Inside Cabins

[emam]

An interesting article about inside Cabins and people not wanting to book them.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=5917

[ann141]

29 minutes ago, emam said:

An interesting article about inside Cabins and people not wanting to book them.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=5917

We often used to opt for an inside cabin with the occasional balcony cabin if on a long cruise but I wouldn't consider an inside now unless it was a cruise for 7 nights or less.Its the thought of being possibly confined to your cabin for several days that is really off putting

[purplesea]

I saw that too, and must admit I wouldn’t like to be confined in an inside cabin should the need arise.

[Britboys]

I mostly have inside cabins when sailing solo, although the next one I have booked is an outside due to having two lots of FCC. Therefore I don't really expect to book another one to sail solo until 2023. By then, I hope Covid will be a thing of the past or well under control and would have no qualms in booking an inside.

[silversurf]

We always have a balcony cabin; fear of confinement due to norovirus, if not COVID.

We had an outside cabin once, on a 4 day trip in winter, which was OK, but wouldn’t want to spend any more time in one.

Even if it is too cold to sit on the balcony there is a full length door/window to look out of.

[Ardennais]

We’ve always had a balcony, apart from an oceanview on Marco Polo. The children had an inside when they were young and we used to swap places and it was ok - but I always knew that I had access to the balcony opposite. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Inside cabin most of the time simply due to the price and how much we are in the cabin. 

 

I have no issues with being in an inside cabin, granted isolation will be crap but i am betting on limited capacity and being moved to a balcony if i have to isolate.

 

 

[Son of Anarchy]

We've mostly cruised in inside cabins.  Occasionally treated ourselves to a balcony when the price was right.  

 

We've got an inside booked for one of Ventura's 35 night TAs next year.  Although we've got plenty of FCC to upgrade to a balcony, the price difference is such that I would rather put the FCC to another cruise.

[yorkshirephil]

7 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

We've mostly cruised in inside cabins.  Occasionally treated ourselves to a balcony when the price was right.  

 

We've got an inside booked for one of Ventura's 35 night TAs next year.  Although we've got plenty of FCC to upgrade to a balcony, the price difference is such that I would rather put the FCC to another cruise.

We are the same, we are on January's 35 nighter and a balcony is more than double pp than we paid for the two of us.

[ann141]

We are considering either the jan or feb 35 night cruise on Ventura and I'm only looking at balcony prices.Its previously when I have compared the price of an inside to a balcony that we have decided to book an inside as we don't spend a lot of time in our cabin. If I don't look at the price of the inside I won't feel that we ought to book it instead of a balcony!!

[yorkshirephil]

Just now, ann141 said:

We are considering either the jan or feb 35 night cruise on Ventura and I'm only looking at balcony prices.Its previously when I have compared the price of an inside to a balcony that we have decided to book an inside as we don't spend a lot of time in our cabin. If I don't look at the price of the inside I won't feel that we ought to book it instead of a balcony!!

There is a big difference in price, we booked at release so got a good deal, for us it is simply a case of more cruises for our holiday budget. We spend very little time in the cabin, everybody to their own.

[ann141]

1 minute ago, yorkshirephil said:

There is a big difference in price, we booked at release so got a good deal, for us it is simply a case of more cruises for our holiday budget. We spend very little time in the cabin, everybody to their own.

We nearly always have an inside cabin but on a cruise with a lot of sea days I prefer a balcony.We should have sailed on this years 35 night cruise in january and had a balcony booked which we booked at release. I can see that the prices for 2022 are a lot dearer now but we will wait until nearer the time to book.Both itineraries look good, I perhaps favour the january cruise whereas hubby prefers ports of call for the feb cruise.We may decide on which cruise has the cheaper balcony cabins later in the year.We have previously always booked Select fare because we like freedom dining but at the moment the price difference is huge so may end up booking Saver.It would be lovely to have a long winter cruise to look forward to

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, ann141 said:

We nearly always have an inside cabin but on a cruise with a lot of sea days I prefer a balcony.We should have sailed on this years 35 night cruise in january and had a balcony booked which we booked at release. I can see that the prices for 2022 are a lot dearer now but we will wait until nearer the time to book.Both itineraries look good, I perhaps favour the january cruise whereas hubby prefers ports of call for the feb cruise.We may decide on which cruise has the cheaper balcony cabins later in the year.We have previously always booked Select fare because we like freedom dining but at the moment the price difference is huge so may end up booking Saver.It would be lovely to have a long winter cruise to look forward to

They are great cruises, good way to spend 5 winter weeks. We did our first when we retired 4 years ago and have done 4 to date, we have done both itineraries and loved both. It is a bit like home from home as you tend to see a lot of the same people every year.

[ann141]

2 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

They are great cruises, good way to spend 5 winter weeks. We did our first when we retired 4 years ago and have done 4 to date, we have done both itineraries and loved both. It is a bit like home from home as you tend to see a lot of the same people every year.

We did a 28 night cruise to the Caribbean on Ventura in 2019 and really enjoyed it so really hoping we can do one of the 2 cruises on Ventura in 2022

[Son of Anarchy]

We're on Ventura's Feb TA.  Also booked at launch, on board Azura.  We just felt that on that occasion the price difference was just a bit too much, even taking into account the extra OBC for booking on board.  Oddly enough, that Azura cruise was one of the rare one's where we did have a balcony.  But that bit of extra luxury still wasn't enough to sway us.

 

Unless there's some "re-scheduled" deals, or late deals towards the end of the year, it will be our first post pandemic cruise 🤞

[AndyMichelle]

We have done a few 'bargain' inside cruises and have had fantastic holidays, although we do prefer a balcony. 

It all comes down to value really but would take a cruise stowed away in a lifeboat at the minute😊

Andy 

[bobstheboy]

When we first started cruising about 25 years ago it was always an inside, then occasionally a porthole. Our first experience of a balcony was the Dawn Princess, San Fransico to Miami, just fitted through the locks. We were hooked and it has to be a balcony, love looking out on a sea day early morning.

[davecttr]

All my cruises so far have been in either insides or ocean views but some serious episodes of cabin isolation, twice on one Oceana cruise plus COVId has changed my mind about balconies. I am two cruises short of my 50 cruise target and the three cruises I have booked are all in balcony cabins. OK they are expensive for a solo cruiser but  cut down from 3 to 2 cruises a year and the total expenditure will be similar, hopefully!

[tring]

We started cruising in inside cabins on Swan Hellenic, P&O or Fred because of price, but have had a lot of outside cabins in more recent years on Fred and some P&O.  We have had the occasional balcony on various cruise lines though, if well priced.  We have occasionally travelled in Fred's terrace balcony cabins on Boudicca as smoking was not allowed on them, but we would not travel on any of Fred's current balconies, even if the price was madly reduced, as smoking is still allowed as far as I know.

 

 In future we are more likely to book balconies (though not always), partly because of the fear of being "imprisoned" in a cabin for more than a couple of days and partly because we have decided we may as well spend our money whilst we are still young and fit enough to travel.  We may still consider inside/outsides on a good cruise line for an occasional really interesting cruise, e.g. an expedition cruise.

 

Hence we may well book more P&O cruises for cheaper balcony cabins.  With that thought in mind, can I ask if P&O still tend to charge an upgrade price which is what it would have cost when the cruise was booked?  For instance, if we book a winter 2022/3 cruise when released at launch price, but book an inside/outside so as not to commit much cash into it initially, is it likely we could upgrade that to a balcony at a later date, still at the total price we would have paid at launch for a balcony? 

Edited March 1, 2021 by tring

[ann141]

41 minutes ago, tring said:

We started cruising in inside cabins on Swan Hellenic, P&O or Fred because of price, but have had a lot of outside cabins in more recent years on Fred and some P&O.  We have had the occasional balcony on various cruise lines though, if well priced.  We have occasionally travelled in Fred's terrace balcony cabins on Boudicca as smoking was not allowed on them, but we would not travel on any of Fred's current balconies, even if the price was madly reduced, as smoking is still allowed as far as I know.

 

 In future we are more likely to book balconies (though not always), partly because of the fear of being "imprisoned" in a cabin for more than a couple of days and partly because we have decided we may as well spend our money whilst we are still young and fit enough to travel.  We may still consider inside/outsides on a good cruise line for an occasional really interesting cruise, e.g. an expedition cruise.

 

Hence we may well book more P&O cruises for cheaper balcony cabins.  With that thought in mind, can I ask if P&O still tend to charge an upgrade price which is what it would have cost when the cruise was booked?  For instance, if we book a winter 2022/3 cruise when released at launch price, but book an inside/outside so as not to commit much cash into it initially, is it likely we could upgrade that to a balcony at a later date, still at the total price we would have paid at launch for a balcony? 

Yes. If you want to upgrade cabins at a later date with P and O you pay the price of say a balcony cabin at the time of your booking.You have to book a Select fare to do this, not a Saver

Edited March 2, 2021 by ann141

[tring]

30 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Yes. If you want to upgrade cabins at a later date with P and O you pay the price of say a balcony cabin at the time of your booking.You have to book a Select fare to do this, not a Saver

 

Thanks Ann, we would always book select, so no problems there.  We were also thinking our 26th June Iona cruise may yet be cancelled, though obviously not with the next group that have been taken off sale, so could use an FCC from that to upgrade.  We have paid £500 on that as changed from a longer cruise to Iona.

 

Just hope they keep the same procedure to price upgrades.

 

Barbara

Edited March 2, 2021 by tring

[Beckett]

I was due to sail on QE in June - a 7 day British Isles - and I was already pretty sure I wasn't going but was waiting for them to cancel. Then, at the weekend, my 2 grandaughters said they would love to come with. So, long story short, I've changed it for a July 7 day on Queen Victoria in July to the Fjords when they will have have broken up from school. The point of all this preamble is to tell you I've booked a deluxe inside which is substantially bigger than a standard inside and the same size as a standard balcony. The cost difference was immense should I have opted for a balcony. So pity me with a 15 and 12 year old inside but I'll let you all know what it was like (if it sails). Have a good day everyone. Jane.x

[Tikka234]

I usually book a balcony for ourselves and a inside for my adult son, but last year I upgraded his to a balcony because of covid , he has learning disabilities so would not cope with being confined to an inside cabin, I know it's a lot extra especially as a single

erson, we're also taking my adult grandchildren who had an inside booked I have upgraded them to balcony as well.

[AnnieC]

21 minutes ago, Beckett said:

I was due to sail on QE in June - a 7 day British Isles - and I was already pretty sure I wasn't going but was waiting for them to cancel. Then, at the weekend, my 2 grandaughters said they would love to come with. So, long story short, I've changed it for a July 7 day on Queen Victoria in July to the Fjords when they will have have broken up from school. The point of all this preamble is to tell you I've booked a deluxe inside which is substantially bigger than a standard inside and the same size as a standard balcony. The cost difference was immense should I have opted for a balcony. So pity me with a 15 and 12 year old inside but I'll let you all know what it was like (if it sails). Have a good day everyone. Jane.x

What a hero you are, Jane. Good luck!

[Beckett]

30 minutes ago, AnnieC said:

What a hero you are, Jane. Good luck!

I'll  need it Annie! Their mum and dad are delighted they're going to have a week to themselves! J.x