best balcony - Carnival, Princess or RCCL?

[manlie]

We are in the process of booking our 3rd cruise - first one Carnival, second one Princess. A balcony is very important to us so in choosing our 3rd cruise, that is a factor. Since we are new to cruising we are open to different ships. We were fortunate to have a minisuite on Princess with an uncovered balcony, which I loved so I could catch sun without having to be in a bathing suit in front of a 1000 people :D. Do other ships have uncovered balconies or just Princess? I have looked at photos and it doesn't appear to be an option. I also thought the Princess balcony was much larger than Carnival. How does RCCL compare? Do the bump-outs allow sun? Also, if I am able to get an aft balcony (on any ship) is it too windy? Thanks for any input!

[serene56]

You will get NO ocean breezes being on the aft of the ship- these are cabins directly across the back of the ship.

 

On the Caribbean Princess aft C753 we by far the best balcony we had- the way its laid out made it seem almost private. Back there was 2 chairs and a table that we can sit and have our room service on.

 

Royal caribbean VOyaer of the sea was the biggest balcony.. it housed two lounge chairs / two regular chairs and a small parsons table.

Although the balcony is the biggest it is obstructed by a lot of steel and my view stright down is of a crew deck.

 

Carnival afts are stepped up-- the when you are standing at the railing you can look up and see other people.

 

My vote-- Caribbean Princess C753 or C752

[Aquahound]

This really comes down to specific ships, not cruise lines. Speaking for RCCL, the Radiance Class ships are exposed balconies and get lots of sun. The newest Voyager Class, Navigator and Mariner, and the Freedom Class ships have nice glass balconies.

[Nan-L]

I couldn't help but notice you are part of the manatee program.

I'm 3rd gen floridain and back in the late 70's a group of us went before Palm bch county with a cost effective cage for the props on boats. THe reason was to stop the props from slicing the manatee. It would have cost about $300 a boat and we wanted all boats in the intercoastal to have to have them..we could not get it passed.

Now with so little remaining how much would the $300 have been worth in terms of the manatee. and tHey STILL won't make the boats have them!!

I grew up swiming with them... now you hardly see them except in the warmer waters and springs during winter !!

[Luvcrusin']

We have sailed many times on Princess, and regardless of the ship I ALWAYS request the Caribe Deck....all the balconies on this deck are larger than most. 1/2 of the balcony is covered & the other 1/2 is open, so you have the best of both worlds, not to mention more much more room!!:D