Azura suites

[miss-heli]

Been a while since we sailed with P&O.

Can anyone advise if the upgrade from a regular balcony cabin to a Suite is worth the extra spend ?

 

Many thanks

[david63]

At the end of the day only you can decide but for us it is the extra space, priority boarding, ability to have restaurant meals (especially lunch) in the suite and the biggie - having a civilised breakfast in Epicurean.

[bobstheboy]

43 minutes ago, david63 said:

At the end of the day only you can decide but for us it is the extra space, priority boarding, ability to have restaurant meals (especially lunch) in the suite and the biggie - having a civilised breakfast in Epicurean.

We are looking foreward to the experience in just over 4 weeks. 

[Harry Peterson]

I’d say that it depends very much on which particular suite, its location, and the price difference. Sizes of suites vary a great deal, and some of them are barely larger than ordinary cabins a few metres down the corridor. Some of the suites were in fact once just superior cabins.

[smokey01]

4 hours ago, david63 said:

At the end of the day only you can decide but for us it is the extra space, priority boarding, ability to have restaurant meals (especially lunch) in the suite and the biggie - having a civilised breakfast in Epicurean.

We have a suite next July on Britannia. When ordering restaurant meals with several courses I presume they deliver all courses at once?  Do you order via the butler or room service? Is a tip expected per delivery?

[david63]

28 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

When ordering restaurant meals with several courses I presume they deliver all courses at once?

In my experience yes - so don't order ice cream!

 

29 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

Do you order via the butler or room service?

Butler

 

29 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

Is a tip expected per delivery?

I never have but have given the butler a tip at the end of the cruise.

[pete14]

8 hours ago, miss-heli said:

Been a while since we sailed with P&O.

Can anyone advise if the upgrade from a regular balcony cabin to a Suite is worth the extra spend ?

 

Many thanks

Because there are only a limited number of suites, they tend to sell quickly so it is likely that an upgrade is not possible because suites are sold out.Maybe a mini suite is available to upgrade to, but it does not include many benefits, certainly not the speciality restaurant breakfast, butler nor free food service. If you do find a suite to upgrade to, the price you will pay is the price that existed at the time of your original booking which may be to your advantage.

[david63]

28 minutes ago, pete14 said:

If you do find a suite to upgrade to, the price you will pay is the price that existed at the time of your original booking

Not necessarily if it is done via the bidding system.

[pete14]

56 minutes ago, david63 said:

Not necessarily if it is done via the bidding system.

Sorry, I was not considering that. I wonder whether a full suite has ever been available to be featured in the bidding system. 

[bobstheboy]

22 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Sorry, I was not considering that. I wonder whether a full suite has ever been available to be featured in the bidding system. 

We were offered an upgrade from suite to Penthouse Suite a few weeks ago for our Jan 24 cruise. Minimum bid of £600 pp, no thanks

[Selbourne]

10 hours ago, miss-heli said:

Been a while since we sailed with P&O.

Can anyone advise if the upgrade from a regular balcony cabin to a Suite is worth the extra spend ?

 

Many thanks

Just to give an alternative perspective, we used to book Suites but don’t any more as we no longer feel that they offer value for money.

 

To qualify my comments, I should be upfront and say that my wife’s disability is now such that we have to use accessible cabins and these are around 50% bigger than standard cabins. The accessible Superior Deluxe balcony cabin that we had recently was in fact slightly bigger than the full suites, so the main benefit of the extra space is something that we no longer need to pay suite prices to enjoy (this being the only benefit of being in a position where a disability warrants an accessible cabin).
 

We spend a lot of time in our cabin during the day on sea days, enjoying the quiet space, the views and the balcony. Many people don’t, in which case the extra space becomes superfluous. The aft corner suites have massive wrap around balconies and we have enjoyed those on several ships. Personally, I don’t think that the midships suites are worth it as they don’t have this unique feature. Also, the midships suites on Azura on Riviera deck can be problematic and are best avoided. They are directly under the open pool deck and you can be disturbed very early in the morning with the chairs and loungers being dragged around for cleaning etc. Friends stayed in one of these suites on Azura and it disturbed them so much that they have never booked another suite since. 
 

We are now Caribbean loyalty tier, so always benefit from priority embarkation and the priority boarders lunch, two other suite benefits that we used to enjoy but no longer need to pay for a suite to benefit from.
 

The remaining benefits of having a suite are minor IMHO. We used to enjoy having breakfast in Epicurean, but that was ruined on a cruise when there was a noisy family with two unruly children and another couple with a baby who cried every breakfast time. In the end we stopped going to Epicurean and went to the main dining room as it was more relaxing!

 

We found butlers to be intrusive, turning up doing nothing worthwhile other than trying to appear useful so that we’d tip them at the end of the cruise. They added virtually nothing to our suite experiences, other than a few meals on the balcony or in the suite, but all courses arrived at the same time so it wasn’t really as good a meal as being in a restaurant. Dining on the aft corner balcony whilst cruising down a fjord on a summer evening was magical though. We tend not to use room service, as we prefer going to the restaurants, but it’s free for suite guests. 
 

If P&O adopted the approach that Cunard does with Britannia Club and grills guests, and had a separate dining room where you have your own dedicated table for your sole use for ALL meals and an enhanced dinner menu with additional a’la carte options, then we might consider using suites again. However, given that we book accessible balcony cabins and are Caribbean loyalty tier, the remaining suite benefits with P&O are now so negligible for us it would be a complete waste of money.

 

If you decide that you really want a suite on Azura, I’d strongly advise getting an aft corner suite with a wrap around balcony. You are then getting far more bang for your buck. 

[9265359]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:20 PM, Selbourne said:

If P&O adopted the approach that Cunard does with Britannia Club and grills guests, and had a separate dining room where you have your own dedicated table for your sole use for ALL meals and an enhanced dinner menu with additional a’la carte options, then we might consider using suites again.

I completely agree. 
 

It seems utterly crazy that someone paying top tier prices for a suite ends up in the same endless queue for the restaurant (or the invidious ‘but we can seat you straight away if you will share’) as someone who paid a fraction of that amount for a Saver inside cabin. 
 

On other cruise lines the suite guests get dedicated restaurants and bars, areas set aside in the theatre, etc. whereas on P&O you get… not a lot.

 

But whilst there is a queue of people willing to pay P&O those top tier prices for not a lot then things won’t change. 

[daiB]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:20 PM, Selbourne said:

Just to give an alternative perspective, we used to book Suites but don’t any more as we no longer feel that they offer value for money.

 

To qualify my comments, I should be upfront and say that my wife’s disability is now such that we have to use accessible cabins and these are around 50% bigger than standard cabins. The accessible Superior Deluxe balcony cabin that we had recently was in fact slightly bigger than the full suites, so the main benefit of the extra space is something that we no longer need to pay suite prices to enjoy (this being the only benefit of being in a position where a disability warrants an accessible cabin).
 

We spend a lot of time in our cabin during the day on sea days, enjoying the quiet space, the views and the balcony. Many people don’t, in which case the extra space becomes superfluous. The aft corner suites have massive wrap around balconies and we have enjoyed those on several ships. Personally, I don’t think that the midships suites are worth it as they don’t have this unique feature. Also, the midships suites on Azura on Riviera deck can be problematic and are best avoided. They are directly under the open pool deck and you can be disturbed very early in the morning with the chairs and loungers being dragged around for cleaning etc. Friends stayed in one of these suites on Azura and it disturbed them so much that they have never booked another suite since. 
 

We are now Caribbean loyalty tier, so always benefit from priority embarkation and the priority boarders lunch, two other suite benefits that we used to enjoy but no longer need to pay for a suite to benefit from.
 

The remaining benefits of having a suite are minor IMHO. We used to enjoy having breakfast in Epicurean, but that was ruined on a cruise when there was a noisy family with two unruly children and another couple with a baby who cried every breakfast time. In the end we stopped gOoing to Epicurean and went to the main dining room as it was more relaxing!

 

We found butlers to be intrusive, turning up doing nothing worthwhile other than trying to appear useful so that we’d tip them at the end of the cruise. They added virtually nothing to our suite experiences, other than a few meals on the balcony or in the suite, but all courses arrived at the same time so it wasn’t really as good a meal as being in a restaurant. Dining on the aft corner balcony whilst cruising down a fjord on a summer evening was magical though. We tend not to use room service, as we prefer going to the restaurants, but it’s free for suite guests. 
 

If P&O adopted the approach that Cunard does with Britannia Club and grills guests, and had a separate dining room where you have your own dedicated table for your sole use for ALL meals and an enhanced dinner menu with additional a’la carte options, then we might consider using suites again. However, given that we book accessible balcony cabins and are Caribbean loyalty tier, the remaining suite benefits with P&O are now so negligible for us it would be a complete waste of money.

 

If you decide that you really want a suite on Azura, I’d strongly advise getting an aft corner suite with a wrap around balcony. You are then getting far more bang for your buck. 

On Azura they are not wrap around. When we used suites we made use of the Butler as we would host a party in our cabin and he would arrange it all. But I now need an adapted cabin as well so our suite days are gone. But we now have more cruises weigh what we save.

 

😎😎😎

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, daiB said:

On Azura they are not wrap around. When we used suites we made use of the Butler as we would host a party in our cabin and he would arrange it all. But I now need an adapted cabin as well so our suite days are gone. But we now have more cruises weigh what we save.

 

😎😎😎

Good spot. I’d forgotten that the corner aft suites on Azura and Ventura don't have wrap around balconies. Still highly preferable to the midships ones though IMHO. 

[Harryjacobs]

We travelled with some friends who had a suite whilst we had a balcony.  In my honest opinion is that the suites are spacious and thats about as good as it gets.  The suites on front are unusable whilst ship is on the move as its too windy to use.  Room service was the exact same same menu as everybody else its just that as a suite the delivery was free while everybody else paid a small charge.  As has been mentioned you do not get priority for dinner service and have to queue with the rest of us peasants.

It was an extra 2 grand for the suite and I felt it certainly was not 2 grands worth you received. 

[pete14]

I agree that suites are not worth booking if the extra cost is so high. When we book them, we are careful to choose cruises where the differential is smaller than you quote. Just to correct something, in a suite the room service is completely free and includes the cost of the food, not just the service charge. Only a benefit if you use room service.

[Wonky]

On 12/5/2023 at 9:20 PM, Selbourne said:

If P&O adopted the approach that Cunard does with Britannia Club and grills guests, and had a separate dining room where you have your own dedicated table for your sole use for ALL meals and an enhanced dinner menu with additional a’la carte options, then we might consider using suites again.

Completely agree with this, possibly tweek it slightly that you could eat in any of the paid for restaurants.

[david63]

The whole dining arrangements on P&O, and especially for suites, is the main reason that we have jumped the P&O ship(s) - most other cruise lines (even within the Carnival Group) handle it far better

[Fionboard]

On 12/5/2023 at 8:18 PM, bobstheboy said:

We were offered an upgrade from suite to Penthouse Suite a few weeks ago for our Jan 24 cruise. Minimum bid of £600 pp, no thanks

I was offered an upgrade from balcony to mini suite on Arcadia for just under £3000 pp.  No thanks! 

[Harry Peterson]

5 hours ago, Fionboard said:

I was offered an upgrade from balcony to mini suite on Arcadia for just under £3000 pp.  No thanks! 

Some suites are worth paying for, because of the size. Not many, but a few. Mini suites are exactly what they say they are.

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Some suites are worth paying for, because of the size. Not many, but a few. Mini suites are exactly what they say they are.

Balcony is quite roomy enough for me on my own. 

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, Fionboard said:

Balcony is quite roomy enough for me on my own. 

My wife would agree - if she weren't married to me.  I create a LOT of untidiness and mess wherever I go - my bits of the house are no-go areas, and she has an inner sanctum which requires a security pass to enter.  🙂

[Windsurfboy]

Perhaps the only tweak is not free speciality restaurants for suites , but guarantee of a place,  so open them up to suites a week before rest

[pete14]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

Perhaps the only tweak is not free speciality restaurants for suites , but guarantee of a place,  so open them up to suites a week before rest

If I were selfish, I would agree, but it is hardly fair on the 95ish% of people whose chance to experience speciality restaurants would be decreased further.

[Windsurfboy]

47 minutes ago, pete14 said:

If I were selfish, I would agree, but it is hardly fair on the 95ish% of people whose chance to experience speciality restaurants would be decreased further.

 

Following this logic then , we should have no suites , no cabins with windows  which aren't fair to insiders and one restaurant based on a works canteen