Royal Family Suite 11/13 Liberty Sailing - Pros vs. Cons

[cj_one2000]

Our family of five: mom, dad (in our 30s) boys (15 & 13) and a toddler (2.5) were in a Royal Family Suite #8714 this past week. We had a good time and this cruise was our first with all three kids and our very first in a suite. We booked about 18 months ago for a family reunion, so 20 other family members were traveling with us. Out of our group of 25 people, 14 of us were suite guests.

 

This list of pros and cons was based on my family of five, not the group as a whole. Chime in if you have feedback -- discourse is great. After the list I have photos of our room and in another post I will provide the "live" review link for other photos and commentary of our pre and post cruise adventures.

 

Pros:

 

-Space

-Nice balcony/view

-Priority tender at Belize

-Nice room attendant

-Suite Lounge a bonus if you don't have a drink package

-Priority disembark

-Concierge helped our larger group when half of us were in suites so we could stay together for tender and disembarkation

-Giovanni's for breakfast to avoid craziness of Windjammer was nice

-Room being far enough and aft so no one messed with our magnets and dry erase boards!

-Daughter loved ringing our doorbell

-Plenty of space for luggage; three closets and two vanities and lots of drawers in the living room

-Living room worked out great to put pack n play

-Connecting door with grandparents balcony room was convenient

-Upgraded toiletries for those that like that sort of thing (we didn't use since we brought what we needed)

-Family members really enjoyed entertainment

-Nursery program gave options, nice to have phones to call and check in on child

-Open play was nice, daughter loved toys

-Milk order from room service, can ask for it warm

-Use parent refreshment package for juice and special kid drinks at dinner, easy

-Pool area super fun for kids

-Teen program was fun for our teens (one son was voted Prom King)

-Voom connection good and seemed decent speed in public areas

-Concierge knew us, very friendly and helpful

-Use of suite lounge for private family function (1 hr)

-Really nice coffee machine in suite lounge and always on if you want coffee

-Two bathrooms really helped us with getting ready for family of 5

-Tub for toddler bathing much better than a tiny claustrophobic shower

-Nice table/shelf next to king bed for extra storage was nice, large enough for hubby's suitcase to be on top.

-Ended up with 6 large bottles of water in room on embarkation day, used for daughter at night

-Additional phone in living room

-Enough room in living room to park our light travel stroller

-Family from other rooms lived to hang out on couch and balcony, fresh air versus those that were in inside staterooms (family noticed stale air)

 

Cons:

 

-Suite room service menu was a bit confusing, you can only order MDR items during certain hours, have to call room service (can't do on tv)

-Suite Lounge balcony was closed every time it was windy

-Seating in theater wasn't enforced; only good for very visually large shows, not so much for comedians

-Gold card didn't help at bars to get good service, seemed older people got better service (hubby's experience)

-Cost more, feels like the only best benefit for the price was the space -- hubby's opinion

-Balcony was wet every morning so couldn't eat breakfast there, seat cushions had to dry

-Balcony divider for aft balconies cannot come down, no way to see family but look out from the edge of balcony and lean over

-Suite people above and below can see you!

-Aft of ship means far away from elevator, w/ daughter it's a long walk

-Still no real fridge, cooler with ice too much to keep up with

-No sheets for pack n play but we used comforter and our own blankets

-Family group got oblong tables, would have preferred rounds

-First night MDR was terribly slow, not a good impression for suite guests and first time cruisers

-Other family members felt nickel and dimed

-Nursery program makes sense for under 2; 2+ years should be w/ 3 year olds if potty trained

-Toy checkout had to be done in the morning, afternoon we were told no

-Drink package for hubby, couldn't order double scotch

-Didn't see gold pool chair area?

-Teen program ran so late, boys were not getting good sleep especially on port days

-Voom hard to get connected in staterooms, speed slow

-Suite lounge beverages are limited, keep in mind if you are picky about your wines

-Balcony furniture was stained from door and were coming apart, worn looking

-TV in master suite had screen damage

-Facet in suite bathroom had poor flow

-Didn't see need for second "fridge" in master bedroom.

 

Next time:

 

-Bring more clips to keep curtains closed

-Bring tub clings, it was super slippery, daughter fell once

-Check out toys first day before too late

-Embarkation and disembark easy but our non-suite guest family used porters and didn't use porters all got through customs pretty much at same time -- expectation vs reality

 

 

Hallway

 

 

Boys room to right in the hallway.

 

 

Living room opens at end of hallway to the right.

 

 

[cj_one2000]

 

 

 

[cj_one2000]

Master Bedroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cj_one2000]

Tub

 

 

Balcony

 

 

 

 

 

[cj_one2000]

Suite Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

[cj_one2000]

For more on our adventure:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2421815

[cj_one2000]

I'm still traveling but when I get home I'll scan cruise compasses and post suite guest info.

[sellwingri]

Did you use the suite section in Windjammer and if so, where should we look for it when entering?

[John&LaLa]

Suite sun deck is above sky bar, you didn't miss much

 

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[cj_one2000]

Did you use the suite section in Windjammer and if so, where should we look for it when entering?

 

 

Yes, we used it. It's actually Giovanni's, the Italian specialty dining restaurant to the left as you enter WJ where during the mornings, you can order breakfast (similar menu as MDR breakfast menu) or bring a plate over from WJ. It's not a huge seating area but every time we went it was never full.

[cj_one2000]

Suite sun deck is above sky bar, you didn't miss much

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

 

Yep, we missed it but no hard feelings other than the first hot sea day and it was hard to find even two lounge chairs together open. Oh well [emoji4] Was there signage? I didn't hang out near the pool bars much, with the kids I was by the splash area the most.

[John&LaLa]

Yep, we missed it but no hard feelings other than the first hot sea day and it was hard to find even two lounge chairs together open. Oh well [emoji4] Was there signage? I didn't hang out near the pool bars much, with the kids I was by the splash area the most.

Yes, signs at the stairs going up

 

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[cj_one2000]

Yes, signs at the stairs going up

 

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Good to know for next time -- now need to convince the hubby to book another cruise in a suite [emoji51]

[sellwingri]

Yes, we used it. It's actually Giovanni's, the Italian specialty dining restaurant to the left as you enter WJ where during the mornings, you can order breakfast (similar menu as MDR breakfast menu) or bring a plate over from WJ. It's not a huge seating area but every time we went it was never full.

 

Thanks for your response but this isn't what I'm referring to. On one post I read a while ago, they said that there's a specific area in the Windjammer for gold card holders (suite guests) only. I don't spend a lot of time I the Windjammer but this benefit would be nice on Embarkation day.

[cj_one2000]

Thanks for your response but this isn't what I'm referring to. On one post I read a while ago, they said that there's a specific area in the Windjammer for gold card holders (suite guests) only. I don't spend a lot of time I the Windjammer but this benefit would be nice on Embarkation day.

 

 

But that is what they are are referring to, Giovanni's is in the Windjammer. I should have taken a photo so you could see. You come through the Windjammer doors and on the left before Jade and the Windjammer bar there is a sign that has Gold Card seating available in Giovanni's. There are no tables in the Windjammer with everyone else sectioned off, they have seating available in Giovanni's -- it's easy to bring your plate in there.

[sellwingri]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought Giovanni's was only open for suite guests for breakfast but if I'm reading you correctly, it's also open on embarkation day and lunch every other day to eat off the menu or buffet?

[cj_one2000]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought Giovanni's was only open for suite guests for breakfast but if I'm reading you correctly, it's also open on embarkation day and lunch every other day to eat off the menu or buffet?

 

 

I can't confirm about lunch or it being used on embarkation day; we only used it for breakfast.

[George C]

Suite sun deck is above sky bar, you didn't miss much

 

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Only good thing about it was chairs were nice, but do not understand why Navigator had such a nice location and Liberty such a bad location

[cj_one2000]

Only good thing about it was chairs were nice, but do not understand why Navigator had such a nice location and Liberty such a bad location

 

 

Different chairs for Good Card holders, meaning different from the lounge chairs offered on the regular pool deck?

[George C]

Different chairs for Good Card holders, meaning different from the lounge chairs offered on the regular pool deck?

 

Yes very nice chairs, strange thing was this was a large area that never had more than a few people but they kept on checking to make sure we all had our good cards.

[cj_one2000]

Yes very nice chairs, strange thing was this was a large area that never had more than a few people but they kept on checking to make sure we all had our good cards.

 

 

Interesting. Funny they checked on the pool deck but not in the theater gold card section. Just something we noticed, what they enforce and what they don't.