Reserve Club Class $110 PP PD REALLY!

[cruzsnooze]

I always book suites and club class. I just booked a Japan Cruise for May 2024 and the upcharge for club class is ridiculous. It's  ten days . What are you really paying for other then slightly better service with quicker seating and a dish extra.  Eat at a specialty restaurant for $29 daily makes more sense. It's port intensive so there won't be any lunches. That's $1100 X 2 = $2200 a couple. I've done club class for the past several years and didn't find it worth that much more.

 

Reserve Collection Mini-Suite

 - Upgrade from ^$110 per day

A premium stateroom category featuring our best located Mini-Suite staterooms, as well as the great amenities found in all Mini-Suites — plus premier dining benefits and luxurious perks. Each night, enjoy Club Class Dining, an exclusive dining area featuring expedited seating with no wait, expanded menu options, dedicated wait staff and tableside preparations. Other amenities include priority embarkation and disembarkation, a complimentary one-time wine set-up and so much

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by cruzsnooze

[Mike45LC]

I agre, not worth $100 pppd over mini suite.  I enjoy Club Class, but I rarely want the extra dish, and I value the much better service at $15 - $20 pp pd.  After all, the Crown Grill sets the upper limit.

[cr8tiv1]

Didn’t specialty restaurants increase their charge?  I don’t think the Crown Grill is $29.  
 

But, but, but….you are getting prime real estate.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

Eat at a specialty restaurant for $29 daily makes more sense.

$39.

[sunviking90]

This is exactly why I don’t get the big deal about Club Class. It seems like quite a lot more for not much at all.

[wowzz]

To be fair, Reserve cabins are better situated, with larger balconies, and you get reserved seatung in the MDR for breakfast as well as dinner. 

Having said that, $110 is a step too far for me as well !

[cruzsnooze]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

To be fair, Reserve cabins are better situated, with larger balconies, and you get reserved seatung in the MDR for breakfast as well as dinner. 

Having said that, $110 is a step too far for me as well !

Not to be contradictory but I don't like the exposed balconies on deck 9.  I prefer the aft covered mini suites on deck 8 so personal preference plays a roll. I didn't realize the specialty was $39 but it's Sterling Steakhouse on the Diamond which is a portion of the buffet set up for this upcharge dinner. 

[marden1970]

9 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Not to be contradictory but I don't like the exposed balconies on deck 9.  I prefer the aft covered mini suites on deck 8 so personal preference plays a roll. I didn't realize the specialty was $39 but it's Sterling Steakhouse on the Diamond which is a portion of the buffet set up for this upcharge dinner. 

We are the same way, won't book an exposed balcony.  We do love the fully covered ones on aft deck 8 on the ship we sail.

[capriccio]

3 minutes ago, marden1970 said:

We are the same way, won't book an exposed balcony.  We do love the fully covered ones on aft deck 8 on the ship we sail.

We do too. 

 

We did try club class on the Caribbean in January 2022.  We decided that since the ship was less than 1/3 full and Princess was offering a great fare we would try it.  I think everyone on board was seated immediately in the MDR except us two evenings in club class.  We had a preferred table (not within a foot of others since it was the height of Omicron) that was occupied when we arrived around 7 pm.  No problem.  We went to Vines where one evening there were 3 other passengers and the other evening we had it to ourselves.  We were unimpressed with the extra dishes but very impressed with the regular menu on that cruise and our wait staff was excellent.  Our conclusion was that paying for a specialty dinner (this was at the old prices) each night would usually be cheaper and the ambiance much better.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

We do too. 

 

We did try club class on the Caribbean in January 2022.  We decided that since the ship was less than 1/3 full and Princess was offering a great fare we would try it.  I think everyone on board was seated immediately in the MDR except us two evenings in club class.  We had a preferred table (not within a foot of others since it was the height of Omicron) that was occupied when we arrived around 7 pm.  No problem.  We went to Vines where one evening there were 3 other passengers and the other evening we had it to ourselves.  We were unimpressed with the extra dishes but very impressed with the regular menu on that cruise and our wait staff was excellent.  Our conclusion was that paying for a specialty dinner (this was at the old prices) each night would usually be cheaper and the ambiance much better.

The menus in the speciality restaurants do not change. I would rather have the option of many menus especially on a long  cruise. I love many of the extra dishes and am not wedded to any one table except for the ones that look like a couch I do not care for since you sink too low

[Ken the cruiser]

I just checked the two available 10-day May 2024 Japan cruises, and the Reserve Collection (M1) mini-suites are not selling very fast at all. My suggestion, if you don't already do this, is to periodically do mock bookings to see if the price goes down for that M1 category. Something tells me they will, especially if there are still plenty of M1 cabins available less than a year out from the cruise. We have a NE/Canadian cruise booked for Oct 2023, and the M1 prices went down twice totaling around $700 per person just in the last month. 

[Princessfan20]

42 minutes ago, memoak said:

The menus in the speciality restaurants do not change. I would rather have the option of many menus especially on a long  cruise. I love many of the extra dishes and am not wedded to any one table except for the ones that look like a couch I do not care for since you sink too low

 

We always book Club Class and love it.  We appreciate being able to immediately go to a table (not having to wait in long lines which seems to be the norm post Covid), the friendly wait staff, eating all of our meals in CC (breakfast, lunch and dinner), meals not taking forever to be served and just find it more enjoyable and worth every penny.  We would get bored real fast with the menu eating in a speciality restaurant every night.  When we are on a ship with open deck minis we get a suite and still enjoy CC.

 

[Mary loves to travel]

I'd never seen prices for Reserve / Club class that high.... went and checked for our 3 upcoming cruises.   The upgrade today would cost  $61, $41, and $90 - that's per person - wow, $90!   BUT, on that cruise, there was only 1 R/C class left, or select a Guarantee.     

 

I'd say "supply & demand".

 

Mary

Edited February 22, 2023 by Mary loves to travel

[KLM3164]

We’ve got a B2B in November 2023 and I just checked our cruise. The cost for Club Class dining is $73 per person on the 7 day cruise and $63 per person on the 4 day cruise. Since we are sailing over Thanksgiving we like the flexibility that Club Class offers and not having to wait in line for the MDR. We expect the ship will be full. However if it was $110 per person for Club Class we might not be willing to shell out that much for this benefit. 

[stevenr597]

We tried Club Class and book it, as we also do with Aqua Class on Celebrity whenever possible.  

There are certainly positives and negatives, but we do find that Club Class and Aqua Class are quickly booked up.  

[JimmyVWine]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

To be fair, Reserve cabins are better situated, with larger balconies

This isn't really true at all.  At least the part about the larger balconies.  If you are on a Grand Class Ship, all of the Mini-Suites have the same size balcony.  If you move "up" to Club Class/Reserve, you are simply sliding over from Uncovered Deck 9 Forward, Mid-Forward, Mid-Aft or Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle. Your balcony configuration does not change whatsoever.  Or you might be moving from Covered Deck 8 Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle, in which case only the covering changes, and not the balcony size (with the very small exception of the wrap-around balconies that the very last cabins have, in which case upgrading gets you a smaller balcony.) 

 

On a Royal Class ship, you get placed in a Middle Mini-Site, which may or may not have a larger balcony, and you may have already been in the Middle to start.  The middle bump-out certainly does have some larger balconies, but the bowing in and bowing out of the middle cabins means that only some of them have bigger balconies.  You could very well already have a Regular Middle Mini-Suite with a larger balcony (for example, on Caribe where the middle cabins are not CC/Reserve) and then get moved to one of the smaller balconies once you upgrade.  By way of example, on Regal, you could go from A414 (Regular Mini-Suite) to A420 (CC/Reserve).  You are literally moving down two cabins.  Take a look and tell me if you think that is better situated with a larger balcony.  That is my exact situation for my next cruise.  I keep getting emails urging me to bid for an upgrade, but I already have the largest Mini-Suite balcony (that isn't forward facing) and I am already in the Middle.  It is almost a 100% sure thing that if I upgrade, I will downgrade my cabin, but in return have the option to order Lobster Thermidor one night.  That certainly isn't worth $1,000 to me! 🤑 

Edited February 22, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[Princessfan20]

31 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

This isn't really true at all.  At least the part about the larger balconies.  If you are on a Grand Class Ship, all of the Mini-Suites have the same size balcony.  If you move "up" to Club Class/Reserve, you are simply sliding over from Uncovered Deck 9 Forward, Mid-Forward, Mid-Aft or Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle. Your balcony configuration does not change whatsoever.  Or you might be moving from Covered Deck 8 Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle, in which case only the covering changes, and not the balcony size (with the very small exception of the wrap-around balconies that the very last cabins have, in which case upgrading gets you a smaller balcony.) 

 

On a Royal Class ship, you get placed in a Middle Mini-Site, which may or may not have a larger balcony, and you may have already been in the Middle to start.  The middle bump-out certainly does have some larger balconies, but the bowing in and bowing out of the middle cabins means that only some of them have bigger balconies.  You could very well already have a Regular Middle Mini-Suite with a larger balcony (for example, on Caribe where the middle cabins are not CC/Reserve) and then get moved to one of the smaller balconies once you upgrade.  By way of example, on Regal, you could go from A414 (Regular Mini-Suite) to A420 (CC/Reserve).  You are literally moving down two cabins.  Take a look and tell me if you think that is better situated with a larger balcony.  That is my exact situation for my next cruise.  I keep getting emails urging me to bid for an upgrade, but I already have the largest Mini-Suite balcony (that isn't forward facing) and I am already in the Middle.  It is almost a 100% sure thing that if I upgrade, I will downgrade my cabin, but in return have the option to order Lobster Thermidor one night.  That certainly isn't worth $1,000 to me! 🤑 

 

It is not about the balcony size but the convenience it seems for the majority of passengers who book CC/RC.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Princessfan20

[stevenr597]

What we like about Club Class is that there is no wait to sit in the dining room.  We have always gotten a good table, often next to a window.  In addition, service has been excellent.

 

Wait does mean a lot to use because we like to be able to see the show and then go to dinner.

In respect to eating at an "optional" restaurant, in addition to the surcharge, dining can take several hours which makes it difficult to also see a show.

[cruzin4us]

Of course I don't know if I'd get it at $100/pp for club class, but it's allowing me to bid on it for at 10 Alaska cruise in May.   Would that be worth it to you?   I'm another one that doesn't care for the room locations of Club Class so I didn't bid.   The thought of not having to fight the dining room line does have it's appeal though

[JimmyVWine]

37 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

It is not about the balcony size

Well...the post to which I was responding specifically mentioned balcony size as the valued perk.  So there's that.  

[Sailaway617]

10 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Of course I don't know if I'd get it at $100/pp for club class, but it's allowing me to bid on it for at 10 Alaska cruise in May.   Would that be worth it to you?   I'm another one that doesn't care for the room locations of Club Class so I didn't bid.   The thought of not having to fight the dining room line does have it's appeal though

Not sure if club class is worth it, except like you said, to avoid the lines. Did you get an offer to bid on a suite?

[Guest ldtr]

I expect that in conjuction with the name change to match the class on the Sun, we will see other changes rolled out throughout the fleet over time to implement the ship within a ship system, just as Celebrity did when they made their move in that direction.

 

I expect that as part of that rebranding one should expect a move to higher prices for the class, even before those changes are made.

[sunviking90]

Not lining up for the dining room seems to be a big perceived advantage to Club Class for many here, but honestly we never have that problem! Granted a lot of our cruises last year were half full, but our recent one was almost at capacity and we had no issues. We make a reservation for the same time every night at a table for 2 in the app before boarding. We get the same table nightly and never have to line up to get in. We usually eat around 5:45. 
Now, on HAL we always seem to have problems and usually book too late to get into fixed dining. I would consider paying for their Club Orange, which seems to be a much better value.

[KLM3164]

17 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

We make a reservation for the same time every night at a table for 2 in the app before boarding. We get the same table nightly and never have to line up to get in. We usually eat around 5:45. 

This is the reason we like Club Class….we don’t want to make a reservation and feel the pressure of having to be somewhere at a certain time. We enjoy going to the dining room when we feel like eating and not because we have to make a reservation time. To be honest I used to think that Club Class was a waste of money and we would do a set reservation time each night. But now that we’ve had it a couple times we do like it because we have flexibility in when we go to the dining room. We also like the service we receive. Our cruise earlier this month we wanted to be done in 1 hour to make a show. Our waiter made it happen without making the dinner feel rushed. It also seems like the waiters in CC have fewer tables to wait on compared to the regular MDR so service is a bit more relaxed and personal. 

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

This isn't really true at all.  At least the part about the larger balconies.  If you are on a Grand Class Ship, all of the Mini-Suites have the same size balcony.  If you move "up" to Club Class/Reserve, you are simply sliding over from Uncovered Deck 9 Forward, Mid-Forward, Mid-Aft or Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle. Your balcony configuration does not change whatsoever.  Or you might be moving from Covered Deck 8 Aft to Uncovered Deck 9 Middle, in which case only the covering changes, and not the balcony size (with the very small exception of the wrap-around balconies that the very last cabins have, in which case upgrading gets you a smaller balcony.) 

 

On a Royal Class ship, you get placed in a Middle Mini-Site, which may or may not have a larger balcony, and you may have already been in the Middle to start.  The middle bump-out certainly does have some larger balconies, but the bowing in and bowing out of the middle cabins means that only some of them have bigger balconies.  You could very well already have a Regular Middle Mini-Suite with a larger balcony (for example, on Caribe where the middle cabins are not CC/Reserve) and then get moved to one of the smaller balconies once you upgrade.  By way of example, on Regal, you could go from A414 (Regular Mini-Suite) to A420 (CC/Reserve).  You are literally moving down two cabins.  Take a look and tell me if you think that is better situated with a larger balcony.  That is my exact situation for my next cruise.  I keep getting emails urging me to bid for an upgrade, but I already have the largest Mini-Suite balcony (that isn't forward facing) and I am already in the Middle.  It is almost a 100% sure thing that if I upgrade, I will downgrade my cabin, but in return have the option to order Lobster Thermidor one night.  That certainly isn't worth $1,000 to me! 🤑 

Thanks Jimmy - you have far more knowledge than I do.