Are suites worth it?

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Well you would definitely be on the Crystal ship by yourself right now.

On a cruise to nowhere   Sitting on the dock of the bay

[Laurab23]

My friend and I have a PH on an M class booked for 2023. I know in my mind it is not really worth it but just once I want to do it anyway. That Balcony!! We'll both be 71 and want to really splurge for once in my life. 

 

Laura

[canderson]

1 hour ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Regarding the extra elbow room on ships of late - probably a great time to sail on Crystal, you'd almost think you had the ship to yourself !  🙂

 

Tom

Yeah, but you'd need to bring your own 5 gal Jerrycan of fuel too keep the lights on! 

[canderson]

1 hour ago, JFontaine said:

 "Simple" is easy for them. And if you don't like it (which i doubt will happen), ask to have dinner in the main dining room.

No need to do that on Connie or any M or S class ship.  Luminae is happy to supply the MDR menu in parallel with their own every night.  

[JFontaine]

42 minutes ago, Laurab23 said:

My friend and I have a PH on an M class booked for 2023. I know in my mind it is not really worth it but just once I want to do it anyway. That Balcony!! We'll both be 71 and want to really splurge for once in my life. 

 

Laura

Laura, it is worth it. Every penny. It is a spectacular room with truly special amenities and service.  I hope you enjoy the planning and anticipation from now until then, and every minute on that cruise.  I have happy memories of a lifetime from that cabin. 

[Laurab23]

Just now, JFontaine said:

Laura, it is worth it. Every penny. It is a spectacular room with truly special amenities and service.  I hope you enjoy the planning and anticipation from now until then, and every minute on that cruise.  I have happy memories of a lifetime from that cabin. 

Thank you. How kind you are. I am looking forward to it.

 

Laura

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Laurab23 said:

My friend and I have a PH on an M class booked for 2023. I know in my mind it is not really worth it but just once I want to do it anyway. That Balcony!! We'll both be 71 and want to really splurge for once in my life. 

 

Laura

It is really worth doing. The Retreat is the main reason we continue to sail with Celebrity and not exclusively with Oceania and Viking Ocean. But Laura, let me warn you, the first time we splurged and booked a suite, we fell in love with all the Retreat has to offer and then decided to only book them with Celebrity. It is very hard to go back to non-suites, at least for us it is, and it comes down to doing suites and cruising first class or leaving money for our kids, well sorry our kids lose.

Edited January 27, 2022 by terrydtx

[techwatcher]

Whilst we have sailed in suites for our last few cruises, we asked ourselves the same 'is it worth it' question after our UK Staycation cruise on Silhouette in September. Our conclusion was 'not really'.

 

We liked the Retreat concept and the Retreat venues were pleasant but suites were full and Luminae seemed always busy (perhaps inevitable with an 80-cover restaurant and potentially 140+ guests wanting to use it). Food in Luminae was good but service was initially patchy (words were had and it improved). We had a corner aft which was fine. Butler, sorry 'Personal Retreat Host', was OK but nothing special. 

 

Overall it was a good cruise, with a few bits very good, but no better than that.

 

Was it worth the money we paid? No. Would we do it again? Actually we probably would because we liked the Retreat product.

 

YMMV. 

 

 

 

 

[TeeRick]

9 minutes ago, pward123 said:

Was it worth the money we paid? No. Would we do it again? Actually we probably would because we liked the Retreat product.

Only the individual can decide what is worth it to them.  It is a different answer for everybody.  But it was not worth the money you paid but you would do it again?  At the same price?  Kind of confused by your answer.😀 LOL.

[Denny01]

38 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

It is really worth doing. The Retreat is the main reason we continue to sail with Celebrity and not exclusively with Oceania and Viking Ocean. But Laura, let me warn you, the first time we splurged and booked a suite, we fell in love with all the Retreat has to offer and then decided to only book them with Celebrity. It is very hard to go back to non-suites, at least for us it is, and it comes down to doing suites and cruising first class or leaving money for our kids, well sorry our kids lose.

That’s what I worry about!!

 

den

[MamaFej]

As others have mentioned, "worth it" maeans different things to different folks, and that makes sense.

 

We are just over 2 years into retirement. Our youngest graduated high school in 2020 (yes, his final semester of senior year sucked). Our plan had been to travel nearly full-time until grandkids come along and we want to be closer to home. That didn't happen, obviously. 

 

We are back to cruising, and have a number of X cruises booked. At this point in our lives, ports are more important than shipboard accommodations. We recently had our first small ship experience on Windstar and loved it. It was considerably cheaper pp/pn than I've ever seen X suites priced. For us, now, if we feel we can spend an amount approaching X suite prices, we feel it's a better value to sail on a smaller ship and be able to dock "up the river and closer to the attractions." We do have two such cruises booked for 2022. One is similar to SS prices and one is far below.

 

Someday we might be more about the creature comforts than the destinations and feel that the price of a suite on X is worth it for us. Maybe something else will change and we will give it a try. For now, I enjoy threads like this and "Live From" threads which allow us to live the suite life vicariously. Thanks to all who share their experiences. 

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

My friend and I have a PH on an M class booked for 2023. I know in my mind it is not really worth it but just once I want to do it anyway. That Balcony!! We'll both be 71 and want to really splurge for once in my life. 

 

Laura

 
Sometimes in life you need to do something special because you know you will regret it if you don’t.

 

The M class PH is wonderful. Whilst we love the light and space in the S class PH it is the balcony on M class that is truly stunning.
 

Chat with your Retreat Host (Butler) about ways to enhance your experience. It is the only suite room where we have really made the most of in suite dining. Breakfast on the balcony watching other guests get off in port, lunch on sea days just watching the wake view, late evening snacks from the butlers pantry with drinks from your bar set up.

 

Sincere best wishes for a fantastic cruise!

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by chemmo

[mac_tlc]

"Worth" is a tough barometer. For us, we have gravitated towards suites for the last few years, on both Celebrity and Royal. For us, the biggest plus is the bigger room. As I have said before, I do not want to shuffle past a bed sideways anymore. The suite exclusive areas are a nice plus, but not the "be-all-end-all" for us. 

 

As far as Celebrity, on E-class, the 4 dining room MDR experience is great and makes Luminae less of a draw. On S-class, with the bigger MDR, Luminae means more to us. But the Retreat Lounge/area on E-class is much better than S-class. 

 

We are lucky to be able to spend the $$$ -- when there is none left, I'll stop, I guess. 

 

mac_tlc

[cltcruisers123]

On 1/25/2022 at 10:47 AM, Beachin2 said:

The crowding issue is stopping us, and we are not even close to germaphobes. 

 

With the push for revenue (no surprise) you can almost be 100% sure that the entire suite area will be booked - any gaps filled by move up bids.  Can't justify the extra $ to sail in a crowd.  Maybe in a year or two, but not now.

On Apex in Retreat right now and not sure I’d say it’s crowded. Yes there are people in there, but main deck pool and Solarium seems even more crowded and there are only 1,200 folks on this cruise. Now imagine if this was a full ship and all the main areas would be overrun. I’m sticking to Retreat. I still remember how full ships were before Covid. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by cltcruisers123

[techwatcher]

12 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Only the individual can decide what is worth it to them.  It is a different answer for everybody.  But it was not worth the money you paid but you would do it again?  At the same price?  Kind of confused by your answer.😀 LOL.

To clarify, the specific cruise was not worth the money we paid but we would sail in the Retreat again, ideally at a lower cost.

[FiremedicMike151]

18 hours ago, canderson said:

Yeah, but you'd need to bring your own 5 gal Jerrycan of fuel too keep the lights on! 

Their website ads will be like

 

"Cruise fares as low as 3 gallons of diesel pp per day"

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by FiremedicMike151

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, FiremedicMike151 said:

Their website ads will be like

 

"Cruise fares as low as 3 gallons of diesel pp per day"

 

 

It's a good thing that the ships engines don't run on gasoline, as then the line would have to be concerned with people bringing spiked (Ethanol) fuel onboard...

 

Tom

[TeeRick]

5 hours ago, pward123 said:

To clarify, the specific cruise was not worth the money we paid but we would sail in the Retreat again, ideally at a lower cost.

Thanks!  Yes the Retreat is nice but definitely expensive for a lot of people cruising on Celebrity.

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Thanks!  Yes the Retreat is nice but definitely expensive for a lot of people cruising on Celebrity.

For us a Sky Suite on Celebrity for similar itineraries and on a cost per day basis cost less than an NCL Haven suites, RCL Star suite and Viking Ocean and Oceania suites in most cases. Amenity wise the Retreat beats them all and are close to equal in Viking Ocean Explore suites and Oceania Penthouse Suites.  For now, we will continue to sail on Celebrity in Sky Suites.

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

For us a Sky Suite on Celebrity for similar itineraries and on a cost per day basis cost less than an NCL Haven suites, RCL Star suite and Viking Ocean and Oceania suites in most cases. Amenity wise the Retreat beats them all and are close to equal in Viking Ocean Explore suites and Oceania Penthouse Suites.  For now, we will continue to sail on Celebrity in Sky Suites.

Terry we share your enthusiasm for The Retreat and the Celebrity suite experience.  Our only comparison is with RCCL.  There is no contest.  Celebrity beats the suite experience vs RCCL by far.  The Sky suite comes with full Retreat benefits and Luminae.  The RCCL Jr suite comes with absolutely nothing.  Costs are similar.

[terrydtx]

28 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Terry we share your enthusiasm for The Retreat and the Celebrity suite experience.  Our only comparison is with RCCL.  There is no contest.  Celebrity beats the suite experience vs RCCL by far.  The Sky suite comes with full Retreat benefits and Luminae.  The RCCL Jr suite comes with absolutely nothing.  Costs are similar.

We are taking our 12-year-old granddaughter on the RCL Allure next year from Galveston in June. We booked a Grand Suite, with basically no amenities, but we needed a summer Caribbean cruise and a port close to us, so RCL was our only choice. We do get the private suite restaurant, but it is on a reservation basis only. The cost per person for 7 nights is a lot more than a SS on a 7-night winter Caribbean cruise. We looked at an NCL Haven suite from Miami, but it was ridiculously expensive, and we would have to fly to Miami. Our granddaughter is extremely lactose intolerant, and we felt a smaller private dining venue would be better for her dietary needs which is why we wanted a suite with private dining.

Edited January 28, 2022 by terrydtx

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

8 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Terry we share your enthusiasm for The Retreat and the Celebrity suite experience.  Our only comparison is with RCCL.  There is no contest.  Celebrity beats the suite experience vs RCCL by far.  The Sky suite comes with full Retreat benefits and Luminae.  The RCCL Jr suite comes with absolutely nothing.  Costs are similar.

 

We do enjoy the suite lounge on Royal - but, yes, otherwise their suite perks fall a bit short of other lines (except Carnival - who's not even in the running). When we sailed on the Allure we had a "Royal Genie" owing to the cabin we booked. It was billed as being a step above "butler" service. A couple special requests throughout the week (nothing out of the ordinary) were ignored or bungled. Even before the cruise we had asked to enjoy buffalo wings one day for lunch on our balcony. We confirmed this once onboard, and even again on the day of... after an hour it was a no-show on the wings. I called our Genie and discovered that they had delivered the wings to another cabin. I hope they enjoyed them !! lol

 

Tom

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

We do enjoy the suite lounge on Royal - but, yes, otherwise their suite perks fall a bit short of other lines (except Carnival - who's not even in the running). When we sailed on the Allure we had a "Royal Genie" owing to the cabin we booked. It was billed as being a step above "butler" service. A couple special requests throughout the week (nothing out of the ordinary) were ignored or bungled. Even before the cruise we had asked to enjoy buffalo wings one day for lunch on our balcony. We confirmed this once onboard, and even again on the day of... after an hour it was a no-show on the wings. I called our Genie and discovered that they had delivered the wings to another cabin. I hope they enjoyed them !! lol

 

Tom

Tom, we had some friends who are avid RCL cruisers, and last summer they did a Royal suite and thought the virtual Royal Genie was a total joke. We have convinced them to do a Sky Suite on the Apex with us next year and I know they will be hooked and make the permanent switch to X.

[terrydtx]

40 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

For us a Sky Suite on Celebrity for similar itineraries and on a cost per day basis cost less than an NCL Haven suites, RCL Star suite and Viking Ocean and Oceania suites in most cases. Amenity wise the Retreat beats them all and are close to equal in Viking Ocean Explore suites and Oceania Penthouse Suites.  For now, we will continue to sail on Celebrity in Sky Suites.

I forgot to add that HAL suites are the biggest joke of all the cruise lines we have sailed. Their Signature and Vista Suites are only a larger verandah cabin with no extras, their Neptune and Pinnacle suites are super expensive, and the Club Orange experience is really a lemon compared to the Retreat. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by terrydtx

[danceswithphones]

21 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

PH on an M class booked for 2023

6147 on the Constellation in 2014 and 2016. I'm so spoiled to suites. We invited people from the Roll Call and entertained in 2016. We are booked in an Edge Villa on the Beyond. I don't regret one penny I've ever spent on a suite.