Anyone been in the Virtual Balcony Inside cabin

[angelwingsflys]

Hi Everyone,

I'm considering booking a inside cabin virtual balcony, has anyone been in one yet, it looks lovely, but thought I'd ask .

Cheers Deb

[Cruise ship fan]

I was in one the other month. They are not too bad, but they are not all that great. The camera they use is not really the best so at times everything is a little blurry and at certain times you cannot see a thing due to the sun. Plus it does give off a bit of light even when turned off, although that is fixed by closing the curtains.

 

I would say it is better then a inside room, but not that much better.

[Ausie53]

Just finished 16 day Voyager of the seas virtual balcony, liked it, makes the inside cabin more cheerful. The screen size only needs to be that of a sea view cabin though. Would have it again if offered in guaranteed cabin. Voyager OK ship only the wine list stinks now, their drinks don't match their wine list at all.

[angelwingsflys]

I was in one the other month. They are not too bad, but they are not all that great. The camera they use is not really the best so at times everything is a little blurry and at certain times you cannot see a thing due to the sun. Plus it does give off a bit of light even when turned off, although that is fixed by closing the curtains.

 

I would say it is better then a inside room, but not that much better.

 

Hi Cruise ship fan,

Thank you for your reply ,I was hoping to lay in bed and pretend that I was in a balcony cabin:( ,might have a rethink on a balcony cabin .

Cheers Deb

[greggyw]

The beds that I have seen in balcony cabins do not face the sea.

[GUT2407]

The beds that I have seen in balcony cabins do not face the sea.

 

 

Some ships do, I think it was P&O we had one that did. Most however n my experience face either fore or aft.

 

I do wish that the ships deckplans indicated what cabins the bed faced what direction.

[handp]

We always assumed that balcony cabins had the sofa next to the door and the bed next to it. We found out accidentally on Cruise Critic that alternate cabins on Celebrity Solstice have that and the other cabins have the bed right next to the sliding door. But Celebrity could not tell us which way our cabin was configured! We prefer the sofa by the door, as most ships seem to have, so we can sit and look at the passing sea or whatever there is to look at. (We were lucky that that was the configuration we did have) So deck plans with correct bed positioning would help in a situation like this.

[GUT2407]

We always assumed that balcony cabins had the sofa next to the door and the bed next to it. We found out accidentally on Cruise Critic that alternate cabins on Celebrity Solstice have that and the other cabins have the bed right next to the sliding door. But Celebrity could not tell us which way our cabin was configured! We prefer the sofa by the door, as most ships seem to have, so we can sit and look at the passing sea or whatever there is to look at. (We were lucky that that was the configuration we did have) So deck plans with correct bed positioning would help in a situation like this.

 

 

Accurate deck plans another thing to dream about. Haven't been on Solstice yet, but wouldn't be happy with the bed next to the door, I just wish lines would give us the information we want but given the problems they seem to have even giving us smooth booking experience what's the chances of that.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Yes, it's a real pain.

 

With today's technology how hard would it be to connect a cabin number with a specific picture? It's only one extra link in a database after all (I'm an ex software developer BTW).

 

Given the number of photographers they seem to have on board most ships I'm sure they could arrange for all the different types of cabins, on each ship, to be photographed in all possible configurations. It's not like they would have to photograph thousands of cabins, many cabin types would probably only require two pictures depending on bed positioning, plus one or two more if that cabin type was suitable for 3 or 4 people.

 

Instead they are lazy and just provide generic photos.

 

It also irritates me that you can't see current drinks menus online, by ship.

 

Actually if I had my druthers I also like to see the proposed MDR menus for each night of each cruise, so that decisions could be made whether to go to a speciality restaurant on a particular night. Surely they don't make menu decisions at the last minute before the cruise, unless something really untoward happens like some supplies arriving late at a port.

[whimsy7]

we enjoyed our interior room with virtual balcony on VOTS. made us feel less like being in an interior room.

we would leave the screen on when we went to bed at night so that we could look at it when we woke up and have a sense of roughly what time it was ie 6 am or more like 9 am.

yes, the screen is blurry when the sun is on the camera.

[cruisine21]

 

Actually if I had my druthers I also like to see the proposed MDR menus for each night of each cruise, so that decisions could be made whether to go to a speciality restaurant on a particular night. Surely they don't make menu decisions at the last minute before the cruise, unless something really untoward happens like some supplies arriving late at a port.

 

The Carnival Spirit has the MDR menu on the TV screen in the cabin each day.

[GUT2407]

we enjoyed our interior room with virtual balcony on VOTS. made us feel less like being in an interior room.

we would leave the screen on when we went to bed at night so that we could look at it when we woke up and have a sense of roughly what time it was ie 6 am or more like 9 am.

yes, the screen is blurry when the sun is on the camera.

 

 

If I had a vrtual balcony I'd leave it on all the time too.

 

There are two things that I really don't like about an interior cabin that are at least partially solved by a virtual balcony, but only if it's turned on:

 

No idea of the time of day

 

Have to run up on deck to check the weather

[john watson]

Hi Cruise ship fan,

Thank you for your reply ,I was hoping to lay in bed and pretend that I was in a balcony cabin:( ,might have a rethink on a balcony cabin .

Cheers Deb

 

It should be a marketing triumph if you could choose from a big list of famous people you could have on your virtual balcony dressed appropriately for the weather conditions.

 

In the deluxe virtual balcony cabin you should be able to download yourself as well and join them.

 

Lol John

[GUT2407]

The Carnival Spirit has the MDR menu on the TV screen in the cabin each day.

 

 

Yeah but OZKiwi is talking about it being on line before you go, I'm not sure how much flexibility the chef is given on a day to day, cruise by cruise, basis but I think it could be a bit problematical as I know that if a certain item isn't storing as well as it normally does they will change things around to use it before it goes off.

[The_Big_M]

If I had a vrtual balcony I'd leave it on all the time too.

 

There are two things that I really don't like about an interior cabin that are at least partially solved by a virtual balcony, but only if it's turned on:

 

No idea of the time of day

 

Have to run up on deck to check the weather

 

Both are equally partially solved by turning the tv on to the external camera, which most ships have, and all with a virtual balcony have. i.e. you don't need a virtual balcony for them to be solved in the same way.

Edited April 3, 2015 by The_Big_M

[The_Big_M]

Yeah but OZKiwi is talking about it being on line before you go, I'm not sure how much flexibility the chef is given on a day to day, cruise by cruise, basis but I think it could be a bit problematical as I know that if a certain item isn't storing as well as it normally does they will change things around to use it before it goes off.

 

The MDR menus are fixed on RCL, with a 14 day cycle, and ingredients ordered long in advance.

 

While there are special situations as you mention, they're not reflected on the menu and just stated separately by the dining room staff as the situation arises.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The MDR menus are fixed on RCL, with a 14 day cycle, and ingredients ordered long in advance.

 

While there are special situations as you mention, they're not reflected on the menu and just stated separately by the dining room staff as the situation arises.

 

Exactly! So why can't they make them available online before the cruise?

 

Unfortunately many of the cruise lines just show generic info online, covering their whole fleet.

 

On our Sun Princess cruise we discovered once we were on board that Kai Sushi was also open for lunch on sea days and, for that cruise at least, there was a flat $20 cover charge, yet the Princess website showed it was only open for dinner and was a la carte pricing.

 

We had to wait until we boarded Rhapsody to see what the drinks lists and prices were like, to decide whether we would buy packages. We wanted to try wines that weren't commonly found in Aus/NZ and weren't sure that a sufficient variety of these would be available by the glass and covered by the package. I did find some information online purporting to be a current RCI wine list, but not on the RCI website. Our cruise had some of those wines listed but not all, especially by the glass.

 

I think we're well past the era where generic information is acceptable from cruise lines. We shouldn't have to plead for help here on CC to find out basic details about our cruises.

 

/rant over

Edited April 3, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[The_Big_M]

Exactly! So why can't they make them available online before the cruise?

 

Unfortunately many of the cruise lines just show generic info online, covering their whole fleet.

 

On our Sun Princess cruise we discovered once we were on board that Kai Sushi was also open for lunch on sea days and, for that cruise at least, there was a flat $20 cover charge, yet the Princess website showed it was only open for dinner and was a la carte pricing.

 

We had to wait until we boarded Rhapsody to see what the drinks lists and prices were like, to decide whether we would buy packages. We wanted to try wines that weren't commonly found in Aus/NZ and weren't sure that a sufficient variety of these would be available by the glass and covered by the package. I did find some information online purporting to be a current RCI wine list, but not on the RCI website. Our cruise had some of those wines listed but not all, especially by the glass.

 

I think we're well past the era where generic information is acceptable from cruise lines. We shouldn't have to plead for help here on CC to find out basic details about our cruises.

 

/rant over

 

While it sounds good, it's not in line with the cruise distribution model, which is via agents. Remember, most bookings are via agents than they are direct - let alone through the website!

 

They don't want to be seen to favour direct customers by giving more info to them then their agent network, and their spend is also directed accordingly - prioritised to their agent distribution channel.

 

So while it's not individually a too complicated thing to do, it's not in line with the way they do business so unlikely to change in the near future.

 

On that note, there was a 2 week period where you couldn't even make bookings for Celebrity last year... I found it hard to believe, but it shows the lack of concern and emphasis to direct/website bookings.

[greggyw]

You can def sleep well on an inside cabin if not noisey, in regard to the time, well a phone or watch or turning on TV solves that, the ships cameras on tv give an idea about weather, those in window cabins will be no better informed.

[Cruise ship fan]

If I had a vrtual balcony I'd leave it on all the time too.

 

There are two things that I really don't like about an interior cabin that are at least partially solved by a virtual balcony, but only if it's turned on:

 

No idea of the time of day

 

Have to run up on deck to check the weather

 

Issue with that, is that the screens are pretty bright even when it is night time. Since the screens are massive they add a fair bit of light to the room. So unless you are looking directly at it you don't really sense the time of day, and due to its positioning and poor viewing angles you cannot really see it from much of the room. It is positioned opposite the desk where the sofa normally is.

 

Secondly for the weather. On the Voyager the camera isn't really the best and is easily affected by the sun. In my experience for the majority of the time it was impossible to tell what the conditions were. When it was sunny and blue sky the sky looked white due to the effect from the sun, while if it was cloudy it would look the same.

 

These can be more easily fixed by putting your tv onto the ships forward camera.