How much do you use a balcony on a transatlantic cruise?

[chrob]

We are booked on a transatlantic cruise in May and have a balcony but after seeing a television programme showing gale-force winds and choppy seas in the Atlantic, are wondering how much we will actually be able to use it.

 

What experience have people had whilst crossing the Atlantic?

[Rala]

I am a balcony addict--I looooove my balcony! That being said if I couldn't have a balcony on a transatlantic cruise I would not be too unhappy. We did have a balcony on our early Sept. Trans and did not use it nearly as much as other cruises because of wind, salt spray amd cool temps. It was still nice to have, but I could have done nicely without it on the transatlantic cruise.

[wwinfl91]

We are also on a May Transatlantic, I think the same one you are on, and we elected to do an outside cabin instead of balcony although the cost was only a couple of hundred dollars more for the balcony, because we just didn't think we would be able to use it after our ship left Bermuda. We figured it would be too cold in the ports in Europe and during the actual Atlantic crossing to get a lot of use out of the balcony. If we want fresh air we are going to have to go to the Promenade deck or to the top levels of the ship to get any but that was our decision.

 

The balcony cabins although the same size as the outside cabins seem bigger because of the balcony and that is something that you may appreciate on a longer cruise.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[madforcruising]

My TA cruises have been all in Sept. and I had very different weather on them.

 

The first was on a northern route and the weather was really bad with high seas and gale winds.

 

On this cruise you wouldn´t have had any use of your balcony. All public open decks have been closed and it was forbidden for safety reasons to step out on open decks.

 

My next one was on a more southern route and it was warm sunny and absolutely calm seas the whole trip. Not even small waves at all. You would have loved your balcony on this one.

 

The third, again southern routing, was not as good (Weather related)as the second but still mostly fine weather with opportunities to use a balcony.

 

So I think it all depends on weather. With great weather and so many sea days a balcony can pay out.

[ahoymatey3]

Good thread, I'm debating the same issue. A veranda (D1) is $600 more than an outside on my upcomming transatlantic in November. Thanks for the info.

[Druke I]

We had a balcony on Golden Princess' 8-02 trans-Atlantic, and hit two Major storms.

 

Didn't get to use the balcony as much as we expected, and had much bow- slap spray raining down on the balcony.

 

Still, it was a great venue to watch the storm - as long as you held on!

[Travelgrrl]

On a Sept transatlantic on the Brilliance, we had 40 foot waves for two days straight, several days the outside doors were locked so that you wouldn't get washed over. I imagine those with balconies didn't use them all week.

 

We had an outside, and as the waves were crashing over the window, I kinda wished we had an inside! One of the little girls was praying in the bathroom! :o