Miracle balcony

[alhohen]

Never had a balcony cabin before but am thinking of a Miracle cruise in March of 2005. Would like any feedback as to the various positives of a higher or lower deck cabin balcony and also fore, aft or center of ship. I am interested mainly in the enjoyment of the balcony and am not interested in a convenient location or level as stair climbing is a good way to burn off all those excess calories. Thanks.

[Guest Time2gocruzn]

We booked a 7a on the Miracle for our upcoming cruise in March. I did this because it is the cheapest way to get a balcony cabin. These are considered partially obstructed views, so they are about 20% cheaper than other balconies. BUT the life boat hangs below your balcony rail, so you can still see out perfectly, just not down. Our cabin is right in the middle of the ship, up and down and front to back. I have heard this is the best location to be in if you want to feel as little motion as possible.

 

But if your budget isn't your bigest concern, it sounds like the aft wrap around balcony cabins are the way to go!

 

Mohavemommy has wonderful pics of a 7a and the view. It really helped me! Here is the link to the pics:

http://community.webshots.com/album/71268363MGtWsT/0

[cruznon]

Everyone talks about the aftbalcony cabins....I'll find out on Wed--our first aft cabin.

As far as deck choice....the higher the deck the farther you can see. There's a bit more motion the higher up you are.

We are on Panorama DEck on the pride last year and again tis cruise on the Spirit.

A balcony is the best way to cruise....

[palmtre2]

Lower decks save you money. Our balcony cabins are booked on the Upper deck since this is the cheapest the higher you go the more expensive and the more rock & roll you feel. I only recommend this on the newer ships though since the deck below is usually the one with the bars and casinos. The sound proofing was excellent on the Glory last year never heard anything from below. We will be in an aft cabin next summer and I hear the views are to die for. You must be warned though if you take a balcony, you can't go back!!!!

[cruztime]

Hi,

 

We always get an aft balcony on the Empress Deck. The aft balconies are a little deeper than the ones on either side of the ship. We have been on the Pride, Spirt, Glory twice and now coming up on the Miracle. The Empress deck is sandwiched between 2 floors of cabins so there is never any noise. I have never experienced much movement other than the fact that you are on a moving ship at sea. You won't be disappointed with an aft balcony.

[ppeckham]

We had a mid-ship balcony on the upper deck on the Conquest. We dearly loved it.

 

Have booked a cruise on the Miracle for next July. I gave my TA (who is my cousin) a list of mid-ship cabins with balconies as possibilities. We like mid ship as there's minimal movement.

[AlwaysReady2Go]

We have always had a balcony room when we've cruised but when we were on the Spirit we tried the rear wrap around balconies - you have to book really early to get these. We loved it and if any are available I can't imagine anyone being disapointed with one. You have your own padded chaise lounges as well as sitting chairs and tables - they are huge and the views from the side and rear are magnificent. Any way you go you can't loose on a cruise!

[serene56]

If you are gonna spend a great deal of time on a balcony I would take a bigger balcony compared to a smaller on on the side. Chose any of the afts or better yet see if cabin 6232 is available. By looking at the deckplans you can see the balcony is very long.

 

PS- March is spring break.

[momofmeg]

We were in cabin 6267 an extended balcony on the empress deck-deck 6. We had booked a guarantee 8A and ended up wiith an 8E. We learned from other passengers that many who had booked an oceanview guarantee ended up with a balcony. I think this is because if you look at the diagram of the spirit class ships you see there are many more balconies then oceanviews and inside cabins.

 

So if you are booking several months ahead I say book a guarantee. The ship sailed really smooth to me so there is no worry about movement-if you book a guarantee you end up getting a nicer cabin for less money. Ofcourse that depends on you.A few hundred dollars may be no big deal to you. I am almost certain with you booking a 7A you will end up with a much nicer balcony if you book a gurantee since your cruise is still 4 months away. We only booked our cruise 2 months ahead.

 

I told hubby next time we book a spirit class ship-as long as it is at least 6 months in advance we should just book an oceanview guarantee as we are bound to end up with a balcony.

 

As far as which deck is best-I guess that depends on you. Empress deck is deck 6. Our dining assignment was deck 3. Most of the lounges we liked were deck 3. The lido was deck 9. Nick and Nora's was deck 10. The slide thingie was either deck 10 or 11. We liked our stateroom being on deck 6-it seemed we were about the same distance from everything but really no big deal which deck to us-the ship has elevators. If we had been on deck 4 or deck 8 I don't think we would have really cared.

[cjalphonso]

We had main 4222 on the Pride,same layout as miracle, and really liked it. being lower on the ship has several advantages over upper decks. You can see just as far. The wind on the lower decks is much less than the upper decks. The ship rocks less on lower decks. Where our cabin was located there is a secret deck that goes behind the restaurant only excessible from this part of the ship and overlooks the back of the ship. The dining hall was one flight down. When you come down the stairs your at the front of the line. Take the elevators and your in the middle of the buffet. For a cheaper balcony room, we absolutley loved our room.

[serene56]

momofmeg: I tried that philosphy with the LEgend-- since there is only one deck of ocean view cabins my chances of being upgraded are there- even booking OVER 14 months in advance and paying in full. Guess what--my cabin was an oceanview cabin. I did not get an upgrade although people who booked long after I did got upgraded. Did you know that upgrades go to people who have paid the most first...then goes by when someone books??

 

See what I mean by I learn something new with each cruise I take.

[ParrotHeadFL]

Never had a balcony cabin before but am thinking of a Miracle cruise in March of 2005. Would like any feedback as to the various positives of a higher or lower deck cabin balcony and also fore, aft or center of ship. I am interested mainly in the enjoyment of the balcony and am not interested in a convenient location or level as stair climbing is a good way to burn off all those excess calories. Thanks.

 

You can view pix of cabin 8268 (aft, port, wraparound on Panorama deck) here:

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/217758231qefkKY

 

You can read my trip report here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=100717

[momofmeg]

momofmeg: I tried that philosphy with the LEgend-- since there is only one deck of ocean view cabins my chances of being upgraded are there- even booking OVER 14 months in advance and paying in full. Guess what--my cabin was an oceanview cabin. I did not get an upgrade although people who booked long after I did got upgraded. Did you know that upgrades go to people who have paid the most first...then goes by when someone books??

 

See what I mean by I learn something new with each cruise I take.

 

Sometimes it is your TA also. When the price goes down instead of upgrading you they pocket the difference. So if I never got upgraded-I would look for another TA-the exception would ofcourse be if the ship sold out months before the cruise.

 

Now on our RCCL Mariner cruise next year we did not book a guarantee. We wanted an atruim cabin-since that is a little different from the inside or oceanview balcony experience and is only offered on the voyager class. The cruise is almost a YEAR away and ALREADY those cabins were about sold out as they are so popular. If we had booked a guarantee we would probally ended up with an oceanview- now if we could have ended up with a balcony I might would have chanced it but I did not want an oceanview. So we have assigned staterooms.

[serene56]

The cruise I went on was sold out many many months ahead of time. But people that booked way after I did got upgrades--which is good. I doubt very much the TA had anything to do with it. One couple even used the same agent and got a upgrade. (I Paid very little to begin with compared to what some people were paying)

[basketsiam]

We booked a 7A guarentee for our upcoming cruise on the Miracle in March. It was approx. $150.00 per person cheaper for the 7A versus an 8A. If we get upgraded, that's fine. If not, we'll have a balcony with a partially obstructed view. At any rate, we'll still have a balcony and money left over for foofoo drinks and shore excursions!!!!!

[momofmeg]

The cruise I went on was sold out many many months ahead of time. But people that booked way after I did got upgrades--which is good. I doubt very much the TA had anything to do with it. One couple even used the same agent and got a upgrade. (I Paid very little to begin with compared to what some people were paying)

 

Well I guess that is only fair when you think about it.The person who paid more should get the upgrade.

 

Now I made the mistake last year on Inspiration of telling a woman what we paid for our oceanview cabin on the empress deck. We had only booked too 3 months earlier when Carnival ran a sale. She had an inside cabin on the upper deck and had paid about $100 per person more then my family had. I only told her because she told me what she had paid first and was going on how she felt she was ripped off as she felt the cruise was not too great etc. Boy was that a mistake on my part-she was really MAD when I told her what we paid.

 

I do feel though it was her TA who screwed her over. When prices are lowered you are supposed to get either upgrades or else a credit-if that does not happen then the TA must be pocketing the difference.