{"id":1455,"date":"2010-07-16T11:52:03","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T18:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2018-01-19T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T19:14:33","slug":"the-suite-life-defining-cabin-sizes-on-river-ships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/2010\/07\/the-suite-life-defining-cabin-sizes-on-river-ships\/","title":{"rendered":"The Suite Life: Redefining Cabin Sizes On River Ships"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Avalon Waterways Panorama Suite<\/p><\/div>\n

When Avalon Waterways unveiled plans in late May to launch what it called a \u201cSuite Ship\u201d \u2014 the Avalon Panorama with 64 suites (pictured) at 200 square feet each \u2014 the very definition of what constitutes a river cruise suite was put into question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a page from the hotel and big ship areas. From the hotel area, they define a suite as having a separate living area, sofa, chairs, some kind of area that can accommodate space beyond the bed,\u201d said Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus Family of Brands, which owns Avalon Waterways.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Avalon, anything 200 square feet and above is a suite, and the reason is we use that extra space for a living area \u2026 Size does matter, but it\u2019s not just size but how you use it. It\u2019s how you manipulate that space to have the extra living area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, river cruising takes its notes from the hotel and cruise industries, where the lines are also becoming increasingly blurred between what defines a suite, compared to a regular room or cabin.<\/p>\n

But some feel that the term \u201csuite\u201d should really be reserved for cabins with two separate rooms, while others feel the term suite is about a certain level of comfort and luxury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an ideal situation, a suite should be a two-room situation,\u201d said Ron Santangelo, who served as president of Deilmann’s North America operations for 13 years, and is now vice president of business development at AMAWATERWAYS. \u201cThe word has been used and abused.\u201d If a cabin just has a sitting area, said Santangelo, it should be called a \u201cjunior suite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you wanted to be a purist, that\u2019s the game,\u201d he added. \u201cThat said, no one\u2019s a purist anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of what\u2019s at play is that there is no single definition of a suite in river cruising, so river cruise lines define the word themselves based on how they want to market and sell certain cabins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn river cruising there is no governing body that defines what a suite is,\u201d said Guy Young, president of Uniworld River Cruises. \u201cThis does leave the door open for different interpretation. In the case of Uniworld there is a clear difference between our standard staterooms and suites.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Young, suites on Uniworld ships are typically 50% larger than regular staterooms and include a separate seating area. Suites are also defined with additional amenities such as free laundry service, shoe shine, bottle of wine on arrival, daily fruit and cookie plate, continental breakfast delivered to the room (er, suite) upon request and DVD players.<\/p>\n

On Uniworld\u2019s River Beatrice, launched last year, and the River Antoinette, launching next year, Uniworld offers butler service in the suites as well.<\/p>\n

Looking at size, there will be eight suites on Uniworld\u2019s newest ship, Antoinette, at 294 square feet each and one owner\u2019s suite at 391 square feet.<\/p>\n

As for whether the wide-ranging definitions in the river cruise marketplace could water down the implication of luxury, the word suite is meant to imply, or create confusion, Santangelo didn\u2019t seem to think so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word suite implies luxury without boundaries. The fact that everyone uses it in different ways, is really not a liability,\u201d said Santangelo, adding that on AMAWATERWAYS\u2019 new Amabella ship the suites are 350 square feet, and are called suites despite not having two separate rooms.<\/p>\n

The bottom line, said Santangelo, is that \u201con the newer ships there are a lot more of them\u201d \u2014 regardless of what you want to call them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Avalon Waterways unveiled plans in late May to launch what it called a \u201cSuite Ship\u201d \u2014 the Avalon Panorama with 64 suites (pictured) at 200 square feet each \u2014 the very definition of what constitutes a river cruise suite was put into question. \u201cWe took a page from the hotel and big ship areas. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[237,6,230,85,80,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rivercruiseadvisor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}