Choice dilemma, Oceanview or Balcony QV for Panama trip

[welshgirl001]

I am having a choice dilemma. I am looking at booking Feb 28 voyage on QV LA to NY Panama canal.:D

My dilemma is Oceanview or Balcony. It is currently at a good price and it is $600 pp less for an OV. Of coarse it is for an C5 obstucted view of which there are only 2 on deck 4 then a C4 ob v with quite a few cabins BUT if i was upgraded to a C3 or C2 it would be on deck 1:confused:. Is that a good thing or not, it seems awfully low down to me?

 

So for $1200 more total i could have a balcony A7 deck 4 again which there only seems to be 2 forward. Then if upgraded an A6 which there are quite a few forward and aft on deck 4 also.

 

Location is not a priority for me. But deck 1 is an unknown:eek: and seems it could possibly happen as one never knows what the Upgrade fairy will do.

 

I had a balcony for Caribbean at xmas and it was nice to have but not used $1200 worth. Dont tend to spend a lot of time in room really.

 

Any one been on deck 1 or had an ob view on deck 4?

 

HELP:confused: Decisions Decisions?????????????

 

Julie

[Ray66]

If you book an A7 you could get upgraded to anywhere between A6-A1. We've booked A7 twice and ended up with an A2 both times.

[capnpugwash]

I understand that Deck 1 is fine. Personally I would take the window and then use the promenade deck as my balcony, in fact I might go for an inside D2 on deck 1 which are 50% larger than other cabins.

[welshgirl001]

After receiving an email offer from Cunard of a 2 for 1 on ocean view C5 and then sending this detail to my TA ,he has made a counter offer for Balcony $400 less than before (he didnt quote for O Veiw and i did ask!),:D So now more tempting only $600 more for Balcony over O view, taking into account double the amount of OBC when booking a balcony grade.

 

Now more thinking should I shouldn't I, balcony or ocean veiw, splash out or not?:confused:

 

Will sleep on it, ponder on it, and of course value any opinions from fellow travellers:D

 

Julie

[Underwatr]

Deck 1 is fine on QV. On our Panama Canal cruise we had CC friends who were in a Deck 1 OV. I think they thought it was a bit clausterphobic to be able to see the water but not open a window but probably that's the case for any OV cabin.

 

We were in a balcony and DW spent a fair amount of time there.

[Whitemarsh]

After receiving an email offer from Cunard of a 2 for 1 on ocean view C5 and then sending this detail to my TA ,he has made a counter offer for Balcony $400 less than before

 

I didn't know Cunard will negotiate on fares. Would it work if you rang their call centres?

[welshgirl001]

I didn't know Cunard will negotiate on fares. Would it work if you rang their call centres?

 

It is the TA that made the lower balcony offer.

 

The Cunard email was just the usual mass marketing type with a 2 for 1 price offer based on a previous brochure price. But this obviously gave the TA room to reprice. They are free to adjust their price, which affects their commission not what Cunard gets.

 

 

On that note though when i went online on Cunard site the lower email prices were not showing. When this happens if you call Cunard they will honour the email prices.

[KenC]

After receiving an email offer from Cunard of a 2 for 1 on ocean view C5 and then sending this detail to my TA ,he has made a counter offer for Balcony $400 less than before (he didnt quote for O Veiw and i did ask!),:D So now more tempting only $600 more for Balcony over O view, taking into account double the amount of OBC when booking a balcony grade.

 

Now more thinking should I shouldn't I, balcony or ocean veiw, splash out or not?:confused:

 

Will sleep on it, ponder on it, and of course value any opinions from fellow travellers:D

 

Julie

 

Go for the balcony Julie!!! Having done the Panama Canal once on QV, once on Arcadia, once on Serenade of the Seas, all with balcony, I can highly recommend. That part of the world can be very hot and humid and with so much to see on a transit, we found it very useful to be able to spend some time on our balcony relaxing away from the intense heat on deck. It's also a great place to have room service breakfast!!!

 

Regards

 

Ken (originally from Wales too!!)