Balcony or Oceanview Room for Canadian/New England Cruise?

We are looking at taking the 14-day Oct. 28 cruise from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale but have been debating about the type of room to get. We always get rooms with balconys, but with this trip late in October, we are thinking it might be too cold to use a balcony. Has anyone taken this trip before and what type of room do you recommend? There is a big difference in price between these two types of rooms, plus with the weather and early sunsets, wonder if it is worth the price? I really don't want to get an inside room if I have to. We have three sea days, one in Canada two of them between Virginia and Florida, while the rest of the time we will be at port. Other stops include four locations in Canada, Bar Harbor, Boston, New York, Norfork, and Charleston.

Ray and Barbara

It probably will be very cold outside on the balcony, but I would still get one as if you are on the land side of the ship - the views will be beautiful - the scenery down the coast (at least Maine) is very wild and breath taking - If you do come, please plan on dressing in layers - as the weather can change very quickly. The temps should be in the 50-60's day (Maine) - It should start getting dark around 5:30 (I think) then after the change in time it will be dark around 4:30 of so. The shortest day of the year sunset is approximately 3:55. By the end of October here the leaves will be all gone - Jan

We are taking our third Canada/New England cruise in October. On the first one it was so windy that no one could use their balcony but it was not as bad on the second one.

Sue

That was my big debate yesterday.........OV vs. Balcony. I took the OV and we are sailing 9/28/07, will the temps be 50-60 deg at this time too? I had hoped it would be a little warmer. How about the fall foliage? Here in Ohio our leaves are not usually in their prime until the 2nd week of October.

Thanks, Mary

Mary, I think I'm on the same cruise as you - Royal Caribbean Explorer of Seas, correct? I too, wanted to know about the weather and the leaves changing color. I hope we are early enough in the year for temps in the 60's but late enough to see some nice colors. I'm just happy to be getting out of the Texas heat as last year it didn't get out of the 90's until the end of October.

i have had a inside and a balcony for my 2 alaska cruises and the balcony was wonderful for the inside passage and glacier bay. but for the difference in price and the fact that i will not be seeing so much land on my new england/canada cruise, we have opted for a inside again. we are rearly in the room and i have heard that it is chilly out there and cant be used that much some times. so it is an inside for us this time and we will take advantage of the lounges and other parts of the ship to see what is going on outside . now if i was taking a warm, beachy cruise i would deffinetely have the balcony. nothing less for that cruise :) .

Hi Rebburke,

Yes, that is the one! I am ashamed to say for all the traveling my DH and I have done we have never been to any of these cities, so we are looking forward to the ports. We have a whole closet full of "Caribbean Wear" to cruise in.............but not sure about wearing half that stuff for Canada/New England?????? Now that I think about it, we had the same issue for Alaska. Oh well it will give me something to do over the next year. Since I haven't seem a Meet & Mingle for this sailing, I am glad we aren't by ourselves. Mary

Hey Mary, Had to laugh about the warm weather sailings. My husband puts me in charge of our vacations and he flipped when I told him we were going on this cruise. He's warming up to the idea, but like you, this is a little out of our norm. I'm very excited because I've never been any further up the east coast than Philadelphia. It's probably the only part of the country that I've never really been to which really makes this special. I wish it weren't so far away but then that just gives us extra time to plan.

Becky

Hi Becky,

My DH is all for the Canada/New England, we have always had the agenda of new cruises to new ports. It was between Hawaii on the SOS or this cruise for next October. I can't believe I chose New England, but we did Hawaii on the VOS in 2000, so I figure what the heck. At least with the release of the new sailings there is more conversation about New England and it does sound beautiful and very worth seeing. Have you sailed on this class RCCL ship before? I guess we have been away from RCCL for awhile, not sure what to expect about the ship. I personally like smaller ships better, but it's okay, it will just be a new adventure for us. Mary

Mary, have never sailed on a ship this large. We are actually doing Bermuda on Empress of Seas in 3 weeks and I'm hoping I won't feel too claustrophobic in our cabin - I understand this ship is really small. Should give me a good idea of whether I can take the high seas though before the New England cruise. We were actually going to book Jewel of Seas out of Boston but when I saw the NE itinerary I couldn't resist. Anway, I think it will be a nice change for us. Keep me posted on what excursions you are looking at - I am finding it all a bit overwhelming. I'm glad we have LOTS of time to decide.

Becky

Hi Becky:

We did Bermuda a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. We were on Celebrity the Horizan (a small old ship) but it worked well.

I keep looking for a roll call for next September, maybe we are the only ones booked. At least with a roll call there is usually good conversation about shore excursions, because you are right........so many to chose from.

Enjoy your up coming cruise!!! Mary

I think I would not spend the money for a balcony, unless you are a smoker? An oceanview would still give you the wonderful views. OR maybe, if you want to 'entertain' get a Grand Suite!

We like to cruise often so we go for an inside. WE literally are not in our stateroom much more than to dress and sleep. ;-) We're out enjoying the ship!

It probably will be very cold outside on the balcony, but I would still get one as if you are on the land side of the ship - the views will be beautiful - the scenery down the coast (at least Maine) is very wild and breath taking - If you do come, please plan on dressing in layers - as the weather can change very quickly. The temps should be in the 50-60's day (Maine) - It should start getting dark around 5:30 (I think) then after the change in time it will be dark around 4:30 of so. The shortest day of the year sunset is approximately 3:55. By the end of October here the leaves will be all gone - Jan

Jan in Maine,

I know you've probably answered this question a dozen times but I didn't see it here on this thread - what weeks are the best times for your colorful fall foliage?:confused: My sisters and I are planning a cruise to see this.:p

Thanks!

salgal

Hey Mary, sorry about the delay in replying - haven't been on in a while. Thanks for the good wishes on our Bermuda cruise - one more week to go! Hope to catch up with you again in near future to talk about our "next one".

Becky

I just booked the Constellation for 9/07 and have an aft cabin. This way, I figure we won't get as much of the chilly breeze and, as crazy as the weather is on the east coast, if it's nice, we have a fabulous balcony. ;)

Salgal53 - Usually somewhere around the 10th-15th of October is a good time for foliage. (but then again last year we never had much color) - Jan

I just booked the Constellation for 9/07 and have an aft cabin. This way, I figure we won't get as much of the chilly breeze and, as crazy as the weather is on the east coast, if it's nice, we have a fabulous balcony. ;)

Great news, thanks!

We had an aft balcony on the Enchantment OTS last September, and it WAS fabulous...sheltered from the wind, it was a great spot to read and nap on our first sea day (windy with temps in the 60's); we also had many wonderful photo ops as we sailed away from each port. We would book this location again for this route.

We are looking at taking the 14-day Oct. 28 cruise from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale but have been debating about the type of room to get. We always get rooms with balconys, but with this trip late in October, we are thinking it might be too cold to use a balcony. Has anyone taken this trip before and what type of room do you recommend? There is a big difference in price between these two types of rooms, plus with the weather and early sunsets, wonder if it is worth the price? I really don't want to get an inside room if I have to. We have three sea days, one in Canada two of them between Virginia and Florida, while the rest of the time we will be at port. Other stops include four locations in Canada, Bar Harbor, Boston, New York, Norfork, and Charleston.

Ray and Barbara

If you are going on the Sea Princess we are going to be aboard the same time that you are. We have booked a balcony on the land side. If it is cold out there we will wear our coats, hats and gloves just like we did on our Alaskan cruise when we pickniced on our balcony at Tracy Arm. It was the best time that we ever had...we even had the room steward wishing he could stay in our freezing cold cabin ith us and enjoy the sights.

By all means book the Balcony.

DeAnne

Still haven't booked our cruise yet - we might have to postpone it a year. However, it it still on our agenda for our next cruise. I think we will go for a balcony as we love to go out on the balcony and see the view. And we have been to Alaska and used our balony there with our jackets on.

Ray and Barbara

Hi RAE37

We are also booked for Sea Princess October 28th it seemed such a long time to wait when we booked it but we have now had our fights confirmed so feel it's getting closer, we have also booked a balcony cabin I think once you've had a balcony you'd never be satisfied with anything less ,even if it's not sunny it's nice to get the fresh air.

Looking forward to visiting all the interesting ports, just starting to do a little research on this site, we are from (old)England so a lot of the places are very new to us, have been to New York and Boston before but none of the others.

If your cruise takes you through the Saguanay Fjords after leaving Quebec, the a balcony is a great choice. The fjords are not as spectacular as in Norway but they are beautiful. The ship stops by the Statue of the Virgin Mary on a cliff and then play Ave Maria. It was a wonderful experience. We saw whales and much wildlife. We sat outside (in May), it was chilly, but really worth it,

GN

Hope we do go through the Fjords it sound lovely, I am not familiar with this area at all, I would love to see some whales, had been wondering if we should booked a whale watching trip from Bar Island but my husband said we may be able to spot tham from the ship.

We got the balcony for our RCCL cruise in October but since the cruise is so port intensive I'm not sure we will really get the use out of it. We do like to relax there with a cocktail before dinner, now I am wondering what time the sun set will be in mid October in New England?

October 15, 2006 sunset in Bar Harbor Maine will be at 4:49 pm Jan