Should I book a Princess suite?

[KAKcruiser]

After hearing about the HAL suite cutbacks, I am tempted to cancel my Rotterdam trip in December and go on the Dawn Princess. Has anyone sailed in a suite on this ship? How do the suite amenities compare?

[localady]

KAKcrusier-
I can't answer that question for you, wish I could give you a good answer but I have never sailed Princess. If you don't cancel is it possible you are on the Dec. 2nd cruise? We will be on board along with good friends. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]
Good luck on your decision!

Happy Cruising!

7/04 Ryndam Alaska B2B
12/04 Rotterdam Panama Canal
7/05 Prinsendam Baltic
11/05 "Veendammers" Carribean

RCCL x2(1999), Volendam (2000), Millinneum (2000), Maasdam (2001), Disney (2001), Statendam (2003), Amsterdam (2003)

[Charliesmom]

We sailed on the Dawn Princess in September of 2003 and had lovely back to back cruises from Vancouver to Seward and back. It is a lovely ship. That class of ship is our favorite on Princess. We have taken 12 or 13 cruises on Princess.

We generally book a mid-ship mini-suite. The suites on the Dawn Princess are on the aft end of the ship. They are quite spacious and have a lovely, large deck.

The AC mini-suites have two separate rooms separated by a curtain. There is a walk-in closet The deck stretches across both rooms, but is narrow. There is just enough room on the deck for a table, two chairs and two lounge chairs with pull out foot rests. The bathroom is lovely in the mini suite. There is a whirlpool tub, a glass enclosed stall shower and in a separate room a toilet and sink. The aft mini-suites (cat. AB) have double sinks in the bathroom (in addition to the whirlpool bath and separate shower) and a wet bar in the sitting area. The aft mini suites also have lovely large decks.

All rooms on Princess ships have bathrobes for passengers. Sometimes you have to ask the steward to bring them.

Princess has recently inaugurated special amenities for suite passengers. These do not extend to mini-suite passengers. From what I have read on these boards, (we are taking our first HAL cruise in a suite in December), HAL probably does more for suite passengers. I have found Princess ships to be relatively egalitarian. The passengers are mixed - you might sit with someone at dinner who has an inside room. A very real benefit on Princess is that you can find food whenever you want it. They serve food on a 24 hour basis.

We had a mini-suite on the Celebrity Mercury in January of 2003 that came with a butler who served tea in the room, brought hors d'oeuvres and served meals in the room if you wished. If you enjoy pampering that might be the way to go. Celebrity seats passengers in suites and mini-suites together. They also invite mini-suite and suite guests to their Captain's Club party. You get priority tendering and they provide a disembarkation lounge for mini-suite and suite passengers. They greet everyone with a glass of champagne and mini-suite passengers get a welcome bottle of champagne. We also got free use of the spa pool. Oddly enough, we found that we had a better time on Princess. Having two separate rooms makes a difference to us and we found that the Purser's staff is better informed on Princess and problems are solved with less hassle on Princess.

We are taking our first Holland America cruise in December on the Westerdam (in a full suite) because the price was really right. One of the perks that HAL has that Princess does not is the Neptune Lounge.

Check the advertised list of amenities that each line offers. I think you might find them generally comparable.

Roberta

[streetlife]

What cutbacks were you referring to? We sailed on 5/29 on the Big O to Alaska in an S Suite and can only have great things to say about the Suite and service. I'm interested to read your comments on those cutbacks.
Robert

[gizmo]

The recent cutbacks for suites are:

No more suite dinners/lunchs.
Newspapers no longer delivered to suites.
Breakfast/Lunch in the Kings/Queen room or Pinnacle has been discontinued.
The treats, like chocolate covered strawberries, that you would find when you returned to your cabin at night, has been disconntinued for some time now.

[sueclark]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> No more suite dinners/lunchs.
Newspapers no longer delivered to suites.
Breakfast/Lunch in the Kings/Queen room or Pinnacle has been discontinued.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've been away from this board for a while and am really disappointed to read this. These are some of the main reasons we booked the S suites. Is it true?

We just did our first Princess sailing in a Grand Suite and while the suite was very luxurious, the service didn't compare with HAL or Celebrity.

Sue
[email="SueClark"]sueclark@aol.com[/email]

[B]Constellation Transatlantic 9/7/04[/B]
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[B]Infinity Panama Canal 4/17/05[/B]

[Guest Anorak33]

Charliesmom - I was interested to read your post above where you mentioned:

"I have found Princess ships to be relatively egalitarian. The passengers are mixed - you might sit with someone at dinner who has an inside room. "

I have only cruised on one HAL ship so don't have much experience - are you saying that HAL seat "insiders" only with other "insiders"?

It never occurred to me to ask other passengers what their room status was but I guess I am not a snob.

Can you tell from their behaviour at the dinner table what sort of cabin they are in?

Statendam
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Regal Princess
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Royal Princess
Big Red Boat