Need cabin recommendation for Island Princess - Alaska

[firststeps]

We are very new to cruising - only been on one cruise previously. We want our trip to Alaska to be special and are going to do a balcony. I understand some have obstructed views, others have no covering on top, etc. Could you experienced folks please recommend various cabins to us. We want something that does not rock... But not a suite -too pricey for us. The place where I checked pricing had an Emerald deck cabin B/F. I have no idea what that means... Help please. Thanks, Terri

[can786]

This site has great info about the balconies and whether they are covered or not, private or not:

 

http://cruisedeckplans.com/DP/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

A category BF cabin is a balcony cabin. All categories of balcony cabins begin with "B" and run from categories BA through BH. The cabins are all the same inside and the main difference in the categories is location. The lower balcony cabins tend to be all the way forward or aft and on lower decks and the higher categories tend to be more midship. On the Grand class ships the balconies on the Caribe deck are larger, but I'm not entirely sure if this is the case on the Island Princess. Perhaps someone who has sailed in one of these will chime in.

[Grego]

Caribe are larger for the most part having just come off our second sailing on that ship. Also, they are partially covered which is not true on the decks below Caribe and important in the Alaskan waters.

 

Make sure you check the routing of the voyage so that you get the benefit of the view into and out of ports and Inside Passage.

[Ken076]

Look at a deckplan of the Island, on Princess.com and you can see from the colors/legends where the BF thru BA are located.

 

The Dolphin deck (mini-suites) Balconies are uncovered. The Caribe Deck Balconies are half covered and the Balconies above that are fully covered. Since you're getting a Balcony in Alaska to sit and view glaciers and such from your room, and it frequently rains, a fully covered balcony is generally preferred.

 

As you work upward by deck levels, the Balconies become more expensive. On any Deck, the middle balconies are more expensive than the far FWD and the far AFT balconies. If you're prone to motion sickness, a middle balcony on a lower deck is preferable.

 

You also want to check the deckplans for what's above and below you (as well as near you). For instance, you might not want Aloha deck as the Horizon Buffet is above you, etc. Baja deck has Aloha deck cabins above it and Caribe deck cabins below it. You might not want to be adjacent the Self Service Laundry, or the lifts or the stairs.

 

ken

[chamima]

Look at a deckplan of the Island, on Princess.com and you can see from the colors/legends where the BF thru BA are located.

 

The Dolphin deck (mini-suites) Balconies are uncovered. The Caribe Deck Balconies are half covered and the Balconies above that are fully covered. Since you're getting a Balcony in Alaska to sit and view glaciers and such from your room, and it frequently rains, a fully covered balcony is generally preferred.

 

As you work upward by deck levels, the Balconies become more expensive. On any Deck, the middle balconies are more expensive than the far FWD and the far AFT balconies. If you're prone to motion sickness, a middle balcony on a lower deck is preferable.

 

You also want to check the deckplans for what's above and below you (as well as near you). For instance, you might not want Aloha deck as the Horizon Buffet is above you, etc. Baja deck has Aloha deck cabins above it and Caribe deck cabins below it. You might not want to be adjacent the Self Service Laundry, or the lifts or the stairs.

 

ken

 

The above poster is describing Grand class ships. The Island and Coral are not like this at all.

This site

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

will show which balconies are covered or not if you click on each balcony category at the top.

A Princess rep told me the balconies on Caribe are 40% larger than others but I'm not sure if that's accurate (hope so since I booked one)

[Pearlbill]

Bill and I sailed on the Island Princess to Hawaii in 2006 and had a BE category room on the Emerald deck. This is further back on the ship than a BF category but I believe the room and balcony would be similar to the BE category. We found the balcony to be just the right size and loved the fact that it was covered. In fact, we loved it so much, we have booked the exact same room on the Coral for the Panama Canal next January. We have told our TA we are not interested in an "upgrade" as we fear we might get a cabin that is not covered. We noticed that some of the cabins on other decks had open or partially open balconies and you could look down on them from other decks. There was very little privacy.

 

I think you would be really quite happy with the BF category on the Emerald deck.

 

Pearl

[cacy6893076]

The obstructed are only category BH, youcan see those on the deck plan, they usually book as a guarantee or better....covered, uncovered, link provided above and the deck plans are the place to go for that.

[deerose]

We sailed on the Island last Sept-Oct to Panama Canal for 18 days in a balcony cabin on the Aloha deck. I think it was a BC cabin. I loved the deck as it was all covered which gave us privacy and shade. We sailed far west to avoid hurricane, so I enjoyed watching the huge waves in the shelter of our balcony. Hope this helps!

deerose