Mini suite and club class - perks and tips please

[Cruisingawayfromthesnow!]

First time cruisers who have booked a mini suite and club class on Caribbean Princess.  What are the perks and tips?

 

[voljeep]

you get club class dining and a welcome glass of champagne

[memoak]

Also you get 2 half bottles of wine (1 red 1 white)

[CATGUY7]

Plus 1/2 bottle red wine and 1/2 bottle white wine in Club Class.  (You type faster than I do memoak...)

Edited January 22, 2019 by CATGUY7
Added note

[memoak]

Also priority embarkation and nightly canapes delivered to you cabin any night you wish. 

[Aries 65]

We’re club class now and would do it again.  Service is great in club class dining.

we also received priority embarkation and hopefully debarkation (we’re used to this on other lines, but have low status, 2nd cruise on Princess)  The bedding is superior and the location is great. Yes you get the wine too.

[turquoisesea]

1 hour ago, jagsfan said:

And tender priority when leaving the ship at tender ports. That is a perk I will wish I had on my upcoming cruise. 

Love Club Class, and have booked it again for next two cruises. We were lucky to be upgraded to a suite on our last cruise though, and our mini fridge was filled daily with both bottles of water and soda, and we could eat breakfast in Sabatini’s.  😍

Edited January 23, 2019 by turquoisesea
Clarification

[Loki S]

We had a Club Class Mini Suite on the Majestic Princess in September 2018 and loved the location of the stateroom as well as the dining experience was price less as the service and interaction with our wait staff was great.

[Linsifer]

We had an upsell in 2017 to Club Class in a mini suite.  We really enjoyed the perks.  When we booked our upcoming cruise to Hawaii I didn’t want to pay full price for CC, so we booked a regular mini suite just a short ways aft from midship.  Not long afterward Princess gave us a free upgrade to Club Class by adding our cabin to the mix.  Yay!  Even better than an upsell. 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 1/22/2019 at 10:12 PM, turquoisesea said:

Love Club Class, and have booked it again for next two cruises. We were lucky to be upgraded to a suite on our last cruise though, and our mini fridge was filled daily with both bottles of water and soda, and we could eat breakfast in Sabatini’s.  😍

On our two past cruises, we always booked a veranda. But now due to dietary issues, we have booked club class min-suites on our upcoming cruises to take advantage of club class dining. But, when comparing the per-person prices between a club mini-suite and a vista suite, the difference is usually around $150-175 pp per day.

 

If I might ask, what are the advantages of booking a vista suite over a club mini-suite other than an aft-facing location with a little more space, free laundry and breakfast in Sabatini's? We wouldn't mind spending the additional $$$, but just wondering if there are any hidden perks we are overlooking.

[suekel]

Regarding dietary restrictions, the food served in club Class is exactly the same as the MDR except for one extra dish.  

 

If you go to the website, it will list all of the suite amenities.  Be careful though, my last cruise was a Vista Suite and I'm sure I'll never book anything else.  

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, suekel said:

Regarding dietary restrictions, the food served in club Class is exactly the same as the MDR except for one extra dish.  

 

If you go to the website, it will list all of the suite amenities.  Be careful though, my last cruise was a Vista Suite and I'm sure I'll never book anything else.  

As far as dietary restrictions go, we understand that. They aren't that dire, but we just figure it will be a more tranquil environment and we'll hopefully get the same servers the entire time we're on the cruise if we come early every day. As far as being spoiled by the suite life, we can understand that too. We just finished a 21 day Celebrity cruise in a sky suite ($350/pp/day which included all of the Go Best perks, eating in the private Luminae restaurant and getting additional CC points to get us faster to Elite) and have no plans of booking anything else when we sail on Celebrity.

 

If I might ask, what impressed you about your stay in your vista suite and which ship were you on as we do have one booked on the Island next year that we got at a pretty fare rate? 

[Colo Cruiser]

Club Class is awesome but I always say that the word "suite" should not be in the title of these cabins.

[suekel]

I was able to get the same CC waiter every night.  After 2 nights, they saved a table for us in his section.

 

Ah, the Vista Suite.  I loved the location, I loved the huge balcony with loungers.  We are breakfast out there 8 out of 10 days and we did an Ultimate Balcony dinner.  The first sea day we had afternoon tea in the suite.  I'm not  a bath person but I took 2 in the jetted tub with bath salts.  I loved the extra room, I could lie on the couch reading or watching a movie while my husband could lie on the bed and do the same.  We didn't take advantage of having MDR dinner or lunches delivered but our next cruise we will.  I'm sort of over formal nights so in addition to the free specialty dining our TA gave us, that's most likely what we will do.  We did formal night this past cruise and we were given a corsage and boutonniere.  I loved the fruit basket which our steward refilled 3 times.  We had an orchid in the living area and another in the bathroom.  I'm spoiled for the rest of my cruising life.  

 

We were on the Grand last month.  I was able to get the casino rate so it was around $1950 pp for a 10 day.  

[suekel]

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Club Class is awesome but I always say that the word "suite" should not be in the title of these cabins.

I agree.  People get confused.  

[Ken the cruiser]

51 minutes ago, suekel said:

I was able to get the same CC waiter every night.  After 2 nights, they saved a table for us in his section.

 

Ah, the Vista Suite.  I loved the location, I loved the huge balcony with loungers.  We are breakfast out there 8 out of 10 days and we did an Ultimate Balcony dinner.  The first sea day we had afternoon tea in the suite.  I'm not  a bath person but I took 2 in the jetted tub with bath salts.  I loved the extra room, I could lie on the couch reading or watching a movie while my husband could lie on the bed and do the same.  We didn't take advantage of having MDR dinner or lunches delivered but our next cruise we will.  I'm sort of over formal nights so in addition to the free specialty dining our TA gave us, that's most likely what we will do.  We did formal night this past cruise and we were given a corsage and boutonniere.  I loved the fruit basket which our steward refilled 3 times.  We had an orchid in the living area and another in the bathroom.  I'm spoiled for the rest of my cruising life.  

 

We were on the Grand last month.  I was able to get the casino rate so it was around $1950 pp for a 10 day.  

What a great price.  How does one qualify to get the casino rate?

[suekel]

That seems to be a topic of ongoing discussion.  I started getting it about 6 years ago after winning $1000.  Other people say that get it after spending just a little. So, unfortunately there is no concrete answer but you do have to call and ask for it.  If you get mailings about Sail and Play cruises, then I would think you would be eligible.  On my next cruise, we saved about $800 pp for a Vista.  Now I just have to be patient until next January!  

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, suekel said:

That seems to be a topic of ongoing discussion.  I started getting it about 6 years ago after winning $1000.  Other people say that get it after spending just a little. So, unfortunately there is no concrete answer but you do have to call and ask for it.  If you get mailings about Sail and Play cruises, then I would think you would be eligible.  On my next cruise, we saved about $800 pp for a Vista.  Now I just have to be patient until next January!  

Cool! Definitely something to look into if the savings are that great!

[OCruisers]

The location of what are now CC Mini Suites has always been more expensive so having CC Dining included is great.  

[cheeseclan]

On 1/22/2019 at 9:12 PM, turquoisesea said:

Love Club Class, and have booked it again for next two cruises. We were lucky to be upgraded to a suite on our last cruise though, and our mini fridge was filled daily with both bottles of water and soda, and we could eat breakfast in Sabatini’s.  😍

How did you get sodas every day?  That is not a perk for anyone on the ship!  Water yes for suites but no soda.

[cheeseclan]

7 hours ago, suekel said:

I was able to get the same CC waiter every night.  After 2 nights, they saved a table for us in his section.

 

Ah, the Vista Suite.  I loved the location, I loved the huge balcony with loungers.  We are breakfast out there 8 out of 10 days and we did an Ultimate Balcony dinner.  The first sea day we had afternoon tea in the suite.  I'm not  a bath person but I took 2 in the jetted tub with bath salts.  I loved the extra room, I could lie on the couch reading or watching a movie while my husband could lie on the bed and do the same.  We didn't take advantage of having MDR dinner or lunches delivered but our next cruise we will.  I'm sort of over formal nights so in addition to the free specialty dining our TA gave us, that's most likely what we will do.  We did formal night this past cruise and we were given a corsage and boutonniere.  I loved the fruit basket which our steward refilled 3 times.  We had an orchid in the living area and another in the bathroom.  I'm spoiled for the rest of my cruising life.  

 

We were on the Grand last month.  I was able to get the casino rate so it was around $1950 pp for a 10 day.  

How were you able to get them to save you a table in CC for dinner?  We asked on the Crown and they said that is not the policy for CC, and I understand that.

 

Princess needs to get all their rules and policies straight on all ships in the fleet!!!

[turquoisesea]

7 minutes ago, cheeseclan said:

How did you get sodas every day?  That is not a perk for anyone on the ship!  Water yes for suites but no soda.

 

7 minutes ago, cheeseclan said:

How did you get sodas every day?  That is not a perk for anyone on the ship!  Water yes for suites but no soda.

Oh I’m sorry. We were in a regular suite when we got the soda and water in the frig everyday. Mini suite does not do that.  I’m sorry for the confusion. 

[suekel]

8 minutes ago, cheeseclan said:

How were you able to get them to save you a table in CC for dinner?  We asked on the Crown and they said that is not the policy for CC, and I understand that.

 

Princess needs to get all their rules and policies straight on all ships in the fleet!!!

We didn't ask, they just did.  It was never full at the time we went and I think our waiter loved us as much as we loved him  

[cheeseclan]

20 minutes ago, turquoisesea said:

 

Oh I’m sorry. We were in a regular suite when we got the soda and water in the frig everyday. Mini suite does not do that.  I’m sorry for the confusion. 

No confusion.  I have been in many suites and we had the bar set up and we did get waters every day.  Not sodas too.  Maybe it was just you bar set up exchanged for sodas.

[Colo Cruiser]

32 minutes ago, turquoisesea said:

 

Oh I’m sorry. We were in a regular suite when we got the soda and water in the frig everyday. Mini suite does not do that.  I’m sorry for the confusion. 

Thanks for the clarification......

No Sabatinis/Crown/Suite breakfast in a mini either.