Suite Questions

[Tough Guy]

We have stayed in a suite previously but didn't really check on what is and isn't possible.  In October we have a suite on Britannia and are taking two of my children of which one is autistic (12 years old).  With my daughter being autistic it would be helpful to understand what might be possible in regard to ordering food to the suite from various restaurants or whether it is purely restricted to room service as she can sometimes become overwhelmed with restaurants especially if noisy.

 

It would be great to hear whether anyone has had experience of ordering food to a suite from:

 

• main dining room
• Epicurean breakfast menu
• any other restaurants such as Beach House, Glass House, Sindhi and Epicurean (obviously paying all the extra dining charges)

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[True Devonian]

34 minutes ago, Tough Guy said:

We have stayed in a suite previously but didn't really check on what is and isn't possible.  In October we have a suite on Britannia and are taking two of my children of which one is autistic (12 years old).  With my daughter being autistic it would be helpful to understand what might be possible in regard to ordering food to the suite from various restaurants or whether it is purely restricted to room service as she can sometimes become overwhelmed with restaurants especially if noisy.

 

It would be great to hear whether anyone has had experience of ordering food to a suite from:

 

• main dining room
• Epicurean breakfast menu
• any other restaurants such as Beach House, Glass House, Sindhi and Epicurean (obviously paying all the extra dining charges)

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

On the FAQ's section on the P&O website the question raised was "Can I dine in my suite?" The reply was as follows:

"Yes you have the ability to order from the main restaurant menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner*.  Outside of these hours you may order from the room service menu**.

 

*In conjunction with the dining times as advertised in the Daily Horizon newspaper. You will not be charged on standard food items, however there will be an extra charge for drinks.

**Charges apply. Prices will be indicated on the menu available in your in-cabin directory.

 

Hope this helps.

[NaomiW]

1 hour ago, Tough Guy said:

We have stayed in a suite previously but didn't really check on what is and isn't possible.  In October we have a suite on Britannia and are taking two of my children of which one is autistic (12 years old).  With my daughter being autistic it would be helpful to understand what might be possible in regard to ordering food to the suite from various restaurants or whether it is purely restricted to room service as she can sometimes become overwhelmed with restaurants especially if noisy.

 

It would be great to hear whether anyone has had experience of ordering food to a suite from:

 

• main dining room
• Epicurean breakfast menu
• any other restaurants such as Beach House, Glass House, Sindhi and Epicurean (obviously paying all the extra dining charges)

 

Thanks in advance for any responses.

We have ordered from the MDR to our suite before and it was good. However dont expect the same level of service you would get innthe restaurant. I naively expected having a butler would mean they served us as if we were in the restaurant, but whilst he set the table nicely with the proper silverware, all our courses were brought at the same time in cloches on a tray and we were then left to our own devices tonserve ourselves. I did wonder if it was a one off but this happened on 2 seperate cruises.

I guess it would be the same for the speciality restaurants.

On our last cruise we made full use of ordering from the room service menu for lunches which is free as a suite perk if you order through the buter.

As an aside, I would agree with you about not knowing what the suite benefits are-the first time in a suite when we got married we had no idea about priority embarkation and were just ushered into the normal queue, noone told us about the welcome on board lunch or the special breakfasts (which are the best bit) Communication could be better I think!

[galeforce9]

1 hour ago, NaomiW said:

We have ordered from the MDR to our suite before and it was good. However dont expect the same level of service you would get innthe restaurant. I naively expected having a butler would mean they served us as if we were in the restaurant, but whilst he set the table nicely with the proper silverware, all our courses were brought at the same time in cloches on a tray and we were then left to our own devices tonserve ourselves. I did wonder if it was a one off but this happened on 2 seperate cruises.

I guess it would be the same for the speciality restaurants.

On our last cruise we made full use of ordering from the room service menu for lunches which is free as a suite perk if you order through the buter.

As an aside, I would agree with you about not knowing what the suite benefits are-the first time in a suite when we got married we had no idea about priority embarkation and were just ushered into the normal queue, noone told us about the welcome on board lunch or the special breakfasts (which are the best bit) Communication could be better I think!

I appreciate that it is a different (and more expensive) line but on Seabourn if lunch or dinner from the restaurant menu is requested to be served in suite it will come all at once, unless it is specified that it is served course by course;  the gaps between courses can also be specified.   It’s worth a try, via the butler.  I have sailed in P&O suites but only ever had lunch in suite, served all at once 

[crompton21]

Certainly you can order anything from the main lunch/dinner menus and anything from room service.  I have seen postings of people in a suite being charged for ordering food from room service which shouldn't happen.  It was possibly something like you had to order via the butler (but I may be wrong on that).

Someone recently posted that they had an Epicurean breakfast delivered, but I have not heard of that before.

The process to order is via ringing the butlers pager, they will then ring back and you place your order.  The whole process can take a while if you order at a busy time (I think that we have waited an hour or so on occasions)  

 

All of the food comes together on plates with a stacking lid system.  Generously, I would describe it as often being warm rather than hot when it arrives.  By the time that you have worked through the meal a hot pudding (or ice cream) will tend to be quite a bit away from it's optimum temperature.

 

The table in the room is not huge, two can sit at it comfortably but I would think that's about the limit.  If there are four of you then two will probably end up sitting on the sofa to eat which may or may not be an issue.  If you have an aft suite then there is a larger table on the balcony which is good if the weather conditions are suitable.  I think I am correct in saying that on Britannia the side suites do not have a large table outside.

 

If there are four of you, as you eat there will be a lot of used plates/cutlery/lids etc.  There isn't a lot of space to stack them if the sofa is being used.  

 

Overall, it will give you a quiet and relaxed meal but there are a few areas that you need to check work for your situation.

 

Hope that helps!

[david63]

As others have said you can have meals from the MDR but there is nothing to stop you asking if you can have them from the speciality restaurants - depending on how busy they are you may be accommodated or not (it may also depend on the actual butler!).

 

If you want a meal at a specific time then ask your butler in advance and I have generally found that you will get your meal around that time.

 

There will certainly be an issue with the number of plates etc with four of you eating in the suite - it is bad enough with two!

 

It might be an idea to have a word with the restaurant manager when you board and ask for a quiet area in the restaurant. When we were on Britannia earlier in the year the MDR was half empty in an evening so there were plenty of quieter areas (this was on select dining)

 

The only time that Epicurean was busy/noisy for breakfast was on disembarkation day and again you can ask for a quiet area and once you have your table in there it will be yours for the rest of the cruise.