What Makes Aft Cabins So Desirable?

[dchip]

We love looking at the wake!:)

 

We always book pretty early, usually about a year out, and the aft cabins with a wake view are always gone. How do you guys get those cabins?

 

We just booked the Star 22 months out!!!!!!!!!! That is the wonderful thing about having FCC!! We only wanted an aft on Caribe or Dolphin or the last two minis on Emerald. (getting particular, I know) I would hate to put out a big deposit for that long a time. For our aft in November, it was plain luck. I was just checking availabilty on Expedia because I couldn't sleep and I saw that E732 had become available on the Diamond, called my TA in the morning and she had our cabins switched.

 

Paulette, Check out my pics, they should tell you all you need to know. We heard NO noise from Club Fusion. The Aft pool and Dining Room were very convenient. We had our own tiny hallway, so no noise from that end either. We were on a Thanksgiving cruise with 800 children and never knew they were onboard!! Loved the cabin, loved the balcony.

 

Cheers, Denise

[paulette602]

WOW!!!!!!

 

DCHIP....Thanks alot for the pictures....I'm really looking forward to enjoying this cabin for our Southbound Alaska cruise. The balcony is

the perfect size for us...Couldn't really see, but is the balcony covered?

 

Paulette

[ArizonaRalphie]

I, personally, consider aft cabins really discriminatory. It reminds me a whole lot of "back of the bus" thing in the south in the 50's

[Princess Chatterer]

I was on a ocean view with balcony Caribe aft cabin on the Emerald in April.

 

The good:

 

My dear wife loves the privacy and size of the veranda. We both love the privacy of being at the end of the hall away from the hall traffic and laundry rooms. The view of the wake is nice. Less or no exhaust fumes compared to back side cabins. You get more exercise when walking to the public areas. You are very close to the emergency exit.

 

The bad:

 

Aft cabins can be a little more expensive than comparable cabins up the hall. Wake view cabins have a lot more ocean noise when the veranda door is open when the ship is moving. You can feel the vibration of the motors. Sometimes they forget to deliver the mail to the aft cabins that are located around a back hall dog leg. Aft cabins can be hard to book if you wait until the last minute.

[Princess Chatterer]

[Northender]

I was on a ocean view with balcony Caribe aft cabin on the Emerald in April.

 

The good:

 

My dear wife loves the privacy and size of the veranda. We both love the privacy of being at the end of the hall away from the hall traffic and laundry rooms. The view of the wake is nice. Less or no exhaust fumes compared to back side cabins. You get more exercise when walking to the public areas. You are very close to the emergency exit.

 

The bad:

 

Aft cabins can be a little more expensive than comparable cabins up the hall. Wake view cabins have a lot more ocean noise when the veranda door is open when the ship is moving. You can feel the vibration of the motors. Sometimes they forget to deliver the mail to the aft cabins that are located around a back hall dog leg. Aft cabins can be hard to book if you wait until the last minute.

 

The Good - All true, but I found the cabin to be noisy at night when trying to sleep - kind of a jerking motion.

 

The Bad - You are right about the mail. Also, we seemed to have a problem with our cabin steward doing up our room until sometime early afternoon. He had 29 cabins. The cabins between you and the other truly aft cabin are usually suites, they seem to get the attention.

 

To sum it up,DH really liked the aft, I didn't. We were on Caribe. Next cruise Caribe also, but Port end of mid-ships.:)

[swiss]

We book a cruise now depending on if an aft cabin is available. They will definitely spoil you! We love the location, the quietness of less traffic going past your room, the hypnotic wake of the ship, the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, breakfast and sometimes dinner on the balcony without having to contend with the wind, and on and on reasons.

 

One word of warning, when you come into port sometimes other ships will part right behind you so when you open your drapes in the morning you are looking right into the front of another ship. Make sure that you remember to put a robe on before opening up those drapes! We learned this lesson the hard way! Oops!

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/sallykevis

[vince_g]

Forward cabins tend to have the most motion. On Sun Princess we experienced some vibration from the thrusters when the ship was docking, but it was only a couple minutes... a small price to pay.

 

Once you have a cabin on the stern, you won't want anything else.

[ClassyNSassy]

Catnjack

 

We also are on the Diamond to Hawaii 4/1/08 in D738 aft added you to buddy list. keep in touch

[dchip]

WOW!!!!!!

 

DCHIP....Thanks alot for the pictures....I'm really looking forward to enjoying this cabin for our Southbound Alaska cruise. The balcony is

the perfect size for us...Couldn't really see, but is the balcony covered?

 

Paulette

Glad you enjoyed the pics. It is nice taking them knowing further down the line they will help someone!!

 

Yes, the balcony is covered. One of the big reasons I go for the aft on the "wedding cake designed" ships. I like looking at the water, not another balcony!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[Miami Native]

I just booked E731 on the Crown for Thanksgiving 2008. A little bit in advance , but I had read here on the boards that E731 was a great aft cabin. Anyone stay in that cabin??? Thanks everyone for all the great info. :)

[Mauizach]

We were in E728 on the Diamond, great cabin. Balcony is gives you a view of back and side of the ship. Overhang keeps it very private. Keeps the sun and rain off, great if it is hot or raining:o. Hallway is also guiet back at the end of the ship. We also had less movement than anywhere we have stayed. The only drawback and very minor was some vibration from Club Fusion and it was not everyday. My wife can not take any noise and it did not cause her any issues. Side note do not book E731 thinking it is a TRUE mini-suite on the starboard side. It is had no couch, no tub, and bed was only able to be set for twin config. It is really differnet from E728. This is only on the Diamond that I notice this. Hope you have as much fun as we did in E728, great cabin

[Cruise Gypsy]

We just booked the Star 22 months out!!!!!!!!!! That is the wonderful thing about having FCC!! We only wanted an aft on Caribe or Dolphin or the last two minis on Emerald. (getting particular, I know) I would hate to put out a big deposit for that long a time. For our aft in November, it was plain luck. I was just checking availabilty on Expedia because I couldn't sleep and I saw that E732 had become available on the Diamond, called my TA in the morning and she had our cabins switched.

 

Paulette, Check out my pics, they should tell you all you need to know. We heard NO noise from Club Fusion. The Aft pool and Dining Room were very convenient. We had our own tiny hallway, so no noise from that end either. We were on a Thanksgiving cruise with 800 children and never knew they were onboard!! Loved the cabin, loved the balcony.

 

Cheers, Denise

 

Denise,

 

Thanks for sharing your photos - what a great view. I now understand why they book so quickly.

 

I hope someday we are able to get one of those cabins. Someday.............:)

[kkpcruiser]

I am new to Princess and in researching exactly what cabin area i wanted, i came across photos (i believe through this board) of white tables dotted with soot from the ship. I seem to think they were the aft cabins. Looking at the ship now and the location of the smoke stack, i cannot imagine why this would be the case though.

 

any experience with this?

 

I did not choose an aft though there was availability...now i wish i did. I think this particular photo along with comments about the soot put me off.

 

The views look great!!

[annieuk]

We had an aft cabin on Sea Princess when she was with P&O. We were in C747. It was huge with a very large balcony, four teak chairs and a table, two teak loungers and two teak recliners. We loved it. Standing looking over the wake, glass in hand is magic. We loved it so much our next cruise was in the same cabin on Oceana (Ocean Princess). Now we have an aft suite booked on Arcadia for next Jan. The balcony on this is wrap around so it looks over the wake but goes round to, in our case, the starboard side as well. Can't wait. In order to get these cabins, even on P&O we have always booked at least a year in advance, sometimes a little more. Go for it if you have the chance. The only movement we felt was the side thrusters when coming into port, not a problem.

Annie:)

[Mauizach]

[URL="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/member.php?u=218638"]Miami Native[/URL]

The Crown E731 may not be bad, I was talking about E731 on the Diamond. Different ships are not the same in some cases. Also another poster stated on a different post that cabin was not bad now. I wish I could tell you for sure about the E731 but at this point I am not sure. You may just want to look for a post on that thread if they reply (Option for E728 on diamond to Alaska" update) was the thread I think. Anyway have a great cruise! AFT always for me!:o