Cabin help on Island - C218 or C717

[Daisy21015]

We are looking at northbound Vancouver to Whittier on the Island Princess with a July 30th departure. This will be our first Alaskan cruise and our first time on Princess!!

 

Looking at C218 - forward mini suite on port side with covered balcony and C717 - aft mini suite on starboard side with a partially covered balcony. Any thoughts or insights on either of these cabins?

 

Is there a real advantage to a covered balcony as far as the weather? What about starboard vs. port? Which should be considered first - balcony coverage or ship side?

 

Thank you for any help!!

[mytime53]

We just got off this cruise yesterday. We had a covered balcony cabin on starboard, which is what DH wanted. Right before sailing we upgraded to a mini-suite, and one of our choices was mid-ship. I didn't have time to research fully, but did ask the rep if the balcony was covered. She checked and said it was partly covered. Expecting rain, we were marginally okay with partly covered, so took the chance. Once onboard we discovered it was not covered at all. We love to sit on our balcony in all weather, so we were disappointed in that it rained on our last day and first day, both sea days that we would have enjoyed sitting on our balcony (yes, even in jackets!) So I would want at least partly covered if we did it again, but preferably covered. I enjoy being on the balcony when we're in port and on the ship, so was disappointed that in Juneau and Skagway we would have had the better view of the port on the port side.

[flamomo]

Personal preference, but I would go with the more aftward one, in the 700s. That's usually a pretty quiet area with little foot traffic, and should you encounter rough seas, better to be more aftward than forward in the 200s.

 

Not the same ship, but when we did an AK cruise, we had a partially covered balcony and were able to be out there, under the covered portion in drizzly rain, and pulled the chairs into the uncovered part when it was not rainy.