Should I book an Aft Balcony?

[Donder1]

Keep corner afts under the radar.;)

[Egret32]

Okay, then I won't tell you we gave up the BB aft for D732--the corner with the big balcony and the mini-suite. Thought the other cabin was tight on a 20 day sailing Dec. 2012.

[Egret32]

So we changed to the corner aft on Dolphin. I wanted more room anyway for 20 days in cool weather. Now does that new non-smoking policy mean that we won't have to worry about ASH flying down from above?

[yorkiesmommy]

go for it your going to love it :) i can't think of any down side to it. we just love them. happy cruising

[Modeen]

Boy, the Crown B748 will be busy with everyone in this thread. We have it reserved for the 12/31/11 sailing! I promise to take care of the room until the rest of you move in!

 

Mo

[Russell in MD]

Keep corner afts under the radar.;)

 

Ooops

 

shhhhh!! My bad :cool:

 

Gotta keep it on the down low. Been booking 1 yr plus out to make sure we get what we want.

 

Edit:

 

We met on the Ruby back on 2010 at the M&G! I recognize your horse.

 

R

[Russell in MD]

WE are booked the end of April in 2013 on the Emerald in B749. We know from past experience on RCI ships that we love corner afts!:D

 

I dare to say you will find the corner afts on PCL the cream of the crop.

 

And this is coming from someone who had one of the "secret cabins" with a 20 ft extended balcony next to the handicapped cabins on CCL Miracle.

 

R

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I dare to say you will find the corner afts on PCL the cream of the crop.

 

And this is coming from someone who had one of the "secret cabins" with a 20 ft extended balcony next to the handicapped cabins on CCL Miracle.

 

R

We have had the Emerald minis on Princess in the past, even had E731 on the CB, but decided to change that choice (since E731 wasn't available) to a corner aft for a 10 night in the warm waters of the Caribbean with 3 sea days. We are afraid we'll miss that tub and the sofa in the room, but figured we'll be spending more balcony time on that cruise, so opted for our favorite location instead. There is nothing like watching the wake and the aft views! We will be anxious to see the difference between our RCI afts and the Princess aft for ourselves.:cool:

 

Unfortunately we have found that the exercise advantage found in the aft cabins is offset by the easy access to the buffet right above!

[77Network]

I am only aware of 4 of them on the Crown type of ship with the additional deck of cabins. It's C category Oceanview with portholes cabins...R746 to 749...which was a free upgrade from an inside cabin for us. I doubt if many would pay to have an oceanview cabin with only two 15" portholes & they're probably used mostly for upgrades. But it was in a very convenient location close to the Terrace Pool & only one deck up to all of the Lido deck activities. And as previoiusly posted, even my wife who has a tendency to feel the motion more than others didn't have a problem which was somewhat of a surprise. It's just above the Owner's Suite so we thought there couldn't be too much additional motion & we were correct...not bad at all...for a free upgrade. It's consdered an oceanview cabin but I wouldn't pay extra for it & would instead get an obstructed oceanview where we had a full sized window.

 

 

Thats very strange. Could you see why they were unable to put normal windows there? I understand the portholes near the water line, but so high up?

[piper28]

Those aft corner balconies are absolutely terrible, don't book them! (After all, if too many people figure out they're great cabins, it makes it that much harder for me to get one when I book :) ).

 

Can't remember if it's B748 or one of the other corner cabins I'm in on the Crown cruise in Feb, but both that cruise and the Star cruise we're in aft corners. It's always a little depressing when I can't get one of those cabins.

[sunluva7]

We don't need direct sunlight but would love to have good star viewing.

 

Stargazing would be better in a mini suite (totally uncovered) or one of the half-covered balconies (Caribe deck, for instance).

 

I know I am running against the tide here, but we tried the corner Aft on Emerald, C752 and we have mixed feelings. Advantages, of course, are the view, the hypnotic sound of the wake, and the remote location. Not so great was the long hike back to the cabin after a tiring day on shore, and the lack of a real breeze back there, even when the ship was in motion - a desirable feature if you're cruising in Alaska maybe, but I like to feel the ocean breeze in the warm Caribbean. I also like the option of sun on the balcony in case I can't find my choice of chair out by the pool.;)

[Astro Flyer]

Thats very strange. Could you see why they were unable to put normal windows there? I understand the portholes near the water line, but so high up?

I wondered about that also & not being an engineer could only speculate on the reason for it. Above our cabin were crew working spaces at the far aft end of the Caribe Cafe & below was the Owner's Suite. Possibly the outer wall must not be strong enough to put in a full size window & thus merely portholes? It's also the 1st deck with a open aft area (the Terrace Pool & deck area are adjacent to the cabins) along the aft end unlike the more solid lower decks?

 

Just pure speculation on my part but believe it was due to a structural reason??? :confused:

[Donder1]

Ooops

 

shhhhh!! My bad :cool:

 

Gotta keep it on the down low. Been booking 1 yr plus out to make sure we get what we want.

 

Edit:

 

We met on the Ruby back on 2010 at the M&G! I recognize your horse.

 

R

 

Nice to be remembered. Hope we see each other again. BTW, we have again booked a corner aft on the Ruby for our next cruise.

[Russell in MD]

Nice to be remembered. Hope we see each other again. BTW, we have again booked a corner aft on the Ruby for our next cruise.

 

We're doing the Ruby again with B749 on Jan 20, 2013.

 

My only beef with the ships is they have the photo gallery on the promenade and its tough wading through the crowd gawking at the pictures when Im try to get to the casino towards the front.

 

Russell

[bjkTX]

A friend had B749 on our recent cruise on the Crown & it was great and I can understand why they are so popular. They liked it so much that it's all they want to book in the future. If you want direct sunlight it might not be the best option though. My wife has a tendency for mal de mer but we were in R749 two decks about our friend's cabin & surprisingly my wife had no problems. :eek:

 

We care the folks Astro mentioned - we have had aft corner cabins the last two cruises, one for 2 weeks in the Caribbean, and the most recent the 12 day Canada/New England cruise on the Crown in B749. We have those cabins booked on the next two cruises as well.

 

I was a bit concerned about booking it on the Canada/New England cruise (vs a mini) but we used it every day and loved it.

 

There is a complete thread about the aft cabins, with many pictures in case you haven't found it yet:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951

[carefreebee]

[quote name='bjkTX']We care the folks Astro mentioned - we have had aft corner cabins the last two cruises, one for 2 weeks in the Caribbean, and the most recent the 12 day Canada/New England cruise on the Crown in B749. We have those cabins booked on the next two cruises as well.

I was a bit concerned about booking it on the Canada/New England cruise (vs a mini) but we used it every day and loved it.

There is a complete thread about the aft cabins, with many pictures in case you haven't found it yet:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951[/URL][/quote]

Thanks for the link, the photos are great! We are excited to try an Aft balcony because all the fans have made it sound so wonderful.

Cruise Critic folks are so great at sharing. After reading glowing reviews about Window Suites we upgraded to one just three weeks before we sailed on the CB last month. That cabin was just as fantastic as everyone had said and I expect the corner AFT Balcony on the Crown to be great also!