are the suites nice?

[nurseblissful]

my husband and i are going on the star in march. we have reserved a penthouse suite. and i want to know if it is great, or should we quickly downgrade? all responses appreciated. :eek:

[flvol77]

my husband and i are going on the star in march. we have reserved a penthouse suite. and i want to know if it is great, or should we quickly downgrade? all responses appreciated. :eek:

 

I have been in a VS suite. Wife and I enjoyed it. But, when we looked at the pricing we decided we would rather be in the Mini Suite and take another cruise.

[MSN-Travelers]

my husband and i are going on the star in march. we have reserved a penthouse suite. and i want to know if it is great, or should we quickly downgrade? all responses appreciated. :eek:

 

For the money ... it is more cost effective to book a mini-suite and take two cruises for the price of a full suite.

 

We had three people in our mini on Grand and we didn't get in eachother's way at all. The mini's have full size bathrooms, upgraded bed linens and a sitting room space that provides ample space for a couple.

[AliceJ]

DH and I have had both a suite and a mini-suite. We really liked the suite a lot for a number of reasons - lots of space being one of them! We liked the larger space in the room, the larger bathroom, and the larger balcony. There's good storage as well. While we like to be out and about on the ship, we also really like to have some time just by ourselves in our cabin and on the balcony (daily wine and cheese hour:D ).

 

Also, suites do give some nice amenities: Priority tendering, free laundry and dry cleaning, etc. Here's the link to the amenities page on Princess.com:

http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na687

 

We really liked our mini-suite when we had that. Decent amount of room for us and DD (5 years old at the time). I don't think you would be unhappy in this size cabin by any means.

 

You do need to decide if the price differential is worthwhile for the difference in the size of the rooms and the extra amenities.

 

For us the decision was bunches easier - we "pay" for the cruise with credit card reward points, so the cost is much less of a factor.

[NAS-KARR]

DW and I are addicted to mini-suites...."will never leave home without one" , strongly recommend them. On our upcoming Med. cruise we were upgraded to a PH suite so we're very anxious to compare the two, I'm sure from what I read that there"s no comparison at all, it's by far and away alot nicer incl the amenities(naturally).

Take a look at the floor plan of both and u'll see why there's no comparison.

Anyway, if it isn't too late, will try to compare the two for u.

 

Ciao,

[idssms]

The Princess Suites are real nice! I was on a mini suite on the Grand and it didnt compare to a full suite on the CB. If you want to splurge go for a suite and you will be treated famously like I was.

 

Don

[Not an Essex Girl]

Hi

 

When i just looked at the link that was listed about listing the suite ammenaties it mentioned flower arrangements. What is that?

 

Is there a flower arrangement in the suite on arrival ?

 

This is our 1st time in a suite a VS on the Grand and we are all looking forward to it.

 

Any other perks you can tell us about that will make our cruise even better.

 

Tina

[barbarah33]

I have sailed in both on Princess and enjoyed both. It is a totally personal thing but here's how I determine what to take. If it's under a 10-day cruise I always take a mini-suite and the two of us in the cabin find it more than adequate. The sitting area, larger bathroom and second TV are great and allow us to be in the cabin together without ever coming close to being on top of each other - let alone having the verandah. (Think formal night where he gets ready in 15 minutes and I take closer to an hour.) He will sit and watch TV in the 'living room' section while I hog the closet, bedroom part and bathroom. Then, when I am close to being ready, he hops in the shower and we are ready.

 

I did have the larger suite on my Australia/Zealand cruise and wouldn't have changed a thing. It was over 2-weeks long and the much bigger cabin was wonderful though probably a bit more space than we needed. It was the extras you get for being in the big suite that made it so wonderful and we looked at that cruise as, perhaps, once in a lifetime so why not do it up and do it right? We turned the whole trip into over a month-long vacation and did it all first class so money wasn't an issue at all. Once our minds were made up that we were going to do the whole thing that way the larger suite was never a question.

Whatever you chose I know you'll love it!!

[Steven_&_Daniel]

Here is the info on amenities...

 

http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na687&submit=pk

 

 

Here are the best pictures I've found of the suites...

 

http://homepage.mac.com/tlassek/PhotoAlbum21.html

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/546607828YYtdRb

[MLAinVA]

Hi

 

When i just looked at the link that was listed about listing the suite ammenaties it mentioned flower arrangements. What is that?

 

Is there a flower arrangement in the suite on arrival ?

 

This is our 1st time in a suite a VS on the Grand and we are all looking forward to it.

 

Any other perks you can tell us about that will make our cruise even better.

 

Tina

 

There was a nice fresh flower arrangement in our PH suite on the CB last month. It lasted the entire week.

 

We appreciated the priority embarkation (once we had the matter settled with the door keeper in Ft Lauderdale) and the priority disembarkation lounge at the end of the cruise. We used the laundry/dry cleaning perk; and thoroughly enjoyes the special treats (chocolate dipped strawberries and candies) throughout the week. The suite itself was wonderful, as was our room steward, Bernard.

[Host CJSKIDS]

We had a penthouse suite on the Caribe deck on our 3/19 Star sailing and loved it! The balcony was fabulous and we spent a lot of time on it. It was really nice to be able to order a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we enjoyed all three out on the balcony. Cocktails and appys were also enjoyed out there with our friends with CD's playing in the CD player. Loved the free internet and laundry and dry cleaning service. Another great perk was the priority tender tickets which was a huge bonus on our sailing since so many of the port required tendering.

If money isn't an object and you want to pamper yourself, then go for the suite. If you're questioning spending the money or it would limit you on taking another cruise then the mini-suites are also a wonderful way to travel. We've cruised twice in a mini-suite and really enjoyed those as well.

[whale-watcher]

Does anyone have balcony or cabin pictures from Coral or Island Princess suites?

TIA!

[Tak8]

On my first Princess cruise, I booked an AD and was upgraded to a VS. The WOW factor is huge. The size of the cabin and the amenities are wonderful. Would I pay for it? That is an individual decision. If I were celebrating something special, I might. As others have said, you could book a mini and probably do 2 cruises or at least have a nice chunk of money for another cruise. I also think it's hard to go back once you have experienced a certain category type. On my first cruise, I was thrilled to have a window, then it was a bigger window, then it was a balcony... You get the idea.

[Lynda90]

We were upgraded from mini to PH two years ago. I felt pampered and loved the luxury of the suite. All the perks were just wonderful and felt very fortunate to have had the upgrade fairy sprinkle dust on us. Would I pay the extra $$ for it--nope! The mini suites are nice enough for me. I find the space more than adequate for two people. But, that's just me. I'd rather go on additional cruises than spend the money on a full suite. That's not to take anything away from the suite. If you decide to go that way, you will love it. Here is the best link I have found to the perks for mini and full suite. Even though it specifices Caribbean Princess, it is the same for the other ships as well.

http://www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com/perksa.html

[critterchick]

Does anyone have balcony or cabin pictures from Coral or Island Princess suites?

TIA!

 

I have pictures of C-703 (PH on Island) that I will post one of these days on the community webshots site. Look for photos from "critterchick1953". From what I've seen peeking into suites on the Grand Class and having stayed in a full suite on the Sun, the full suites on Island/Coral are more like the minsuites on the Sun Class, and are equivalent to the lowest category of suite on the Grand Class. The space was awkward, so even with the additional square footage, DH and I often got in each other's way when getting dressed. The suites are square, unlike the mini's, which are long and narrow. One side is the living room, with a sofa, chair, coffee table, end table and a desk. There's a small wet bar with a sink, mini fridge and TV. The bedroom (a full curtain separates the two) has a vanity tucked into the corner, a closet that isn't quite walk-in size, drawers next to the vanity, and another set of drawers and shelves by the closet. That's whewre the awkwardness exists - if I was drying my hair at the vanity (the hairdryer was awful, BTW, bring your own), DH had to squeeze by me to get to his undies. Some of that could have been avoided had I hogged all that drawer space and relegated him to the other section, but it wouldn't have been quite fair. Besides, had he be standing in front of "his" drawers, he would have been in my way (not allowed) if I wanted to get into the closet.

 

The bathrooms are nice - a separate room for the jetted tub and shower from the toilet/sink. But the bathrooms in a Sun class suite are awesome - toilet and sink in a powder room type setup, then another sink in the the room with the tub & shower. The Sun class suites also have a partition between the living room & bedroom, a true walk-in closet, and a vanity in the corner that one can used undisturbed.

 

Finally, and I know this is nit-picky (hell, it's all nitpicky!), the balcony furniture on the Island suites is white plastic, and the lounger cushions were grody enough that I flipped them over:eek: . On all the other full suites we've seen, it's teak. They also didn't give us wool blankets the way they did on the Sun. Am I spoiled or what? The balcony contained two loungers, a full size table and 4 chairs. It was too much furniture for the space.

 

We booked the suite because the price difference between a full suite and a mini was about $100 at the time we booked (I think Princess realized they had goofed because they tried to raise the price $600pp when they extended the length of the cruise from 7 to 9 nights even though they only raised other categories by $100 or so, but they backed down). For that price, it was a no-brainer when you consider the laundry perk alone. In general, however, we book a minisuite for just the 2 of us, because there's plenty of room for 2, the new beds are awesome, and we can usually pay for the laundry with tons of money left over.

[critterchick]

I've loaded some photos of C-703 on the Island here:

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/550701530KuleXj

 

I don't know if it's available for immediate viewing, but should be soon!