New to suites, some questions

[rkkunk]

Hi everyone, I have been lurking here for quite some time and finally got the nerve to register!

 

We have done 7 cruises, 2 RCCL, 3 DCL, and 2 CCL.

 

We are sailing this May on the Allure in a Grand Suite! So excited! We have sailed Allure before but that was in a Balcony room. Now I know that they are starting a new suite program in May. We booked this cruise almost 2 years ago, so that was not why we booked. After being an the Allure the first time and loving it, we realized there were things that we didn't do. So, of course, we started looking into cruises on the ship again and found a good price on the GS. But now I have some questions. Please bear with me as I am sure I will have other posts with more questions later.

 

Question #1: Should we make dinner reservations for Coastal Kitchen? And, what do you wear to Coastal Kitchen for dinner? Do you need to get dressed up? (Guess that is actually more than one question)

 

Question #2: Being Suite guests, do we need to make show reservations?

 

Question #3: Should we buy the RR package or will what we get in the CL be enough? What kind of drinks can we get in the lounge? Our 14 yr. old son will be with us, can he get soda there? It says we will have water in the room under the new program. Will that be every day? I realize this is just speculation at this point.

 

Question #4: What about the dining that you can have in your room? How much of an advanced notice do you have to give? Do you just order from the main dining room? We are so excited for this option. If we are tired from a port day and don't feel like rushing to get ready for dinner, it would be nice to just have it in our room. And a good breakfast.

 

That is it for now. I am sure I will have excursion questions, too, since we have never done the Western Caribbean before and these are all new places for us! TIA!

[Clarea]

You should make dinner reservations for CK. See or call the CK host to reserve. Dress is casual.

 

Drinks in the CL are limited to soda, selected beers, house wine/champagne, and basic mixed drinks, no blender drinks.

 

Just call room service for your dinner in the suite. Figure it will take 30-45 minutes to get your food.

Edited February 17, 2016 by clarea

[wolfganghowell]

You will get a letter from the concierge about a week or so before the cruise. You can make CK reservations then if you like. We only made a reservation the first night and then made them on the fly and never had a problem getting a decent time. There were 4 of us. We ate there 4 times for dinner and most breakfasts. Nice casual is fine for clothing.

 

The concierge can make show reservations for you but if there is something you MUST see, go ahead and make reservations online. We wanted to see the comedy show so we made those ahead. Then, we ended up having the concierge get us in earlier in the week.

 

The delightful Bob took care of your last 2 questions. :)

[Big_G]

Question #2: Being Suite guests, do we need to make show reservations?

 

 

The only show we reserved was the comedy show. As long as you're OK with the reserved suite seating in the main theater, aqua theater, and the ice arena, there's no need to reserve. The comedy show is a small venue and reservations are recommended.

[jamesr3939]

We usually made a CK reservation that day, if we decided that's where we wanted to eat. We had to be flexible on times sometimes depending on how booked they were or how late in the day we decided to eat there. Sometimes we just walked in, HAD to have a drink at the bar, and then get seated. Dress was slacks and collared shirt for me and nice dress or pants for DW. You do not have to get dressed up.

 

 

We only made one pre-sailing for the comedy show as I read here it books up.

 

 

I would buy the RR. The SL bar is not open all the time. But, more importantly the SL is some distance from most locations on the ship and would present a substantial walk for a drink. You can get just about anything to drink in the SL. If they don't have something specific just ask early in the cruise and they will stock it for you. Not sure about the water.

 

Not sure we never used the MDR option. We ordered room service using the TV, but that was just for an afternoon snack and it took about 20 minutes.

Edited February 17, 2016 by jamesr3939

[cb at sea]

If you want to drink during the day, or later in the evening....either buy the drinks you want, or get the package...the CL only serves drinks during "cocktail" hours!

 

As far as "in room" dining....if you have a dining table...that's great. If you don't, eating a full meal is a total pain! No really comfortable way to eat on the coffee table!

[RFerrington]

Since you will be on Allure, the Suites Lounge will have complimentary soft drinks, beer, wine and champagne from 11AM until 11PM however, as others have noted, it would be a very inconvenient walk back up there very time you wanted a drink. Purchase a package if you're going to be drinking throughout the day.

 

You will receive a bottle or 2 of water on day 1 but you will not receive water throughout the cruise. It is not a daily perk.

[rkkunk]

Thanks for the answers everyone!

So when you order from your suite for breakfast/dinner you are ordering room service, or are you ordering from the MDR?

Can you get bottled water at the CL?

Edited February 17, 2016 by rkkunk

[rkkunk]

Also, does anyone know if there is a way that I can see where the Suite guest seating is in the different venues? Do you just show up 30-45 minutes early to get a seat?

[Clarea]

Thanks for the answers everyone!

So when you order from your suite for breakfast/dinner you are ordering room service, or are you ordering from the MDR?

Can you get bottled water at the CL?

You are ordering from room service.

 

I've been able to get Pellegrino from the CL, but I've not seen plain bottled water.

[setsail]

Also, does anyone know if there is a way that I can see where the Suite guest seating is in the different venues? Do you just show up 30-45 minutes early to get a seat?

 

On o/a the theatre seating is in the second tier in the middle

At the aqua theatre it's on the middle

At the ice show its on the left side, up front

Show up about 30 min

The gold card gets you in but you can sit anywhere there is an open seat or in the reserved section

 

 

 

Also the suite lounge bar is a full bar and is open to make drinks all day, you just have to use your sea pass like you do at any other bar on the ship?

Edited February 17, 2016 by setsail

[Big_G]

Also, does anyone know if there is a way that I can see where the Suite guest seating is in the different venues? Do you just show up 30-45 minutes early to get a seat?

 

On o/a the theatre seating is in the second tier in the middle

At the aqua theatre it's on the middle

At the ice show its on the left side, up front

Show up about 30 min

The gold card gets you in but you can sit anywhere there is an open seat or in the reserved section

 

I should have clarified that you can sit anywhere you want with a gold card if you arrive early enough. We tended to get there before they let the standby line in but not necessarily early.

[rkkunk]

We were kinda hoping to have a more casual/go-with-the-flow cruise this time and not have to have everything planned out. The RCCL website was such a pain last time to make reservations that we were hoping to skip that.

 

The in-room dining doesn't seem like much of a perk if you are just getting the room service that anyone else can get. We were hoping to have something a little nicer than burgers, pizza, etc. Oh well, no big deal.

 

Can my husband and son wear nice shorts and polos to CK for dinner?

[Clarea]

... The in-room dining doesn't seem like much of a perk if you are just getting the room service that anyone else can get. We were hoping to have something a little nicer than burgers, pizza, etc. Oh well, no big deal....

Maybe I confused you, but you do get a much wider variety of choices than the normal room service menu. You still call room service, but you order off the MDR menu. You can get anything from the MDR menu as long as the MDR is open.

[rkkunk]

Thanks for the reply Bob. You have so much knowledge to share! I WAS confused. That happens kinda often with me. LOL! No really, thank you, that will be so nice. We really want to try to be somewhat stress-free. That will help to know we can just eat in the room, watch a movie and not have to dress up if we don't feel like it. Plus we live on the West Coast and are trying to cut back on what we bring, clothes wise.:)

[setsail]

 

Can my husband and son wear nice shorts and polos to CK for dinner?

 

Dockers and polos would be fine for CK. There will be some more dressed on formal nights. I have seen flip flops and shorts on the Sl side each night. They have a pretty good spread of finger foods on the Sl side. They had some great fried chicken back in December on allure one night

[rkkunk]

Sounds like dress black pants and khakis for my son and DH. I don't think we are going really fancy for formal night this time.

 

We will also probably buy a couple of RR packages for my son and husband. My son like the smoothies/virgin frozen drinks and flavored waters from the Freestyle machine and my DH likes his coffee drinks. We are not big drinkers, so a glass of wine to take to dinner from the SL will probably be good for us.(If you can do that)

[Clarea]

... so a glass of wine to take to dinner from the SL will probably be good for us.(If you can do that)

Should not be a problem.

[John&LaLa]

If you want to drink during the day, or later in the evening....either buy the drinks you want, or get the package...the CL only serves drinks during "cocktail" hours!

 

As far as "in room" dining....if you have a dining table...that's great. If you don't, eating a full meal is a total pain! No really comfortable way to eat on the coffee table!

 

I think the GS only has a cocktail table in the room

[rkkunk]

We don't really care if there is a proper table and chairs. There is the coffee table and the little bar area. You might have to stand there, but not a big deal to us. What we really want with this cruise is just being able to feel like we're not rushing all of the time to do something or be somewhere. We have done that on pretty much every other cruise and just want this one to be more about relaxation.

[yuvraj]

We were kinda hoping to have a more casual/go-with-the-flow cruise this time and not have to have everything planned out. The RCCL website was such a pain last time to make reservations that we were hoping to skip that.

 

The in-room dining doesn't seem like much of a perk if you are just getting the room service that anyone else can get. We were hoping to have something a little nicer than burgers, pizza, etc. Oh well, no big deal.

 

Can my husband and son wear nice shorts and polos to CK for dinner?

 

It is a perk because you can order anything off the MDR menu not just the room service options. Personally I don't like eating in my room but I know others do.

 

One other observation. On Celebrity, you get a butler service so dinning in your room involves a table getting laid out and it is quite an experience. On Royal Caribbean you just get the food delivered.

 

I saw people dressed quite casually for dinner even on formal nights. I didn't pay too much attention to how many were wearing shorts. Probably not many.

[yuvraj]

On the last few days of my cruise on Oasis, I noticed that quite a few people were getting bottled water in the Suite Lounge. I didn't manage to find out whether that was part of the perk or simply because people were using their drinks packages. Anyone have the answer?

 

BTW. If you are going to Labadee and hire a cabana, you get quite a few large size bottles of water. We took these back to our cabin and it was enough to last the rest of the cruise.

[Clarea]

On the last few days of my cruise on Oasis, I noticed that quite a few people were getting bottled water in the Suite Lounge. I didn't manage to find out whether that was part of the perk or simply because people were using their drinks packages. Anyone have the answer?....

Perhaps it's a change in policy, but we did not get any bottled water offered in the SL on Oasis last September.

[John&LaLa]

It is a perk because you can order anything off the MDR menu not just the room service options. Personally I don't like eating in my room but I know others do.

 

One other observation. On Celebrity, you get a butler service so dinning in your room involves a table getting laid out and it is quite an experience. On Royal Caribbean you just get the food delivered.

 

I saw people dressed quite casually for dinner even on formal nights. I didn't pay too much attention to how many were wearing shorts. Probably not many.

 

But they don't bring a table do they?

[rubrrick]

We don't really care if there is a proper table and chairs. There is the coffee table and the little bar area. You might have to stand there, but not a big deal to us. What we really want with this cruise is just being able to feel like we're not rushing all of the time to do something or be somewhere. We have done that on pretty much every other cruise and just want this one to be more about relaxation.

 

I know that you are looking forward to enjoying the room and comfort that a Grand Suite has to offer.

 

Grand suites do not have a dining table per se, so I'll let you in on a secret that we have been doing for years, while sailing in a GS. You will have two chairs, and a couch, and a coffee table inside. However, on your balcony you have a full height table. Move the low coffee table to the end of your bed, then bring in the lightweight dining table from the balcony. When you are ordering, make sure to order a table cloth.

 

As has been mentioned, you can order off of the MDR menu. Actually, make sure that your room attendant places your daily menu in your cabin when they make up your room in the morning. That way you have all day to decide whether to eat in, and what sounds good.

 

When you have completed your dining in, let your cabin steward know, and room service will remove the dishes and silverware, keep the table cloth for the next time you will be eating in, and your cabin steward will move your table back to that balcony, and coffee table back in place.

 

So, now you too can enjoy eating at a table, in your GS.:)

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Rick

Edited February 18, 2016 by rubrrick