teenieleek

We eat a lot of fruit so like to have the bowl, less bothered about the canapés although it fills a wee gap since we very often skip lunch. As you say there’s a lot of food on ships!

No mention of Afternoon Tea in your suite or fruit bowl or daily canapé.

P.S. I’ve just checked, Mormons make up 1.7% of the U.S. population. Extrapolate that to a cruise ship and……

I don’t consider it all presumptuous. The categories you list exist but their member number is small, particularly in reference to a 3000+ passenger cruise ship. The percentage of cruise passengers who book a suite is small to start with and the percentage of those who fall into one of your categories will be very small. I expect this is why so far on cruise critic we haven’t heard from anyone in a suite who does not have a package. Someone in one of your categories will post eventually but they will definitely not be typical of suite passengers.

As I understand it, if you don’t have a package, yes you pay the $5 a time for room service.

Good word “persnickety”, new one on me.

I was wondering about this. Since I gave credit card details on the app I have got myself a cc that doesn’t charge foreign exchange transaction fees. So, rather than try to change details on the app (took me long enough to do it in the first place!) I can just go to GS and pay with my new card? If this is correct, thank you for the information.

One time my young granddaughter came to stay and pointing to the bar of soap in the bathroom asked “what is that, can I use it?” I felt very old fashioned!

You haul water on board? In single-use plastic bottles? Why? You can refill your own bottle at the buffet. Our last trip (different line) had no bottled water either free or for sale (environmental considerations); there was a carafe in the cabin refilled twice a day and as much as you could drink served with meals. A very popular policy. I wish Princess did likewise, the waste must be enormous.

I’m enjoying reading your comparison with Cunard. I’ve very recently done Norway and Spitsbergen on Balmoral from Rosyth. We were on deck 6 I think, superior suite, which sounds fancier than it actually is! The decor is dated (orange carpet and curtains) but it’s perfectly comfortable. In fact the décor throughout is dated but it’s an elderly ship. Like you I really liked the promenade deck and doing a mile round it became my daily exercise. I am amazed and interested that you found some aspects superior to Cunard since Cunard is still considered by many to be the epitome of cruising. Never been on a Queen, mainly because I haven’t found an itinerary that is enough of a “must do” for me to compensate for the trek to Southampton. I enjoyed the trip to Norway and in fifteen days I didn’t get a meal I couldn’t eat, some food was inventive and delicious, some was okay and some was a bit boring but nothing to complain about. Rosyth being half an hour away for us is a big plus.

It’s the best bit about Club Class (Reserve). Only had it on Regal so far but no queueing, no need to bother with Dine My Way and lovely staff.

Us too!

No not special, but it’s MDR Reserve section so it’s peaceful and a lovely way to start a trip…..with a wee glass of something to accompany it. The buffet can be pretty chaotic first day.

Not even that much if you just want a pizza and salad à la carte for lunch. Premier is not worth it to me but I am grumpy about the twice per cruise casual dining on Plus because we are going 24 nights in September and for that length I would definitely fancy pizza more than twice so I’ll have to pay for something that was previously included. Regarding alcohol it wouldn’t cross my mind to lug a crate of wine onboard at Southampton. I’ve never seen anyone do it and I would be embarrassed to do it. This cruise is seriously expensive and no way am I going to deny myself what I want when I want it. I’m not at home, that’s the whole point, it’s an indulgence I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford and I’m with the lady Arwen (?) on this. I’ve looked at the Good Spirits menu and a cocktail (which I only have on ships) is $15, add a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, an Amaretto afterwards and I’m at least breaking even on Plus so all good for me.

In light of the recent changes I have just revisited the page on the website detailing Suite benefits. Included items are Ocean now and Crew Chat. No mention of room service. Are crew chat and room service the same thing? Otherwise I can’t imagine any crew member wanting to chat with me. About what? The weather? The health of his Auntie Mary’s canary? If this “crew chat” is on the app, does that mean suite guests without a package will be charged $5 a time for a phone call to room service?

I was on the Balmoral to Norway and Spitsbergen, returned 3rd August. Great trip. No norovirus. Helluva lot of coughing though and it got worse towards the end. The Fred. demographic is probably why the line has so much illness. My DH was heard to wonder on this trip if there was anyone left in Scotland’s care homes. Cruel but not too far off the mark.

We too are just across the corridor from the concierge lounge on our next trip (first on Sky). I’m anticipating a few early morning scuttles across and back with a nice coffee. I’m a bit anxious about overcrowding on the ship. I thought it was crowded last time on the Regal and one dining room was never opened due to low capacity!

I’ll definitely never make it to Elite then! At a chat with the Captain on the Pacific Princess en route to Greenland he volunteered that many Elite members achieved that status in inside/ocean view cabins on a succession of four/five night trips from California and joining their club was not seen as much of an achievement by officers. That trip (eighteen nights from Southampton) was our first with Princess and on the evening of the Elite cocktail party we were the only people eating in the club class dining area. We had to ask why the room was empty. We felt like lepers. The flip side was we got great service and the staff came to chat, presumably because they felt sorry for us. It was apparently considered a “special” trip so mostly seasoned travellers (i.e. mostly elite) would go. It was a fantastic trip and I’m still sad that we can can no longer go on that ship…..unless we go with Azamara.

P.S. How many cruises/nights to be elite please? Apparently I’m Ruby at the moment according to the app. I might be wrong but do you get anything with Elite that you don’t get in a suite anyway?

Suites are the reason I will never be Elite and I couldn’t care less about that. I’d rather sail in a suite once or maybe twice a year than sail many times in a lower grade cabin. I love the space, the no wait dining, the concierge lounge (since often impossible to get seats in a bar for a drink before dinner as we travel with another couple), the speedy room service, the free laundry, the embarkation day lunch and the specialty dinner that evening, the Sabatini breakfast (although I’d rather have a Bloody Mary than a mimosa!), I know that everyone on board gets the same food, the same entertainment and the same joy of simply being on the ocean and I can understand wanting to go often but…..we’re all different and “we pays our money and we takes our choices”. Haha, all this just to say that you’ll have a fab time in your penthouse suite (my favourite except for its mean little balcony, unless aft) and make sure you make the most of it.

A suggestion: swap your old premier for the new plus. Not sure about the cost differential but that way you would get the new “stuff”, room service, ocean now etc. Oh and of course these children’s party type desserts!

Doh! I read June 22 as 22nd June (this year). I knew about the December ‘22 cut off. In fact we originally booked this Canada trip pre-pandemic but it got cancelled, next one didn’t include Quebec, this one does so when we booked it had the old Plus. However there was a massive price drop a couple of months ago so, after some “negotiations” we got the latest price and it included the new Plus so I think we’re ok but we shall see. On a ten day cruise in October ‘21 we went to Alfredo’s for lunch twice, really good. On the upcoming twenty four nights we would definitely have gone more than twice. Now we’ll have to pay after twice. “Enhancement”? For whom?

Re LittleFish1976 question. Like him/her I paid for a cruise on 23rd September some time back. We paid for Plus £50/$60. That is still the price for Plus. I assumed it would include the new “benefits”. Why would it not as it is not possible to upgrade as we are already paying the latest price? I thought I understood this but am now confused. Could someone explain please.

I’m remembering now that we didn’t have it on the Borealis in February and that was eighteen nights but I was quite unwell so it may not have registered with me if it was there. The seafood offered last week was excellent and I had lots! For me the desserts looked better than they tasted but my partner happily scoffed his. This was a good trip and maybe I should do a review to balance my poor one for the earlier trip.

Smart casual is fine anytime in the specialty restaurants.