Why choose a suite?

[rudeney]

Life is too short - we always book suites (Grand or Owner's).  I know the perks are not really worth the price, especially on the smaller (Freedom/Voyager class) ships that we choose.  Regardless, we enjoy the extra space and the benefits of not waiting in lines for boarding, disembarking, tendering, shows, MTD, etc.  Eating breakfast in Chops is a much nicer experience and having a reserved section for pool chairs is great, too.  It all adds up to a great vacation experience.

[John&LaLa]

11 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

It's an extra point for suites not double. If it was double points solos would get 4 points for suites.

 

And if your math worked for doubling when royal actually ran the double points promo a solo in a regular cabin would not get 4 points a night 

 

It's one point for sailing. One point for suites. One point for solo cruises not in a studio. 

 

Guess we're just lucky. We've gotten 28 points (4×7) on all our qualifying cruisrs so far.😁

[John&LaLa]

56 minutes ago, rudeney said:

Life is too short - we always book suites (Grand or Owner's).  I know the perks are not really worth the price, especially on the smaller (Freedom/Voyager class) ships that we choose.  Regardless, we enjoy the extra space and the benefits of not waiting in lines for boarding, disembarking, tendering, shows, MTD, etc.  Eating breakfast in Chops is a much nicer experience and having a reserved section for pool chairs is great, too.  It all adds up to a great vacation experience.

 

JS gets the same boarding privileges as a full suite. That's one of the best perks.

[Cigar King]

The suite perks on Mariner are nothing to write home about.  The room is the perk IMHO.  That being said, the rooms are very nice and for me it's important to have some space to relax in.

[thrifty99]

If you don’t care as much about the extra cabin space but want the extra services, consider doing an Ocean View balcony with The Key and Unlimited Dining Plan. 
 

We have done this and paid $19.99 each per day for The Key = $280. 
 

The UDP cost $175 each = $350. 
 

For $630 we had the nice benefits of reserved seating for shows, priority boarding / disembarking, and a WiFi account for each of us. We get to eat all week in any restaurant. We usually buy WiFi anyway so the $630 additional is actually only about $430 since we don’t have to buy the WiFi plan. . 
 

This is a way to sort of create a suite experience without paying much more for even a junior suite. This is great on the larger ships that have more restaurants and shows. 

[George C]

15 hours ago, justcrusn said:

So, we cruise more on celebrity than royal, and LOVE that a suite comes with a dedicated restaurant! 
But on royal there is no such perk as far as i can tell. 
We are looking at mariner of the seas in August and suite prices are tempting, but what do we get over a standard balcony anyway?
we are diamond (thanks to being elite on celebrity) if that matters.

So, why a suite? Probably get a slightly bigger cabin I’d guess, but anything besides priority this or that?

thanks for any shared wisdom

Celebrity suite perks are way better than royals , not even close. But we do always book suites on rccl , normally grand suite which gives you access to concierge, happy hour in the evenings normally from 5 to 8 , breakfast in specialty restaurant, priority boarding and embarkation. If you book oasis class or greater full suites give you access to private suite restaurant for all meals , although rccl suite restaurant isn’t as good as celebrity. Junior suite has very limited perks but cabin is about the size of celebrity sky suites.

[molly361]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

JS gets the same boarding privileges as a full suite. That's one of the best perks.

Do JS get priority disembarkation as  well?

[ldubs]

I'm assuming in general all suites and junior suites have balconies -- yes?  

[neverbeenhere]

Most suites have balconies. Panoramic don’t 

[rudeney]

50 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Do JS get priority disembarkation as  well?

 

I don't think so.  Our last experience with a JS was over ten years ago.  We took my wife's mother on a cruise with us and we were in a  GS and she had the JS next to us.  I remember our luggage tags indicated our disembarkment order.  Our tag color gave us the ability to leave anytime, but hers were numbered for a specific group's time.  I meant to ask the stateroom attendant or extra tags for our room to give her, but forgot. 

[Enzma]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

Most suites have balconies. Panoramic don’t 

Very true some cruise ships offer massive suites and no balconies.some way penthouse suites and are about the size of jr suites or smaller . The key is researching the suites and deck levels. A d of course reading these forum

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

Most suites have balconies. Panoramic don’t 

 

Awesome cabin, though. And full suite perks

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

Do JS get priority disembarkation as  well?

 

I don't recall. Save some red tags😉

[zeroed]

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

Do JS get priority disembarkation as  well?

We had a JS on Allure last month and everyone was in the same line because it was 6:30 am. I looked for Suite lines and there weren’t any nor did the crew hold the line for anyone special. They just wanted all of us off the boat as fast as possible. 

[Enzma]

All my sailings suites generally meet in con lounge to di s embark first

[smplybcause]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Guess we're just lucky. We've gotten 28 points (4×7) on all our qualifying cruisrs so far.😁

 

It's not double points unless it is double points 😉

[smokeybandit]

9 hours ago, rudeney said:

Life is too short - we always book suites (Grand or Owner's).  I know the perks are not really worth the price, especially on the smaller (Freedom/Voyager class) ships that we choose.  Regardless, we enjoy the extra space and the benefits of not waiting in lines for boarding, disembarking, tendering, shows, MTD, etc.  Eating breakfast in Chops is a much nicer experience and having a reserved section for pool chairs is great, too.  It all adds up to a great vacation experience.

That's pretty much our approach, too.

[time4u2go]

9 hours ago, rudeney said:

Life is too short - we always book suites (Grand or Owner's).  I know the perks are not really worth the price, especially on the smaller (Freedom/Voyager class) ships that we choose.  Regardless, we enjoy the extra space and the benefits of not waiting in lines for boarding, disembarking, tendering, shows, MTD, etc.  Eating breakfast in Chops is a much nicer experience and having a reserved section for pool chairs is great, too.  It all adds up to a great vacation experience.

I think of the "life is too short" expression in a different way. I would rather book lesser rooms and do more cruises.

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by time4u2go

[John&LaLa]

41 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

It's not double points unless it is double points 😉

 

Well, it was a double points promotion. 

 

What am I missing🤔

[smokeybandit]

23 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

I think of the "life is too short" expression in a different way. I would rather book lesser rooms and do more cruises.

 

And that's why cruise ships have several different cabin options, to keep all of us happy

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Well, it was a double points promotion. 

 

What am I missing🤔

 

Nothing. Was making a quip since it was double points since you had the promo. So it's not double c&a points unless it is double c&a points. 

 

Guess it's not a great quip if I gotta explain lol

[rudeney]

3 hours ago, time4u2go said:

I think of the "life is too short" expression in a different way. I would rather book lesser rooms and do more cruises.

 

 

I can see that way of thinking, too!   🙂  If we lived within a reasonable driving distance from a port, we'd do more cruises.  

[lovescats5]

You book a suite because that is where the genie's are.  When you have to fly cross country to get on a ship you get the best suite you can and enjoy the time.  If we lived close to a port it might be a different matter.

 

[SHIP TRAVELER]

Just a few comments:  The OP probably doesn't care about double points because it sounds like they are Diamond by virtue of Elite on X.  The points don't add up in that case.  We are D+ on RCCL and changed over to mostly X years ago and surprisingly made real Elite on X but it took a while and a lot of cruises including some suites to get there.  It is much harder to earn status on RCCL so probably someone with a taste for X will not be interested in the points.

I sailed in a Grand suite on the Jewel a couple of years ago and was very disappointed.  The furniture was broken and you had to put pillows in the chairs because the seats were sagging so bad.  The TV did not work the entire 14 day cruise.  Just Static.  Yes, we told this to anyone who would listen, and it was still broken at the end of the cruise.  The "suite lounge" was a also disappointing and boring.  The best thing about the Grand Suite was two sinks in the bath room and breakfast in Chops.  Breakfast in Chops doesn't compare to breakfast in Luminae.  Just some feed back for the OP.