Inside Cabin Panama Canal

[coevan]

question? if money were not an issue, how many of you interior lovers would stay with an interior?

[Joebucks]

I have had every type of cabin including the owners suite. Honestly, balcony cabins are a waste of money. You get better viewing from any open deck. Also, booking an inside you will have an opportunity of receiving an upsell.

 

This is my answer too. I would not spend thousands more for a limited view of the canal.

 

Personally, a good spot in the serenity is priceless, but free.

[pspercy]

Is that the Freedom partial canal in January ? I'd love to do that too!

 

Carnival's Inside cabins are generally larger than most.

We did a 17dy Transatlantic on RCL Vision in an inside (about 150sq ft).

It was small but overall one of the best cruises we've done.

 

If it's Inside or stay home, go for it:)

[grandmarnnurse]

question? if money were not an issue, how many of you interior lovers would stay with an interior?

Without a doubt, if I could comfortably afford a balcony cabin, I would book one. I used to only book balcony cabins for many years, but the reality of a retirement budget is that I cannot afford one—not even if I “budget it over the year” (as someone suggested) I am the QUEEN of budgets! Every penny in and out is budgeted! So, I know what I can and cannot afford. But I am going to make the best of it and know that I will get equally great (free) views up on deck. I will see the same sunrise and sunset as balcony passengers, but up on deck. So, if I won the lottery tomorrow, would I book a balcony? Hell, I’d book me a suite! I worked hard my whole life and would relish that luxury. Too bad it will never happen. So, I’ll continue to enjoy my inside cabin, and be thankful that I can at least afford a cruise every year. 😊🛳🏖🌴

[Bookworm1985]

I have one booked January 2020 to the Panama Canal. I started in just an inside, but the opportunity came to get one of the L shaped cabins and I jumped on it. It did cost about $1650 more, and normally I would not spend that much. It is thanks to some mandatory overtime at work that I decided we could make it work, plus final payments is about a year and a half away.

 

 

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[Ehpride]

I get motion sickness and that is much worse for me in an inside cabin. 14 days worth would be less than ideal personally.

 

I can see how the balcony would not be necessary in the canal, but would be nice to have on the multiple sea days.

[Wallbanger]

Is that the Freedom partial canal in January ? I'd love to do that too!

 

Carnival's Inside cabins are generally larger than most.

We did a 17dy Transatlantic on RCL Vision in an inside (about 150sq ft).

It was small but overall one of the best cruises we've done.

 

If it's Inside or stay home, go for it:)

It is the January 19th 14 day cruise on the Freedom. I also failed to mention this cruise visits ports not usually available out of Galveston such as Aruba, Limon, Cartegna, etc which is all the more reason for my interest. We did book the inside which was half of the cost of a balcony. I appreciate all the input as I was mainly interested in the experience of others. The only reason I mentioned Platinum is that this one cruise would put us at the Platinum level otherwise it would have required two if they were less than 10 days. Besides, I thought Platinum was a good thing. ;p

[tallnthensome]

question? if money were not an issue, how many of you interior lovers would stay with an interior?

I stated earlier that I'm boked in one for a 15 day PC in March, if money wasn't an issue then I would most certainly book a balcony. $3000+ more for a simple balcony is absurd but if money were no object..........

[scpirate]

i did a 11 day cruise in an inside cabin and i have another 10 day cruise in an inside cabin. i love inside cabins. i am only in the cabin at night to sleep

I'm with you on that one you can always go on deck for your outdoors pleasure.

[xDisconnections]

If you're doing a Panama Canal cruise on a Spirit class ship, try to get a category 4K - Interior with French Door. Although the doors may no longer open, you'll have a larger cabin with a better layout and a window with an obstructed view. The stateroom type is essentially the same as a heavily obstructed balcony but at pricing very similar to an interior.

[kristinp36]

We are scheduled to do a 15n Panama Canal in September.....originally we booked an inside but with 9 sea days we changed to a balcony. Sea days are when we spend the majority of our time on a balcony. We sail insides, OV and balconies......but for that many sea days we decided it would be worth it for us.

[picomullet]

question? if money were not an issue, how many of you interior lovers would stay with an interior?

 

We prefer Insides to Balcony. It's dark, cool. I love the space an OV provides but I prefer being higher on the ship. We have been in all,Suite, balcony, ov, inside, grand scenic ov. We will spring for the extra for the grand scenic ov!!! We too are retired and would rather cruise a few times a year instead of one.

[Wolfshair]

We will be on the same cruise. I have had balcony, OV and interior. We just do the interior anymore. We sleep much better and we are not the type to sit in our room. We much prefer to be out and about. It's whatever you prefer. :cool:

[coevan]

"We will spring for the extra for the grand scenic ov!!! We too are retired and would rather cruise a few times a year instead of one."

This comment completely contradicts my question. If money was not an issue. You clearly are making money an issue.

[summersigh]

We did a partial transit that had all ports we'd not been to yet so we booked a balcony - DH has some mobility issues. We did a lot of study and looked at 100's of photos online of ships to help determine the odds of which side of the ship would be facing the dock in each port.

 

 

We spent a lot of time on the balcony before and after excursions or walks around the port. The day of the partial canal transit we spent the going into the locks out and about on deck. We had lunch sitting out on our balcony enjoying the sights in the lake. In the afternoon transit out the best view was on our side of the ship on our balcony. It turned out to be one of the best days ever in 14 cruises.:D

 

To us ... the Panama Canal was different. Besides that one and the Queen Mary2 our other cruises were "just" delightful vacations. Those 2 were bucket list quality.:)

[Djptcp]

We did a 10-day Panama Canal cruise on Holland America in a Neptune Suite with a balcony and it was so enjoyable sitting on our own balcony going through the Canal and not having to be with a lot of people on an outside deck like the Lido deck. Personally, I can't imagine doing more than a 4-day cruise in an Interior cabin, but if that's the only way you can afford to do the 14-day cruise, go for it. You will love the Canal and will probably find good viewing points outside on upper decks.

[LostPuppy]

The "I have an inside cabin and a balcony would be a waste for me as I'm never there"

vs.

"I love my balcony and spend all my time on it"

 

debate are perfect examples of a self-fulfilling prophecy / post-purchase rationalization. (e.g. of course my choice is rational and correct, I made it!)

[grandmarnnurse]

We are at a point where inside might be what we get from now on. I retired and hubby is following soon. Just can’t justify the extra expense on a limited income.

 

 

 

That’s exactly where we are. Hubby retired 6 years ago, and me, almost 3. Money is much more restricted, as Im sure you, too, have discovered. We follow a VERY strict budget, and what we found helpful, is to treat vacation funds like a bill every month when the social security, etc gets paid to us. We set aside a certain amount to a vacation fund and draw from that for any travel needs. Because we also need to travel at least once a year to visit a daughter and family in ND, and a son and family in TX, there is no “wiggle room” for anything frivolous, and at this point in our life with our budget, a balcony would be an unnecessary added expense. It would be lovely to have—especially for my 50th Anniversary cruise in 2020, but I’m a realist, and know what I can afford, and what I can’t. And as a retired couple, we know to NEVER incur a debt, so we stick to our budget.

 

 

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[grandmarnnurse]

Let me add that someone said to book early and pay on it over the long haul. Well, that is exactly what we already do. My 2019 and 2020 cruise are booked, and I still stick to my budget so those other travel needs can be met, also.

 

 

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[AmberTeka]

I read all of these posts. All made good sense. I spent hours searching for photos of obstructed balconies on The Miracle. Found one, 5186, that I think has little obstruction. You cannot look down ( tender) but view out is fine, or so it appears in photo.

So I called to book it, intending to book that one ( it was open on the Carnival site) and found myself booking an unobstructed balcony a few cabins down. Both cabins are close to the Mid ship elevators.

We will probably not go again, and how many times in your life do you get to sail in the Panama Canal? So as of today, I am saving. How does Panama get away with charging every person $300 in taxes when we built it and Teddy Kennedy pressured President Cater to give it back?

 

This was an excellent thread.

[evandbob]

I read all of these posts. All made good sense. I spent hours searching for photos of obstructed balconies on The Miracle. Found one, 5186, that I think has little obstruction. You cannot look down ( tender) but view out is fine, or so it appears in photo.

So I called to book it, intending to book that one ( it was open on the Carnival site) and found myself booking an unobstructed balcony a few cabins down. Both cabins are close to the Mid ship elevators.

We will probably not go again, and how many times in your life do you get to sail in the Panama Canal? So as of today, I am saving. How does Panama get away with charging every person $300 in taxes when we built it and Teddy Kennedy pressured President Cater to give it back?

 

This was an excellent thread.

 

 

To answer your last question: read some history. Before we built the Canal, Panama was actually part of Columbia. We sent a naval force down there and when the Columbians saw our gun boat, they decided to allow Panama to secede and become its own country. Since we were instrumental in forming the country, Panama's new leaders agreed to let us build the Canal.

 

Gunboat diplomacy was a tool we used against other Caribbean nations, including the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, etc. Struggles for power, control and money ensued and these struggles have brought us to where we are today.

[AmberTeka]

To answer your last question: read some history. Before we built the Canal, Panama was actually part of Columbia. We sent a naval force down there and when the Columbians saw our gun boat, they decided to allow Panama to secede and become its own country. Since we were instrumental in forming the country, Panama's new leaders agreed to let us build the Canal.

 

Gunboat diplomacy was a tool we used against other Caribbean nations, including the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, etc. Struggles for power, control and money ensued and these struggles have brought us to where we are today.

 

Totally agree with you on most of that, but letting China control 6 ports on that canal is a daily threat to the USA. They can, or could easily block the Canal and then there is no way of ships getting to California or vice versa if, and we all pray not, China challenges us. Watched the occupation of China and a good bit of Southeast Asia yesterday. Over 300,000 Chinese died in the initial assault. Civilians. We forget too easy. Because most of us are not war mongers or Neo Cons, we think the world is like that.

My Dad was in WW2, fighting from Island to Island. When he was an old man, he would sit on the patio, talk about it and cry. He never talked about it until he was old.

 

And I would Note, the USA has poured billions upon billions into Central America. We still have a tiny group of European descended people controlling governments where most of the citizens are Indian or mixed. Venezuela is on the verge of collapse, Nicaragua is in a civil war, Mexico just elected a far left guy,..may be good, may be bad. The USA should control that canal for the security of all nations involved, I think. But as I am an unknown citizen with zero influence anywhere...…….don't think anyone will worry.

Good thread.

[javajunkie59]

I have done the transit through the Panama Canal onboard a US Navy ship. Its best to get the full 360 degree view of the canal transit while out and about on deck. What you view on one side, there may be a different and interesting view on the other side. It comes down to what you want to spend while cruising. I am Platinum status on Carnival, but the money I save choosing the interior cabin goes toward future cruises. Besides the interior cabins on a Carnival ship is like "heaven" compared to berthing I had while in the Navy.

[ckpan]

We are considering a Panama Canal 14 day cruise in January and due to the expense will probably book an inside cabin. So far we have been on 7 cruises with three more booked in the fall and all have been OV or balcony cabins with the majority being balconies. I am wondering if 14 days with an inside cabin will feel too confining. I might also add this would also put us at the Platinum level after our fall cruises.

 

 

 

Did an 11 day on Vista in an inside cabin only because it was free. Even free, never again.

 

 

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