Anything wrong with veranda cabins (VB) on Zuiderdam Observation deck?

[tyrannosaur]

I noticed the VB cabins at deck 10 Observation deck are not fully booked up as the rest of the veranda cabins (VA and VB are all gone in deck 4 and 5).  Are these cabins less desirable?  Only thing I noticed is that they are sandwiched between Explorations cafe and Sliding Dome Cover.  Thanks in advance!

[catl331]

They have shallow balconies ... about 4 feet. This pic is not on a Vista class ship, but they are like this:

Edited July 7, 2019 by catl331

[tyrannosaur]

Thanks for the quick reply and the photo showing the balcony!  I think I can live with that balcony size, as long as there is no other issues.

[Lady Chew]

Our balcony on Deck 10 was smaller than the photo.  We were in the most forward cabin on the port side.  It was the smallest cabin we've ever had.  And for some reason, even though it was in a separate hallway from the one going to Explorations/Crows Nest, because our door was right next to that hallway, people kept trying to come into our cabin thinking it was the Crows Nest.  Even with the cabin number and the mail drop thingy, and a slot for the key card.  Sheesh … 

[TAD2005]

Our experience with the new balcony cabins installed on deck 10, behind the Crow's Nest is that they are very tiny balconies.  DW calls them "Juliet Balconies", like you see in some European hotels.  You can open the door and stand out there, but no real room to do anything like have breakfast or a few drinks.   Check out Cruise Deck Plans dot com and see the pictures of the actual cabins with balconies.  They are definitely smaller than a regular Vista class balcony.   

[tyrannosaur]

thanks for all the useful info!  I don't have many choices for veranda cabin for 4 people at the intended cruise, either deck 4 toward the aft (VC) above the dinning room, or deck 10 VB, unless we go for the Neptune suite (no Signature suite available).  As long as there is no noise issue and we can have a good night sleep, I think we can live with the tiny "Juliet balcony" and the tiny 174 sf VB cabin at deck 10.

[OHCruiser]

If these are cabins added in a fairly recent retrofit, I'd say be careful. 

 

We were in one of these on the Noordam or Westerdam in the Caribbean in Dec. and we were miserable.  The HVAC was totally inadequate for rooms getting sun from the top & through large glass doors.  No matter what we did, or how much we complained, we couldn't get the temp & humidity to go down.  We found out that when they installed these rooms, they scavenged the HVAC, rather than install a separate system.

 

I would NEVER book one of these rooms again.

[TAD2005]

We always book aft balcony cabins on deck 4, which is above the MDR.   We have never had any noise issues from the MDR, which is a generally quiet place after 9:00 pm.   The MDR is carpeted, and any noise from chairs moving would be transmitted to the deck below, not above, like deck 4.  The only cabins you have to concern yourselves with for noise issues are the ones directly above or below BB-King Blues Club.   Or cabins on deck 8 directly below the aft Lido deck pool area.

If you have a choice of a deck 4 aft balcony and a deck 10 Juliet balcony, I would take the deck 4 balcony in a heartbeat.

[catl331]

2 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

If you have a choice of a deck 4 aft balcony and a deck 10 Juliet balcony, I would take the deck 4 balcony in a heartbeat.

I agree.

 

[Shih-tzu]

I was up there in 2017 - about 1/2 way between the Crows Nest and the door leading out to the glass dome.   Our balcony had a small table and two chairs - about the same size as we had on the Norwegian Gem and Carnival Liberty.   I was fine with it.  (I know there is one ship that it just the Juliette balcony style, but the room I was in on the Zuiderdam was an actual balcony).   It was nice and handy to get an early morning coffee in the Crows Nest 🙂 )