Full Suite Benefits

My wife and I are looking to take a Med cruise next June on the Azura and having travelled with Princess previously are aware of the benefits from you get from them when staying in a full suite. Can anyone tell me what benefits there are with P & O if you stay in an AD grade suite? For instance on Princess we got daily canapes, free laundry, free one time minibar set up and best of all the ability to have breakfast in Sabatini's.

You do get a Butler on PandO - but we find the suite perks much better on Princess. And the Sabatini breakfast was the icing on the cake!!

If I remember rightly we did get a bottle of champagne, chocs, flowers etc, together with the nightly canapes - but I prefer Princess - just our choice though and we do still cruise with PandO from time-to-time.

Hope this helps.

Glenda

On Ventura you also get to eat breakfast in The White Room if you are in a Suite. So on Azura I would imagine that you also get to east in the equivalent which is Seventeen on Deck 17.

Eddie

Thanks very much for the info. Very grateful

HAs anybody had a suite on Brittania yet ? do you get breakfast in private dinning like seventeen on Azura ?

HAs anybody had a suite on Brittania yet ? do you get breakfast in private dinning like seventeen on Azura ?

Yes in the epicurean cafe.

On Britannia we also got a priority tender pass, we could walk to the front of the queues both ways.

From what I've read Princess looks much more generous. I seem to recall a 1/2 bottle of champagne, a flower in a bowl, a few chocolates, a slightly enhanced toiletry pack and a few extras such as binoculars in the cabin. On some ships you can eat breakfast in a speciality restaurant but not all. On Arcadia you can have meals served in your cabin. I can't remember much else, lots of people have said it is better value to get a mini suite which is still a large cabin just no butler.

From what I've read Princess looks much more generous. I seem to recall a 1/2 bottle of champagne, a flower in a bowl, a few chocolates, a slightly enhanced toiletry pack and a few extras such as binoculars in the cabin. On some ships you can eat breakfast in a speciality restaurant but not all. On Arcadia you can have meals served in your cabin. I can't remember much else, lots of people have said it is better value to get a mini suite which is still a large cabin just no butler.

Full bottle of Champagne please. Fully enhanced toilet pack fresh fruit topped up. You can have all meals served in the cabin from the full MDR menu on all ships. And most important ...space.

Full bottle of Champagne please. Fully enhanced toilet pack fresh fruit topped up. You can have all meals served in the cabin from the full MDR menu on all ships. And most important ...space.

Sounds like they owe me another 1/2 bottle ;)

Sounds like they owe me another 1/2 bottle ;)

At least. If you are a high tier member you get a half bottle on a formal night.

Beautiful ship so much so we are returning a further 2 times in the next few months. However, we won't be staying in a Full Suite on her. There are very few 'perks' to speak of. The breakfast in the Epicurean was poor. So much so that we only ate there 3 times and chose to go to the buffet instead. The service took over an hour for some bacon, egg and mushrooms. When it arrived it was cold and there was 1 yes that's right 1 mushroom on the plate. The food just wasn't that great. Obviously everyone experiences something different from day to day, but we found the same on the Ventura and the White restaurant. It just felt like P & O were playing at it. They need to see how it is done in Sabatini's to really understand. Personalised service, staff who remember you from day 1 and your preferences.

The cabin (AFT) was lovely, but no cover from the sun and completely overlooked. We can't sit in the sun for long, for health reasons so it made the balcony pretty much unusable.

No laundry or free internet. You now have to pay for the movies, unlike previously.

So, we love the Britannia but the lack of any Suite perks makes it poor value for money - hence now booked in balcony cabin only.

Yes in the epicurean cafe.

dont think P&O would be happy calling their fine dining restaurant a cafe :)

Personally I wouldny pay the price of a suite on P&O would much prefer to have a smaller stateroom and for about the same money go on Crystal/Seabourn or other 6 star quality ship where you get a much higher standard of food and possibly free drinks throughout cruise and on some free excursions. The standard of food served to me doesnt justify the price for a suite I would want a higher standard for that price.

We have had several full suites on P and O ships, and always wonder why people want to go to a restaurant for breakfast when all you have to do is arrange (the night before) for your butler to deliver whatever you want to your suite at whatever time you want it. You want 3 sausages, 2 slices of bacon, half a dozen mushrooms he will deliver, on balcony or in room.

We have had several full suites on P and O ships, and always wonder why people want to go to a restaurant for breakfast when all you have to do is arrange (the night before) for your butler to deliver whatever you want to your suite at whatever time you want it. You want 3 sausages, 2 slices of bacon, half a dozen mushrooms he will deliver, on balcony or in room.

In my experience if you do not get enough in the breakfast room ask for more. Not difficult. The next time you go you will get it without asking. I have always found the amount of food was quite adequate.

We have had several full suites on P and O ships, and always wonder why people want to go to a restaurant for breakfast when all you have to do is arrange (the night before) for your butler to deliver whatever you want to your suite at whatever time you want it. You want 3 sausages, 2 slices of bacon, half a dozen mushrooms he will deliver, on balcony or in room.

We wouldn't and don't go on P & O anymore as the service and food in the speciality restaurants is just not good enough. Just one experience of Sabatini's on Princess is enough to have you hooked. :D

We wouldn't and don't go on P & O anymore as the service and food in the speciality restaurants is just not good enough. Just one experience of Sabatini's on Princess is enough to have you hooked. :D

Agreed,

We are suite passengers who left P&O about five years ago, not because we were unhappy with the onboard experience, but because of issues related to them not offering cruise only prices in the Caribbean. OK, you don't have to take their charter flights, but you get no credit if you don't . You don't even get a decent deal if you get them to upgrade to scheduled airlines.

So, we moved over to Princess and discovered that, apart from the butler - who we didn't really use, the benefits are so much better. Had breakfast in White's but it is just not the same as Sabatini's.

Only questionable point about the suite benefits package on Princess is the lack of a free internet package. However, once you have done five cruises with Princess, or have already done five with P&O and register for the Captain's Circle before you leave, you enter the scheme at the Platinum level(the next to the top level) in the loyalty scheme and that comes with 250 minutes each of free internet on a two week cruise irrespective of which grade of cabin you are in.

The highest level of the Captain's Circle would be achieved if you had either 151 days on P&O or 15 cruises with P&O (for the avoidance of doubt:- you get double cruise credits with Princess for being in a suite, but you don't get double Princess cruise credits for suite bookings with P&O).

Folks who get to Elite get a number of additional benefits including priority tendering, free laundry (not same day service) and one free mini-bar set up per cabin, not one each.

People in a suite and who are Elite, get a double mini-bar set up and same day laundry service if handed in before 09.00.

Apart from all this, I would say that the two lines are very much on a par, though we would miss not having 500 minutes of free internet on a two week cruise, and the only reason that P&O are off our list is still the same issue with flights (and yes, I know that you can book better seats on the charter flights, but only if you book very early).

Please don't read this as a 'we don't like P&O' post. All I am trying to do is to give a complete answer to the question of the differences. We have not ruled out P&O completely, but we will probably only consider booking a P&O cruise from Southampton, which, for the moment, we are unlikely to do.