Balcony Stateroom or Cat. 11/12 Suite?

[aus10cop]

My wife and I are currently booked for a balcony statroom (#6452) aboard the Conquest. I was tossing around the idea of upgrading to a Category 11/12 suite. From the looks of the pictures on the website and brochures, these suites only appear to be the size of a standard hotel room on land. Can anyone provide any insight on whether or not it's worth the extra expense? Any references to personal experiences would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Chris

[moeve]

Carnival offers no other perks other than the priority embarkation for suites. So if you do not need the extra space or the tub with the jets you might want to reconcider using the extra cash for onboard expenses....

[Cruise Specialist]

Originally posted by moeve:
Carnival offers no other perks other than the priority embarkation for suites. So if you do not need the extra space or the tub with the jets you might want to reconcider using the extra cash for onboard expenses....

Great Advise!!

[Jim C.]

The suites are nice. Your guesstimate that they are about the size of a land hotel room is pretty close. For your extra money, your get a larger balcony, a dressing area and a bathroom with a spa tub instead of the standard "mini" shower stall. They also have a mini bar. Then like stated earlier you get priority embarkation (meaning you don't have to stand in line, you go through a seperate check-in proceedure and then on to the ship)

So, you can decide for yourself if its worth the extra $$. It truly depends on how much time you plan on being in the cabin. My typical answer to this question is, that since you are normally in the cabin only to sleep, shower and change clothes.. is it worth the extra money? For some it is. we have not done the suite thing yet as we have been bringing our childern along and the extra cost of them makes it a hard price to swallow. If we ever cruise with just the two of us, we may try it.

If you are the type planning on spending a lot of time on the balcony, then it may be worth it.

[f-mattox]

Just a little comment from a different perspective;
my wife and I are in our 60's, don't get too involved in the daytime activities, and like longer cruises with more sea days.
Even in port we stick pretty much to half-day excursions, usually in the morning, and we find the mini-suite (I think Carnival has a different name) really suits us well.

[Cruise Fanatic]

Maybe most people don't spend much time in their rooms because they are so small. If they got a larger room they might enjoy it more and spend more time on the balcony. A regular standard ocean view cabin with balcony is 185 sq ft with a 35 sq ft balcony. A Category 11 suite on the Conquest is 275 sq ft and the balcony is 65 sq ft with the exception of cabins 9205 and 9206 which are 275 sq ft with 35 sq ft balcony.

[aus10cop]

Thanks to all who responded to this thread. Now knowing that the only "perks" that we would receive would be an accelerated check-in and a slightly larger room, I think I will opt to save the difference in price and stay with my category 9A balcony stateroom. Besides, the view is all the same whether your balcony is small or large With this being my first cruise, I'm not sure how much time I will actually be spending in the room itself, but I think it's safe to say that I will enjoy it with what I have. Thanks for everyones input.

Happy Cruising!!!
Chris