Viking River French Balcony C or D?

[berryvillebomber]

Hello,

Is it worth the extra $200 to book a French Balcony C cabin over a D cabin?

What are the pros and cons of both these cabins?
Looking into booking the Provence river cruise.

 

Thank you for the help.

 

Michael

[Host Jazzbeau]

Haven't sailed on Viking River, but based on over 30 cruises on a wide variety of lines and ships I would actually prefer a French Balcony D.  All you get with a C is a slightly higher vantage for the view – but the tradeoff is being under the Sun Deck which may be noisy.  Also all the C cabins are at the back, where engine noise can be more noticeable.  Therefore I would choose a D as far forward as possible [maybe not 200].

 

But note that on Viking the French Balcony cabins are quite small – the corridor was shifted to give more room to the Veranda cabins.  The Standard cabins on the lowest deck are larger than the FBs [unlike all other river ships I know of].  

 

So I would actually spring for a Veranda B [again preferred over A for the same reasons].

[pontac]

I have travelled on Viking 10 times and I've stayed in both FB C & D.*

 

IMO the answer is no, C is not worth $200 extra.

 

I try and book a cabin as far back as I can. Viking Longboat's engines are quiet and I've found there is more noise from people chatting (which many cannot do quietly) as they pass along the corridor, so the further back the fewer people pass the room.

 

However, it's longer to walk to anywhere, which you realise when you get to the coach and realise you need to go back to the room to collect the listening device. (Speaking here from personal experience).

 

Regarding size of room: if you've read this forum you'll have seen many posts saying how  little time is spent in the room, they're primarily used for sleeping and getting dressed. Room design is good, making excellent use of the space. But yes, it's smaller than a USA hotel room (but us Europeans are used to small hotel rooms.)

 

At the rear of the upper deck are stairs to the sun deck, so that's a handy quick way to get there, but IMO that's the only benefit of an upper deck room near the back. 

 

So there you have it. Two answers that take different view. When some more are added you'll realise that there's no consensus and you'll have to decide for yourself 😁

 

*(and veranda rooms and lower deck rooms)

[Haqdeluxe]

On 12/3/2022 at 2:36 PM, berryvillebomber said:

Hello,

Is it worth the extra $200 to book a French Balcony C cabin over a D cabin?

What are the pros and cons of both these cabins?
Looking into booking the Provence river cruise.

 

Thank you for the help.

 

Michael

Frankly... for the Viking Lyon & Provence cruise, I would recommend a E or F cabin on deck 1. You will spend very little time in your cabin and as most the sailing on the Rhône is either at night or alone stretches of river more Industrial than picturesque, you won't get much bang for your buck as far as views go. Bonus is that the deck 1 cabins are slightly bigger.  That will be money in  your pocket to spend on other things.

This is an excellent cruise by the way. But keep in mind you are in the south so summer can get warm.

[berryvillebomber]

Thank you.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:35 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

but the tradeoff is being under the Sun Deck which may be noisy.

 

We were in a suite on C deck and were awakened by someone who decided to go jogging at 5 AM. On our next trip we booked a veranda on D deck.

[haydn12]

No one is allowed to jog at 5 am.  They have limited times you can go up there.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, haydn12 said:

No one is allowed to jog at 5 am.  They have limited times you can go up there.

But, as Galileo famously said, it happens...

[Canal archive]

When everyone finds out the perpetrator it could or can get interesting!

[Haqdeluxe]

13 hours ago, Canal archive said:

When everyone finds out the perpetrator it could or can get interesting!

We have always avoided selecting a cabin on deck 3 as we fear the possibility of, all be it slight, a metor falling from space, crashing through the sundeck and killing us in our sleep. We'll stay with deck 2 and use deck 3 as buffer to protect us from falling space debris. 😛  I'm kidding of course. You want a cabin on deck 3... do it.  Any annoyance from the sundeck will be one-time thing and quickly dealt with.  Cheers 

[Canal archive]

On Scenic and I suspect other vessels the crew recreation area is at the after end of the upper deck so easy to discover the pre 8am plonkers!

[Host Jazzbeau]

14 hours ago, Canal archive said:

On Scenic and I suspect other vessels the crew recreation area is at the after end of the upper deck so easy to discover the pre 8am plonkers!

Not familiar with this term.  What we discovered on AMA was that this was the crew smoking location.

[Canal archive]

On Scenic yes I agree to smoking location but there is often a training bike and or a rowing machine as well, curious combination. 
Definition - plonker - idiot, heavy footed, prat,  I just thought it covered those particular persons. Essentially a foolish inept person or it could be referring to, I’ve just discovered this a certain part of a man’s anatomy, ohh it’s not another ‘one language separated by a huge great ocean is it?

Edited December 8, 2022 by Canal archive