Trans Atlantic - To B(alcony) or not to B(alcony)

[jc24cruiser]

Hi,

 

Hoping to book a Trans Atlantic cruise for next Spring. I have travelled in interior and balcony rooms before (but not exterior). I am looking at Vision of the Seas (so any added advice about this ship and its compatibility with family cruising would also be great.)

 

Itinerary is.....

 

1 - Tampa

2 - Florida

3 - Cruising

4 - Cruising

5 - Cruising

6 - Cruising

7 - Cruising

8 - Cruising

9 - Cruising

10 - Cruising

11 - Madeira

12 - Cruising

13 - Gibraltar

14 - Malaga

15 - Cruising

16 - Barcelona

 

Is a balcony a welcome break for that big chunk of cruising in the middle?

 

Or is it usually too windy and choppy to make much use out of it?

 

It changes our price from £1,600 to £2,700 so trying to work out if it is worth the extra. Or would a compromise of an exterior at £1,800 be better value....though there is not going to be much to look at for a week I guess!

 

Thanks in advance for your advice :)

[Clarea]

One of the reasons we like a balcony is because of the large amount of natural light it lets in. Also, on our previous TA's in the fall, there were a good number of sunny days with temps in the 70's, so we did spend some time out on the balcony reading.

[Goes Cruising]

I am not a balcony or nothing kinda cruiser, but the more sea days, the more I lean towards a balcony.

 

Our 1st one was a Spring crossing on a southern route like you describe, and we had BEAUTIFUL weather all the way across. We had an aft balcony which does cut down some of the wind, but we used it extensively.

 

I'm going on my 2nd TA next month, and we cross from Boston to Cork. We again have an aft balcony, but I'm a bit apprehensive if we'll get as much use out of it. As Bob said, it is nice to have the natural light in the room. On the many sea days you may find yourself spending more quiet time in your room than you would normally.

[jc24cruiser]

Thank you so much for your advice, love these boards!

 

I just didn't want to pay the extra as it is quite a difference and then find that we had to battle to open the doors to get onto it during the actual crossing!

 

We are sailing with an aft balcony in October, always gone for the hump before! So will be interested to see what it is like :) Went for it for a safety reason due to taking the kids, but have heard wonderful things about the views :D

 

Just got to persuade my partner that I need to book a third cruise, only ever had one booking under my belt at a time, so I am already pushing it apparently :rolleyes:

 

PS just found out to "upgrade" the balcony to a Junior Suite is a mere £3 per person per day.....wish me luck!!!

[RSLeesburg]

I would agree. I have been on Grandeur, which Bob tells me is fairly close to Vision. There are not lots of bells and whistles on these ships for kids. My son was almost 4 last year, and it was his first cruise, so he loved every minute of it. We are booked on Grandeur again this Nov for 8 night cruise, but I think after this next one, we may need to start moving up. Not sure how old your kids are, or how spoiled they have been on the larger and newer ships, but a TA is a long time at sea. If I had enough vacation time, I would definitely do it with my son now, but in a few years, it would be harder to do on the smaller ships.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thank you so much for your advice, love these boards!

 

I just didn't want to pay the extra as it is quite a difference and then find that we had to battle to open the doors to get onto it during the actual crossing!

 

We are sailing with an aft balcony in October, always gone for the hump before! So will be interested to see what it is like :) Went for it for a safety reason due to taking the kids, but have heard wonderful things about the views :D

 

Just got to persuade my partner that I need to book a third cruise, only ever had one booking under my belt at a time, so I am already pushing it apparently :rolleyes:

 

PS just found out to "upgrade" the balcony to a Junior Suite is a mere £3 per person per day.....wish me luck!!!

I would jump on that as soon as possible! The extra space is very nice to have on a long cruise.

Edited March 6, 2014 by clarea

[RSLeesburg]

I would jump on that as soon as possible! The extra space is very nice to have on a long cruise.

 

 

And the double points is nice too!

 

 

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[jc24cruiser]

Hi,

 

My kids will be 7 and 8 by that cruise. By then they will have been on the Independence for 4 nights with an aft balcony. They know that they are getting treated for their first cruise and that we can either go all out every few years or down grade and go more often.....they have a good understanding of money already :)

 

It will involve taking them out of school for a week of term time, so although it is a holiday some of the "at sea" days will be filled with some sort of learning.....but my kinda learning is probably different to schools :)

 

Ooooooh, had forgotten about the double points for the Junior Suite......SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cigar King]

We sort of did the reverse of your cruise, and loved having our balcony. I can't imagine taking a cruise of any significant length and not having one.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

See if the aft junior suites are available. 8088/8588 are the best two in my opinion as all the others have a structural pole running smack down the center of your view. The Vision is one of my favorite ships. She has less facilities for younger cruisers than the large vessels but there are rarely more than a handful of kids on a crossing anyways. Great way to get some quality time as a family!

[north29]

Having been on 4 transatlantics, all were cool to cold andn many rainy for days, I guess we are unlucky and used the balcony very little. So this year, found a deal, and booked just a obstructed view balcony just in case the weather is nice. But, if and I did not check, we are on the shadow side of the ship it will be cool.

If I could just get a big window in a good location, for the natural light, I would go for it, of course, price is the winner, especially if the difference between the window or balcony are close together.

[SadmanCruiser]

I might be tempted to wait a bit and see which other ships are coming over. The bigger ships are more stable and have more to do.

 

The Adventure of the Seas crossing should be released soon.

 

We have a PR room for the independence crossing in May 2014 and we paid less than £1000 including taxes for 2 people.

 

I would book a balcony - make sure you are starboard side for an East bound to get the best of the sun.

 

Pete

 

ps we have done 6 transatlantics with others on the Independence, Oasis and Celebrity eclipse booked for this year.

Edited March 6, 2014 by SadmanCruiser

[Kellie Poodle]

Hi,

 

Hoping to book a Trans Atlantic cruise for next Spring. I have travelled in interior and balcony rooms before (but not exterior). I am looking at Vision of the Seas (so any added advice about this ship and its compatibility with family cruising would also be great.)

 

Itinerary is.....

 

1 - Tampa

2 - Florida

3 - Cruising

4 - Cruising

5 - Cruising

6 - Cruising

7 - Cruising

8 - Cruising

9 - Cruising

10 - Cruising

11 - Madeira

12 - Cruising

13 - Gibraltar

14 - Malaga

15 - Cruising

16 - Barcelona

 

Is a balcony a welcome break for that big chunk of cruising in the middle?

 

Or is it usually too windy and choppy to make much use out of it?

 

It changes our price from £1,600 to £2,700 so trying to work out if it is worth the extra. Or would a compromise of an exterior at £1,800 be better value....though there is not going to be much to look at for a week I guess!

 

Thanks in advance for your advice :)

 

We cruise for ports and many of the cruises we've done are very port intensive so we book an outside cabin and save our money for private excursions.

 

When we do a Transatlantic or other cruise with lots of sea days we always get a balcony. A cruise with many sea days affords a lot of opportunity to use the balcony and I'll go the extra expense.

 

In the case of our 2015 itinerary, we are doing a back to back, and I don't want to change cabins, so we'll have a balcony on the first leg as well.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Kellie Poodle