Club Class Mini Suites- benefits

[Mrs.Gosse]

for us, would rather put the extra costs for Club class into going to Crown Grill... we always book a mini suite, we are elite... if we go to the Crown Grill every night we eat when we want, menu in the Grill meets are desires with fish and meat options.

Hmmm. That's a very interesting take on the situation. Since your Elites you already get all of those benefits, the minibar and the priority boarding. And the crown Grill is so good! I think you kind of just blew my mind LOL. This is a great idea.

[Colo Cruiser]

Hmmm. That's a very interesting take on the situation. Since your Elites you already get all of those benefits, the minibar and the priority boarding. And the crown Grill is so good! I think you kind of just blew my mind LOL. This is a great idea.

 

All of what benefits?

If you get there early enough priority boarding is a non factor. Boarding is quick and efficient......

The mini bar? Meh. We are not big drinkers.

[happy cruzer]

What is the CC dining benefit for breakfast and lunch? The MDR one is not that interesting to us if we can get early traditional. Thanks.

[Haboob]

I believe I asked this on another thread and don't recall getting an answer. Prior to CC the boarding priority for all those waiting in the terminal at the moment boarding commences:

 

1) Wedding parties and BVE's (plus aligned passengers)

2) Suites and Elites (supposedly in order of their arrival, but not sure if that organized).

3) Platinums in their order of arrival & check-in (for sure this way in Port Everglades where the earliest are eventually let upstairs to a second seating section from a downstairs holding area)

4) All other passengers by seating sections in the terminal that corresponds (or should) to order of check-in)

 

Once boarding is in process with the general passengers, those arriving later simply board as they complete the check-in process.

 

SO... the $64 question is where does Club Class Mini-Suite fit in? Obviously if you are Elite or Platinum, you have a home. Where do non-status passengers who have booked Club Class Mini go in the above order? I imagine it is either mixed in with the Platinums, or before or after them.

 

Inquiring minds would like to know. THANKS!!

 

FWIW, with CC priority boarding in LA last trip, we looked at the line in Priority and the line in "Steerage" then headed

for "Steerage". Our clerk had to walk over to the Priority end to fetch our sea cards, but nary a raised eyebrow, and

we were on our way before the folks who were half-way down the Priority line got to the counter.

[5bestyears]

What does META upgrade mean?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would keep your covered mini suite E-726

D528 has no cover/protection on the balcony if that is an issue for you.

If its a reasonable rate increase to CC then it may be worth it. Usually its quite an increase in fare. Not something I would pay that much extra for. However we would book a suite which has CC included.

CC is basically having a table in the anytime DR available as soon as you arrive.

If you stay in E-726 I would have your TA or Princess mark your booking Meta upgrade only which means you would accept a suite but not another mini in another location.

[5bestyears]

What is a Meta upgrade?

[Colo Cruiser]

What does META upgrade mean?

 

What is a Meta upgrade?

 

 

An upgrade from one cat to another, not within the same cat.

IE:

inside to an OV

OV to a balcony

balcony to a mini

mini to a full suite

[memoak]

An upgrade from one cat to another, not within the same cat.

IE:

inside to an OV

OV to a balcony

 

balcony to a mini

mini to a full suite

 

And these would most likely be upsells rather than upgrades unless they have grossly overbooked the ship and no one will take the upsells - we have taken upsells the last 3 years from minis to full suites and much less than the going rate for the suite

[Colo Cruiser]

And these would most likely be upsells rather than upgrades unless they have grossly overbooked the ship and no one will take the upsells - we have taken upsells the last 3 years from minis to full suites and much less than the going rate for the suite

 

 

I beg to differ. Are there more upsells these days? Yes, but there is movement with no additional payment as well.

Grossly oversold?

Princess has it down to a science.

They maximize capacity on their cruises and it works quite well IMO.

Usually one must be in a mini to get an upsell to a suite. Note the word "usually".

[Mrs.Gosse]

All of what benefits?

If you get there early enough priority boarding is a non factor. Boarding is quick and efficient......

The mini bar? Meh. We are not big drinkers.

Well good for you. Maybe they are.

[WaterfordBee]

Same here, hockeymum and speakeasy. We're booked L107 on Royal in mid December, and are looking forward to the CC. The two 1/2 bottles of wine and canapes was nice, too. When we were CC on Crown last December they let us swap out the white 1/2 bottle for red.

 

An earlier poster asked about the Priority Embarkation rank, and unfortunately I have no idea as we were late arriving and there were no lines anywhere to speak of.

 

Hope everyone enjoys their cruises!

 

I totally agree, Hockey Mom! We are in L108 on the Royal next month and are looking forward to that balcony. Club Class just came with it.

[moki'smommy]

All of what benefits?

If you get there early enough priority boarding is a non factor. Boarding is quick and efficient......

The mini bar? Meh. We are not big drinkers.

The benefits of a CC mini over a regular mini...basically that you have Club Class dining. The minibar is not a benefit of a mini suite, whether club class or not.

 

Priority boarding...may or may not be a benefit depending on when you arrive. The only time we've experienced significant boarding lines was when there was a problem and boarding was delayed. Even though people arrived when they were told to, there were lines. So whether priority boarding really means anything depends on the situation at the time you arrive.

 

Club Class dining was nice--it is open for dinner and breakfast daily, lunch on sea days, embarkation day, and for us, on one "late" port day. I guess they classed that as a sea day. Service was excellent, the food was very good. A definite step up from the dining we'd had on Princess and other lines in recent years. As to how much it is worth....I've seen it priced at everything from $0 to $800. Unless it was a round the world cruise, it isn't worth $800. People who are getting upsells for $30-40 on a 7 or 10 night cruise...definitely worth that. I honestly don't know where I'd draw the line on value. It is not as good as specialty dining, and that costs $29. I'd probably max out the value at something like $15-20 per night of cruise.

[Linsifer]

Last year we had an uspell to Club Class, so we took it. Love the midship location. The perks were nice, but probably wouldn’t pay full price. For our cruise next year, Princess decided to add our mini suite to Club Class after we already booked. So they’re giving CC to us at no charge. Our cabin isn’t smack dab in the middle like last year...just a wee bit of amidship. But close enough. It’ll be nice to have Club Class for free this time. What’s discouraging is that if you want a midship mini suite, you’ll have to pay for Club Class now. 😣

 

 

I was wondering if anyone could offer insight into whether or not the Club class suites are worth the extra price- for us it would only cost about $320 to upgrade so not sure if this is worth it or not. Also, with the priority embarkation- does this mean you get to board early?? What exactly does this mean??

[Colo Cruiser]

The benefits of a CC mini over a regular mini...basically that you have Club Class dining. The minibar is not a benefit of a mini suite' date=' whether club class or not.

 

Priority boarding...may or may not be a benefit depending on when you arrive. The only time we've experienced significant boarding lines was when there was a problem and boarding was delayed. Even though people arrived when they were told to, there were lines. So whether priority boarding really means anything depends on the situation at the time you arrive.

 

Club Class dining was nice--it is open for dinner and breakfast daily, lunch on sea days, embarkation day, and for us, on one "late" port day. I guess they classed that as a sea day. Service was excellent, the food was very good. A definite step up from the dining we'd had on Princess and other lines in recent years. As to how much it is worth....I've seen it priced at everything from $0 to $800. Unless it was a round the world cruise, it isn't worth $800. People who are getting upsells for $30-40 on a 7 or 10 night cruise...definitely worth that. I honestly don't know where I'd draw the line on value. It is not as good as specialty dining, and that costs $29. I'd probably max out the value at something like $15-20 per night of cruise.[/quote']

 

 

I was referring to a mini suite not a CC mini suite. ;)

[cardiffman]

I believe I asked this on another thread and don't recall getting an answer. Prior to CC the boarding priority for all those waiting in the terminal at the moment boarding commences:

 

1) Wedding parties and BVE's (plus aligned passengers)

2) Suites and Elites (supposedly in order of their arrival, but not sure if that organized).

3) Platinums in their order of arrival & check-in (for sure this way in Port Everglades where the earliest are eventually let upstairs to a second seating section from a downstairs holding area)

4) All other passengers by seating sections in the terminal that corresponds (or should) to order of check-in)

 

Once boarding is in process with the general passengers, those arriving later simply board as they complete the check-in process.

 

SO... the $64 question is where does Club Class Mini-Suite fit in? Obviously if you are Elite or Platinum, you have a home. Where do non-status passengers who have booked Club Class Mini go in the above order? I imagine it is either mixed in with the Platinums, or before or after them.

 

Inquiring minds would like to know. THANKS!!

 

My experience seems to indicate that the CC's board at the same time as regular suite occupants.

 

We have done 3 cruises in CC Mini's and all but one of our cruises were with friends so I don't remember the mechanics as much. So I can only go by one cruise out of LA. In LA when we got to a certain point in the process some nice person handed us a black piece of paper, it had I think "Priority" on it in white letters. And that prioritized us all the way to the gangway. We benefited logistically from the priority treatment on this particular occasion. But it won't always go that way.

 

Details:

 

Priority 'card' in hand, either we followed signs which would tend to say, "Platinum/Elite/Suite/CC" or similar, or we would be checked and I'd flash the piece of paper. This led to us waiting in the chairs assigned to all the priority people as opposed to the non-priority people. On this occasion we were in the "other" terminal (Pier 93, not sure) which has the ship parallel to the Vincent Thomas bridge, which felt older and smaller than the one which has the ship perpendicular to the said bridge. Since there were tons of priority people, the room with water and coffee was jammed with people. So the waiting room may have been smaller. I like to joke that they were standing on top of each other in that room while waving their black cruise cards. With our humble gold cards, we were thrilled to have a priority of any kind on our second cruise, and sat in the chairs. Eventually they dropped the barrier and basically the waiting room and the priority chair area both emptied at once into a nice stairway and basically mowed down the ill-advised photographer's station they put there at the bottom of the stairs.

 

I would say that the 45-minute wait did not make us feel specially treated or prioritized. It would have been better had more things happened to try and balance that out, such as laying on sufficient refreshments and making sure even the priority chair area had been served them.

 

BTTFY (But that's travel for you!)

WOAC (We're on a cruise!)

[111222333]

We are booked on 24 night cruise USA and New England on Sapphire Princess in September.  On wait list for CC. A cabin became available yesterday and we've been quoted an extra £3000 to upgrade. seriously ? Can this be right ?

[Colo Cruiser]

10 minutes ago, 111222333 said:

We are booked on 24 night cruise USA and New England on Sapphire Princess in September.  On wait list for CC. A cabin became available yesterday and we've been quoted an extra £3000 to upgrade. seriously ? Can this be right ?

Welcome to Cruise Critic!!  Great board name.

Yes!  Wait list and demand are the key words. Not to mention the length of the cruise. 

[-Lew-]

6 minutes ago, 111222333 said:

We are booked on 24 night cruise USA and New England on Sapphire Princess in September.  On wait list for CC. A cabin became available yesterday and we've been quoted an extra £3000 to upgrade. seriously ? Can this be right ?

 

For a 24-day cruise it's in the ballpark.  Not worth the extra cost IMHO...

[skynight]

10 minutes ago, 111222333 said:

We are booked on 24 night cruise USA and New England on Sapphire Princess in September.  On wait list for CC. A cabin became available yesterday and we've been quoted an extra £3000 to upgrade. seriously ? Can this be right ?

Basically you can dine in a specialty restaurant every evening for half the amount you are stating. You can even add Ultimate Balcony Dining and the chef's table and be less than the GPB3,000.

[WaterfordBee]

We are booked on 24 night cruise USA and New England on Sapphire Princess in September.  On wait list for CC. A cabin became available yesterday and we've been quoted an extra £3000 to upgrade. seriously ? Can this be right ?

 

* * * 

 

Agree with the others - definitely not worth the price. Not even close. We've upgraded to CC twice, both times the upcharge was less than 10% of the regular Mini Suite rate so well worth it for better location, the bottle of wine and the CC dining. Don't think we'd consider even 20% higher, would do as Skynight suggested and add specialty dining instead. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

On 10/2/2017 at 4:53 PM, speakeasy said:

 

I totally agree, Hockey Mom! We are in L108 on the Royal next month and are looking forward to that balcony. Club Class just came with it.

Us too.  Those perks just came with the location of the mini.  Excellent location and massive balcony.  CC is just something different to try.

[111222333]

6 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic!!  Great board name.

Yes!  Wait list and demand are the key words. Not to mention the length of the cruise. 

Got so frustrated trying to choose board name - all my choices already in use so just tapped anything on keyboard !!!!