What are the best and the worst things
about cruising in a suite?
I'm Gary Bembridge,
this is another of my cruising tips for travellers,
I want to explore the pros, the cons, the best,
the worst things about cruising in a suite
when you go on your next cruise.
Now, when I go cruising,
I often cruise in about a corner like a balcony cabin.
But when we go cruising with my partner,
we often choose to go in a suite for all sorts of reasons.
And so I'm going to explore
some of the pros and cons right now.
So let's start by taking a look
at the pros the best things about cruising in a suite.
The first of those is size.
Suites are going to be bigger than a balcony cabin
and it could be depending on the ship be
just a little bit bigger.
Could be right through on some ships
where they are monsterous.
They're probably even bigger than
your apartment and your home.
It could be multiple levels, multiple bedrooms,
but the great thing about a suite,
generally speaking is you're going to have a sleeping area.
You're going to have some kind of living area, seating area
and then you're going to have a bathroom.
Often, you'll have a bath and a shower,
you'll have twin basins, and then connected to that often,
you'll have some sort of walk-in closet area, dressing room.
So those are the key features of a suite,
then the scale of that just depends
on how big a suite that you're in.
So you have huge amounts of space,
that's really the biggest Pro is the size and the scale
that you're going to have of a suite versus,
say a balcony cabin, which is the next level down.
You normally find that the balcony
on a suite is also much bigger,
you have more room to sit outside.
If that's something that you like to do.
That's simply because the suite is bigger than
a balcony, cabin and just is longer, wider,
and therefore the the balcony is bigger.
The second pro or good thing about a suite
is they are located in what's the cruise line believes
are the best locations on the ship.
So they'll normally be right at the top of the ship
so you get big grand views
that might be in the front of the ship
so you can look forwards over the bow
then might be the rear of the ship.
So you get that beautiful scene
as you're sailing out of port or on seadays.
Now, I actually think there are some issues around
where suites are located.
I'll talk about those when we get to the cons section.
But certainly from the cruise lines perspective,
these are the premium locations on the ship.
The next best thing and pro about a suite
is you have all sorts of extra facilities.
Now this can vary depending on the ship you're on.
So if you head onto some ships,
you'll find the the suites are a ship within a ship.
So they're all connected together.
So for example, on Norwegian on their bigger ships,
they have the Haven and in here
you can have your own swimming pool, you can have a lounge
you can have a concierge service,
you can have your own dining room, you can have a bar.
And these are all within one area
and the same is to sail on MSC with a Yacht Club.
However on other ships that may be more dispersed,
but you're going to generally find
you have your own restaurant,
you'll probably have some sort of lounge or bar area,
you're going to have a concierge or concierge lounge as well.
So you normally find they're very specific facilities.
Normally you'll find there's a pool deck
or a deck which has hot tubs on, as well that you can use.
So very specific suite only facilities onboard the ship.
They're also generally with suites,
seven perks that you're going to get
and some of these are really quite fun.
Some of them you may think are less important,
but one of the seven perks that you're going to get?
Well first of all, what you're going to get is
priority embarkation disembarkation and use of the tenders.
This can be great particularly on really big ships.
When there's thousands of people boarding .
You're going to basically arrive have your own check in,
you're going to get on board really quickly.
Also, if you're in lots of tender ports,
we have to use little tenders to get out ,
you're going to have power to get on those.
And also when leaving the ship
you're going to be able to leave early
or choose when you want to leave .
That's definitely one big perk.
Second perk is you'll normally find you'll get things
like afternoon canopies brought into your cabin.
Third area could be many suites will have butler's
and depending on the ship that you're on,
it could be an all butler service.
For example on Silversea it is all suites and butler's.
If you go and on Cunard in Queens Grill
you have a butler.
And then on different ships you have different rules
but if you have a butler, they will do things like
they'll pack and unpack for you.
They'll serve you your meals by course,
they'll sort out various problems if you've got them.
They'll have your shoes shined, all sorts of little bits
and pieces that they'll do for you.
The fourth perk you normally find
is some kind of drinks you might find you go the lounge
you have free drinks available,
but what normally happens in your cabin,
you'll have a fully stocked minibar,
you can choose what drinks you want
and you're not charged those.
So you might be able to have two big bottles of something
or extra wines.
So you'll normally find this drinks included
you'll find it when you arrive you have champagne,
so drinks are normally included
you will have lots of different cocktail parties
and things that you're invited to
so lots of drinks are normally included in suites.
Another perk you'll find is most cruise lines
will then give you upgraded toiletries.
So you usually have very premium toiletries,
brand name toiletries.
So you normally find rather than in balconies or ocean view
or inside cabins you'll have fairly generic
or own brand, the cruise line own brand
in a suite you will normally find much more exotic
and premium toiletries.
Sixth area you normally have is you'll often find
you get free or discounted laundry.
So normally they're bundled in laundry services,
you can send that away.
And the other perk that you often will find
is normally with suites, you're going to get Wi-Fi,
either included or quite a Wi-Fi included.
So there's a whole lot of little bits
and pieces around suites that you get as perk.
A suite is really good if you need to
or want to spend a lot of time in the cabin.
So for example, if you're going on a transatlantic cruise,
where you're going to have six or seven days at sea,
whether it's on the Queen Mary 2
or the repositioning cruises.
On other cruise lines,
you are probably wanna spend quality time
in your cabin because you've got six, seven days at sea.
So using your cabin becomes quite important.
You might want to spend time chilling out there
so you want the extra space
and some of those little bells and whistles
and perks are really important.
If you're heading on a world cruise for example,
a really extended cruise
You may want have a suite as well
simply because that's going to be your home for weeks and weeks
on end up to three months
and actually having the space to spread out,
relax and feel less claustrophobic.
Perhaps that could be a real big plus reason
for having a suite.
If you have mobility issues, you might like that it is suite
because it's gonna have much more space,
much more room to get around.
And although you can get obviously accessible cabins
for all different grades, if you actually are in a suite,
you just going to have so much more space to spread out
and enjoy yourself and relax.
The next real big plus and pro of having a suit is
if you're travelling with other people.
And that's really falls into two areas.
So one is, if you're a family
or you're perhaps travelling with friends,
the great thing about a suite is you have that sleeping area
and you have the living area.
The living area will often have say a sofa bed.
So actually you effectively got two bedrooms
because you have space to spread out.
So it's really great.
You know, if you're travelling with friends,
you may want to look at a suite
because you might find cost per person
ends up being lower by sharing a cabin
if you're travelling as a family, and you've got kids,
particularly older kids having a suite, could be great
because often you'll find in many suites,
they often have a separate or second toilet area.
So it becomes actually great if as a group of use,
it's really good from that perspective.
The other time that I've seen suites used is
if you're travelling with an extended group,
particularly, say, a multi-generational family,
so part of the family or part of the group,
maybe in smaller cabins that could be an inside ocean view,
balcony, whatever.
But if you've got a suite,
that's where you can all come together,
you can get together before dinner or during the day,
you might even get room service in there,
you might have drinks together.
So you actually have a space,
which as a family can come together, which is private.
So it's not an issue in a public space.
So that's a real big plus of going in a suite.
So what are the worst things about going a suite?
What are the real downsides, the cons of owning a seat?
Well, the first one,
and probably the most obvious one of all is price.
Suites are expensive.
So roughly speaking, you might say if
you go from an inside an ocean view
you might pay 50% or 100% more on the balcony,
but you could then be paying 50% to 100%
or more per day per person to go in a suite.
So they are expensive.
That's also because they take up so much more space.
So it's just the way that logic works,
you're going to pay much, much more for suites.
So a lot of people that's a real downside
because you can probably get two cruises
for the price of one suite.
So price is absolutely one of the big cons and downsides.
The second worst thing or the downside of cruising the suite
is actually many of those perks
that you've got not really worth the actually paying
for suite and actually you can probably pay to get them.
Also increasing what's happening
is cruise lines are starting to sell packages
where you can buy a lot of those perks.
So for example on Royal Caribbean they have the key
on Carnival they have "faster to the fun"
where you pay and you get lots of extra things bundled in
like prior to embarkation disembarkation sitting
at restaurants and stuff like that is all bundled in WiFi,
maybe some laundry.
So in case you buy those perks,
and it's going to cost you a lot less to about the cabin,
an ocean view cabin and pay for the perks.
Bear in mind when you pay for a suite
and you get all those perks,
you're really paying for extra space.
So it's not about the perks.
The perks added up together,
you probably can buy it for cheaper,
and especially if you are really clever,
you can buy fares where you'll find all those bundled in.
So I've booked a couple of cruises for this year
where I booked them in advance and they've thrown in
I've booked a balcony cabin but they've thrown in drinks,
packages, Wi-Fi, all that especially dining
and stuff like that.
So that's the downside is the perks
are not really worth the extra.
You can buy them for the same or less.
One of the things to consider
which could be a downside is location.
As I mentioned earlier, the cruise lines have suites
where they see them as the best location
so there's the best locations from a visibility
and sightseeing perspective.
However, if you're concerned about seasickness,
many of those places are going to be
where there's much more movement.
So the right at the top of ship,
there's going to be more movement at the front
and the back of the ship, there's going to be more movement.
If you're worried about seasickness and motion sickness,
you want to be midship in the middle of the ship,
and as low down as possible,
and you're more likely to get that in a balcony.
So given an example, we were on part of a world cruise
couple weeks a world cruise.
And we met some people who were staying in the best suite
of the ship right at the back of the ship.
And we were going through a period
where there were storms.
And we actually went to the cocktail party there.
And it was really difficult to stand up
and it was really moving about like crazy in our cabin,
which was midships you barely noticed
that you're going through a storm
because we're in the middle of the ship.
So one of the downside is the locations
although they're great from a sightseeing perspective,
if you're concerned about motion, and seasickness,
a suite could be a real downside.
The next area that could be the con
is you pay a lot of money for a suite.
But if you're on a very very port intensive cruise every day,
or in port for extended periods of time.
There's lots of things you want to do.
You're actually not going to be using a suite,
you're literally going to be using your suite
to get changed, get dressed and head out.
So actually, you need to ask yourself
is actually the extra cost of a suite really worth it.
Now it might be because you've decided the perks
or the access to some of those private suite facilities
do make it worthwhile.
But if you're not a port intensive cruise,
you need to think about
how am I really going to use those facilities, those perks
or am I actually better just going to balcony cabin,
perhaps by a couple of those perks,
because I'm going to be out in port so much.
Another possible con downside of the suite,
although you paid quite a lot of money,
you got to the perks, you've got those special things
through the rest of the ship.
In many of those things,
you're still going to be jostling with other passengers.
So if you're heading to the casino,
you're going to the theatre,
you're going out and about around the ship,
you're going to events, activities, talks, whatever,
you're going to be jostling normally
with the rest of the cruise passengers
so it doesn't have to buy you perks and benefits
and everything because when you're the rest of the ship
out of that special suite space,
you're going to be with other passengers acting, interacting
and doing the same as they're doing.
Whether they are inside cabin, balcony, ocean view or suite,
it's all going to be the same.
I hope you found that helpful,
I have loads more tips advice videos about cruising,
so why don't you watch another one of those right now.