Fantastica Balcony or YC Forward Facing on Preziosa?

[Regguy]

We're looking at Northern Europe cruises, and YC and Aurea are pretty hard to come by. We're starting to settle on dates, and the choice is between a Fantastica full plexi-glass balcony (on 11 or 12 in the stern) or forward facing YC.

 

The difference in price is about $2k, although we would likely buy the drink package if we were in Fantastica for about $600, so there's that.

 

The main difference to us is balcony. We love the balcony, and the forward facing Preziosa balconies seem to not be beloved, and it looks like there is a big piece of glass you have to look through. That said, the rest of the Yacht Club stuff looks pretty fantastic. Pretty hard choice. Any opinions, particularly of those who have sailed in the forward facing cabins (on any of this class) would be really appreciated. Thanks.

[Beamafar]

I had a forward facing balcony in YC on Splendida - the balcony was unusable! The hull of the ship blocked the view and it was too windy a lot of the time for comfort. Also, we had particularly bad weather on that cruise - even the crew were noticably absent with seasickness. The ship was almost deserted during the rough seas and the wind howled and rattled the balcony door to such an extent it was impossible to sleep. I'd never sail in a forward facing cabin again.

 

I've also had an aft balcony cabin on a couple of occasions and loved it. In fact, I believe they are very sought after for that particular itinerary. Skier52 should be along to give you more info. If I'm not mistaken, deck 11 would be the better choice. I'd need to check the deck plans before being more definite.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Beamafar

[Regguy]

Oh my, that sounds horrible.

 

Ok, thanks very much.

 

We just finished a cruise on NCL in a forward facing cabin and it was an amazing experience. I guess the dynamics of every ship is a little different. Too bad!

[BermudaBound2014]

For a savings of 2K, I would positively take an aft Fantasia. Your balcony and view will be nicer, your room will be just about the same, and food is not significantly different in YC than it is in other areas of the ship.

 

YC is very nice, but it's not 2K nice (IMO).

[Beamafar]

I would agree with BB.

 

The balconies of the aft cabins on deck 11 are bigger than on deck 12 so they'd be the ones to look at I reckon.

[Regguy]

Hi -- just to be clear (I think my original post was not very good) the Fantastica cabins are not actually aft facing, but are on the side in the stern -- so they are in a good spot (near the elevators, cabins above and below, no lifeboats interfering and no overhang), but they are not the actual aft cabins.

[Beamafar]

Hi -- just to be clear (I think my original post was not very good) the Fantastica cabins are not actually aft facing, but are on the side in the stern -- so they are in a good spot (near the elevators, cabins above and below, no lifeboats interfering and no overhang), but they are not the actual aft cabins.

 

Thanks for clarifying .......... I had a feeling you weren't referring to the aft cabins. As I stated earlier, they are very popular on that itinerary so are probably very difficult to nab! I think a Fantastica balcony cabin is the way to go for all the aforementioned reasons.

[Regguy]

Great advice. Thanks for all the help!

[Beamafar]

Great advice. Thanks for all the help!

 

Best of luck with the decision! ;)