Suite benefits - couple of queries

[techwatcher]

Hi,

 

We will be taking our first Princess cruise on Enchanted Princess in a couple of weeks and have a couple of queries on Princess' suite benefits. 

 

1. The Suite Benefits page on the Princess website includes 'Complimentary mini-bar setup on embarkation day'. Is there a 'standard' setup and will be able to make changes? We do not drink alcohol so ideally we would like soft drinks only. Also, is this an embarkation day only thing or will the mini-bar be replenished throughout the cruise?

2. The page also refers to 'Upgraded bathroom amenities' and 'Upgraded turn down service'. What can we expect from these upgraded amenities and services?

 

Thanks in advance.

[shepcookie]

You can ask for changes to the bar set up.  I was on a cruise last month.  They traded out all the alcohol for water.  They will also give you soda if you prefer.

 

The upgraded bathroom amenities is a higher end samples really with a few other things.

 

I have no idea what upgraded turndown service is.

 

Tammy

[MJU]

The mini bar consists of 8 small bottles of liquor, a couple beers, some tonic water, some Cokes, some diet Cokes, and some Sprite.  I am not being specific as it depends on what is in stock.  It is the same as what is given to Elite passengers.  You can ask your steward or call room service to exchange for all soda.  You will get 2 small bottles of water daily but the rest is not refilled.  Since you are on a Royal class ship there are canned sodas available in the concierge lounge. 

We received "upgraded shower gel" but the same shampoo/conditioner combination as everyone else.

Our upgraded turn down service was clean sheets everyday (we tried to tell him we did not need that but he said he had to do it)

[JF - retired RRT]

@pward123 May I suggest that you print out the list of Suite benefits for reference? We recently sailed in our first ever (likely only) suite. If I hadn't had the list of benefits, we wouldn't have gotten most of the items on the list. Either our steward was lazy or uninformed, we had to ask for almost everything that's supposed to be available automagically.

[PhotoGal07]

Generally the mini bar is the following (though as the above poster mentioned it's subject to change based on availability):

2 Crown Royal

2 Sky Vodka

2 Dewars 

2 Beefeater Gin

2 Dos Equis Beers

2 Tonic Waters

2 Coke

2 Diet Coke

2 Sprite

2 Perrier

2 Water

As mentioned above, you can swap things out, alcohol for alcohol or water/soda, and water/soda for other types of water/soda.  I believe you could also swap out the booze for wine or a coffee card, but I have not heard of anyone doing that lately, so I don't know if they are still doing that, but those seem to be going by the wayside.  Your mileage for swapping for those items may vary.  

Upgraded bathroom amenities seems to be hit or miss.  I believe it's supposed to be the spa brand of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand soap, and lotion.  We had all those things in our suite, so perhaps it was just covid supply issues messing the occasional bathroom amenity up. 

 

There used to be bath salts as well, but most people have reported that they are no longer providing that, and indeed we did not have any provided in our suite in June.  Some posters have asked their room steward for those, and it usually seems to be provided upon request (though obviously it's not a guarantee).

 

I did not notice an upgraded turn down service, so I've no idea what that refers to (nor did it really matter overly much for us).  Room was tidied up, bed was nicely made up, and the pull out sofa/pull down berth for the kids were both always made up in the evenings and stowed away in the mornings.  It is possible our sheets were changed out every day, and I didn't notice.  

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by PhotoGal07

[Sea Hag]

2 minutes ago, PhotoGal07 said:

As mentioned above, you can swap things out, alcohol for alcohol or water/soda, and water/soda for other types of water/soda.  I believe you could also swap out the booze for wine or a coffee card, but I have not heard of anyone doing that lately, so I don't know if they are still doing that, but those seem to be going by the wayside.  Your mileage for swapping for those items may vary.  


 

We traded ours for two coffee packages in April of this year. 

[PhotoGal07]

8 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

@pward123 May I suggest that you print out the list of Suite benefits for reference? We recently sailed in our first ever (likely only) suite. If I hadn't had the list of benefits, we wouldn't have gotten most of the items on the list. Either our steward was lazy or uninformed, we had to ask for almost everything that's supposed to be available automagically.

I agree the benefits do seem a bit hit or miss.  I will say that for the most part the things that were missed were fairly unremarkable for us.  I don't think we ever got the fruit bowl, and the sheet to order canapes tapered off after the first couple nights (I think I'm one of the few who actually enjoy canapes), but honestly there was so much food, it wasn't a big deal.  Most of the other in-room perks for us were all there (mini bar setup, bathrobes, little orchid plant, bathroom amenities, welcome treats and champagne, etc).  

I think the only thing I really noticed was the lack of priority check-in.  We waited in line with everyone else (the horror).  It was a fairly short line when we finally arrived, only 8-10 people, so not a big deal, but I did miss having an area away from the hustle and bustle and slightly more dedicated service while getting all our paperwork to board in order.  I don't know how it usually works on Princess or what priority check-in out of the Whittier port usually entails, but on other lines it usually involves a special area with refreshments, and almost zero wait.  It's possible Princess had that earlier in the day when the lines were longer, or that Whittier is just an odd port that's not really set up for that.

[JF - retired RRT]

14 minutes ago, PhotoGal07 said:

I agree the benefits do seem a bit hit or miss.  I will say that for the most part the things that were missed were fairly unremarkable for us.  I don't think we ever got the fruit bowl,We had to ask for one 

the sheet to order canapes tapered off after the first couple nights Had to ask for the door tags for canapes & breakfast 

Most of the other in-room perks for us were all there (mini bar setup,Not the steward's responsibility 

little orchid plant,nope, no flower

bathroom amenities,a nail file, shower cap & body scrubber wrapped in a wash cloth

welcome treats and champagne, nope).  

I think the only thing I really noticed was the lack of priority check-in.  We waited in line with everyone else (the horror).  It was a fairly short line when we finally arrived, only 8-10 people, so not a big deal, but I did miss having an area away from the hustle and bustle and slightly more dedicated service while getting all our paperwork to board in order.  I don't know how it usually works on Princess or what priority check-in out of the Whittier port usually entails, but on other lines it usually involves a special area with refreshments, and almost zero wait.  It's possible Princess had that earlier in the day when the lines were longer, or that Whittier is just an odd port that's not really set up for that.

We sailed out of San Pedro. No priority line. The suite/elite waiting area was some folding chairs in a different area than everyone else. When boarding was announced, it was basically every man for himself. Not orderly at all. The cards they gave out for boarding order were ignored.

Not the way it's usually done.

[techwatcher]

42 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

@pward123 May I suggest that you print out the list of Suite benefits for reference? We recently sailed in our first ever (likely only) suite. If I hadn't had the list of benefits, we wouldn't have gotten most of the items on the list. Either our steward was lazy or uninformed, we had to ask for almost everything that's supposed to be available automagically.

Thanks and I plan to print the list of Suite Benefits. Not good that the benefits weren't provided automagically.

[techwatcher]

42 minutes ago, PhotoGal07 said:

Generally the mini bar is the following (though as the above poster mentioned it's subject to change based on availability):

2 Crown Royal

2 Sky Vodka

2 Dewars 

2 Beefeater Gin

2 Dos Equis Beers

2 Tonic Waters

2 Coke

2 Diet Coke

2 Sprite

2 Perrier

2 Water

As mentioned above, you can swap things out, alcohol for alcohol or water/soda, and water/soda for other types of water/soda.  I believe you could also swap out the booze for wine or a coffee card, but I have not heard of anyone doing that lately, so I don't know if they are still doing that, but those seem to be going by the wayside.  Your mileage for swapping for those items may vary.  

Upgraded bathroom amenities seems to be hit or miss.  I believe it's supposed to be the spa brand of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand soap, and lotion.  We had all those things in our suite, so perhaps it was just covid supply issues messing the occasional bathroom amenity up. 

 

There used to be bath salts as well, but most people have reported that they are no longer providing that, and indeed we did not have any provided in our suite in June.  Some posters have asked their room steward for those, and it usually seems to be provided upon request (though obviously it's not a guarantee).

 

I did not notice an upgraded turn down service, so I've no idea what that refers to (nor did it really matter overly much for us).  Room was tidied up, bed was nicely made up, and the pull out sofa/pull down berth for the kids were both always made up in the evenings and stowed away in the mornings.  It is possible our sheets were changed out every day, and I didn't notice.  

 

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply - appreciate it.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

@pward123 May I suggest that you print out the list of Suite benefits for reference? We recently sailed in our first ever (likely only) suite. If I hadn't had the list of benefits, we wouldn't have gotten most of the items on the list. Either our steward was lazy or uninformed, we had to ask for almost everything that's supposed to be available automagically.

Never have had to ask for any of the perks. Mini bar always set up in advance. Robes and slippers in closet etc