Club-class: worth the little extra above mini-suite?

Can one assume that the quality of the cuisine made available by having a Club-class suite will markedly be better than the MDR?

The majority of what is offered is off the same menu that everyone else gets in the MDR. They do offer a special choice that can be better depending on what is offered that night. In CC you get better service as the waiters have less tables to serve and they learn names quickly. It is something similar to ATD in that you arrive when you want and not fixed time or table.

We had CC on our last cruise as I found it offered for a small extra sum (<$100) and decided to give it a try. It was a 16 day cruise. I and a few others found it online one weekend and then it disappeared which made some of us wonder it it was a mistake. We are elite so the other benefits we already receive.

IMO it is not worth it to us.

I enjoy CC, but I wouldn't say it is markedly better. CC offers a few extra dishes or appetizers in addition to the regular dining menu. I also felt the service was a little better. Both times I used CC when I was in a suite.

Can one assume that the quality of the cuisine made available by having a Club-class suite will markedly be better than the MDR?

You can assume all you wish but it is not so. Same food and cooks as the rest of the ship is getting.

It depends on what the "little extra" is. I've seen it priced at $0 above a regular mini to as much as $30pp per night above.

We had a window suite, so it was part of our "deal." The food is a little better. We had one extra at lunch, 2 extras at dinner each time. The extra dishes tended to be very good, and we tried several of them. The biggest difference was the quality of service, which was the best I've seen on any cruise line for several years. I did like the anytime dining with very little or no waiting. And honestly, dinner became "special" again after it being just "dinner time" on our last several cruises.

The main menu is exactly the same as the MDR, prepared in the same kitchen, etc. On nights when one of the special dishes was a dessert or appetizer, there was also a special entree from the main kitchen. When the price is right, it is a good thing.

We book Club Class mini suites because they are located in the location we always booked anyway which has always beem more expencive so having CC Dining is of no extra cost to us. :)

We book Club Class mini suites because they are located in the location we always booked anyway which has always beem more expencive so having CC Dining is of no extra cost to us. :)

This comment about location is important to those of us who book early to get the cabin we prefer but we have just the opposite reasoning. We always book an ME mini-suite on the Ruby and earlier (except Pacific Princess) ships because we want the covered balcony. We wouldn't want the CC mini-suite location on those ships. If we were searching for a mini on a Royal class ship we might consider a CC mini depending upon the fare difference but as others have noted, since we are elite we already receive many of the perks so we wouldn't be willing to pay too much.

It depends on what the "little extra" is. I've seen it priced at $0 above a regular mini to as much as $30pp per night above.

Were it always so small!! We are booked on a 24 night cruise out of Southampton to Canada and New England in Sept 2019 and the difference between the lowest grade ordinary mini-suite and a Club Class mini-suite is a whopping £1700 ($2200) PER PERSON which works out at just short of $100 per person per day!

And guess what? Nearly all the Club Class are sold out some 15 months before the cruise.

We couldn’t get our preferred grade of full suite and are booked in an ordinary mini-suite on the basis that we can do an awful lot with the $4400 we have saved (including if we wished' date=' not that we will, dine every night in Select Dining or take Ultimate Balcony Dining every night when we would still only spend half the money we have saved by not booking a Club Class mini!)

Apparently crazy pricing but as I have already said almost all the Club Class minis have been sold!

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Were it always so small!! We are booked on a 24 night cruise out of Southampton to Canada and New England in Sept 2019 and the difference between the lowest grade ordinary mini-suite and a Club Class mini-suite is a whopping £1700 ($2200) PER PERSON which works out at just short of $100 per person per day!

 

And guess what? Nearly all the Club Class are sold out some 15 months before the cruise.

 

We couldn’t get our preferred grade of full suite and are booked in an ordinary mini-suite on the basis that we can do an awful lot with the $4400 we have saved (including if we wished, not that we will, dine every night in Select Dining or take Ultimate Balcony Dining every night when we would still only spend half the money we have saved by not booking a Club Class mini!)

 

Apparently crazy pricing but as I have already said almost all the Club Class minis have been sold!

 

 

I absolutely think Club Class is worth it. We cruised Regal Princess the first year in a mini-suite before and took meals in the main dining room. The service was rather slow and the food was decent.

Last October in Club Class the service was excellent, the food was much better, excellent on many nights. We loved the roving Chef July who concocted many special delights at both dinner and breakfast. We were especially fond of the Nutella and strawberry Crepes every morning.

In addition we never waited to be seated. No sooner did we arrive each evening when the Maitre D' would welcome us and take us to a table.

We are very much looking forward to returning to Club Class on Regal this October.

Another little known perk of Club Class is the expedited tender service. By showing the tender staff your Club Class cruise card you can gain admittance into the tender without having to wait for a specific time.

Jonathan

WOW! That's the highest difference I've been aware of. $4400 is another cruise' date=' not just a fancier dining experience![/quote']$4400 is another two or three cruises.

we got lucky for a September 2019 Regal cruise. The category of our mini-suite was changed to Club Class at zero cost. Love those type of upgrades!

Club Class is definitely worth 'a little extra' - as others have said, prime ship location, excellent service, quieter, a few extra selections. It's not worth the $1600 per person extra that Princess has been charging for weeks on the Golden Princess Sept. 11 RT LA>Alaska. As much as we've loved our CC cruises, we declined this pricing and will instead do a couple of extra specialty restaurant dinners at a much lower price. For several weeks, there were 5 cabins left at that price, even after final payment; as of today there are only 2, so someone bought in in spite of the price.

For several weeks, there were 5 cabins left at that price, even after final payment; as of today there are only 2, so someone bought in in spite of the price.

Or someone took advantage of an upsell offer...or was assigned from a gty booking.

In respect to C.C., one must compare the difference between club class, and what a midship minisuite would cost. In most cases the difference is not that great. In many cases the earlier the book, the best deal you will get. If there is a big demand the prices do go up.

Is it worth it. We are booked on the Regal Princess in another week and we will let you know when we come back. We never had a problem with the quality or the variety of food on Princess, but we do feel that the better service should make a big difference. Hopefully it will be like the Aqua Class and Blu on Celebrity.

we got lucky for a September 2019 Regal cruise. The category of our mini-suite was changed to Club Class at zero cost. Love those type of upgrades!

We had the same thing on the Ruby in June, but as we were with a large group, never took advantage of the CC food.

we got lucky for a September 2019 Regal cruise. The category of our mini-suite was changed to Club Class at zero cost. Love those type of upgrades!

We got lucky, too. Our mini-suite for our January 2019 cruise on the Regal has been re-classified as a Club Class Mini-Suite at no cost to us. It will be nice to test out CC for free!

I enjoy CC, but I wouldn't say it is markedly better. CC offers a few extra dishes or appetizers in addition to the regular dining menu. I also felt the service was a little better. Both times I used CC when I was in a suite.

We get it when we do suites and we do not find the food anymore exceptional then what is served in the other dining rooms.....wait staff seems just as rushed as in MDR.....I would not pay extra for it if we did not get it with the type of bookings we do.....basically you are guaranteed a table for 2 when you want it...I think some passengers try to make it seem "all that" because they paid extra for it!!!

 

Another little known perk of Club Class is the expedited tender service. By showing the tender staff your Club Class cruise card you can gain admittance into the tender without having to wait for a specific time.

 

Jonathan

Not so. You may have struck lucky, but only Full suites and Elites get the expedited tender service.

The Club Class flyer makes it very clear that expedited boarding and disembarkation is only at the start and the end of the cruise.

So you may have struck lucky but it is not a normal perk, little known or otherwise, of Club Class

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/club-class/ClubClass-eFlyer.pdf

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From my experience and watching threads, I would summarize that CC mini is worth it if you can book for around $20 or less pp per day than the cost of a regular middle mini. The location, the ATD with the old traditional dining care is so worth it. I agree, if it would cost me an extra $2200pp which is around $90-100pp per day, I wouldn't do it either. I guess I have been very fortunate in that I have gotten after all discounts and refares, my CC minis for no more than $20pp per day, and as low as $9 pp, except for my long 24 TA, port intensive cruise where having CC dining is so much better and that was around $23pp. But I have a year to hope for a refare or two!!!

Pooh

The meals on CC are excellent - when we had it last year we tried about 2/3 of the "Extra" entrees offered and they were really really good. We are on back to back 10 day cruises later this year (booked as a 20 day) and since we will have the same menus for each cruise this will give us more options. Plus you get mid ship locations.