Suite benefits solely worth it for Surfside suite on icon?

[walleyealx]

Booked a Surfside family suite at announcement for the sole purpose of being able to use the perks (have never stayed in a suite on a cruise ship). Now that the date is approaching I'm worried that I'll miss the ocean view... I know this is a personal thing, but do you folks think the perks (sky deck, concierge, etc...) are worth sacrificing an ocean view balcony? I wouldn't plan on spending much time in the room if I didn't have an ocean view balcony.

 

Fwiw, I can still get out of my Surfside and switch to an ocean view balcony for some marginal savings (got a great deal initially on the Surfside, less than half of the current rate through RC).

 

Thanks ahead of time.

[smokeybandit]

We have one booked for Star in 2026. I know I'll miss the ocean view, but, it was a "decent" price to experience an Icon class ship.

[TessFromFlorida]

It is such a humdrum view (relatively speaking) if you have cruised the Caribbean before; I would sit back and enjoy the suite life! It isn't like Alaska or the Med.  If you haven't cruised the Caribbean several times already,  I do understand your concern 

[walleyealx]

I've done Caribbean (Wonder) and Med (Mariner) with RC with Ocean view balconies, which makes me think I might miss it... But there's so much to do I guess... It would certainly force me to not just sit and stare at the ocean.

[Lovetocruise2002]

I was in this exact position for the inaugural. I booked the Surfside Suite because I wanted full access to Sky class amenities and that suite was the lowest entry point. I knew about losing Oceanview right off the bat. However, as Royal released more about the Surfside neighbourhood (tot town as many of us call it now lol), the more I regretted my decision booking that suite. The problem was that by that point, the price had jumped so much I was stuck.
 

We were lucky enough that we won our Royal Up and got out of that room. In retrospect, I would not book that room again. No view of the ocean is a downer, facing tot town is worse, and I personally did not like how far it was from the suite areas of the ship.

Also, we got to see this suite on a room tour and it was much more narrow (lengthwise) than I expected. The pictures and YouTube videos don’t show it was much but the length of the room Is pretty much the length of the bed. And you did not mention how many you have in the room, but the sofa bed in that suite is smaller than the standard sofa bed. 

[berkeleykel]

I did the same — booked two Surfside family suites when Icon bookings first opened to take advantage of the suite benefits, but as we’ve gotten closer (our sailing is in August) the FOMO has worn off and I’ve been starting to think more and more that the suite benefits aren’t worth it especially at the high price point and lack of ocean view and connecting doors. We’d probably feel the need to go out of our way to utilise the benefits when we’d rather be exploring the various areas of the ship. Finally made decision yesterday to downgrade to two connecting ocean view balconies. Ended up saving £3.5k.  I’ve never been happier with a decision to downgrade from suite class before.  The balcony prices seem to have come down a bit too from a few months ago because the last time I checked there hadn’t been much of a price savings to make downgrading worth it.

In our case we have young kids so the tot town location isn’t bad per say, but at the same rate having the kids makes it harder to take advantage of the suite benefits (for example they will be bored by the suite pool and are too fussy for CC breakfasts etc). 

[Southern Dan]

I have been debating this same decision when looking into a potential Icon sailing in January.  It will just be my wife and I so perhaps the Grove area along with access to CK might be worth it.  I'm pretty torn honestly, we'll have an Oceanview Junior Suite on Symphony in November so it might be nice to try something different with the additional perks...

[walleyealx]

well, I’m planning on sticking it out for the trip in August. So assuming I do, I’ll let you know! Booked the inaugural on the star with an ocean view balcony... So I figured that would make up for it if I miss the balcony life!

[ScottD]

I'm team benefits over view all day. But then again, I'm the weirdo that liked my Boardwalk balcony more than my Oceanview Balcony, so my opinion might not count, lol. 

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

I'm team benefits over view all day.

+1 says the guy who wishes there was a Sky Class interior.

[I_Love_RCI]

On 4/29/2024 at 5:32 PM, walleyealx said:

Booked a Surfside family suite at announcement for the sole purpose of being able to use the perks (have never stayed in a suite on a cruise ship). Now that the date is approaching I'm worried that I'll miss the ocean view... I know this is a personal thing, but do you folks think the perks (sky deck, concierge, etc...) are worth sacrificing an ocean view balcony? I wouldn't plan on spending much time in the room if I didn't have an ocean view balcony.

 

Fwiw, I can still get out of my Surfside and switch to an ocean view balcony for some marginal savings (got a great deal initially on the Surfside, less than half of the current rate through RC).

 

Thanks ahead of time.

There are three primary benefits to a suite - the sun deck, access to CK, and the suite lounge/concierge(s).

The Grove - Easy to find a place to camp out and the food is decent Mediterranean type far, but the pool feels very isolated as its sunk down in the deck and there are no views out to the water (unlike the nice views on Wonder). Hot tub can be popular at times. Bar service is excellent. 

Coastal Kitchen - We never eat in the MDR anymore so its either specialty or Coastal. The view is not over the water as it looks into the Aquadome. Thus, it depends on which "views" you prefer. Food and service is comparable to other CKs. 

Suite Lounge/Concierges - They were fantastic and really helpful. Bar staff was good as well. 

But, here is the main issue - the room - Besides your concern about not looking out over the water, the other thing to consider is that the room "doesn't really feel like a suite". There is less storage (especially if you actually have a family in the room of more than two people) and the space is "tight". Royal provided several little "amenities" during the week - things like shower bombs, Icon swag, etc, throughout - I assume because they're aware people don't feel those rooms are "suite" enough and they're trying to make them feel special. (We sailed on Icon twice, and the first time was a different suite category - RCCL did not provide the little daily amenities in that one, thus the reason I think they're trying to plush it up a little)

I told my DS that I did not want to stay in those rooms again unless there was no other suite option. Thus, in my view, we tend to like and sail only in suites, but the Surfside suites are not worth it. 

 

 

[ScottD]

5 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

+1 says the guy who wishes there was a Sky Class interior.

I keep looking at the MSC Yacht club- it's a bit expensive for our cruising budget, but they DO have interior rooms that make it much closer to realistic for us. Still not ready to pull that trigger, especially until we try them out first. But it's definitely cool that they have the perks and benefits available to all of the room types. 

[Jill]

Didn’t read all comments but 2 weeks ago, people in our sailing’s Facebook group who were in suites were complaining in a big way how the suite sun deck was overrun with kids. Pool was jammed packed with screaming kids. Apparently parents booked suites and by golly they were going to use it…..with all their kids 

 

[smokeybandit]

Why shouldn't kids in suites be allowed to use the suite amenities though?

[Southern Dan]

Yeah I don’t see the big deal, the suites pool isn’t adults only.  Guess it’s just luck of the draw if there are a lot of families with kids on your sailing or not…

[I_Love_RCI]

17 hours ago, Jill said:

Didn’t read all comments but 2 weeks ago, people in our sailing’s Facebook group who were in suites were complaining in a big way how the suite sun deck was overrun with kids. Pool was jammed packed with screaming kids. Apparently parents booked suites and by golly they were going to use it…..with all their kids 

 

The problem isn't that there are kids. The problem is that the parents haven't been parents and taught their kids to be respectful of others. Although, there are also plenty of adults (kids or no kids) who have also not learned that lesson.