How much time do YOU spend in your cabin?

[Murphey]

We are very selective when it comes to cabin selection. We have even booked cruises purely on the availability of the cabin we desire. But I read about so many people who say they never spend any time in their cabin....to sleep and change only. I guess we are strange. We enjoy the privacy of our cabin and find it our oasis in a "sea" of people.

 

Now, when we first started cruising, we always booked gty's and hoped for the best and were happy! Now.....I'm not sure when the "conversion" happened! ;)

 

We are interested in what other cruisers think.....(btw, our preference is an aft balcony or caribe bal. Have only done a mini a few times when the price was incredible. Never had the luxury of a suite). Thank you for your thoughts.

[itzmered]

We spend quite a bit of time on our balcony. I enjoy sitting out there for an hour or so in the morning, sometime several hours if nothing is going on that I am interested in. I will then spend a couple of hours in the afternoon reading. I will usually sit out there for awhile in the evenings also. For us a balcony cabin is worth every penny we pay for it. We just booked an Alaska cruise for June and went with the one we could get a balcony cabin :)

[KruzPrincess]

When I book an inside or OV, I don't spend a lot of time in the cabin. Sleep, nap, sometimes watch a movie at night before I go to bed, etc. When I have a balcony or mini I spend a lot of time there. I like the time to myself and I love sitting on my own balcony. I, too, have become spoiled and it's hard for me to book less the balcony.

[TravelRocker]

Hi, I'm glad you asked this as I have been curious as well. I've only taken 1 cruise so far so I'm far from an expert but I thought, before we sailed that I would spend a lot of time in the cabin, relaxing, reading, out on the balcony and none of this happened even once! We were out and about all day except to sleep, change clothes and drop off the "goodies". There was so much to see and do. I read a whole 600 page novel while out at the pools.

Now, maybe on the next cruise and the one after that it will be different, I don't know. Once the "newness" of cruising and all there there is to see on board we will be taking those naps, haha. We did book a balcony, last one and next one and really liked it in the morning before we got our day started. Our photos of sunrise and sunset were incredible. I'll be interested in seeing what others have to say.

[Janet Foster]

I do lots of research and we are very selective as well. We cruise in groups with about 4 to 6 other couples, we get our cabins lined up in a row and we spend lots of time in our cabins, enjoying the balconies and each other. We also have cocktail parties.. so the location and type of cabin are very important to us.

 

Happy cruising...

[r&rlovescruising]

We love our cabin and really love our balcony. We may be fighting over the same rooms!:D We usually book caribe deck and if the aft is available even better:) It's our own piece of heaven. I love the ocean and eating breakfast and having coffee in the morning. My husband loves taking a nap with the door open. I guess everyone is different but we definitely spend time in our cabin!:rolleyes:

[Toto2Kansas]

We spend A LOT of time in our cabin. Probably more than most.

[kendon]

Whether it's and ocean view or balcony, the time we enjoy most in the cabin is between around 4 pm and 7 pm, after a day in the sun or a full day touring....and dinner time. We may take a catnap, have a cocktail, take a shower, then go out for a pre-dinner drink at a bar/lounge. Otherwise, we are on the GO. There are enough places to go if I want to read and relax. The cabin just doesn't appeal to me as I feel like I'm in my bedroom...just me.:)

[cadesnan]

Although we did not spend any time in the room we did use the balcony every morning to watch the sun rise (amazingly I am an early riser while on the cruise but struggle to get up on time for work, lol) and then every evening to unwind before bed. I don't think we would enjoy the cruise as much without the balcony.

[Coolmama_1]

We spend a lot of time relaxing in the cabin. I would much rather sit on my balcony and read than go and sit by the pool. We also enjoy the sitting area in the mini. We did book an OV last time to see if it made a difference. For us it did. We really missed our balcony at sail aways and sunsets!

[Cruise Junky]

We spend a ton of time on our deck and have a lot of meals there. Every sea day lunch is had out there

[Tralynn]

Usually we book a balcony, and when we do we enjoy the heck out of it. On a couple of cruises we booked either an oceanview or an inside (depending on availability). Those cruises were usually very port intensive, so there wasn't really any free time to spend in the room anyway.

[hughdm]

Absolutely no chair hogs on our balcony! I'm amazed about how much we see, even in the open ocean. We've seen dolphins, whales, flying fish, otters (in Glacier Bay). The pool is too small and crowded for us to enjoy anyway. We wait for the beaches!

[winncruiser]

The only time I have had an inside cabin was on my very first cruise which I booked at the last minute to go with friends. Since then I have only booked balcony, mini-suites or full suites. I love a balcony room. I actually almost prefer it to a mini or a full. I love the intimacy of it. It reminds me of being aboard a yacht...just enough space to be perfect. And do we love being out on that balcony...early morning, late afternoon, midnight...the most beautiful scenery in the world. As I tell my non-cruising friends, I never have to wonder where my room will be located...I know it's oceanfront!

[rdsqrl]

I'm up and out in the morning and don't go back until it's time to change out of the bathing suit for afternoon trivia and then back to shower and dress for the evening and then back to go to bed. The two times I had one, I only used the balcony a few times, and I think I sat on the sofa in the minisuite maybe twice in 15 days. I like to be out and about on the open decks getting my suntan on and seeing and being seen. And the sea breezes are better on the open decks!

Plus, as someone astutely pointed out above, I don't want to hang out in a bedroom, even on the balcony -- too confining. If I had a suite, well, then, maybe . . .

[4cats4me]

We spend 33.33 percent of our cruise in our cabin, the sleeping time.

Exceptions are if we have a balcony we night use it for one hour a day, if

that? When we have full suites we tend to use the balcony for 3 hours

a day, maybe four. With all the other balconies we might spend 15 minutes on it which is why we're going without a balcony for Alaska.

We enjoy Alaska by being up on top deck -- it's the BEST!!!

We don't spend an inordinate amount of time in the room.

The balcony we spent the most time on for some reason was C752/C752, Caribe corner afts, followed by

the Vista Suites which are corner afts as well --

I guess I'm too social as well as curious to be holed up in a cabin for too long.

I've got people watching to do. LOL

[lovingretirement]

We book mini suites in the middle of the ship for every cruise. We always cruise with friends, so we book our cabins in a row and enjoy visiting in our rooms, and spending time on our balconies. We always have the steward unlock the balcony doors so we can go and come from our balcony. We are not pool people, so perhaps that is why we spend more time in our cabins. We have cruised with as few as two, and as many as fourteen couples. It was really fun with fourteen cabins side by side!

[BoardwalkBabe]

We enjoy our balcony cabins. We're out there when sailing in/out of ports and I am usually out there reading for several hours later in the afternoon after I've had enough sun. Love the quiet, fresh air and just watching the ocean roll by. Ah....

[Go-Bucks!]

I had an inside cabin once and, like others have said, spent very little time in it. It wasn't fun to stay in a cabin with no light or view. I spent a little more time in oceanview cabins, but not alot.

 

Since then I've had only balcony or minisuites and spend alot more time in them since it's pleasurable. I find relaxing on the balcony to be much more enjoyable than sitting with alot of strangers on deck. I like to read, nap, and eat out on the balcony. I especially enjoy the minisuite since the living area is comfortable and roomy.

[compozer]

We spend most of our time on our balcony. We are boaters and love the water and can just spend hours watching the waves go by. We like the aft suites the best. We wake up when they deliver our coffee and enjoy it on the balcony. Shower and go up for breakfast and take a little walk. We go back to the balcony and order a late lunch and eat it on the balcony. Take a little walk and back to the balcony if it is a sea day. We have been to all the Caribbean islands so we usually just take a walk into town for the afternoon. It's different when we visit new ports. Then it is back to the balcony, have a drink, shower, have a cocktail on the balcony and do dinner at 8. Walk around and stop for a cocktail, then back to the cabin. Love to sit out and watch the lights of the islands disappear or see a ship passing us. Our last 14 day cruise, we never even made a show - guess we need to eat dinner earlier. We love to have people in for pre dinner drinks. I think our favorite time of the balcony is as we are leaving a port. We go to relax and relax we do.

[poncho1965]

We love the balcony! Its great to go out first thing in the morning and drink coffee and see where we're going, watch us port, etc. Sailed through rainstorms......Hard to imagine not having even a view of the outside world. I think we will have a balcony the rest of our cruising careers :-)

[Iamcruzin]

For us it’s about socializing and being entertained so we spend a minimal amount of time it the cabin. Maybe it’s because we live on Long Island and are only 20 minutes from the beach that we don’t get overly excited about the ocean so we don’t miss the balcony. Even during the winter my wife and I have driven to the dock and just enjoyed a cup of coffee in the car as we look out onto the bay so on a cruise it’s not about the view for us. We enjoy getting dressed up and going to the casino, martini bar or a show which is something we don’t do at home. When I think about how much money we spend on new cloths before a cruise it probably would be more cost effective to book a window suite and just stay in our pajamas all week. It would also cut down on all of the shoes DW takes along.

[Putterdude]

Other than to sleep I probably don't spend much more than 2 to 3 hrs in our cabin...DW, because of her mobility problems (MS) likely spends about double that on our balcony as she couldn't get off or on a lounger. That said when I look around at the balconies being used at anyone time....well I really question how much they are really used. I am not questioning the current posters....but I really wonder.

[Michelle19]

We have only been on a handful of cruises to this date... But we actually have spent more time than I ever thought we would inside our cabin and on our balcony. (only have had balcony's though).. We eat in our room on occasion and play cards on our balcony.. we watch movies and read their too.. We love our dinner friends and new people, but our cabin to us is 'home" and we have always loved it...

[caribill]

Some people like to cruise and participate in as many of the offfered onboard activities as possible and explore all the ports the ship goes to.

 

Others like to relax as much as possible and may spend much more time in their cabins.

 

Some like to eat dinner in the dining venues and some prefer room service and eat in their cabin.

 

Some go to the shows and some just watch a movie on TV in the cabin.