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What are the pros and cons of a cruise ship suite? Should you consider cruising in a cruise ship suite nowadays as you look at 2020 - 2021 cruises? Cruise ship suites cost much more than a balcony cabin, but are the perks and added benefits worth the extra cost making the upgrade to a cruise ship suite good value, especially as you look at 2020 - 2021 cruising? I discuss my view on what are the 6 biggest pros and 5 large cons of cruising in one of the luxury suites on a cruise ship to help you understand, and decide, if cruising in a cruise ship suite if worth planning and budgeting. See some of the suites available on different cruise lines in this to also help see what you options are.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.
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0:00
what are the best and the worst things
0:02
about cruising in a sweet
0:05
I'm gay beverage this is another of my
0:07
cruising tips for travelers I want to
0:10
explore the pros the cons the best the
0:12
worst things about cruising in a suite
0:14
when you go on your next cruise now when
0:18
I go cruising I often cruising about
0:20
kakera like a balcony cabin but when we
0:22
go cruising with my partner we often
0:24
choose to go in a suite for all sorts of
0:26
reasons and so I'm gonna explore some of
0:28
the pros and cons right now so let's
0:30
start by taking a look at the pros the
0:33
best things about cruising in a suite
0:35
the first of those is size Suites are
0:38
going to be bigger than a balcony cabin
0:40
and it could be depending on the ship
0:42
just a little bit bigger could be right
0:44
through to some ships where there are
0:45
monstrous they're probably bigger than
0:47
your apartment and your home it could be
0:49
multi levels multiple bedrooms but the
0:52
great thing about a suite generally
0:53
speaking is you're going to have a
0:54
sleeping area you're going to have some
0:56
kind of living area a seating area and
0:57
then you're gonna have a bathroom often
1:00
you'll have a bath and a shower you'll
1:03
have twin basins and then connect to
1:06
that often you'll have some sort of
1:07
walk-in closet area dressing room so
1:11
those are the key features of a suite
1:13
then the scaler that just depends on how
1:16
big a suite that you're in so you have
1:18
huge amounts of space that's really the
1:20
biggest Pro is the size and the scale
1:24
that you're gonna have of a suite versus
1:26
say a balcony cabin which is the next
1:28
level down you normally find that the
1:30
balcony on a suite is also much bigger
1:32
to have more room to sit outside if
1:33
that's something that you like to do
1:35
that's simply because the suite is
1:36
bigger than a balcony cabin and just is
1:39
longer wider and therefore the the
1:41
balcony is bigger the second pro or good
1:45
thing about a suite is they are located
1:48
in what the Cruise Line believes are the
1:51
best locations on the ship so they'll
1:53
normally be right at the top of the ship
1:55
so you get big grand views them up in
1:56
the front of the ship so you can look
1:58
forwards over the bow there might be the
2:00
rail the ship so you get that beautiful
2:01
scene as you're sailing out of port or
2:04
on sea days now I actually think there
2:06
are some issues around where suites are
2:08
located and I'll talk about those when
2:10
we get to the cons section but certainly
2:11
from the Cruise Line perspective these
2:13
the premium locations on the ship the
2:16
next best thing and pro about a suite is
2:20
you have all sorts of extra facilities
2:22
now this can vary depending on the ship
2:25
you're on so if you head on to some
2:27
ships you'll find there's the Suites are
2:29
at ship within a ship so they're all
2:31
collected together so for example on
2:32
Norwegian on their bigger ships they
2:34
have the Haven and in here you're gonna
2:36
you're in swimming pool you're gonna
2:38
have a lounge you have a concierge
2:39
service you don't have your own dining
2:41
room you're gonna have a bar and these
2:42
are all within one area and the seems to
2:44
say on MSC with a Yacht Club
2:46
however on other ships there may be more
2:48
dispersed but you're gonna generally
2:50
find you have your own restaurant you
2:52
probably have some sort of lounge or bar
2:54
area you're gonna have a concierge or
2:56
concierge downs as well so you normally
2:58
find there are very specific facilities
3:00
normally you'll find there's a pool deck
3:02
or a deck which has hot tubs on as well
3:06
that you can use so very specific suite
3:09
only facilities on board of the ship
3:11
they're also generally with Suites seven
3:14
perks that you going to get and some of
3:17
these are really quite fun and some of
3:19
them you may think are less important
3:21
but what are the seven perks that you're
3:23
gonna get well first of all what you're
3:24
gonna get is priority embark a shinto
3:26
some vocation and use of the tenders
3:28
this could be great particular if you're
3:29
on really big ships when there's
3:31
thousands of people boarding you're
3:32
gonna basically arrive have your own
3:34
check-in you're gonna get onboard really
3:35
quickly also if you're in lots of tender
3:37
ports we have to use a little ten just
3:39
to get out you're gonna have priority
3:41
get on those and also when leaving the
3:42
ship you're gonna be able to leave early
3:44
or choose when you want to leave so
3:45
that's definitely one big perk second
3:47
perk is you'll normally find you'll get
3:49
things like afternoon canapes brought
3:51
into your cabin third area could be many
3:55
sweets will have Butler's and depending
3:57
on the ship that you're on it could be
3:58
an all backless service ever example on
4:00
silver sea it's all suites and Butler's
4:02
if you go and say canard in Queens grill
4:04
you have a butler and then different
4:07
ships have different rules but you have
4:08
a butler Butler's will do things like
4:10
they'll pack and unpack for you they'll
4:12
serve you your meals by course they'll
4:15
sort out various problems if you've got
4:17
them they'll have your shoes shined all
4:19
sort of little bits and pieces that
4:21
they'll do for you the fourth perk you
4:23
normally find is some kind of drink so
4:25
you might find you know the lounge you
4:26
have three
4:27
drinks available but what normally
4:28
happens in your cabin you'll have a
4:29
fully stocked minibar you can choose
4:31
what drinks you want and you're not
4:33
charged for those so you might be able
4:35
to order two big bottles of something or
4:36
extra wines so you'll only find those
4:38
drinks included you'll find you might
4:40
win your idea of champagne so drinks are
4:43
normally included you also have lots of
4:44
from cocktail parties and things that
4:45
you're invited to so lots of drinks are
4:47
normally included in Suites another perk
4:51
you'll find is most cruise lines will
4:53
then give you upgraded toiletries so you
4:55
have very premium toiletries sort of
4:57
brand-name toiletries so you normally
4:58
find rather in balconies or ocean view
5:01
or inside cabins you'll have a generic
5:04
or sort of own brand the croissants our
5:06
own brand or Jews will normally find
5:07
much more exotic and premium toiletries
5:11
siclari you normally have is you'll
5:13
often find you get free or discarded
5:15
laundry so normally they're bundled in
5:16
laundry services you can send that away
5:18
and the other perk that you often will
5:20
find is normally with Suites you're
5:22
going to get Wi-Fi I'd included or quite
5:24
a lot of Wi-Fi included there's a whole
5:25
of little bits and pieces around Suites
5:27
that you get as perks a suite is really
5:30
good if you need to or want to spend a
5:33
lot of time in the cabin so for example
5:35
if you're going on a transatlantic
5:37
Cruise when you're gonna have six or
5:39
seven days at sea whether it's on the
5:40
Queen Mary - or in the repositioning
5:42
cruises on other cruise lines you are
5:44
probably gonna want to spend quality
5:45
time your cabin because you've got six
5:47
seven days at sea so using your cabin
5:49
becomes quite important you might want
5:51
to spend a time chilling out there so
5:52
you want the extra space and some of
5:54
those little bells and whistles and
5:55
perks are really important if you're
5:57
heading on a world cruise for example a
5:59
really extended cruise you may want to
6:00
have a suite as well simply because
6:02
that's going to be your home for weeks
6:05
and weeks on end up to three months and
6:06
actually having the space to spread out
6:09
relax and feel less claustrophobic
6:11
perhaps that could be a real big plus
6:14
reason for having a suite if you have
6:17
mobility issues you might like that
6:18
little suite because it's gonna have
6:19
much more space much more room to get
6:21
around and although you can get
6:23
obviously accessible cabins for all
6:25
different grades if you actually are in
6:28
a suite you just gonna have so much more
6:29
space to spread out and enjoy yourself
6:32
and relax
6:33
the next real big plus and pro of having
6:37
a suite is if you're traveling with
6:38
other people and that's really force
6:40
into
6:40
areas so one is if you're a family or
6:43
you perhaps traveling with friends the
6:44
great thing about a suite is you have
6:47
that sleeping area and you have the
6:49
living area the living area will often
6:50
have say its sofa bed so actually you've
6:53
effectively got two bedrooms because you
6:54
have space to spread out so it's really
6:56
great you know if you're traveling with
6:57
friends you may want to look at a suite
6:59
because you might find the cost per
7:00
person ends up being lower by sharing a
7:02
cabin if you're traveling as a family
7:04
and you've got kids but you get older
7:06
kids having a Suites great because often
7:08
you'll find in many sweets they often
7:10
have a separate or second toilet area so
7:14
it becomes actually great if there's a
7:16
group of you so it's really good from
7:17
that perspective the other time that
7:19
I've seen sweets used is if you're
7:21
traveling with an extender to group
7:22
particularly say a multi-generational
7:24
families so part of the family or part
7:26
of the group maybe in smaller cabins
7:28
that might be an inside oceanview
7:29
balcony whatever but if you've got a
7:30
suite that's where you can all come
7:32
together you can get together before
7:33
dinner or during the day you might even
7:35
get room service in there you might have
7:37
drinks together so yes you have a space
7:39
which as a family you can come together
7:40
which is private so it's not initially
7:42
in a public space so that's a real big
7:44
plus of going in a suite so what are the
7:46
worst things about going a suite what
7:48
are the real downsides the cons are
7:50
gonna suite well the first one and
7:51
probably the most obvious one of all is
7:53
price suites are expensive so roughly
7:57
speaking you might say if you go from an
7:59
inside or an ocean view you might pay 50
8:01
percent 100 percent more going to
8:03
balcony but you could then be paying 50
8:05
percent to 100 percent or more per day
8:07
per person to go in a suite so there are
8:09
expensive that's also because they take
8:11
up so much more space so it's just the
8:13
way that logic works you're gonna pay it
8:15
much much more for a suite so a lot of
8:16
people that's a real downside because
8:18
you can probably get two cruises for the
8:20
price of one suite so price is
8:22
absolutely one of the big cons and
8:25
downsides the second worst thing or the
8:28
downside of cruising the suite is
8:30
actually many of those perks that you've
8:31
got are not really worth the extra you
8:33
paying for suite and actually you could
8:35
probably pay to get them also increasing
8:37
what's happening is cruise lines are so
8:39
into sell packages where you can buy a
8:41
lot of those perks so for example on
8:43
Caribbean they have the key on Conor
8:46
well they have faster to the fund where
8:47
you pay and you get lots of extra things
8:49
bundled in like priority and vacation
8:51
disembarkation certain restaurants and
8:54
stuff like that is all bundled in Wi-Fi
8:57
maybe some laundry so you guys you buy
8:59
those perks and it's gonna cost you a
9:00
lot less to have about me haven't even
9:02
ocean view cabin and pay for the perks
9:04
bear in mind when you pay for a suite
9:07
and you get all those perks you're
9:08
really paying for extra space so it's
9:11
not about the perks the perks added up
9:13
together you probably can buy for
9:15
cheaper and especially if you are a
9:16
clever you can buy fares where you'll
9:19
find all those bundled in so I've booked
9:21
a couple of cruises for this year where
9:23
I've booked them way in advance and
9:24
they've thrown in are booked a balcony
9:26
cabin but they're thrown in drinks
9:27
packages Wi-Fi all that especially
9:30
dining and stuff like that so that's the
9:32
downside is the perks are not really
9:34
worth the extra you could buy them for
9:37
the same or less one of the things to
9:40
consider which could be a downside is
9:42
location as I mentioned earlier the
9:44
cruise lines have Suites where they see
9:46
them as the best locations and they're
9:48
in the best locations from a visibility
9:51
and sightseeing perspective however if
9:54
you're concerned about seasickness many
9:56
of those places are going to be where
9:57
there's much more movement so the right
9:59
at the top of the ship there's going to
10:01
be more movement at the front and the
10:02
back of the ship there's going to be
10:03
more movement if you're worried about
10:05
seasickness and motion sickness you want
10:07
to be midship in the middle of the ship
10:09
and it slow down as possible and you're
10:10
more likely to get that in a balcony so
10:12
give me an example we were on part of a
10:15
world cruise a couple of weeks of the
10:16
world cruise and we met some people who
10:19
were staying in the best suite of on the
10:21
ship right at the back of the ship and
10:23
we were going to be paired with us quite
10:24
a storms and stuff and we actually went
10:26
to their cocktail party there and it was
10:29
really difficult to stand up and it was
10:30
really moving about like crazy in our
10:32
cabin which was midships you barely
10:34
registered you're going through a storm
10:36
because we're in the middle of the ship
10:37
so one of the downside is the locations
10:39
although they're great from a
10:40
sightseeing perspective if you're
10:41
concerned about motion and seasickness a
10:45
suite could be a real downside the next
10:48
area that could be the the con is you
10:50
paid a lot of money for a suite but if
10:52
you're on a very very port intensive
10:53
cruise so every day you import your
10:55
important for extended periods of time
10:57
there's lots of things you want to do
10:59
you're actually not going to really be
11:00
using your suite you're literally going
11:01
to be using your suite to get changed
11:03
get dressed and head out so actually you
11:05
need to ask yourself is actually the
11:07
cost of a sweet really worth it now it
11:09
might be because you've decided the
11:10
perks or the access to some of those
11:12
private suite facilities do make it
11:15
worthwhile but if you're a port cruise
11:16
you need to think about am I really
11:17
going to use those facilities those
11:19
perks or am I actually better just go in
11:21
a balcony cabin perhaps buy a couple of
11:23
those perks because I'm gonna be out
11:24
important so much another possible con
11:28
downside of a suite although you paid
11:29
quite a lot of money you go to the perks
11:31
you've got those special things through
11:33
the rest of the ship and many of those
11:34
things you're still gonna be jostling
11:35
with other passes so if you head into
11:36
the casino you're going to the theater
11:38
you're going out in the bow surround the
11:40
ship you're going to events activities
11:41
talks whatever you're going to be
11:43
jostling normally with the rest of the
11:46
cruise passengers so it doesn't issue
11:48
buying you perks and benefits and
11:50
everything because when you're the rest
11:52
the ship out of that special suite space
11:53
you're going to be with the other
11:56
passengers acting interacting and doing
11:58
the same as they're doing whether
12:00
they're inside cabin balcony ocean view
12:02
or suite it's all going to be the same I
12:04
hope you found that helpful I have loads
12:06
more tips advice videos about cruising
12:10
Savannah to watch another one of those
12:11
right now
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