Presidential suites on cruise ships beckon Cookie and Keller to good life

Cookie and Keller take time for a quick cocktail during their guided tour of The Royal Suite on Serenade of the Seas.

Would Queen Elizabeth and President Obama join Cookie?

WHAT DO THE SIMPLE FOLK DO? LET'S BOOKA ROYAL SUITE TODAY

Top penthouses offer luxury. 

Cookie covets the "Royal" suites.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS, 

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER and archives

WHY CAN'T I stay in the presidential suite every time I cruise? (Or at least in the palatial owner's suite or the spacious royal suite.)

Cookie and Keller play during a visit to the Royal Suite on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas.

I'd appreciate my lavish surroundings, making certain to use every drawer and chair (and each of the several bathrooms!)  I'd play the piano.  I'd tip the butler well when he organized an intimate, little party for 50 of my closest new cruise-loving friends.

Special suites and penthouses on ships are large as many peoples' homes.

I'D INVITE Queen Elizabeth and President Obama. Perhaps they'd be in the neighborhood and could drop in.  I picture us in a lovely port, surrounded by yachts and elegantly clad folks, dressed up for a Cole Porter kind of evening. Perhaps Monte Carlo......

SO WHAT am I waiting for?

For my financial ship to come in.

Alas, with three or four cruises a year, I'd be beyond bankrupt if I traveled in only top penthouse accommodations.

BUT I CAN DREAM.

Years ago, in one of my 13 voyages on the beloved Queen Elizabeth 2, we splurged for Queens Grill class and dined one evening with a pair of British gentlemen who had booked the Presidential Suite for a two-week journey up the Norwegian fjords then a crossing from Southampton.

A Queens Grill suite aboard the new Queen Elizabeth features 2,249 square feet of space. It's yours for $7,299.

They remarked that their digs had a beautiful grand piano and the two lamented that neither of them played. I entertained many nights to high praise.

Some people cruise months and some even live on ships.

IF YOU book the best rooms on any of the higher-end ships, you can expect to pay tens of thousands of dollars. A 10-nighter from Venice on Regent Seven Seas is $14,249 for the penthouse. Seabourn's 10-day Mediterranean Isles penthouse is $8,999. Silverseas's silver suite is $9,250 for nine nights. Crystal's Baltic 10-dayer is $9,780 for the penthouse.

For now, Cookie and Keller visit Presidential suites, play piano on ships, and look forward to winning the lotto.

THE FUN and pleasure of having actual "home-size" rooms while you're afloat is so appealing that one enterprising ship, The World, was designed to appeal to cruise lovers with deeper pockets than mine.

The World's suites compare to the finest presidential or owner's suites on luxury cruise lines.  But you own your own floating home.

Owner's suites offer all the comforts of home.

RETIREMENT living aboard an ocean liner  can be   interesting.  A friend bought into The World and traveled   the globe for years, renting out her home when she went ashore.

 TWO WEALTHY Florida friends retired on ships, spending 40 weeks a year cruising, and the other three months visiting friends and family around the world. They cruised out of

Cookie played piano on a recent cruise, as a guest in the Royal Suite.

Stockholm, Barcelona, Lisbon, Athens, Ft. Lauderdale, San Diego, Southampton and wherever their adventures took them.  They choreographed their schedules so that they could sail into a port one morning and leave that afternoon, sometimes back-to-back on the same ship, sometimes on another ship, another itinerary.

This contemporary presidential suite, left, offers a work table, spacious dining and living areas,  bedrooms and a butler's pantry for party preparation.  Above, right, a more classic owner's suite.

YOU CAN spend $50,000 to $100,000 or more if you have deep pockets, to sail for a month on the best digs on the world's top cruise lines.  Presidential penthouse, royal suite or owners suite prices vary, depending on the lavishness of the digs.

This video lovers' penthouse suite  features a large flat-screen TV.

WE LOVE the loyalty program at Royal Caribbean and would adore to cruise in the Presidential Family Suites aboard Freedom of the Seas. We'd book if we could engineer a trip with a few other couples. We'd share four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a private balcony and a living area with sofa bed. I predict a musical party at sea!

THERE ARE spacious living areas with comfy sofa beds and dining table, private balcony with another dining area, lounge chairs aplenty.  Up to 14 guests can be accommodated.  We know one couple who booked it for their party of four: themselves, their daughter and grandson! What do the simple folk do?

Juan Cabrillo was the first Anglo in San Diego.

COMING UP: From the "cream of the crop" suites shipboard, to creamy cheese at the historic Rogue Creamery and Cheese Shop with the "world's best blue cheese." It's in Central Point, Oregon.  But first, we take a look at explorer Juan Cabrillo and the discovery of southern California.  At www.whereiscookie.com  We'll continue our adventures in ancient Ephesus with its wonders, and have a look at Jerusalem at Easter time. Please share our blog link with your friends. Remember to explore, learn and live!