Aurora - Standard Balcony or Deluxe?

[joeecco]

We are looking to book Oct 30th 2022 Northern Lights sailing for 12 nights and cruise.co.uk are offering a deluxe balcony for £360 more. We arent fussy about cabins at all as long as it has a balcony but were interested in what the difference in cabins would be to upgrade. 

 

Is it worth bothering? 

 

Thanks!

 

[Adawn47]

We only have standard balcony cabins and they vary from ship to ship. We sail on Aurora often and her balconies are perfect for us,  with plenty of room. Normally the difference is slightly larger cabins with a separate sitting area.  Personally, we would rather put the extra cost of a de-luxe towards a specialty meal or two, or some tours. It's really down to personal choice and what makes the perfect cruise for you.

Avril

[joeecco]

10 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

We only have standard balcony cabins and they vary from ship to ship. We sail on Aurora often and her balconies are perfect for us,  with plenty of room. Normally the difference is slightly larger cabins with a separate sitting area.  Personally, we would rather put the extra cost of a de-luxe towards a specialty meal or two, or some tours. It's really down to personal choice and what makes the perfect cruise for you.

Avril

Thank you, we are thinking along the same lines I believe. I wondered whether P&O did something similar to Celebrity with their different classes of Balconies that have different perks but it appears not! 

[Adawn47]

5 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Thank you, we are thinking along the same lines I believe. I wondered whether P&O did something similar to Celebrity with their different classes of Balconies that have different perks but it appears not! 

I honestly don't know. if you look on P&O's website and research Aurora's cabins, it will tell you of any perks, if there are any. Our choice is standard balcony and buy our own perks with the savings😉 Others who sail in Aurora's de-luxe will be able to give you better advice. I can only tell you that she's a lovely friendly ship and we love her.

Avril

[joeecco]

Just now, Adawn47 said:

I honestly don't know. if you look on P&O's website and research Aurora's cabins, it will tell you of any perks, if there are any. Our choice is standard balcony and buy our own perks with the savings😉 Others who sail in Aurora's de-luxe will be able to give you better advice. I can only tell you that she's a lovely friendly ship and we love her.

Avril

I take it there isn’t then because the website doesn’t give much away at all haha! Thanks for your advice. 
 

we were going to book princess out of Los Angeles but we’ve wanted to try Aurora for a few years now and haven’t had the chance and now we’re trying to take the chance whilst she’s still on sale (we had a 2022 Oceana booking cancelled that came as a shock haha!) so we going to book this cruise in hope of seeing the Northern Lights for my birthday ☺️

[Adawn47]

4 minutes ago, joeecco said:

I take it there isn’t then because the website doesn’t give much away at all haha! Thanks for your advice. 
 

we were going to book princess out of Los Angeles but we’ve wanted to try Aurora for a few years now and haven’t had the chance and now we’re trying to take the chance whilst she’s still on sale (we had a 2022 Oceana booking cancelled that came as a shock haha!) so we going to book this cruise in hope of seeing the Northern Lights for my birthday ☺️

I've just had a quick look at Aurora's cabins and they only show balcony and suite, which  by the way looks amazing. Aurora is beautiful and her tiered stern would be perfect for viewing the lights.

Avril

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, joeecco said:

We are looking to book Oct 30th 2022 Northern Lights sailing for 12 nights and cruise.co.uk are offering a deluxe balcony for £360 more. We arent fussy about cabins at all as long as it has a balcony but were interested in what the difference in cabins would be to upgrade. 

 

Is it worth bothering? 

 

Thanks!

 

On Aurora the standard balconies are cut out of the hull  and we thought that made them too shaded, the deluxe cabins are more akin to those on Azura/Britannia with a full opening and a full length glass front, they are also bigger  cabins.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, joeecco said:

We are looking to book Oct 30th 2022 Northern Lights sailing for 12 nights and cruise.co.uk are offering a deluxe balcony for £360 more. We arent fussy about cabins at all as long as it has a balcony but were interested in what the difference in cabins would be to upgrade. 

 

Is it worth bothering? 

 

Thanks!

 

Deluxe is worth the small additional cost, especially if it’s B deck. On Aurora, all balconies on A and C deck are metal wrap around enclosures. All B deck balconies are more open outlook, without the metal wrap around enclosures. Hard to describe those on A and C deck, but look at photos of the ship and you will see what I mean. We have always had balconies on A and C deck as we use disabled cabins (and there aren’t any on B deck) and they are fine, but if we didn’t need an accessible one I would always book B deck. Also, having a sofa (even though they aren’t comfortable) is a godsend. 
 

I have read many people saying that as they are going on a Northern lights cruise and it will be cold, they will book an inside. Huge mistake. We have done the cruise twice and some of the highlights are sitting in your cabin (on the sofa or bed) watching the scenery pass by. No crowds, no noise, no fighting for pole position. Just bliss. The scenery on this cruise is spectacular. Also, we were able to spot when the Northern Lights were starting by dipping out on to the balcony regularly to check, therefore only getting in to our multiple layers (time consuming) when worthwhile. 
 

I would therefore recommend a deluxe balcony on B deck. 
 

Final note. Hope for the best but manage your expectations. The first time we did this cruise we had fantastic displays of the lights over 3 nights. The next time we did the cruise - nothing!

[joeecco]

19 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Deluxe is worth the small additional cost, especially if it’s B deck. On Aurora, all balconies on A and C deck are metal wrap around enclosures. All B deck balconies are more open outlook, without the metal wrap around enclosures. Hard to describe those on A and C deck, but look at photos of the ship and you will see what I mean. We have always had balconies on A and C deck as we use disabled cabins (and there aren’t any on B deck) and they are fine, but if we didn’t need an accessible one I would always book B deck. Also, having a sofa (even though they aren’t comfortable) is a godsend. 
 

I have read many people saying that as they are going on a Northern lights cruise and it will be cold, they will book an inside. Huge mistake. We have done the cruise twice and some of the highlights are sitting in your cabin (on the sofa or bed) watching the scenery pass by. No crowds, no noise, no fighting for pole position. Just bliss. The scenery on this cruise is spectacular. Also, we were able to spot when the Northern Lights were starting by dipping out on to the balcony regularly to check, therefore only getting in to our multiple layers (time consuming) when worthwhile. 
 

I would therefore recommend a deluxe balcony on B deck. 
 

Final note. Hope for the best but manage your expectations. The first time we did this cruise we had fantastic displays of the lights over 3 nights. The next time we did the cruise - nothing!

That’s wonderful thank you for your help!! 

[joeecco]

22 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

On Aurora the standard balconies are cut out of the hull  and we thought that made them too shaded, the deluxe cabins are more akin to those on Azura/Britannia with a full opening and a full length glass front, they are also bigger  cabins.

Thank you for your help! 

[AJ22]

On 11/5/2020 at 3:43 PM, Selbourne said:

I have read many people saying that as they are going on a Northern lights cruise and it will be cold, they will book an inside. Huge mistake. We have done the cruise twice and some of the highlights are sitting in your cabin (on the sofa or bed) watching the scenery pass by. No crowds, no noise, no fighting for pole position. Just bliss. The scenery on this cruise is spectacular. Also, we were able to spot when the Northern Lights were starting by dipping out on to the balcony regularly to check, therefore only getting in to our multiple layers (time consuming) when worthwhile. 
 

I would therefore recommend a deluxe balcony on B deck. 
 

Thanks for these comments. It sounds like a good idea to keep checking for the lights from the balcony. This may be a silly question, but would you recommend port or starboard for the northern lights, or does it not make any difference? We would overnight in Alta, so it would be nice to be facing north when moored up. 
 

Like the OP, we are having exactly the same debate about standard or deluxe balconies. I don’t mind the more enclosed type balcony on a cold weather cruise, because it feels a bit more sheltered. If it was a sunny cruise I would prefer the glass ones. I also got a price for a mini suite, but don’t think we can justify the extra cost.

[Selbourne]

10 hours ago, AJ22 said:

Thanks for these comments. It sounds like a good idea to keep checking for the lights from the balcony. This may be a silly question, but would you recommend port or starboard for the northern lights, or does it not make any difference? We would overnight in Alta, so it would be nice to be facing north when moored up. 
 

Like the OP, we are having exactly the same debate about standard or deluxe balconies. I don’t mind the more enclosed type balcony on a cold weather cruise, because it feels a bit more sheltered. If it was a sunny cruise I would prefer the glass ones. I also got a price for a mini suite, but don’t think we can justify the extra cost.

From memory, when the ship is moored in Alta the ship is actually facing North, so it makes no difference whether you are port or starboard. We were starboard and found it fascinating watching the planes being de-iced minutes before they took off in a blizzard and heavy snow from Alta airport when, in the U.K., our airports are closed when we have a light dusting.

 

Because you are in the Arctic circle, you don’t necessarily need to be looking North. The lights can appear from anywhere. 
 

A tip for knowing when the lights might appear. You often see a long whispy white cloud like effect across the sky, but too long and thin to be a cloud (although it looks like one). This is often the start of activity. I spotted this from our balcony twice and by the time we got dressed in our cold weather gear and got out on deck the display started. However, it rarely fills the whole sky. There can be a strong display visible from one side of the ship and nothing on the other, so you have to keep popping out and checking.
 

We saw a very weak display (almost all white and in one specific part of the sky only) whilst at sea before we arrived in Alta. In Tromso we had a spectacular display that lasted about an hour. I can’t recall which side of the ship it was but it came from behind the mountain that’s the other side of the bay from where we were moored. In Alta we had the most incredible display one night (filling the whole sky) but nothing the next night as it was snowing. I should stress, however, that all of these sightings were on one cruise. We did the Northern Lights cruise at the same time the following year and the lights didn’t appear at all.

 

Most of the lights are white, or white with a very light green. The stronger displays have more of a green hue and the strongest have red in them. However, every photograph you have ever seen of the northern lights is an exaggeration (in terms of colour) of what you see with the naked eye, because the camera lens picks out and emphasises colour in a way that the human eye can’t. Also, all TV coverage of the lights is misleading as they speed it up for emphasis, so the movement, as well as the colour, is somewhat exaggerated. Nevertheless, if you get a strong display, it is spectacular and something that you will never forget. In hindsight, we were very lucky the first time as there had been a massive solar flare that left the sun a day or two after we left the U.K. and it hit the atmosphere when we were in the Arctic circle. As a result, we had greens, reds and some spectacular movement, but you are guaranteed nothing. 
 

Perseverance pays. You can get a strong display for 30 minutes and nothing for the rest of the whole night. We put the hours in and were rewarded. Those who insisted on seeing all the shows and popping out for ten minutes every few hours saw nothing! Good luck. 

[AJ22]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

From memory, when the ship is moored in Alta the ship is actually facing North, so it makes no difference whether you are port or starboard. We were starboard and found it fascinating watching the planes being de-iced minutes before they took off in a blizzard and heavy snow from Alta airport when, in the U.K., our airports are closed when we have a light dusting.

 

Because you are in the Arctic circle, you don’t necessarily need to be looking North. The lights can appear from anywhere. 
 

Thanks very much for all that. Very helpful. 😀

[tring]

On 11/5/2020 at 3:41 PM, terrierjohn said:

On Aurora the standard balconies are cut out of the hull  and we thought that made them too shaded, the deluxe cabins are more akin to those on Azura/Britannia with a full opening and a full length glass front, they are also bigger  cabins.

 

We realised this when we booked Aurora to New York and back next Sept.  We chose standard thinking there may be a bit of protection from colder winds if the balcony is cut out of the hull and cabin not of big consequence to us.  Just a thought and have not travelled so not sure if there would be an advantage.  We have chosen what should be a quiet location though, which is the most important point for us, so depends what is available.

 

More thinking about whether the ship will sail at present, so keeping fingers crossed 🙂