Has anyone been in a Club Suite yet?

[kitty-sail]

On 8/23/2021 at 8:30 PM, complawyer said:

it is my understanding, that the "club suites" are merely renamed mini suites, with the additional perks mentioned by bird travels. i dont believe they have been modernized or changed in any way, just renamed to make them sound more. opulent

 

that being said, however, we always enjoyed staying in the mini-suites, the cabins were nice, the prices were very reasonable, then we made the fatal mistake of booking a haven..... draw your own conclusions!

Part of the name change I believe is because of the insertion of the word "suite". Some thought they were actually staying in a suite but in reality it is a larger balcony. Changing the name and adding some perks made it more attractive.

Like you, we choose mini-suites for a long time for the extra room  but again, like you,  made the mistake of selecting a haven once ... need I say more.

I will add that on the older ships without a 'true haven', I have booked a 'suite' cabin - discounted price with most of the Haven perks.

[complawyer]

kitty-sail...  i have also done the same. if there isnt a haven, i book a suite. i find that the rooms (even if a ship has both) are essentially the same, and the only difference is the ability to use the pool area.

a few years ago (prior to its being refurbished) we had a suite on the spirit. had a butler, the concierge came to our room and let us know we could eat breakfast and lunch at cagneys. 

 

it was a great experience, i have posted before that the club suite are merely renamed mini suites, in an attempt to keep people from being disappointed when they get to their cabins. But the rooms are very nice,  the prices are great, and i would certainly stay in one again but for my addiction to the haven

[Missholls9]

You have to be a little careful with the early booking of shows perk. We booked a club suite and we were really looking forward to being able to prebook our show on the Encore. Come to find out, this wasn’t an option for us. Not sure why our sailing wasn’t given this option but I even called to try and book and was told this was no longer a perk of the club room. I also got conflicting information about the sparkling wine. One person told me it was only if you were a returning guest in the club suite and the other said we would get it. It seems to me since the naming of the room, they aren’t all on the same page about what you do and don’t get. In the end it was moot because we decided to upgrade to the Haven. We will regret that later when we realize we can’t sail any other way…. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Missholls9

[complawyer]

although, it's a marvelous regret.

[MoCruiseFan]

I directly answered the question asked.

Edited August 31, 2021 by MoCruiseFan

[KeithJenner]

4 hours ago, Missholls9 said:

You have to be a little careful with the early booking of shows perk. We booked a club suite and we were really looking forward to being able to prebook our show on the Encore. Come to find out, this wasn’t an option for us. Not sure why our sailing wasn’t given this option but I even called to try and book and was told this was no longer a perk of the club room. I also got conflicting information about the sparkling wine. One person told me it was only if you were a returning guest in the club suite and the other said we would get it. It seems to me since the naming of the room, they aren’t all on the same page about what you do and don’t get. In the end it was moot because we decided to upgrade to the Haven. We will regret that later when we realize we can’t sail any other way…. 

Things are up in the air regarding booking things at the moment, with many reports of people not being able to book shows or meals at the usual 120 days.

 

Your experience with talking to the NCL staff is typical, and doesn’t indicate anything about what the actual perks will be. They are extremely badly informed. For example, the wine goes to everyone who is a returning cruiser, so the person you were talking to about that is obviously just not aware that it is a perk of the room and thought you were asking about the latitudes benefit.

 

From the reports on this thread it seems that the ship staff are equally confused, which is less common. It’s an odd time at the moment though, so I would expect that to be smoothed out at some point. However, there are other examples of things being listed as perks by NCL which don’t actually come through in reality.

 

One thing which is guaranteed though, even when things are back to normal the phone staff will still be giving out incorrect information. That is the normal. 🙂

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, Missholls9 said:

You have to be a little careful with the early booking of shows perk. We booked a club suite and we were really looking forward to being able to prebook our show on the Encore. Come to find out, this wasn’t an option for us. Not sure why our sailing wasn’t given this option but I even called to try and book and was told this was no longer a perk of the club room. I also got conflicting information about the sparkling wine. One person told me it was only if you were a returning guest in the club suite and the other said we would get it. It seems to me since the naming of the room, they aren’t all on the same page about what you do and don’t get. In the end it was moot because we decided to upgrade to the Haven. We will regret that later when we realize we can’t sail any other way…. 

First, you are talking to a minimum wage call center person who can only give you information that they “google” on their call center system. How accurate the information is depends on the googling skill of the individual. (Think a high school kid with a summer job). 

Second, you got folks who have not have had to answer this types of questions on 16 months. They have their canned responses to FCC down pat. 
 

And some call center people are just to lazy to look stuff up and will spout off what is in their heads (remember l, low bid call center).If they are not going to make a sale on the call, then

you’re not important. And they just need to get you off the phone. 

 

If you have googling skills, base your decisions on what is written on the NCL web site. 

[Missholls9]

For the record, I just want to say, I don’t mean to speak ill of the call center. Years ago, I got my start in a call center so I have a tremendous amount of respect for call center reps and always treat them kindly. I think they have some of the toughest jobs out there. I just think there’s a lack of direction about what the Club Balcony Suites actually provide. And lack of direction usually points to a lack of training. You certainly can’t blame the individual for that. You don’t know what you don’t know. 
 

on a side note, I recently discovered there’s a club balcony suite on the Encore deck 8 (8136) that has a slightly angled yet much larger balcony. However they can’t sell it as a large balcony because of the angle so it’s just sold as a regular club suite and goes for less than the other rooms on that floor. Highly recommend. Shout out to the call center rep who told us that secret. 

[zerooveride]

So we just stayed in a Club Balcony Suite on Encore last week (Cabin 8136). We received 2 snakes during the week and the cheap sparkling wine. The only other perk really available to us was the laundry. We always tip our Steward at the beginning of the cruise so we actually got 2 bags of laundry free. He had use mark CB on each form. So we got two free loads of laundry.

 

The one advantage for us was the larger bathroom. I'm fat and the shower was plenty big for me. It was a really nice addition. I didn't feel like I was in a coffin. 

 

As for room service, same menu and same fee. Also to note the continental breakfast listed in the book appears to be incorrect as items (toast for example) in the book were not on the hanging tag and room service told us if it isn't on the hanging tag, it would be subject to the room service fee.

 

As entertainment was not an option to prebook for anyone on my cruise, we couldn't take advantage of this.

 

We have a December cruise "scheduled" and we were not able to book anything until 120 days out and still no entertainment reservations as of now.

 

I think the biggest advantage of the CBS is the bathroom. Other than that it really isn't all that great. 

[SimplyCool]

28 minutes ago, zerooveride said:

So we just stayed in a Club Balcony Suite on Encore last week (Cabin 8136). We received 2 snakes during the week and the cheap sparkling wine. The only other perk really available to us was the laundry. We always tip our Steward at the beginning of the cruise so we actually got 2 bags of laundry free. He had use mark CB on each form. So we got two free loads of laundry.

 

The one advantage for us was the larger bathroom. I'm fat and the shower was plenty big for me. It was a really nice addition. I didn't feel like I was in a coffin. 

 

As for room service, same menu and same fee. Also to note the continental breakfast listed in the book appears to be incorrect as items (toast for example) in the book were not on the hanging tag and room service told us if it isn't on the hanging tag, it would be subject to the room service fee.

 

As entertainment was not an option to prebook for anyone on my cruise, we couldn't take advantage of this.

 

We have a December cruise "scheduled" and we were not able to book anything until 120 days out and still no entertainment reservations as of now.

 

I think the biggest advantage of the CBS is the bathroom. Other than that it really isn't all that great. 

I agree with the club balcony suite isn't worth it.  We were on the 9th floor ( 9790) and  I would've been just as happy with our regular balcony.  We are active and the CBS  tub was a bit difficult to get in and out. I wish they had a separate shower. The double sink was beautiful. 

[zerooveride]

11 minutes ago, SimplyCool said:

I agree with the club balcony suite isn't worth it.  We were on the 9th floor ( 9790) and  I would've been just as happy with our regular balcony.  We are active and the CBS  tub was a bit difficult to get in and out. I wish they had a separate shower. The double sink was beautiful. 

No tub in them on the Encore

[UKstages]

*sigh*

 

call center agents get a bum rap.

 

i know a thing or two about call centers, and call center training, having devoted much of my life to the industry, both on the client and operations side. there are some broad generalizations being made here about contact centers (it ain't just "calls" anymore, folks... it's also chat, social media and backend operations that take place in these facilities)... and NCL agents specifically.

 

first of all, contact center positions are rarely minimum wage jobs and most carry with them a full range of benefits and incentives. there are often opportunities to make significant bonuses based on achieving certain metrics... and many of them are customer satisfaction metrics, rather than just "sales" incentives. call center agents can earn more than cashiers, store clerks and even some administrative assistants or those in managerial roles. so the stereotype of low wage transitory workers just doesn't apply any longer, even if it once did (and i don't believe it ever really did). NCL reps in particular seem to be tenured agents with many years of experience, almost all of whom seem to be based in the phoenix and miami metro areas in the "good ole USA."

 

in off-shore contact centers, these jobs are highly revered positions and some agents support their entire extended family from their contact center job. in the philippines, the contact center business comprises the largest sector of the economy and employs more than 1.3 million people. and while it's true that many outbound sales agents (those are the ones that call you, rather than you calling them) are temporary workers or college students, contact center agents are - for the most part - professionals ranging in age from 18 or 19 years to their 70s. most have a college degree and have chosen to make these sales or customer service jobs their life's work. it's a profession for many. so, again, the stereotype of young inexperienced transitory workers just doesn't apply any longer, even if it once did.

 

with regard to "googling," most companies have their own specialized knowledge bases which display "just in time" relevant contextual information to their agents based on the nature of the call/customer contact... no "searching" pr se is required. the articles displayed contain information that is usually not customer-facing, although agents do generally have access to a company's consumer-facing website, too. search engines such as google and bing have to be specifically licensed for commercial use and are generally not available in contact centers for that reason and for one additional reason... contact centers maintain a "clean desktop" environment for their agents because of the personally identifiable data that they collect on their customers (names, addresses, credit card numbers). this generally means agents have no access to the internet unless the URL is on an approved list. this also means no external email and no phones, cameras, smartwatches or other devices allowed in the contact center.

 

as for training, it's sometimes assumed when there is a performance gap that poor "training" is to blame. it often isn't. there are a host of factors that affect performance and influence expected agent behaviors. what typically happens in a contact center is that there is a constant battle between training and operations and marketing. ops tells the agent to do one thing or places a restriction upon the agent based on call duration or some other metric that ops never told the training team about. training teaches agents to do things the "right" way, which somehow conflicts with what the agent is told on the production floor. marketing introduces programs, policies and procedures that they somehow forget to communicate to both the training and ops teams. so when an agent is telling you they are hearing about that promo from you for the very first time, they probably ain't dumb and they probably ain't lying.

 

and then there is this: because of the length of time it takes to run the entire enterprise through the training program, these programs are often created long before marketing or the executive team has made final decisions... consequently, agents are trained on an early concept of the idea, business practice  or marketing program because the final content was not available when the training was developed. 

[complawyer]

if you are sailing with more than 2 people the extra room in the club balcony makes a world of difference. for a few years we always booked them when they were called mini-suites. in 2010 i booked a mid-ship mini suite for myself, my wife and grandson an the pearl (this was our 1st ncl cruise) and our 1st cruise in about the last 10 years.

 

my wife's sister and her husband came with us but they only booked the regular balcony. after this trip, whenever they decided to travel with us, the booked the mini suite. more breathing  room

[Missholls9]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

*sigh*

 

call center agents get a bum rap.

 

i know a thing or two about call centers, and call center training, having devoted much of my life to the industry, both on the client and operations side. there are some broad generalizations being made here about contact centers (it ain't just "calls" anymore, folks... it's also chat, social media and backend operations that take place in these facilities)... and NCL agents specifically.

 

first of all, contact center positions are rarely minimum wage jobs and most carry with them a full range of benefits and incentives. there are often opportunities to make significant bonuses based on achieving certain metrics... and many of them are customer satisfaction metrics, rather than just "sales" incentives. call center agents can earn more than cashiers, store clerks and even some administrative assistants or those in managerial roles. so the stereotype of low wage transitory workers just doesn't apply any longer, even if it once did (and i don't believe it ever really did). NCL reps in particular seem to be tenured agents with many years of experience, almost all of whom seem to be based in the phoenix and miami metro areas in the "good ole USA."

 

in off-shore contact centers, these jobs are highly revered positions and some agents support their entire extended family from their contact center job. in the philippines, the contact center business comprises the largest sector of the economy and employs more than 1.3 million people. and while it's true that many outbound sales agents (those are the ones that call you, rather than you calling them) are temporary workers or college students, contact center agents are - for the most part - professionals ranging in age from 18 or 19 years to their 70s. most have a college degree and have chosen to make these sales or customer service jobs their life's work. it's a profession for many. so, again, the stereotype of young inexperienced transitory workers just doesn't apply any longer, even if it once did.

 

with regard to "googling," most companies have their own specialized knowledge bases which display "just in time" relevant contextual information to their agents based on the nature of the call/customer contact... no "searching" pr se is required. the articles displayed contain information that is usually not customer-facing, although agents do generally have access to a company's consumer-facing website, too. search engines such as google and bing have to be specifically licensed for commercial use and are generally not available in contact centers for that reason and for one additional reason... contact centers maintain a "clean desktop" environment for their agents because of the personally identifiable data that they collect on their customers (names, addresses, credit card numbers). this generally means agents have no access to the internet unless the URL is on an approved list. this also means no external email and no phones, cameras, smartwatches or other devices allowed in the contact center.

 

as for training, it's sometimes assumed when there is a performance gap that poor "training" is to blame. it often isn't. there are a host of factors that affect performance and influence expected agent behaviors. what typically happens in a contact center is that there is a constant battle between training and operations and marketing. ops tells the agent to do one thing or places a restriction upon the agent based on call duration or some other metric that ops never told the training team about. training teaches agents to do things the "right" way, which somehow conflicts with what the agent is told on the production floor. marketing introduces programs, policies and procedures that they somehow forget to communicate to both the training and ops teams. so when an agent is telling you they are hearing about that promo from you for the very first time, they probably ain't dumb and they probably ain't lying.

 

and then there is this: because of the length of time it takes to run the entire enterprise through the training program, these programs are often created long before marketing or the executive team has made final decisions... consequently, agents are trained on an early concept of the idea, business practice  or marketing program because the final content was not available when the training was developed. 

I spent 5 years as a call center trainer developing and delivering content to call centers across the US for a financial company. Your explanation was the long version of what I was trying to convey. I love and respect my call center reps. I have met some of the most amazing people doing call center training. Of course there are bad ones too. But there are also bad doctors and lawyers and financial planners and bad people in every profession. The difference is, they don’t get yelled at multiple times a day for a living. I would also happily volunteer to deliver training to NCL’s call center in exchange for free cruises! (Joking of course) 

[zerooveride]

5 hours ago, complawyer said:

if you are sailing with more than 2 people the extra room in the club balcony makes a world of difference. for a few years we always booked them when they were called mini-suites. in 2010 i booked a mid-ship mini suite for myself, my wife and grandson an the pearl (this was our 1st ncl cruise) and our 1st cruise in about the last 10 years.

 

my wife's sister and her husband came with us but they only booked the regular balcony. after this trip, whenever they decided to travel with us, the booked the mini suite. more breathing  room

I'm going to be honest, I felt my regular balcony on Pride of America was bigger than my CBS on Encore. It was very small. And if I didn't have the angled balcony, the ones I saw that were regular ones were much smaller than the balcony I had on POA. I feel like they shrunk the cabins and balcony a bit.

[KeithJenner]

Just to be clear, I am making no comment on the reasons why call centre staff are as good or bad as they are.

 

My opinion is limited to the fact that NCL call staff give people a lot of duff information, and should always be taken with a large pinch of salt.

 

Even when the information they give is correct it can still cause confusion. For example they often tell people that you can’t prebook latitudes meals. This is technically correct (you can’t book one specifically as a latitudes meal), but misses the fact that you can book a meal in the normal way and then use your voucher onboard.

 

That’s enough off topic from me.

[KeithJenner]

11 hours ago, Missholls9 said:

 

on a side note, I recently discovered there’s a club balcony suite on the Encore deck 8 (8136) that has a slightly angled yet much larger balcony. However they can’t sell it as a large balcony because of the angle so it’s just sold as a regular club suite and goes for less than the other rooms on that floor. Highly recommend. Shout out to the call center rep who told us that secret. 

Yes, always look out for angled balconies (both in balcony and club suite categories). They tend to go quite quickly as you get the bigger balcony for no extra price.

 

They are especially handy on the Breakaway and Getaway where the standard balcony or club suite rooms have tiny balconies.

[nitesiren]

We are on the encore right now and have cabins 9196 & 9194. We hate the shower/tub combo. Very disappointed in this suite. Almost killed ourselves stepping in and out, especially when the ship is moving. We thought we were getting the walk-in shower club balcony. There are differences in the club balcony suites. We received the free bag of laundry, some snacks left in our room throughout the week, the Duc champagne but we didn’t get the complimentary water.

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, nitesiren said:

We are on the encore right now and have cabins 9196 & 9194. We hate the shower/tub combo. Very disappointed in this suite. Almost killed ourselves stepping in and out, especially when the ship is moving. We thought we were getting the walk-in shower club balcony. There are differences in the club balcony suites. We received the free bag of laundry, some snacks left in our room throughout the week, the Duc champagne but we didn’t get the complimentary water.

Sorry to hear this.  I just looked at a youtube video of 9190....and there's the tub.

This is why it's so important to research the cabin.

 

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Sorry to hear this.  I just looked at a youtube video of 9190....and there's the tub.

This is why it's so important to research the cabin.

 

Wow!  You are so right.  We must do our research.

 

I thought the only Club Suites on the newer ships with bathtubs were designated as 'Family'.  Families often want a bathtub to bathe young children, but the rest of us want that walk-in shower.  So surprising.  

 

I just did a mock booking for Encore and pulled up 9196.  It does say in the 'room details' that it has bathtub with shower.  Spot-checking others in Category MC, they are all showing bathtub with shower. 

NCL should put some sort of notice with this category so that others aren't disappointed. 

[ronheg]

The club balconies on deck 9 have tub/shower combos.  Deck 10 and higher have walk in showers

[MsTabbyKats]

3 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Wow!  You are so right.  We must do our research.

 

I thought the only Club Suites on the newer ships with bathtubs were designated as 'Family'.  Families often want a bathtub to bathe young children, but the rest of us want that walk-in shower.  So surprising.  

 

I just did a mock booking for Encore and pulled up 9196.  It does say in the 'room details' that it has bathtub with shower.  Spot-checking others in Category MC, they are all showing bathtub with shower. 

NCL should put some sort of notice with this category so that others aren't disappointed. 

Yes....because of that post I did a little more research for my (hopefully) upcoming Getaway cruise.  I have "sail-away" mini-suite booked...but I found that the family mini-suites also have the dreaded tub/shower combo. I don't want to take that chance. 

[Cruiser021421]

1 hour ago, ronheg said:

The club balconies on deck 9 have tub/shower combos.  Deck 10 and higher have walk in showers

We have a Club Balcony with large balcony on the Encore Deck 8. Hoping for the walk in shower and no tub. Any idea?

[AwesomO]

Are all the tubs in club balconies annoyingly tall? We're going to be sailing on the Gem. I'm now considering packing a folding stepstool. Not ideal, but if even adults struggle with the tub, I'm sure both my kids who are under 10 will have a hard time. 

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, Cruiser021421 said:

We have a Club Balcony with large balcony on the Encore Deck 8. Hoping for the walk in shower and no tub. Any idea?

The Large Balcony M6 category would have the walk-in shower.