Royal Owners Suite - In Name Only

Late last winter, I began to plan a 1 week Caribbean cruise on the yet to be launched Royal Princess. After much examination of the deck plans, calculating room and balcony sizes, and hoping that the balcony we chose would be at least partially shaded (thanks Dave for your thread - it was invaluable!) I chose D727 - aft, port side corner suite. Dolphin and Baja deck aft cabins have the biggest balconies and it was partially shaded. There was no drawing of the cabin space -- all the web site had shown was a drawing for the suites on the side of the ship so it was a leap of faith that the interior would be sufficient. We have been in premium, vista and window suites on other Princess ships and have seen owner suites on them so we expected to be wowed. We weren't:(.

Layout

There are two distinct rooms - bedroom and seating room - as in a hotel suite which is nice - especially if on different sleep schedules or TV viewing preference.

But the seating room is smaller than the seating space in any suite we've ever been in (think the size of a mini-suite). My husband's first question was where is the couch? -- there was only a love seat. As others have noted there is no longer a wet bar either. Entertaining inside the suite was out of the question with a loveseat, desk chair and small arm chair (a second desk chair is in the bedroom but there is no where to put it in the sitting area). It was problematic (see below) on the balcony.

Lots of closets which was nice and separate, connecting bathrooms (one with sink and toilet, the other with sink, tub - not a whirlpool like on other ships, and separate shower) were very nice and if you could have entertained, the 1/2 bath would have been great.

The bedroom also had another desk and lots of storage space. The bed was extremely comfortable and the bed linens and towels were also very nice.

We liked the decorating scheme - it is very pretty and relaxing.

Balcony

What a great balcony! Too bad they put cheap, undersized furniture on it. No more big teak, cushioned loungers and tables for 4. There were two loungers made of some type of unfinished wood where the metal pieces are already turning green with corrosion (and narrower than the traditional teak chaises), a small dining table and only chairs for 2. Lots of space to entertain but no where to sit....

But that wasn't a problem because of the soot and exhaust :eek:

Upon boarding the furniture had permanent soot marks embedded in the wooden furniture and the chaise/chair cushions - our steward provided beach towels to cover the cushions), the second day (and at varying times on other days) the exhaust smell was overpowering, one morning the soot was pea size all over the balcony -- that was the day they warned us in advance that the balcony wouldn't be usable since workmen would be on it (and they were - off and on the entire day), the last two sea days were better but we still had to wipe down the furniture and every now and then there was a smell of exhaust which eventually chased us back inside. On top of that the rugs in the stateroom are discolored near the doors (and in other places) from previous passengers (probably unknowingly) tracking in the soot.

When we complained to passenger services they weren't surprised and immediately said we would be offered compensation. We will be negotiating with headquarters. Everyone assured us they are 'working on it' (including the engineer who, during a presentation, said they were meeting that day with the Italians who built the ship via conference call) but obviously no one was even hazarding a guess as to when it would be fixed. If it was an easy fix, it would have been done already and I really have to wonder if no one walked to the back of the ship during sea trials.... how could this have come as a surprise?

Recommendations

First and foremost, Princess must fix the soot and exhaust problem. Until then warn passengers - don't wait for them to complain.

Princess needs to rename (and reprice) these suites -- they are not Owners Suites. In addition they need to put some realistic floor plans on the web site - that really shouldn't be so difficult. And while they are at it, they should put realistic information about balcony size (I know it is too much to ask that they include shade coverage) on the web site too since some of the Owners Suites have very narrow balconies. Finally, the suite perks on other ships include the Thermal Suite -- the Thermal Suite on Steroids on the Royal is the Enclave and it isn't included in the perks. The additional perk on the Royal was the concierge lounge -- we went once to check it out and the best my husband can say is, 'it has a capuccino machine!' but he drank plenty of capuccinos in Sabatinis each morning so he didn't go back.

We love aft suites and are willing to pay for them but in this case do not think we got our monies worth.

Nice review, no histrionics and as far as I can tell, very objective. Thank you!

I agree Princess should provide more details regarding cabin layouts and sizes. People should be able to know what they are buying without having to go to third party web-sites.

Late last winter, I began to plan a 1 week Caribbean cruise on the yet to be launched Royal Princess. After much examination of the deck plans, calculating room and balcony sizes, and hoping that the balcony we chose would be at least partially shaded (thanks Dave for your thread - it was invaluable!) I chose D727 - aft, port side corner suite. Dolphin and Baja deck aft cabins have the biggest balconies and it was partially shaded. There was no drawing of the cabin space -- all the web site had shown was a drawing for the suites on the side of the ship so it was a leap of faith that the interior would be sufficient. We have been in premium, vista and window suites on other Princess ships and have seen owner suites on them so we expected to be wowed. We weren't:(.

 

Layout

 

There are two distinct rooms - bedroom and seating room - as in a hotel suite which is nice - especially if on different sleep schedules or TV viewing preference.

 

But the seating room is smaller than the seating space in any suite we've ever been in (think the size of a mini-suite). My husband's first question was where is the couch? -- there was only a love seat. As others have noted there is no longer a wet bar either. Entertaining inside the suite was out of the question with a loveseat, desk chair and small arm chair (a second desk chair is in the bedroom but there is no where to put it in the sitting area). It was problematic (see below) on the balcony.

 

Lots of closets which was nice and separate, connecting bathrooms (one with sink and toilet, the other with sink, tub - not a whirlpool like on other ships, and separate shower) were very nice and if you could have entertained, the 1/2 bath would have been great.

 

The bedroom also had another desk and lots of storage space. The bed was extremely comfortable and the bed linens and towels were also very nice.

 

We liked the decorating scheme - it is very pretty and relaxing.

 

Balcony

 

What a great balcony! Too bad they put cheap, undersized furniture on it. No more big teak, cushioned loungers and tables for 4. There were two loungers made of some type of unfinished wood where the metal pieces are already turning green with corrosion (and narrower than the traditional teak chaises), a small dining table and only chairs for 2. Lots of space to entertain but no where to sit....

 

But that wasn't a problem because of the soot and exhaust :eek:

 

Upon boarding the furniture had permanent soot marks embedded in the wooden furniture and the chaise/chair cushions - our steward provided beach towels to cover the cushions), the second day (and at varying times on other days) the exhaust smell was overpowering, one morning the soot was pea size all over the balcony -- that was the day they warned us in advance that the balcony wouldn't be usable since workmen would be on it (and they were - off and on the entire day), the last two sea days were better but we still had to wipe down the furniture and every now and then there was a smell of exhaust which eventually chased us back inside. On top of that the rugs in the stateroom are discolored near the doors (and in other places) from previous passengers (probably unknowingly) tracking in the soot.

 

When we complained to passenger services they weren't surprised and immediately said we would be offered compensation. We will be negotiating with headquarters. Everyone assured us they are 'working on it' (including the engineer who, during a presentation, said they were meeting that day with the Italians who built the ship via conference call) but obviously no one was even hazarding a guess as to when it would be fixed. If it was an easy fix, it would have been done already and I really have to wonder if no one walked to the back of the ship during sea trials.... how could this have come as a surprise?

 

Recommendations

 

First and foremost, Princess must fix the soot and exhaust problem. Until then warn passengers - don't wait for them to complain.

 

Princess needs to rename (and reprice) these suites -- they are not Owners Suites. In addition they need to put some realistic floor plans on the web site - that really shouldn't be so difficult. And while they are at it, they should put realistic information about balcony size (I know it is too much to ask that they include shade coverage) on the web site too since some of the Owners Suites have very narrow balconies. Finally, the suite perks on other ships include the Thermal Suite -- the Thermal Suite on Steroids on the Royal is the Enclave and it isn't included in the perks. The additional perk on the Royal was the concierge lounge -- we went once to check it out and the best my husband can say is, 'it has a capuccino machine!' but he drank plenty of capuccinos in Sabatinis each morning so he didn't go back.

 

We love aft suites and are willing to pay for them but in this case do not think we got our monies worth.

I am in total agreement with your assessment of the OS suite. We were in D728 for the T/A. I upgraded from a mini to the OS based mostly on the fact I'd be sailing in the best class of cabin on the ship. I was shocked when we entered the cabin to see how small it really was. I also believe, as you, that there are several things I liked about the suite. Biggest plus was the comfortable bed.

The amount that Princess charges for the OS suite combined with how small the suite really is make it (at lest for me) a huge waste of money.

Bob

I am in total agreement with your assessment of the OS suite. We were in D728 for the T/A. I upgraded from a mini to the OS based mostly on the fact I'd be sailing in the best class of cabin on the ship. I was shocked when we entered the cabin to see how small it really was. I also believe, as you, that there are several things I liked about the suite. Biggest plus was the comfortable bed.

 

The amount that Princess charges for the OS suite combined with how small the suite really is make it (at lest for me) a huge waste of money.

 

Bob

Bob, I dodged a bullet by canceling an Aft Suite on the Royal before it was launched but I felt your pain as you reported back. The suites are a step in the wrong direction for a line that should know better - lack of shade/privacy in most and then there is the soot issue.

The plans and models must have been scrutinized by many highly paid executives yet apparently they didn't see what they were looking at.

Not impressed by upper Princess management.

Norris

This is not specific to Princess or to the ship in the discussion, as we have sailed neither, but a couple of general opinions.

Evidently management made decisions on the cabin size during the development stages of the vessel, based on what they believed to be the minimum standards passengers would accept. As we see on a daily basis, it seems that the quality everything we buy is constantly being nibbled away. :mad:

The soot issue is just another example of lack of attention during design. With the computer simulations available in design programs today and the wind tunnel testing that should have been done with scale models, there is no excuse for this. Every possible combination of ship and wind speeds and direction is easily programmable into the test parameters.

The soot problem can most likely be solved with a few additions to the funnel to redirect the airflow. The cabin size...passengers loose :mad:

Thank you for posting this about your OS. We have sailed in Owner's suites for many of our last Princess cruises and we had one booked for the maiden transatlantic cruise. After the deck plans were released and we had a chance to look at them we canceled. We are happy that we did and we will never book an OS on the Royal or her sisters. We love Princess, but the new ships are not to our liking. We understand that other folks may feel differently and that's great. It's wonderful tahat there are so many choices.

Finally, the suite perks on other ships include the Thermal Suite -- the Thermal Suite on Steroids on the Royal is the Enclave and it isn't included in the perks.

This. Hate that perk being taken away :(

One needs to look at the history of these suites on the Royal.

Originally this type corner suite had more space on the side of the ship and absolutely no view (no window, no door) to the rear of the ship. The balcony entrance was to the side of the ship.

To correct the lack of a rear view, the suite was redesigned:

o The part that had no rear view was kept.

o The part that had the entrance to the balcony on the side of the ship was converted to a deluxe balcony.

o A rear facing premium aft balcony became the second part of the Owner's suite.

So the owner's suite as it exists today is a combination of part of the original design and what used to be a premium aft balcony cabin.

There were many disappointed and unhappy people who had booked the 12 premium aft balcony cabins that no longer existed. They were upgraded to mini-suites on the side of the ship which is not the same view at all.

These cabins should be reclassified.

I was able to tour the Royal Princess a few weeks ago and would never book this cabin.

These cabins should be reclassified.

 

I was able to tour the Royal Princess a few weeks ago and would never book this cabin.

I will never book them again.....:D:D:D

Bob

Thank you for your outstanding detailed information on the Royal Owners Suite. :):):):)

We canceled our b2bs on Royal Princess in an aft Owners Suite after reading about the size of the suite and the exhaust and soot issues on the balcony. Glad we did. We rebooked the Star and sail Sunday to Hawaii in an aft S3. Post like your validate our decision and we have no plans to sail on the Royal...ever. Much prefer the Grand Class ships. What was Princess thinking???

Late last winter, I began to plan a 1 week Caribbean cruise on the yet to be launched Royal Princess. After much examination of the deck plans, calculating room and balcony sizes, and hoping that the balcony we chose would be at least partially shaded (thanks Dave for your thread - it was invaluable!) I chose D727 - aft, port side corner suite. Dolphin and Baja deck aft cabins have the biggest balconies and it was partially shaded. There was no drawing of the cabin space -- all the web site had shown was a drawing for the suites on the side of the ship so it was a leap of faith that the interior would be sufficient. We have been in premium, vista and window suites on other Princess ships and have seen owner suites on them so we expected to be wowed. We weren't:(.

 

Layout

 

There are two distinct rooms - bedroom and seating room - as in a hotel suite which is nice - especially if on different sleep schedules or TV viewing preference.

 

But the seating room is smaller than the seating space in any suite we've ever been in (think the size of a mini-suite). My husband's first question was where is the couch? -- there was only a love seat. As others have noted there is no longer a wet bar either. Entertaining inside the suite was out of the question with a loveseat, desk chair and small arm chair (a second desk chair is in the bedroom but there is no where to put it in the sitting area). It was problematic (see below) on the balcony.

 

Lots of closets which was nice and separate, connecting bathrooms (one with sink and toilet, the other with sink, tub - not a whirlpool like on other ships, and separate shower) were very nice and if you could have entertained, the 1/2 bath would have been great.

 

The bedroom also had another desk and lots of storage space. The bed was extremely comfortable and the bed linens and towels were also very nice.

 

We liked the decorating scheme - it is very pretty and relaxing.

 

Balcony

 

What a great balcony! Too bad they put cheap, undersized furniture on it. No more big teak, cushioned loungers and tables for 4. There were two loungers made of some type of unfinished wood where the metal pieces are already turning green with corrosion (and narrower than the traditional teak chaises), a small dining table and only chairs for 2. Lots of space to entertain but no where to sit....

 

But that wasn't a problem because of the soot and exhaust :eek:

 

Upon boarding the furniture had permanent soot marks embedded in the wooden furniture and the chaise/chair cushions - our steward provided beach towels to cover the cushions), the second day (and at varying times on other days) the exhaust smell was overpowering, one morning the soot was pea size all over the balcony -- that was the day they warned us in advance that the balcony wouldn't be usable since workmen would be on it (and they were - off and on the entire day), the last two sea days were better but we still had to wipe down the furniture and every now and then there was a smell of exhaust which eventually chased us back inside. On top of that the rugs in the stateroom are discolored near the doors (and in other places) from previous passengers (probably unknowingly) tracking in the soot.

 

When we complained to passenger services they weren't surprised and immediately said we would be offered compensation. We will be negotiating with headquarters. Everyone assured us they are 'working on it' (including the engineer who, during a presentation, said they were meeting that day with the Italians who built the ship via conference call) but obviously no one was even hazarding a guess as to when it would be fixed. If it was an easy fix, it would have been done already and I really have to wonder if no one walked to the back of the ship during sea trials.... how could this have come as a surprise?

 

Recommendations

 

First and foremost, Princess must fix the soot and exhaust problem. Until then warn passengers - don't wait for them to complain.

 

Princess needs to rename (and reprice) these suites -- they are not Owners Suites. In addition they need to put some realistic floor plans on the web site - that really shouldn't be so difficult. And while they are at it, they should put realistic information about balcony size (I know it is too much to ask that they include shade coverage) on the web site too since some of the Owners Suites have very narrow balconies. Finally, the suite perks on other ships include the Thermal Suite -- the Thermal Suite on Steroids on the Royal is the Enclave and it isn't included in the perks. The additional perk on the Royal was the concierge lounge -- we went once to check it out and the best my husband can say is, 'it has a capuccino machine!' but he drank plenty of capuccinos in Sabatinis each morning so he didn't go back.

 

We love aft suites and are willing to pay for them but in this case do not think we got our monies worth.

These problems are well know since the ship came out.

We are thinking of getting an owner's suite on the Emerald for the transatlantic. I'm worried about the soot issue and wondering if we should opt for the suites in the middle of the ship.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

:confused:

The OS on most ships are not bad. They are larger than the Vista or Penthouse Suites (S4), and have a longer built in desk/storage area, and have a dining table.

Otherwise, they have the same design as an S3 or S4 suite.

Rick

We are thinking of getting an owner's suite on the Emerald for the transatlantic. I'm worried about the soot issue and wondering if we should opt for the suites in the middle of the ship.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

:confused:

There is no problem with soot on the Emerald -- in fact it was an aft suite on the Emerald 3 1/2 years ago that spoiled us forever :p. The soot problem is, thankfully, confined to the Royal Princess.

We are thinking of getting an owner's suite on the Emerald for the transatlantic. I'm worried about the soot issue and wondering if we should opt for the suites in the middle of the ship.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

:confused:

The aft suites on the Emerald and sister "grand" class ships are amazing. No soot issues.

For an example, I checked prices for one of the Royal's 10 day Caribbean cruises. The S5 premium suites are $3,249, the S4 penthouse suites are $3,399 and the S2 owners suites are $4,199. Except for the larger, but unusable, soot covered balconies there is no advantage to the S2 suites. They are NOTHING like the owners suites on the Grand class ships with a roomy, soot free balcony and a dining table and chairs inside that will seat four. IMHO, the almost 25% premium over the S4 and S5 suites get you nothing.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Thank you everyone for all your replies !

We are thinking of getting an owner's suite on the Emerald for the transatlantic. I'm worried about the soot issue and wondering if we should opt for the suites in the middle of the ship.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

:confused:

We have sailed in A753 (an OS) on the Emerald, Ruby and Crown multiple times and it is our favorite cabin. There are no problems with soot on the balcony on those ships. We have it booked again for an upcoming cruise. The OS cabins on the Emerald and her sisters are great. The midships suites have narrow balconies and are not our favorites.

Thank you Ann for your help as well. I think we have eliminated the middle suites as you said the balconies are very narrow. But with the 25% premium for the OS or Penthouse Suite, we are now leaning towards saving $$ and booking an Aft Vista Suite.

There is a comment that there is some obstruction because of a support beam. Can anyone help me with what that means?

Thank you in advance again for all the help !! XOXO:confused:

Thank you Ann for your help as well. I think we have eliminated the middle suites as you said the balconies are very narrow. But with the 25% premium for the OS or Penthouse Suite, we are now leaning towards saving $$ and booking an Aft Vista Suite.

 

There is a comment that there is some obstruction because of a support beam. Can anyone help me with what that means?

 

Thank you in advance again for all the help !! XOXO:confused:

We found the beam (granted it was on the Sapphire and not the Emerald) a non issue. The Vista Suite balconies are very large and, if anything, you can use the beam to provide some shade. We just tucked our dining table behind it most days and if having dinner on the balcony moved the table out a bit - eating dinner while departing San Francisco at sunset is a never to be forgotten memory.

Cappriccio, thank you very much....was thinking it was an expensive cabin to have something like that a bother. Now the only thing left is to convince my husband that the transatlantic would be fine in an aft cabin vs the premium ones in the middle with the much smaller balcony for virtually the same price. ;)

Your experience in this suite has been echoed by others. Great balcony, room not so great. I'm sorry after your planning that you didn't get the room that was ideal. I think your post and some that came before might help future cruisers who are considering this suite to reconsider.

Thank you Ann for your help as well. I think we have eliminated the middle suites as you said the balconies are very narrow. But with the 25% premium for the OS or Penthouse Suite, we are now leaning towards saving $$ and booking an Aft Vista Suite.

 

There is a comment that there is some obstruction because of a support beam. Can anyone help me with what that means?

 

Thank you in advance again for all the help !! XOXO:confused:

We have also sailed in VS suites on Dolphin deck and if we can't get an OS that's our next choice. The beam is a non-issue as far as we are concerned. The balcony is large and the corner cabins are great.