Cruising in a Suite for the first time, what to expect?

[Poorplaya]

My wife and i have planned out second cruise on RCCL, we will be aboard the independence of the seas and will be cruising in an owners suite. What are some of the things we can expect to be different than our typical balcony room with the exception of size obviously??

[karen s]

My wife and i have planned out second cruise on RCCL, we will be aboard the independence of the seas and will be cruising in an owners suite. What are some of the things we can expect to be different than our typical balcony room with the exception of size obviously??

 

Here's the list we received from the Navigator concierge:

 

 

Use of the Concierge Lounge

Spa Bathrobes for use onboard

Upgraded amenities for the bathroom

Continental breakfast served in the lounge daily from 8:00 am to 10:00 am

Hors d’oeuvres, petit fours and complimentary bar setup served in the lounge every evening in the Concierge Lounge Deck #9 from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Daily menus displayed and pre-ordering availability for your dinner wine

Full Dining Room room-service privilege (available when Dining Room is open)

Reservations for any of our specialty restaurants, sports activities, Explorations, salon and spa services, etc.

Arrangements for private parties

Limited VIP lounge chair set-up near the pool bar area between decks 11 and 12

Port & Shopping advice

Business services such as faxing, copies, etc.

Priority tendering upon request

Cocktail party hosted by the Captain (invitations will be sent)

Reserved VIP seats for production shows and ice shows (please show Cruise Director’s staff your gold Sea Pass card at the entrance).

Reserved private seating during breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer Café in the Portofino’s dining area from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (please see your service personnel for directions)

 

Enjoy!

[gw2fll]

There is a good thread that I recall seeing with a lot of traffic and "inside" information on how to get the best out of your experience by leveraging the concierge, etc. I'm trying to find it and if I can I will post the link.

[LovesCruising]

On Explorer we also received "treats" every day - choco covered strawberries, fruit, cookies, h'dorves etc. and a bottle of water in cabin complimentary (Any other bottled water you use you pay for)

[gw2fll]

Thought I had them, links did not post correctly. Will try again

[coordinator23]

We were allowed to go into Portifino's (or maybe it was Chops) with the food we had selected in the Windjammer at lunch time.:) This may seem like a trivial perk, but when your'e coming back from a shore excursions with a bunch of other people . . . starving and ready to eat, the last thing you want to do is hunt for a table. The staff in Portifino's brought us our coffee/tea, so we didn't have to worry about bringing that in. It was also much quieter than the busy Windjammer.

[gw2fll]

For some reason, I'm having difficulty with the links. Below are the thread titles I have found useful. If you search on "Suite Benefits" they will show in the results:

• Looking for tips for those "Suite" benefits
  
• Grand Suite features
  
• Suite Perks RCCL
  
• Grand Suite Favorites
  
• Suite Perks
  

Enjoy. I really like "Suite Perks RCCL" lot's of activity.

[bbbearden]

Prepared to be spoiled, as nice as all the benefits sound on the list, you don't really appreciate them to you experience them. The extra service, the huge suite, and the gold crown service you get as a suite guests really set the experience apart. I am not sure I could cruise in anything less than a suite now that I have enjoyed it myself. Enjoy your cruise and enjoy the suite life.

[LovesCruising]

Don't know about the Indy but on EX Portofino's also served a full breakfast to suite guests - didn't have to bring in from WJ

[ginger2000]

We had an OS our last cruise and loved it!!! The second formal night - we were tired and didn't want to go to the dining room - nice perk - you can order your dinner via room service from the main dining room menu. You will get a copy of the menu every morning. When room service come, they put a tablecloth on your table and set the table for you Nice little perk that we took advantage of a couple of time. Since we were travelling with about 25 people (and we all met on CC) the last afternoon of our cruise we invited them all to our room for a drink and ordered some plates of food from room service. Yup - all 25 fit in the room it's that big!!!

[Poorplaya]

Here's the list we received from the Navigator concierge:

 

 

Use of the Concierge Lounge

Spa Bathrobes for use onboard

Upgraded amenities for the bathroom

Continental breakfast served in the lounge daily from 8:00 am to 10:00 am

Hors d’oeuvres, petit fours and complimentary bar setup served in the lounge every evening in the Concierge Lounge Deck #9 from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Daily menus displayed and pre-ordering availability for your dinner wine

Full Dining Room room-service privilege (available when Dining Room is open)

Reservations for any of our specialty restaurants, sports activities, Explorations, salon and spa services, etc.

Arrangements for private parties

Limited VIP lounge chair set-up near the pool bar area between decks 11 and 12

Port & Shopping advice

Business services such as faxing, copies, etc.

Priority tendering upon request

Cocktail party hosted by the Captain (invitations will be sent)

Reserved VIP seats for production shows and ice shows (please show Cruise Director’s staff your gold Sea Pass card at the entrance).

Reserved private seating during breakfast and lunch at the Windjammer Café in the Portofino’s dining area from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm (please see your service personnel for directions)

 

Enjoy!

 

This is excellent, thank you so much for posting this information, this was exactly what i wanted to know.:D:D:D:D

[Poorplaya]

Prepared to be spoiled, as nice as all the benefits sound on the list, you don't really appreciate them to you experience them. The extra service, the huge suite, and the gold crown service you get as a suite guests really set the experience apart. I am not sure I could cruise in anything less than a suite now that I have enjoyed it myself. Enjoy your cruise and enjoy the suite life.

 

This sounds fantastic, i cannot wait to see all the things everyone is telling me, thank you for sharing your experiences with me. You are making me want to get on the boat tomorrow lol. :eek: oh wait, i only have 693 days lol.

[Poorplaya]

We had an OS our last cruise and loved it!!! The second formal night - we were tired and didn't want to go to the dining room - nice perk - you can order your dinner via room service from the main dining room menu. You will get a copy of the menu every morning. When room service come, they put a tablecloth on your table and set the table for you Nice little perk that we took advantage of a couple of time. Since we were travelling with about 25 people (and we all met on CC) the last afternoon of our cruise we invited them all to our room for a drink and ordered some plates of food from room service. Yup - all 25 fit in the room it's that big!!!

 

OMG this sounds amazing, we are looking to travel with a large group as well and I was thinking whether or not we could throw a party and have people over to relax and have some drinks. This is great, thank you for sharing.

[Poorplaya]

For some reason, I'm having difficulty with the links. Below are the thread titles I have found useful. If you search on "Suite Benefits" they will show in the results:

• Looking for tips for those "Suite" benefits
  
• Grand Suite features
  
• Suite Perks RCCL
  
• Grand Suite Favorites
  
• Suite Perks
  

Enjoy. I really like "Suite Perks RCCL" lot's of activity.

 

Thank you for the links to search for, i am going to start searching these right now. i appreciate you looking this up for me too, it means a lot, and saves me some time lol. :D

[Two4ODU]

You can also expect to never want to stay in a room below a suite level again. My wife and I took our first cruise for our honeymoon and stayed in a Grand Suite and every cruise we have booked since then is been at the Grand Suite level. It gets pricey my friend. :)

[Poorplaya]

You can also expect to never want to stay in a room below a suite level again. My wife and I took our first cruise for our honeymoon and stayed in a Grand Suite and every cruise we have booked since then is been at the Grand Suite level. It gets pricey my friend. :)

 

Yeah thats what I am afraid of lol :eek::eek:

[gw2fll]

Thank you for the links to search for, i am going to start searching these right now. i appreciate you looking this up for me too, it means a lot, and saves me some time lol. :D

My pleasure. We booked the NOS again on our last cruise, so I have been keeping up with the threads as they came up so I could maximize this opportunity.

 

BTW, the other cruiser has a point about getting "spoiled" and not wanting to sail in a regular room again. Our last cruise on NOS was in a JS. Prior to that we had sailed in Balcony cabins. We were spoiled with that JS in just 1 day. The extra space and increased balcony were well worth the difference in price. When we were booking the upcoming cruise, the GS was only slightly more than the JS (and actually about equal to what we paid for our last cruise in the JS) so we said, why not - let's give it a try. Now, as we look at future cruises, I look at suite prices first to see if I can make them work.

 

The funny part is for our upcoming Celebrity cruises, we are in an AQ. I diligently check prices 2 to 3 times a day looking for reductions on the suites so we can upgrade if the price is right. If not, I did secure the cabins we wanted, so I will be happy with that.

 

Happy sailings...

[Poorplaya]

My pleasure. We booked the NOS again on our last cruise, so I have been keeping up with the threads as they came up so I could maximize this opportunity.

 

BTW, the other cruiser has a point about getting "spoiled" and not wanting to sail in a regular room again. Our last cruise on NOS was in a JS. Prior to that we had sailed in Balcony cabins. We were spoiled with that JS in just 1 day. The extra space and increased balcony were well worth the difference in price. When we were booking the upcoming cruise, the GS was only slightly more than the JS (and actually about equal to what we paid for our last cruise in the JS) so we said, why not - let's give it a try. Now, as we look at future cruises, I look at suite prices first to see if I can make them work.

 

The funny part is for our upcoming Celebrity cruises, we are in an AQ. I diligently check prices 2 to 3 times a day looking for reductions on the suites so we can upgrade if the price is right. If not, I did secure the cabins we wanted, so I will be happy with that.

 

Happy sailings...

 

i know my wife is never going to let me book anything different now when we cruise, which concerns me a little bit considering right now we are both only 24 years old, thats a lot of years ahead of us cruising and having to book suites :eek:. Oh my i just see dollar signs running through my head now lol, I guess i just have to roll with the punches then lol, thank you again for all the info. happy cruising to you too.

[mon1jan1]

We are in a Owners Suite on Navigator of the Seas sailing March 16, 2014. We can't wait and it still a little under twenty months away. Not sure if we can squiggy any other cruises into our vacation time before now and then. I definitely wish we could, but have a few land vacations we want to try. I have cruise fever 24/7 so I always roam the cruisecritic boards.

Anyone have any pictures of the owners suite on Navigator of the Seas, or any pictures of the boat (inside and outside)? I'd love to view them.

 

Thanks everyone,

Janet

[foxgoodrich]

An OS....oh boy, you will be so spoiled! We had our first OS in February this year and now we still are grieving as we don't have another OS booked yet. There's a GS in our future in January, but it just won't be the same as that wonderful OS. There are several extra perks, and the Concierge Lounge is a great one, there are goodies, etc. that you've already read about. But I want to prepare you for YOUR BATHROOM EXPERIENCE in the OS.:D

 

It's heaven! What can I say - just heaven. To begin with the bathroom is nearly the size of an inside cabin....well, maybe not really, but it's huge in comparison to what you've had before. There's a glass shower that's way bigger than the beam-me-up-Scotty tube shower in normal cabins, PLUS a jacuzzi tub! DH and I were able to bathe at the same time - we had to take turns alternating between jacuzzi and shower, but these things can be worked out with a bit of negotiation...:p.

 

There are 2 sinks and great big drawers in the bathroom vanity for stowing your stuff. There are LOTS of towels, which you will need because you will have a BIDET! Now we, of course, knew what a bidet was, but neither DH nor I had actually used one before. We were laughing about that prior to the cruise and wondering if we would use it, but, of course, after we moved into the OS, we both had to try it out. Who knew? What a nice amenity that was! All I can say is (ahem...) we were both fresh as daisies for the whole cruise :p....and as we were leaving the ship at the end of the week, DH was musing as to whether we had room to put one into our master bath at home.

 

A word of caution - the OS has so many storage options, the packing up at the end of your cruise will be a challenge. There are 3 closets. There are a gazillion drawers. We ended up leaving our Sonicare toothbrush charger somewhere in that OS - we hadn't needed it and never found where we had put it. Oh well, I guess it was a small price to pay for a wonderful time in our OS.

 

Have a wonderful time!!!! And be ready to haunt the website looking for good deals on OS after your cruise....it's a fantastic experience and you'll love it!!

[gw2fll]

An OS....oh boy, you will be so spoiled! We had our first OS in February this year and now we still are grieving as we don't have another OS booked yet. There's a GS in our future in January, but it just won't be the same as that wonderful OS. There are several extra perks, and the Concierge Lounge is a great one, there are goodies, etc. that you've already read about. But I want to prepare you for YOUR BATHROOM EXPERIENCE in the OS.:D

 

It's heaven! What can I say - just heaven. To begin with the bathroom is nearly the size of an inside cabin....well, maybe not really, but it's huge in comparison to what you've had before. There's a glass shower that's way bigger than the beam-me-up-Scotty tube shower in normal cabins, PLUS a jacuzzi tub! DH and I were able to bathe at the same time - we had to take turns alternating between jacuzzi and shower, but these things can be worked out with a bit of negotiation...:p.

 

There are 2 sinks and great big drawers in the bathroom vanity for stowing your stuff. There are LOTS of towels, which you will need because you will have a BIDET! Now we, of course, knew what a bidet was, but neither DH nor I had actually used one before. We were laughing about that prior to the cruise and wondering if we would use it, but, of course, after we moved into the OS, we both had to try it out. Who knew? What a nice amenity that was! All I can say is (ahem...) we were both fresh as daisies for the whole cruise :p....and as we were leaving the ship at the end of the week, DH was musing as to whether we had room to put one into our master bath at home.

 

A word of caution - the OS has so many storage options, the packing up at the end of your cruise will be a challenge. There are 3 closets. There are a gazillion drawers. We ended up leaving our Sonicare toothbrush charger somewhere in that OS - we hadn't needed it and never found where we had put it. Oh well, I guess it was a small price to pay for a wonderful time in our OS.

 

Have a wonderful time!!!! And be ready to haunt the website looking for good deals on OS after your cruise....it's a fantastic experience and you'll love it!!

 

lol - I know the feeling. One fellow cruiser had an idea that I have started using. When packing on the last day, place a post-it note on each drawer, closet door, etc. when they are empty. That way you can quickly look around the room and confirm each little storage place has been addressed. (Of course, this only works if everyone in the cabin play's by the rules. When a post-it note is on the outside, do not place anything else inside.)

 

i know my wife is never going to let me book anything different now when we cruise, which concerns me a little bit considering right now we are both only 24 years old, thats a lot of years ahead of us cruising and having to book suites :eek:. Oh my i just see dollar signs running through my head now lol, I guess i just have to roll with the punches then lol, thank you again for all the info. happy cruising to you too.

On a positive note, you get double points when you sail in a JS or higher.

[Pet]

We have an Owners Suite booked for next year and the option of eating in the room sounds great. I just wondered.... normally dinner can take between one and two hours to enjoy in the MDR or speciality resturants over 4-5 courses whilst sipping a glass of wine or two. When you order it in your suite is it all delivered at once? In other words, do you have to eat it quickly otherwise some dishes will have got cold or melted depending what they are - or is each course delivered separately? Thanks!

 

:p

[hiccups]

We have an Owners Suite booked for next year and the option of eating in the room sounds great. I just wondered.... normally dinner can take between one and two hours to enjoy in the MDR or speciality resturants over 4-5 courses whilst sipping a glass of wine or two. When you order it in your suite is it all delivered at once? In other words, do you have to eat it quickly otherwise some dishes will have got cold or melted depending what they are - or is each course delivered separately? Thanks!

 

:p

 

For our cruise on the Oasis in a GS, we had room service a few nights, and they brought everything at once, so you may want to skip the ice cream :) It wouldn't be efficient for them to deliver courses--think of all the extra work!

[Poorplaya]

An OS....oh boy, you will be so spoiled! We had our first OS in February this year and now we still are grieving as we don't have another OS booked yet. There's a GS in our future in January, but it just won't be the same as that wonderful OS. There are several extra perks, and the Concierge Lounge is a great one, there are goodies, etc. that you've already read about. But I want to prepare you for YOUR BATHROOM EXPERIENCE in the OS.:D

 

It's heaven! What can I say - just heaven. To begin with the bathroom is nearly the size of an inside cabin....well, maybe not really, but it's huge in comparison to what you've had before. There's a glass shower that's way bigger than the beam-me-up-Scotty tube shower in normal cabins, PLUS a jacuzzi tub! DH and I were able to bathe at the same time - we had to take turns alternating between jacuzzi and shower, but these things can be worked out with a bit of negotiation...:p.

 

There are 2 sinks and great big drawers in the bathroom vanity for stowing your stuff. There are LOTS of towels, which you will need because you will have a BIDET! Now we, of course, knew what a bidet was, but neither DH nor I had actually used one before. We were laughing about that prior to the cruise and wondering if we would use it, but, of course, after we moved into the OS, we both had to try it out. Who knew? What a nice amenity that was! All I can say is (ahem...) we were both fresh as daisies for the whole cruise :p....and as we were leaving the ship at the end of the week, DH was musing as to whether we had room to put one into our master bath at home.

 

A word of caution - the OS has so many storage options, the packing up at the end of your cruise will be a challenge. There are 3 closets. There are a gazillion drawers. We ended up leaving our Sonicare toothbrush charger somewhere in that OS - we hadn't needed it and never found where we had put it. Oh well, I guess it was a small price to pay for a wonderful time in our OS.

 

Have a wonderful time!!!! And be ready to haunt the website looking for good deals on OS after your cruise....it's a fantastic experience and you'll love it!!

 

Oh i know the wife and i cannot wait to get into this room and see and experience everything it has to offer. Everyone on here has been so awesome sharing all their experiences and what to look forward to its just been great.

 

My wife will be very excited about the bathroom for sure, the space alone will be something to make your jaw drop especially from cruising both balcony and interior cabins previously. I was too wondering about the bidet but i know i'll have to try it atleast once.

 

Thanks again for the information, if you have any pictures, that would be great, i would love to see.

[Poorplaya]

On a positive note, you get double points when you sail in a JS or higher.

 

Trust me that certainly never hurts, i will take double points all day long.