Vista suit or balcony cabin

[Charlies Aunt]

Could someone explain the benefits of a vista suit cabin over a standard balcony cabin please?

We have been offered a paid upgrade on our upcoming cruise and I cannot see what the benefits would be.

[wdw1972]

Pretty much nothing but a few extra square feet - not enough to be really useful, however.  As an upgrade you wouldn't get the double Mariner points but you would pay the higher "suite" crew incentive. There are no perks that come with a vista suite. The bed is located by the verandah, which in my opinion makes the stateroom feel a bit bigger, but that's about it.

 

Also, depending on the ship, if you have a vista suite midship on deck 8 you may not have shelter from rain - a friend of mine experienced that on the Koningsdam & hated it!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[CHOPPERTESTER]

Depends on the class of ship. Is it Pinnacle (Rotterdam, NA, NS) or Vista (Noordam, Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Oosterdam) class. Vista class vista suites are better than the Pinnacle class.

Edited January 2 by CHOPPERTESTER

[Charlies Aunt]

Sorry I omitted the name of the ship. It is the Koningsdam and judging by the comments so far I think we’ll pass. 
Thank you for your replies.

[taxmantoo]

17 minutes ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

Depends on the class of ship. Is it Pinnacle (Rotterdam, NA, NS) or Vista (Noordam, Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Oosterdam) class. Vista class vista suites are better than the Pinnacle class.

There are NO Vista Suites on Vista class ships.  They have Neptune Suites and Signature Suites.

Edited January 2 by taxmantoo

[Hlitner]

Bottom line is do you want to pay more money for some extra space in your cabin?  Some will say yes and others no.   DW and I have cruised in all kinds of cabins ranging from the smallest inside to some large suites (with beneftis).  On HAL, we have generally booked outside (on the older ships) or normal balcony cabins.  On some longer cruises we have booked larger Signature Suites when we could get a reasonable deal.  Like a Vista, the Signatures get you nothing but some extra space.  But the Signatures also come with nicer cabin baths.

 

I would offer this thought.  DW and I do not spend much waking time in our cabin/suite.  We enjoy being out and about and socializing with other passengers.  Our cabin is primarily used for bathing, dressing, and sleeping.  We do not think that the extra space, that comes with a Neptune or Pinnacle, makes sense for us since it would mostly be unused space.  Is extra space nice?  Absolutely.  Is it the best use of one's funds?  That is a the question that each person must answer for themselves.

 

I should add that we do sometimes pay a lot more for suites on other lines.  Why?  Because they come with a lot of extra amenities.  HAL has yet to embrace the so-called "ship within a ship" scheme that has become popular elsewhere.  But consider that Yacht Club Suite (MSC). Retreat Suite (Celebrity), Haven Suite (NCL) or Grill Suite (Cunard) come with lots of perks such as dedicated restaurants, private sun decks, private pools, private lounges (nothing like the space HAL calls a Neptune Lounge).

We find those suite prices are often justified because it includes a large package of benefits.   HAL probably includes the worst (or among the worst) suite benefits found in the cruise world.

 

Hank

[Bill B]

There are Vista class ships

9 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

There are NO Vista Suites and Vista class ships.  They have Neptune Suites and Signature Suites.

 

???

 

There are Vista class ships with: Pinnacle Suites, Neptune Suites and Signature Suites.

[CHOPPERTESTER]

38 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

There are NO Vista Suites on Vista class ships.  They have Neptune Suites and Signature Suites.

My bad. I was mixing up the Vista Suites (aft corners) on Carnival Spirit class. SS on HAL Vista Class are still better than Vista suites on Pinnacle class.

Edited January 3 by CHOPPERTESTER

[POA1]

3 hours ago, Charlies Aunt said:

Could someone explain the benefits of a vista suit cabin over a standard balcony cabin please?

We have been offered a paid upgrade on our upcoming cruise and I cannot see what the benefits would be.

Assuming you're talking about a Pinnacle Class ship, it's a bigger, longer balcony.

[crystalspin]

6 hours ago, Charlies Aunt said:

Could someone explain the benefits of a vista suit cabin over a standard balcony cabin please?

We have been offered a paid upgrade on our upcoming cruise and I cannot see what the benefits would be.

I tremble to contradict Alan, but the balconies on Pinnacle ships' Vista Suite vs Verandah ("standard balcony") cabins are the same size per the diagrams and notes attached. There may be special cabins in either category that have slightly different proportions.

 

We booked the K'dam Vista Suite at rack rate (not an upgrade) for a 16-day B2B last year in order to get the double points to make 4* before our uncoming 35-day cruises. We liked it so much, we were able to switch to the same cabin (4100, midship and one deck up from the Grand Dutch Cafe) for the long cruise!

 

Without the double-points, it would depend on the price, I guess. The drawings are pretty representative. ETA: except neither shows that there are in fact three large clothing drawers in the closet nearest the room; looks like a closet door but it is a cabinet for the fridge and safe and a couple shelves, over the drawers. 

 

 

ETA: the two diagrams are not to the same scale (my bad). Compare the 'size' of the bed. 

 

Edited January 3 by crystalspin

[kazu]

There is not a bigger balcony with a Vista Suite.  The bigger balconies are on deck 4 (Beethoven) aft verandah class, and I think there are a few forward too.

 

Some people like Vista Suites - especially if they are aft and think they have a lot more space.  They don’t IMO and I would far rather have the B cabin with the deeper verandah.

 

Everyone is different. 😊 

[shadow 123]

6 hours ago, kazu said:

There is not a bigger balcony with a Vista Suite.  The bigger balconies are on deck 4 (Beethoven) aft verandah class, and I think there are a few forward too.

 

Some people like Vista Suites - especially if they are aft and think they have a lot more space.  They don’t IMO and I would far rather have the B cabin with the deeper verandah.

 

Everyone is different. 😊 

Does Holland  America still give double points for a suite? A representative told me no but I don't think that's correct.

[crystalspin]

10 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

Does Holland  America still give double points for a suite? A representative told me no but I don't think that's correct.

According to the website right now, they still do.  

 

Now, it's not unheard of that the website be wrong, but I think we'd have read it on CC immediately! Perhaps the representative was thinking of a suite bought on an upsell (from a non-suite category). 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, shadow 123 said:

Does Holland  America still give double points for a suite? A representative told me no but I don't think that's correct.

 

Yes they absolutely do (as long as it isn’t an upsell).  

 

I was credited not that long ago.  

[shadow 123]

21 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Yes they absolutely do (as long as it isn’t an upsell).  

 

I was credited not that long ago.  

That might just be the case. I was in a Veranda I wanted to upgrade to a sweet.  I was told I would not get the double points. Maybe that's it

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, shadow 123 said:

That might just be the case. I was in a Veranda I wanted to upgrade to a sweet.  I was told I would not get the double points. Maybe that's it

 

Yes upsells do not get double points (unless you are already booked in a suite and get upsold to a different category - ie. Signature suite to Neptune Suite).

[CHOPPERTESTER]

53 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Yes upsells do not get double points (unless you are already booked in a suite and get upsold to a different category - ie. Signature suite to Neptune Suite).

Rare, but you can get double points from an upsell. We up-selled from a Verandah to SS on a 10 day So Caribe and then a couple of weeks before the cruise the advertised cost on the HAL site for an SS dropped to about $5 total less than our upsell price. We took a screen shot and saved it JIC. Post-cruise we sent the screen shot to HAL to get the double points honoured.

Edited January 4 by CHOPPERTESTER

[shadow 123]

4 hours ago, shadow 123 said:

That might just be the case. I was in a Veranda I wanted to upgrade to a sweet.  I was told I would not get the double points. Maybe that's it

Suite. Didn't spell check