Princess or Royal Caribbean Suite Cabin

[Onthetweendeck]

Just back from a Cruise on Harmony of the Seas staying in a Grand Suite, just before that a Jr. Suite on Adventure of the Seas.

Will compare those experiences to Full Suites on Royal Princess, Caribbean Princess and Island Princess as well as Mini Suites on Caribbean Princess and Royal Princess.

Mini/Jr. Suite category: The winner is Royal Caribbean for the double points and use of the Coastal Kitchen (dinner only if the boat has that venue). 

Full Suite category: The winner is Royal Caribbean for the Customer Service and for their Suite/Concierge Lounges. The Coastal Kitchen/Suite lounge was a beautiful venue overlooking the ship on the 17th deck on the Harmony. 

Specific differences

Dining

Princess: Club Class dining was in a corral to one corner of a main dining room on all three ships, special menu for Club and Suites is the addition of a selection or two the regular menu (sometimes a main course, but mostly a dessert or pasta dish).

RC: Specific menu for that venue, best appetizers and mains we ever had aboard ship (desserts were just OK on the Harmony).

As mentioned the location and view from the Coastal Kitchen was fabulous. 

Lounge

Princess: on the two smaller boats you went to a regular lounge where the served free Canapés and you could buy drinks ( some at a discount). Royal had a dedicated lounge but same perks and the lounge is buried in the middle of the ship, so no view. Royal had a Concierge but only real function was to make reservations, had no power to fix issues.

RC: lounge was other half of Coastal Kitchen with free alcohol and other drinks during set hours.

Summary: A Full Suite on RC was everything we expected in a Suite experience and everything that Princess was not. 

As stated in my other posts Princess has no clue how to provide a Suite experience or Customer Service. Check out the Cruise Critic Awards just out and you will see they are mostly absent. Although Regal Princess made #6 and I will say if you think you need to cruise Princess this would be my first choice. Numerous couples told us on the Harmony cruise that they also disliked the vibe on Royal Princess as much as we did. Same platform as the Regal so it must be the management.

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by Onthetweendeck

[reedprincess]

When it comes to Suites, Princess definitely lags behind pretty much most all other brands when it comes to perks, inclusions, services, extras, whatever going want to call it.  There's not much to suites on Princess versus what other lines are offering.   When we want the suite Experience, it's definitely Celebrity, RCI, MSC Yacht Club (seriously, they get it right there!! )..  Princess isn't much of a consideration when we want a Suite Experience..  

[cruiserdru]

In 2009 we cruised in a Vista Suite on the Coral Princess, got off the Coral and got on RC Radiance of the Seas in a Grand Suite.

 

Frankly, Princess won hands down. Our suite was clean, our steward was attentive, helpful, proactive and made sure we understood the perks and how to access any and all of them. Our Grand Suite, on the other hand, was in terrible condition. When we arrived, the toilet did not work. The bathroom smelled beyond belief. We called the desk and they said they would take care of it. Four hours later, no one had even shown up. Our cabin 'stewardess' knew it was not operational and had done nothing about it (she told us that when we saw her much, much later). Our bed linens had hair on them (yes, I mean under the covers). The hair dryer on the desk was grimy and obviously had not been wiped anytime recently. The floors were not even clean. Our 'stewardess' made no effort to replenish anything without our specific request, not even toiletries. Unlike in our Princess Suite, bed linens were not changed daily or even every 2-3 days.

 

Yes, RC had a nice Concierge Lounge but it hardly made up for the cabin experience. It was a huge disappointment. The response from the front desk was pitiful. Really turned me off on RC.

[Onthetweendeck]

Last fall we got our entire cruise fare refunded at the end of the cruise. It was a Jr. Suite on a mid-size Princess ship, due to the room condition. I had the ship working on issues throughout our week, so that the next passengers would have a better experience. Maintenance admitted that they needed a dry dock bad to fix all their issues. However corporate keeps booking cruises out in to near future on that ship even though the beast needs drive train work as well. Hope you complained to RCI and got some compensation. Need to hold the individual ships accountable to the brands standards and norms.

[Onthetweendeck]

Next up as far as suite category for us is a NCL Haven Full Suite. Watching all the other lines for reasonable prices to give them a try. All except Princess, gave them a fair shot to impress us on their “Suite Experience” after three tries. Also on any of our cruises with Princess we are tired of their warped take on “Customer Service”. We watched a fellow Elite plead for robe to get him through the first couple hours on board as the boat had lost his luggage, the Customer Service rep could not have cared less about his plight. As well now that we are Elite there is no reason to build more points on that brand.

[Colo Cruiser]

56 minutes ago, Onthetweendeck said:

Last fall we got our entire cruise fare refunded at the end of the cruise. It was a Jr. Suite on a mid-size Princess ship, due to the room condition. I had the ship working on issues throughout our week, so that the next passengers would have a better experience. Maintenance admitted that they needed a dry dock bad to fix all their issues. However corporate keeps booking cruises out in to near future on that ship even though the beast needs drive train work as well. Hope you complained to RCI and got some compensation. Need to hold the individual ships accountable to the brands standards and norms.

What is a "junior suite" on Princess?

What ship?

[DandDM]

Thanks for posting; good comparison. 

 

I agree about the perks being better on RCCL, but would add that in my opinion, much prefer the layout of suite on princess.  We like the separate bath/toilet areas and then the availability of both a shower and a tub.  Plus, the distinction between the bed area and seating area is better and easier to separate.

 

Don't really like the huge tub area on RCCL for showers and don't feel like they use the space as well.

 

But will take either - have a GS on Adventure and Vista Suite on Star booked for later this year...

[AF-1]

10 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

What is a "junior suite" on Princess?

What ship?

I believe they are talking about Royal Caribbean junior suite

[riffatsea]

We had a wonderful suite experience on the Coral Princess through the Panama Canal in December!

I guess we don't know any better as we have never been in a suite on NCL(don't like it at all) or Royal Caribbean so we thought the suite perks were just great!

Customer service was excellent for us all around and the Club Class dining had the best most engaging set of staff I have ever experienced anywhere!

Our balcony was large with dining table and chairs +loungers. The bathroom and separate bedroom were comfy with tons of storage space.

I suppose when you don't know any better you may be more satisfied than when you've experienced all the other lines and can compare. All I know is that in our "ignorance" we were quite happy and are ready to do it again!!

[AF-1]

I have sailed in suites with Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Princess.  Each line has nice touches for their suites; to include upgraded benefits, butler, preferred seating, mini bar set up, private dining for breakfast, bottled water, free laundry service, escort on and off ship. concierge lounge.  I guess it is nice to have small touches to enhance your vacation. Everyone will have a special perk that they like and some people will like one line over the other.  Opinions will be different for each size cabin and each cruise. Enjoy your cruise no matter which ship or cabin you choose.

[Onthetweendeck]

My bad on mixing up mini/jr suites, we go on more than dozen cruises on various lines each year, sort of like calling every cola a “Coke”. My advice is try some other lines before you commit to one in order to build perks.The room attendants and wait staff are universally great (some bad but not because of the cruise line) so their performance should not be a factor in repeating with a specific line.Not a fan of bathtubs in any cabin, of the four suites we did in the last six months only one had bath soaps/salts stocked. Had to really schedule time at the end of the cruise to use the tub just to say we did.