Oh No! Another Infinite Veranda Poll!

[Sascol]

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 8:30 PM, Atpx said:

 

Vtcruising is the patron saint of Edge discussions on CC and has been here from the beginning. Her threads are never to beat a dead horse.

 

Extremely evident you're just passing on by. Next time keep on stepping unless you have something constructive to say, because your post makes you look like a complete fool. 🤮

 

Ummmm....rude!

[kearney]

I would book again if price was right.... BUT.... not sure I could get DH to join me. He really prefers S class veranda. We have booked several S class verandas 1A... edge of hump... which we like... deep veranda... and for me enough shade. But for someone who stays out of the sun... I really liked the IV cabin....  I just wish the veranda was larger.... can't make it wider but perhaps in later versions... they could make it deeper... but I dream.

[lourdest]

VT,  I met you in one of the inaugural cruise (Dec 1).  I like/love most of the things on the Edge, but the IVs is not one them.  I have been on a river cruise (love it) so the concept of a drop down window was not new to me.  I think  one of the reasons the concept works better on a river  cruise is because of how close you are to the water.  (this was our room on the river cruise)

 

 

We have a booking on the Apex in a Sunset Veranda room.  I will never say never, but I only see my self booking a suite (if the price drops substantially) or a sunset veranda on the E class ships.  For now we are sticking to the S class ships until the prices became more reasonable on the E class ships.

Lourdes

 

 

 

[vtcruising]

2 minutes ago, lourdest said:

VT,  I met you in one of the inaugural cruise (Dec 1).  I like/love most of the things on the Edge, but the IVs is not one them.  I have been on a river cruise (love it) so the concept of a drop down window was not new to me.  I think  one of the reasons the concept works better on a river  cruise is because of how close you are to the water.  (this was our room on the river cruise)

 

 

We have a booking on the Apex in a Sunset Veranda room.  I will never say never, but I only see my self booking a suite (if the price drops substantially) or a sunset veranda on the E class ships.  For now we are sticking to the S class ships until the prices became more reasonable on the E class ships.

Lourdes

 

 

 

I remember you from the Dec 1 cruise. 🙂  Thanks for the river cruise video - I haven't been on one yet, but it is on my bucket list. The video gave me a better idea of the feel. That makes sense about being close to the water. I do think that a group working with LLP to brainstorm about a different type of cabin for the Edge were looking at various pictures of cabin types and had a eureka moment when they saw a river cruise French balcony. Unfortunately they didn't take into consideration the different needs and desires of the ocean cruiser. Oh well, I did enjoy trying one, but will stick to SV's for now and see how they develop.

 

Maybe I'll see you in the future - we have Edge and Apex cruises booked (also Millie and Infinity). We will squeeze in a Reflection cruise sometime before the Revolution. We do love that ship. 🙂

[vtcruising]

2 hours ago, vtcruising said:

I was surprised to see the high percentage of people who would rebook after sailing in an IV or would if there were design changes or for certain itineraries. I know it is a small sample, but I really thought it would be more.

Typo: Last sentence should have been " ...but I really thought it would be less."

[mcolem2v]

I enjoyed the infinite veranda.  I enjoyed the black out shade on the window itself.  I will say I wish there was some sort of black out feature on the french doors.  I woke up early and wanted to enjoy the veranda and sunrise but wanted to let my wife sleep.  Small little gripe.  I would book the infinite veranda again in a heartbeat.  I loved the Edge.  

[MisterBill99]

The percentages in q1 and q2 are really off because you are including the not applicable in the total. The percentages should be based on the totals of all the other responses.

[hcat]

2 hours ago, lourdest said:

VT,  I met you in one of the inaugural cruise (Dec 1).  I like/love most of the things on the Edge, but the IVs is not one them.  I have been on a river cruise (love it) so the concept of a drop down window was not new to me.  I think  one of the reasons the concept works better on a river  cruise is because of how close you are to the water.  (this was our room on the river cruise)

 

 

 

Very interesting stateroom..what is the size compared to EDGE IV?

And what level  accimodation or price range?

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, MisterBill99 said:

The percentages in q1 and q2 are really off because you are including the not applicable in the total. The percentages should be based on the totals of all the other responses.

Had to have the N/A in order to complete the poll unfortunately.  I explained it in post #24 and gave preliminary results subtracting the N/A's. 🙂

[vtcruising]

2 hours ago, mcolem2v said:

I enjoyed the infinite veranda.  I enjoyed the black out shade on the window itself.  I will say I wish there was some sort of black out feature on the french doors.  I woke up early and wanted to enjoy the veranda and sunrise but wanted to let my wife sleep.  Small little gripe.  I would book the infinite veranda again in a heartbeat.  I loved the Edge.  

I think frosting the French doors may help with that issue (they are trialing that now). 🙂

[J18ktleo]

Hey, Marilyn,,,thank you for your continued addiction to the Edge!

 

Here's my two cents!

I did one of the pre-season but were in a Panoramic oceanview which is basically the IV without a balcony,..problem with those is that they all overlook the tenders so view wasn't great.

Had a large group on in Jan, everyone had IV's.  I really like the cabin but not the shade, which I think they didn't plan out well.

For those of us who like to peek out during the nite or in the am when our companion still sleeps there's no way unless you raise

the shade all the way up...In Jan we just left it all open and had the extra 'real estate' for our room. 😉

Many of us did book the Edge for next year in Europe but we all took sunset verandahs (we have all of deck 10!)...the new people that booked to go with us did take IV's...said they were ok with the shade challenge.

My other 'complaint' is that there's no real area to gather in the atrium except the Martini Bar.  I had a large group that wanted to meet each nite for drinks before dinner and the last nite, the atrium was filled with people who had been sitting there allllllll day (because weather wasn't good enough to go outside) with ipads and cards and no drinks...we had to go to Eden to find seats.  On the other ships there's many more areas to sit and enjoy a drink, on Edge it's pretty much Martini bar or Eden.

[vtcruising]

13 minutes ago, J18ktleo said:

Hey, Marilyn,,,thank you for your continued addiction to the Edge!

 

Here's my two cents!

I did one of the pre-season but were in a Panoramic oceanview which is basically the IV without a balcony,..problem with those is that they all overlook the tenders so view wasn't great.

Had a large group on in Jan, everyone had IV's.  I really like the cabin but not the shade, which I think they didn't plan out well.

For those of us who like to peek out during the nite or in the am when our companion still sleeps there's no way unless you raise

the shade all the way up...In Jan we just left it all open and had the extra 'real estate' for our room. 😉

Many of us did book the Edge for next year in Europe but we all took sunset verandahs (we have all of deck 10!)...the new people that booked to go with us did take IV's...said they were ok with the shade challenge.

My other 'complaint' is that there's no real area to gather in the atrium except the Martini Bar.  I had a large group that wanted to meet each nite for drinks before dinner and the last nite, the atrium was filled with people who had been sitting there allllllll day (because weather wasn't good enough to go outside) with ipads and cards and no drinks...we had to go to Eden to find seats.  On the other ships there's many more areas to sit and enjoy a drink, on Edge it's pretty much Martini bar or Eden.

Thanks for the input, Jeani. I was the one who broke the bad news about the shade on my live thread on my Nov 25 cruise. I remember having the exact same issue - I wanted to check outside the first morning to see what the weather was like and found that the shade could not be lifted at all due to being in a track - I hated to raise it due to the noise and my DH still sleeping. I would bet that they didn't even think of that when designing it.

 

In my experience, the GP (atrium) was hit or miss as far as being crowded. Maybe because we always ate late (8:30-9:30), we were usually able to get seats for the 6:00 music set (sometimes went to the 5:00 music, depending on the group) and stay until the 7:00 show. Of course, we weren't playing cards....🍹  You are right that it wasn't an easy place to find seats for 22 people during prime time. I saw you guys arrive and try to squeeze in a few times. It must have been frustrating....we will see if they do anything differently with the GP on the Apex. 🙂

[Cruise a holic]

On 6/9/2019 at 7:16 PM, 4cats4me said:

That is  ridiculous! 

The tiny table doesn’t work. They are trying to minimize room service 

[TeeRick]

From Marilyn's post above:

As far as the present design - this was in an early press release:

 

"The cabin concept is another remarkable innovation designed by Chantiers de l’Atlantique, with the integration of its terrace inside the cabin thus enlarging its size."

 

It appears that the cabin was designed by experienced engineers, though this is an unusual design for ocean sailing. X seemed to have a vision that resembles the river cruise ships, where there are similar small French enclosed balconies with a window that opens, designed to sit upright and watch the scenery go by with a drink on a small cocktail table. As ocean cruisers, many of us have different expectations, such as reclining with footstools (with an ocean cruise there is often less scenery to watch going by as on a river cruise and many are more apt to be reclined - relaxing, reading and napping on the veranda) and eating meals on their verandas, so we generally expect a larger veranda with furniture that works for reclining and eating on the veranda.

 

Marilyn, thanks for finding this.  I have been searching for it.  Some here try to blame Kelly Hoppen for the IV design itself as we have discussed on several threads.  She is not an engineer or ship architect.   She clearly had responsibility for cabin interiors and furnishings, including all non-IV cabins like suites.   I agree with your expectations as ocean cruisers vs river cruisers.

[gatour]

On 6/9/2019 at 8:30 PM, Atpx said:

 

Vtcruising is the patron saint of Edge discussions on CC and has been here from the beginning. Her threads are never to beat a dead horse.

 

Extremely evident you're just passing on by. Next time keep on stepping unless you have something constructive to say, because your post makes you look like a complete fool. 🤮

As a point of reference when I mentioned "I was just passing by", it was in reference to the fact I have never sailed on Celebrity.

 

For various reasons over the last year I have started to read this forum on a regular basis, one reason was because of Edge.

 

I am well aware of some of the common posters on this forum.  They like to say the same thing over and over again and start the same type of threads again and again..

 

In regards to "Next time keep on stepping unless you have something constructive to say".  I believe my post was constructive.  See above, why keep saying the same thing over and over again, nothing constructive about that.

 

"because your post makes you look like a complete fool."  Interesting debating tactic.  Insult the other person.

 

Having said that, threads that report Celebrity has actually started to change furniture or install curtains, is more constructive, than starting new threads about what is wrong.  There are already many threads that cover "the what is wrong"  scenario, so why another?

[vtcruising]

Now that we have close to 100 people that have taken the poll (95), I will sum it up. I did notice that the total number of votes for questions 1 and 2 added up to more than 95 and looked through who voted. I noticed some people voted both in question 1 & 2, though it was meant to be one or the other (either have sailed in IV or haven't) and if the other question didn't apply they should have said N/A - yes, it was confusing 🙂.

 

Anyway, I took off double votes by looking to see if people had sailed or not in an IV. Some also voted Yes or No and also qualified it with wanting design changes or certain itineraries so I took out the Yes and left the qualification since that made sense (for example, someone voted YES and voted for needing design changes/certain itinerary, so I subtracted the YES since they likely wanted design changes/certain itinerary).

 

Total 95 voted

 

1) If you have sailed in IV and prices were right, would you sail in one again?

38 total

YES          16  (subtracted 2 who voted twice)  = 42%

NO           10  (subtracted 1 who voted twice)  = 26%

MAYBE   12                                                            = 32% 

5 (13%) would consider booking again if change in design

3 (8%)   would consider booking again if certain itinerary

4 (13%) would consider booking again if change in design and certain itinerary

 

2) If you have never sailed in an IV and the prices were right, would you book an IV?

57 people total

YES          21 (subtracted 1 who voted twice)    = 37%

NO           22                                                             = 38.5%

MAYBE   14  (2 double votes are subtracted)   = 24.5%

4  (7%)     would consider booking again if change in design

4  (7%)     would consider booking again if certain itinerary

6 (10,5%) would consider booking again if change in design and certain itinerary

 

3) What would you like to see changed about the IV - some voted for more than one.

35.5%   wanted the veranda size increased with space for footstools and bigger table for room service

24%      wanted tightly closing French doors for improved AC

18%      wanted a curtain or other feature for diving veranda from living area

14%      wanted the mechanical shade replaced

8.5%     thought the IV was perfect as is

 

Thanks to all who responded. I learned a lot - it has been confusing to discern whether the issues with people saying they wouldn't book IV's again was related to price, function or both. Taking the price out of the equation, 74% were either yeses or maybes for those who have sailed in an IV, and though those changes or itineraries might never happen for the maybes, I was surprised that so many thought the IV concept would definitely work for them or might work for them if all the stars align. I was even more surprised that quite a few thought they were perfect as is.

 

It was fairly even for the yeses and nos (37% vs 38.5%) for those who have never sailed in an IV. Definitely many more who had never sailed in an IV did not want to book one, compared to those who had, though again many would consider trying them if there were design changes and/or certain itineraries (total 61.5% were yes or maybe). It makes sense because a lot of people on Cruise Critic have reported thinking they wouldn't like them and then they did like them more than they thought (though many still had some issues). Of course, there are those who know that they want an open balcony, so just wouldn't be interested in trying them at all, which is understandable.

 

Since many people tend to like them once they have tried them or at least think they would like them with changes (according to this unscientific poll), they probably could better sell them once the prices go down and all possible modifications are done to optimize their utility. Then they should market them honestly, IMO - they need to show how they work in an actual video (and work with TAs to better explain them) so that people have realistic expectations and then those who do try them will be happier, rate them more highly and then others will follow.

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by vtcruising

[mnocket]

I wonder what the breakdown would have been if you simply asked "Do you prefer the IV or traditional balcony?".  

[vtcruising]

4 hours ago, mnocket said:

I wonder what the breakdown would have been if you simply asked "Do you prefer the IV or traditional balcony?".  

Maybe someone who is interested in that question could ask.  It wasn't what I was going for in this one. I think a lot of us might prefer traditional balconies (like me), but still want to try an IV if better executed or for certain cruises. 🙂

 

None of the polls have separated out who had actually sailed in an IV and those who have not stayed in one. The other polls have had many comments for and against from people who have and have not sailed in them and almost all saying that they would not book at these prices and many saying that if certain changes were made or on certain itineraries, they would consider it. It was confusing to me how many actually completely rejected the IV concept.

 

I was surprised in the number who would rebook or consider it with modifications - I think many people are now going in with more realistic expectations (CC people anyway) and maybe liking them more than they thought. I understand that there is a certain subset who know they want the open balcony and don't want to try one and be miserable on their long-awaited cruise, if it turns out that they don't like it. I think this poll helped tease out those people and also teased out the subset who think they might enjoy trying the concept, with certain conditions.

 

I was surprised, after the constant negative comments about the IV from the beginning on CC (with some balancing with some positive reports), that it may not be the concept itself that is being rejected, but the execution of the concept. I thought it was the lack of the traditional balcony causing the angst (which is my biggest issue with it).🙂

Edited June 16, 2019 by vtcruising

[ipeeinthepool]

I'll be on the S-class ships as long as they have them sailing the 9 to 14 night itineraries in the Caribbean.  When the E-class ships start replacing them it will likely be time to move on to another cruise line.  The E-class ships took away my favorite two places, the Sky Lounge and my balcony.   I'm not a suite cruiser, the Edge only took away things I enjoyed.

[boscobeans]

12 hours ago, mnocket said:

I wonder what the breakdown would have been if you simply asked "Do you prefer the IV or traditional balcony?".  

 

Or if you asked "Do you prefer a room with a window that opens or a traditional balcony?"

 

I don't understand  how anyone can call an I.V. stateroom  a room with a veranda.