Suite - worth the cost?

[ChristiCruising]

We have a full suite booked for an upcoming cruise but we will be traveling with family who are staying in a balcony cabin. Since we we will want to spend our time with our travel companions it is unlikely we will take advantage of most of the suite perks such as reserve dining and specialty breakfasts.
 

Looking for opinions whether it is worth it to spend the extra money on our full suite for the space when we won’t be taking advantage of many of the additional perks?
 

We need a wheelchair accessible cabin and the only other option available is an interior cabin which is half the price but I do get a little claustrophobic. Has anyone stayed in an interior cabin lately and have any comparison to a suite and whether it be worth the savings to stay in one for the cabin alone? 

 

[NavyVeteran]

No one else can say whether or not it is worth it for you.

Will you be meeting the family for every meal? Or would there be some meals that you would eat separately - in specialty breakfast or reserve dining? On port days, you may not have the same excursion schedule. On sea days, would you all always get up for breakfast together.

The suite would give you room for all of you to get together and socialize in your suite. If you are in an accessible inside cabin, there wouldn't be much room for others to join you. And you may have difficulty joining them in their balcony cabin with your wheelchair.

In a suite, you can order room service from the full MDR menu any time the MDR is open. You are not limited to ordering it only for the two of you in the suite. If there is room in your suite, you can order full MDR menu room service for your entire party to be delivered to your suite.

[ChristiCruising]

Thanks for the excellent answer! Obviously, it’s not a decision anyone else can make for us but I do enjoy hearing other perspectives. Great input about the space in the room for hosting family and ordering from the MDR. I had not thought about those aspects. It would be nice to have the extra space to have them join us in our room when we don’t feel like being in public spaces. Thanks for the quality response! 

[memoak]

If you are not going to use the suite breakfast or reserve dining you are mostly buying size of stateroom and laundry

[Ombud]

 

1 hour ago, ChristiCruising said:

a little claustrophobic

I'm claustrophobic and would cancel before booking an inside room. 

[peagreenid]

What ship are you booked on?  The benefits vary based on the ship.  The Royal Class ships have a Suite Lounge where you can partake in complimentary beverages and food during the day.  They usually offer a light breakfast with pastries, yogurt and fruit and sandwiches at lunch time.  In the evening They offer complimentary beverages for two hours (including alcohol) and they offer nice appetizers to go with it.  They have a really nice coffee machine and you can always grab bottles of water (still and sparkling) or cans of soda.  We liked the suites on the older ships, but we love them on the Royal Class ships. 

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

No one else can say whether or not it is worth it for you.

Will you be meeting the family for every meal? Or would there be some meals that you would eat separately - in specialty breakfast or reserve dining? On port days, you may not have the same excursion schedule. On sea days, would you all always get up for breakfast together.

The suite would give you room for all of you to get together and socialize in your suite. If you are in an accessible inside cabin, there wouldn't be much room for others to join you. And you may have difficulty joining them in their balcony cabin with your wheelchair.

In a suite, you can order room service from the full MDR menu any time the MDR is open. You are not limited to ordering it only for the two of you in the suite. If there is room in your suite, you can order full MDR menu room service for your entire party to be delivered to your suite.

 

The verdict is still out regarding ordering from the MDR for delivery to the suite....with/without the ridiculous $5 call to room service.  

 

All other points are great.  A suite is at least twice the size of regular cabin.  Only the Royal ships have the Concierge Lounge.  Plus you will get a mini-bar and water nightly.  Is it worth the extra cost?  That can not be answered by anyone else.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

This is aq difficult and quite a personal decision. There is no right and wrong, good or bad.

 

Personally, I would have my toenails removed whilst having my teeth pulled before I would take an inside cabin. Obviously that is just me! Loads of people prefer inside cabins so it would be up to how you feel about not having the space or a balcony.

 

As for losing out on the perks. The perk we think are worth having are:

- Speciality breakfast but you will likely be having breakfast with your family

- Reserve dining likewise

- Laundry. That can mount up to a significant charge if you use it frequently but ours is never more than $150 (refunded as in suite)

- Mini-bar set up

- Concierge Lounge (if you have one on board - some don't) - this is a big one for us. It is an oasis of calm compared to the rest of the ship and we use it daily

- Priority disembarkation. We hate the standing around waiting to get off.

 

Everything else are just fluff for us.

 

So, if it was us we would likely still take the suite and use it as a social center for the family. We would likely eat with family but for a break we'd use the Reserve Dining or Speciality dining. I'd make use of the included room service when family are around for drinks/snacks.

 

Having a suite does make the cruise a little more special for us.

 

But that is just us! 🙂

 

YMMV

[emairs]

We usually travel with my brother and SIL. We always book a suite and they book a regular balcony. We don’t do everything together. We always have breakfast at Sabatinis. Wouldn’t miss it. We also go for the free specialty restaurant the first night. We do have dinner together in the main dining room.

We all enjoy spending time in our suite and lounging on our large, wraparound corner balcony.

[PrincessLuver]

10 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are not going to use the suite breakfast or reserve dining you are mostly buying size of stateroom and laundry

 

We agree and we tend to book long cruises and depending where we are going depends on if we will get a suite or not.  However we have found that most Reserve Class Mini-Suites meet our needs just as well as a suite.  We are Elite so the laundry, mini-bar, and priority boarding and disembarkation work out just fine getting a mini-suite.  Also, we tired of breakfast in Sabatini's and found we had just as many choices for breakfast in the Reserve Class dining room.  We do not think what Princess charges for suites on some ships is really worth what little specialness you will receive.  

[coo359a2]

If you have the $$'s - and can  cruise a lot - go for it.  One day we might.

[cruzsnooze]

9 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

The verdict is still out regarding ordering from the MDR for delivery to the suite....with/without the ridiculous $5 call to room service.  

 

 

What verdict? It's $5 to order room service in a full suite unless you pay the $14.99 up front. I have it in writing from my PCP in writing which I've posted on a thread about this subject.

[Oxo]

12 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are not going to use the suite breakfast or reserve dining you are mostly buying size of stateroom and laundry

Agree, what is the big difference and benefits from eating in the suite breakfast venue and reserve dining?

 

We have a table for 2, eat when we want so that would not be a plus for us. JMHO! 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

13 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

What verdict? It's $5 to order room service in a full suite unless you pay the $14.99 up front. I have it in writing from my PCP in writing which I've posted on a thread about this subject.

Wouldn't be for us as we would have the Premium Package. 🙂

[Knickearth]

13 hours ago, ChristiCruising said:

We have a full suite booked for an upcoming cruise but we will be traveling with family who are staying in a balcony cabin. Since we we will want to spend our time with our travel companions it is unlikely we will take advantage of most of the suite perks such as reserve dining and specialty breakfasts.
 

Looking for opinions whether it is worth it to spend the extra money on our full suite for the space when we won’t be taking advantage of many of the additional perks?
 

We need a wheelchair accessible cabin and the only other option available is an interior cabin which is half the price but I do get a little claustrophobic. Has anyone stayed in an interior cabin lately and have any comparison to a suite and whether it be worth the savings to stay in one for the cabin alone? 

 

We were recently in your shoes.  We reserved and stayed in a full suite and our traveling companions had a balcony.  Since they live on the east coast and we are west coast, we passed up the free specialty dinner the first night to eat with them.  We did get one special suite breakfast and altho good wasn’t as great as we were lead to believe and once again friends couldn’t join us.  In the end the perks were a bouquet of flowers, two glasses of champagne, canapés in the cabin to greet us.  So now I am bypassing full suites unless traveling alone.  Just my opinion.

[Treasure Hunter]

We just got off Emerald and are elite. We were in an upgraded reserve mini from a balcony. We got the early embarkation and early disembarkation but did not get the extra water. I traded our little Alcohol bottles for extra water. They charged us for laundry $42!. Otherwise the room was fine after I had the mattress replaced ( first night it was so bad I was in pain) and the sensors on the floor woke us up by turning on the lights when we used the restroom during the night. I missed the suites I had on the Regal and Sky. But loved the reserve dining. You will be happy with the extra space to host. I could never ever stay in an interior cabin. I’d rather not go.

[memoak]

30 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Agree, what is the big difference and benefits from eating in the suite breakfast venue and reserve dining?

 

We have a table for 2, eat when we want so that would not be a plus for us. JMHO! 

With suite breakfast and reserve dining you never have a wait for starters. On the Discovery in June there were people who had reservations in regular dining and were being told the would have to wait 30 minutes or more to be seated. Also the extra entrees and dedicated servers in reserve is usually excellent

[Oxo]

31 minutes ago, memoak said:

With suite breakfast and reserve dining you never have a wait for starters. On the Discovery in June there were people who had reservations in regular dining and were being told the would have to wait 30 minutes or more to be seated. Also the extra entrees and dedicated servers in reserve is usually excellent

I hope you are wrong about waiting for starters. Only done 55 cruises on Princess and never waiting more than 5 minutes and most of the time we had a table reserved and just walked right in. 

We also had the same waiters almost always. Extra entrees? Don't need any more food. What about the times they use to prepare at the tables regardless of your status?

I know that was a fire hazard. LOL Baked Alaska, pasta, Flambee, etc.

That was all free and no extra charges. 

[c-boy]

13 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

I'm claustrophobic and would cancel before booking an inside room. 

😆 I told my wife if I'm going back out to sea, please don't put us in a room with no windows. Wifepoo surprised me with a suite. My moto from then on is, " once you go with a suite, you gotta repeat". I'm hopeful this new class of ship for Princess will have more to offer suite goer's .

Edited September 16, 2023 by c-boy

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, c-boy said:

😆 I told my wife if I'm going back out to sea, please don't put us in a room with no windows. Wifepoo surprised me with a suite. My moto from then on is, " once you go with a suite, you gotta repeat".

Sort of same. I used to only book obstructed outside then previous CVP talked me into Plaza deck outside never went back. Talked me into balcony, repeat .... tried minisuite and discovered my preferred is balcony with sofa. Can't imagine downgrading to an outside & don't even respond to move down offers

[doghog]

15 minutes ago, c-boy said:

😆 I told my wife if I'm going back out to sea, please don't put us in a room with no windows. Wifepoo surprised me with a suite. My moto from then on is, " once you go with a suite, you gotta repeat". I'm hopeful this new class of ship for Princess will have more to offer suite goer's .

Exactly why I never tell my wife about suites. 😇

[Treasure Hunter]

The Sun supposedly has a real Suite restaurant like the NCL Haven or Celebrity Retreat. Princess was really falling behind

[DiRonT]

15 hours ago, peagreenid said:

What ship are you booked on?  The benefits vary based on the ship.  The Royal Class ships have a Suite Lounge where you can partake in complimentary beverages and food during the day.  They usually offer a light breakfast with pastries, yogurt and fruit and sandwiches at lunch time.  In the evening They offer complimentary beverages for two hours (including alcohol) and they offer nice appetizers to go with it.  They have a really nice coffee machine and you can always grab bottles of water (still and sparkling) or cans of soda.  We liked the suites on the older ships, but we love them on the Royal Class ships. 

Totally agree - my only wish would be for little bit larger balconies.  We have had the very large balconies in the aft PH Suites, but prefer the location of the Riviera deck PH Suites, mainly because of the proximity to the Concierge Lounge.

[jwattle]

3 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

We just got off Emerald and are elite. We were in an upgraded reserve mini from a balcony. We got the early embarkation and early disembarkation but did not get the extra water. I traded our little Alcohol bottles for extra water. They charged us for laundry $42!. Otherwise the room was fine after I had the mattress replaced ( first night it was so bad I was in pain) and the sensors on the floor woke us up by turning on the lights when we used the restroom during the night. I missed the suites I had on the Regal and Sky. But loved the reserve dining. You will be happy with the extra space to host. I could never ever stay in an interior cabin. I’d rather not go.

I don't think that the Reserve Minis get the extra waters; they're only for the full suites. 😞

 

[NavyVeteran]

4 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

What verdict? It's $5 to order room service in a full suite unless you pay the $14.99 up front. I have it in writing from my PCP in writing which I've posted on a thread about this subject.

No, it's $5 each time -not $14.99 for the cruise. The $14.99 allows you to order using the app - not the telephone. If you use the phone, it's $5 each time. The app only has the regular room service menu - not the full MDR menu you can get in a suite. To order from the full MDR menu, you have to use the phone.