Full suite questions

[Amy G]

We were successful in our bid for a penthouse suite, but this is our first suite and I have questions.  I found a list of all the amenities and I was wondering how the first-night specialty dining works.  Do we just show up?  How do we set up the mini-bar?  We already have a standing reservation for dinner, but I see that there is a dining room for us, which one is that (we are on the Crown)?  Is there anything else I need to know?  Thank you!

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, Amy G said:

We were successful in our bid for a penthouse suite, but this is our first suite and I have questions.  I found a list of all the amenities and I was wondering how the first-night specialty dining works.  Do we just show up?  How do we set up the mini-bar?  We already have a standing reservation for dinner, but I see that there is a dining room for us, which one is that (we are on the Crown)?  Is there anything else I need to know?  Thank you!

First night dinner just call done line when boarding. Mimi bar will be there when you get there and you can call room service to make any changes. You do not need any dinner reservations you will be in club/reserve class dining probably in mid ship deck 6 dining room. Little or no wait. Just look for the entrance marked reserve or club

[c-boy]

congratulations 👏

[Treasure Hunter]

Your suite will include unlimited laundry and a special breakfast with mimosas a large fruit bowl and flowers. On the Royal class we would have the breakfast In Sabatinis . The suite concierge would fix our phones, make our reservations and fix any problems. There was a happy hour every day in the lounge. The first night you will be assigned you free dinner but if the day or time isn’t good it can be changed by calling. 

[MTNest93]

We booked our 1st night dinner in the app for our upcoming cruise.  The credit for being in a suite showed and we paid -0-.  Congrats on winning your bid!

[ROXIETHEHORSE]

It has been our experience that if there is anything that you would like for breakfast, just let them know ahead of time, and if they have it on the ship, it will appear on your breakfast plate, We had a standing order for lobster and swiss omeletts with avacado slices on top. Every. Single. Day. 

[skynight]

Dining

You will have Reserve Class (formally Club Class) dining. MDR meals will be in the Da Vinci DR, deck six mid ship. Special entrance is on the starboard side. No reservations. You do not need to reserve in the Dine My Way app. Just walk in anytime and you will be seated fairly promptly. DR is open every evening for dinner and for lunch on sea days. It is also open for breakfast each day. However, as a full suite passenger you are entitled to have the special full suite breakfast. On the Crown this breakfast will either be in Sabatini's or the Crown Grill. I'm not sure. There will be information in your cabin about this. The special full suite breakfast is one of the top full suite benefits. You can also order room service dinner off the full menu. You have to request the menu from your cabin steward. Note that if you do order from the menu the meal will be delivered all at once.  

Edited June 22, 2023 by skynight

[Amy G]

Thank you everyone, all this is very helpful!

[TCTXCruiser]

34 minutes ago, skynight said:

Dining

You will have Reserve Class (formally Club Class) dining. MDR meals will be in the Da Vinci DR, deck six mid ship. Special entrance is on the starboard side. No reservations. You do not need to reserve in the Dine My Way app. Just walk in anytime and you will be seated fairly promptly. DR is open every evening for dinner and for lunch on sea days. It is also open for breakfast each day. However, as a full suite passenger you are entitled to have the special full suite breakfast. On the Crown this breakfast will either be in Sabatini's or the Crown Grill. I'm not sure. There will be information in your cabin about this. The special full suite breakfast is one of the top full suite benefits. You can also order room service dinner off the full menu. You have to request the menu from your cabin steward. Note that if you do order from the menu the meal will be delivered all at once.  

Do you know if the room service dinner menu includes the special items in the MDR on formal nights too?  

[C & C Love to Cruise]

4 hours ago, Amy G said:

We were successful in our bid for a penthouse suite, but this is our first suite and I have questions.  I found a list of all the amenities and I was wondering how the first-night specialty dining works.  Do we just show up?  How do we set up the mini-bar?  We already have a standing reservation for dinner, but I see that there is a dining room for us, which one is that (we are on the Crown)?  Is there anything else I need to know?  Thank you!

Sorry this is off track on what you asked, but can you please tell me if you bided week, strong, or excellent?  I want to bid on a suite and not sure what the chances are with bidding.

[Amy G]

3 minutes ago, C & C Love to Cruise said:

Sorry this is off track on what you asked, but can you please tell me if you bided week, strong, or excellent?  I want to bid on a suite and not sure what the chances are with bidding.

We had bid on a mini-suite and a club class mini-suite.  About 2 weeks ago they sent me a counteroffer to bid on a penthouse suite for $650 a person, so I did and won. I am not sure if that was a low bid or not, but considering the price to book a suite from the get-go was a lot more per person, I think we got a great deal!

[C & C Love to Cruise]

1 hour ago, Amy G said:

We had bid on a mini-suite and a club class mini-suite.  About 2 weeks ago they sent me a counteroffer to bid on a penthouse suite for $650 a person, so I did and won. I am not sure if that was a low bid or not, but considering the price to book a suite from the get-go was a lot more per person, I think we got a great deal!

did they call or email?  

[Amy G]

11 minutes ago, C & C Love to Cruise said:

did they call or email?  

Email. 

[Papa Yoda]

2 hours ago, TCTXCruiser said:

Do you know if the room service dinner menu includes the special items in the MDR on formal nights too?  

 

Yes - any MDR menu item.  

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Papa Yoda said:

 

Yes - any MDR menu item.  

Just don’t expect food to be as hot or cold as you like since all courses will arrive at one time 

[Plato123]

Don't forget to use the coupon for a free bottle of wine on your first night complimentary specialty dining.  You can find the coupon booklet pdf in this forum.

[memoak]

10 minutes ago, Plato123 said:

Don't forget to use the coupon for a free bottle of wine on your first night complimentary specialty dining.  You can find the coupon booklet pdf in this forum.

That is really bottom of the barrel wine. We usually use our 25% discount on something s little better with the plus package 

[Plato123]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

That is really bottom of the barrel wine. We usually use our 25% discount on something s little better with the plus package 

Our free bottle was a Castle Rock Pinot Noir.  Not quite as far down in the barrel as Canyon Road would have been.  Others have had better free bottles, 

[jeromep]

@Amy G congrats on the bid.  I've thought about putting in a bid for a suite upgrade for our next cruise, coming up fast, but it would just be a suite class change not a meaningful upgrade.

 

That said, we do suites because we don't cruise often, but we like to cruise well.  We use as many of the perks as we can.

 

If you are on a Royal Class ship with the Concierge Lounge and you need anything... anything, don't bother going to passenger services (although there is a separate waiting line for suite and elite passengers), just visit the Concierge in the Lounge and work directly with them.  They can address issues with Medallion, technology, dining reservations in the specialty restaurants or the MDR (although in the MDR you will enter through the Reserve class door and should not have any wait times for tables), book shore excursions which you have not already booked, etc.  They are really quite versatile and can save you a lot of time.  Use the lounge resources.  It is a great place to pick up a quick snack, get a quick beverage, etc.  Plus it is quite and calm in there.  If there is a particular beverage or food you'd like to see in the Concierge Lounge through the trip, just ask and they will do their best to get it stocked for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Alas, you are on the Crown, which does not have the Concierge Lounge.  That is ok, you'll see have a separate line at passenger services for any account related items.

 

You have free laundry.  There will be laundry bags and laundry slips in one of the closets in your cabin.  Just stuff the bag, fill out the slip with what you have placed in the bag and leave it on your bed in the morning, or hand off to your cabin steward.  They will get it to the laundry.  If you have your laundry ready in the morning, you will likely get it back the next afternoon.  Your onboard account will be charged for the laundry, but will then be credited back as you are in a suite.  I've not had an issue with the reverse credit not showing up, but others here have encountered that.  All you have to do is bring it to the attention of the Concierge in the Lounge or passenger services and they will get the credit initiated.  So, check your onboard folio frequently, at least daily so you aren't trying to get things cleaned up on disembarkation day.

 

The mini-bar is just a tray of small liquors, mostly the clear and brown style, vodka, gin, scotch, along with lowball glasses and a mini-fridge with some canned pop, a couple of mass market beers and a couple of bottled waters.  There are some exchanges you can do if you wish for different liquor or more pop or more beer or bottled water, but I've never really executed on that.  Your cabin steward will generally keep your ice bucket full in that mini-fridge.  They check in on it when they service the room.  If you use a little bit of ice, even if it is just for tap water, they will keep the ice flowing and you'll never be without.  Nice thing is on the Grand class ships the minibar is placed on your wet bar, and it is a real wet bar with a sink.  Suites on the Royal class ships, there is no wet bar in the suite, even though there really is space for one.  That is a disappointment.

 

First night specialty dining is easy.  Just decide if you are into Sabatini's or Crown Grill and ring up the dine line once you are on board and request a time.  Generally speaking, there are no wait lists for the specialty restaurants on embarkation evening.  That is part of the reason that they give suite guests the complimentary specialty restaurant meal on embarkation evening.  You may also be fine with no reservation at all, but like a lot of suite perks, just make sure that they do not charge your folio or that they have reversed any charges if they have to post it and then reverse it for accounting purposes.

 

Your standing MDR reservation is kind of meaningless now.  Since your suite gives you Reserve Class dining you reservation is not necessary as there are generally no lines for dinner in the Reserve Class dining room.  And if you have to wait, it will only be momentarily.  I can't tell you exactly which dining room hosts the Reserve Class door, but you'll find it.  It will be a dining room off the Piazza or atrium.

 

Your suite gives you a cruise long thermal suite pass at the spa.  Just head to the spa and they will be glad to show you the facilities.

 

Tendering?  If you have an excursion booked in a tender port and the excursion is booked through Princess you either meet in a public space with the rest of the cruisers that are on that excursion and then tender in together, or you are provided tender priority boarding tickets which put you to the front of the line to tender.  Suite guests get tender tickets on tender port days regardless if they have an excursion booked with Princess or not.

 

I suppose I could go on and on.

[cr8tiv1]

Clarification on Suite Laundry:

1.  Be sure to have it ready for your steward by 9 AM.  

2.  Mark Express box (otherwise it will go into general laundry)

3.  In by 9, returned same day after dinner.

 

Normally credit is given after midnight when they post to accounts.

 

Still haven't heard back from any one on a Grand Class ship to see if there is a dedicated concierge (with no lounge).

[Amy G]

1 hour ago, jeromep said:

@Amy G congrats on the bid.  I've thought about putting in a bid for a suite upgrade for our next cruise, coming up fast, but it would just be a suite class change not a meaningful upgrade.

 

 

I suppose I could go on and on.

Thank you so much for all the details.  We are super excited as this will be our first suite.  We aren't telling our daughter until we get on board.  🙂

[cr8tiv1]

2 minutes ago, Amy G said:

Thank you so much for all the details.  We are super excited as this will be our first suite.  We aren't telling our daughter until we get on board.  🙂

 

Are you sure you want to do this?  Once in a suite...it's really difficult to go back to a regular cabin.  

 

In addition:

You can order tea service on sea days when they have tea time in the MDR.  Be cautioned...lots of food.  Needs to be ordered ahead of time (night before/morning of). Some specialty coffees are also available.

 

Enjoy suite breakfast.  Yes, you can reasonably order anything you want off menu.  If they have it on the ship, they can probably do it for you.  Just check with the Assistant Manager in the restaurant.  

 

You can change out the mini-bar...alcohol for alcohol, or all non-alcohol.  Call room service for changes.  You will get 3 bottles of water every night (starting with the second night).

 

Enjoy your cruise.  

 

 

[Amy G]

29 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Are you sure you want to do this?  Once in a suite...it's really difficult to go back to a regular cabin.  

 

I

That's a big concern for us, hahaha!

[cruzsnooze]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Clarification on Suite Laundry:

1.  Be sure to have it ready for your steward by 9 AM.  

2.  Mark Express box (otherwise it will go into general laundry)

3.  In by 9, returned same day after dinner.

 

Normally credit is given after midnight when they post to accounts.

 

Still haven't heard back from any one on a Grand Class ship to see if there is a dedicated concierge (with no lounge).

There wasn't last month on my Alaska Cruise on the Grand

[cr8tiv1]

There are a couple of times you do not get express laundry.

 

• turn around day

• Glacier Bay

• When the steward sticks it in the wrong bin (happened once/he was so apologetic)

 

I have ALWAYS received it back the same day.  I do usually hand it to him the night before (on the bed) or first thing in the morning.  Even have stuck it outside my cabin door (I don't like to do this) by 7:30.   Steward has to give it to laundry before 9.  If he misses that time slot, it will not be returned that night.

 

I can only speak for my experiences.  Most have been on the Grand.