Suites - Owners Suite- Ever Booked One & Why?

[I LOVE TO GO CRUISING]

The difference in price between the Owner's suite and a Balcony Cabin to too high and it is just not worth it.

 

What I have done is book a Balcony Cabin one that I would be confortable in and on the sailing day I would get down to the ship early and speak to the Pier Coordinator and see if they had any upgrades available. The additional price is usually very small and the upgrade is well worth it. I have been upgraded numerous times to Owners Suites, Grand Suites and once to the Royal Suite.

 

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

 

What I would not do is book an inside cabin hoping to be upgraded to the Royal Suite. You have a better chance of seeing the sun rise in the west and set in the east. Under no circumstances do you want to end up in an inside cabin on deck #2 for the entire cruise.

[mdmourges]

Have stayed in a JS, GS and a RS. Have never stayed in an OS but have walked through one. My reaction is that an is bigger in genearl and a bit more entertaining area (table with area to sit at) and has the large flat screen tv. But, like the GS, it does not have a door to close off the sleeping area from the other parts of the room, as does the RS. That being said, it is hard for me to justify the add'l cost for the OS over a GS but I do think the cost of the RS over an OS is worth it.

 

Mark

[Heartdoc]

My family and I (wife and 5 year old daughter) have stayed in the RS on Enchantment and have the RS booked for Voyager in February. We enjoy sitting on our balcony for breakfast and entertaining folks we meet on the cruise in our cabin before the formal night dinners. For us, there is no question that the RS or OS experience is well worth the extra money. :)

[txskier]

I have an owner's suite booked on the explorer this summer I know a few people said they stayed in one on the explorer before so i just wanted to ask a couple questions. Someone said the blacony is smaller then the grand suite balcony is that true? Do they have a lounge chair on the balcony? IS the tub a regular tub or whirlpool tub? thanks for the help :)

 

We stayed in OS 1298 on Explorer. Yes the balcony is smaller than GS.

No it is not big enough for a lounge chair.

The balcony is very private

The tub is whirlpool jetted.

[BuyReallyLow]

Thanks for all the responses. We have booked our first one on Adventure in December. We were in a Grand, and the upgrade once final payment was due was almost inconequential. We are getting excited about the opportunity for the extra room, and hope the service is as at least equal to what we've experienced before and anything more will be wonderful!

[Cruising since '81]

We have booked 1320, owner's suite on the Voyager, Navigator, Explorer, and Mariner. We have also had an owner's suite on the Jewel and on another Navigator cruise. We are a family of four, with two older teenaged young ladies. The owner's suite provides us with comfort and space, especially the balconies on the Navigator, Jewel, and the Mariner (their balconies are much larger). We are booked and paid for on the Freedom of the Seas on December 17, 2006, and I have already booked 1340, owner's suite on the Freedom of the Seas next year, December 16, 2007. We would rather be together in a large suite, than in two smaller cabins. We began our family cruise in an oceanview cabin for four(very cramped) on the Sovereign. Then we had two connecting oceanview cabins on the Majesty. Once we had the owner's suite on the Voyager, there was no turning back. We spend enough time in the cabin and balcony to justify the expense. We did have two junior type suites(connected) on the Zuiderdam, and we were able to open the balcony partition. Again, it reminded us of the large balcony on the owner's suite.

We cruise one time one year and twice the next year, and inbetween we go to places such as New York City or Panama in Central America. We enjoy our family time together, and soon our girls will be be on their own. At least they will leave us as official Diamond members, so that they may continue cruising, just like we will.:) ;) :) ;)

[Dr. Pam]

Our family (Myself, DH & DS, DD) are booked in an owner's suite on the Brilliance (med & Venice) next summer. We have previously always had a large balcony stateroom on Disney and Princess. But, on the Splendour (MED)in the summer 2005, we booked a Grand Suite for our family. We loved it. We had the privacy curtain and each child had their own bed. Our suite attendant brought in a rollaway and put it beside the hideabed. It was a bit crowded at night, but it worked. NExt summer for the 12 day cruise, we decided to up the suite size to an owners suite. I am sure the separate tub and shower will speed up the "getting ready" time before dinner. The pix of the owner's suite looks a bit more upscale than the Grand Suite. We figured for 12 days, we will appreciate the extra room. If anyone has any pix or useful info about the Brilliance Owner's Suites, please write up or PM me.

Thanks.

[TBayCruiser]

Just came off the Mariner last week. We were in an OS (#1600 - Henry Hudson suite). This was our first time booking that level of a suite. It was worth it for this cruise, but I'm not sure that we will be doing it with frequency. Having the DVD/CD player was nice - we had made a CD of our favorite cruising music and would play that in the background. The TV was a nice feature at first...but we didn't watch it much once the cruise got going; there were too many other things to do. Of course, the bathroom was spacious. We did use concierge service/lounge several times.

There were 37 of us on the cruise, so people were always dropping by to chat, so it was worth it to have the extra room, but when it is going to be just the two of us...a smaller suite or balcony cabin will be fine.

[dzboss1]

I have an owner's suite booked on the explorer this summer I know a few people said they stayed in one on the explorer before so i just wanted to ask a couple questions. Someone said the balcony is smaller then the grand suite balcony is that true? Do they have a lounge chair on the balcony? IS the tub a regular tub or whirlpool tub? thanks for the help :)

 

I have had the OS on the Voyager (1608), Explorer (1320) and Jewel. The balcony on the Jewel (1060) had to be about 23 feet long. It was massive. The bathroom on the Explorer in the OS has 2 sinks, a bidet, lots of drawers and shelves and a jacuzzi tub. I don't know what the balconys on the GS are, but we had a lounge chair and 2 chairs on ours.

[Straughn]

There are just two of us and we have always stayed in a GS or an OS. The GS is perfectly fine for us, but if the price of the OS fits our budget, we book it. For us, it is all about the space. We spend a fair amount of time in our stateroom and it is nice to have the large sitting area and the added space in the bathroom. We only get one or two true vacations a year-meaning DH does not have to stay in touch with his office. The cruise is one of those true vacations and we want to have all the amenities and lots of room.

[shamrox91]

WE just booked an Owner's Suite on the Explorer for 10/7/07 room 1320. For us the reason why we decided on the suite was we were taking our daughter and her boyfriend and we wanted a big room for the 4 of us. The only reason why we splurged is because we received some unexpected money and wanted to spend it on something fun that we could all enjoy.

[cruisenfever]

We always try to book a JS cabin. Love the walk in closet and all the shelving space both in the closet next to the desk........that's what really appeals to us. The cabin is so much larger and so much more room to walk around. Guess I just hate clutter, and we seem to have very little in the JS.

 

Enjoy your suite and your cruise.

[aqhacruiser]

We have booked our second cruise - this time on RCCL's "Mariner of the Seas". Our first cruise, on Carnival last year, we booked an inside room. This time we are going all out with an Owner's Suite.

 

I am curious - for those of you that have had a suite, what was your impression? Did you like it? Was it worth the money? Do you ALWAYS book suites after having one? Why DID you book a suite?

 

Thanks for all the replies. This will be our first cruise on RCCL and I think we made a wise choice.

 

I love the JS! Perfect fit for us:)

[little britain]

I have an owner's suite booked on the explorer this summer I know a few people said they stayed in one on the explorer before so i just wanted to ask a couple questions. Someone said the blacony is smaller then the grand suite balcony is that true? Do they have a lounge chair on the balcony? IS the tub a regular tub or whirlpool tub? thanks for the help :)

We just had OS #1314 on the 'hump' on Explorer. 1314 is a good location at the front of the hump -so you can look along the ship and see where you are going!!! The room was a fantastic size for the 3 of us - a curtain cut off our section of the room from the lounge area each night. The steward turned the large curved sofa into a bed each nigh for the 15 yr old and there was a large [huge] TV that could rotate to face either the bedroom or the lounge at night - guess which person won! The bathroom was huge - two sinks, large shower with good pressure and a jacuzzi-bath.

Agree that the balcony was small - but we had one lounger, two chairs and a table on it.

Concierge lounge benefits were good - we used to take a plate of canapes upstairs for the kid, and some soda and then go for a few glasses of champers before dinner!

Pics available through the link in my sign off.

We have JS aft booked for our next cruise - believe it has a bigger balcony - just right for a glass of wine as we sail out of Venice...!