Penthouse vs Owners Suite on Royal

We are currently booked in a penthouse suite on the Royal but due to the comments I have seen regarding the inadequate size of the balconies for the penthouse suites, we are considering upgrading to an owners. If anyone has experience with both I would really appreciate your advice. The deck plans describe the penthouse as having about 440 square feet including the balcony which is very small. The owners suite is decribed as 587 to 682 square feet including the balcony which is very large. The obviouse question is - is the only difference the size of the balcony or is the cabin excluding the balcony also larger? We are also wondering about the usefulness of the concierge lounge. We are used to the Neptune Lounge on HAL and therefore appreciate the proximity of the penthouse suites to the lounge. However, if the lounge is not that useful we may not care so much about that.

Thank you for any information you might provide.

We opted for the penthouse across from the concierge lounge. We love huge balconies but DH loves the concierge lounge on HAL and RCCL. Always stayed in mini suites on Princess and suites on ther lines. DH made the decision. You ought to try the Haven on NCL

We were in an owners suite (D727) in December 2013 with a lovely, big, partially covered balcony that was covered in soot most of the week long cruise. For that reason - and a few more that I noted in http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1956349 - we decided not to pay for an owners suite ever again on the Royal (and I'm leery of the Regal).

 

I have seen more recent pictures of an owners suite balcony on the Royal that seems to show better balcony furniture (aluminum or cast iron with thick cushions) than I noted in that thread which would be a definite improvement.

 

We'll be on the Royal for 20 days in October in an MA mini-suite with the extended balcony and are looking forward to a wonderful cruise.

Suggest you go to youtube. You can find videos of both the owners suite and the penthouse suites which show the cabins and the balconies. We were on Regal in March and there was no soot whatsoever.

The owner's suite has a hugh wrap around balcony.

long cruiser

I have been in both on the Royal. I was in R614- PH- right across from the Concierge Lounge. The room was lovely, but the balcony was tiny. And by tiny, I mean, the lounger had to be turned sideways. If I wanted to go back in the room, my mom had to get up from her chair to let me by.

 

We were also in OS A734. It was a much larger room. Instead of just having two rooms separated by a curtain, the OS had a hallway. The balcony was huge. You could access it by the living room- with an aft view or by the bedroom- a side view. There were a few tiny smudges of soot.- No big deal.

 

We just received an upsell for our June cruise, and I could pick R614 or E729-OS. We picked the OS. I like the larger room and the "hallway" that separates the bedroom and living area. I hope there is not a ton of soot on the balcony- but it is a very port intensive cruise- with one sea day- so I am not all that worried.

 

I really love the layout of the OS better.

I have been in both on the Royal. I was in R614- PH- right across from the Concierge Lounge. The room was lovely, but the balcony was tiny. And by tiny, I mean, the lounger had to be turned sideways. If I wanted to go back in the room, my mom had to get up from her chair to let me by.

 

We were also in OS A734. It was a much larger room. Instead of just having two rooms separated by a curtain, the OS had a hallway. The balcony was huge. You could access it by the living room- with an aft view or by the bedroom- a side view. There were a few tiny smudges of soot.- No big deal.

 

We just received an upsell for our June cruise, and I could pick R614 or E729-OS. We picked the OS. I like the larger room and the "hallway" that separates the bedroom and living area. I hope there is not a ton of soot on the balcony- but it is a very port intensive cruise- with one sea day- so I am not all that worried.

 

I really love the layout of the OS better.

 

What can you tell us about the OS? Any soot at all? Any other items of note worth mentioning?

Edited June 9, 2017 by CorgiCruzr
expanded questions

We sailed the OS on Regal last year. No soot issues and absolutely loved the balcony (Baja Deck - partially covered). That was on a 12 day Baltic/Russia cruise with only 2 days at sea. We used the Concierge Lounge minimally as it was not not convienent to our cabin.

 

Next summer we are sailing the Royal on a 12 day British Isles, with again 2 days at sea and Northern Europe weather. We felt we did not get the value for the cost with such a port intensive cruise so for next years cruise we opted for a Pentouse suite directly across from the Concierge Lounge. We saved over $2200 and hope to get more value from the lounge.

What can you tell us about the OS? Any soot at all? Any other items of note worth mentioning?

With two exceptions, the aft cabins on the Royal Class ships have been recategorized as Cat S3 Penthouse suites rather than Cat S2 Owner's suites. They never should have been called Owner's suites. The Majestic does have two Owner's suites on Emerald deck but that is because minisuites we added to Dolphin deck and that increased the space for the suites on Emerald deck. I hope they have a proper dining table inside as other Owner's suites have.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We were in owner's suite A735 on the Royal. While it had a wrap around balcony it was extremely narrow and the loungers had to stay lengthwise against the wall to allow one to walk by. The table was tiny as well with two chairs, with another tiny table and two chairs on the side balcony that you had to get to from inside the cabin as there was no room to walk around it.

 

There wasn't any shade and we did get periodic balls of soot so much so that our steward left towels on the floor by the sliding door in the living room so that we wouldn't track soot all over the cabin. I know that other OS in that stack have larger balconies that have more cover and that should mitigate some of the soot. While we love the aft view, we wouldn't book this particular suite again.