verandah vs vista suite....is it work the upgrade?

[danod44]

I have booked a verandah on the new Rotterdam but am thinking of upgrading to a Vista suite.  If you have stayed in a Vista suite will it be worth the upgrade cost to do this?   Thanks

[danod44]

' worth'      lol🙂

[Sharon in AZ]

I’ve been in both and prefer the Vista. It’s bigger, although not by much, but when moving around the cabin it makes a difference to me.  But if the price was good I would be fine in a Veranda.  It also might depend upon how long your cruise is, if it is short it might not be worth it. I purposefully booked a Vista for our 14 day B2B cruise for two reasons, one for the extra room and second because we got free WiFi. You just have to weigh the pros and cons. 

[Cruise Suzy]

As with everything, there are pros and cons.

 

Verandah: We prefer being able to sit on the "sofa" and look out at the sea. Bed closer to bathroom for night time visits.

 

Vista Suite: Some like that the steward doesn't have to navigate bed when delivering food. Really not more space though, but the length of cruise could influence your preference. Some promos include Wi-Fi for suites, but other promos include it for all staterooms.

 

If you are close to the next Mariner level, it might be worth it for the double days credit.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, danod44 said:

I have booked a verandah on the new Rotterdam but am thinking of upgrading to a Vista suite.  If you have stayed in a Vista suite will it be worth the upgrade cost to do this?   Thanks

Depends on the 'cost' but if you ask a straight question then my straight answer is 'No'.

Vistas are not much larger than standard verandahs, but laid out differently.  Double Mariner points. A mediocre pair of binoculars. A better (?) location on the ship - mid ships or aft.

With the current free wifi for suites promo you need to do the maths.

[kazu]

I haven’t studied the deck plans for the Rotterdam that hard honestly but having planned a Koningsdam cruise, I looked hard and long at Verandah versus Vista.  Talked to my Travel consultant and was told that the Vista did not really give a lot of extra usable space.
 

It’s a shame the Rotterdam doesn’t have the larger verandahs for some of the aft verandah cabins (at least not that I can see on the deck plans).  That would have been the better option IMO than a Vista.

 

All you can do is look at the space, do the math and figure out what is best for YOU.  Everyone has their own idea of what’s best 😉 

 

[Cruisepucks]

We have sailed in a Vista suite on the Koningsdam, a sister ship to the Rotterdam. Like others have said, a Vista it is not much larger than a Verandah and the bed is situated by the verandah door. I prefer the sofa close to the verandah.

Having said that, I am happy that we choose the Vista. The price was not much more than a verandah and we received the double mariners points. We had booked a guarantee and were assigned an aft suite,  our first, which we loved.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Cruisepucks
poor grammar

[john2003]

I am surprised to learn about the small cabin size difference. Is this the same on the Vista ships?

[Ine]

We had a vista suite on Koningsdam. No we think it is not worth the extra money. The difference is size is also not worth it. Bathroom is like in a verandah suite. You get ""fresh flowers"" in a vista suite, I have never seen such a small vase with the tiniest flowers in it. Also we prefer to have the bed near the bathroom and the couch near the window, not the other way around. If you need more Marinerspoints is might be worth is since you get double points.

[kangforpres]

I was gonna say you get double mariner points since it's a "suite" so if you are trying to get to another Mariner star level it might be worth it to you.

 

The soundest advice I ever got on CC was "book the cabin you can afford and be most comfortable in" and then go enjoy your cruise.

 

-Paul

[iancal]

 

 

We always do the math.  See what the actual space is.  Then we look at what we consider to be useable space.  We learned a long time ago that the word 'suite' on a cabin category is often aimed more at one's ego and expectationsv than it is at the incremental amount of real estate.

 

It is not very difficult to go online, check the cabin location and specs, and make a buy/no buy decision.

Edited January 3, 2021 by iancal

[Sea42]

Are the Vista Suites comparable to the Signature Suites? We though the Signature were great and seemed to us to have much more usable space than a veranda cabin.

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, Sea42 said:

Are the Vista Suites comparable to the Signature Suites? We though the Signature were great and seemed to us to have much more usable space than a veranda cabin.

On the newer HAL ships (3), the Signatures are much larger than the Vistas. On the older ships you only have EITHER Vistas or Signatures, not both.

[Sea42]

1 minute ago, DaveOKC said:

On the newer HAL ships (3), the Signatures are much larger than the Vistas. On the older ships you only have EITHER Vistas or Signatures, not both.

Oh, thanks for the information. We were on the Noordam and Eurodam when we sailed in the Signatures. I thought they were the same category of cabin, just named differently on different ships.

[bennybear]

We’ve sailed in both and the Signature Suites are larger than a Vista  which seem more like a nice Verandah.  
 

On the Koningsdam we were a couple of doors down from our friends in a Vista.  It seemed marginally bigger,  but we had a nicer balcony.  Always pay attention to the deck plans!  
 

You’ve been given some great information to help make your decision.  

[cbr663]

We sailed in a Vista Suite on the K'dam and I don't recall it being worth it.  As @bennybear stated above, it seemed like a nice Verandah.  I believe when we looked at a Verandah vs the Vista Suite that there seemed to be about 12" more floor space in the Vista Suite.  

 

It was a nice cabin, but nothing to indicate that it was a "suite".

[zelker]

Do the tv's in the Vista suites (specifically looking at Nieuw Statendam) swivel so that you can watch it when sitting on the "couch" or are they fixed to the wall so that you can only see it straight on from the bed?

 

Thx.

[Djptcp]

We had a Vista Suite on the Rotterdam for our Dec. 2022 cruise and have booked 3 more for Rotterdam cruises in Feb., March, and Nov. 2022. We like the extra room and the bigger sofa. However, the bathroom is smaller than we expected. The big payoff is receiving double days for a suite - we will be 4* Mariners at the end of the March 2022 cruise! Mostly due to 6 Neptune Suites on 10-11 day cruises. We prefer Neptunes, but haven't been able to get reasonable rates for them lately. Have never stayed in a Signature Suite.

 

Can't answer your question Zelker about the TV swiveling to the sofa - we only had it on once in 11 days to watch the safety lecture on embarkation day and a few times to look at menus and we happened to be on the bed.

[Playin Pickleball]

15 hours ago, zelker said:

Do the tv's in the Vista suites (specifically looking at Nieuw Statendam) swivel so that you can watch it when sitting on the "couch" or are they fixed to the wall so that you can only see it straight on from the bed?

 

Thx.

We're on the Zuiderdam in a Signature Suite and it's fixed to the wall.

[WisRiver]

We were on the Rotterdam transatlantic in 2021.  We like aft cabins.  It seemed that all the aft cabins on the Rotterdam were Vista or Neptunes, so we booked a Vista (Category AS).  We liked our cabin, and it seemed like it had more room than a regular veranda on other ships.  If you want the view of an aft cabin, then the Vista suite is worth it.  

 

The TV was fixed to the wall.  You had to be in bed to directly see the TV.  There was a small couch in the cabin, and you saw the TV from an angle.  

[Bostonjetset]

I was on the Rotterdam earlier this month in a Vista suite and we enjoyed it. It IS bigger than a verandah cabin so not sure why some people are saying it’s not. It isn’t massive but an extra 30 sq ft is noticeable on a cruise ship even if it may not be noticeable in a huge house on land. Of course any value is derived by cost to importance ratio. We paid about $200pp extra over the cost of a verandah on our sailing. I found it worth it for the size, location and extra Mariner points. Also, we liked the bed near the balcony. That said, I think 200-250 extra is all it would be worth for us and I would be fine in a lesser cabin if the cost for a Vista was more than that. Here are some pics. 
 

[emkenya1]

@Bostonjetset, very helpful, thanks!

[PACD_JG]

I was forced from the Koningsdam Verandah 4154 (giant balcony) to 6130 due to quarantine cabin.  I wasn't pleased, so was "upgraded" at no cost to a Vista Suite.

 

Here's what I was told.  Cabin 6130 is 162 square feet plus 76 square feet balcony = 238 total square feet.  The Vista Suite is 216 square feet plus 52 square feet balcony = 268 total square feet.  So larger room, smaller balcony, but overall more space.

Edited June 16, 2022 by PACD_JG

[janmcn]

IMO: Pinnacle Class ships have smaller cabins all around. The Vista Suites have different floor plan (bed by the verandah) vs Verandah which has couch by the Verandah. Never ever go by the various square footages quoted on assorted media…they can vary according to location on ship and “class” within the “class.”

The other ships in HAL have different classifications of cabins and overall are larger for each class. Vista Suites where offered are what I call “9-drawer desks” to distinguish them from Verandas that have 3-drawer desks.  Signature Suites are more similar to Neptune Suites without the perks and a few other differences but overall they are spacious with bathrooms with 2 sinks. 
 

Always check halfacts for some photos, which though might not be current decor, usually are representative of the class.

[IPB4IGO]

The resurrection of this old thread prompted me to look at options for our October Hawaii cruise coming up on the Koningsdam. We have a regular verandah (VB) booked on the fourth deck, aft (not aft-facing). I chose it because of the size of the balconies in that part of the fourth deck. No other cabins on the ship seem to have balconies that deep, and there are no Vista Suites in that area.

 

I guess we won't take an upsell to a Vista on this one, if one is offered.