NEW Suite Upgrades....

[ChipLondon]

Ohh trust me, when new information is available, there will be plenty of new posts. in fact there will be plenty of new threads, some joyful others complaining. Also lots of opinions from those that do actually do book suites and will be effected, as well as from those that are never likely to book a suite, no matter what ( if any ) extra benefits are added :eek:

 

The main thing is that we should all understand exactly what it is that suits our personal budget and needs BEFORE we book. I fail to understand why there are so many posts about "What Benefits will I get with my Suite" that state which ship has already been booked.

 

A booking on a ship is similar to that on a plane, Pay more and you get to turn left to your bigger space and better facilities, but First Class on a Long Haul flight will not be the same as First Class on a Short Flight.

 

Understand what you have booked and paid for, and expect value for money. It does amaze me that people have different expectations on a ship, than they do on the plane that takes them to that ship. Some people fail to appreciate that a 7 hour flight can cost the same as a 7 day cruise.

 

I would like to see Suite Guests get a many benefits as possible and those benefits should reflect the amount they have paid for their trip. I personally will stick to my regular balcony booking, or JS for a special occassion, as i consider the amount of time we spend in a cabin to be limited.

 

 

Agree

 

 

 

This being the 300th. post on the thread, I am just trying to keep it on the front pages so hopefully someone will see and post when new information made available......

 

Thanks

 

Later

[Debde]

I fail to understand why there are so many posts about "What Benefits will I get with my Suite" that state which ship has already been booked.

 

I think the issue could be as I think I posted earlier in this thread [can't remember if it was here or not :o] is that suite amenities, even in the same class of ship can be very different so those that are fortunate enough to be on line here can get current procedure with a certain ship. My Brilliance cruise was fantastic-Jewel, ehh OK.

[RocketMan275]

Thanks. I just hope these new suite perks are worth it. If they are comparable to other lines I'd consider Harmony in the future. I've been looking at the Haven category on ncl and it's a "suite" deal.

 

I was thinking the same thing about Haven on NCL until too things happened. First, I saw this video which show some of the weaknesses in the Haven. The small balconies and the fact that kids dominate the haven pool area are deal killers to me. Second, have you visited the NCL forums lately? Pretty upset bunch of folks about new charges and fees.

 

 

As for the new RCI perks. The new RCI CEO is from Celebrity and I'm sure he's bringing a bunch of ideas with him. If you want to know what the new perks are, look at the way Celebrity has organized their suites program.

 

I've already booked a suite on Oasis in November and Allure in March so I'm hoping that these new perks will apply to cruises already booked.

[jules815]

I was thinking the same thing about Haven on NCL until too things happened. First, I saw this video which show some of the weaknesses in the Haven. The small balconies and the fact that kids dominate the haven pool area are deal killers to me. Second, have you visited the NCL forums lately? Pretty upset bunch of folks about new charges and fees.

 

 

As for the new RCI perks. The new RCI CEO is from Celebrity and I'm sure he's bringing a bunch of ideas with him. If you want to know what the new perks are, look at the way Celebrity has organized their suites program.

 

I've already booked a suite on Oasis in November and Allure in March so I'm hoping that these new perks will apply to cruises already booked.

 

Thank's for posting the video. I still think that RC has some of the nicest looking suites for a mass market line.

[Debde]

I was thinking the same thing about Haven on NCL until too things happened. First, I saw this video which show some of the weaknesses in the Haven. The small balconies and the fact that kids dominate the haven pool area are deal killers to me. Second, have you visited the NCL forums lately? Pretty upset bunch of folks about new charges and fees.

 

I'm going to give NCL a try and I think lots of kids in the Haven pool can easily be avoided by sailing on an off time. The NCL folks seem to be complaining about small details like charges for room service which can easily be avoided.

The balconies do look a bit small but that Haven sun deck looks pretty sweet!! Some RC Owners suites have the tiniest balconies on certain ships [the ones that use part of the balcony for bedroom space] so I guess with any cruise line, you have to know what class ships have the best balconies.

 

I'll come back once I've tried it and let you know!!;)

[John&LaLa]

Enchantment had a D+, Pinnacle, Suite party on Cocoa Cay this weekend

[Clarea]

Enchantment had a D+, Pinnacle, Suite party on Cocoa Cay this weekend

I wonder if the HD is who I think it is now?

[RocketMan275]

 

I'll come back once I've tried it and let you know!!;)

 

Please do. I'm all for learning new things.

 

I've spent some time on the NCL forum and I've found that complaints about loud children in Haven are common including some that say too many parents see the concierge/butler as baby sitters while they explore the rest of the ship.

 

However, the small balconies are probably a deal killer for us.

[RocketMan275]

Thank's for posting the video. I still think that RC has some of the nicest looking suites for a mass market line.

 

You're welcome. I've found youtube can be a very valuable source of information. You can usually find a video of any particular class of cabin there.

 

We've only cruise once in a suite on Princess. We have two suites booked on upcoming cruises. The youtube videos do look wonderful.

[John&LaLa]

I wonder if the HD is who I think it is now?

 

Heavy set guy, lives in New Smyrna Beach. BTW, Welcome back party was for all levels. Cut off for top cruiser recognition was 305 points. So close

[Clarea]

Heavy set guy, lives in New Smyrna Beach. BTW, Welcome back party was for all levels. Cut off for top cruiser recognition was 305 points. So close

Makes sense.:)

[Cindy]

Thank's for posting the video. I still think that RC has some of the nicest looking suites for a mass market line.

 

I've had suites on Royal Caribbean, HAL, and Carnival so far. Looking not at perks but at the actual space, RCI is the winner by a long shot. We loved our aft-wrap balcony on HAL, but thought the hard and soft finishings on both RCI and CCL were nicer than the ones on HAL. One place where Royal really lags is in the balcony furnishings for suites. You never know quite what you're going to get, and sometimes the quality looks more like Motel 6 than cruise ship suite.:eek::rolleyes::p

 

I have an aft suite booked on an upcoming Princess cruise, and that space looks very nice. I also have a suite booked on the Norwegian Jade way down the road. One of the reasons I'm having a lot of second thoughts about that one is the décor of the suite -- in pictures it looks really gaudy.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Cindy

[RocketMan275]

I've had suites on Royal Caribbean, HAL, and Carnival so far. Looking not at perks but at the actual space, RCI is the winner by a long shot. We loved our aft-wrap balcony on HAL, but thought the hard and soft finishings on both RCI and CCL were nicer than the ones on HAL. One place where Royal really lags is in the balcony furnishings for suites. You never know quite what you're going to get, and sometimes the quality looks more like Motel 6 than cruise ship suite.:eek::rolleyes::p

 

I have an aft suite booked on an upcoming Princess cruise, and that space looks very nice. I also have a suite booked on the Norwegian Jade way down the road. One of the reasons I'm having a lot of second thoughts about that one is the décor of the suite -- in pictures it looks really gaudy.

 

Could you expand on the HAL aft wraps? Have two RCI suites booked and trying to decide whether to book one of those aft wrap suites on HAL.

 

We just returned from an aft suite (owners) on Regal and it was very nice. Princess provides a suites only breakfast service in one of their specialty restaurants which was very nice. Questions?

[George C]

We had a suite on Hal but a nice couple that we met had a HAL aft wrap, our room was much nicer but you could have had 100 people on that balcony it was huge.

[Cindy]

Could you expand on the HAL aft wraps? Have two RCI suites booked and trying to decide whether to book one of those aft wrap suites on HAL.

 

We just returned from an aft suite (owners) on Regal and it was very nice. Princess provides a suites only breakfast service in one of their specialty restaurants which was very nice. Questions?

 

We LOVED the HAL balcony, but thought the interior of the suite itself was fairly non-descript. We've had Owner's, Grand, and Aqua Theater Suites on Royal, and thought all were more pleasantly decorated than our suite on HAL. Here are some pictures:

 

Navigator of the Seas Grand Suite:

 

 

Mariner of the Seas Owner's Suite:

 

HAL Noordam Aft-Wrap Suite:

 

 

 

I find the upholstery on Royal Caribbean to be more to my liking (they use fabric where HAL uses "pleather"). I also like the granite and fixtures in the RCI bathrooms better than the beigy-pink composite product used in our suite on HAL.

[Cindy]

We had a suite on Hal but a nice couple that we met had a HAL aft wrap, our room was much nicer but you could have had 100 people on that balcony it was huge.

 

Our aft-wrap was a full suite. The cabin itself was a little smaller than the mid-ship suites, but the furnishings were the same as other suites we saw on our cruise, with the exception of the Pinnacle Suites (I think that's what they were called -- one of the two biggest suites on the ship).

[cricketts]

Could you expand on the HAL aft wraps? Have two RCI suites booked and trying to decide whether to book one of those aft wrap suites on HAL.

 

 

 

We just returned from an aft suite (owners) on Regal and it was very nice. Princess provides a suites only breakfast service in one of their specialty restaurants which was very nice. Questions?

 

 

We were in Eurodam 6164... It was an absolutely awesome room with a dressing area and nice additional lounge chair on the wrap side of the balcony. We had 3, but the room would have been especially delightful for just 2!

[ksmcali]

I am patiently waiting to hear about the new suite perks. We plan to cruise in August. I'm wondering if the new perks will have a immediate impact on suite pricing. Always the question of book now or book later. We're deciding between the Independence and Norwegian Getaway. We love the suite perks with NCL and Celebrity and have found the suite service with these to be much more attentive and comprehensive than with Royal. Of the three, Royal is usually the last consideration, but this time the price for Royal is drastically less than the others. So it begs consideration. It's been 4 years since our most recent Royal cruise. Maybe now is the time to try again.

[B-52]

We always stay in a GS, as a previous poster stated, it's not for the perks but for the space...feels more like a standard hotel room...we hardley take advantage of the perks in place now....

 

Had a thought, WHY would RCI feel they needed to better their Suite Perks?

Like I said, we always stay in a GS and the Suites sell out fast!!!

(can't speak for all ships)

Edited April 6, 2015 by B-52

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We always stay in a GS, as a previous poster stated, it's not for the perks but for the space...feels more like a standard hotel room...we hardley take advantage of the perks in place now....

 

Had a thought, WHY would RCI feel they needed to better their Suite Perks?

Like I said, we always stay in a GS and the Suites sell out fast!!!

(can't speak for all ships)

 

Probably because they are losing passengers to other cruise lines who have better suite perks (i.e. NCL).

[jobowl]

We always stay in a GS, as a previous poster stated, it's not for the perks but for the space...feels more like a standard hotel room...we hardley take advantage of the perks in place now....

 

Had a thought, WHY would RCI feel they needed to better their Suite Perks?

Like I said, we always stay in a GS and the Suites sell out fast!!!

(can't speak for all ships)

 

I agree we sail in suites. In fact we could not even get a suite for our Sept. cruise. If we don't book early we can't get one. Some how I don't think it will be to our benefit.

[Soozgone]

We always stay in a GS, as a previous poster stated, it's not for the perks but for the space...feels more like a standard hotel room...we hardley take advantage of the perks in place now....

 

Had a thought, WHY would RCI feel they needed to better their Suite Perks?

Like I said, we always stay in a GS and the Suites sell out fast!!!

(can't speak for all ships)

 

 

 

They probably feel they have to do something because they aren't matching their competitors in terms of suite benefits. Other lines offer so much more for the same price, or less.

 

We haven't cruised with Royal yet, but we have cruised many times with other lines. We were very surprised at how little they offered us for what we considered to be a LOT of money. We just weren't going to pay thousands of $$$s more just for some added floor space and a couple of minor perks.

[nolesrule]

Our experience in suites is on Brilliance, and we loved it both times. A GS for just the two of us, and an aft TS when we brought the kids and mother in law. I think the GS is just about the perfect cabin on a cruise ship.

 

Honestly, my favorite part from both sailings was hanging out with the (contrary to popular belief) non-pretentious D+ folks in the Concierge Lounge. In that respect, I'm a little saddened by that change, even though space was tight. It was fun hearing about everyone's cruising adventures. We never would have met DarthGrady and his wife otherwise, as well as a few others who post on here from time to time.

 

The kids loved getting to go in the "Princess Room". We told them they had to behave like princesses to be in the CL, and we let them have the Princess Drink, aka the Shirley Temple. :)

 

The suite perks are nice, but I really just enjoy the space. If they add some really good perks, I'll be excited, but it's not the reason we booked the suites.

 

We have another GS booked in July on Grandeur. Just the two of us again, for our 17th anniversary. But when we take the kids, we'll most likely be back in a JS unless the price is right.

[B-52]

They probably feel they have to do something because they aren't matching their competitors in terms of suite benefits. Other lines offer so much more for the same price, or less.

 

We haven't cruised with Royal yet, but we have cruised many times with other lines. We were very surprised at how little they offered us for what we considered to be a LOT of money. We just weren't going to pay thousands of $$$s more just for some added floor space and a couple of minor perks.

 

They may be true with the larger ships like Oasis where they have more suites to sell.

We always book a year out, get the room we want....because they tend to sell out.

Our final payment is in a few weeks, and all the GS rooms are gone!

And we cruise once a year, so the cost is not that expensive compared to the land vacations we also do every year.

But we have never been on anything larger than the Freedom Class.

Edited April 6, 2015 by B-52

[SherriZ366]

I was thinking the same thing about Haven on NCL until too things happened. First, I saw this video which show some of the weaknesses in the Haven. The small balconies and the fact that kids dominate the haven pool area are deal killers to me. Second, have you visited the NCL forums lately? Pretty upset bunch of folks about new charges and fees.

 

 

As for the new RCI perks. The new RCI CEO is from Celebrity and I'm sure he's bringing a bunch of ideas with him. If you want to know what the new perks are, look at the way Celebrity has organized their suites program.

 

I've already booked a suite on Oasis in November and Allure in March so I'm hoping that these new perks will apply to cruises already booked.

Michael Bayley, the new RCI CEO has spent time at both RCI and Celebrity. He is very customer service oriented. I've seen some changes since he took over -- particular on QN where RCI really jumped in to improve DD and the staffing.