Top 10 Ultra-Luxury Cruise Accommodation

[SeaDawg]

Suites are more popular than ever, and it's not just because of size – even suites that are just slightly larger than standard balcony cabins have their merits. For example, families can enjoy roomier accommodation at a lower price point by booking a suite rather than two cabins. Also, suites often come with extra perks.

 

Top 10 Ultra-Luxury Cruise Accommodation

[wripro]

Top ten ultra deluxe cruise accommodations is a completely misleading title. Except for one suite on Regent all the other accommodations named are big suites on mass market lines. You will not have a luxury experience on these ships unless of course, you never come out of your suite.

[kitty9]

There is no way on earth that MSC, NCL, P&O, Princess or Celebrity or any other mass market line can be put in the luxury market. Yeah, the suites are nice, but once you get out of the fancy suite, you're on a mass market line with their ordinary food and ordinary service. We always book the PH on the M Class ships of Celebrity, and while the extra room is fantastic, Celebrity is not a luxury line. And even if you do not ever leave your suite, you're still getting the same old food from the mass market galley.

[SeaDawg]

Top ten ultra deluxe cruise accommodations is a completely misleading title. Except for one suite on Regent all the other accommodations named are big suites on mass market lines. You will not have a luxury experience on these ships unless of course, you never come out of your suite.

 

The article refers to the accomodations, not the ships themselves. You stated that . . .

 

You will not have a luxury experience on these ships unless of course, you never come out of your suite.

 

This implies that you will have a luxury experience in your suite. This contradicts your first sentence . . .

 

Top ten ultra deluxe cruise accommodations is a completely misleading title.

 

That is not misleading since accommodations are living quarters afforded to travellers in hotels or on cruise ships. It is not meant as a reflection of the cruise ship itself.

[wripro]

I don't believe that I am contradicting myself. Most of these big suites on mass market ships provide butlers and lots of amenities the rest of the passengers do not receive. So if one chooses to have all one's meals served by a butler, have him unpack and pack for you, have canapes delivered daily etc. etc. etc. and never leaves the suite one can have an approximation of a luxury experience.

[SeaDawg]

I don't believe that I am contradicting myself. Most of these big suites on mass market ships provide butlers and lots of amenities the rest of the passengers do not receive. So if one chooses to have all one's meals served by a butler, have him unpack and pack for you, have canapes delivered daily etc. etc. etc. and never leaves the suite one can have an approximation of a luxury experience.

 

Again, the article is about luxury accommodations. Nothing else. When you say the article about luxury accommodations is misleading but also state there is a luxury experience in the cabin, you are contradicting yourself.

[Keith1010]

Having read through the article it's very strange the logic they was used to pick what they considered the top 10 luxury suites. Tom me the list is really all over the place.

 

WriPro actually they had two luxury cruise lines Silversea and Regent but again they are all over the place with the rest of them. But how they pick some of these others without say listing Crystal's two CP accomodations is beyond me and we could all list other on luxury lines that were not listed.

 

There is no question that some of the accomodations are far greater than the other accomodations found on the ships that they listed (eg., Garden Villa Suites on NCL is far better than any other NCL accomodation afloat) but being on an NCL ship is not being on a luxury cruise line. Same goes for many of the other lines mentioned such as Celebrity, Princess, etc.

 

Anyway, I am not sure what criteria was used to select these accomodations but I would argue that there are more luxurious accomodations at sea. And my bigger problem is at the end when it says find and book a luxury cruise on line which implies that these are all luxury cruise lines which is obviously not the case.

 

Keith

[wripro]

Okay Seadawg, you win. All I can say is when I first read it my impression was the article was about luxury cruising. What they should have called it was "The nicest suites on big ugly ships."

[ancientmariner]

I was invited into a Grand Suite on the Regent Voyager on Sunday, while the ship was docked in Southampton.

 

It resembled an office suite, with a reception desk and fax machine at the door. It was cold and uninviting; certainly not what one would call "luxury".

 

Trudi

[Travelcat2]

I was invited into a Grand Suite on the Regent Voyager on Sunday, while the ship was docked in Southampton.

 

It resembled an office suite, with a reception desk and fax machine at the door. It was cold and uninviting; certainly not what one would call "luxury".

 

Trudi

 

Looking at an empty suite is kind of like looking at an empty house when you are house hunting. The "luxury" certainly does not come from the office suite, reception desk or fax machine. Regent has over the top Butler service for this suite as well as luxury dining, ammenties, etc. ANY suite on Regent (IMO) is luxury -- only equaled by Silversea or Seabourn.

 

I agree with wripro 200%

[Keith1010]

Interesting. I've never found an empty suite on most ships to be analagous to an empty house. Rather, on the luxury cruise lines that we have sailed on I have found the suites to look beautiful as they normally have beautiful art work on the walls and art work displayed in the furniture. The furniture, flooring, carpeting and the finish out of the rooms normally looks very impressive to me. I would say the only difference when no one is in the suite is that it might not have any fresh flowers.

 

Even our suites on a Premium Cruise Line such as Celebrity were beautiful.

 

Trudi your observations were of interest to me. I have never been on that ship nor have I sailed with Regent. But, there was a man who was doing a blog of the full world cruise he and his wife just took on the Regent Mariner. They either were in the largest suites or say the second largest suite. One day he posted a picture of the suite and to me it did look very bland. Like a big room with no character. First I thought it was a bad picture but now I'm wondering if it was the room.

 

Trudi, do you remember if there was art work on the walls and on the shelves. Was the furniture nice or was it plain and what we the finish out like and was their carpeting?

 

Keith

[Travelcat2]

Regent has the largest "standard" suites of any cruise line. The Mariner has the smallest of Regent's ships. Below is link to one of the Voyager's Penthouse suites (only 15 sq. ft. larger than their "regular" suites.)

 

http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj218/Travelcat_photos/misc/?action=view&current=Voyager_B_Penthouse_Suite_Listings.jpg

 

There is quite a long thread on CC about "luxing up" mainstream cruise lines. You can stay in the best suite, have a great butler and ammenties. . . but, at some point you have to walk out of the door. The concensus was that you can not lux up a main stream cruise.

 

Re: my earlier post -- when I referred to an empty house -- I was referring to one that no one is living in -- not one without furniture. It didn't make much sense the way I phrased it:confused:

 

Wripro, I disagree with you a tiny bit about calling Seabourn's suites comparable to Silversea and Regent. With the exception of their new ship, they don't have balconies.

[Keith1010]

TravelCat, I tried to click on the link but it didn't seem to bring up the suite.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I just tried again and this time it worked.

 

Keith

[wripro]

With the coming of Seabourn Odyssey and Silver Spirit Regent Voyager will no longer have the largest standard suites. But the sq. footage difference is minimal so basically they will all be similar.

[Travelcat2]

With the coming of Seabourn Odyssey and Silver Spirit Regent Voyager will no longer have the largest standard suites. But the sq. footage difference is minimal so basically they will all be similar.

 

You are correct. However, Seabourn will have 4 ships -- only one of which will have the larger suites and balconies. As I have mentioned in many posts, we are interested in taking a Silversea cruise in the future. . . . however, in order for us to have any interest in Seabourn, we have to wait for the reviews on the Seabourn Odyssey. We do understand that Seabourn service is impeccable. . . . but, they also have a reputation of being a bit snobbish and formal (not our thing at all). Time will tell.......

[Keith1010]

I guess this is another example where we all have different preferences as to what drives our luxury cruising decisions. As usual, there is no right or wrong. It is all an individual decision and there are certainly enough nice choices when it comes to luxury cruising to make most everyone happy.

 

I thought I would just share what my wife and I have found;

 

For us when I think of how we spend our time no matter what size accomodations we have, (and we have had a variety of sizes) we spend most of our waking hours in the public rooms, out on the open deck or off the ship in port. Most of the time we spend in the room is to get changed or ready for the next part of the day or to sleep.

 

In fact, on our Seabourn cruises we never missed not having a verandah. The reality is that on the 200 passenger ships that Seabourn has if we wanted to go outside in a matter of a minute we could go from our room outside. So no big deal for us. For us, these ships are the way they promote them. They are yachts.

 

On Crystal we have spent a good deal of time on the ships, including taking two full world cruises. Yes, the size of the room on these long cruises was helpful in terms of closet space for the additional clothes and a little extra space is always helpful. But when I think of our most memorable times from these cruise it was in other places outside our room. On sea days there are so many activities on board the Crystal ships that we don't see much of the room.

 

Anyway. As I think about it all of this reaffirms my view for myself and my wife ( I am not speaking for others but I am speaking for us only) that the room itself plays a very small factor in the enjoyment of our cruises since most of our waking time is spent outside the room.

 

I guess it also reaffirms my view that you can take the nicest room but put it on a ship that is not a luxury ship and unless you spend all of your waking hours in that room, to me one is not sailing on a luxury cruise.

 

Again, thank goodness for choice.

 

Keith

[DebbieH103]

I can see why the NCL Garden Villas made a list about accomodations because if you get the biggest ones, they are almost 5800 square ft. , and all these open out into an area only for these guests that has a lot of feautures. You could get yourself into a specialty restaurant every night and luxe that part up a little. With Epic coming out, they are going even further. Albeit, it is definitely a mass market.

 

On the owner's suite on Silversea, they are nice, but they did not list the royal or grande. They are nice but more understated elegance than glitz. By around year end, ALL Silversea accomodations are going to have butlers standard. I know we are going to use ours on Spirit. The Whisper and the Shadow accomodations in verandah are already bigger than Mariner and the same as Voyager but slightly different inside.

 

Keith, interesting perspective, but from my view and knowing our personality...we are room and food people, in that order. If we were to venture together on a mass market, a nicer room would help us because as soon as my husband saw the lines anywhere, he would be griping and running to that suite! Also, if we went on a world cruise, at some point we would be quite tired. I read lots of people on world cruises start spending tons of time in the room, and we have traveled on a couple on just the last segment and seen that to be so. We love the Regent & SS config with the curtain and sitting area because I am an early riser, and my husband isn't, and I can get up w/o disturbing him. I actually look for suites where we can break off like that or have a door. So I am saying if something was 1000 square foot and just had an opening in the bedroom door, that would not be as good for us as 356 square ft. with that drape.

[Keith1010]

Debbie, in the end each person has different preferences so they need to find the cruise line and the accomodations that work for them and for their budget.

 

We know people on our world cruise sailings who never got off the ship in any port. They were there for the ship. We know some who would dine in their room many nights particularly if they had one of the suites. We know others who got off in every port. What we actually found on the world cruise is the most popular cabins are the lowest prices ones and the larger ones. So, in my mind that reaffirms that each person is different.

 

We had the owners suites on a Celebrity Ship. It was very large and very well appointed. On top of that the size of the verandah was amazing. But in the end for us when we left the room we were not on a luxury cruise ship.

 

Anyway, the key is each person finding the cruise line and the ship and the accomodation that works for them. Many times there is more than one that works and sometimes it does vary based on factors such as itinerary and the length of the cruise.

 

In terms of the original article we need to keep in mind that it was the writers opinion on what the top ten luxury suites are on cruise ships. I am sure that each of us would have our own list which may include others not on this list and may drop off others that were on the list.

 

Keith

[DebbieH103]

I agree with you on that. People that have been everywhere often don't get off the ship. I always get off even if I have been somewhere before, but my husband doesn't always.

 

I know there are many that like mass market because they like the crowds, going from one lounge to the other, mixing it up with all those people, staying anonymous and things like that. For them, I would recommend a mini-suite at least to luxe that up. The fact is that these big suites on mass market and premium ARE selling. Some people don't ever want to even wear a suit to dinner but want a great cabin. These are awesome for them. My in-laws come to mind. They do Celebrity and Holland America in upper suites, even for 65 nights. They are very comfortable with the atmosphere and offerings, and that suits them. They can afford any price, and we have not got them on a luxury ship yet.

[wripro]

Travelcat2,

 

First, by next June there will be two new Seabourn ships when the Sojourn debuts.

 

Second, I have no idea where this rumor that Seabourn is snobby started. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the people are warm, friendly and couldn't be more open. Of course, you will find the occasional boor but that can happen anywhere. Please don't be put off by unsubstantiated rumors. And everything you heard about the service is true.

[Travelcat2]

Travelcat2,

 

First, by next June there will be two new Seabourn ships when the Sojourn debuts.

 

Second, I have no idea where this rumor that Seabourn is snobby started. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the people are warm, friendly and couldn't be more open. Of course, you will find the occasional boor but that can happen anywhere. Please don't be put off by unsubstantiated rumors. And everything you heard about the service is true.

 

I have been following the build of the Odyssey. Being almost the size of the Navigator is good -- the suite sizes are very close to Regent. We did check the itinerary for 2010, didn't find any itinerary compelling. Will look at 2011 when it comes out. Some winter in Asia itineraries are interesting.

 

The rumor about Seabourn being snobby was from some friends. Actually, it wasn't so much that they were snobby as the fact that many passengers are repeat customers -- know each other and perhaps ignored some people new to Seabourn. While all luxury cruise lines have loyal repeat passengers, it may just have been more obvious being on such a small ship.

 

I do hope to try both Silversea and Seabourn before we run out of itineraries and return to land travel. Although we have been to Asia, we think it would be great cruise the area.

 

Thanks -- I appreciated your post!

[Keith1010]

I hope you try Seabourn. Interestingly enough I have the opposite view of Seabourn. You see on the current triplets most of the evening revolves around enjoying a drink before dinner and then a long dinner with plenty of great conversation with new found friends you meet on board the ship. Will there be a few snobby people? Of course there will because people are people.

 

But, I have to say that in general the people were wonderful. Many are successful and have wealth but do not brag or talk about it. If you ask them a question they will also ask you questions showing their interest in you. In general they are very worldly travelers and we have kept up with many of the ones we met from our sailings.

 

The best way to judge any of this is through your own eyes.

 

Go into it with an open mind.

 

Keith

[MMDown Under]

I agree with you on that. People that have been everywhere often don't get off the ship. I always get off even if I have been somewhere before, but my husband doesn't always.

 

I know there are many that like mass market because they like the crowds, going from one lounge to the other, mixing it up with all those people, staying anonymous and things like that. For them, I would recommend a mini-suite at least to luxe that up. The fact is that these big suites on mass market and premium ARE selling. Some people don't ever want to even wear a suit to dinner but want a great cabin. These are awesome for them. My in-laws come to mind. They do Celebrity and Holland America in upper suites, even for 65 nights. They are very comfortable with the atmosphere and offerings, and that suits them. They can afford any price, and we have not got them on a luxury ship yet.

 

No doubt this has been explained before, but could you please explain briefly what is the difference between a premium and luxury ship. I understand luxury ships and mass market ships, I'm just not familiar with premium ships. Is Holland America a premium cruise line, or is it more individual ships?

[Keith1010]

No doubt this has been explained before, but could you please explain briefly what is the difference between a premium and luxury ship. I understand luxury ships and mass market ships, I'm just not familiar with premium ships. Is Holland America a premium cruise line, or is it more individual ships?

 

A luxury cruise line will provide very upscale service. You will find this in the level of service, quality of cuisine, finish out of ships, and the quality of a whole variety of items from bed linens, room acommodations, to even the quality of the bath products. On a luxury cruise line you won't find any of the nickel and diming that you find on mass market ships and that over the years has actually expanded to the premium cruise lines.

 

If the cruise line was a land based hotel and you think luxury think of a Ritz Carlton or a Four Seasons Hotel.

 

A premium cruise line often features a somewhat more sophisticated cruising experience than a mass market cruise line. Overall, the amenities and overall cruise experience will be of higher quality than those offered on a mass market cruise line but not at the levels found on a luxury cruise line.

 

If the cruise lines was a land based hotel and you think premium think of a Hyatt Resort Hotel or a Westin Hotel.

 

Some folks in marketing stretch the use of the word premium as they probably do with luxury but to a lesser extent. I think over time with the number of cruise lines that are now trying to market themselves as premium that you will see a forth category added or maybe some lines being categorized and moved into the mass market category. Yes, some Holland Ships have much more of a feel and look of a premium cruise line than some of their other ones. Same with a few of the other premium cruise line ships.

 

Keith