Aft Balcony addiction

[Spot]

Thanks Karyn!

I plan on having a great time and enjoying that aft cabin enough to keep cruising with Celebrity!

 

Aloha!

[denb]

Still addicted after all these years! Only now it's worse... they have to be wrap balconies!

 

[redjoan]

We are booking one of those new veranda cabins on the Mercury.....they are on 2 decks, the top deck---Penthouse Deck and then 2 down, the Panorama Deck? When you choose an aft cabin, do you choose the highest deck? Seems the back of the ship is tiered and those above you can look down? So excited to be trying our first aft cabin!

[AFuncruiser]

I snagged an aft balcony cabin on the Vista deck on the Century’s trans Atlantic cruise.

I go to bed at night and dream of the cruise.

 

Dennis

 

An afternoon on the Norway 1981 / Christmas cruise 7 night1984 / Sky Princess 10 night / Russian Cruise Line 4 night / Crown Monarch 7 night / Festival Carnival 7 night / Norway 7 night September 1989 /

Regent Sea 15 night Panama Canal 1993 / Commodore Caribe 7 night / Regal Princess 7 night 1998

Star Princess 7 night 1999 / Zuiderdam Holland America 14 night 2000 ( Dec) / Tropical Carnival 5 night 2001

Norway August 7 night 2002 / Rydam Holland America 19 night South America 2003 /

Westerdam Holland America 7 night 2004 / Zenith Celebrity 14 night March 2005 /

Celebration Carnival 5 night September 2005 / MSV Lucia Central America 21 night Christmas 2005

Celebration Carnival 4 nights August 2006 / Celebration Carnival 5 nights September 2006

Seven Seas Mariner 18 night TP November 2006 / Celebration Carnival5 nights March 2007

Celebrity Century Trans Atlantic April 26th 2007

[Karynanne]

We are booking one of those new veranda cabins on the Mercury.....they are on 2 decks, the top deck---Penthouse Deck and then 2 down, the Panorama Deck? When you choose an aft cabin, do you choose the highest deck? Seems the back of the ship is tiered and those above you can look down? So excited to be trying our first aft cabin!

 

On M-Class ships we prefer Deck 7, but we are going to be on Mercury in 2 weeks, and have one of the new aft cabins on Deck 8.

 

I'll post a thread on our impressions when we return. Even with the "tiered" effect, it's really not an issue. You'll have beautiful views of wake, sea, and of course any port.

 

I was looking at X's site, and realized that in '08, these cabins will be called" Sunset Verandahs" now.

 

Karyn

[scot01]

How is the best way to book an aft cabin before they sell out? I hope one of you fine aftys will give me a good tip.

 

I will be on the Connie 2/29/08 sailing and couldn't get any cabin near the rear of the ship let alone an aft.

 

I don't sail much but would like to try one of these.

 

Scot

[british betty]

just one question of the experienced "afters"...do you feel more movement right at the back of the ship???

[Lou33]

How is the best way to book an aft cabin before they sell out? I hope one of you fine aftys will give me a good tip.

 

Scot

 

Yes, here's a tip. They sell out very early, but several of them will almost always open up eventually. Especially just before and just after final payment is due. The people who book early may cancel, because their plans may change if they book so far in advance. Also, the people that know enough to reserve the aft cabins will be likely to keep their eye open for an even better cabin or an upgrade, so then their aft balcony cabin will open up.

 

First book an available cabin that you are satisfied with. Then what you need to do is call your travel agent once or twice a week, and ask them to check for an aft cabin while you are on the line. Be prepared with a list of specific cabins that you want. The travel agent needs to check availability for each cabin individually. They won't see a list of all open cabins. Don't look online yourself. It will show you a list of several available cabins, but it won't show all available cabins. I wouldn't trust your travel agent to put you on a "waiting list". I don't think such a thing exists. If your travel agent is reluctant to help you, then you don't have a good travel agent, and you should rebook with someone else.

 

I have tried this twice, and I switched to excellent aft cabins both times.

[Karynanne]

just one question of the experienced "afters"...do you feel more movement right at the back of the ship???

 

Yes there is more movement at the aft...but we seem to like it. The only time we felt "significant" movement was last year on Constellation. We were on the eastbound TA last April, and hit a transatlantic storm. Swells were 35 ft., and we had 65 knot winds. It was quite a ride! But even then, you learn to enjoy the motion. Just be careful wearing heels to dinner. Fortunately, we don't get sea sick.

 

 

Karyn

[6502programmer]

How is the best way to book an aft cabin before they sell out? I hope one of you fine aftys will give me a good tip.

 

I would tell you to know the ship you're looking at (ie, which cabins are aft and what their numbers are) and keep checking X's website. Once you choose a ship and a sailing, you can check rates and availability for any cabin you wish, solely based on the cabin number. That's how I found ours, despite being only four months away.

[mahdnc]

As far as getting aft cabins go:

 

1. Book it when the sailing is first open for accepting reservations. We got the exact Millennium FV that we wanted thru our TA by booking during the 1st week our sailing was available for reserving. This is the easiest way to do it but that means you have to plan early.

 

2. Find a TA who has a hold on some aft cabins as part of a group space for the sailing that you are interested in. I was able to get a couple of people on our roll call to trade up to 2 aft CC cabins on our Millennium sailing because our TA had them as part of their group space.

 

3. Scour the Celebrity booking webpage right after final payment is due to see if any aft cabins have been returned to Celebrity's inventory because of cancellations, etc. Now that final payment was due on our Millennium cruise last week, a couple of aft cabins have popped up on Celebrity's website.

[scot01]

I will certainly try all these stratagies. I hope I can flush one out come cruise time. I've wanted to try one of these cabins for sometime now.

 

Scot

[crystalsong]

I am part of this club as well. I tried to book one of them on two of the transatlantics that were opened today - and the cabins are all gone on both crossings. They were booked at 8:32 this morning by a TA. All the rooms had names on them already. Very disappointing.

 

We just booked a Category FV on Constellation for August 2008, on Panorama deck, and it's a corner. After having read this thread, I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten it at all. Has anyone ever been in this cabin, 8181, or one like it? What kind of furniture will we have on the veranda? I am told that the FV category is not concierge, so I'm wondering if the veranda will have anything other than two plastic chairs? Thanks.

[mahdnc]

We have been in the opposite corner FV aboard Infinity (8166). Your veranda will have more than just 2 plastic chairs--at least ours did. With a nice tip, you can get your cabin steward to get you a couple of padded chairs.....

 

Take a look at this link which is a catalog of photo galleries taken by various passengers of their cabins: http://www.geocities.com/mahdnc/cabinpix.html

There are several FVs pictured.

[mason525]

We recently did get switched to an aft cabin from a waitlist that our TA had us on. I was dubious this would work & was prepared to keep checking availability my self but came thru about 3-4 weeks before final payment was due. So excited! Meg

[crystalsong]

Hi,

 

Thank you for the link to the pictures of cabins; however, as much as I would love to check them out, I'm afraid I am blind and can not see them. :-) Would anyone mind describing Constellation's FV 8181 cabin, or one similar, to me? I'd really appreciate it! Has anyone sailed in this exact cabin?

 

Thanks for your help, and any suggestions regarding ideas, such as the one I got about asking for padded chairs for the balcony.

[cruisebunny32]

I have not been in 8181...but I have been in 7199 and 1056. Both cabins were end FV. They are very spacious inside. You enter from what appears to be the side of the ship. There is a short hall before you enter your actual cabin. The hall is a good place to store you luggage! The cabin is very similar to a regular CC class. Except you get extra closets and the desk is very long. It is also a wider cabin. There is a king size bed. Then there is a sliding divider with an area with 2 couches..I assume these open up to beds (although I was not in the cabins at night) The veranda is the best. If you think the aft verandahs are big....well this one is bigger---much wider and longer. You also get a side view as well as a back view. What I didn't like is that it was quite windy while we were sailing. I don't remember if the chairs were padded. We had the same cabin attendant (we were CC a few cabins away) The people staying in the room loved it. They had 3 adults. Interestingly enough if you book through the cruiseline they say you need 5 to get this cabin.

 

Our friends also said they got the same towels as CC class.

 

I am sure you will enjoy the cabin! We loved being aft! It was really great having the extra big verandah...it made the cabin seem so much bigger. I don't know if I will be able to go back to the side again!

[crystalsong]

Hello,

 

Thank you so much for that description; it really helps. Is the veranda completely open on the side? It sounds amazing. I feel so lucky to have booked this cabin, and yes, we are five--my husband, my then 17-year-old daughter, and my then-fourteen-year-old daughters. Their very easy to live with, so being in one cabin is not a stretch for us at all, especially one with this much space.

 

Thanks again.