What is the difference between a Vista Suite and a Penthouse Suite?

[AF-1]

Thanks for your feedback. Anyone else have feedback?

[peety3]

We've sailed on the Ruby four times, twice in C749 (Penthouse, aft-facing), once in E732 (Vista, aft-facing), and once in a mini-suite. We've also been in mini-suites on Coral, Grand, and Sapphire (and an interior on Crown). Unless we were on an itinerary with lots of sea days, we'd pick a mini-suite over a Vista Suite every time. The Vista might be a suite (curtain to separate bedroom from sitting room, wet bar, two-room bathroom, makeup counter by bed, "real" closet, two loungers plus four chairs and round wood table on the balcony), but it was notably less functional: no desk by the wet bar, no cabinet on the other side of the sofa, no round "can" between the sliding doors, no shelves on either side of the bathroom sink, and the closet may have been smaller. Granted, we're avid photographers and do actually use all of that storage and then some, but the typical mini is at least a lot more functional than a Vista suite IMHO.

[AF-1]

We've sailed on the Ruby four times, twice in C749 (Penthouse, aft-facing), once in E732 (Vista, aft-facing), and once in a mini-suite. We've also been in mini-suites on Coral, Grand, and Sapphire (and an interior on Crown). Unless we were on an itinerary with lots of sea days, we'd pick a mini-suite over a Vista Suite every time. The Vista might be a suite (curtain to separate bedroom from sitting room, wet bar, two-room bathroom, makeup counter by bed, "real" closet, two loungers plus four chairs and round wood table on the balcony), but it was notably less functional: no desk by the wet bar, no cabinet on the other side of the sofa, no round "can" between the sliding doors, no shelves on either side of the bathroom sink, and the closet may have been smaller. Granted, we're avid photographers and do actually use all of that storage and then some, but the typical mini is at least a lot more functional than a Vista suite IMHO.

 

We will be in C749; how was it for functionality. We just got off Emerald in the 2bedroom family suite. We found out on day 6 that there were electric outlets behind bed attached to head board. go figure

[peety3]

We will be in C749; how was it for functionality. We just got off Emerald in the 2bedroom family suite. We found out on day 6 that there were electric outlets behind bed attached to head board. go figure

LOVE that cabin. I would pick that cabin just about any time we cruise, except perhaps in Alaska where we prefer to see the side view instead of the aft view. Functionality is fantastic - I set up my laptop on the desk by the wet bar and handle downloading all of the memory cards there. We stash lenses in the cabinet over the TV and on the other side of the sofa. Tripods and lighting cases get stored out on the balcony, yet it's still big enough for everything already out there. Heck, just for fun, I set up my lights and did professional headshots of my wife while underway to Puerto Vallarta, and then reworked it so we had professional lights for our Ultimate Balcony Dining night, and one of the lights was aimed directly down onto the center of the table, creating a great mood light that my wife apparently really liked. ;) I just realized we haven't posted our photos from our February cruise onto Flickr; I'll see if I can get that to happen tonight and will share the link, as we got a good variety of photos in the cabin for reference, plus the dinner.

[IECalCruiser]

The Owners' Suites on the Royal Class ships are a rip-off; they are very poorly designed and no larger than the Vista Suites on Grand Class. Yes, there is that huge balcony, but if the wind is blowing the wrong way you have a huge soot issue--and there is very little shade.

The aft suites on the Royal class ships have been downgraded from Category S2 owner's suite to Category S3 penthouse suite. Even with that there are still issues with those suites.

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[RocketMan275]

The aft suites on the Royal class ships have been downgraded from Category S2 owner's suite to Category S3 penthouse suite. Even with that there are still issues with those suites.

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

They may have been downgraded but the aft penthouse suites are still $1600 per seven day cruise more than the side penthouse suites.

[AF-1]

Peety3. I look forward to your flickr pics of the cabin and balcony.

[peety3]

Photos from our February Mexican Riviera cruise:

 

The set starts off with photos from the cabin. #412-414 are headshots taken on the balcony. We did a whale watch on a zodiac in Puerto Vallarta, a hike to El Faro lighthouse in Mazatlan, then Ultimate Balcony Dinner (photos 508-518), and a whale watch on a 200-pax boat in Cabo San Lucas.

 

Enjoy!

[50mickey]

We are thinking about booking C751 on the Emerald for an Alaskan cruise. The description says obstructed view. Can anyone tell me what the obstruction is and how bad is it? Does anyone have a photo of the deck showing the obstruction?

Thanks!

 

 

We love aft suites and generally stay in Vista ones. The configuration and furnishings differ by ship and deck. Our favorite suite, hands down, was A729 on the Island - one of the new suites. The bathroom was incredible - two sinks, bright, and functional. The balcony was huge, although it was mostly uncovered. I guess we were up high enough we did not experience any more movement, noise, or vibrations than we usually have in an aft cabin.

 

On the Grand, we've stayed in D736 and 737. Although there is a beam in the balcony, it did not bother us, and we liked having the larger balcony and a little bit of side view since it's a corner room. We do not like the cabin, though - the sitting room is small and there is no desk or phone in the sitting room.

 

We looked at the suites on the Caribe deck before disembarking. C750 and 751 are Vista suites. The inside of the cabin is actually larger than the Penthouse Suites next door (C748 and 749)! C750 and 751 has a larger sitting room with two side chairs and a desk, whereas C748 and 749 had room for only one side chair, but there is a desk. The balcony for the Penthouse suites (C748 and 749) were much better than the Vista suite - the Vista suites had two beams and was not as deep or long. So for us it became a decision of what was more important - a nicer balcony or nicer cabin. After much discussion, we decided to go for the Vista suite because of the larger cabin.

 

I could not get good information from anyone at Princess, even when we were on the ship, on the specifics of the cabin. Even simple things like does the suite have a desk in the sitting room. That's why we decided to tour the aft cabins on disembarkation day!

 

We generally do not like aft suites on the Emerald deck because the balconies are smaller, the beam is more of a problem, and you are above a lounge. But if an Emerald aft is the only suite available, I'd book it! We love watching the wake and hearing the ocean.

 

Bottom line - they give a range for the square footage of the suites because the suites vary a little by ship and deck.

[Papa Yoda]

We are thinking about booking C751 on the Emerald for an Alaskan cruise. The description says obstructed view. Can anyone tell me what the obstruction is and how bad is it? Does anyone have a photo of the deck showing the obstruction?

Thanks!

 

We did Emerald C750 last month to AK. There are 2 vertical beams about 18 inches wide, one just outside bedroom door and one to the center of the ship outside sitting room door. The balcony isn't as deep as Dolphin deck D736/D737 and having 2 beams is awkward, although not impossible to live with. A lounger barely fits on the divider side of the bedroom beam. All in all I'd prefer most any other S6 Grand class balcony over C750/C751. No good photo sorry, but Google has turned up good stern views that give you an better idea. Maybe YouTube the cabin number?

[AF-1]

Photos from our February Mexican Riviera cruise:

 

The set starts off with photos from the cabin. #412-414 are headshots taken on the balcony. We did a whale watch on a zodiac in Puerto Vallarta, a hike to El Faro lighthouse in Mazatlan, then Ultimate Balcony Dinner (photos 508-518), and a whale watch on a 200-pax boat in Cabo San Lucas.

 

Enjoy!

 

Wow, nice shots of everything. That is one huge balcony. The room looks very nice too.. Thanks for the link

[Corfe Mixture]

Most interesting thread.

On Island and Coral we always try to capture one of the four mid-ship suites, and we are fine mid-ships with those in Star/Emerald/Caribbean group which do not a Riviera Deck.

 

However, we would NEVER again book a mid-ship Penthouse suite on those that do have a Riviera deck (you can easily tell, they have the mid-ship suites on Riviera deck.

 

Why? Well in order to keep the wait down, when they added the extra deck to the design they:

a) constructed the extra deck out of aluminium

and

b) sited the suites below the pool area.

 

Massive noise problem, particularly after there has been an event on when staff drag loungers back into position around 2am and every day at 6am when the early risers drag the loungers into their favourite spot around the pool.

 

It was so bad that at 2am one morning I insisted that an officer visit our suite to hear the problem for himself as I intended to make a written complaint when I got home (for the record, I am not normally the complaining type).

 

clearly I had not been the only person complaining and they very quickly offered us £250 each (£500 in total) - it was the P&O ship - Venturia which is built to the same design - to head off the complaint and I decided that I was unlikely to get a better offer, but also decided there and then to avoid mid-ship suites on Riviera deck.

[AF-1]

Most interesting thread.

On Island and Coral we always try to capture one of the four mid-ship suites, and we are fine mid-ships with those in Star/Emerald/Caribbean group which do not a Riviera Deck.

 

However, we would NEVER again book a mid-ship Penthouse suite on those that do have a Riviera deck (you can easily tell, they have the mid-ship suites on Riviera deck.

 

Why? Well in order to keep the wait down, when they added the extra deck to the design they:

a) constructed the extra deck out of aluminium

and

b) sited the suites below the pool area.

 

Massive noise problem, particularly after there has been an event on when staff drag loungers back into position around 2am and every day at 6am when the early risers drag the loungers into their favourite spot around the pool.

 

It was so bad that at 2am one morning I insisted that an officer visit our suite to hear the problem for himself as I intended to make a written complaint when I got home (for the record, I am not normally the complaining type).

 

clearly I had not been the only person complaining and they very quickly offered us £250 each (£500 in total) - it was the P&O ship - Venturia which is built to the same design - to head off the complaint and I decided that I was unlikely to get a better offer, but also decided there and then to avoid mid-ship suites on Riviera deck.

 

I am not sure that a penthouse suite on P&O would be the same as Penthouse suite on Princess. You mentioned you were on P&O.

[Corfe Mixture]

I am not sure that a penthouse suite on P&O would be the same as Penthouse suite on Princess. You mentioned you were on P&O.

 

Nope, sorry you are incorrect. Carnival have standard designs which are used across various companies in the group, albeit with slight modifications.

 

For example, the ill-fated Costa Concordia was the same basic design as Carnival Splendour, albeit with a different funnel design and different interior features / colour schemes etc.

Similarly, P&O, Arcadia is the same design as the Holland America Vista class ships and Cunard's Queen Victoria is a stretched variant of the same class,

 

Ventura, the ship, I was referring to is a Grand class ship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ventura

 

The Grand class ships fall into a number of sub categories with the first two subgroups (Grand and Gem) consisting of five ships and not having a Riviera deck and not having the noise problem.

 

Caribbean Princess was the first to be constructed with the extra deck and this was followed by the Crown class. P&O's Ventura is fundamentally a Crown class ship and the fundamental design aspects which made Ventura noisy (putting the mid-ship suites in an aluminium deck immediately below the pool area) are also there on Caribbean Princess and the Crown Princess sub class.

[nutensteve]

Photos from our February Mexican Riviera cruise:

 

The set starts off with photos from the cabin. #412-414 are headshots taken on the balcony. We did a whale watch on a zodiac in Puerto Vallarta, a hike to El Faro lighthouse in Mazatlan, then Ultimate Balcony Dinner (photos 508-518), and a whale watch on a 200-pax boat in Cabo San Lucas.

 

Enjoy!

 

Peety3

Great pics !! We are taking a similar cruise on HAL also in February in 2018. Were the whale watching tours from Princess or did you book them privately? We would love to see he whales close up like you did.

Steve

[AF-1]

Nope, sorry you are incorrect. Carnival have standard designs which are used across various companies in the group, albeit with slight modifications.

 

For example, the ill-fated Costa Concordia was the same basic design as Carnival Splendour, albeit with a different funnel design and different interior features / colour schemes etc.

Similarly, P&O, Arcadia is the same design as the Holland America Vista class ships and Cunard's Queen Victoria is a stretched variant of the same class,

 

Ventura, the ship, I was referring to is a Grand class ship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ventura

 

The Grand class ships fall into a number of sub categories with the first two subgroups (Grand and Gem) consisting of five ships and not having a Riviera deck and not having the noise problem.

 

Caribbean Princess was the first to be constructed with the extra deck and this was followed by the Crown class. P&O's Ventura is fundamentally a Crown class ship and the fundamental design aspects which made Ventura noisy (putting the mid-ship suites in an aluminium deck immediately below the pool area) are also there on Caribbean Princess and the Crown Princess sub class.[/quot

 

 

Thank you for giving me an update. I appreciate that info

[peety3]

Peety3

Great pics !! We are taking a similar cruise on HAL also in February in 2018. Were the whale watching tours from Princess or did you book them privately? We would love to see he whales close up like you did.

Steve

They were through Princess - PVR-640 "Whale Photo Safari", though I suspect if you flip through the pictures you'll see the other zodiac boats, which were all from the same tour operator. In Cabo, it was SJD-640 and I don't remember who the operator was. Honestly, the only reason we did SJD-640 and not another excursion on zodiac boats was because my parents came along and we expected them to go on this tour (I didn't think my mother would "put up with" the zodiac boats). My mother ended up staying in the cabin due to medical issues, and my dad would have been fine on the zodiac.

 

Fair warning: if you do one of the zodiac tours, you WILL have at least one of "those" passengers - my wife was next to a guy who had back problems, and grunted and groaned the whole time. His wife kept trying to butter him up (snookems, sweetie, etc.), but somebody didn't use their grey matter when they chose that tour. At least two other people got seasick, and when they asked where they should get sick, the captain said "not anywhere in my boat!", so be ready for that. And don't get me wrong, it's not a luxury ride, but (obviously) it gets you to the whales and down low to the water so your perspective is fantastic for photos.

[WaynePetra]

I would like to know if Princess's Penthouses class has any benefits other than size and location . . . Holland America has a Neptune Suites, that we love, which has an exclusive relax room with d'oeuvres and a Concierge service to arrange for all our whims and needs while on the ship. Also provides for VIP reception, priority boarding and off the ship, etc., etc. Is this available on Princess or NCL?

[azbirdmom]

I would like to know if Princess's Penthouses class has any benefits other than size and location . . . Holland America has a Neptune Suites, that we love, which has an exclusive relax room with d'oeuvres and a Concierge service to arrange for all our whims and needs while on the ship. Also provides for VIP reception, priority boarding and off the ship, etc., etc. Is this available on Princess or NCL?

 

There's no additional benefits for buying a higher category suite. If you're on the Royal or Regal, you'll get access to the Concierge lounge if you are staying in any of the full suites and it sounds similar to what you've mentioned on HAL. No comped alcohol but coffee, snacks, etc.

[cflutist]

We've stayed in aft PS on the Caribbean, an aft VS on the Grand, and an aft OS on the Pacific.

 

Your question is not about an OS so I will not comment on that other than I agree with some other posters that there is more space than needed - especially the absolutely overly huge balcony. We never thought a balcony could be too large but it really was a lot of unused space for two people.

 

We found the aft PS and VS generally similar but different as well. The PS layout was a bit nicer but not a huge difference, and it didn't have the "dreaded beam" which we, like others, did not find that dreaded.

 

If they were the same price (which, of course, they aren't) we'd certainly take a PS over a VS. Overall we'd say the PS was maybe 10-15% better than the VS so wouldn't pay 15%+ more for the PS. And if we wanted to use the price difference for excursions or other things and be in a VS we'd be very pleased with that overall cruise formula.

After sailing in 3 PH suites on the Grand/Star, we really liked the aft OS on the Pacific, great for taking photos because you had both starboard and port views. Liked having 2 bathrooms and there were times that both were in use, lol. Also liked the table and 4 chairs (unlike the squatty table in the PH suites), and an entire wall of closet space (more than the small walkin in the PH suite). With that said, trying a Premium suite and PH suite on the Majestic where I hear that the balcony is much smaller.

[Jimbo]

Anyone have any pictures or a video tour of either Category S6 Vista Suite E732 or E 733 on Princess Golden.

 

Jimbo:)

[Jimbo]

Anyone have any pictures or a video tour of either Category S6 Vista Suite E732 or E 733 on Princess Golden.

 

Jimbo:)

 

If booking one of these cabins is the Exclusive Elite Lounge available to us and if so what is in there? would that include free drinks?

Is this up to date as to what is included.

Here's the list of suite amenities:

 

Expedited Embarkation Process-

Preferred Anytime Dining Reservations --

Personal Shore Excursion Reservations --

Complimentary Laundry and Dry Cleaning -- w

Canapes --

Exclusive Elite Lounge --

Dedicated Purser's Line --

Breakfast in Sabbatini's -- t

Luxury mattress, duvets, pillows, robes, slippers, towels, etc. --

DVD player and library --

Lotus Thermal Suite --

Flower Arrangement, Corsage and Boutonniere on Formal Night --

Complimentary Mini-Bar --

[aknursemom]

Here is a link to a youtube video I just posted of the vista suite A729 on the Island Princess from January 2017.

Our friends were in a Premium Suite midship and their room was smaller, balcony smaller TV's were smaller but the had the same bathroom set up and they had a wet bar.

 

A729 is one of the new VS in the aft of the Island and we loved it.

 

 

Thank you for posting this video. I appreciate you taking your time during the filming and showing the little details! Much appreciated as we are in A726 this May.

[AF-1]

If booking one of these cabins is the Exclusive Elite Lounge available to us and if so what is in there? would that include free drinks?

Is this up to date as to what is included.

Here's the list of suite amenities:

 

Expedited Embarkation Process-

Preferred Anytime Dining Reservations --

Personal Shore Excursion Reservations --

Complimentary Laundry and Dry Cleaning -- w

Canapes --

Exclusive Elite Lounge --

Dedicated Purser's Line --

Breakfast in Sabbatini's -- t

Luxury mattress, duvets, pillows, robes, slippers, towels, etc. --

DVD player and library --

Lotus Thermal Suite --

Flower Arrangement, Corsage and Boutonniere on Formal Night --

Complimentary Mini-Bar --

Suite Guests do have access to the elite lounge. Free snacks and soda; no free booze. Only the new Princess ships like Royal, Regal, Majestic have dedicated lounge with concierge. The grand class ships and smaller usually have one of the existing lounges on the ship available for elite and suite guests during the cruise

[RSF Cruiser]

The Island A726 is not a typical vista suite. We’ve been in a lot of suites, and that one is our all time favorite. I love the two sinks in the bathroom and how much larger the room and balcony are compared to other ship cabins in the same category. That suite has made the Island our favorite ship and we can’t wait to sail her again.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums