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Grand Suite opinions on Harmony


Leroyr55

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So I am thinking of surprising my wife by upgrading our junior suite to the Grand suite. We stayed in a junior on Symphony this year and we’re happy with it. We are on Harmony May 2023 .

So is it worth it for the extras for three thousand dollars? 
Coastal kitchen all day which I’ve seen up and down reviews. Concierge service we are pretty easy going retirees. They are the two main extras that I see and the voom  service. 
Let me know if I missed anything. 

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9 minutes ago, Leroyr55 said:

So is it worth it for the extras for three thousand dollars? 

$3k is a lot of money. You could use that for a lot of things, or another cruise all together. 

I don't think it's a no-brainer upgrade. Have some people paid that? Yup. But I think this falls into the "if you can afford it and it won't ruin your own finances, why not"

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Personally I think it’s well worth it… suite deck, reserved seating at entertainment venues, Coastal Kitchen available for all meals, Coastal Kitchen free happy hour (3 hours) every evening, free internet, and many other special considerations.  I won’t go any other way.  I don’t feel it is as good a deal as Retreat Class on Celebrity but if you can afford it, it’s worth it.

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Stayed in my first ever GS on Harmony a few months ago (courtesy of generous in-laws for a family cruise). Is it "worth it" is a a question only you can answer as it depends on finances, preferences, value you place on the perks, the bigger room, the tub shower, etc. That said, my thoughts...

The room was very nice, tub shower, big living room, more storage than my wife and I could ever fill, etc. I couldn't care less about my cabin size, personally, but it was nice. I enjoyed the perks way more than the cabin itself. So onto the perks...

  • Free internet was nice but you can put an exact dollar amount on that.
  • Open bar happy hour every night in the SL for 3 hours plus free beer, wine, hard seltzer, soda, bottled water from 11-11 everyday is a pretty big perk and I enjoyed it even though I'm not a huge drinker and can make do with my 4 free Diamond drinks per day.
  • Coastal Kitchen was enjoyable for breakfast but I'm just as happy having a breakfast sandwich from Park Cafe and the standard WJ items. It's the venue not the food for me. Only had lunch there once or twice. The ribs were amazing but again, I'm perfectly content having lunch at Park Cafe and/or WJ. We had 3-4 dinners there. They ranged from an excellent night one filet to only being slightly better than the MDR. It was nice having dinner in the same venue as the SL and I much preferred the ambiance there to the MDR. I'm actually not a big fan of the MDR in general.
  • Suite sun deck... our family enjoyed grabbing a free cabana early in the morning and hanging out there for a while if we weren't getting off the ship. Only complaint is it gets pretty hot up there.
  • Disembarkation via the suite concierges... Meeting our concierge in the Bionic Bar and being escorted past the line was nice but not a giant perk to me.

Hope this helps. Just one man's opinions of course which is why I started by saying only you can answer your main question. Happy deciding!

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OS on Harmony in March for my family of 4 adults.  It was a lift & shift from a much smaller ship so an EXCELLENT price protected deal.  My 2 cents:

large room & balcony was very nice for 4 people, maybe not necessary for 2.

free WiFi was good so we could text each other during the day

suite deck as noted above cabanas get hot & frankly liked the Solarium area better 

had DBP so drinks in SL didn’t matter

 Underwhelmed with CK 

concierge did almost nothing for us.  The couple of requests I made were not fulfilled.
getting escorted off the ship after a quick breakfast in CK was terrific & IMHO the best perk.  But I wouldn’t pay $3000 for it.

I believe we are on your cruise and have also opted for JS this time.

 

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1 hour ago, Leroyr55 said:

So I am thinking of surprising my wife by upgrading our junior suite to the Grand suite. We stayed in a junior on Symphony this year and we’re happy with it. We are on Harmony May 2023 .

So is it worth it for the extras for three thousand dollars? 
Coastal kitchen all day which I’ve seen up and down reviews. Concierge service we are pretty easy going retirees. They are the two main extras that I see and the voom  service. 
Let me know if I missed anything. 

Here's a link to the current Suite Class perks if that helps: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-royal-suite-class

My thoughts are $3000 extra is more than "usual" for JS to GS1.  You may want to change to a different Harmony sailing than you are on.  I noticed that the difference is more like $1300 on the May 13th 2023 sailing.

Whatever you get - have a great cruise!

 

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15 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

My thoughts are $3000 extra is more than "usual" for JS to GS1.  You may want to change to a different Harmony sailing than you are on.  I noticed that the difference is more like $1300 on the May 13th 2023 sailing.

That's per person. Perhaps he was calculating the total cost.

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1 hour ago, Leroyr55 said:

My junior suite was 3200 for two. The grand suite is 6000 for two. I may just wait to see if I get a royal up offer and try that if I don’t pull the trigger before that. 
Thanks for all the feedback. Gives me something to think about .

Think of it this way. You are already very happy with a JS. Is a GS, at nearly double the cost, going to nearly double the good time you will have…..I don’t think so. Want to know what WILL double your good time? Taking that extra $$$ for the GS and using it for a second cruise!! 

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2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Ah…the GS on Harmony holds a special spot in my heart. It was our first dive into “suite life” in 2017. Well, you know what happened after that. Lol. So yes! It is worth it! 

Pics not too great, this was also “pre-blogging days” 😉

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Hmmm.  HM GS Sept. 2017 in my pre-blogging days.

Coincidence?  I think not. 🤣

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We had a GS on Harmony in May. We had just cancelled our Alaska cruise in a JS and Sharla did her magic and somehow got Royal to let us pick up that cruise and move it to Harmony. This literally was 5 days before the Alaska cruise and 7 before Harmony 

We enjoyed the suite. CK was very average but we still ate there breakfast everyday and dinner 4 nights. Suite deck was empty (and hot!) 

We normally would not have booked a GS but it was DD’s college graduation cruise and the money was already gone (to Alaska cruise) so we did it. 

Personally I think $3k is a bit much. I’d wait for a Royal Up offer. You’re already getting double points for the JS, so to move to a GS for maybe $500 per person would definitely be a deal. 

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5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Ah…the GS on Harmony holds a special spot in my heart. It was our first dive into “suite life” in 2017. Well, you know what happened after that. Lol. So yes! It is worth it! 

Pics not too great, this was also “pre-blogging days” 😉

E2E39F70-CD0C-491F-BCF2-D37A904F042B.jpeg

D3DA5807-8371-4DA1-AABB-DBB293C5A7C8.jpeg

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While I admit the cabin looks wonderful and I too hope to one day enjoy a grand suite - for the life of me I never understood the designer who thought it was a good idea to put the closet in the kitchen....🤔

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The only person who can answer if it is worth an extra $3,000 dollars is you, because only you know your finances.  I enjoy the suite life when I cruise but my finances will only allow me to cruise up to Sky Class. We got lucky and booked a Star Class suite on ur upcoming December cruise but that was only because of a unbelievable sale Royal was running.  If not for the sale we would not have book a Star Class Suite on our December 10th  Harmony cruise.

 

One thing you don't want to do in my opinion is go into debt to go on vacation or upgrade a vacation. 

 

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11 hours ago, Leroyr55 said:

My junior suite was 3200 for two. The grand suite is 6000 for two. I may just wait to see if I get a royal up offer and try that if I don’t pull the trigger before that. 
Thanks for all the feedback. Gives me something to think about .

From my frequent pricing of cruises, part of the thrill most likely, approx 6k for a GS on an oasis class ship is pretty common, new ship or high demand times are more

5 hours ago, Pooch said:

Gotta say I’m not a fan of that privacy wall.  It makes both sides very narrow.  I get the idea, just don’t think it works in a GS.  Now the OS?  Totally different story!

That's why it take all kinds, we love the privacy wall, wife goes to sleep early, I tend to sleep later.  We don't disturb each other

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8 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

That's why it take all kinds, we love the privacy wall, wife goes to sleep early, I tend to sleep later.  We don't disturb each other

I liked it for similar reasons.

The cheapo version is the interior cabin curtain which we also have also utilized.

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14 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

From my frequent pricing of cruises, part of the thrill most likely, approx 6k for a GS on an oasis class ship is pretty common, new ship or high demand times are more

That's why it take all kinds, we love the privacy wall, wife goes to sleep early, I tend to sleep later.  We don't disturb each other

I get the reason for it, I just think the room is too narrow to be divided like that.  The living area is just too cramped.  Now moving up to an owners suite is a totally different animal.  There’s plenty of room for that divider there!  Even with the sofa bed open AND a rollaway,  still plenty  of room.

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16 minutes ago, Pooch said:

The living area is just too cramped

That explains the difference in opinion, for me at least. I'm fine in an interior, lol, so that living area is huge to me.

To each his own, as with most cruise-related opinions. No right or wrong answer.

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We applied our massive FCC from our sad Christmas and NY B2B last year on Odyssey to a CL suite for an upcoming trip on Harmony. Paid the difference and it felt like just paying for a regular room. Looking forward to a cruise where we wil actually stop at ports🤓

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3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

That explains the difference in opinion, for me at least. I'm fine in an interior, lol, so that living area is huge to me.

To each his own, as with most cruise-related opinions. No right or wrong answer.

Absolutely!  I cannot travel in an interior room due to severe claustrophobia.  I have to have space, light and air or I have panic attacks.  I have been known to sleep on a lounger on the balcony for the fresh air!

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On 8/24/2022 at 9:47 AM, Cruisingmama said:

If you're asking if it's worth it money wise then you probably don't have unlimited income. For $3,000 you can get another cruise OR pay for the ultimate dining package + drink package + voom and still come out ahead. It's really up to you. 

Somewhat and respectfully disagree. Let's do some quick math here. If you are interested in drinks you can probably forgo a drink package with suite lounge being open for beer and wife from11-11 and cocktails from 5-8 as per another poster on thread. So let's say that' $68 for two people over 7 days. $952 total. VROOM internet. Usually $17.99 per device but if you get a family plan or some sort of deal let's say it's $24 for two people over 7 days that's another $168. We are down to maybe a $1,880 saving which if you get it just right MIGHT be a balcony on an Oasis class cruise but usually not and DEFINITELY not during the summer or holidays, if we want to compare apples to apples.  Then the perks for showing up to shows merely minutes before they start and getting premium seating, concierge escort on embark, debark, and port days as well as coastal kitchen for 3 meals a day which really reduces the need for specialty dining.

If finances allow it's worth it. Honestly, the Junior Suite, is usually not worth it. Very few perks and much more expensive than balcony for minimal extra space. UPGRADE or DOWNGRADE don't stay in the JS. 

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23 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Damn, they weren't offering wives when I was in my GS on 5/29! Is that a new perk?

Sorry, couldn't help it.

yes this is fun

My question was going to be who's "wife" yours, mine or that 30 yo couple down the hall.

Never mine, mine tells me i couldn't handle IT and at my age she's probably right.  Like being RICH, just another fantasy

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