What You Need to Know Before Booking a Suite on Royal Caribbean
A spacious room, large deck with two seating areas, and a bathroom you can actually walk in are just a few of the benefits that come with a suite room on Royal Caribbeans Cruises. However, there are many other benefits that they won’t tell you upfront.
We cruised with Harmony of the Seas, booking one suite (three people) and one regular room (two people).
Suite room deck (two other chairs and table, not pictured)
With that being said, one of the most frustrating things about cruising with Royal Caribbean was their lack of communication about suite benefits (or lack thereof). Every time we spoke with representatives - before and during the cruise - we were told contradicting details.
First things first: just because one group has a suite, doesn’t mean the entire group will reap the benefits (despite a representative telling us the opposite). We were, however, able to navigate around this sometimes.
Hopefully the following tips will ease your travels:
Private deck and bar area for suite guests. Towels included.
Suite deck and bar area.
Private dining areas. There’s a lounge on the 14th floor that serves breakfast and lunch, while overlooking the main decks. It’s almost never busy, but it does close early.
Private deck and bar. This was an area we spent the most time on. It was quiet and never crowded, with plenty of open chairs and cabanas. It’s located in the back of the ship.
View during dinner at ‘My-time dining’ section.
Skip the lines for my-time dining. Unlike other cruises we’ve been on, where ‘my-time dining’ means grab an open table whenever, there are very long lines you must wait in, before being seated. We stood in these lines for 40 minutes before finding out there was a separate line just for suite guests. Once we got in the correct line, a table magically became available. There’s no sign indicating the suite guests line, so walk to the front and ask.
WiFi. They give each suite guest a code for this. Though it is the fastest internet on the seas, it’s not nearly as good as they make it sound, so if you’re planning to work on-board, don’t expect to get much done.
Private suite beach, Labadee, Haiti
Private beaches. When visiting Royal Caribbean’s private islands, there are private beaches just for suite guests (we visited Labadi, Haiti). This included a buffet of food, pool floats, towels (so no need to check them out when you get off the ship) and limited cabanas.
Reserved seat section at shows. With this, you can either book shows ahead of time (which I highly recommend to secure a seat) or show up before the show begins (at least 15 minutes in advance) to grab an empty seat in the section. Though many shows were sold out, we typically had no problem showing up ahead of time - and getting five seats together - because those who made reservations didn’t always show up. The suite section is usually front and center, sometimes more spacious (with comfier chairs in the Aqua Theatre).
Wristbands. Each suite guest will be given a wristband that can unlock doors and be used to pay at restaurants (basically in place of a key card). If you’re travelling with a non-suite group, you can request they be given a band too (this is how we were able to get around some of the setbacks, because they appeared to be suite).
Most of the benefits listed, we were never informed of, and only found out about - via other passengers - half way through the stay. There’s probably other benefits that we didn’t find out about, so make sure to meet with an associate for the full list in order to make the most of your stay.