Ocean View or Balcony?

[CatLuvsH20]

Hi all:

After many, many cruises with Celebrity, my husband and I are going to take the RSSC from Cape Town to Rio. We looked at the time out to sea, temperature of some of the stops (namely St. Helena) and cost (my husband is an economist) we are leaning towards a Cat H on the 5th floor. What is the concensus on whether or not it is better on this cruise line?

We are very excited about this 'wine and food' cruise.

Thanks,

Cat

[crys]

I'm also on that cruise--hope we get a chance to meet!

Balconies are of course nicer to have. But that segment is mostly an ocean crossing, with ports being just the overnight at CT, Walvis Bay, St. Helena, and the overnight in Rio. I've never done a crossing before, but I've generally found the balconies to be pretty much unusable when a ship is on open seas due to the high level of sea spray, but maybe I've just been unlucky. Others who have done the crossing might weigh in on that.

But, if my experience is typical, then you're going to need to calculate whether four days/nights of balcony justifies the extra cost. As someone who tends to spend a lot of time in the public spaces (including the pool deck), I wouldn't find it so. But it's a matter of individual approach to cruising.

(And, yes, we do have a balcony, but we're on from Athens to FLL, so it definitely is worth it for that length of cruise.)

[dougburns]

We did the reverse on the first leg of the Voyager World Cruise last year from FLL-CPT. It was in Jan/early Feb, but the seas and temps were definitely balcony weather. Nov should not be much different. I would recommend a Cat E on deck 6 midships on Navigator. I think you'll be much happier with that.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm as cheap as they come, but we had an F on Navigator, and never regretted it. I love sitting on my balcony on sea days and watching the ocean go by. Yes, there are days when you can't do that, and I've not done a crossing. On the other hand we have done the PG 3 times, and booked for a 4th, all in a window room, no balcony, and we've been very happy.

[crys]

It's so good to hear that my sea spray problems while out at sea were just bad luck. That being the case, the balcony is definitely worth the extra, particularly given the number of days at sea to use it.

[Hambagahle]

I heartily second the idea of a balcony on a crossing! It is amazing to watch the sea, the things in the water -- even in mid ocean there seems to be wild life -- and when the weather is nice just to sit and have a drink there. Perhaps the seaspray problems were on balconies on deck 6? We have had one on 7 (Voyager) and never had such a problem, and on Mariner Deck 10, even around Cape Horn the seas never came that far up!

[Jim B]

After being on the Voyager and Mariner where everything is a balcony, and the old Diamond and Paul Gauguin non balcony I'm not sure we can go back to not having a balcony. Especially on sea days!! So nice to be able to relax and enjoy the ocean going by.
We were signed up for this cruise but switched to March 11,2009. Could not make thise dates work for us.

[CatLuvsH20]

My husband loves to sit on the balcony and watch the ocean but the economist in him was having a hard time justifying. But that being said -- we are going to go with the bacony - F on the 9th level in th stern -- I noticed that one of the terrace dining areas is there. Will there be noise?

Thanks-

Cat