Transatlantic room question?

[jayl65]

Hi all, We are taking my parents on the Regatta in March,07. It will be their first trip to Europe and my first to some of the ports on this cruise. My question is about our rooms. Since I am paying all of us, I booked inside rooms to keep cost down a bit. I figured that iside was ok on a crossing and we would be busy most of the time anyway. I want to provide a nice experience for all of us and would like to have opinions on this choice. It is a long cruise with lots of sea days. What about upgrading at the time of sailing? Will the ship be full on a Transatlantic? Will the inside rooms be to confining? Any information would be very helpful. I can't wait for this cruise. I never book inside myself but have had to since I am paying for 4 fairs. Not complaining anyone, just interested to know if its worth tightening my belt a little more and spluring for better digs. Thanks in advance for the info.

[TCF]

Understand that I have not personally experienced the difference between the two cabins, but have had some discussion with others about the differences. Like you, I was interested in saving money on a cabin to spend on other parts of the trip. This information was enough to convince me to stick to an outside cabin on cruises with multiple 'sea days'.

A couple of people I spoke with who are prone to motion sickness swear that they do not feel the affects of the ship's motion if they have an outside cabin. Something about being able to see the horizon etc. and having access to fresh air. It made some sense to me. Being in a room that is moving would be disconcerting I suppose. In any event it was enough to convince me to stick with outside cabins.

I have seen people suffering from motion sickness and it spoiled their cruise. Probably doesn't make a lot of sense to save money on a cruise if it is spoiled because you are sick.

Someone else on one of the threads was advising that it is more about selecting where the cabin is than whether it is an inside or outside. The argument is, and again it makes some sense, that you should choose a cabin that is as close to halfway back from the bow as possible. This puts you at the center of the ship and located where the up and down motion will be least.

So we choose cabins that are halfway back on the outside...and because I hate to think that we are doing it for nothing...I tell myself that I am avoiding sea-sickness!:D

Tom and Deb :)

[hondorner]

We haven't been on nearly as many cruises as some of the others on this board, but we have tried both extremes. A few years ago, we booked a suite with a balcony for a Caribbean cruise. As expected, it was wonderful, but expensive, even on a Carnival ship. This part February, we took a bargain cruise on the spur of the moment. We deliberately picked an inside room to save even more money, and ended up near the front of the ship.

 

We could feel all the motion of the ship (it was the Costa Allegra, approximately the same size as the Oceania ships), but that wasn't really a problem. We could hear the anchor chain in the mornings, but that really just served as a good alarm clock on port days. What we decided was that we just didn't like to live in what amounted to a cave, no matter how much we saved.

 

Since then, we've discussed it a lot. What we decided was that if there is something interesting to see from the ship, we definitely want a balcony. Especially if the view is different at different times -- for example, we're taking the Regatta cruise up and down the Amazon in November. We'll see both sides of the River from our balcony. The same would be true when we take the cruise to see the Chilean fjords and glaciers.

 

We've also talked about a transAtlantic. We like at-dea days and the fares are attractive. In that case, we've decided that we can make do with anything that has an outside view, even an obstructed view, just so it won't seem like a cavern, but there's no sense paying for a balcony when the view rarely changes, and we'll be spending most of our time on deck, anyway.

 

The only thing I'd miss without an A-class room or above would be the refrigerator, but there are few places to step out and replenish my Diet Pepsi in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...

 

Bottom line, we would most likely go for the lowest price cabin with an outside view on a transAtlantic voyage, just to be able to see if it is day or night.