French balcony a must?

[OPSnorkeler]

We have done several ocean cruises, but never a river cruise. We always have a balcony on ocean cruises because we like the air. Would you recommend a French balcony on a River cruise? Do the rooms that don't have French balconies, have window that open?

[alexandra cruiser]

windows...I also NEED fresh air and views...to me WORTH EVERY PENNY for upgrades..and even going in May on new AMA certo..with 2 balconies..one french and other regular..

Its a personal and financial decision each cruiser must chose,,for THEM>;)

[4774Papa]

If you want fresh air, go to the deck. The cost for our upcoming AMA Rhone River cruise was about $900 more for a French. NOT

[LHT28]

It is a personal choice

Some people take the bottom deck without french balcony or balcony and are just fine with that

 

I booked a ship with a small balcony ...it was a personal choice to pay the extra $$

[Shorex]

No, not a "must", otherwise the staterooms with only windows would never sell. But they do.

 

It's merely a question of value and preference. If you are willing to trade the additional $$ for a French balcony (or on some river vessels now, a true balcony), then do so. If you enjoy the fresh air and scenic view from your personal balcony on an ocean vessel, you will really miss those features if you chose windows-only on a river boat. Probably for you, a French balcony is a good value.

 

As to whether windows open in rooms without French balconies, in general I don't think so. Check the deck plans and stateroom pictures of the specific vessel you are considering. If the notation is "fixed window", the answer is no, they do not open. (However, if that notation is absent, it is still not certain that the window will open.) Also the windows can be located relatively high on the wall, so that not much of interest is within view in any case.

[Riversanddale]

You have to know your own priorities. We struggled with this decision on our Viking Idun (new longship) trip. There was not a good choice for us. Also, we did not find the space on the sides of the bed the same as shown on Viking's pre-christening drawings which did not please us. We are on Idun with a French balcony and have gone to see the rooms with the small windows on the lower deck. The smallest windows on Idun do not give much visability because they are very SMALL and at water level so often covered by splashes. The French balcony rooms on the new longships are too small for our liking with nowhere to sit other than the bed. We love the sliding window/door and do use it daily (and during the night) to watch the view and get fresh air without having to turn on chilly air conditioning. It's a trade off for us. For another trip the lower, tiny window rooms will always be a NO GO. We are struggling with the current room because the trade off for the window/door is not comfortable. We don't feel the full balcony is good value and we'd rather put our money toward traveling so we'll probably look at other cruise lines even though the new ship is beautiful. Each traveler has to decide what the "deal breakers" are and for us this may be it as all of Vikings new ships will be the same. Know yourself, do your investigating (check on Tripadvisor and Flickr for photos) and enjoy your trip.

[bphman]

Although very nice, one significant problem we found was bugs. You are not out in the ocean where there are no insects. We went to sleep at night with the window open which was beautiful with a cool breeze blowing through and awoke to what seemed like a horror movie scene. The room was FILLED with all kinds of bugs. Fortunately, none were biting. We were really creeped out. Apparently, weren't the only ones. The staff on the Amalyra did an excellent job of ridding us of the curse. I would choose the French balcony again but would be very mindful of the six-legged creatures.

[LHT28]

You have to know your own priorities. We struggled with this decision on our Viking Idun (new longship) trip. There was not a good choice for us. Also, we did not find the space on the sides of the bed the same as shown on Viking's pre-christening drawings which did not please us. We are on Idun with a French balcony and have gone to see the rooms with the small windows on the lower deck. .

 

I had a look at the cabins on their website

Wow those are small cabins, you would think on the new builds they would make the cabins bigger

Most people prefer a bit more space

 

Enjoy the rest of your trip

[Talisker92]

We opted for a French Balcony on our Rhone River cruise on the MS Rembrandt. It is our personal choice. we like to have the choice of fresh air as we are traveling.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Strange all this talk of fresh air. On an ocean cruise, leaving your balcony door open is usually deprecated, since it interferes with the A/C system on the ship. Is this also true on a river boat?

[Riversanddale]

Thanks for the good wishes, LHT28. We are having a good trip.

Today was our first sunny day of the trip (day 6 of 9) and we are docked in Antwerp. it's a great place that is easily walked and you can always get your bearings because of the large cathedral that is easily seen. The guided tour was first rate and I also went back into town this afternoon because it's only a few minute walk and easy to navigate.

We've thoroughly enjoyed being able to leave the sliding door on our French balcony open today while we were in the room. No bugs. The other river traffic has been interesting and we've been looking carefully at what other lines offer with their French balcony rooms. We've found that many include two chairs and a small table at the window which is what we will look for next time. There are a lot of new ships out here with us that will compete with Viking.

Viking does have great crew (dining room crew needs more training and experience but they are trying). Viking also has obvious good docking arrangements and most often is the closest or one of the closest to town centers which is a plus. Some lines dock further out and bus into town which we would not choose.

[Jesterscourt]

The problem with the French balcony or any balcony for that matter is that once you have one, you psychologically don't want to ever have a stateroom without one! Simply put, it's nice knowing you have it. It's like having a swimming pool in FL. You may rarely use it, but you know you have it! I find the staterooms to be less claustrophobic with the balcony. Even if the balcony sliding door is closed, there is more of an open-air atmosphere if you open the drapes all the way. And in colder weather, when you are docked in town, it's nice to put a jacket on, and stand in your French balcony, watching people going by walking or riding their bikes, etc.

[Riversanddale]

Hi Jestercourt. I think you've hit the philosophy spot on. We love the big window and we'll obviously go for that again (or a "real" half height window that opens like we had on the Viking Seine - just probably not on a ship with such a tiny room to go along with it. We'll look at all of our options before deciding which line. Good news for us (for now). We're thinking of Paris and south next and the new Viking longboats don't sail that route because they are too long.

[swamp1sg]

BPHM: Loved the Amalyra!

[franski]

Actually, had a French balcony on one cruise, and went back to Aquarium class.

 

It was nice - but isn't a "must have" for us... This allows us to save some money, and travel a bit more frequently.

 

Fran

[Jesterscourt]

You're absolutely right, Riversaddale, Viking does tend to dock closer to town. For example, I was on Uniworld docked in Paris over the New Year, and walked by Viking almost everyday, noting with some irritation, how much closer to the Eiffel Tower they were docked, and thinking to myself "who do they know?"

[PTsPT2004]

Our first cruises we could not afford balconies so we had a "porthole" which we thought was great....well, the first time we were able to upgrade there was no going back. We did our first river cruise on the Danube in the middle of the winter on the Danube but the french balcony was the only way to go. We were able to open the drapes or the door and enjoy the world going by even if it was a little nippy! If you can swing it go for it, it gives you the feeling of more space in the room also.