This is not so much about travel

[NW-Bound]

We never spent time by the pool. It's a tiny pool, and the area is crowded and often noisy with games hosted by the crew. There are other more quiet deck areas to sit, out of the sun. Or we can lounge in a bar, or in the atrium. Or go to the library.

 

[ohyes]

...thinking you made a good decision (meaing: the one I would have made).

While we have never had a Balcony, we have booked Insides two times and were perfectly happy. We spend so little time in the cabin, except for sleeping, and the sleeping is superb. I am thinking the only cruises we napped on were when we had the Inside cabin. Did I mention they are great for sleeping?

Usually we book Oceanviews, hoping a Balcony is in our future.

Hope you report back about all the fun you have.

 

[NW-Bound]

____________
Disclaimer: My Posts are for my amusement only.

I just violated your disclaimer: I found your post amusing. Now what happens?

Why, you have to pay him now, of course.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Good luck! On Cruise Critic there are literally hundreds if not thousands of
posts about "chair hogs"

Those are about pool chairs—there are soooo many deck chairs that aren’t near the pool that imo are actually preferable to the pool seats.

 

[Sunset]

Boy - I would be hard pressed not to take the money and do something else with it.

We aren’t cruisers, but is it really hard to get a nice deck chair in the shade somewhere? Not counting the pool - I’ve read about the pool chair hoarders. I don’t care about sunbathing poolside.

We have been on 3 ocean cruises, all of them inside cabins (actually one had a round port window).
It was easy as pie to get a nice quiet lounge chair along the sides of the ship, in sun or out of sun (just pick the other side of the ship to switch).

 

[audreyh1]

Those are about pool chairs—there are soooo many deck chairs that aren’t near the pool that imo are actually preferable to the pool seats.

This was what I thought. Nice shady chair on a deck overlooking the ocean, and on the non-windy side.

How could they be short on this?

 

[Souschef]

Balcony- I rest my case

 

[SheitlQueen]

Heck yeah take the freebie, I don’t spend a lot of time in the room anyways

That's my thought. I always buy the cheapest cabins I can because other than to go to sleep I am never in them.

 

[dixonge]

We've only been on one cruise, and are unlikely to repeat the experience. Just not our cup of tea, really. We went with friends, who were supposed to get married on the voyage. We got an inside cabin, they splurged on a balcony. About a month out they got the switcharoo offer and took it, ending up with most of their original payment credited to the ship-board account. Leftovers were transferred to their card after the trip. They also ended up in an outside cabin with a partial view. They were happy.

That was 11 years ago. I'm guessing it's pretty much industry standard.

Speaking of balconies, those are going to start disappearing. 98% of passengers don't use them.

Celebrity Edge will introduce perhaps the biggest change in state-room design since balconies were introduced in the 80s. “I was watching the cruise ships going out from Miami one day,” explains Xavier Leclercq, Royal’s senior vice president of New Build and innovation. “I counted the passengers on their balconies – only two per cent of people [were] using them.”
Kulovaara’s team commissioned some research and came to a counterintuitive conclusion: offer passengers balconies and they say they want them, but few actually use them. So, on Celebrity Edge, Wright – the ship’s lead architect – and Royal’s New Build team eliminated balconies entirely. Instead they designed what they call the Infinite Veranda: floor-to-ceiling windows, the upper half of which lowers entirely to create an indoor balcony. As a result, Edge’s entry-level state rooms are 23 per cent larger and bathrooms 20 per cent bigger than the previous standard. “The cruise industry is incredibly conservative,” says Wright. “To change the structure of how it’s always been done – it’s really quite a big deal.”

(highlighting is mine)

The full article here is pretty interesting reading...

The dizzying story of Symphony of the Seas, the largest and most ambitious cruise ship ever built | WIRED UK

 

[Nemo2]

We've only been on one cruise, and are unlikely to repeat the experience. Just not our cup of tea, really.

I obviously don't know what your exposure was, but if it was drifting around the Caribbean going from one T-shirt shops & cab drivers island to another, each indistinguishable from the previous/next one, then I'd have to concur.

Likewise the 'Adult Sleepover' types where people play dress up, overeat/drink - but if you're going to/from someplace you wanted to visit it sure beats flying.

 

[kcowan]

We always have our doors open and are used to sleeping with ambient light PLUS we are in our Blow That Dough phase. So we would only accept an upgraded suite.

We have been on 3 cruises and always had a balcony. We also always have breakfast in bed.

 

[Nemo2]

We also always have breakfast in bed.

Breakfast in bed? One more thing that we'd find irritating.

 

[NW-Bound]

I obviously don't know what your exposure was, but if it was drifting around the Caribbean going from one T-shirt shops & cab drivers island to another, each indistinguishable from the previous/next one, then I'd have to concur...

In a Caribbean cruise 20 years ago, we shared the dinner table with a family of a doctor from Shreveport. They liked the itinerary so much that they took the same 1-week cruise every year. Would not even try something else. How 'bout that?

We always have our doors open and are used to sleeping with ambient light PLUS we are in our Blow That Dough phase. So we would only accept an upgraded suite.

We have been on 3 cruises and always had a balcony. We also always have breakfast in bed.

A balcony is OK, even when we do not use it. It helps the claustrophobic feel, but then a window would work too. Just not a must-have.

About breakfast in bed, we never have that in our life, cruise or not. We prefer to go out eat at a table. And as clumsy as I am, I would spill OJ or coffee all over the bed and make a mess.

 

[Nemo2]

In a Caribbean cruise 20 years ago, we shared the dinner table with a family of a doctor from Shreveport. They liked the itinerary so much that they took the same 1-week cruise every year. Would not even try something else. How 'bout that?

Reminds me of the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over.......

 

[NW-Bound]

Reminds me of the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over.......

... and expecting a different result.

You left out that last part.

But here, they expect and get the same result every time. Total bliss.

 

[NW-Bound]

Speaking of balconies, those are going to start disappearing. 98% of passengers don't use them...

Another reason we did not use our balcony in the last cruise was that it was boring looking out at the water when the ship was moving.

And then, as we came into port, we wanted to see the town and the dock, and the balcony would face the wrong way. Or the view is so limited that it was far better to go up on the top deck to watch.

Balconies are OK, and I like to have one if it does not cost too much. Just not as must have.

 

[Nemo2]

... and expecting a different result.

You left out that last part.

But here, they expect and get the same result every time. Total bliss.

The last part was omitted deliberately, since they weren't expecting a different result.

Circa 1998, when my late wife and I were fulltime RVing, we drove from Parker, AZ, to Yuma with another couple who were looking for people they knew......pulled into this huge RV park and asked the first people we saw where they might possibly be......apropos of nothing one of them commented that "He and his wife had been coming to this same park every winter for 15 years.."

Simultaneously the four of us in our truck blurted out "WHY?"

I see a connection here.

 

[NW-Bound]

Some people find their comfort zone, and do not want to try something different. We all have that, just to different degrees.

I know I can never be a perpetual traveler, although I like to travel. After a trip, I want to come back to my familiar spot to relax, and to scheme for another excursion.

The family that I met did not even bother to try a different cruise, while I do not want to take cruises end-to-end even to different destinations.

On the same cruise, the dining waiter told us about an elderly woman from NYC who came to the ship each year in an expensive suite, and stayed for a month (4 consecutive end-to-end trips). She was well known by the crew, and one evening when she did not feel well to come to dinner, the captain of the ship came for a visit to see how she was doing.

 

[kcowan]

A balcony is OK, even when we do not use it. It helps the claustrophobic feel, but then a window would work too. Just not a must-have.

You get windows that open?

About breakfast in bed, we never have that in our life, cruise or not. We prefer to go out eat at a table. And as clumsy as I am, I would spill OJ or coffee all over the bed and make a mess.

Well I agree with you but my bride seems to have a bit of Yoko Ono's spirit in her! And it is included in any cruise. That makes her want to cruise in spite of the regimentation.

 

[NW-Bound]

And speaking of RV'ing, I saw blogs of full-timers who never ventured very far. One goes up and down the California coast, never reaching into Oregon. Another stayed around the Texas Gulf Coast, and never ventured far either.

In contrast, I have gone quite a bit farther to some corners of the country. And there are still more to explore.

 

[NW-Bound]

You get windows that open?

No. Just a view of the outside helps.

 

[Moemg]

Reminds me of the old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over.......

Yes but you do basically the same thing every year just different countries .A trans Atlantic followed by exploring a country and staying in an air B&B.So maybe that is your comfort zone ?

 

[Nemo2]

Yes but you do basically the same thing every year just different countries .A trans Atlantic followed by exploring a country and staying in an air B&B.So maybe that is your comfort zone ?

Oh yeah....I'm certainly not suggesting that we're prototypical, nor would we want most others to emulate us. Rather, we both find the priority differences between people to be very interesting, and oftentimes amusing.....as we're sure they do with ours.

It's like being unlettered Margaret Meads.

(Besides which...we contemplated walking across the Atlantic but friends said it was considered inadvisable. )

 

[redduck]

____________
Disclaimer: My Posts are for my amusement only.

I just violated your disclaimer: I found your post amusing. Now what happens?

Why, you have to pay him now, of course.

The Duchess agreed to send Eagle a check from her share of the refund.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice!

All these years, I, and some other posters too I am sure, keep hoping that some readers would find our posts entertaining, and send some money.

Has not happened yet. That Eagle guy is really lucky. Or perhaps his post was exceptional (but I failed to see it, being simply envious).