Is upgrading to suite worth it?

We are sailing on the Pride December 6th and after several cruises with Carnival I was excited to finally book my first balcony cabin. Currently we are booked midship Panorama deck. I was considering looking into an Ocean suite and am wondering if the additional cost is worth it. The available suites are located aft on either Upper(5) or Verandah(7).

I cant say if I spend more or less time in a cabin than anyone else, but kind of liked the idea of the larger balcony, some priority boarding, and according the the website it indicates its closer to the Serenity deck. I have never sailed on this ship so really dont know where everything is located aside from looking at the online deck plans.

Does anyone have an opinion regarding just staying where we are midship vs paying a bit more for the aft suite ?

Suite - YES.....aft - NO...we only stay midship (typically deck 7 and above) so I would probably keep the balcony if it is midship and OS is not....

They have Grand suites available midship, but thats a bit too expensive. [emoji16]

The only way I would spring for a suite on a Spirit class ship over a balcony would be if was a corner. The suites are larger yes, but not enough to make me want to spend more time in the room therefore I cant justify the cost. I suppose if there were more than two people the extra room would be very welcomed but for just two people the extra room does not win me over.

The corner's on the other hand are EXCELLENT, the balcony cant be beat - being able to literally walk around on the balcony or relax in a lounger its excellent!

How much extra is the suite?

How many people in your cabin? If only 2, I wouldn't spend the money. Extra real estate is nice but that, with priority boarding, is all a suite gets you on Carnival. Weve sailed in an Ocean suite and Grand Suite (only because of a reasonable last minute upsell), and I'm unlikely to spend that much again just for more space. Now RCL, the perks make the suite worth it, although the price difference is substantially more when compared to the CCL difference.

I have some mobility issues so I like the extra room. Theres a dressing room , extra closets, a chest of drawers and more room in general in the bedroom area. Balcony is longer but still only as deep as a regular balcony. It would depend on how much the difference in price is. It is a great sized room for more than 2 people.

Tried a suite a couple years ago after having many balcony rooms. It was nice, but not worth a few hundred extra dollars.

I think whats happening is I am getting so excited about this cruise. My last cruise on Carnival was 18 years ago! My first was on the Festivale with an interior cabin, then the next three were all oceanview cabins.

There are two of us in the cabin and I have a little bit of extra money and am itching to do something a bit different for this cruise. I am very happy with finally booking a balcony and now I am looking around the website looking at FTTF, suites, cheers, etc. I did get the reservation for Chefs Table and will also try the Steakhouse. Still torn about the Cheers package after reading all the pros and cons, but am loving all the posts!

The suite is about $200 more per person

The suite is about $200 more per person

If you can comfortably afford the $400 and you think it will make this trip just a little extra special, then I would be with you.

We are booked on a Princess ship this December and also celebrating a couple of things that are very important to us. So for this cruise, I did pay extra (against some advice) and booked an aft Owners Suite.

Whether or not I will like it doesn't matter. Its something I've always wanted to do and I was able to do it so I did.

Enjoy your cruise

Carnival has the worst "suite perks" at sea....save your suite money for another line!!

For $ 400 would give it a go to see how we like it.

Carnival has the worst "suite perks" at sea....save your suite money for another line!!

I agree with this....we did upgrade once on Carnival, and the room/balcony was very nice, but SO not worth the extra money. Pretty much any of the other cruise lines are worth it, the perks are quite good. With Carnival, all you get is priority embarkation.

I think whats happening is I am getting so excited about this cruise. My last cruise on Carnival was 18 years ago! My first was on the Festivale with an interior cabin, then the next three were all oceanview cabins.

 

There are two of us in the cabin and I have a little bit of extra money and am itching to do something a bit different for this cruise. I am very happy with finally booking a balcony and now I am looking around the website looking at FTTF, suites, cheers, etc. I did get the reservation for Chefs Table and will also try the Steakhouse. Still torn about the Cheers package after reading all the pros and cons, but am loving all the posts!

 

The suite is about $200 more per person

FTTF ----> Well worth it! IMO

Steakhouse ---> Just AWESOME! IMO

Cheers -----> Normal drinkers will NEVER consume the amount needed (IMO). If I remember right; roughly 80 drinks to break even for two people.

Room Type --> Personal Choice ---> Enjoy your cruise!!!!

Suite was nice but overall not that exciting i always buy FTTF and last time did Cheers and it was worth it for us $50 a day = 5 Drinks so we had around 8 on sea days and port days we had about 6 so overall it was worth it

We just saw a suite on the Miracle. The bathtub was horrible. It was a corner tub with two sliding doors that met in the middle. Couldn't sit and turn because of the rail.

Wish I could remember which cabin it was.

We won't sail in anything but an aft wrap suite.

We got an upswell call to go to a grand suite for $481 and we took it just because we knew we'd never do it again. It was nice but not something I'd ever pay full price for. The only thing I really liked was the tub but the sides were so tall it was difficult for me and my child to get in and out of. Priority boarding does make you feel special but, again, not worth the price.

The ocean suites are smaller than the grand suites, google the you tube videos for them

On Carnival Fantasy Class Ships it is so worth it to upgrade to a suite. ;)

Thanks for all the great responses. I think regarding the suite I am going to stay where we are. Maybe next time??[emoji2]

Howdy all,

New to C.C. leaving on the carnival valor in august for my grown sons birthday, got an ocean suite 7249 not sure if it was worth it. Thinking about upgrading again, any advice?

I don't think $400 extra is accurate. The cruise we are booked on the Miracle, balcony $2000, suite $3400. The suites on Carnival are no big woop.

Howdy all,

New to C.C. leaving on the carnival valor in august for my grown sons birthday, got an ocean suite 7249 not sure if it was worth it. Thinking about upgrading again, any advice?

With the going-in premise that it's your money and you can spend it any way you want...i'd say do it. BUT...just know that upgrading to a Grand Suite (or a Captains Suite if either of those two rooms are still available) doesn't get you anything other than more space. Carnival does not provide graduated perks for different levels of suites, so once you've paid for an OS, that's as good as it gets.

Thanks for the advice! Think I will just stay put. Started in a balcony but thought what the heck go big for my boy lol. Everything I'm reading seems to point to a balcony being just as good as the suites. This is my son's first cruise and my second although it has been 20 something years since the first one. :o

I booked a suite on the Pride several years ago and it has saved me lots of money in the long run. I booked guarantee as the Carnival agent assured me there are no bad suites and that we would have a large cabin & balcony. If I recall correctly, we were on the 4th floor and were right in front of the aft wrap. There was a public stairway that ran right alongside our regular sized balcony. We did have a large room and bathroom with a little dressing area. Our balcony wasn't any larger than any regular balcony and we had less privacy in our room and on our balcony due to the stairway (anyone using the stairway could see into our balcony and our room if curtains were open). I typically leave the curtains open when we are in the cabin but didn't feel comfortable doing so on this cruise. To add insult to injury, the cabin was dirty when arrived. I cleaned it my self with Clorox wipes (everyday). We had 2 cabin stewards that always worked together and they were by far the worst we have encountered. They we were very friendly but were terrible at cleaning. I have since always selected our cabins and been sublimely content with a balcony. I hate to think of how much more money I would have spent over the years if I had been one of the lucky people that booked "guarantee" and received one of the larger suites with large balcony, separate bedroom and stewards that are as good as we typically have had in the past:D