aft balconies on Solstice class?

[JFontaine]

6309 was wider by about a third than 6311. Soot was a problem - had black feet quickly despite hosedown that morning. I think unless you are standing or sitting right by the rail there is some privacy on the balcony. If you are sitting with your chair back against the verenda door nobody can see you.

[emairs]

This one I think:

 

 

Celebrity really need to put an awning over those aft balconies and that would help a lot.

 

Phil

 

NOOO!!!!!

 

I would hate that. I love the open deck. The soot is manageable.

 

They'll never be able to please everybody

[snow bunny]

Room 7360 on Equinox has a larger than average balcony. Friends were down the hall in 7364 and they had the largest of the aft balconies due to the "room attendant closet". Soot was a problem and I have a pair of beige shorts that I will have to try to get a soot mark off of. Was on the balcony reading when a "chunk" of soot landed on my shorts which rendered them useless for the remainder of the cruise. One was also required to wear footwear as there was the issue of black feet. Did love the view (including the sighting of a whale playing in the water off the starboard side) and found it extremely hot on the last two sea days with the sun beating down due to lack of any breeze. Once the sun started to move the balcony was quite comfortable. Would I book an aft again, probably since the pros outweigh the cons and the pricing was better than for almost all of the other balconies.

 

Missy

[dje27]

We just got off Equinox on Jan 25, 2010. We had aft cabin 1663. Its on the corner so the balcony wrapped around a little. I thought it was bigger than the others. we had a table, two chairs with foot stools and we had them bring us up two pool lounges. We loved the room!!!! Would love to get this room again.

[Oceangoer2]

We also were in SV class -- #9382 (underneath #8344) on Solstice last Feb. No soot problem for us either. Must depend on which way the wind's blowing. These balconies have a stewards closet next door to the cabin, which extends the width of the balcony. I would book this cabin again in a heartbeat. Any one in a direct line up and down from this cabin has the 3 ft longer balcony.

[WineDown17]

I just booked 9382 (one of the wider afts) for my in laws...

 

I am excited for them- and also concerned....

 

Hoping soot is not an issue.. but if it is, it is not the kind of thing to ruin their trip....

 

Since it is 3 feet wider, is there extra furniture??

 

All the reviews I have seen for this specific cabin have been positive... so keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Oceangoer- if you have any pics to sharer- would love that~

[Oceangoer2]

I should clarify...balcony is wider, meaning in the sense of the length of it, not depth; no extra wide table will fit. I'll look for pics, but your inlaws will love the location, I'm sure.

[WineDown17]

I should clarify...balcony is wider, meaning in the sense of the length of it, not depth; no extra wide table will fit. I'll look for pics, but your inlaws will love the location, I'm sure.

 

Thanks so much Carole!!! TRULY appreciate it!

[GITC]

Based on this view of the aft and judging only on balcony sizes, I group the aft C1s in 3 categories. Check the width of the balcony wall on either side of the cabin door.

 

 

 

 

Widest balconies:

2152, 1674, 1206, 9382

 

Mid-sized balconies:

2157, 1676, 1670, 1407, 1208, 1202, 9303, 9307, 9378

 

Smallest balconies:

1672, 1668, 1405, 1409, 1204, 1200, 9301, 9305, 9380, 9376

 

Your choices all have about the same size balcony. We were in 1204 and know that it was noticeably smaller than 1202 and significantly smaller than 1208. The smallest balconies are not bad, it's just that the difference in the three sizes is just noticeable. I would pick 9380 as it is closer to the center but any of the three would be good cabins.

I think I would expand the list of widest balconies to go right down to the bottom of that "column" of cabins. We were in 6312 a few weeks ago and it is certainly wider than most, if not all, of the rest on deck 6.

 

Soot was also an issue on our cruise on Jan 17. While we had never stayed in an aft cabin before, and enjoyed the different perspective, the issue of soot, I think, will preclude us from doing it again.

[tenspot48]

We were on the Solstice for the April 19, 2009 Transatlantic to Rome..15 days..we had aft cabin 8353 and our friends were next to us in 8344. We were able to fold back part of the partition to expand the deck size..it was wonderful. We did notice some soot, but having the wonderful views from our balcony certainly made up for any inconvenience. We could be on our deck on sea days with no wind issues and get the afternoon sun. Our cabin steward did a good job at keeping our balcony as clean as possible. There are always pros and cons..its an individual taste

[oldmanbob]

I have passed on reserving an aft cabin, not so much because of the soot possibility, but more so, my potential to get sea sick. I do wear a patch and typically have a great cruise with no problems, but I stay mid ship.

 

There seems to be considerable aft experienced cruisers here so I'll ask.

 

Does an aft cabin really ride up and down more so than mid ship?

 

Does one really hear the noises of the pods while at sea or if the ship changes direction or is it just the few times it is going in/out of port?

 

Lastly, I noticed on the pictures how the cabins above you may have your balcony in view.. thus I concluded that when if the cabin steward on the top rows of cabins rinses off the soot, if any... does that then not flow down to the balconies that jut out below?

 

thanks,

OMB

[Oceangoer2]

We had #9382 aft...no problem with soot and enjoyed the cabin tremendously. But...this is your vacation...if you have reservations about anything related to aft or soot, etc, then you should book where you have a comfort level. We have enjoyed port, starboard, forward and aft. All have ocean all around them. Whatever you think is right for you is where you should be. Enjoy!!

[monkeyinhat]

always love aft for view and loungers. poo. narrow balconies

do the chairs recline to where you have "2 piece loungers" at least?

[excitedofharpenden]

always love aft for view and loungers. poo. narrow balconies

do the chairs recline to where you have "2 piece loungers" at least?

The chairs recline pretty much flat, but I found them more comfortable if the seat back was slightly upright. If you are in a Concierge Class cabin you get a footstool for each chair. If you are in an SV category you don't. The standard depth of the balconies on the S-Class is greater than the other Celebrity ships so that if you are stretched out your feet aren't jammed up against the balcony glass. I had the second widest of the balconies and was very pleased with the space out there. If you click on the picture link in my signature I took some photos that appear on pages 6 and 7.

 

Phil

[monkeyinhat]

Thanks for the info Phil.

We decided to cancel our Eclispe and go with Mercury for drivable port, but anticipate liking X and sailing them more :)

[hylasgirl]

Just returned from the Solstice... had the widest aft balcony in the center. Yes, this is due to the steward closet in the hallway. We did not hear any noise coming from this closet the entire cruise.

 

We had NO soot issues... EVER! Strange how this can be an issue from cruise to cruise? We never saw any evidence of soot.

 

I have sailed forward... I have sailed aft... and mid ship. I really don't understand the debate. The motion seems the same to me no matter where I am. There is no noise but the wake and we LOVED the sound of the wake. We booked 8344 for next year. VERY nice cabin in a great location with the widest of all balconies.

 

I would say the only thing that a few of us commented on was the lack of aft elevator. This did not bother us at all. We did not mind the walk.

 

I am happy that many people aren't booking the aft cabins on the Solstice though!:D

[knowehead]

Anybody been in cabin 9380 on equinox?

 

 

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[lais]

We were in cabin 8340 on the Equinox last month and I measured that balcony to be 11 ft wide x 7 ft deep. Someone else wrote that the center balcony was 11 ft wide. Judging by the pictures I think the center cabins appear larger because of the solid wall to one side of the sliding glass door only while in 8340 there was solid wall on both sides of the sliding glass door and I think they are both the same size. The balcony between us seemed to be about 8ft. wide. I have booked 8353 for our next cruise and the balcony should be about 8ft wide. I chose this one over 8344 because I don't want the bed by the balcony as it was a hindrance to us. We don't like sitting that far inside the cabin and never used the couch so we will pass on the 3 feet of extra balcony space.

The balcony was very sooty at times but was cleaned by the cabin Stewart and really, privacy wasn't an issue unless you were standing on the end of your balcony (in fact, no one ever seemed to be around). It would have been nice to have some cover and I used the umbrella from the cabin as a sun shade at times. As far as motion in the back of the ship, well it's nothing compared to the front of the ship. I never felt anything move until I went toward the bow. On a stormy night there was motion but it was the same motion no matter where you were, Aft, middle or front. Love the aft balconies.

[cl.klink]

We are huge fans of the aft balconies on M-class. But after our cruise on the Equinox we will pick a side cabin, not aft, the next time we sail on the Equinox or one of its sister S-class ships.

 

The balconies are no deeper than standard, the only really nice aft balconies are the aft Sky Suites.

 

The balconies are completely open, except for the very top deck. There is no protection from sun, rain, or the view from above. There is a fair amount of soot that settles on the balconies and a white surface area between floors. The room stewards to a good job of washing these off - BUT when doing so they hose them down and the water cascades onto the verandas on the floors below. Not a good situation if you're sitting out there at the time or if you've left anything out on the balcony that you didn't want to get wet.

 

The only potential benefit to the aft is if one really likes the view and the wind protection, but while we like those benefits we'll take a pass next time we sail one of these ships.

 

But, Larry, it sounds like you're saying that the aft cabins on M class shifts are nice? Is the difference in less wind truly noticeable?

[knowehead]

We were on Hal last year and there was a soot prob on the aft of the ship where one of pools and some outside dinning were placed never heard one complaint. This year it cabin 9380 on equinox if there is soot ill get used to it.

 

 

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[gold1953]

We had 1676 Aqua class aft on the Solstice last May. We had soot issues daily and had to wipe our rail to lean on it . After finding soot on our clothes from sitting on the chairs we used pools towels to sit on. We did feel that we were a little too close to the folks stand on the Oceanview Cafe Deck at times as many leaned over. The deck was wider and we enjoyed it. We would book aft again but not so high up

[POPDISPLAY]

If there is a soot problem on these balconies, it stands to reason that passengers are inhaling the soot while they occupy the balconies.:eek::eek:

[barb1]

If you have stayed in this cabin, please tell me how you liked it. Thanks!

[knowehead]

If there is a soot problem on these balconies, it stands to reason that passengers are inhaling the soot while they occupy the balconies.:eek::eek:

 

It's only carbon it won't kill you. Until gas central heating was available us Brits breathed it in all the time and we have a massive amount of people over the age of 80 living the good life.

 

 

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