Balcony

[We Be Floatin !]

If going to do a Balcony Cabin,  is their a better side to chose for Alaska cruises ?

[infohunter]

I haven’t done Alaska yet... but I am booked for 2019

the advice I was given is to book on the side land is for most of your glacier cruising (if round trip) ... we are on a one way and selected port as we are going on southbound cruise and then splurged on a aft corner....  

i was also told that all the ships go their best doing a 360 for glacier viewing so all sides have opportunities

from the availability map of my cruise a lot more port balconies were booked versus starboard... so looking at that might also give you some insights....

 

i cant wait!!!!!

 

[CruiserBruce]

No, there IS NOT a "best side". The scenery is 360 degrees, you are NOT locked in your cabin, and there IS NO magic spot to see the scenery.

[SuperCrewBear]

I chose a starboard side cabin on one cruise - I don't even remember why exactly.  The next time I was on the same ship and got a cabin on the port side (almost exactly opposite the previous cruise) and, at the least, I thought it would be cool that we'd have a different view while docked.  Except for Ketchikan they turned the ship around opposite at each port. Ha Ha  We had the same view both cruises...  You can't out think them!  Just get the cabin you want for other reasons.

[JBSteelerfan]

Advice we were given was if you are going northbound, starboard side, and southbound, port side cabin.

[Herfnerd]

On our first Alaskan cruise last year, we chose a port side verandah.  Had awesome views!  But I honestly didn't see an advantage of choosing one side over the other......

[stevejco]

7 hours ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Advice we were given was if you are going northbound, starboard side, and southbound, port side cabin.

Hello JB, Hope your doing well. Think that this advice holds true if your planning on spending a decent amount of time on your balcony. Otherwise, if your spending most of your time in public areas you just move to the side with the better view.

[JBSteelerfan]

6 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Hello JB, Hope your doing well. Think that this advice holds true if your planning on spending a decent amount of time on your balcony. Otherwise, if your spending most of your time in public areas you just move to the side with the better view.

Hi Steve!

Hope you guys are doing well.  Did you take the retirement offer?  I did!!  Don't miss it at all!!

Jeff

[stevejco]

1 hour ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Hi Steve!

Hope you guys are doing well.  Did you take the retirement offer?  I did!!  Don't miss it at all!!

Jeff

Hi Jeff!

Congrats! I retired last September, 38 years under CSRS. No regrets here.  Hope Sheri is well.

[JBSteelerfan]

5 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Hi Jeff!

Congrats! I retired last September, 38 years under CSRS. No regrets here.  Hope Sheri is well.

Congrats on retirement as well.  And I thought 33 years was enough.....couldn't imagine another 5!

[stevejco]

17 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Congrats on retirement as well.  And I thought 33 years was enough.....couldn't imagine another 5!

Life is good. Hoping to get a few more cruises in now. Doing Alaska next June. Southbound with a portside cabin. 

[JBSteelerfan]

8 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Life is good. Hoping to get a few more cruises in now. Doing Alaska next June. Southbound with a portside cabin. 

Just did Alaska this past August.  Absolutely beautiful up there.  Doing Hawaii next year.  Hoping to do a transatlantic soon.

[stevejco]

3 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Just did Alaska this past August.  Absolutely beautiful up there.  Doing Hawaii next year.  Hoping to do a transatlantic soon.

Did you do port or starboard? Southbound or Northbound? Did you think there was any major dif in the views?

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by stevejco

[JBSteelerfan]

36 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Did you do port or starboard? Southbound or Northbound? Did you think there was any major dif in the views?

 

We were on port side, southbound from Seward to Vancouver.   Had great views from our balcony while cruising.   When we did Hubbard glacier,  we were on the helipad and had great views as well.  What ship are you on, and are you doing a land tour as well?

[stevejco]

1 hour ago, JBSteelerfan said:

We were on port side, southbound from Seward to Vancouver.   Had great views from our balcony while cruising.   When we did Hubbard glacier,  we were on the helipad and had great views as well.  What ship are you on, and are you doing a land tour as well?

Celebrity Millenium. Doing 8 days pre-cruise on our own.

[JBSteelerfan]

15 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Celebrity Millenium. Doing 8 days pre-cruise on our own.

We also did millenium....wonderful ship with a great crew.  Make sure you visit martini bar!!

[stevejco]

Plan is to visit every bar.

[jlp20]

Look at a map of the route the ship is taking. The section off shore the lower 48 and Canada are usually so far away from land it doesn't make that much difference. Look at the "inside passage' part of the cruise and this will answer your question.

[JBSteelerfan]

14 hours ago, stevejco said:

Plan is to visit every bar.

Great plan!!  We also enjoyed dining in Tuscan Grill and Qsine!!  Although not sure if Qsine will still be there next year, as a lot are being changed to LPC.  

[cruiseguy1016]

We had a balcony cabin last year for our Alaskan cruise and never used it for sightseeing. There will be days that you have great views from your balcony and days that you don't, regardless of which side your cabin is on. When there were things to see, we chose to be on one of the upper decks so we could move from side to side to see things. We came to realize that the best side to be on for viewing the sights was the OUT side.

[Crew News]

Best views for Alaska are from an aft balcony stateroom where you can see both sides of the scenery and then fall asleep to the calming sound of the ship's wake.