Aft balcony vs. midship balcony

[thegotogirl]

We are planning to cruise with RCCL on the Voyager next summer. We have been on both the Explorer and the Adventurer, so we're familiar with the ship. We have the opportunity to have a corner aft balcony for the same cost as a midship balcony cabin. Opinions wanted on the advantages and disadvantages of the aft balcony (we have always had a mid-ship balcony). Thanks in advance.

[RePeteN]

We are planning to cruise with RCCL on the Voyager next summer. We have been on both the Explorer and the Adventurer, so we're familiar with the ship. We have the opportunity to have a corner aft balcony for the same cost as a midship balcony cabin. Opinions wanted on the advantages and disadvantages of the aft balcony (we have always had a mid-ship balcony). Thanks in advance.

 

 

We had an aft corner balcony on the Carnival Victory sailing in May...the deck was extended that wrapped around the port (left) side. We enjoyed extra privacy as there was only a cabin on one side. So this was great. We were told this was considered a mini-suite.

 

With the cabin in the rear of the ship...there was no noise disturbance from people passing by our cabin door.

 

The only down side perhaps...the cabin came with a queen size bed as opposed to a pair of doubles that you could combine. The cabin itself was a bit odd shaped.

 

Unfortunately can't offer comparison with a midship balcony...but would imagine the privacy we had would be mostly lost with cabins on both sides. Also recall hearing people passing outside our cabin on our other cruise that had a midship cabin.

[98Charlie]

We would take an aft over side any day. I don't think that the corners on the Voyager are wrap-around. But, we love the view of the wake.

 

Charlie

[RosieRoo]

Check out this site for great pictures of all the aft cabins.

 

http://www.romain-moisescot.com/voyagerclass/virtualtour/aft/aftFR.html

 

You don't mention which deck the aft is available on. 1388 and 1688 seem to be the most sought after cabins on that class of ship. There are many threads on the RCCL boards that address this exact subject.

[thegotogirl]

Check out this site for great pictures of all the aft cabins.

 

http://www.romain-moisescot.com/voyagerclass/virtualtour/aft/aftFR.html

 

You don't mention which deck the aft is available on. 1388 and 1688 seem to be the most sought after cabins on that class of ship. There are many threads on the RCCL boards that address this exact subject.

 

Thanks...I will move this to the RCCL thread. Actually, looking at the virtual helped to make my mind up. The aft balcony is available on deck 9. However, one on the things that I like is to look down and see water. According to the virtual, there is a space between the balcony and the end of the ship. While the actual view is not obstructed, the view for looking straight down to see the water is. Hmmm. Food for thought. Thanks. :confused:

[Mim Lloyd]

I'm just off the Voyager. We had 9392 aft balcony. To our left was the corner cabin. I much preferred ours. The corner balcony didn't wrap around to the side and was actually slightly smaller than ours (when I nosed around the divider!). It also didn't have a full size sliding balcony door - it had a single door that just opened with a round port hole next to it. They couldn't leave the door open as it kept banging shut when the ship was moving.

 

Yes, you can't look directly down to the sea below, but that didn't matter too much. On our sea day last Friday it was extremely windy on deck in the morning and not too many people were sunbathing unless they were sheltered from the wind right near the pool. We had plenty of space to sunbathe on our balcony and had a nice breeze not a wind!

[thegotogirl]

I'm just off the Voyager. We had 9392 aft balcony. To our left was the corner cabin. I much preferred ours. The corner balcony didn't wrap around to the side and was actually slightly smaller than ours (when I nosed around the divider!). It also didn't have a full size sliding balcony door - it had a single door that just opened with a round port hole next to it. They couldn't leave the door open as it kept banging shut when the ship was moving.

 

Yes, you can't look directly down to the sea below, but that didn't matter too much. On our sea day last Friday it was extremely windy on deck in the morning and not too many people were sunbathing unless they were sheltered from the wind right near the pool. We had plenty of space to sunbathe on our balcony and had a nice breeze not a wind!

 

Hmm....wonder if a bungee cord would keep the door open. We used one on our last cruise to keep the door open between balconies on Princess. It worked nicely. I don't know if "your" cabin is available, but I will inquire. I assume you were on the Mediterranean 7 day? Was there a lot of "motion" in the aft cabin? One CC writer mentioned that.

[Mim Lloyd]

Yes it was the 7 night Med cruise. We hit a storm in the night when leaving Barcelona but we didn't notice any more motion than anywhere else on the ship. We were very happy with the room and had no complaints or issues with it.

[Jim&JaneFromWV]

I'm just off the Voyager. We had 9392 aft balcony. To our left was the corner cabin. I much preferred ours. The corner balcony didn't wrap around to the side and was actually slightly smaller than ours (when I nosed around the divider!). It also didn't have a full size sliding balcony door - it had a single door that just opened with a round port hole next to it. They couldn't leave the door open as it kept banging shut when the ship was moving.

 

Yes, you can't look directly down to the sea below, but that didn't matter too much. On our sea day last Friday it was extremely windy on deck in the morning and not too many people were sunbathing unless they were sheltered from the wind right near the pool. We had plenty of space to sunbathe on our balcony and had a nice breeze not a wind!

 

We have cabin 9392 when we're on the Voyager in January 2009. Thanks for the report on what to expect. This is our first aft balcony and we're looking to it.

 

Thanks again,

Jim

[cb at sea]

We enjoy being close to the stairs and elevators--it makes a HUGE difference if you tend to run back and forth to your cabin during the day! Those hallways are really looooooong!

We do book deck 10 cabins---we spend most of our time at the pool, so being only 1 deck down is a big plus, for me!

It's only the 2 of us, so a huge balcony is not the most important thing--our side JS balcony is more than adequate for us!

[mercuryfan]

Love aft cabins had 1700 on Freedom and will have the same cabin on Liberty of the seas large wrap around balcony extra wide cabin looks like a junior suite. but less