family suites?

[honeydog714]

we are thinking of bringing our daughter's friend with us on an upcomming cruise, we enjoy staying in suites and never had a problem with the ones that have curtains rather than doors when it was just the three of us but with another person my husband really would prefer a door between us and them. I know we could look at connecting balcony cabins but then we don't get the suite perks, has anyone stayed in one of the two family suites? what were they like? I can't seem to find any other combination that has a door and is a suite.

[Toto2Kansas]

I haven't stayed in them, but I did visit friends who were in one in December. They are a mini suite with an inside cabin attached and are adjoined by a larger living room area with an extra couch.

 

Although you do get the suite perks with this category, it really isn't anything I would want to book and nothing like a full suite offers.

 

Quite dark and access to the balcony only from one side. There are two bathrooms, but the section that is adjoined as the inside cabin has a very small bath with shower only, not much closet space, and two lower twins and two upper twins.

The inside cabin part has a door that does close, but just to the bedroom area.

 

Also, since they are located towards the very front of the ship, if any type of weather hits, the balcony can be too windy to even enjoy.

 

Just my observations.

[Colo Cruiser]

There is a door that seperates the living room from the additional cabin which does help, the balcony is really is not useable at all when under way

[morriscats]

Does anyone have a pic of a family suite (Star) or a diagram?

[Toto2Kansas]

Karen, let me look around and see if I can find a diagram. The ship we visited one was on the Star Princess in December.

[Toto2Kansas]

I found one. But trust me, the layout looks a lot better than the actual stateroom does. At least the one I saw on the Star three months ago.

[can786]

Another thing to consider is that you will pay the full suite rate for the first four passengers in the family suite. We were upgraded to the family suite on the Star a few years ago when we had originally booked a minisuite/inside combination of cabins. As it was the first time we were going to put the kids in their own cabin I was a little nervous about it, so the family suite was great for our needs. As others said, the balcony is pretty much unusable while sailing due to the wind since you will be the very first cabin at the front. Also, the minisuite side is only semi-private. Like a minisuite there is no separation between the sleeping and the living room areas. There is a door from the living room into the inside cabin, but I believe it can only be locked from the inside cabin side of the door and not from the living room/minisuite side of the door. The closet space on the inside cabin side was adequate for my kids and the bathroom on that side was a typical bathroom for an inside, outside or balcony cabin. The bathroom on the other side is a typical minisuite bathroom but neither one has any marble or whirlpool tub/separate shower combo. Princess was not offering the great suite perks that they have now when we were in this cabin but I have seen posts from others that they have had some trouble getting the suite perks. Hope this helps.

[Toto2Kansas]

Cathy, Our friends were also upgraded to the family suite. Not sure anyone who was in the know would really want to pay the suite rate for a stateroom configured like this? It sounds good in theory, and the layout looks fine, but I am sure since you have occupied one, you found it wasn't as great as it sounded? Especially the balcony being unusable most of the time.

[ladysheri]

Karen,

We too were upgraded to the Family Suite on the Diamond a couple of years ago. We enjoyed it thoroughly--it was perfect for 2 adults and 2 children, but not sure I would have paid for it. I will say that there was never a time we could not use the balcony, but it was an Alaska Inside Passage cruise. I have some pics, but have had trouble posting them. If you will email me at ladysheriann at hotmail dot com, I would be happy to send them to you.

Sheri

[honeydog714]

I just emailed you thanks in advance for sending them. Were you given full suite perks?

[honeydog714]

Hi Sheri my email was rejected by your server, could you please send the photos of the diamond family suite to my email honeydog714@yahoo.com?

I would really appreciate seeing first hand what it looks like.