New Suite Perk??

[cynbar]

We sail Sunday on the Caribbean Princess in a Penthouse Suite. While reviewing the website last night, I saw that a new perk has been added to the list: Exclusive Club Dining in the MDR for dinner every night. I take this to mean that a section of the anytime dining room will be set aside for suite passengers, probably with the same menu but better service and maybe more separate tables for two. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Dudleydog73]

See THIS thread. The short answer is it wont be on your upcoming cruise.

[Corfe Mixture]

It may not be on your cruise, but don't worry, it's a non-benefit to a full suite passenger.

 

It's only there because, having offered it to the new club mini-suite passengers, it is difficult not to offer it to full suite passengers.

 

In practice as a full suite passenger you already have better benefits.

 

For example the club dining gives you good priority in the 'club' area, but you cannot dine there with friends who are not in a suite or a club mini-suite.

 

As a full suite passenger you can talk to the maitre d' and get the same 'Anytime Dining' table in the main dining room pre-booked for the same time every night.

 

Last Christmas we had a very nice table for the same five passengers, every night, same time. Two of our group were in a suite, two in a mini-suite and one in an oceanview. It was all done very discretely and the table was always vacant when we arrived and we did not have to queue. On the two evenings when we all went to a 'Select Dining' venue, we told the maitre d' the evening before and he thanked us as it meant he would be able to use our table for other people on that evening. This arrangement would not be possible in the club dining area as three of us would have had no right of access to that area.

 

Yes there is apparently an enhanced menu in the club area, but in truth, we would forego that in order to be able to dine with our friends. (The FAQ on the website make it clear that you cannot invite folks to join you in the club dining area).

 

In so far as breakfast is concerned, the club dining has been introduced for club mini-suite passengers and therefore also made available to suite passengers, but would a suite passenger want to take advantage of this when they could take breakfast in Sabatinis?

 

As I say it is simply a case that having introduced a new grade of cabin between mini-suite and full suite, they have to offer the 'benefits' of this grade to the full suite passengers even if there are also better deals available to them.

 

As a person who normally books a full suite, on all ships except the Sun class ships, I will stay with my current dining arrangements and will not be using club class dining.

 

I do however wonder how it will work on those ships that only offer traditional dining. I do hope that, on those ships Princess are not going to follow the Cunard model and unilaterally decide that I am too good to dine with my friends!!

Edited May 6, 2016 by Corfe Mixture

[Luvmyrotti]

In so far as breakfast is concerned, the club dining has been introduced for club mini-suite passengers and therefore also made available to suite passengers, but would a suite passenger want to take advantage of this when they could take breakfast in Sabatinis?

 

 

My concern is that they are going to do away with the Suite breakfast in Sabatini's (Crown Grill on Ruby & Emerald) in lieu of this new club dining area. I will be very disappointed if that happens. Besides the extra room in our suite cabins, the best perk, for us, is breakfast in Sabatini's.

[emmak8]

Breakfast at Sabatini's gets rave reviews.We'll be in our first suite in August. Hope all the perks remain as promised.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

My concern is that they are going to do away with the Suite breakfast in Sabatini's (Crown Grill on Ruby & Emerald) in lieu of this new club dining area. I will be very disappointed if that happens. Besides the extra room in our suite cabins, the best perk, for us, is breakfast in Sabatini's.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking when I read this too. It's also one of our favorite perks of a suite.

[shredie]

My concern is that they are going to do away with the Suite breakfast in Sabatini's (Crown Grill on Ruby & Emerald) in lieu of this new club dining area.

 

I think you can count on it.

[Alaskan Joe]

That's sad :(

[TracieABD]

I think you can count on it.

 

Oh, Shredie-

Say it isn't so. I kind of want you to be wrong here... I really hope they keep the Sabatini's benefit.

[IECalCruiser]

Oh, Shredie-

 

Say it isn't so. I kind of want you to be wrong here... I really hope they keep the Sabatini's benefit.

On the new Suite Amenities list in addition to the Club Class DR breakfast on sea days is complementary specialty dining mimosa breakfast (Daily). Breakfast at Sabatini's or Crown Grill or wherever still exists.

[Corfe Mixture]

Don't believe for one minute that breakfast in Sabatini's for full suite passengers will go, if for no other reason than the fact that the people who take advantage of breakfast in Sabatini's get excellent service and many show their appreciation by tipping well at the end of the cruise.

 

Can't see for one moment believe that the staff who work in Sabatini's would want to give up that perk.

 

Also if they went down this path, then for an Elite, particularly on the Sun class ships where the mini-suites have a similar layout to the full suites on the other classes of ship, there would be little or no benefit to be gained by booking a full suite.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Corfe Mixture

[shredie]

Also if they went down this path, then for an Elite, particularly on the Sun class ships where the mini-suites have a similar layout to the full suites on the other classes of ship, there would be little or no benefit to be gained by booking a full suite.

 

The full suite benefits page on the web site now says that the daily full suite breakfast will be served "in the suite" on the Sun Class ships. No mention of Sabatini's.

[shredie]

On the new Suite Amenities list in addition to the Club Class DR breakfast on sea days is complementary specialty dining mimosa breakfast (Daily). Breakfast at Sabatini's or Crown Grill or wherever still exists.

 

It doesn't say WHERE this daily mimosa breakfast will be. We are just assuming it will still be in one of the specialty restaurants because it always has been. I guess we'll find out, but I will not be surprised if the new MDR section will be used on sea days for mini clubs and full suites and only for full suites on all other days.

Edited May 6, 2016 by shredie

[Luvmyrotti]

Don't believe for one minute that breakfast in Sabatini's for full suite passengers will go, if for no other reason than the fact that the people who take advantage of breakfast in Sabatini's get excellent service and many show their appreciation by tipping well at the end of the cruise.

 

Can't see for one moment believe that the staff who work in Sabatini's would want to give up that perk.

 

Also if they went down this path, then for an Elite, particularly on the Sun class ships where the mini-suites have a similar layout to the full suites on the other classes of ship, there would be little or no benefit to be gained by booking a full suite.

 

Well that's hopefull. The brochure only mentions the club breakfast and a mimosa, with no mention of a specialty location breakfast.

[IECalCruiser]

It doesn't say WHERE this daily mimosa breakfast will be. We are just assuming it will still be in one of the specialty restaurants because it always has been. I guess we'll find out, but I will not be surprised if the new MDR section will be used on sea days for mini clubs and full suites and only for full suites on all other days.

The description in the Full Suite amenities is "Complementary specialty dining mimosa breakfast (Daily)." The next item is "Complementary specialty dining dinner on embarkation evening." I believe it is clear from the above that the Mimosa Breakfast will be in Sabatini's or an alternative on ships with SHARE or in-suite on the Sun, Sea and Dawn. My only question is why full suite passengers would go to the DR for breakfast on Sea Days if the need to share the space with mere Club Class passengers [emoji33] I guess they need to included all of the Club Class amenities.

[cflutist]

Looks like the flower corsage and boutonniere on the first formal night are no longer offered.

 

Added are the luggage valet (what is that?) And daily bottled water.

 

Mentions lounger and two chairs, but the last three PH suites we sailed in had 4 teak chairs on the balcony.

 

Booked an OS on the Pacific Princess for a 18-night Norway cruise in 2017. How will the dining be handled since they don't have ATD on that ship?

Edited May 7, 2016 by cflutist

[IECalCruiser]

Looks like the flower corsage and boutonniere on the first formal night are no longer offered....

No loss for us as we never wore them.

[shredie]

I'm still curious about the Sun class ships. It sounds like they did serve full suite breakfast in Sabatini's in the past, but the new web page says Sun class full suite breakfasts will be served "in the suite." I guess I will have to wait until someone actually experiences this on a Sun class ship to find out for sure.

[Halojin]

I see that you can access spa/enclave on Royal and Regal now

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited May 7, 2016 by Halojin

[IECalCruiser]

I'm still curious about the Sun class ships. It sounds like they did serve full suite breakfast in Sabatini's in the past, but the new web page says Sun class full suite breakfasts will be served "in the suite." I guess I will have to wait until someone actually experiences this on a Sun class ship to find out for sure.

I don't believe that there is a Sabatini's on the Sun class ships so this is probably not a change. Edited May 7, 2016 by IECalCruiser

[Corfe Mixture]

I'm still curious about the Sun class ships. It sounds like they did serve full suite breakfast in Sabatini's in the past, but the new web page says Sun class full suite breakfasts will be served "in the suite." I guess I will have to wait until someone actually experiences this on a Sun class ship to find out for sure.

 

Sun class ships don't think have a Sabatini's and have, as far as I am aware, always offered the 'Sabatini's breakfast' in the suite.

[shredie]

Sun class ships don't think have a Sabatini's and have, as far as I am aware, always offered the 'Sabatini's breakfast' in the suite.

 

Okay. Thanks. Clears that up.

[Corfe Mixture]

Booked an OS on the Pacific Princess for a 18-night Norway cruise in 2017. How will the dining be handled since they don't have ATD on that ship?

 

We were in an OS on Ocean Princess (sister ship to Pacific) over Christmas / New Year 2014/15.

 

Breakfast was in Sabatini's. Dinner was in the MDR on a traditional sitting basis. There was no Anytime Dining which meant that, if we had a pressing need to dine at anything other than the set time, we had two choices.

a) pay to go to a 'Select Dining' venue

or

b) dine in our suite off the MDR menu at a time of our choosing.

 

One point you might like to take note of is that on Ocean, we were on a table for eight. Although we will have a pre-dinner party on at least one occasion, we prefer not to advertise up front the fact we are in a suite, and instead let people we meet / dine with work it out for themselves. Because of this and, not wanting to have to explain to our fellow diners, on first meeting, why we had not been to dinner on the first night, I went to see the maitre d', explained my dilemma, and asked if it would be possible to move our complimentary first night 'Select Dining' perk to another night. He fully understood my position and there was no problem in moving the dinner to another evening.

[mef623]

My apologies for bumping an old thread, but I was looking for the info, but figured somebody else was, also.

 

My biggest "concern" with the change was whether we would still be able to eat breakfast at Sabatini's on our cruise in Dec 2017. I called Princess and the woman reassured me that we would definitely be able to. She didn't seem too sure, but she pointed to the Suite eFlyer, which says:

 

"Complimentary Specialty Dining Mimosa Breakfast (daily)*"

 

She said that it was not just a Mimosa but that the "come specialty dining" meant that we would be able to use Sabatini's.

 

Of course, I found out later that Sabatini's won't actually exist on our cruise, but I'll assume that the response was just muscle memory.

 

Mike

[Colo Cruiser]

My apologies for bumping an old thread, but I was looking for the info, but figured somebody else was, also.

 

My biggest "concern" with the change was whether we would still be able to eat breakfast at Sabatini's on our cruise in Dec 2017. I called Princess and the woman reassured me that we would definitely be able to. She didn't seem too sure, but she pointed to the Suite eFlyer, which says:

 

"Complimentary Specialty Dining Mimosa Breakfast (daily)*"

 

She said that it was not just a Mimosa but that the "come specialty dining" meant that we would be able to use Sabatini's.

 

Of course, I found out later that Sabatini's won't actually exist on our cruise, but I'll assume that the response was just muscle memory.

 

Mike

 

 

If you search Club Class in the the "search this forum" box at the top of the threads section there are numerous new posts on this. ;)

 

For ships without Sabatini's now it will be held in the Crown Grill if it has one of those.