Voyager Penthouse Suite Question

[JMARINER]

Well the upgrade fairy just knocked and Regent is offering us a "B" Penthouse Suite on the Voyager upgrade for peanuts. They have a few near the back and a few mid-ship near forward elevator. Vibration don't bother me. but I do like being closer to the front for debarking quicker (I always seem to need to go back to the room for something I forgot). So, I am thinking deck 7 & midships

 

Any opinions on location for "B" Penthouse Suite from anyone who stayed in one?

 

J

[Hambagahle]

we have had a B PH sutie on the Voyager. midships (just off the atrium) twice. We liked it, felt no vibration.

 

However I do not think it is worth the money unless your Butler is very good! Once we had a so-so Butler. Next time, a wonderful one. You cannot control this. the "ordinary" suites on the Voyager have almost as much room as the PH, are better laid out in my opinion, and so why spend the (even small) extra cash??

[Travelcat2]

We have stayed in 818 (PH B) -- great location. The more square configuration of the PH suites on the Voyager make them seem quite a bit larger than they are. 718 sounds like a great choice!

[old grump]

We had 765 last yr, RIO-FLL, no vibration, and a few steps to the aft elev. The butler can grow on you:D, correction, on DW, She got used to the shrimp he brought each afternoon.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We had 723, forward of the atrium, last December. Loved it. It's not much bigger than standard, but it's more square, and has more usable area. Love the extra window and nice big desk, good sized living area.

[JPR]

The upgrade to Penthouse Suite is worth it for the Mariner but not for the Voyager, where there's no appreciable difference in the square footage.

[cruisebugbit]

We've been in 864, 1023 and are booked into 818 for October.

Personally, we like the "more square" layout of the Penthouse. Though technically it isn't much bigger, it feels like it is. The two windows help make it brighter as Wendy mentioned.

Besides, how often does any fairy come knocking? What's a few peanuts? If you feel it's "peanuts" then it's probably within your reach. Go for it. Life's too short. Go for midship.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh, and I swear the walk-in closet was a bit wider. I could actually get dressed in there comfortably.

[Longhorn1]

I generally book directly with Regent and wonder if this increases my chances of getting offered a upgrade or would I have a better chance with a TA? Maybe it makes no difference...We are mid Silver so assume we would be on some list somewhere!

[JMARINER]

I generally book directly with Regent and wonder if this increases my chances of getting offered a upgrade or would I have a better chance with a TA? Maybe it makes no difference...We are mid Silver so assume we would be on some list somewhere!

 

I think the first priority for the upgrade fairy to visit you what category you initially are booked in. The higher you are the more likely to be offered an upgrade.

 

Secondly, I think that having an agent is paramount to getting offered an upgrade. IMO Regent wants to make the agents look good. My agent got a fax yesterday AM with the offer. I doubt Regent would have taken the time if I had booked direct. They know the agent is going to get in touch with the client right away and get a quick decision.

 

Lastly, from what I have seen, your SSS status Silver or Titanium, makes no difference.

 

Not all upgrades are the same value. Free one are extremely rare and usually just one ups. But, I have heard of some exceptions.

 

J

[OrpingtonT]

Secondly, I think that having an agent is paramount to getting offered an upgrade. IMO Regent wants to make the agents look good. My agent got a fax yesterday AM with the offer. I doubt Regent would have taken the time if I had booked direct. They know the agent is going to get in touch with the client right away and get a quick decision.

 

 

I really cannot agree with that. Logically the quicker decision will be missing out the middleman, not going through a TA, and certainly saying that "having a TA is paramount to getting offered an upgrade" is misleading in the extreme.

 

I am speaking as one who has been offered upgrades after booking direct. In fact I heard from my Regent office recently that, unless there is a spate of cancellations, they would not be able to offer an upgrade this time as Mariner is full.

 

So, frankly, I don't think it makes a difference whether you book directly or not, if they want to maximise their revenue they will find ways to offer their paid upgrades

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I also would have thought that Regent counts on TA's to propagate out these offers quickly. It's less work for them. But obviously it works both ways--expressing an interest to your TA helps as well.

 

I just wanted to say a couple of things about upgrading in general and particularly upgrading to the Voyager PH--in this case it's only worth it if the cost is modest. We bought our PHB suite last December (i.e., were not upgraded), but we did so because for some reason the price differential was small (about $800 over the price of a G). As much as we loved that cabin, we would not pay the usual freight for that room, but would jump at a reasonable upgrade price.

 

When we were upgraded on the PG in 2008 we paid to upgrade to a C guarantee, for a great discount, and the GTY netted us an 8th floor suite, not much bigger, but a wonderful value, butler and all.

[Longhorn1]

Hi Wendy...could you--or anyone else-- take a minute to tell me how the "guarantee" works? Thanks to all..

[Wendy The Wanderer]

You book a cruise at the price of a specific category, say, G. But you are not assigned a cabin, you are given a GTY instead. That means you're guaranteed at least this cabin class, but it could be higher.

 

Close to the cruise, they shuffle the deck and see how they're doing for space--sometimes they can more easily get bookings in the lower cabins. So they slot everybody in, and bingo, you might get lucky and get a higher category.

 

Sometimes this is a great plus, sometimes it can be a minus, since some ships have undesirable cabins. Voyager and Navigator both have an aft vibration, for example, that bothers some. Mariner on the other hand is supposed to have no bad cabins.

 

I have never booked a GTY for this reason, but would in a heartbeat for certain trips, especially on Mariner. Our one GTY was on the Paul Gauguin which is no longer in the fleet, and we felt we could not lose with a balcony guarantee at an discounted upgrade cost.

[Longhorn1]

Thanks Wendy...appreciate the info. Makes sense in certain situations it seems to me...