What are the real perks of doing this- do you get a better level of service or any other bonuses?

Looking at a 10 night Holland Caribbean.

Holland America doesn't really offer any special amenities to suite passengers on most of their ships. Prinsendam has a special lounge, but that's the only thing iIcan think of. Celebrity Cruises offers butler service for suites. Most of the luxury cruise lines have butler service for their highest level accommodations. You probably will have to check out the website very carefully to see what the perks are for booking a suite.

Sara, The suites are usually quite awesome...lots of room! As for added amenities, I may be getting HAL mixed up with other cruise lines. Some cruise lines have "full service" room service (i.e. course by course dinners, hot breakfast etc. ONLY for suite passengers), afternoon fruit plates and appetizers, welcome bottle of champagne or wine. The butlers will press an outfit and shine your shoes and you have access to concierge service for preferential booking excursions, Also, early departures on embarkation and nice floral arrangements in the cabin. When we've had a butler, most times we've rarely seen him (but we're not likely to request extras either). The added space in the suites and balcony is the biggest plus that I recall.

oops...meant to say early departure on disembarkation!

If you also have some sort of "concierge service" that comes along with the suite, that can be beneficial in terms of getting bookings (if the ship has some sort of so-called "extra tariff" restaurant) for dining "experiences"and for shore excursions.

I agree the extra room, particularly if the bathroom is larger, may be a big plus, too.

As to the "early disembarkation," I've had at least one experience in which the concierge actually came and collected us and accompanied us to the area on the pier where the luggage was waiting and that was great. HOWEVER, do not be fooled by the colored ticket or other "systems" cruise lines use to apportion the departure of passengers. Despite what they tell you, you can get off the ship whenever you wish....nobody is going to prevent you from leaving whenever you wish and the luggage will be there waiting. So do not book a suite just for the so-called "advantage" of early disembarkation. Good luck.

One that hasn't been mentioned is first off at ports including first tender tickets if required. This can be a valuable perk in ports where you only have a short time and you want to maximize your shore excursion. This perk will put you ahead of even the ship sponsored tours who usually get first off.

Peter

Holland's suite are double the size of regular balcony rooms, so it's VERY comfortable. For breakfast and lunch, you can dine in a room reserved for suite passesngers and that's nice. Champaign is waiting for you when you embark. Free laundry service which we took advantage of. Tea and apptizers brought in, and as the balconey was actually big enough to have coctails, it was nice, too. They also have special lunch and parties for suite passengers only. Special lounge for disembarkation. I don't recall conciege service. They might have had it and we just didn't use it. I don't remember. But the main thing is that the room is so much more comfortable and balconey large enough for lounging. I highly recommend it.

Unless you get a super deal on Holland for suite(which we did once and it was a deal!), why pay that kind of money on a mass market line? You are still on Holland America with assigned tables, 1,500+ passengers, lines for everything, huge buses for excursions, etc. For not much more you can go on one of the luxuary lines such as Silversea or Radisson. The rooms aren't as big as the suites in HA, but still much bigger, 375 sq ft(?)) than mass lines' balcony rooms. It's all inclusive, tipping, wine, drinks, etc., and you get all the extra services HA offer to their suite passengers, or almost. Laundry is extra. No need to line up at the omelet station on a buffet line in the morning . You just order and a waiter will bring it to you when it's ready. Caviar anytime of the day. As good as service is on HA, it's better on luxuary lines, because their customers are used to and expect to get good service. By the time you add tips, wines and drinks on HA's fare for a suite, I think you'll find the cost for the top of the line not much more, especially if you catch deep discounts on Silversea and Seabourn. Then it's really a great deal.

It is only around $1250 a person for a 10 night cruise- in a suite. Kind of hard to pass up.

We were on a HA Christmas cruise and our veranda suite was on the same deck as the larger suites. The larger suite passengers have their own lounge, formerly the inside rooms. It has a full-time concierge, TV, snacks/cocktails, etc...lounge chairs, tables, all very nice glassed-in large room. Ours was a smaller suite so we were not able to use it or the services offered, but it looked great!

Wow, Sarah. It's a great price. I got about that price for a 7-day Carribean once for a junior suite and it was great. You can't afford to pass up. You will like it.