HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SUITE ON THE BACK OF THE SHIP???

[RocketMan275]

2 minutes ago, tv24 said:

Most of it was open, thus the soot was able to land on it.

That's why you pick the covered ones.

[3rdGenCunarder]

27 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

That's why you pick the covered ones.

 

I've been on 5, 7, and 8, so I've had varied amount of cover and not had soot issues. But I haven't been on Noordam. Isn't her aft superstructure configured differently?  Could that be the problem?

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder

[RocketMan275]

53 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I've been on 5, 7, and 8, so I've had varied amount of cover and not had soot issues. But I haven't been on Noordam. Isn't her aft superstructure configured differently?  Could that be the problem?

 

I believe that is the case.  Go to halfacts.  Compare the overhead cover on deck five aft wrap on Noordam to that on any other Vista class.

[sambamama]

I never had an aft suite, but I had an aft balcony. I had no soot issues, and the limited vibration never bothered me. My balcony was huge, but it was all sun and no shade. It would have been nice to have a bit of shade on it. Still, going out of Tampa and seeing the bridge from my balcony was amazing. 

 

[K&RCurt]

We had a corner aft suite on Deck 8 on the Westerdam and LOVED it!  We hosted a party for 8 people on our Veranda and there was plenty of room for more.  No issues with soot, there was some vibration and one day the seas were rough so the pitching was exaggerated, for us it just reminded us that we were on a ship.

 

Would do it again if we got the same upgrade offer.

[rkacruiser]

17 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

A few more considerations from our experience.

Much further to most everything.

Further from the Neptune lounge

 

I patronize the Greenhouse Spa's Hydrotherapy Pool and Thermal Suite.  Daily, I got quite a workout walking from my stern Neptune Suite to/from the forward elevators to go to the Spa.

 

That as well as the soot issues would prevent me from purposely booking a stateroom of any category at the stern.

[Aquahound]

Going back to the soot issue.  The one time I had a problem, my balcony was partially covered.  Whatever that effect is called that sucks air back in to a moving vehicle caused soot to blow back in to the balcony. 

 

Maybe you'll get lucky like a lot of people have.  However, that 1 bad experience was enough to prevent me from ever booking them again. 

 

One other note....I also don't like the lack of privacy they can have.  Depending on the design of the ship, many sterns are tiered so those above can look down in to almost your entire balcony. 

[rkacruiser]

2 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

Going back to the soot issue.  The one time I had a problem, my balcony was partially covered. 

 

2 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

.I also don't like the lack of privacy they can have.  Depending on the design of the ship, many sterns are tiered so those above can look down in to almost your entire balcony. 

 

I agree with your thoughts as well.  

[Sir PMP]

Aft suites are great, the only time you need to be careful when the Oosterdam is parking behind you..

[rkacruiser]

5 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

Aft suites are great, the only time you need to be careful when the Oosterdam is parking behind you..

 

LOL!

[kevingastreich]

Here is a pull from my recent review of our Oosterdam Alaska cruise in July 2019. 

 

 We had Verandah Stateroom 4181 which is an aft facing cabin on deck four. This was a great cabin in some ways and not so great in others.  It was plenty large enough for two people and the verandah was nice and spacious. It got plenty of sun and at times it actually got TOO hot out there. There really is no cross wind. We had no problem with “soot” as some people said we might. When we looked down all we could see was water and the ships’ wake...  When you are at the rail, people on the upper decks can see you but you do have complete privacy if you sit closer to the cabin.  It is very close to the MDR and the elevators to the Lido are not too far away. Getting to the Crow’s Nest and gym is a hike though, especially if you need to go up there to shower, which brings me to the not so good. This cabin had hot water issues from day one.  It was hit and miss.  Sometimes you had it and other times you didn’t and you could never count on it.  Eventually, the ship became very responsive to the problem and it was finally resolved permanently two days before the cruise was over.   HAL and the Guest Relations Manager onboard did make it up to us and we were satisfied with the end result but not before I had already trekked up to the gym on two separate occasions to find a hot shower. The cabin stewards were awesome as usual.