The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Boardwalk rooms on Oasis and Allure

[TMO3CCO1]

Hi All! We are getting ready to book our second cruise. Our first cruise was on Oasis. We booked a balcony ocean view and loved it. We are thinking of trying a boardwalk balcony to save some money. Tell us the good, bad and ugly of the boardwalk cabins. Do you have any suggested cabins? Should we consider other areas of the ship? Thanks for your help. There will only be two of us in the cabin.

[Clarea]

Hi All! We are getting ready to book our second cruise. Our first cruise was on Oasis. We booked a balcony ocean view and loved it. We are thinking of trying a boardwalk balcony to save some money. Tell us the good, bad and ugly of the boardwalk cabins. Do you have any suggested cabins? Should we consider other areas of the ship? Thanks for your help. There will only be two of us in the cabin.

Compared to an ocean view balcony, I cannot think of anything good, except for the lower price. I take that back, have a view of the Aquatheater shows, that's good.

 

It will be noiser, and have less privacy than the OV balcony.

Edited February 29, 2016 by clarea

[Dinkachu]

We just enjoyed our 9th RCI Cruise and the 2nd Allure Cruise, Christmas 2016 in the same Boardwalk Balcony cabin we enjoyed Christmas 2011.

 

You can get an oceanview room on any ship - but only a few have Boardwalk balcony rooms.

 

We book on Floor 14 and close to the center of the ship. That way we get a nice view of the water that is not blocked. We could see both the rehearsals and the Diving show from our balcony. By being so high up, we had no noise from the Boardwalk when our doors were shut. We were under the landing pad for the zip line and could hear passengers land, but that was very few hours and always during the day. Our room was under the mini-golf course - so no noise from above.

 

We enjoyed two Boardwalk movies from our balcony as well.

 

If you want to do some people watching - the Boardwalk is fascinating.

 

We also found it was a quick trip down to Boardwalk for a free Hot Dog at the Dog house, or a paid snack at Scoops and Cups, or even lunch at Johnny Rockets.

 

We will probably book Boardwalk Balconies next time we are on an Oasis class ship.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Dinkachu

[TMO3CCO1]

Thank you for the insight. We understand the ocean view balcony is wonderful and if it were in the budget we would book it but we are looking for a second best option. Any and all suggestions, critiques, hints and tips are welcome!

[novalab]

We just enjoyed our 9th RCI Cruise and the 2nd Allure Cruise, Christmas 2016 in the same Boardwalk Balcony cabin we enjoyed Christmas 2011.

 

You can get an oceanview room on any ship - but only a few have Boardwalk balcony rooms.

 

We book on Floor 14 and close to the center of the ship. That way we get a nice view of the water that is not blocked. We could see both the rehearsals and the Diving show from our balcony. By being so high up, we had no noise from the Boardwalk when our doors were shut. We were under the landing pad for the zip line and could hear passengers land, but that was very few hours and always during the day. Our room was under the mini-golf course - so no noise from above.

 

We enjoyed two Boardwalk movies from our balcony as well.

 

If you want to do some people watching - the Boardwalk is fascinating.

 

We also found it was a quick trip down to Boardwalk for a free Hot Dog at the Dog house, or a paid snack at Scoops and Cups, or even lunch at Johnny Rockets.

 

We will probably book Boardwalk Balconies next time we are on an Oasis class ship.

 

I have to agree with the above. We loved our Allure Boardwalk balcony back in 2014. We have another one reserved for our April Oasis cruise. The only slightly negative thing that I could say would be the lack of privacy from the adjacent Boardwalk balcony cabins. We never had an issue but I have read the contrary in a few CC reviews. We stayed on deck 11 and will be returning to that same deck this time. No problem with noise.

[TMO3CCO1]

Could you still see the ocean from your balcony? That is one reason we were considering it as a second best option. In hopes we could still see the ocean.

Edited February 29, 2016 by TMO3CCO1

[Dinkachu]

Could you still see the ocean from your balcony? That is one reason we were considering it as a second best option. In hopes we could still see the ocean.

 

We turned our chairs slightly toward the back of the ship and could see the ocean. If you get close to the rear of the ship, you will have a view that can be blocked. It is not as wide a view as a regular ocean view balcony, but you never forget you are at sea. The wake from the ship was very visible.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Hi All! We are getting ready to book our second cruise. Our first cruise was on Oasis. We booked a balcony ocean view and loved it. We are thinking of trying a boardwalk balcony to save some money. Tell us the good, bad and ugly of the boardwalk cabins. Do you have any suggested cabins? Should we consider other areas of the ship? Thanks for your help. There will only be two of us in the cabin.

 

check out the pictures from this post:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2281790&highlight=boardwalk#7

 

Bill

[Clarea]

Could you still see the ocean from your balcony? That is one reason we were considering it as a second best option. In hopes we could still see the ocean.

You should have a small view of the ocean directy aft.

[mac_tlc]

We have had a Boardwalk balcony twice. I know others have mentioned a lot of noise, but we only noticed it if there was a show in the Aquatheater, and we did not think it was terrible.

 

I recommend you get one as far back as possible. Here is a link to our pix from the Oasis, in 10729, the balcony farthest aft. Plenty of water in our view.

 

 

mac_tlc

[nerak11]

We have had a Boardwalk balcony twice. I know others have mentioned a lot of noise, but we only noticed it if there was a show in the Aquatheater, and we did not think it was terrible.

 

I recommend you get one as far back as possible. Here is a link to our pix from the Oasis, in 10729, the balcony farthest aft. Plenty of water in our view.

 

 

mac_tlc

 

 

We have that exact cabin booked for December! I'm excited to see the great views! I noticed the photo with the sofa bed made up - how many people did you sleep in this room? Both of our kids will be sharing the sofa bed and I'm wondering how cramped we will be in this cabin.

[harry0]

We travel with our grankids(6 and 11)and they love the BWB-The ocean is too boring for them. Instead of watching tv they go to the balcony and watch the Aquatheatre shows/rehearsals/movies/ or just people watch.

I also let the 11 year old go to the show himself as I watched him from above. He loved it!

We have a BWB booked this Dec. on the Harmony

If it was just my wife and I we would rather have the Ocean view.

Edited February 29, 2016 by harry0

[bouhunter]

We have that exact cabin booked for December! I'm excited to see the great views! I noticed the photo with the sofa bed made up - how many people did you sleep in this room? Both of our kids will be sharing the sofa bed and I'm wondering how cramped we will be in this cabin.

 

When the sofa bed is open in any room it is "cramped" indeed:D Not much floor space at that time. But they will fold it back into a sofa during the day. Depending on the age/size of the kids, sharing the sofa bed could be interesting.

[mac_tlc]

We have that exact cabin booked for December! I'm excited to see the great views! I noticed the photo with the sofa bed made up - how many people did you sleep in this room? Both of our kids will be sharing the sofa bed and I'm wondering how cramped we will be in this cabin.

 

We had three, my DS was 18, about 6' tall. Couldn't have fit another person with him, but he was OK. Before our daughter got married, we always had 4 in a cabin, its cozy but do-able. Someone is usually out on the balcony in the morning when eveyone is getting ready for the day. Its not the room space that is the limiting factor with 4, its the bathroom ---

 

mac_tlc

[Beachammo]

Got 12329 last one towards the aft for my Harmony B2B in January. As others have said.....the only class of ship that has this category. After a lot of research with YouTube videos, we thought we would give it a chance. From there we still have a good view of the Sea and can watch shows + movies.

[dogo88]

We had no issues with ours. Different than ocean views but not in a bad way as long as you understand the limitations. Someone said it's like staying at a motel and that's pretty much true. But it wasn't overly more noisy even when the shows were going on. We were able to sit outside and watch them.

 

One big benefit I can think of is when leaving Fl in the winter it can be pretty cool and windy. We've had cruises where we didn't use the balcony for a day due to the cool windy weather. An inside balcony would solve that issue.

 

Dan

[Luvmypups]

I've stayed in a BWB twice, once on Oasis and once on Allure. Both times toward the back close to the Aqua theater. The noise was never a problem for us.

[Paulette3028]

We have had plenty of OV balcony cabins on other ships; we won't sail in an inside cabin. When we were on Allure we took a balcony cabin overlooking Central Park. We enjoyed it tremendously -- it was great for people watching and we were close to mid ship and a deck or two below where the band was playing on the pool deck, so afternoon music could be heard if you were sitting on the balcony. Since we had part shade on our balcony because of the mid ship walkway above...it was nice. But from our cabin we saw no ocean -- we could have been in a high rise hotel in any midtown city.

 

Now we have booked a balcony overlooking the Boardwalk on our Harmony cruise that is very close to the end. It will give us a view of the ocean and the ability to see the activity in the AquaTheater. The pictures that are in some of the other posts in this thread have confirmed for me, that we have made a very good decision.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I had one of the last BWB's booked for the Harmony but didn't know if the water slides would obstruct the views of the Aqua theater.

 

For other reasons we had to cancel that cruise but when we went to rebook another the prices had doubled so we wound up on the Allure.

 

Bill

[FLSteve11]

Hi All! We are getting ready to book our second cruise. Our first cruise was on Oasis. We booked a balcony ocean view and loved it. We are thinking of trying a boardwalk balcony to save some money. Tell us the good, bad and ugly of the boardwalk cabins. Do you have any suggested cabins? Should we consider other areas of the ship? Thanks for your help. There will only be two of us in the cabin.

 

My suggestion will be don't get a cabin on a lower floor. We did cruises on Oasis and Allure in almost the same cabin (3rd in from the back in both cases). The difference is the one on deck 8 was MUCH louder then the one on deck 10. The speakers for the Aquatheatre are under the diving platform, and the platform itself blocked direct sound to our deck 10 cabin, but not deck 8 (in fact it basically directs it to that area). It was amazing how different the sound level was. On deck 10, if you closed the balcony door you barely heard it, on deck 8 it was blaring.

[FLACRUISER99]

Stated in 11727 on Oasis this January and it was the nosiest room I've ever had on a Cruise ship ever!:eek:

[luvcarnival]

We are staying in 10729 on Oasis in July and that sofa bed does look small for our 2 kids...guess one will be sleeping with us!!! We are still really excited for this cabin because of the views of the Aqua Theater.

Edited February 29, 2016 by luvcarnival

[mil76]

We have done Oasis 3 times and Allure twice (she's going to catch up in October), and we always stay in a Boardwalk balcony on the 14th floor. It's an experience you don't get on any other cruise ship. You can't beat the location, and we found we don't spend nearly as much time in the room as we do on other ships, where we always do an OV balcony. There will be noise until the Aquatheater shows end at around 10pm, but if we get back to the room and hear the noise we usually go out to watch anyway. People always worry about noise from the basketball court above, especially on 14, but I never had an issue with that. The biggest noise during the day is the whoosh from the zipline, the carousel, and ping pong if you are farther forward.

 

As for the sofa bed, I wouldn't recommend it for two people unless both are under 10 years old. There are some Boardwalk balconies with a Pullman bed over the couch, which are great until they hit their teens, at which point it gets really cramped with 4 in the room.

[TMO3CCO1]

I've been so busy today...chomping at the bit to get back here and read the comments from everyone since posting this last night. I'm so happy to hear everyone's perspective. This is exactly the feedback I was hoping for to help make our decision. Do you usually have to book early to get the BB close to the aft of the ship? Do those choices go first? We are looking to book a cruise when they open the 2017 schedule in the Caribbean.

 

Is there a side of the ship I should book if looking at the eastern Caribbean route or does it matter when you have a BB?

[mac_tlc]

The only cruise I have ever taken where I thought it mattered which side of the ship I was on was in Alaska. Solved that problem by getting an aft cabin.

 

Availability will depend on when you want to go. If you book as soon as the new itineraries come out, you should not have a problem. As a previous poster mentioned, I would aim for deck 10 through 12. Take a good look at the deck plans beforehand --- the aft-most cabin on some decks, on one side, is a quad, while the other side has a double. If you have three or four people, you wont be able to get one of those most-aft cabins.

 

mac_tlc