Suite Guests Poll

[Sarahs_mom]

Princess offers it's suite guests:

Priority boarding

Egyptian cotton up graded linen and sheets.

Up graded pillows and mattresses

Up graded bathroom amenities

A special breakfast (including Mimosa's or bloody Marys) in Sabitini's one of their finer restaurants, with a lovely view.

Expanded breakfast, lunch or dinner menus that can be ordered from room service, plus anything on the dinning room menu during dinning hours

Free appetizers brought to the room every day

Free floral arrangement

Free one time bar set up

Free Internet

Free up graded stationary and a leather folder to hold your seapass

Free laundry and dry cleaning service throughout your cruise

A free tour of the ship

A special line at the purser's desk (really convenient)

priority boarding and a special room for disembarking, with continental breakfast

A free glass of champagne on day of arrival

Free after dinner treats on formal nights

A free corsage and buttoner on formal nights

An extra cruise credit and also another extra cruise credit if you are traveling solo

Free use of the termal room, with rain showers, hot stone lounges, steam rooms etc.

There are probably some things I forgot, but that is most of them. Some of these Royal Caribbean gives it's suite guests, but Princess does give more for the buck as far as I am concerned.

[pcdaddy]

On a nine day cruise, the one thing I need the most is laundry service. Though the bar setup would be nice....:)

[Don Pedro]

Gina,

Good point about the Hotel Director and Chief Housekeeper being important to the mix. We've usually had good the suite attendants but occasionally had one that could use some improvement.

 

Although the bar is not stocked our TA usually sends a bottle of wine and its nice to have the wine goblets available.

 

Some things we'd like to see -

1. Allow suited guests into their stateroom at 11:30 rather than 1:00 PM. It would be great to drop off our carry-ons rather than toting them around.

 

2. Allow suite guest to order a limitted amount of bottled alcohol to be delivered to their room.

 

3. Larger and more decorative ice buckets. Filled at least twice daily.

 

4. Exclusive use of the concierge lounge.

 

5. Include some hot items on the concierge lounge morning buffett. Fancy eggs, sausage, bacon. Also free mimosas and bloody marys. Perhaps an upscale breakfast in a specialty restaurant.

 

6. Priority boarding and departure.

 

7. Special function with the ship's captain and hotel director. An evening cocktail hour for example.

 

8. Free internet.

 

9. Unlimitted Johnny Rockets and one free evening in a specialty restaurant with a bottle of wine.

 

10. Invitation to a bridge, galley and backstage tour like the D+s get.

 

11. Special wine tasting or other event in the CL one sea day afternoon.

 

12. Free laundry service.

 

13. Special access to the purser.

 

 

Anyway that's the start of a list. I'm sure everyone will have more to add.

[marci22]

But you know they would. After all they are the ones who quit putting chocolates on the bed and providing little toiletry bottles to all guests just to cut costs.

 

Gina

 

Yeah, you're right. They'd make the price robust enough to go along with the robuster perks.

[stretch44]

But you know they would. After all they are the ones who quit putting chocolates on the bed and providing little toiletry bottles to all guests just to cut costs.

 

The suite experience could very well vary from ship to ship. Our least favorite was on Enchantment but that was probably due to the location. Our best was on Radiance but then again, Radiance does everything best. The hotel director and chief housekeeper, I suspect, have a lot to do with it. I consider it odd when in a suite that some stateroom attendants never offer pillow options or mention that they can get your formal clothes pressed for you. Those who are new to RCI suites might have no idea that these little things are options.

 

With that bar space going unused, you'd think they'd place some fresh flowers there, like on X, along with the fruit basket. I'm sure there are extra flowers on board that wouldn't cost them a penny more. Little touches can go a long way.

 

Gina

 

Why would RCCL could raise the price? All we are asking is that we get the same extras/perks that other mainstream cruise lines offer at the same price. Most of the ideas here would cost RCCL little or nothing.

 

Interesting point about the experience varying ship to ship. On our cruise last September, our suite attendants didn't offer any pillow options. In fact after the first night we had to ASK them for pillow chocolates and towel animals! Kids were disappointed. They said they ran out of the chocolates but mysteriously appeared the next night (along with one towel animal, we have two kids). We didn't get any new little bottles of shampoo after we used them up. When I asked for more I was told it's the same stuff in the soap dispenser! Someone mentioned on another thread that the hotel director on Freedom was one of the cheapest you could get on RCCL. I have no idea if this is true but from our suite experience last year it sure makes a convincing argument. Hope our coming September trip shows improvment.

[kyriecat]

Yeah, you're right. They'd make the price robust enough to go along with the robuster perks.

Not necessarily. I looked at Princess, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean for my cruise next year (10-night Panama Canal). Here is a comparison of the benefits of each line:

 

Royal Caribbean - Jewel of the Seas (April 8, 2011)

Owner's Suite (512 sq. feet of space)

$8743 for two

-Priority check-in

-Personalized attention throughout the cruise with complimentary Concierge Club service on select ships

-Reserved prime seating in the main theater for entertainment shows, where available

-Priority tender tickets on select cruises.

-VIP pool deck seating, where available

-Full breakfast, lunch and dinner dining room menus available for in-room dining

-Private breakfast and lunch seating in specialty restaurants on our Voyager and Freedom Class ships

-Mattel® board games available to order for in-room entertainment for the kids

-Complimentary luggage valet service

-Luxury spa bathrobes for use onboard

-Complimentary pressing service on formal night

-Priority departure with exclusive suite* departure lounge featuring continental breakfast

 

Holland America - Zuiderdam - April 2, 2011

Deluxe Suite (510 sq. feet)

$6925 for two

-Complimentary laundry, pressing and dry cleaning throughout your cruise

-Premium duvet, oversize bath towels and soft, cotton bathrobes and slippers

-Gorgeous corsages and boutonnieres for the first formal night

-Hors d'oeuvres served before dinner each evening on request

-Binoculars and umbrellas for your use on the cruise

-Cocktail party with ship officers

-Priority boarding for tender ports of call

-Special disembarkation service

-Priority dining and seating requests

-Exclusive daily breakfast service for suite guests only

-High tea service in suite on request

-A special Suite guest lunch event on cruises over 7 days in length

-Neptune Lounge: a private place to relax, socialize with other suite guests and enjoy the personalized service of a concierge. The fleet-wide lounges provide worktables, large screen television, library, sofas and chairs, refreshments throughout the day and wi-fi for a small charge. One-Touch 24-hour Concierge Service is available when the Neptune Lounge is closed.

-Lighted magnifying mirrors; massage showerheads; salon-quality hair dryers

-Elemis Aromapure "Time to Spa" bath amenities

-Televisions with DVD players

-Complimentary fresh fruit

-Complimentary 24-hour in-room dining

-Nightly turndown service

-Complimentary shoeshine service

 

Princess - Coral Princess - April 4, 2011

Vista Suite (470 sq. feet)

$7645 for two

Someone already listed the Princess benefits so I won't go through them again. ;)

 

I ended up booking Zuiderdam because I liked the itinerary best. The price being cheapest helps, too. HAL doesn't offer cocktails each night in their suite lounge, but I've never spent $2K on drinks so I think I ended up with the better deal.

[Debde]

Kyriecat

that post proves RCCL has a ways to go with suite enhancements. Those that generally prefer to cruise in suites have already known they are way behind the eight ball with other lines.

 

I also do not feel suite prices will go up as that would defeat the purpose of competing with other lines.

[retiredonthesea]

Would love to see free laundry service, bar set-up and Butler. We have a lot of insuite parties and the Butler on NCL have been invaluable when it comes to setting up hors d'oeuvres and helping with the drinks. On a cruise longer than 7 days free laundry would be sooo nice!:)

[Cruising89143]

Kyriecat

that post proves RCCL has a ways to go with suite enhancements. Those that generally prefer to cruise in suites have already known they are way behind the eight ball with other lines.

 

I also do not feel suite prices will go up as that would defeat the purpose of competing with other lines.

 

 

We had the Deluxe suite on the Oosterdam three years ago and while I think that HAL does have better perks, it's not enough to get me back on a HAL ship anytime soon. Even in my late forties, I am far too young to cruise HAL. I also did not care for the ship. Also, our Deluxe suite was the size of a GS on RCI. The deck on the other hand was HUGE. It was a corner aft. Very nice.

[KimberlyBear]

The Concierge Lounge used to be for suite guests only. Some have commented that overcrowding at certain times is still an issue and therefore not really a very nice perk for suite guests.

 

I agree that the Concierge Lounge is still overcrowded and should be for suite guest only. Its not a perk if you can't get in the door in the evening as it is full.

[stretch44]

Thanks to everyone for participating in the poll. Some very interesting results and comments. Wonder if RCCL is listening? Might help them fill some of those suite vacancies!

[Roger123]

For years, i have been requesting:

-express baggage delivery to suites at embarkation

-allowing suite guests to put their bags outside their stateroom at 6am morning of departure, rather than 11pm the night before

-no charge for room service midnight til 6am

-most importantly...a dedicated line for suite guests at the passenger service counter...