Inside vs. Oceanview on Star: Square footage question

[AlliG]

We're booked in an IC inside cabin on Deck 12 of the Star for the Baltics next month. I've been watching prices and there are now obstructed oceanview cabins for the same price we paid for the inside.

 

I'm not super concerned about getting the view since the itinerary is so port intensive we won't be spending much time in our cabin. But I've noticed that oceanview cabins are listed as being approx. 159 sq. feet as opposed to 142 for inside cabins.

 

Can anyone tell me where that extra square footage is in the cabin and will we actually notice it? It's just me and my husband, so no worries about 3rd or 4th passengers. But for 9 nights, perhaps we'll want a little extra space?

 

Thoughts (and photos) would be much appreciated.

[NMLady]

We're booked in an IC inside cabin on Deck 12 of the Star for the Baltics next month. I've been watching prices and there are now obstructed oceanview cabins for the same price we paid for the inside.

 

I'm not super concerned about getting the view since the itinerary is so port intensive we won't be spending much time in our cabin. But I've noticed that oceanview cabins are listed as being approx. 159 sq. feet as opposed to 142 for inside cabins.

 

Can anyone tell me where that extra square footage is in the cabin and will we actually notice it? It's just me and my husband, so no worries about 3rd or 4th passengers. But for 9 nights, perhaps we'll want a little extra space?

 

Thoughts (and photos) would be much appreciated.

 

We had one of the 142 sq' inside cabins. I think the extra square footage in the obstructed view cabins is more walking space at foot of bed and possibly more room between bed and wall on each side. I would think you would definitely notice the extra footage.

 

We could barely walk between the foot of the bed and the little table where the ice bucket was. Although there was a chair with the table it had to be pushed under the table at all times since there was no room for it anywhere.

There was just my husband and I so the lack of space was okay since the price difference between it and obstructed view was significant. But if you can get an obstructed view for the same price as your inside in a location acceptable, I'd say do it since the floor space would probably be significantly better.

[AlliG]

Thanks Mary Kay. I just noticed your posts on a thread a few years back about sideways cabins. We have that option as well, staying up on Deck 12. Perhaps that would a good option? Which would you prefer?

[NMLady]

Thanks Mary Kay. I just noticed your posts on a thread a few years back about sideways cabins. We have that option as well, staying up on Deck 12. Perhaps that would a good option? Which would you prefer?

 

Our inside cabin on the Star was a sideways cabin. I don't think the sideways cabins on the Star make a difference in size as they do on some of the other ships.

 

We had a midship cabin on deck 5, close to elevators, which made it easy for my mobility impaired husband to easily access both bow and stern.

We were aboard for 26 days in that cabin and wouldn't hesitate to choose it again.

Edited June 5, 2014 by NMLady

[AlliG]

Thanks again. The oceanview options right now are deck 8 and I think we'd prefer to stay up on deck 12. Maybe we'll switch and try a sideways.

 

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[janpo]

For me personally, I would always take any kind of ocean view over an inside cabin. I like the window. I am one of the few probably that don't want a balcony but i do need the window. We are on deck 5 because i tend to get sea sick.

 

We are booked in a family ocean view on the Getaway in September. For $14 more for the entire week we were able to book an ocean view family room which has an extra 50 feet of room. Any amount of extra room in cabins I think is a good thing!

[NMLady]

Thanks again. The oceanview options right now are deck 8 and I think we'd prefer to stay up on deck 12. Maybe we'll switch and try a sideways.

 

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

We prefer the lower decks since there is less motion there.

Since you have inside with no view is there some reason you prefer deck 12 to 8?

Deck 8 has 24hour Blue Lagoon. We usually ate breakfast there.

 

One hint I'll give if you keep your inside is that for a nightlight and to know when it was daylight we left the tv on the bow camera channel. When there was music we'd turn the volume all the down.

Edited June 6, 2014 by NMLady

[mking8288]

We missed the Star - a nice ship - since dry-docking and had cabins on deck 8 and deck 5, porthole OV and obstructed OV - and generally with the Dawn/Jewel class ships in the NCL fleet - love the deck 8 location - convenient to walk up & down. The "stair"masters help burn off those few extra calories and of course, the MDR and Blue Lagoon/O'Sheehans once remodeled - and minimal motion for those prone to.

 

Prices being equal, we'll take obstructed OV instead of inside cabin any time, just for natural lights even if 90% blocked. As for the extra 17 sq. ft. - it comes to about an extra 12" of space lengthwise (of the cabin) or 2 ft. across the cabin (about a chair's width) - noticeable if there's more than 2 adult in the same cabin most of the time, but not enough for a sofa/loveseat. (Slightly off-topic, when we had OV/balcony on CCL with 180 SF, that was much more obvious as the extra space meant a full length sofa instead of a pullman bunk.)

 

When we did the Star for Mexico & Alaska, the lower deck meant that we didn't have to use the crowded elevators to get to the gangway on port days. Most recently, we had an inside on Deck 13 but that was the mega BA - and we're expecting the GTY to be deck 5.

[AlliG]

Thanks for the additional thoughts, mking.

 

We originally chose deck 12 because it's a newer section of the ship with only suite neighbors so assuming the hallway would be pretty quiet. We also like the idea of being up by the Bier Garten and having easy access to pool deck since we won't have a balcony.

 

But your thoughts on easier access to gangway on port days is something to consider.