Island Princess C424 or D716 Which would you choose?

Just back from Caribbean Princess A738 balcony at 230 sq ft with a balcony of 9x5 I believe.

Booked the Island mid ship for an 18 day Panama going Fll to Vancouver C424for a covered balcony and sunsets on the last leg to Vancouver.

NOW it appears it's even smaller than the A738 apparently only 210 sq ft. when I thought it was 248 sq ft. Is it possible that it's only 210?

So question is, the D716 is $1500 USA more than the C424 & apparently doesn't have any covering on the balcony from the sun and the people above can look down on your entire balcony?

The $1500 for us right now is more like $2040.CDN. Which would you choose & why?

The cabins on the Coral and island are a little smaller than most of the Princess ships. They have been designed to pass thru the Panama canal.

Any suggestions for a cabin?

Any suggestions for a cabin?

We have had midship Caribe deck on the Island Princess 2x through the Panama Canal and enjoy the bigger balconies + the privacy of the people above not looking down on to you.

Also C424 is in a good location, on the bump out and not right beside it.

I have never stayed on the Dolphin deck but if it were me I would save $ and go with C424.

Any suggestions for a cabin?

It so depends on how much time you want to spend in your cabin. The BA cabins on the bump-out are small; 2 chairs, a desk, a little cabinet for the fridge... and apparently the smallest bathroom known to man. The 210sq.ft. appears to be INCLUDING the balcony!

MA mini-suites have a sofa (plus the two chairs), the fridge is in a half-circle cabinet (with TWO tvs instead of the BA's one). And the bathroom has a tub with shower in it. I've heard the D-balconies are big enough to come with four chairs (the BA's only two).

This flickr pic shows the starboard aft:

The Dolphin balconies appear to have as much cover as the Baja and Caribe -- but they are ~twice as deep, so if you want to be at the rail -- you will not have cover.

I commend you for your choice of the port side coming from Florida through the Canal. We were on the starboard and the sun drove us inside in the afternoon in the canal, which does NOT run east-west.

I know that plenty of people will scold us for being on our balcony anyway, saying we should have been roaming the ship. We disagreed with that approach because who's to say when you move to one side you're not missing something on the other side! This way we did see everything on the one side! (saving the time we were napping in the afternoon from the heat exhaustion!) Now we're going Pacific to Atlantic on the starboard -- so we'll see the other side!

P.S. we'll be on the Island Princess in B435, in a 175sq.ft. room... and loving it! One thing you will miss from your balcony will be the construction of the new canal -- so you might want to go to some viewing deck or other at the start and end...

We have had midship Caribe deck on the Island Princess 2x through the Panama Canal and enjoy the bigger balconies + the privacy of the people above not looking down on to you.

Also C424 is in a good location, on the bump out and not right beside it.

I have never stayed on the Dolphin deck but if it were me I would save $ and go with C424.

Bump out cabins don't have the bigger balconies, thus the fewer sq ft.

We had a cabin across elevators once, and DW said she heard the bell every time it stopped on our deck, it didn't bother me, but she is a light sleeper.

Thank you all for your thoughts. We have decided to stay put with C424.

On Princess site when you go to deck plans C424 says 248 sq ft but upon clicking on viewing more info it says 210sq ft.

Travel agent says that breaks down to 173 for the cabin & 43 for the deck which is 216.

Apparently math isn't anyone's forte.

But for the extra proximately $2000 CDN for us both I will use that for another cruise ;)

Good call. I didn't want to come right out and say it, but yours would have been my choice! Whether for another cruise, excursions, or whatever else, the $2K can go far. The worst cabin on the ship is... still on the ship! And a Caribe bump-out balcony is far from the worst!

(Unfortunately, it looks like we will have to cancel this year's Panama. So enjoy for me!)