Recent Suite Cruises - Current unpublished perks?

[Cruise a holic]

I would love to again book a CS but they do not have step-in shower which my husband needs, so I must book the accessible SS. I love the RS but as the price rises.......

In any case, the big suites are desireable for the room available.

I can understand why the reduced availablility of the additional perks if there are that many SS on board. Didn't realize that many were available.

Thanks for the reply

 

I agree about the bathtub being very steep and not very accessible. We are doing the CS on the Summit this August, and will have the butler bring us a step stool as I am not very tall and do not feel safe entering and exiting the tub.

 

Will report back regarding perks for CS in August.

[Cruising89143]

I can't imagine that the suites only dining room will be that large. Personally I am very happy to see that X is trying to deter suites guests from inviting non suite guests to join.

[Guernseycruiser]

On the Silhouette TA, we met a lovely couple who were in an RS. They said that Michael's was mostly deserted at cocktail time and not much fun--they preferred to go to the Sky Lounge and mingle with fellow cruisers. They also said that they could order a cappuccino in the morning, but that the attendant would have to run to Café Al Bacio to get it. . .so it turned out not to be much of a perk as they had hoped. Still a great cabin though.

Hi Cathy - Not sure if we are the "lovely couple you met", I am sure we must have been!!!!!

 

To the OP: Whilst we absoutely loved the suite, all the space and added extras, Michaels club was a bit too quiet for us. If you are travelling with friends who are not in a PH/RS or CS suite, you can not have a drink with them in Michaels club. The perk of free drinks 24-7 was nice and we did use this sometimes, however as we were Elite we prefered to use our vouchers to drink in other bars such as the sunset bar, and sky lounge with friends. If you are not Elite plus, you can ask for a speciality coffee in Michaels club, and the waiter will go to Cafe Al Baccio to obtain one for you.

 

As stated, we were Elite at the time, however we only received the Elite coupons (and not Elite plus) whilst in the Royal Suite. We did exchange the complimentary bottle of whiskey for another type of liquor, as we do not drink whiskey.

 

Gareth, the concierge in Michaels club, did arrange for private functions in Michaels club, which included a meeting with the Captain and Senior officers on one of the formal nights, ipad/iphone classes, photography class, art appreciation etc etc. Whilst not all of the activities were of interest to us, it was a very nice added extra.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the luxury of a Royal Suite, and hope it is not too long before we cruise again in this suite in the future.

 

Celebrity continue to be our first choice for cruising, with two more booked later this year.

[Cruising89143]

Hi Cathy - Not sure if we are the "lovely couple you met", I am sure we must have been!!!!!

 

To the OP: Whilst we absoutely loved the suite, all the space and added extras, Michaels club was a bit too quiet for us. If you are travelling with friends who are not in a PH/RS or CS suite, you can not have a drink with them in Michaels club. The perk of free drinks 24-7 was nice and we did use this sometimes, however as we were Elite we prefered to use our vouchers to drink in other bars such as the sunset bar, and sky lounge with friends. If you are not Elite plus, you can ask for a speciality coffee in Michaels club, and the waiter will go to Cafe Al Baccio to obtain one for you.

 

As stated, we were Elite at the time, however we only received the Elite coupons (and not Elite plus) whilst in the Royal Suite. We did exchange the complimentary bottle of whiskey for another type of liquor, as we do not drink whiskey.

 

Gareth, the concierge in Michaels club, did arrange for private functions in Michaels club, which included a meeting with the Captain and Senior officers on one of the formal nights, ipad/iphone classes, photography class, art appreciation etc etc. Whilst not all of the activities were of interest to us, it was a very nice added extra.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the luxury of a Royal Suite, and hope it is not too long before we cruise again in this suite in the future.

 

Celebrity continue to be our first choice for cruising, with two more booked later this year.

 

I guess it can vary by ship. We were on the Reflection in March and while we are Elite we received Elite+ coupons. We never stepped foot in Michael's Club. When we cruised on RCI we very seldom used the Concierge Lounge. We would much rather be in one of the bars/lounges. We cruise again in a few weeks and will check out Michael's once or twice just to see what is going on. I agree that the RS is very nice. The only negative for me is the jacuzzi on the balcony. I would rather have the deck space but that's just me. :)

Edited May 20, 2014 by cruisingator2

[CathyCruises]

Hi Cathy - Not sure if we are the "lovely couple you met", I am sure we must have been!!!!!

 

To the OP: Whilst we absoutely loved the suite, all the space and added extras, Michaels club was a bit too quiet for us. If you are travelling with friends who are not in a PH/RS or CS suite, you can not have a drink with them in Michaels club. The perk of free drinks 24-7 was nice and we did use this sometimes, however as we were Elite we prefered to use our vouchers to drink in other bars such as the sunset bar, and sky lounge with friends. If you are not Elite plus, you can ask for a speciality coffee in Michaels club, and the waiter will go to Cafe Al Baccio to obtain one for you.

 

As stated, we were Elite at the time, however we only received the Elite coupons (and not Elite plus) whilst in the Royal Suite. We did exchange the complimentary bottle of whiskey for another type of liquor, as we do not drink whiskey.

 

Gareth, the concierge in Michaels club, did arrange for private functions in Michaels club, which included a meeting with the Captain and Senior officers on one of the formal nights, ipad/iphone classes, photography class, art appreciation etc etc. Whilst not all of the activities were of interest to us, it was a very nice added extra.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the luxury of a Royal Suite, and hope it is not too long before we cruise again in this suite in the future.

 

Celebrity continue to be our first choice for cruising, with two more booked later this year.

 

 

Hi Amanda--yes of course it was you! Hope you don't mind me ham-handedly 'quoting' you!! Lucky you with two more cruises booked--I've just found a great Aus/NZ cruise that I'd love to do, but it's while my daughter, who lives in Oz, will be visiting here! No way I'm going to go there while she's here--so I'll have to keep looking, I guess. . .Happy Travels!

[miched]

, .

 

End of the day you get what you pay for, and they want exclusivity in the Club I think.

 

Or is it that you pay more for what you get? :)

 

🍻🍺🍸💰

[cle-guy]

I can't imagine that the suites only dining room will be that large. Personally I am very happy to see that X is trying to deter suites guests from inviting non suite guests to join.

 

I wonder exactly what new space will be used for it. I asked a month ago and got this reply. Initially I read it to be taking over part of select dining space, but now read it to say its a new space being used...

 

A dedicated private restaurant will be reserved exclusively for Suite Class guests and will be available morning, noon, and night. The restaurant exclusively for Suite Class guests will be located in a newly created space just off the Main restaurant. On Millennium Class ships, the restaurant will be located on Deck 5 Port side. On Solstice Class ships, it will be located on Deck 4 Port side. Sky Suites and above will have access to the private restaurant.

[yayvacation!]

A SS is a pretty nice cabin, on S Class especially for the price, considering you do get the butler. Otherwise it is pretty much a junior suite.

 

Each Suite level comes with slightly different perks. Here is a quick summary of the new suite perk additional ammenities that are major changes (to me) include:

 

SS New suite dining room

 

CS Michaels (And new dining room)

 

RS Above, unlimited specialty dining, plus premium bev package, unlimited internet, and free mini bar in your room with beer, soda and water stocked daily

 

All other previous benefits stay in effect,

 

See this for actual details

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/14037410_CEL_Suites_FAQs.pdf

 

Was ncie to see actual effective dates:

 

When does Suite Class take effect?

Suite Class will be rolled-out on each ship effective with the following sailing dates: CS- 4/4/15, EC- 4/12/15, EQ- 4/6/15, IN- 4/13/15,

ML- 4/9/15, RF- 4/4/15, SI- 4/5/15, SL- 4/3/15, SM - 4/4/14. Suite Class is not applicable on Celebrity Century or Celebrity Xpedition.

 

And this piece on how dining will work:

 

If Suite Class guests arrive to dine at the Suite Class exclusive restaurant and find it is full, will non-suite guest reservations be

cancelled to accommodate Suite Class guests?

There will be ample seating in the “private dining” venue to accommodate all Suite Class guests, as well as a limited number of additional

guests invited by Suite Class guests to dine with them. However, these invited guests will only be admitted with prior reservation on a

space-available basis and with a per-person, per-meal fee of $20 for breakfast (served from 7am), $35 for brunch (served from 10am)

and $50 for dinner (served from 6pm). These fees will be waived for invited non-suite guests 12 years of age and under.

We're looking forward to the RS on Summit on 4/4 and 4/11 with the new benefits :)

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

Wow I'm surprised at the $50 upcharge.

 

Great info on this though, thanks for posting!

[Cruise a holic]

Wow I'm surprised at the $50 upcharge.

 

Great info on this though, thanks for posting!

 

I noticed an error in the Celebrity document- I called celebrity and was advised that the Summit roll-out date is 4/15- It states 4/14

[shoelover536]

I'm surprised they are allowing non-suite guests to dine there at all. They don't allow AQ guests to invite others to Blu...

[need2bespoiled]

I agree about the bathtub being very steep and not very accessible. We are doing the CS on the Summit this August, and will have the butler bring us a step stool as I am not very tall and do not feel safe entering and exiting the tub.

 

Will report back regarding perks for CS in August.

 

I'm pretty sure, if you sit on the toilet, you can rotate your body, swing your legs over, and stand up in the tub, the way you would stand up off the toilet, but now you're in the tub.

 

Happy Sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

I noticed an error in the Celebrity document- I called celebrity and was advised that the Summit roll-out date is 4/15- It states 4/14

 

I was going to respond saying that you can't be right, 4/15 would be mid cruise, yada yada, but you mean 14 the year, vs 15 the year. I didn't even catch that, and yes, you're correct, that is likely a typo, otherwise it would all be implemented.

 

Good catch!

 

Another surprise to me is that at the very bottom, Signature Suites (Reflection) don't get the free beverage package or unlimited internet, they get the bottles of alcohol like RS/PH, but get the same new added benefits as the CS, especially considering they're priced more like the RS on M-Class than the CS on S-Class.

 

The suite perks seems to be working, at least in relation to us. We had one more saiing this year, 28 days B2B on Millie in a CS, but everything else we've booked starting in 2015 is in an RS, even though we do love the M-Class CS layout. The difference in price wasn't that much especially when you consider we have to buy any internet, have to upgrade our beverage package and instead get more OBC instead of the classic package (all booked onboard) so our nice vacation wine spending will be much lower.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Guernseycruiser]

Hi Amanda--yes of course it was you! Hope you don't mind me ham-handedly 'quoting' you!! Lucky you with two more cruises booked--I've just found a great Aus/NZ cruise that I'd love to do, but it's while my daughter, who lives in Oz, will be visiting here! No way I'm going to go there while she's here--so I'll have to keep looking, I guess. . .Happy Travels!

Hi Cathy

 

Of course no problem in quoting us. By providing information to others, increases all our knowledge. Hope you manage to get your Aus/NZ cruise at the right time, and able to visit your daughter when she is "at home in Oz".

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

Wow I'm surprised at the $50 upcharge.

 

Great info on this though, thanks for posting!

 

Same here, my MIL will be sailing with us on the Silhouette next Oct in a C2and I am sadden by not being able to dine each night in the suite restaurant with her, so I guess even though we have a PH suite we will have to dine in the main dining room, our suite, or pay the up charge for her. Our reservations are linked, so maybe they will make an exception, but time will tell and it is so far away to worry about. Either way it's not a big deal breaker, we are accustom to the main dining room.

[Classynfun1]

Same here, my MIL will be sailing with us on the Silhouette next Oct in a C2and I am sadden by not being able to dine each night in the suite restaurant with her, so I guess even though we have a PH suite we will have to dine in the main dining room, our suite, or pay the up charge for her. Our reservations are linked, so maybe they will make an exception, but time will tell and it is so far away to worry about. Either way it's not a big deal breaker, we are accustom to the main dining room.

 

I'm confused? Why would they make an exception?

[Jessejo]

Anyone else notice that while suite passengers will get free specialty restaurant dining our prices in the specialty restaurants have increased? Are we subsidizing them???

[NLH Arizona]

Anyone else notice that while suite passengers will get free specialty restaurant dining our prices in the specialty restaurants have increased? Are we subsidizing them???

I don't think so, I believe that they will see an increase in their cruise fare for the suites to pay for all their new perks.

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

I'm confused? Why would they make an exception?

 

:confused:Most of this is just hear say and Nothing is written in stone yet, so who knows what will happen or if they are even going to charge for guest, and our reservations are linked. Any way, like I said I'm not worried about it. I'm sure there will be others traveling with relatives in different room types, and I'm also sure each ship will handle each situation differently.

Edited May 21, 2014 by DiamondSuiteCruiser

[need2bespoiled]

It's been reported on another thread that on Summit, suite guests are given the option to have a brunch in Normandie on embarkation day. Nice idea. Hopefully it is something that is adopted as another option.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Cruise a holic]

I don't think so, I believe that they will see an increase in their cruise fare for the suites to pay for all their new perks.

 

You are correct about suite prices increase. I have booked cruises for 2015 and the rates for suites have increased. So not "free", but paid for by guests.

[need2bespoiled]

You are correct about suite prices increase. I have booked cruises for 2015 and the rates for suites have increased. So not "free", but paid for by guests.

 

I think this is a generalization, that changes cruise by cruise, week by week.

 

We look at the per day cost closely.

 

We just booked an RS at the cheapest available price since it was open for sale (or is that sail?) for August on Summit. It was more for this 7 day cruise than we booked on Summit on two for a B2B in April. For the April cruises, we looked at 4 different weeks, starting in March, presumably during spring breaks, each week, the RS went down by $200/person. The new suite benefits start on 4/4. The sailing on 4/4 was $200 less per person than the sailing before, the one on 4/11 was $200 less than the one after, and the next one, you guessed it, $200 less. These are all still at opening, unchanged prices. All are still less than I just paid for summit in August.

 

I really think it has much more to do with demand. The same cabin is much more per day for a Panama Canal in April 2016.

 

I do believe, in general there have been some small increases in opening prices, but I also believe there are plenty of suite (or is that sweet?) deals to be had.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Project_gal]

I think this is a generalization, that changes cruise by cruise, week by week.

 

We look at the per day cost closely.

 

We just booked an RS at the cheapest available price since it was open for sale (or is that sail?) for August on Summit. It was more for this 7 day cruise than we booked on Summit on two for a B2B in April. For the April cruises, we looked at 4 different weeks, starting in March, presumably during spring breaks, each week, the RS went down by $200/person. The new suite benefits start on 4/4. The sailing on 4/4 was $200 less per person than the sailing before, the one on 4/11 was $200 less than the one after, and the next one, you guessed it, $200 less. These are all still at opening, unchanged prices. All are still less than I just paid for summit in August.

 

I really think it has much more to do with demand. The same cabin is much more per day for a Panama Canal in April 2016.

 

I do believe, in general there have been some small increases in opening prices, but I also believe there are plenty of suite (or is that sweet?) deals to be had.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

I agree. At least at UK prices, the 2015/16 Panama Canal Cruises seem very expenses but most Caribbean cruises were less than expected for the 2015/16 season. I say "most" and "were" because 1: the one we booked went up a lot in under two weeks and 2: there are vast differences in the prices per day for the "Holiday" cruises [despite which, they are all selling well].

[Mikeandme]

DH and I were on the 5-4 and 5-11 sailings on the Summit to Bermuda. In addition to the standard perks we received last year in a CS, we were given the option of being escorted onto the ship by the Michael's Club Concierge, Cesar Saenz, or boarding on our own and going straight to Michael's Club. We did the latter. From there, we went to Normandie for brunch. This is for suite guests and Zenith members only and was included in our cruise fare. As one would expect, it was very good! I had not seen any of the brunch items offered on the Normandie dinner menu. Apparently, it is a special menu specifically for this new brunch. Michael's Club is where Cesar spends time at specific hours, and you will be given phone numbers to reach him at other hours if needed. He is there to prevent your having to stand in line for anything, and he's got the authority to make things happen. I never thought I would utilize his services, but I certainly did and was happy to have the ability to do so. Self-serve food is available for continental breakfast as well as the cocktail hour, and it is good in addition to being beautifully presented using glass and china plates, and cloth napkins and silverware are available. The lounge is offered all day and night, and drinks are available at all times (I think - I don't drink). Bottled water is also available, and I did see people taking several unopened bottles at a time out of the lounge. The lounge was staffed with a bartender whenever I stopped in at night or during the day. The drink menu is expanded to include more than what is available at the Elite cocktail hour, and it was indicated that arrangements could be made to accommodate what is not listed on the menu.

 

There is a dedicated shore excursion concierge available, who will introduce himself to you and offer private tours and other available excursions tailored to your needs. We did not utilize these services. Otherwise, you'll get the same Elite coupons as before as well as one dinner per week in a specialty restaurant (for CS). Also, we were invited to tour the bridge and eat dinner at the Staff Captain's table. This did not happen last year, so we're not certain what prompted this. We are, however, grateful! Last year was our first Celebrity cruise, and this year's b2b only saw us as being Classic members. We really enjoyed eating with the Staff Captain and the other guests at the table. The menu, which includes selections from QSine and Normandie, is wonderful, and the souvenirs are very special. We're repeating the cruise next year on another b2b on the Summit.

[Suesan Jean]

I agree about the bathtub being very steep and not very accessible. We are doing the CS on the Summit this August, and will have the butler bring us a step stool as I am not very tall and do not feel safe entering and exiting the tub.

 

Will report back regarding perks for CS in August.

 

Now I am going to have to rethink the reservation I have for this August on the Summit. The bathtub sounds a bit scary! :O I am recovering from knee replacement surgery and quad surgery and have NO desire to hurt myself getting in and out of a steep tub!! :O :(

[need2bespoiled]

Now I am going to have to rethink the reservation I have for this August on the Summit. The bathtub sounds a bit scary! :O I am recovering from knee replacement surgery and quad surgery and have NO desire to hurt myself getting in and out of a steep tub!! :O :(

 

I wouldn't call it steep, just has a high side, which makes for nice, deep baths!

 

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna