Nieuw Statendam balcony vs. oceanview cabin

[LMM1801]

My cruise is fast approaching, a transatlantic on the new Nieuw Statendam. For those who have been on her, has anyone stayed in either an extended balcony forward on deck 4 (over the world stage) or in a deck 10 forward facing oceanview? I am right now in the forward facing deck 10 oversized oceanview at 239 sq. ft. I see I could probably upsell for a few hundred dollars to either a deck 4 over world stage (worried about noise) but it as the extended balcony or on deck 6, a standard balcony cabin. The only downside is I will lose my prepaid gratuities. Since it is transatlantic, my husband says last time we did it, we didn't spend all that much time on the balcony. I normally do, but you go days with only seeing water. 

[wdw1972]

I was in stateroom 4030, with the extended verandah & plexiglass wall.  I heard every single rehearsal and every show in the main stage (or whatever it's called).  I was very disappointed in that, as I truly thought I was far enough away for noise to not be an issue.  Some shows I could only hear noise, but other shows I could actually make out the words being said/sung.  As great as the verandah was, I won't do that again!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I did a transatlantic with a balcony. Always too windy for me to use......nothing much to look at, but you do get more natural light. I have several complaints about the noise, like wdw1972 above, so unless you stay out late ...I would avoid.

 

 

www.theinsidecabin.com

 

 

[VennDiagram]

After nearly a decade of having balconies for every cruise, we did an oceanview on our last cruise.  I was initially pretty concerned, but we ended up LOVING the OV.  We will be booking OVs going forward, and will consider verandahs or suites only if there's a low-cost (and I mean really LOW cost) upsell available.  I would not give up comp'd HSC plus pay "a few hundred dollars" to have a verandah.  And over a noisy venue?  No chance.  JMHO, YMMV

 

[Alberta Quilter]

We had a verandah on Deck 6 (Mowzza, as the elevator lady would say), on our Caribbean cruise just a week ago.  We don't usually get verandahs but wanted one in the Caribbean.  You know, we really didn't use it that much.  We did not have any noise issues.  The balcony wasn't as large as other HAL ships but it worked okay for two people.  Frankly, I wouldn't upgrade in your situation.  Losing the prepaid gratuities would be huge for us. To pay extra for a balcony that we may hardly use, would make it worse (for us).  YMMV

[firecrewcapt]

We've had many balconies on many different ships and have had noise from carts being pushed around above at who knows what time or it was to the good ol' music from theaters, our solution was earplugs, works wonders and you can enjoy your cabin, that's my .02 worth.

Edited March 3, 2019 by firecrewcapt

[jimmy2x]

Just off the Koningsdam a couple of weeks ago. We were mid ship on deck 7. Very quiet. Cardinal rule for me is cabins above and below. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by jimmy2x