Aft balcony was not for me!

[Loves_Dogs]

buckeyegurl-

We had the same experience with our aft balcony cabin on Carnival Destiny. We have never experienced any type of seasickness, and we go on small scuba dive boats. But when we had that aft cabin on Destiny, we could really feel the 'motion in the ocean'. We did not experience full blown motion sickness, we were both just occasionally sort of 'queasy' feeling. Was glad we tried it, but wouldnt book an aft again.

One less 'aft balcony' person you aft lovers have to worry about :-) !!!

[happy flamingo]

NCTribefan - we are going on the Miracle 12/6/09 - same cabin as you. I promise we'll take care of it for you. I sure hope we like the aft balcony. Friends had one on the Liberty and DH sure enjoyed watching the wake of the ship. Since our cruise is in December it shouldn't be as hot. We'll just lather on the sun screen if it gets too sunny. We'll enjoy our 25th anniversary on the ship! Thanks everyone for the great photos and info on the balconies!

[nanuak]

Woodfairie,

 

Thanks for the nice review, and I am sorry that you didn't enjoy the Aft balcony as much as we did.

 

It does get a little warm out on deck, but the sound of the water, the view, and the comaraderie of other passengers, made it worth a little discomfort. We are from Texas, so our idea of "hot", might be a little different, than that of someone from up north LOL.

 

MrPete,

 

I LOVE your photos of the balcony. We are booked into a 9A, on the Upper deck of the Conquest. I can't wait to get out there, and enjoy the view :D Is that a 9A balcony, or one of the Category 11's?

[MrPete]

 

MrPete,

 

I LOVE your photos of the balcony. We are booked into a 9A, on the Upper deck of the Conquest. I can't wait to get out there, and enjoy the view :D Is that a 9A balcony, or one of the Category 11's?

 

It's a cat 11.

[sbharr]

Ok - Now I am nervous - we book Cabin 7351 (Extended balcony 8G at the very back of the ship) on the Legend's Sept. 21 sailing - We love balconies, but I am not sure we will be able to enjoy this one if it is littered with garbage, has no privacy and not even a little bit of an overhang to provide any shade! And is the motion/noise/smell of this location that bad?

 

I am kicking myself because we had the option for an 8I extended balcony on deck 8 mid-ship but I was worried about being right under the Lido deck. Did I make a mistake??? :confused:

[MrPete]

Ok - Now I am nervous - we book Cabin 7351 (Extended balcony 8G at the very back of the ship) on the Legend's Sept. 21 sailing - We love balconies, but I am not sure we will be able to enjoy this one if it is littered with garbage, has no privacy and not even a little bit of an overhang to provide any shade! And is the motion/noise/smell of this location that bad?

 

I am kicking myself because we had the option for an 8I extended balcony on deck 8 mid-ship but I was worried about being right under the Lido deck. Did I make a mistake??? :confused:

 

RELAX. It’s not as bad as everyone is saying, but of course there are always exceptions.

1st, on our sailing on deck 7, we had no soot, nor did we get any garbage. Perhaps we were just lucky. We did see a cigarette butt one morning (another reason to keep those balcony doors closed!). And if it rains, you’re SOOL. As far as shade, you will have to determine how much time you are there at high noon. It’s fine all morning, and late afternoon into the evening.

There is motion, just slightly, and you should get used to it. The noise, well, it’s noise, and you do get used to it as well.

As far as the privacy factor, you’re only visible when you stand at the rail. When you’re seated, you can not be seen from above or from the side.

BUT, remember the POSITIVE. The panoramic views you get when you stand at the rail are marvelous. And seeing that wake behind you can be mesmerizing.

 

Here's a view from above on the Lido deck looking down:

click to enlarge

[CRIRUN]

Hmmm, I am so NOT a sun worshiper. I burn and break out in a rash. I happen to have an aft balcony booked right now on the Valor for December, Deck 7. I am wondering now if I should downgrade.

[sbharr]

RELAX. It’s not as bad as everyone is saying, but of course there are always exceptions.

 

1st, on our sailing on deck 7, we had no soot, nor did we get any garbage. Perhaps we were just lucky. We did see a cigarette butt one morning (another reason to keep those balcony doors closed!). And if it rains, you’re SOOL. As far as shade, you will have to determine how much time you are there at high noon. It’s fine all morning, and late afternoon into the evening.

 

There is motion, just slightly, and you should get used to it. The noise, well, it’s noise, and you do get used to it as well.

 

As far as the privacy factor, you’re only visible when you stand at the rail. When you’re seated, you can not be seen from above or from the side.

 

BUT, remember the POSITIVE. The panoramic views you get when you stand at the rail are marvelous. And seeing that wake behind you can be mesmerizing.

 

Here's a view from above on the Lido deck looking down:

click to enlarge

 

 

OK, now I am fine- as long as there is some shade, particularly in the morning or late afternoon before or after excursions, we will be fine. I was just thinking about no cover at all all day or night - the picture really shows it well - we will be fine.

 

THANK YOU, Mr. Pete!

[nanuak]

Ok - Now I am nervous - we book Cabin 7351 (Extended balcony 8G at the very back of the ship) on the Legend's Sept. 21 sailing - We love balconies, but I am not sure we will be able to enjoy this one if it is littered with garbage, has no privacy and not even a little bit of an overhang to provide any shade! And is the motion/noise/smell of this location that bad?

 

I am kicking myself because we had the option for an 8I extended balcony on deck 8 mid-ship but I was worried about being right under the Lido deck. Did I make a mistake??? :confused:

 

We were on the Conquest, cabin 7444. We never had any trash, nor soot on our balcony. There is a small overhang that shadows some of the balcony during the day.

 

I never noticed any bad smell(s). Noise? Not that I remember, other than the sound of water wooshing from the aft. Arriving in port, you do experience other types of motion (thrusters?), but nothing that would make you ill. I was always on my balcony in my robe, and unless I was up against the rail, no one could even see me.

 

We spent the majority of the mornings (drinking coffee) and evenings (cocktails) sitting outside, enjoying the sights and sounds of the sea. My cousins, were in a suite (nice cabin), on the same deck; and we all spent more time on our balcony than theirs (too darn windy).

[LRene]

I'm another one that doesn't like the aft balconies. We booked one on our very first Carnival cruise on the Conquest and it was miserable for us. It was the heat, rain, lack of privacy, occasional soot and trash from the Lido. I also didn't like the feeling of seeing where we had been as opposed to where we were going.

 

That said, we booked an aft wrap for Alaska but for all different reasons and also because the sun shouldn't be a factor. Our group has all the aft cabins on that floor for our sailing.

 

I discovered on our last cruise that the Verandah deck - mid to aft ship was the best balcony for us because of the extended overhang from the Lido. We always had shade and could sit out there in the rain without a drop on our balcony. There is a little noise from the buffet area but it was well worth it to have the balcony covered. :)

[Caliber1]

No, that is one balcony. The connecting balcony is behind me in the shot.

 

Here's a reverse view:

click to enlarge

 

and just the connecting balcony itself:

 

click to enlarge

 

This was on the Legend, and it is cabin 4237. Yes, that's the family! :)

 

Hey MrPete, guess which cabin I have booked for the Pride repo cruise? :D Should get some awesome pics of the locks and going through the canal.

[MrPete]

Hey MrPete, guess which cabin I have booked for the Pride repo cruise? :D Should get some awesome pics of the locks and going through the canal.

 

COOL! I loved that ship! Now in that room, that 's the place to be!

[CRIRUN]

Phew - ok, I am starting to feel better now about the aft balcony cabin. I almost went into panic mode about the hot sun with the possibility of no shade covering and the possibility of total lack of privacy. I guess I will find out for myself in December if I love or hate the balcony. I have to go on the assumption that I will love it.

[Snoozeman]

It's not for everyone.

[marktac]

This is the best news I've heard today! One less person to compete with us for an aft balcony. Sorry you didn't like them, but I'll take care of it for you!

[Payd]

Sailed the Legend this past week, having splurged on our first aft balcony. We've had a "regular" and an "extended" balcony in the past. We were so excited that we took embarking video of our journey down the endless hallway, then into our stateroom and then onto our much anticipated aft balcony! I have to say, we ended up being a bit disappointed. I have read the posts here with various opinions regarding balcony types and here is my take: extended gets my vote. It gave just enough more room (than the regular size) to fit our DS and DD comfortably. The regular balcony was too small for the 4 of us. And sadly, our aft became littered with cigarette butts, a few assorted sandwich rolls (sans meat) but it was mostly the sun that was the problem. There was no escaping it!! We love the sun but there was no overhang at all for us to sit under for a piece of shade. Combine that with the tropical heat and man, did it get toasty. Couldnt even stand on it with bare feet or lean on the railing without getting burned. youch. Even our teens couldn't take it, until later in the evening. The positive side: the view, the gentle roaring of the engines and the size. (hint: since we have never been able to get 2 more chairs on our balcony for our kids, we used our vanity stool and took the stool from the kids room so they had something to sit on. We made sure to take them in at night as not to get wet, the stools that is, not the kids) All in all, I won't spend the extra bucks to get an aft but at least now we know! One more thing- there was a medical evac on the Legend while we were onboard and the coast guard chopper was directly above the aft of the ship. We have amazing videos of it, mere feet above us!! Let me tell you every single person that had an aft balcony was out there with cameras. It was something to experience for sure.

 

We once booked an aft, but after reading some reviews decided to re-book to an extended. As much as we love the sun, too much is not a good thing. We have heard about the lack of privacy, noise and cig. butts - but food:eek: .

 

Thanks for your "aft review".

[marci4tony]

We are on the Legend 11/2 - Aft Balcony 5299 (about 2 doors down) - Looking forward to it - Thank you for the information, though. In November, hopefully it shouldnt be too hot...

[NCTribeFan]

Well, it still gets hot, even in the winter. Our Miracle cruise was 12/14/07 and as noted, it was cold in the shade but very, very hot in the sun.

 

Glorious in the late afternoon/early evening, though!

 

I do suffer from motion sickness. At least I used to. Before the Miracle cruise I started the bonine + ginger and had absolutely NO problems on either that or the Glory cruise. We'll see how I do in December when I'm back on a Fantasy-class ship.

 

I'm still going to check into moving down to Deck 4, though. A little overhang would be nice. But, personally, I'm always freezing cold in the cabin, so having it heated up a little wouldn't bother me at all.

[marci4tony]

So thankful for the information...I live in Idaho and it's always friggin COLD so I am looking forward to SUN and HEAT!! (with my luck, it will probably RAIN!! LOL) The heat and the sun I wont mind...the litter - that discusts me...:mad:

But, being from IDAHO - we are pretty land-locked...hahaha. We'll try it this time...I will enjoy the view of all that water!

[denb]

O... eventually I found there was a deck where you could used the whole balcony AND be in the shade. They are all on deck 4!

Yes, as you go up, the overhang gets smaller. Deck 7 wrap on Millie:

 

[gargoyle999]

No, that is one balcony. The connecting balcony is behind me in the shot.

 

Here's a reverse view:

click to enlarge

 

and just the connecting balcony itself:

 

click to enlarge

 

Mr Pete- just had to let you know I love your photos and am using a couple of your balcony shots as my desktop backgrounds! We will be in 4237 on the Miracle in Feb and I can't wait!

[denb]

Oops. That last one was on Carnival Legend. This one is an aft on Millie.

[denb]

Here's and 'empty' Deck 4 shot with island background.

 

[Steamboatin]

So thankful for the information...I live in Idaho and it's always friggin COLD so I am looking forward to SUN and HEAT!! (with my luck, it will probably RAIN!! LOL) The heat and the sun I wont mind...the litter - that discusts me...:mad:

But, being from IDAHO - we are pretty land-locked...hahaha. We'll try it this time...I will enjoy the view of all that water!

 

You are not land locked in Idaho.

 

Last year we cruised in Idaho.

 

We were on a 7 day river cruise on the Columbia and Snake Rivers and on the Snake River we cruised via a jet boat excursion up Hell's Canyon into Idaho.

 

So yes you can take a cruise to Idaho.

[lvs2cruz]

We had an Aft Balcony on the Carnival Pride and just loved it! Not sure what kind of people would throw cig butts off the lido deck! Rude to be sure. I agree that a wrap around is better for the room...we were next to the wrap around balcony and could see the size of it. It was our first cruise so we learned for the next time.