We want a Deluxe Balcony size with a bigger shower, does that exist?

[canadarocks]

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

[NavyVeteran]

3 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

Yes - in a full suite.

[canadarocks]

Gosh I hope you're wrong.... we went directly from a Princess Deluxe Caribe Balcony to just a VB Balcony on Holland America and had the same size balcony with literally twice the bathroom and shower space. Please please let Princess have something comparable without having to pay the full suite price! 🙏

[SCX22]

On Royal Class ships, the two ways to get a larger balcony is to book a premium balcony or to choose a cabin midship in the section with the curvature.  The only way to get a larger bathroom on these ships is to book a Mini-Suite or higher, where there's a tub (Mini or Suite) a full shower with door (Suites only).

[cr8tiv1]

Book a mini-suite on a Grand Class Ship to get a bigger balcony and a tub/shower combo.

 

I can't remember, but think....that a regular balcony on Caribe Deck 10 has 9 x 9 balconies.  Or forward/aft cabins. 

 

And this is one of the reasons (balcony size) I have no desire to book a Royal Class ship.

 

Princess doesn't have large showers in balcony and below cabins.

[canadarocks]

So all the newer ships have the same tiny bathrooms and retro-curtained microscopic showers, unless you book a mini-suite or above? 

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, canadarocks said:

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

FYI - Emerald doesn't have Deluxe Balcony cabins. She, and all ships prior to Royal, have Premium Balcony cabins.

 

Deluxe Balcony cabin.is a category introduced on Royal Princess. It includes a small 2 seater sofa. And yes, a slightly larger shower than older ships.  Small shelf/step area, which makes for a larger shower...

 

No, Royal class ships and newer do not have the tiered/wedding cake sides like Grand/Gem class ships. So no, Caribe deck does not have the extra deep balconies all along the side.

And, in fact, the standard balconies are actually smaller than Grand class ships.. Grand class runs 9x5 for standard balcony cabin balconies and 9x9 for those fab premium Caribe decks balconies.  

 

Royal class balconies - standard is approximately 9x4 feet deep.  Definitely smaller.  There are some exceptions - some of the far forward deck 8 obstructed views, aft facing, some mid ship area with the bump outs under the Sea walk and Seaview bar, a few random ones on 8...   

 

Sun Princess, the newest ship, has somewhat larger balconies, they look to be back to the 9x5 and the showers are much larger across the board - and all with glass shower doors... Oceanview and above all have a full size sofa, inside has a small ottoman.   

 

Good luck! Happy sails...

 

 

[canadarocks]

Thank you @reedprincess. I was mistaken with my description of our cabin on the Emerald as Deluxe. It was a Premiere Balcony. So am I understanding you correctly that all the Sun Princess balcony cabins have glass door showers and a sofa, albeit with a slightly smaller balcony?

[suzyed]

2 hours ago, canadarocks said:

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

The newer ships have small balconies.

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, canadarocks said:

Thank you @reedprincess. I was mistaken with my description of our cabin on the Emerald as Deluxe. It was a Premiere Balcony. So am I understanding you correctly that all the Sun Princess balcony cabins have glass door showers and a sofa, albeit with a slightly smaller balcony?

Correct.

All Oceanview and above have full 3 person sodas..insides have a small (small!) ottoman..  

Mini-suites on Sun do not have the bathtub/shower combo - lust much larger showers. No tub until you get to a suite (higher than an S9 category suite, that'l is, as the S9 suites are identical to a mini-suite aboard, just with the Suite perks).

 

All cabins have large glass showers - larger than the "capsule" type on Celebrity and RCCL, etc. 

 

And balconies themselves are somewhat larger than in Royal class ships.  But, the balcony furniture is a big downgrade, not all that comfortable overall.  

 

See photos for reference:

 

Oceanview, deluxe balcony and Cabana mini-suite interior first, then bathroom, then balcony photos and furniture 

 

 

Keep in mind also, the Sun and Star have "copied" other lines in that every other cabin alternates bed by door, bed by window/balcony. The deck plan at the website tells you for each cabin...

 

And a video of a deluxe Balcony cabin on Sun:

https://www.youtube.com/live/4610z3OjSn0?si=rFWaPHwfuhVBd2I8

 

 

 

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

4 hours ago, canadarocks said:

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

The Sapphire has two B4 balcony cabins with a larger bathroom/shower and huge balcony. Here’s my review with lots of pictures. 
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2934389-sapphire-diamond-d736737-review-with-photos/

 

 

Edited May 7 by HaveDogWillTravel

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, reedprincess said:

Keep in mind also, the Sun and Star have "copied" other lines in that every other cabin alternates bed by door, bed by window/balcony. The deck plan at the website tells you for each cabin...

 

 

 

 

Consequently the cabin is narrower where the sofa is. I means they can squeeze more cabins in per deck.

[Coral]

7 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

The Sapphire has two B4 balcony cabins with a larger bathroom/shower and huge balcony. Here’s my review with lots of pictures. 
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2934389-sapphire-diamond-d736737-review-with-photos/

 

 

These are odd cabins. They were sort of setup as accessible but the door to the cabin is not wide enough so they are not marked as accessible. To make a queen bed can be done but is awkward. Though the cabin is spacious.

[buckeye7]

13 hours ago, canadarocks said:

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

We sailed on the Royal and booked a mini-suite, but made sure it was one of the midship "bump out" balconies, so we had a nice decent-size balcony.  You can see which mini-suites are bump outs on the deck maps. We agree that Princess should have addressed the shower curtain issue in balcony cabins!

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, SUN Princess has a sofa and a better bathroom with the glass door shower.

No, the SUN does not have many cabins. ( like Caribe deck on other ships ) with larger balconies.   You would have to book a Premier Balcony to get a larger balcony.

The balconies on the in-set sections are larger than the balconies on the bump-out sections.  But the in-set sections are really set far back from the sea, with the much wider open decks below.

 

On the newer Royal Class Ships, there are balconycabins, and premium balcony cabins, with larger balconies, on Dolphin Deck, but they will not have a better bathroom or larger shower.

 

TIP:  to address the 'friendly' shower curtain....  Yes, it will move and blow around and cling to you!!!   To helps solve that issue. WET THE SHOWER CURTAIN DOWN before you step into the shower...  When it is heavy and wet, it won't really cling to you when you are getting wet!

 

If the bathroom is not the biggest issue, there are wake-view cabins with larger/deeper balconies, on many of the decks.  

 

It can pay to really go over the deck plans!

 

 

Edited May 7 by Wishing on a star

[crawford]

We were on the Coral and were assigned a cabin for passengers with mobility issues. The cabin had extra storage and a huge bathroom. Again, we had a guarantee and were given this cabin. If you have special needs, you may want to check it out. 

[reedprincess]

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Consequently the cabin is narrower where the sofa is. I means they can squeeze more cabins in per deck.

Correct. 

[Iamcruzin]

19 hours ago, canadarocks said:

We spent a month onboard the Emerald Princess this winter in a Caribe Deck deluxe balcony. Loved the balcony and the cabin, but my goodness the bathroom and shower were ridiculously small!! On the newer ships please tell me if the Caribe Deck balconies are still bigger, and where oh where do I need to book to get a decent sized bathroom and shower? Don't need a bathtub or a couch like the Mini Suites have...we were upgraded to one of those with an incredibly TINY balcony in 2023.

 

So a BIG BALCONY and A BIG SHOWER.....is that attainable?

If you are looking for a larger balcony like the extra large balconies on the Caribe deck you will have to stick with sailing on the Grand Class ships which at this point are old. Starting with the Royal Class ships the balconies are the size of a postage stamp unless you book a suite. Also the showers are all the same size unless you book a mini suite or above. They have a tub/shower combo. The Royal class has deluxe balcony cabins with larger obstructed view  balconies (no glass view) at the bow of the ship which to me is undesirable. Princess has the most uncomfortable rooms at sea. If you book below a balcony you only have a desk chair to sit in. Every other line has a love seat in every room category.

Edited May 7 by Iamcruzin

[Wishing on a star]

That can be true on the Royal and Regal,  but the newer Royal Class ships have a number of Premium Balcony or Premium Deluxe Balcony cabins, on Deck 9.  So at least there are those!  

But same small bathroom and shower.  At least the showers are a tiny bit bigger than older ships.

[Kay S]

I guess you have a choice:  pay more or make do with what the current situation is in a Premium (Delux, etc.) balcony cabin.