Nemo, Alan, and anyone else who's done transatlantic repositioning cruises.

[W2R]

I haven't been on a (non-work, recreational) cruise in 50 years, although I spent a lot of my childhood on cruise ships due to my father being quite the "travel addict".

But you know me, I've gotta "chime in".

I don't think ANY of us spent more than 10 minutes/day in the cabin, other than sleeping. If we had had a balcony, I doubt any of us would have noticed. We usually had reserved deck chairs, where I remember spending a lot of time reading, and there are so many other activities available on cruise ships.

Edited to add... As Souschef says below, YMMV!

[Souschef]

This really is a YMMV. We just booked a Hawaiian cruise that has sea days on each side. We love them, sitting on our balcony, reading and listening to music with privacy.
There are some people who are out and about all day, and just use the cabin to sleep or change clothes.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset I was silly thinking a balcony would allow me to see sites as we cruised along. Turns out the Med, is huge and we were dozens of miles out of sight of land for the most part. So I just saw water

Or you can be on the wrong side of the boat.

[PaunchyPirate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi The trip is going to be fun... Florida to visit family, cruise that ends in Italy, then a week in Cinque Terra. Lots of interesting stops at the beginning and end of the cruise.

Sounds like a fantastic trip. Book your inside cabin and save the money to spend on other things -- like gelato!

[Souschef]

This is the suite we will be in on our next cruise. It is at the stern of the ship.

[Plantman]

We have done a half dozen cruises. The first was an ocean view room and all the rest were inside cabins. What little time we spent in our cabin was to sleep, shower, dress, or watch TV. I doubt any of those would be done from a balcony. Also, it's usually very windy at sea.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Speaking of Nemo2, I'm a bit concerned since he hasn't posted here in a month and a half. That's not like him, so I hope he's OK.

Could he be travelling? Does he usually stop posting when he is?

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef This is the suite we will be in on our next cruise. It is at the stern of the ship.

Nice! You can have a party on the balcony.


PS. We still like to go out in public places to watch people though. Being homebodies, we are away from other people most of the time, particularly when we are up at our boondocks home when we see nobody for as long as we are there.

[brett]

Keep in mind that the price may not be the price.

Typically final payment is 90 days out. We usually book 45 days out or less which means we pay in full when we book. Often 30 days, it has been as close as a week or twice even 3 days to anchors aweigh.

If you book outside the 90 day window do not book non refundable. You will pay a deposit. Then watch the prices. Daily. They go up and down. We have seen prices go down for a day and then zoom up. If you see a price decrease act immediately....request a re-price. Depending on how far out you book it is not unusual to have 2 or 3 reprices. Also watch for cabin category changes. You might book an outside, then see a price drop on a balcony cabin that narrows the difference between the two.

Insides tend to drop the fastest, then obstructed outsides. Obstructed could be fine depending on where it is. As an example we had a great obstructed balcony on Celebrity. The obstruction....the life boat was one floor below so we could not look directly over our balcony and see the sea. No biggie but it saved us some cash. Cabin type is a preference. The trick is to get on the ship....then you have access to everything!

On one cruise that we booked in advance we noticed that the prices were going down for all categories. We took a chance and cancelled. We rebooked inside the final payment window two weeks later and saved $500. We knew the risk and we took the chance because there were other ships leaving around the same time on the same itinerary. That is how we travel.

If you are selecting a cabin try to pick one with cabins above and below vs. under a public area, etc. Much less noise.

Just ensure that you deal with a TA that does NOT charge foe re-prices or cancellations.

Many on line TAs will provide a rebate in the form of an OBC (on board credit) to your cruise account. Anywhere from 3 to 8 percent of the commissionable fare. Ask for it if it is not offered.

You can sign up with some cruise lines such as Princess, HAL, Celebrity, RCI etc to receive special offers. Celebrity and RCI used to run, pre covid, Tuesday Specials. At one time these were very good but who knows going forward.

Get everything in writing. Shop a little, get to know the pricing between the various lines and cabin classes so that you will know a good price from an average price. Take a look at this site...cruisecompete.com

[njhowie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert So, another minus for deliberately getting a balcony room --- you have no chance to be upgraded!

Oh, indeed you do!

We received a phone call from the upgrade fairy a couple weeks before our 25th anniversary cruise. RCL - upgraded us to one of those Sky Loft suites with upstairs + downstairs two full bathrooms, personal concierge (Genie), and the works.

I will say - we were so spoiled that DW has absolutely no interest on going on another cruise, since it could never be topped and we would never spend the kind of money to get that suite again. So, in a way, in the long run, it will save us a lot of money.

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by njhowie Oh, indeed you do! We received a phone call from the upgrade fairy a couple weeks before our 25th anniversary cruise. RCL - upgraded us to one of those Sky Loft suites with upstairs + downstairs two full bathrooms, personal concierge (Genie), and the works. I will say - we were so spoiled that DW has absolutely no interest on going on another cruise, since it could never be topped and we would never spend the kind of money to get that suite again. So, in a way, in the long run, it will save us a lot of money.

Nice!

My brother and his wife went on a cruise for the first time some years ago. They booked a run-of-the-mill "affordable" cabin. Got upgraded to a full suite with balcony on an upper deck etc. Next time they went on a cruise, they booked run-of-the-mill again, and my brother kept waiting for an "upgrade" notice, again. Never happened. They did not enjoy that second cruise nearly as much, and I don't think they have been on another cruise since!

[FIYes]

I have taken two transatlantic cruises, one with an inside cabin and one with an oceanview cabin.

The first transatlantic cruise was in an inside cabin. It was one of the best cruises that we have taken. We spent very little time in the cabin. However, it was the worst cabin that we have had. It was smaller than any other cabin on other cruises. There was not enough room to walk on either side of the bed. The bed had to be against the wall. One afternoon I thought I would go to the room and read but it just felt too small and confined and this is someone who typically books an inside cabin. The point being, not all inside cabins are alike.

Our second transatlantic cruise, we booked an oceanview cabin. It was large enough that the bed did not have to be against the wall and I appreciated the daylight in the morning.

We also took a cruise from California to Hawaii and back…so a number of sea days. For that we had a balcony cabin. While the balcony was nice, we didn’t use it much.

Most of the cruises we have taken have been in inside cabins. My theory is that I would rather take two or three cruises with an inside cabin versus one cruise with a balcony cabin. We are definitely not fat fire and look for ways to travel economically.

[Sunset]

Size of inside cabins do vary.

We had an inside port hole cabin, at the bow, 1st floor. Due to super load banging which shook the room , we changed cabins happily to an inside large one.
I think it was larger as it was handicap accessible.

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Size of inside cabins do vary. We had an inside port hole cabin, at the bow, 1st floor. Due to super load banging which shook the room , we changed cabins ....

Yes, as I recall when booking our cruise, somewhere I got information (I think form a local AAA presentation) that some of the quieter and "smoother-riding" rooms are closer to, or at, midship, rather than close to bow or very stern. Also, decks at least a few decks higher from engine room level.

In this regard, my guess would be that inside rooms would not have as much side-to-side roll as very outside edge rooms. But I think bow to stern roll would be more bothersome than any side-to-side roll on modern huge behemoth cruise ships with stabilizers. I offer all this info as a person who has taken only one cruise in my life, and that on the Alaska Inside Passage!

[whatnot]

Something to consider is the risk of a required quarantine.
Whether it is because you develop a stomach bug or a COVID related outbreak.
I remember seeing folks trapped on ships for many days that were not allowed to leave their room. I think a balcony would have been a huge benefit.
Hopefully, this does not happen but it if it were me, I would consider this risk when trying to make my decision.
Happy sailing ⛵️

[sengsational]

I've done 5 or 6 trans-Atlantics. I did the inside cabin twice that I can recall. One was the most recent, and one was the one DW says she didn't like the inside cabin. But there might have been a third.

I like to watch the process of getting the ship into port, so the inside cabin has me on deck with bed-head pretty often, hehehe! The TV has the bow-cam and deck-cam, so you can see if it's light and what the weather is. The TV also has temp and wind speed, typically.

The savings isn't quite as much as the difference between the brochure prices... both prices have a lot of additional expenses (tips, drinks, shore excursions, etc). So you might think you'll save 40% and in the end you save 20% (wild guess to make the point clear).

Already mentioned, I think, is the dark, but once morning comes, it's still harder to sleep than in the middle of the night because there's more clunks and bumps noises in the hall.

The inability to see out bugged DW. She found it kind of depressing, but she spends a lot more time in the cabin than I do. If I'm not sleeping, showering or watching a movie, I'm not in there. I get it...she likes to putter for hours in her jammies, and spends an hour getting ready for dinner. I rinse off the day's sweat, toss on some long pants and go to the bar for most of that hour.


That's my first-hand experience with inside cabins. I'd certainly do them again, given a significant savings.

[Jenna]

That's a no for me. Did it once and never again. It's not worth the stress and if anything like covid were to happen again-at least you have fresh air with an outside room

[pacergal]

I am also claustrophobic, the only way I cruise is with a balcony, love to have the door open for fresh air, especially during the night. When we cruised to Alaska, I loved being able to sit on the balcony and see the animals, both in the water and along the shore. Tried going to the decks, but all of the chairs were always taken :-(.
If i wasn't so claustrophobic, I would consider an inside stateroom, as they are less expensive. My ongoing concern is always the possibility of quarantine, Noro virus, covid, etc.

[rodi]

I put a deposit down. Balcony. The idea of being quarantined/stuck in port but not allowed off the boat was the decision maker for me. Also justified it because I have a milestone birthday this Fall and DH has a milestone birthday in the new year. Cruise is in April.

Only mid-ship cabins available were view obstructed... Moved up two decks and am *towards* mid ship in the front.

If we cancel, not that much money on the line. Set up calendar reminders to price the same deal to see if I can get a rebate.

This is the cruise:
https://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=32995
(you have to log in to vacationstogo to see it). Didn't book with them because it was cheaper to book directly with MSC. They had a great deal on internet/drink... on a 19 day cruise- that is a nice thing to have.

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We did transatlantic 2 weeks inside room. If you in any way have they money, get the balcony. If nothing else for the added sitting area and I love to sun and or have breakfast with room service on the balcony. DH got a respiratory bug underway and the fresh air would have been better for him than interior. If I recall we ended up begging for a room change due to noise as he couldn't rest well and they moved us for free. Don't count on that.