Have you stayed in a Princess suite?

[mafig]

Lots of time on our hands.

Our cruise on Edge was cancelled.  Looking at a comparable suite on Edge or Apex for January  and the prices are really high (ridiculous!)

 

Started looking at Princess and I suppose their prices are higher too, but for their newer ships they are not nearly as high as Celebrity.

 

I know the suite experience on Celebrity is different, but for the price difference I might be interested in Princess (again).  We sailed them in the past and enjoyed them until we discovered X.

 

If you have sailed in a Princess suite recently, on their Royal-class ships, could you share with me your opinions?

 

 

 

[luckyinpa]

on the regal i was on a forward facing suite because of an upsell. it was large and the bathroom fantastic. (was cabin c102). one of the rooms has a sink and the toilet (that room opened to the LR) and the adjoining room had full tub with sep shower stall  n large sink with plenty of room . (that room opened to the bedroom) . the cabin had a smaller living room with couch and tv and desk and storage. the bedroom had so much storage you could go on a world cruise and not do wash for a month. the club class service in the MDR was mediocre at best. id never 'pay' for it. seating was too close and we were ignored for some reason. but we did always get immediate seating. also 2 different times the waiters messed up the orders as well as the people around us. also you did get free booze setup with the small bottles in the cabin. i think 6 small bottles and bunch of soda. i forget the amount. maybe some beer too.  i have to say i prefer that cabin even to the NCL bliss haven courtyard suite i had.  but the haven on NCL beats anything the princess ship had as far as privacy and time away from the crowds. there are many other types of suites on princess of course and id imagine they are even better than what i was in. also i stayed in a mini on regal and i was very happy with it. 

 

i never was on X so  cannot compare there. however i did research a celebrity sky suite on summit in detail and based on the online pics, it was a super waste of money for my upcoming bermuda trip. they wanted something north of 12K i believe. i could get a 2 BR haven suite on NCL on christmas for that price lol. i believe the princess suite is much better priced compared to that sky suite.  

[luckyinpa]

one additional thing that anyone can do on princess is the balcony dinner. of course its better in a mini or a suite in bad weather but it was SUPER fantastic. i did it 2x. one in suite and one in the mini. theres nothing else like it. its only 100 bucks but you get 200 bucks worth of stuff (at least in 2018 you did). 

 

also the princess tour of the ship was fantastic! 3 hours then 1 hour with the captain on the bridge in a small group for personal questions. unsure any other line does it this well. 

[Ken the cruiser]

If you are interested in booking Princess suite at a great price, although it's on the Grand rather than a Royal class ship (approx $210 pp/day before TA discounts) and want to go on a 30 day cruise leaving from LA and ending up (right now) in Shanghai, check the Grand Princess leaving Oct 24th. 

[mafig]

luckyinpa, thank you so much for the feedback.  That's the suite I was interested in.

The cruise I'm considering offers a beverage package, free internet and prepaid gratuities (no $OBC though).

One of the reasons we stopped going on Princess was that I hated the way they did anytime dining.  I thought that having the Club Class would help that some.

Every time I look at the Haven on Norwegian I get scared off by the prices (and some reviews that say if you're unlucky and get kids they can ruin the Haven).

How was breakfast in one of the specialties?

That balcony sure is narrow......did it bother you?

 

 

Ken the cruiser, 30 days?  LOL  that's 30 lbs probably.😃

Edited April 10, 2020 by mafig

[mafig]

If anyone else has stayed in a Princess suite, I'd love a comparison to Celebrity's suite experience.  I know Celebrity will come out ahead on most items, but also consider pricing, please.

[luckyinpa]

9 hours ago, mafig said:

luckyinpa, thank you so much for the feedback.  That's the suite I was interested in.

The cruise I'm considering offers a beverage package, free internet and prepaid gratuities (no $OBC though).

One of the reasons we stopped going on Princess was that I hated the way they did anytime dining.  I thought that having the Club Class would help that some.

Every time I look at the Haven on Norwegian I get scared off by the prices (and some reviews that say if you're unlucky and get kids they can ruin the Haven).

How was breakfast in one of the specialties?

That balcony sure is narrow......did it bother you?

 

 

Ken the cruiser, 30 days?  LOL  that's 30 lbs probably.😃

 

i was on NCL bliss haven on christmas. i had the following kids experiences that i still remember:

 

3 boys playing loudly once in the forward lounge. just once

 

on sail away from a port a grandpa ignored the over 16 sign and brought his 8 yr old into the hot tub on the outside deck where i was kicked for 10 min until they left

 

in the hot tub and under 16 girl with her dad was well behaved in the hot tub and even pressed the button to restart it. so good kids are possible

 

during the day somtimes i would see kids sorta overtaking the courtyard pool and you had to walk around them. so yes, if you want quiet every day you arent gonna get it. but as i didnt really use the courtyard for anything other than a passthru this i was ok for me

 

i had zero negative kid experiences that i remember in haven restaurant.

 

all this being said, id say only 2 real negative kid experiences in the haven. the rest were inconsequential to me. also last night there , 4 teen girls were in the indoor tub wtih us and very well behaved. respectful. so it truly depends on the kids ..can have older or younger crazy or be nice. 

 

balcony on deck 17 is much larger than deck 18. by at least a third. plenty of room for a 3rd chair for our butler to put there. but if you have a courtyard on deck 18 you have the same tiny balcony as the peons in coach. 

 

the haven bfast on my 1st cruise in 2016 was crazy fantastic. (haven is only special place to eat bfast) they rememberd my standard order every day. great service. this past christmas was lacking in the service i expected for the price. but i loved the mini buffet of food you can eat while you wait for your meal. things like some better lunch meat. fruit, pastries etc. we only ate in haven about 3 or 4 times until we got tired of the waits. even tables around us were waiting and commented. (one time the restaurant was barely 25% full) . then every other place we went to eat we timed the food and always got it quicker than in haven. kinda sad. yup i expect greatness for the haven price. for the record 3 people paid total about 8K thru a TA for the 8 night xmas cruise. the week before was hugely cheaper but we coudnt go then. id love to try an aft with 2 rooms! i was very disappointed in the size of the courtyard bathroom. the princess bathroom is 1000% better. as is the size of the room. BUT like i said before. paying for the ship within a ship was worth it on christmas. id never believe it unless i experienced it myself. 

 

also butler, haven bar and concierge service were very excellent! you actually jogged my memory that i never posted my bliss review..sigh. gotta do that. 

 

dont let the fear of kids stop you from haven. if i made it thru christmas, anyone can. 

[WNcruiser]

If you have been in a suite on Celebrity you will be hugely disappointed. No butler, no reserved seating in the theater, no suite lounge (we were on Emerald), no prepaid grats or internet, the list goes on.

 

The club class is a very poor attempt at a suite restaurant. There is no separate menu, only one nightly special which was usually pasta. We didn’t have a drink package so we had to pay for all drinks. It was a huge let down for us. 

 

Sorry to make it sound so bad but If you are used to suites on X you will be very disappointed. 

[Gracie115]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:13 AM, mafig said:

If anyone else has stayed in a Princess suite, I'd love a comparison to Celebrity's suite experience.  I know Celebrity will come out ahead on most items, but also consider pricing, please.

 

 

We have stayed in CS & RS on Celebrity several times.  The last 2 years we've stayed in Penthouse suites on the Regal.  The suite itself is very comparable to the CS in size, layout is actually better and the bathroom much better.  The pictures of the bathroom shown above are the same as the ones we were in.  The first time we had a Penthouse on the port side and while the suite was great the balcony was severely lacking.  The 2nd time we opted for a corner aft suite which was even nicer as the layout was more like an apartment with a hallway between the living area and the bedroom.  The balcony was huge, wrapping around the back & side.  If selecting one of these you do have to be careful because some of the decks have narrower balconies and no overhead cover at all.  We thought Club Class was excellent the first time and very mediocre the 2nd time, so I guess it just depends on who is running the dining room.  

 

I do have to agree about the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. It was excellent, both food & service, especially in the aft suite as there was so much room for the wait staff to maneuver.  The $50.00 per person was well worth it. 

 

No you don't get a butler, we didn't care, and you don't get reserved theater seating(again we didn't care).  We DID miss Michael's Club, but very much enjoyed the wine bar, Vines, on the Regal.  Internet was not free BUT we had an unlimited package for $69.95 for our 10 day cruise, which is FAR less than what X charges and had great speed.

 

We love X and our next cruises (depending on how things turn out with the treatment of COVID19) are on X ships.  But if you are just looking for the room that Princess offers I don't think you'd be disappointed.   It is NOT Celebrity, but it's a pretty good 2nd.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Gracie115

[cynbar]

We have had a suite on Princess as well as many different suite classes on Celebrity. We enjoyed our Princess experience and would do it again, at this point it's all about itinerary for us. The suite breakfast on Princess was fantastic, fancier than you see on Celebrity with top notch food and service --- a great way to start the day. The bathroom was fantastic, akin to what you find in the fancier hotels. We enjoy Luminae but are sometimes underwhelmed by the food, thought club dining was a nice upgrade over regular Princess anytime dining (it does seem this varied by ship.) We didn't miss the butler, room service did a fine job of bringing us meals when ordered. Service was excellenteverywhere. We would definitely book another Princess suite if the price and itinerary were right. 

[Gracie115]

5 minutes ago, cynbar said:

We have had a suite on Princess as well as many different suite classes on Celebrity. We enjoyed our Princess experience and would do it again, at this point it's all about itinerary for us. The suite breakfast on Princess was fantastic, fancier than you see on Celebrity with top notch food and service --- a great way to start the day. The bathroom was fantastic, akin to what you find in the fancier hotels. We enjoy Luminae but are sometimes underwhelmed by the food, thought club dining was a nice upgrade over regular Princess anytime dining (it does seem this varied by ship.) We didn't miss the butler, room service did a fine job of bringing us meals when ordered. Service was excellenteverywhere. We would definitely book another Princess suite if the price and itinerary were right. 

 

I forgot to mention the suite breakfast at Sabatini's.  You're right it is fantastic, best we've had on any ship, really one of the best suite perks that Princess has.

[mafig]

Thanks for mentioning the breakfast at Sabatini's.  I was going to ask about that.  I do like breakfast.😁

 

The cruise I'm looking at does come with a beverage package, wifi, prepaid gratuities, just missing the $300 obc.  It's still way cheaper than me trying to replicate our cancelled S2 suite on Edge for next year.  I also believe the Royal class ships have a Concierge Lounge.

 

If Celebrity's prices for next year start to come down, we'll probably book X again, but if not there are other places to go.

 

Thanks for all the feedback!

[Gracie115]

30 minutes ago, mafig said:

Thanks for mentioning the breakfast at Sabatini's.  I was going to ask about that.  I do like breakfast.😁

 

The cruise I'm looking at does come with a beverage package, wifi, prepaid gratuities, just missing the $300 obc.  It's still way cheaper than me trying to replicate our cancelled S2 suite on Edge for next year.  I also believe the Royal class ships have a Concierge Lounge.

 

If Celebrity's prices for next year start to come down, we'll probably book X again, but if not there are other places to go.

 

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

They do have a concierge lounge on the Royal class.  We were on the Regal.  The lounge is nice but nothing like Michael's, it doesn't serve alcoholic beverages at all, is only manned a few hours a day, but it does have an espresso machine and lots of snacks which are refreshed frequently.  

[jagoffee]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:13 AM, mafig said:

If anyone else has stayed in a Princess suite, I'd love a comparison to Celebrity's suite experience.  I know Celebrity will come out ahead on most items, but also consider pricing, please.

Which type of suite do usually cruise on Celebrity?  I have cruised in a Celebrity Sky Suite and Royal Suite.

I have cruised in a Princess’s Penthouse, Owners, and Vista suite , but not on the newer Royal Class ship.

 

The bundled package that Princess has introduced brings them closer to Celebrity’s suite benefits, but Celebrity’s suite benefit package is better.

The Princess full suite cabin is significantly superior to the Celebrity’s Sky Suite category.  The Princess bathroom is much nicer with a separate shower and tub.  (I heard the Royal class might not be as nice, but I have no experience).  I would say the Princess suite cabin is between the Sky Suite and the Royal Suite, but usually priced accordingly.
 

The  Speciality dining breakfast is super nice and vastly better than the Celebrity’s Luminae breakfast.  You also get one evening Speciality dining included.

 

I liked the Club Dining, but it is certainly not as exclusive and nice as Luminae.  The level of service was about the same, but there are only a couple unique choices each night.  My wife and I loved the Pasta options as a small plate or main course.  Mostly two tops, just like Luminae.  But is just an open special section in the MDR. 

 

No Michael’s/retreat lounge the times we cruised in a Princess suite. We missed this for sure.  

 

I usually cruise Princess for the itineraries, but I do without hesitation.  The suite experience on Princess is not as exclusive, but we enjoy it very much.  The highlight for us is the cabin/balcony and the suite breakfast.   If the itineraries and costs were similar, we would pick Celebrity.  We would try for the RS category.

 

I have more cruise history with Celebrity, but 3 of my next 4 cruises are booked with Princess.  This is because of the itineraries.  Two to the French Polynesia and the new Panama Canal.

 

if you have any questions, I will try to help.  Cruising seems such a distance memory at this point.

 

 

[mafig]

Thank you, jagoffee.

Not going to be booking anything for awhile, but I was struck by the fact that Princess didn't seem to hike up their prices for cruises in early 2021 like Celebrity did.  We used to sail Princess, but I couldn't stand the way they handled their Personal Choice, but hopefully the Club Class would improve on that.

Also, they didn't have included beverage packages.  

Who knows what will become of Princess.  

MSC Yacht Club prices for early 2021 are only a little higher than usual.

 

Your feedback was very helpful.

[Covepointcruiser]

I have heard from my sister in law that Princess tends to have a dress code in the main dining room.   She and her husband are casual dress type people so they ate in the buffet exclusively to avoid fussing with it.

[luckyinpa]

11 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

I forgot to mention the suite breakfast at Sabatini's.  You're right it is fantastic, best we've had on any ship, really one of the best suite perks that Princess has.

 

this is where the phrase "food is totally subjective' comes in. one port day we went to sabatinis for bfast. im 100% certain the OJ was fresh squeezed just for us. i think was 100% pulp and no liquid. gross for us. also we couldnt find anything we liked on the menu.  this is what i wound up getting. i forget what it was. BLT or something simple...we didnt return to the restaurant. just not our thing. also note in the pic they assumed we were kids and cut the crust off lol

[Gracie115]

7 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

 

this is where the phrase "food is totally subjective' comes in. one port day we went to sabatinis for bfast. im 100% certain the OJ was fresh squeezed just for us. i think was 100% pulp and no liquid. gross for us. also we couldnt find anything we liked on the menu.  this is what i wound up getting. i forget what it was. BLT or something simple...we didnt return to the restaurant. just not our thing. also note in the pic they assumed we were kids and cut the crust off lol

Sorry you felt that way.  We went nearly every day and they would fix us pretty much any breakfast item we wanted, we didn't need to stick to the menu.  Fresh fruit plates, eggs benedict(best we've EVER had) cereal, eggs however you want them.  Not sure what you were looking for but they certainly had all things breakfast on both our sailings on the Regal.  Service was also excellent. 

[luckyinpa]

ultimate balcony dinner in the cabin...super!. here's my review from 2017 when i was in a mini sute but pics are from when i was in a full suite

 

ULTIMATE BALCONY DINING

After muster we contacted room service and the waiter said he’d be right down to discuss the menu. I asked if there was crab instead of lobster and he said no but they had salmon. I was ok with that but it just seemed like he didn’t want to substitute nor had a list of things and I was lucky to get what I got. You get half bottle of champagne, one alcoholic drink, salad, crab for an app, yummy birthday cake, a chocolate and raspberry dessert and other things which no way could we eat for dessert. The bday cake was a small square with the princess logos on and was cool. Oh almost forgot about the other apps because we didn’t really eat them. I think one was salmon with crackers and one was probably caviar or something. I forget now. It takes many many trips for him to set up the table/cloth, glasses, silverware etc so just sit back and relax. Also, while the weather was too cold for outside, I don’t see how this really would work on the small balcony. The person in the rear of the table could never get out if they had to. Also they had a photographer in the room because you get one free 8x10 which is 25 dollar value. We bought 5 more pics for 90 bucks downstairs and got the cute ship USB as well. I think there was 6th pic free also. Speaking of pictures, I found out why princess doesn’t ask your room number when they take your pics. You have to look for them in the gallery. Insanity in this 21st century world. On the BA they ask your room number then they all come up on the screen for you.

 

Regarding the service of the dinner in your cabin: If anyone is worried about being awkward, don’t. Sometimes he would open the door and see we were still eating and not ready for the next course and I didn’t feel it was too obtrusive at all and I normally would be bothered by stuff like that. He also had an assistant with him once service started. This is a wonderful treat and I have to say I’d do it again. The filet was the best I’ve EVER had, including a local place that I’ve gone to for years. He said it’s the same as down in the steakhouse. My gf is not a steak fan but she really enjoyed it too. The salmon was also done wonderfully and since the chocolate dessert had raspberries on it, it was 100% healthy. 

The UBD is also a great deal financially for the 100 bucks. Here’s the breakdown with my estimated conservative pricing if I got this at home: 2 apps crab (10x 2) =20; surf and turf (est. 35 in any home restaurant) = 70; 2 drinks (8x2) = 16;  2 desserts (5x2) = 10; bday cake and other extra desserts =15; roses = 10; ship pic = 25; half bottle champagne = 10 and then the apps which I forget what they are would probably be 10 as well so that’s nearly 200 bucks worth of stuff for 100. Just do it! and if the steak really is what is served in the steakhouse I’d gladly pay 29 for it and eat downstairs!

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by luckyinpa

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

I forgot to mention the suite breakfast at Sabatini's.  You're right it is fantastic, best we've had on any ship, really one of the best suite perks that Princess has.

The best part of breakfast in Sabitinis on the Island Princess for me was their poached eggs and potatoes covered with hollandaise sauce. For my DW she enjoyed dry muesli which included a variety of nuts, grains and raisins with soy milk. But another highlight for us was being able to sit at one of the 4 tables that faced their bay windows so we could enjoy watching the ocean while we were eating!

 

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I have heard from my sister in law that Princess tends to have a dress code in the main dining room.   She and her husband are casual dress type people so they ate in the buffet exclusively to avoid fussing with it.

 

We dressed very casual as did most other people on all nights but formal nights and were fine in the main dining room.  Formal nights were a bit more, but nothing like what it was years ago on most lines.

[luckyinpa]

crown grill on regal was also fantastic! id pay full price to eat there. service and food were great. pretty sure these are the pics from there. i loved trying the salts  they had. and trying new things id never try otherwise. (and some id never get again lol)

[Gracie115]

Just now, luckyinpa said:

crown grill on regal was also fantastic! id pay full price to eat there. service and food were great. pretty sure these are the pics from there. i loved trying the salts  they had. and trying new things id never try otherwise. (and some id never get again lol)

 

See, that's how tastes differ.  We were wholly unimpressed with Crown Grill.  We went both times we were on the Regal and both times service was mediocre at best.  The food was okay, nothing special.  

[luckyinpa]

pic of not so big balcony

Edited April 14, 2020 by luckyinpa

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, mafig said:

Thank you, jagoffee.

Not going to be booking anything for awhile, but I was struck by the fact that Princess didn't seem to hike up their prices for cruises in early 2021 like Celebrity did.  We used to sail Princess, but I couldn't stand the way they handled their Personal Choice, but hopefully the Club Class would improve on that.

Also, they didn't have included beverage packages.  

Who knows what will become of Princess.  

MSC Yacht Club prices for early 2021 are only a little higher than usual.

 

Your feedback was very helpful.

You are most welcome.  We have never had to wait for a table in Club Dining.  Also fortunately, we have always been able to get an include drink package on Princess with the Special promotions.

I think Princess will survive, but anything is possible.  It will be tough longer than people might think.