Mariner - is the jump in price to PH worth it?

[BellsRUs]

We are looking into booking a 16 day Regent cruise on the Mariner. Is the jump in price to get the PH suite worth it? 
Also, I love to get a cabin on the stern of the ship - it looks like the Horizon suites are set up in a manner that you cannot see outside from the bed. Is that true? 
 

Patti

[forevertravel]

PH suites in Mariner are bigger than in Voyager, etc. So yes, if you can afford it, it's worth it. We stayed in Horizon suite once. I don't remember about being able to see outside from bed because I don't care about that. We did love the cabin. It was bigger and the balcony was bigger too.

[Pcardad]

Alternative perspective - as long as it has a King Size bed and a separate shower, I am good. I don't need binoculars or a guy in my room handing me mini hot dogs. I'd rather bank the extra $5k for something else.

[UUNetBill]

9 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Alternative perspective - as long as it has a King Size bed and a separate shower, I am good. I don't need binoculars or a guy in my room handing me mini hot dogs. I'd rather bank the extra $5k for something else.

Good Lord, man, have you priced mini hot dogs lately?  Having a man hand them to you at will for just $5k?  Bargain...

 

Or you could have the guy hand you regular hot dogs and you could look at them through the binoculars backwards and *VOILA!*  Mini hot dogs, but more filling!!

 

Win-win.

 

PS - don't look at the mini hot dogs through the binoculars backwards - they'll get so small you won't be able to find them...

[mrstanley]

The basic suites on the Mariner are really small. Much smaller than on the Navigator or Voyager.

[BellsRUs]

How does the size of a Concierge suite on the Mariner compare to cabins on other lines? We have never been on Regent but have cruised many times on Celebrity, Princess, RCCL, Azamara, etc. Can anyone compare cabin sizes on any of those lines to the Concierge and PH suites on Regent?

 

Thanks!

[flossie009]

Penthouse or Horizon is the way to go on Mariner, in our opinion.

Certainly worth it in terms of space & suite layout. Whether it offers good value for the extra cash is a personal decision.

 

I am sure you will enjoy Regent, whichever suite you choose

[mrlevin]

I like basic cabins on Mariner; they are what got be hooked on Regent (Radisson).  I believe in choosing a ship wherein I like the cheapest accommodation so that the others subsidize my trip.  252 sq ft plus balcony.  Get a shower only and you will find the shower larger than on Voyager or Navigator.  Like Picard said, I would rather book a Cat H and sail twice as often/long than pay for an expensive suite.  We will be in a Cat G for 143 nights next year and don't see a problem.  In fact, for World Cruises Cat H has regularly sold out immediately.  

 

However, if you can get a two category upgrade on Mariner I would definitely pay for Cat E and get a Cat C penthouse; fantastic deal.

 

Marc

[flossie009]

11 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Get a shower only

Absolutely.

Whichever grade of suite you choose on Mariner opt for a "shower-only"; marked with an asterisk on the deck plans

[Sunprince]

I would suggest that you go to YouTube and search for “RSSC Mariner deluxe/concierge suite” and do the same for Voyager.  Just choose a more recent video (last 2 - 3 years), so that you are looking at the most recent decor/refurb. This will give you a good sense of the space, and then you can compare to the other lines that you have sailed on. 

[BellsRUs]

42 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

I would suggest that you go to YouTube and search for “RSSC Mariner deluxe/concierge suite” and do the same for Voyager.  Just choose a more recent video (last 2 - 3 years), so that you are looking at the most recent decor/refurb. This will give you a good sense of the space, and then you can compare to the other lines that you have sailed on. 

Thank you for the suggestion! The concierge suite seems much smaller in the video than it looked on the layout on the RSSC website. 

[CDR Benson]

It's a personal call.  In my opinion, no---it doesn't meet my "bang for the buck" criteria, even with the two-category upgrade which I bought in for.

 

The penthouse suite's larger area (even though it matches the size of other cruise line suites in which I've stayed) and the services of a butler didn't rise to justify the added $2K it would've cost.  Especially given the overall luxury of sailing with Regent.

 

Because my wife will require mobility transportation, we've booked one of the wheelchair-accessible concierge suites.  According to Mariner's deck plan, they appear to be larger than the conventional concierge suite, but one can't go by that.  At least I'm not.  I'm presuming they're the same size, and I'm fine with that.

 

But, for you or someone else, the added space and butler service might be worth the extra $.  There are those who would insist that we're all crazy here; that we should book inside cabins on another line and use the money we save to take more cruises.

 

 

[UUNetBill]

24 minutes ago, CDR Benson said:

But, for you or someone else, the added space and butler service might be worth the extra $.  There are those who would insist that we're all crazy here; that we should book inside cabins on another line and use the money we save to take more cruises.

That about sums it up.  We generally sail in below butler level accommodations and have never felt shorted.  That said, we've never sailed in a basic suite on Mariner - I believe our TA advised us to choose Horizonview on that one (but it's been a few years, I could be mistaken).  

 

Even moving from Verandah to Concierge can vary from ship to ship and itinerary to itinerary.  We've upgraded to Concierge or PH on rare occasions when we want the extra night and transfers, but usually we just get the smallest suite we're comfortable with.

 

But no inside cabins on mainstream lines for me, thanks.  I'd rather shave my head with a cheese grater while chewing a wad of aluminum foil than do that...but that's just me.  😆

[CDR Benson]

29 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

But no inside cabins on mainstream lines for me, thanks.  I'd rather shave my head with a cheese grater while chewing a wad of aluminum foil than do that...but that's just me.  

 

Roger that.  At least as far as inside cabins are concerned.  On our first cruise, I insisted on suite level, on the idea that, if it were to be the only cruise we ever took, I wanted it to be a deluxe experience.  We've never looked back; we got to used to "the suite life".

 

Regent will be our first sail on a luxury line, and we don't think a "mere" concierge suite will dull the enjoyment too much.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by CDR Benson

[Silver Sweethearts]

6 hours ago, BellsRUs said:

- it looks like the Horizon suites are set up in a manner that you cannot see outside from the bed. Is that true? 

Yes.  The bed is in a windowless room

[flossie009]

48 minutes ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

The bed is in a windowless room

🤔 ????????

 

 

[Silver Sweethearts]

Perhaps we should have said "windowless area" instead of room.

[Dolebludger]

On the Mariner, I believe all suites are the same size through Concierge. For a seven night cruise, we find them adequate. But when we took a fourteen night cruise in one of them, it began to feel a bit cramped. We all have differing wants and needs, and I can only speak to ours.

[CDR Benson]

13 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

On the Mariner, I believe all suites are the same size through Concierge. For a seven night cruise, we find them adequate. But when we took a fourteen night cruise in one of them, it began to feel a bit cramped. 

 

My wife and I would probably get the same feeling.  We're accustomed to suites closer to the size of Mariner's penthouse suite, but the added size and butler service didn't justify that great an increase in price.  We're only doing a seven-nighter, so we decided we could "rough it" in a concierge suite.

 

 

[ronrick1943]

Suite are nice, it’s your vacation/holiday and then cabin you choose is part of that—-I’d go with the biggest suite that meets your budget and enjoy the total package,