500 each = $7,000) > (1 Cruise in a Suite @ $8,000 with Suite perks). Of course, if my finances were different, my math might be different.

We love suites so much we choose to cruise half as frequently in order to have the super experience of a suite.

That said, it is difficult to cost-justify a suite based on the perks alone. To us you have to "want" a suite versus try to justify the price by adding the value of the benefits and comparing to the price differential. It's kind of like saying the cost of free drinks and the meal added to coach airfare somehow should equal first class airfare and if not don't fly first class...

If you spend the cruise constantly thinking the nickels and dimes don't add up you'll likely not enjoy the suite as much as you could/should.

All of those answers are very helpful. I am actually thinking we might prefer to cruise less and have the luxury of a suite. It's expensive for us to take time off (we have to close our business and pay for house and petsitting). So, that actually makes less often vacations easier and could make the argument to go all out when we do take a week off.

I still have time to think it over since I'll be on the Star in a couple weeks and plan on booking Alaska at that time. If we do book a suite, I hope we don't get too spoiled to enjoy the simple things like an ocean view room ....

Looking at Alaska 2018 on the Star. For 2 of us, it would cost close to $2,000. more for a suite vs. a mini suite. We are trying to figure out if it is worth to us. Looking at $2K only, it isn't worth it for the full suite, but wanted to survey the experienced cruisers.

 

I can think of a lot of other things I could do with $2k.

 

I would love to have someone else do my laundry. I don't think I'd rack up a very high bill for laundry, though. Does anyone know if the prices for laundry are similar to land based laundry services?

 

You can always do your own. There is a laundry room on every deck. $3 to wash and $3 to dry.

 

 

What are the offerings in the Elite Lounge? It looks like a 2 hour happy hour. Does that include any/all drinks for free? What type of food do they have? Can anyone seriously eat and drink here and then go eat dinner? I cannot eat very much in the evenings, while my husband can binge eat like a sumo wrestler. He'd probably have 4 drinks and I'd probably have one or half of one.

Drinks are not free. There is a drink of the day for $5. You can order anything you like and (sometimes) they will still only charge the $5. Don't count on it. There is snacky stuff - cheese, etc. I like to go on Stilton night. If you have early dining it's too close to eat there and then go to dinner.

 

Having loungers on the balcony sounds good, but I've been on a couple Alaska cruises before (both Disney) and found it too cold to sit around. I tend to be up walking the decks all the time. Anyone have any comments about that?

We have cruised Alaska twice and never had a balcony. We didn't really miss it. Yes, we have cruised in balcony cabins but found being up on deck was fine for us. We did have a window-mini on one of the Alaska cruises and it was nice to have the view but still spent most of our viewing topside.

Can we have dinner served to us in our room from the normal MDR in the suite?

Yes. You can order room service from the MDR menu for dinner.

 

Anything else I should know about the differences? $2K is a lot of money. Of course, if we decided this would be our last Alaska vacation, it would be fine. I've already been to all the ports and won't be spending much money on anything at any of those.

Please see specific answers above in red.

Every step up in cabin category, of course, means a price increase as well which therefore means each has a trade-off to consider - including what else once could do with that price differential.

Our ultimate trade-off is to cruise less often but whenwe do enjoy the suite life - the space, the balcony furniture, the perks (especially breakfast in Sabatini's!), and the extra special treatment. As others say it's so easy to get spoiled and never want to cruise unless it's in a suite. We're so there...

All of those answers are very helpful. I am actually thinking we might prefer to cruise less and have the luxury of a suite. It's expensive for us to take time off (we have to close our business and pay for house and petsitting). So, that actually makes less often vacations easier and could make the argument to go all out when we do take a week off.

 

I still have time to think it over since I'll be on the Star in a couple weeks and plan on booking Alaska at that time. If we do book a suite, I hope we don't get too spoiled to enjoy the simple things like an ocean view room ....

I was in a suite on the CB on my Caribbean cruise with DH and loved it, and I was in an ocean view on the Crown in Alaska with mom, MIL, and daughter (2 cabins) and loved it. For different reasons. The perks were great, but I didn't miss them as much as I was afraid I might!

Regrettably for the wallet, once we did a suite for the first time, there is no turning back! We love it - the extra space, access to CC dining, mini-bar set up (double if Elite, and quadruple if on a B2B cruise!), extra attention and service and prioritisation, laundry fast and efficient, larger balcony with upgraded furniture, larger bathroom and Jacuzzi in some.....and so on.

We went on Star to Alaska in June and were lucky to bag the owners suite aft of the ship as a last minute cancelation, and it was amazing. The room was the size of a large hotel suite, with our balcony taking up almost half the aft of the ship and triple depth....watching the glaciers float by, and when the ship did the 360 degree turn, it was an amazing spectacle, as was one night, sailing away from the most glorious crimson, pink, orange sunset! A memory to live on for a long time....

Suite for me now, all the way....just have to now save even harder!

Those of you who post about what it was like staying in a suite, make my mouth water, lol. Although, I am the type of person who finds joy in my vacations. It doesn't matter what my room is like, I will have a good time and find something enjoyable to do. I just couldn't imagine an inside room because I get claustrophobia without a window.

Posting a different question, which probably won't get as much attention as if I started a new thread, but here it is anyway. Is the Star really that much better than the Island? I just noticed the same itinerary on Island that has Icy Straight Point instead of Ketchikan. I do not like Ketchikan. I've never been to Icy Straight Point. So, from an itinerary point, I'd choose Island Princess. However, I do spend a lot of time roaming the ship looking for stuff to do and from what I've read about Island, there aren't as many place to do that. Since I'll be on the ship for 7 days, that may be more important to me than one port day.

We were on the Island this past December/January for a 15 day Panama Canal cruise and stayed in one of the new, aft suites. It was the nicest Vista Suite we have ever stayed in. The room was spacious and the balcony was about half the width of the ship. There wasn't a sink in the sitting area, but there were two sinks in the bathroom - one in the room with the toilet, and the other in the room with the shower and tub. I loved the room, and had no problem with the ship. Yes, it's different than it was, but we had no problems with the changes, or finding things to do while at sea. Others hate the ship. I guess it's a personal decision, but for me, I pick the itinerary and date and not the ship.

Every step up in cabin category, of course, means a price increase as well which therefore means each has a trade-off to consider - including what else once could do with that price differential.

 

Our ultimate trade-off is to cruise less often but whenwe do enjoy the suite life - the space, the balcony furniture, the perks (especially breakfast in Sabatini's!), and the extra special treatment. As others say it's so easy to get spoiled and never want to cruise unless it's in a suite. We're so there...

Agreed, we have sailed in C415 on the Star, C415 on the Grand, C422 on the Grand, and upcoming 8067 on the Pacific, and C414 on the Grand back to Alaska in 2017. We love the extra space, we can pack lightly, 2 carry-ons for a 15-night cruise as we send laundry out everyday, it is same day laundry for the suites, while Elites (which we also are) some times wait 3 days if there are a lot of Elite passengers onbaord. Suite breakfast is wonderful as is ordering anything you want from the MDR menu. Depending on when you sail, Club Class dining might be available, early reviews are very positive. As to going on more cruises instead, we limit ourselves to two cruises per year in suites not for financial reasons, but because my waistline can't take it, gained 5 pounds on our last cruise on the Royal Clipper (their suites are smaller than Princess but a tall sailing ship with 170 passengers onboard). Enjoy whatever you decide.

All of those answers are very helpful. I am actually thinking we might prefer to cruise less and have the luxury of a suite. It's expensive for us to take time off (we have to close our business and pay for house and petsitting). So, that actually makes less often vacations easier and could make the argument to go all out when we do take a week off.

 

I still have time to think it over since I'll be on the Star in a couple weeks and plan on booking Alaska at that time. If we do book a suite, I hope we don't get too spoiled to enjoy the simple things like an ocean view room ....

I take the "cruise less, enjoy the suite more" attitude. I only have a little over 3 weeks of vacation in a year and my wife has 4. We have to meter our vacation out between real vacations and things like home improvement projects, personal maintenance, etc. Therefore we can't cruise as much as we would like, but when we do we want it to be special, fun, and comfortable.

The space, included services, like laundry, and extra little perks will never add up to the extra price. However, the comfort of having so much space and storage to spread out in, makes a huge difference for me. It's nice to have a room with a balcony large enough to really relax on, let alone a space, large enough that two people aren't stumbling over each other getting ready for dinner or getting up in the morning. The wooden loungers with the upholstered pads are a far cry from tubular steel chairs with mesh seats or plastic deck furniture, and are amazingly comfortable.

It's also nice to have the option of getting room service for dining room breakfast and dinner. We aren't hermits, but there are some evenings where we want real food, but don't want to have to deal with everyone else to get the real food.

I have encountered many who love to cruise and just want to be on the ship and vacationing, therefore being there is the most important thing and they don't mind an inside stateroom where they only sleep, dress, and bathroom themselves. On the other hand, I'm not into hanging out at bars, and I'm not a sun worshiper, so I'd rather have my nice quiet, private place to lay back and watch the world go by.

Whatever your choice, I know that you'll really enjoy your cruise, but I hope you do get the suite. I think you'll really enjoy it.

"I cannot eat very much in the evenings, while my husband can binge eat like a sumo wrestler."

Omg..I just had to reply to this..that is THE BEST quote ever. My husband and I are still giggling. We might have to steal that line from you!!

We love suites and only cruise if we will be in a suite. They are definitely pricey but it changes the entire experience for us. One year we decided to vacation on more of a budget, I think it was a 1500 difference. We spent the entire vacation wishing we had just spent the money. We would rather cruise less than settle for something we would be less than thrilled with while on vacation. It's just us. Many people feel differently and I envy that. If we would enjoy the cruise just as much not in a suite, we would do it in a heartbeat. I guess that is how the cruise lines make their money. Either way, enjoy your cruise!

Annie

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Having done both a full and mini suites on Princess our last two cruises, we decided we prefer the layout of the mini suites. There is a lot of wasted space in the full suites. We hated the split bathroom set up with toilet and sink in one room and the gargantuan jetted tub and glass enclosed shower in the other separated by a door that belongs in a hobbit house (the jam height is probably 6'2"). Definitely a head banger for me. The closet in the full suite is really enclosed and cave like. We prefer the mini-suite one long rack with mirrored doors enclosing the drawers on the far wall.

If you like 6 feet of vanity space and absolutely positively need a small bar sink...then the full suite is for you. However you get the same size sofa (a queen sleeper) and only one additional chair in the sitting area. The separation of the bedroom from the sitting area on the full suite was the something we really liked, with a full curtain separating the area. The mini suite doesn't have that which is really more of a design defect on the mini suites (due to the curved book case).

The balcony on the full suites are essentially double wide, and the full loungers are great, but the adjustable chair backs with separate foot rest are very comfortable in the mini suite.

The thing we really missed was breakfast at Sabatini's nearly everyday, but all the other perks aren't worth the added price, for a stateroom we liked less.

I'm in the cruise less but bigger camp. We are fortunate that we can afford the choice; frankly a Mini Is plenty big enough for a 7-day cruise. For 12+, I'll save up for the extra space.

We snagged a Window Suite on Caribbean Princess, and I can't tell if it has a curtain to separate the bedroom area from the living area. I agree with others that this is a big help. Does anyone know for sure?

Decisions, decisions! I can only tell you that "the Suite Life" is worth it! We have been both ways and both are great cruises. Our first cruise was on the Sun Princess in a mini D751. What was not to love!

Our second was on the Star Princess in a Suite C415, it was sooo awesome that words cannot describe it. But I tried to:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g28923-d144468-r141015107-Inside_Passage-Alaska.html

When you have the chance to book a suite for less than $2K always go with the suite. On our next Oct 2017 cruise we skipped the chance to book a suite because of the cost: :mad: $6.5K additional and I regret it even now. :loudcry: But they were sold out within 4 days!

Just Mike

I just read your itinerary for your roll call. That is an awesome trip. Have fun in the Pacific.

I'm in the cruise less but bigger camp. We are fortunate that we can afford the choice; frankly a Mini Is plenty big enough for a 7-day cruise. For 12+, I'll save up for the extra space.

 

We snagged a Window Suite on Caribbean Princess, and I can't tell if it has a curtain to separate the bedroom area from the living area. I agree with others that this is a big help. Does anyone know for sure?

A window suite does not have a curtain to separate the bedroom area from the living area. It is just one large area. It also does not have a separate room for the toilet - the tub, shower, toilet, and sink are all in the same room.

We sailed in C420 on the Star and it was worth every penny. It is just personal choice and for us the location of the suite and the perks made the cruise more enjoyable. we like to relax in the cabin and do spend time on the balcony. Our cruise was to Hawaii so the weather was warmer. Also did the Chef's Table and the ship tour. Enjoy

For us the big difference is having a walk in shower and having priority boarding and priority on tenders. On Princess there are no mini suites with walk in showers and we find their balcony staterooms are just too small. So we always try for a suite and watch the prices closely. The other perks are great as well.

For us the big difference is having a walk in shower and having priority boarding and priority on tenders. On Princess there are no mini suites with walk in showers and we find their balcony staterooms are just too small. So we always try for a suite and watch the prices closely. The other perks are great as well.

The walk in shower is important to us as well. DW has mobility issues with here knees, and she has difficulty using a shower in tub. Unless we get a handicapped cabin, we will no longer stay in a mini-suite because of the tub. We will either stay in a suite or in a balcony or below. I prefer not to request a handicapped cabin just for the shower, since other people need it more than we do - we're fine in a standard cabin as long as it has a walk-in shower.

The walk in shower is important to us as well. DW has mobility issues with here knees, and she has difficulty using a shower in tub. Unless we get a handicapped cabin, we will no longer stay in a mini-suite because of the tub. We will either stay in a suite or in a balcony or below. I prefer not to request a handicapped cabin just for the shower, since other people need it more than we do - we're fine in a standard cabin as long as it has a walk-in shower.

we do it for the same reason...not really disabled but neither one of us can safely swing a leg over the tub rail especially when on the high seas,

Walk-in shower is very important, especially for those people who are dealing with mobility issues and travelling on a cruise. Last week I too installed a walk in shower for my grandmother by consulting the walk in tub Seattle contractors, which was recommended by my doctor as it has a chairs and doors facilities. But, walk-in shower it is not only for seniors or disabled people, everyone can use walk-in shower because it provides with Hydrotherapy features which help to relax muscles and improved blood circulation in the body.