Balcony Time

[PA Dutchman]

How much time do you really spend on your balcony in a day ?? We do about 3hrs a day. Most in the morn, sometimes late afternoon and then late evening. Its very rare we ever have people next to us besides going in and out of their cabin. So after 29 cruises with balconies most of the time we are out by ourselves for those 3 hrs. We have looked at other ships that would pull in besides us and you only see 20 to 30 cabins being used on the side we can see.

No need to exaggerate please, seems some people want us to believe they are on there balcony 24/7.

[cruzinfamilyof4]

Last cruise we probably spent an average of 4 hours a day. The kids liked going out there to read or watch the flying fish. It was hard to get them inside so I could enjoy the balcony.

[bigdaddyvoges]

When it was just my wife and I on previous cruises we would spend an hour in the morning, 30-45 minutes if we came back to the room during the day, and 2+ hours at night before bed.

 

Now our next cruise our 2 year old will be with us, so I assume morning will be the same, there might be some more time during the day if our daughter takes a nap, and at least the same amount at night. Once she goes to sleep at least we have somewhere to go before its lights out for us.

 

I would say 4-5 hours a day is average for us.

[tracyanns]

About 2 hours...maybe in the AM to check the weather, after a shower to get some air after being in those HUGE bathrooms and a little while before bed...

[miched]

.

 

 

12 minutes and 33 seconds in the morning

 

5 minutes at noon

 

33 minutes in the evening before dinner

 

11 minutes and 23 seconds after dinner

 

4 to 5 hours sleeping during the night.

 

 

More when in port.

.

[ShelbyLK]

I'm not exactly sure, but I'd say a couple hours a day. Probably about a half hour in the morning, maybe about another half hour to hour in the afternoon, early evening, then an hour or so at night. It also depends on the day...if it's a sea day, then it is more than a couple hours. I love the balcony, love to spend time on it, and I never feel like I'm missing out on other activities on the ship when I'm out there.

[Dule28]

I try to do a couple of hours a day with my Nook and a drink or two.

[spleenstomper]

I'd say if you add it up... 3 to 4 hours a day. We love looking for things in the water! Plus mornings, evenings and night time especially is the best to me on a balcony-- crisp air, sea spray (maybe) and the blue beauty of the foam. OOH! Can't wait!

 

Not to mention we love watching the late people run to the ship when we are facing a port! So much fun! :D

 

And the flying fish! Never get tired of them....

[grozas]

I have often wondered how much real balcony time people get.

 

We have never had one but I know we spend very little time in our room.

 

Tried to justify one for our cruise in July but it was over $500 more and my wife said she would rather drink the $500. So inside stateroom for us.

[Texarribean Chick]

1 hour early morning with coffee/breakfast

1 - 1 1/2 hours when leaving port of call

30 minutes after showering before dinner

1 hour late night before retiring

[matj2000]

We use the balcony a fair amount but we rarely see the neighbors next to us.

In fact, on a few trips we never saw them even once..

[robin13]

Now that you have asked I have to say we did not spend much time out there on our last cruise. However, our balcony did overlook one of the hot tubs on deck 6 and I did catch my DH out there quite a few times (lol). We both sat out there one day reading and having a glass of wine but all in all maybe 4 hours on a 9 day cruise. I do like to go out in the morning and see what the temp is and I also like to watch the people running to the ship. Actually saw one couple not make it in Key West!

[luckybecky]

Seems that the consensus is no more than 2-3 hours per day for most people. Not 24/7. We have only been on one cruise and we loved our balcony, but we only spent a couple of hours a day there. I liked sitting there in the early evening with a cocktail to relax before dinner or before bed. I also liked being able to pop outside to check the weather (we had some inclement weather on our January cruise). We almost never saw any neighbors, except when leaving or entering port. There were several people on their balconys watching for pier runners in Cozumel. Otherwise, we never saw, heard, or smelled our neighbors. :p

[cdamion]

Hmm. I'd be in the 3-4 hour range.

 

3 night cruise: not in the room enough to be worth it - not even OV worth it.

 

7 night cruise:

 

About an hour in the morning chilling out.

Probably eating lunch out and chilling out for another hour.

About and hour before dinner with a drink.

Late night before bed - probably another 30mins - hour.

[Blondie008]

Prob around two hours tops. Mimosas and cig in the morning, and champagne and cig before dinner.

 

When my husband was ill during our cruise, he was confined to cabin for 24 hours - he was out on the balcony with a blanket the whole day,(actually for nearly three days) must have been the longest time ever he has spent on a balcony at sea! Maitre d'he sent him special cups of chicken broth. he slept a LOT out there! Our suite was big enough that I used one side of the balcony without disturbing him and he had a chair and his legs resting on a footstool on the other. he didnt want to "lay down" on a sun lounger, but was so comfortable, with his blankie, watching the world go by, and re covering ... guess its been one time we truly appreciated the value of a balcony.:)

[elcuchio24]

How much time do you really spend on your balcony in a day ?? We do about 3hrs a day. Most in the morn, sometimes late afternoon and then late evening. Its very rare we ever have people next to us besides going in and out of their cabin. So after 29 cruises with balconies most of the time we are out by ourselves for those 3 hrs. We have looked at other ships that would pull in besides us and you only see 20 to 30 cabins being used on the side we can see.

No need to exaggerate please, seems some people want us to believe they are on there balcony 24/7.

 

I'd say pretty similar to you, 3 hours or so/day. Some in the morning, some in the evening. BUT we almost always have our balcony door open during the day in our room, so that's nice to have the sea air coming in even if we are in the room and not actually on the balcony. Also in port, if we aren't out and about, we spend alot of time on the balcony.

 

I agree, there are cruises where I never see/hear the people on either side of us for the whole week+.......

[jonathansburden]

Roughly 8 hours a day. When we get up we usually have breakfast out there, that lasts about an hour. Then while the kids are napping from 2-5 I'm usually out there getting some cuddle time with Dh, the kids are usually in bed by 9 so from 9 to 1ish, when Dh comes back from the nightclub/ casino/ shows/ whatever I'm outside with my Kindle, a roomservice BLT, chocolate cake, and a big glass of milk. Honestly, those few hours at night are my favorite part of the cruise. :)

[darth frosty]

A lot but really it depends on the type of cruiser you are. I like nothing better than having breakfast on the balcony and reading a book and sipping something cold out there.

[jolyroger]

Lets see On our last cruise , which just hubby and I , we'd go back to the cabin for a couple hrs, he'd have the bed, me the balcony with my nook and my wine....Somtimes I fell asleep (which is pure bliss while your sailing in the caribbean)Sometimes just enjoy the quiet...So I say about 2-3 a day...AHHH lets hope I can get some of that in 62 more days!!

[cbMcruiser]

How much time do you really spend on your balcony in a day ?? We do about 3hrs a day. Most in the morn, sometimes late afternoon and then late evening. Its very rare we ever have people next to us besides going in and out of their cabin. So after 29 cruises with balconies most of the time we are out by ourselves for those 3 hrs. We have looked at other ships that would pull in besides us and you only see 20 to 30 cabins being used on the side we can see.

No need to exaggerate please, seems some people want us to believe they are on there balcony 24/7.

 

As Carol & I get older and have more issues with sun exposure, we find that we are spending more time on the balcony. I am a MUCH earlier riser that she is. I love to get a cup of coffee and come back to sit for an hour on the balcony in the am. We also read a lot on them and have great "travel" Scrabble games. We both wait for the other to get ready for dinner on the balcony. We also spend a lot of time late at night watching the water before going to sleep. Our last cruise, we had adjoining rooms with our daughter/son in law and they opened the partition. This made it VERY easy to find a place with some shade almost any time of the day. It is not unusual for us to be on the balcony for 6-8 hours on some days!

[chadsjewel]

We have only had a balcony once and that was on the Splendor fire cruise lol, so we spent A LOT of time on the balcony. HOURS on end. I would imagine, it would be about 4 hours a day, on a typical cruise. An hour in the morning for breakfast, some time in the afternoon to relax, and a couple of hours before bed. Oh, and a sunrise and sunset as well. Its amazing. We embark on our free cruise in 3 weeks and will have a balcony again. I cannot WAIT!!!

[spleenstomper]

I think it also depends on the itinerary. The Hawaii cruise we were on had no sea days and I think because of the different islands and scenery, plenty of people were on the balconies all the time. We became quite chatty with our balcony neighbors who were from Australia.

 

The other two cruises, we never saw our neighbors.

[Lily429]

as much time as DD allows! she gets bored out there so it's a trade off....at least 4-5 hours a day. we spend the main part of the day on the pool deck with DD so she can socialize and swim. mornings when she is asleep and evenings when she's at the camp are all balcony time! we don't cruise to play in the casinos or dance in the discos, we don't even see the shows....(not planned but funny) but honestly we cruise for the lack of stress and cabin stewards (hate making a bed!) to keep us comfortable. a balcony overlooking the sea is another reason we cruise...trust me we get our money's worth out of our balcony!;)

[Andoria]

It depends on what your idea of a vacation is. For me it is book in one hand, drink in another, out of the sun and away from crowds.

[grozas]

Just checked prices for our cruise this summer and a balcony room is $800 more now. Think we will stay with an inside stateroom.