Bidding on Club Class mini suite-location question

[Bollycats]

I am sailing on the Caribbean Princess and just got the email to bid for upgrades. I have been in a Club Class mini suite before and it was nice, but I wouldn't pay a lot to do it again. Thought I'd try to bid since my travelling companion this time has never done it. There are none available when I look at the current deck plan so I can't tell what might be available. My concern is being next to the glass elevators and hearing ding, ding, ding all night.

 

Am I correct to assume these rooms are the last to be booked and chances are pretty good that's what I'll get?

[cr8tiv1]

Your bid does not guarantee a specific cabin.  You will be at the mercy of whatever is available when they accept your bid.  IF...IF...there are other Reserve Mini's available, you can call your TA or Princess and see if they will move you to another stateroom.  

 

Princess recently changed their policy.  IF...IF...they accept your bid, it is automatically charged to your credit card and is irreversible.  

[Bollycats]

Right, I understand all that. What I meant was those who book a club class mini suite and pay for it outright. They probably won't be choosing rooms right next to noisy elevators. I'm just thinking for those of us who are now bidding on them that might be all that's left.

[Steelers36]

15 minutes ago, Bollycats said:

Right, I understand all that. What I meant was those who book a club class mini suite and pay for it outright. They probably won't be choosing rooms right next to noisy elevators. I'm just thinking for those of us who are now bidding on them that might be all that's left.

We have not found proximity to elevators to be an issue.  Bigger issue has been if there are noisy neighbors in the passageway late at night.

[photomikey]

I've been cruising 15 years.  I used to read these boards obsessively and steadfastly avoid rooms above/below public areas, near service areas, too close to elevators, too close to stairs, etc.

 

5 years ago we got stuck directly below the pool bar which is 1) open late, 2) loud, 3) they powerwash it at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.

 

Never heard a peep, the whole cruise.  Not the music, not talking, not with the balcony open, not in port, not at sea, not at midnight, not at 5am.

 

I stopped worrying about noise and in the 5 years since I book wherever, and I've had no issues.

[CruzeQueen2]

My cabin was located just aft of where the mid-ship elevators are. Never heard any sounds like "DING" of the elevators.

Noisy big-little feet - running up and down the hall- yes. I heard that quite a lot on the last sailing in August I had! I usually don't travel during the summer months, nor during the school holidays. LOL

All that aside, I had a fantastic time on Crown last week.

[AZ Ocean Lover]

I won a bid to a Reserve Class that was right across from the elevators.  I got in touch with my PVP and he got us moved.  Even though it showed sold out there was another room for us.  We would have been happy staying our original mini and paying for the upgrade but don’t know if this would be possible.

[happy42cruise]

4 hours ago, AZ Ocean Lover said:

I won a bid to a Reserve Class that was right across from the elevators.  I got in touch with my PVP and he got us moved.  Even though it showed sold out there was another room for us.  We would have been happy staying our original mini and paying for the upgrade but don’t know if this would be possible.

If you mean having Reserve Class amenities in a standard mini suite NO, not an option.

 

To the original poster, we've never heard any elevator noise on any of our cruises, just other cruisers talking loudly.

[Bollycats]

Thanks for everyone's replys. I called my Princess rep yesterday and instead of doing the bidding he put us on a wait list. We are number two so I'm not holding out much hope but you never know. This way if one becomes available we will know the actual cabin and can decide if we want it or not based on location and price.

[drizzle63]

On 8/21/2023 at 1:14 PM, photomikey said:

I've been cruising 15 years.  I used to read these boards obsessively and steadfastly avoid rooms above/below public areas, near service areas, too close to elevators, too close to stairs, etc.

 

5 years ago we got stuck directly below the pool bar which is 1) open late, 2) loud, 3) they powerwash it at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.

 

Never heard a peep, the whole cruise.  Not the music, not talking, not with the balcony open, not in port, not at sea, not at midnight, not at 5am.

 

I stopped worrying about noise and in the 5 years since I book wherever, and I've had no issues.

Thanks for posting this. Been obsessing and debating on a cabin change to a suite right under Neptune's pool on the Crown Princess. That said, I can be sensitive to noise and a light sleeper, so what to do!

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, Bollycats said:

Thanks for everyone's replys. I called my Princess rep yesterday and instead of doing the bidding he put us on a wait list. We are number two so I'm not holding out much hope but you never know. This way if one becomes available we will know the actual cabin and can decide if we want it or not based on location and price.

 

This "seems" to be the same process as an upgrade bid for more money.  You are subject to price of upgrade at time of service (which could be much higher due to demand).  Also, you may not have the opportunity to decline waitlist upgrade.  Princess may upgrade you, AND put your original cabin back into inventory.  You may not be able to retrieve old cabin and then "stuck" with wherever Princess decides to assign.

[Bollycats]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

This "seems" to be the same process as an upgrade bid for more money.  You are subject to price of upgrade at time of service (which could be much higher due to demand).  Also, you may not have the opportunity to decline waitlist upgrade.  Princess may upgrade you, AND put your original cabin back into inventory.  You may not be able to retrieve old cabin and then "stuck" with wherever Princess decides to assign.

I hope that's not true. My PVP said if one opens up I will be sent an email with cabin number and cost to upgrade. I have 48 hours to respond or else it goes away. He strongly pointed out that I need to check my email so I don't miss it.

[hawk/hornfan]

I have gotten 2 bid to upgrade notice for our cruise in Oct. We are in a mini on aloha midship. I picked that cabin. Offers are for a full suite, uh no out of my price range. Or Reserve class, which is doable, but I am not giving up my cabin choice, for snob dining, therefore I ignore the upgrade emails. 

[Treasure Hunter]

I bid on and won an upgrade from a standard mini to club class on the Emerald Princess leaving September 9.  I bid the max $265 pp as we really wanted it. We love the fact that we can dine whenever we want without waiting and without reservations. When I looked at the staterooms every category except inside was marked sold out for months. We bid on all categories of suites too but We really didn’t want to pay thousands and felt the mini was a nice comfortable size. As Elite we get most of the suite perks already. So it doesn’t matter if they are marked sold. The club class minis are in a great location on dolphin deck with staterooms above and below and not next to elevations ( never heard any bings in 35 Princess cruises). We saved a bundle by using the upgrade system.

[kluv2cruz]

9 hours ago, drizzle63 said:

Thanks for posting this. Been obsessing and debating on a cabin change to a suite right under Neptune's pool on the Crown Princess. That said, I can be sensitive to noise and a light sleeper, so what to do!

Check out cruisedeckplans.com - they have a cool feature that you put in your cabin and it shows what’s above and below. Also can click your cabin and if there are negative reviews you can read about it. CC also has spreadsheets linking to cabin reviews for some ships, some cabins. 

[drizzle63]

7 minutes ago, kluv2cruz said:

Check out cruisedeckplans.com - they have a cool feature that you put in your cabin and it shows what’s above and below. Also can click your cabin and if there are negative reviews you can read about it. CC also has spreadsheets linking to cabin reviews for some ships, some cabins. 

Nice! Thanks. My OCD paid off because I was compulsively rechecking availability online and sure enough, an aft suite was available this morning, so grabbed it. I will check this site out, though. Thanks for posting.

[jwattle]

3 hours ago, hawk/hornfan said:

I have gotten 2 bid to upgrade notice for our cruise in Oct. We are in a mini on aloha midship. I picked that cabin. Offers are for a full suite, uh no out of my price range. Or Reserve class, which is doable, but I am not giving up my cabin choice, for snob dining, therefore I ignore the upgrade emails. 

"Snob dining"? Wow...

[Treasure Hunter]

Na Na Na NaNa

[JudithLynne]

My DH and I have completed 30+ cruises with Princess.  We always try to book a mini suite on Dolphin Deck next to, or near the elevators.

We have never, ever had a problem with noise.  A few times we ended up center between elevators.  That is where we heard the noise.... kids race running and screaming to get to the cabin or the elevator.

[Mike45LC]

The only time I've had a significant problem with noise was in 1997 on the Carnival Fascination and Inspiration, cruising out of San Juan.  Our cabin was down the hall and one flight below the disco/nightclub, and despite signs, they never kept the door closed.  So we were bombarded with the  extreme noise every night.  After that experience and my unhappiness with Carnival's complete indifference to our plight, I did not cruise on Carnival for over 25 years.

[Momma Mojito]

On 8/21/2023 at 4:14 PM, photomikey said:

I've been cruising 15 years.  I used to read these boards obsessively and steadfastly avoid rooms above/below public areas, near service areas, too close to elevators, too close to stairs, etc.

 

5 years ago we got stuck directly below the pool bar which is 1) open late, 2) loud, 3) they powerwash it at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.

 

Never heard a peep, the whole cruise.  Not the music, not talking, not with the balcony open, not in port, not at sea, not at midnight, not at 5am.

 

I stopped worrying about noise and in the 5 years since I book wherever, and I've had no issues.

We usually like to book close to the laundromat and one time our cabin was right across from it.  I can say we never heard any noise from the door slamming!

 

 

[Bollycats]

OP here.... Just wanted to give an update. Got an email last night that our waitlist cleared for the club class mini suite. We are currently in a forward mini-suite so only one step up. They want an additional $4,100 for it! Of course we are not going to do that so I will let it go. The cabin they were offering was not real close to the glass elevator so it would have been okay. But if I bid now I may not win the bid and I may not be able to get that specific cabin. So I still don't know what to do.