Upgrade to mini

[mel8kri]

I can upgrade from a deluxe balcony on Caribe deck to a mini on Dolphin  deck for $20 a person on the 14 day emerald in April. What do I gain in the mini. Many princess cruises but first one on a balcony.

Edited March 4, 2022 by mel8kri

[Steelers36]

27 minutes ago, mel8kri said:

I can upgrade from a deluxe balcony on Caribe deck to a mini on Dolphin  deck for $20 a person on the 14 day emerald in April. What do I gain in the mini. Many princess cruises but first one on a balcony.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/ep-emerald-princess/

 

Look in the Accommodations section.

[Lady Arwen]

I’ll try to give you the basic differences.  Larger cabin with full size sofa bed.  Two televisions, one by bed, one by sofa.  Sitting area is separate from bed area and you can pull a curtain across for privacy.  Larger bathroom with tub/shower combo.  Depending on the ship and location, you may get a larger balcony.  Club Class mini suites give you a separate area in the main dining room, but they are more expensive than a regular mini suite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Lady Arwen

[Ombud]

I accepted the upgrade on the Emerald and missed the larger balcony but I liked the sofa. Each 'room' on the mini-suite seemed small. As a solo cruiser, I will skip that next time and ask for a deluxe balcony instead and stay on Caribe deck. But if taking the kids then I will book mini. 

 

Adding room size:

Balcony 231 sq. ft.

Deluxe balcony larger but not on Emerald 

Premium balcony 268 sq. ft. (271 on Caribe due to larger balcony & more midship)

Deluxe premium balconies are larger but not on Emerald 

Mini-suite 323 sq. ft.

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Ombud

[Colorado Coasty]

1 hour ago, mel8kri said:

I can upgrade from a deluxe balcony on Caribe deck to a mini on Dolphin  deck for $20 a person on the 14 day emerald in April. What do I gain in the mini. Many princess cruises but first one on a balcony.

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Colorado Coasty
misread

[Daniel A]

For twenty bucks PP, why not go for it?  We usually do the Deluxe Balcony because they have everything we want from a Mini Suite and they're more cost effective for us.  That said for an extra forty bucks, we'd probably take the mini.

[voljeep]

tub/shower combo is a no go for us.  we'll take the deluxe balcony we've got currently booked on CB albeit 8 months away.

[Lady Arwen]

30 minutes ago, voljeep said:

tub/shower combo is a no go for us.  we'll take the deluxe balcony we've got currently booked on CB albeit 8 months away.

I completely understand.  Getting in and out of the tub can be a challenge.  My husband had to lend a hand on more than one occasion.

[patrickmoran]

Great offer; go for it. For a 14 day cruise, you will appreciate the extra cabin/bathroom space!

[symui]

The mini's on the Dolphin deck have a fully exposed balcony, no overhang.   I'm ok with that but others are not, it's a personal preference item.   The sofa and extra space is nice, some mini's have a curtain but I have in 2 or 3 on the Grand and Golden that didn't  

[Daniel A]

1 minute ago, symui said:

The mini's on the Dolphin deck have a fully exposed balcony, no overhang.   I'm ok with that but others are not, it's a personal preference item.   The sofa and extra space is nice, some mini's have a curtain but I have in 2 or 3 on the Grand and Golden that didn't  

The minis on the older ships have the 'hourglass' design which very nicely separated the sitting area from the sleeping area.  The ships on the new Royal class have straight lines and only a chintzy curtain separates the two areas.  We love the minis on the older ships but we are very disappointed with the minis on the Royal class ships.  Add into the disappointment the postage stamp sized balconies.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

I accepted the upgrade on the Emerald and missed the larger balcony but I liked the sofa. Each 'room' on the mini-suite seemed small. As a solo cruiser, I will skip that next time and ask for a deluxe balcony instead and stay on Caribe deck. But if taking the kids then I will book mini. 

 

Adding room size:

Balcony 231 sq. ft.

Deluxe balcony larger but not on Emerald 

Premium balcony 268 sq. ft. (271 on Caribe due to larger balcony & more midship)

Deluxe premium balconies are larger but not on Emerald 

Mini-suite 323 sq. ft.

 

 

They don't have deluxe balconies on the Grand or Crown class ships, they only have premium balconies based on location.  The deluxe balconies are only found on the royal class ships.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

Personally, I think the deluxe balcony rooms on the Royal class are wonderful, more so than the mini suites.  We had an aft premium deluxe balcony on the Majestic with a huge balcony and was offered an upsell to a mini suite.  I wouldn't have taken that upgrade even if it were free.  

I love the layout of the deluxe balcony cabins ... just a little more room to make it the perfect cabin.  Still cozy but another place to sit while inside.  I also prefer a walk in shower over a tub any day.  

[phoebe2m]

Also, the crew appreciation (tip) is $1 more per person per day for a mini-suite. So $15.50 instead of $14.50. Not a big deal but nice to know.

[EDDY0827]

And the champagne welcome from your steward is not to be missed.

[13cheermom]

19 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

And the champagne welcome from your steward is not to be missed.

Oh wow, didn't know about this.  So there is an extra perk for the min-suite after all, 😉.  Seriously booked it because it's the last cabin on the emerald deck and has the extra longer balcony extension on the Emerald Princess.  But to each their own. I think it's kinda unique and can't wait to board next Sunday!

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, 13cheermom said:

Oh wow, didn't know about this.  So there is an extra perk for the min-suite after all, 😉.  Seriously booked it because it's the last cabin on the emerald deck and has the extra longer balcony extension on the Emerald Princess.  But to each their own. I think it's kinda unique and can't wait to board next Sunday!

That champagne is nothing to get excited about...we used it for drain cleaner after we tasted it.

PS: those Emerald deck minis are very nice & the only minis with an overhang. Lots of shade.

[tonit964]

2 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Oh wow, didn't know about this.  So there is an extra perk for the min-suite after all, 😉.  Seriously booked it because it's the last cabin on the emerald deck and has the extra longer balcony extension on the Emerald Princess.  But to each their own. I think it's kinda unique and can't wait to board next Sunday!

You will LOVE that mini suite but as others said, the champagne is not very good.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That champagne is nothing to get excited about...we used it for drain cleaner after we tasted it.

PS: those Emerald deck minis are very nice & the only minis with an overhang. Lots of shade.

Seriously its not that bad if mixed with OJ

[jwattle]

I'm going to be the odd girl out and say taste for yourself, celebrate the benefits of your upgrade, look forward to every perk like a kid at Christmas, and don't let the people who have been there / done that take away your enthusiasm! You've scored an upgrade to a mini suite, now relax and have all of the fun that you can! Cheers to your good fortune! 🥂

(Cheerleading session over...for now)

[KLM3164]

We accepted an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite back in 2018 and loved it so much that we haven’t gone back to a balcony cabin since then. I told my DH after we had the mini-suite experience that I was going to want to book a MS from that point forward….he groaned!!!

[capriccio]

3 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Seriously booked it because it's the last cabin on the emerald deck and has the extra longer balcony extension on the Emerald Princess.

 

2 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

PS: those Emerald deck minis are very nice & the only minis with an overhang. Lots of shade.

Those minis - especially the ones on the end - are our absolutely favorite cabins.  We took our 2 kids, their spouses and a granddaughter on an Alaska cruise in 2018 on the Ruby Princess and had the last 3 cabins.  We opened our balcony doors and on Glacier Bay day we ordered afternoon tea on our balcony. We fit two balcony tables and four chairs on our balcony alone.  The tea and food were good, the scenery was lovely and we even saw 3 Orcas swimming alongside the ship for quite a few minutes.  This July we have the same cabins on the Caribbean Princess with the same family group plus another granddaughter born since the last trip.

[13cheermom]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That champagne is nothing to get excited about...we used it for drain cleaner after we tasted it.

PS: those Emerald deck minis are very nice & the only minis with an overhang. Lots of shade.

Yes, I wasn’t really that excited about the champagne, lol. But I am excited about that cabin location, the shade will be nice  for our Panama Canal cruise. 

[Mike45LC]

1 hour ago, KLM3164 said:

We accepted an upgrade from a balcony to a mini-suite back in 2018 and loved it so much that we haven’t gone back to a balcony cabin since then. I told my DH after we had the mini-suite experience that I was going to want to book a MS from that point forward….he groaned!!!

This is the true downside of a mini-suite!  As the song goes, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)"

 

For our upcoming, my dear wife insisted that we go to a Club Class.  At least she was not enthralled with the one suite we tried.

[KLM3164]

29 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

This is the true downside of a mini-suite!  As the song goes, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)"

 

For our upcoming, my dear wife insisted that we go to a Club Class.  At least she was not enthralled with the one suite we tried.

I had the same reaction as your wife when we tried a full suite a couple cruises ago. It was ok but I prefer the mini-suite so now we are doing the mini-suite with Club Class dining on our cruise next month. I did like the CC dining when we were in the full suite.