Aft Balcony or Mini Suite?

[MaseratiCruiser]

I felt lucky to book a nice aft cabin (C753) on the grand for an upcoming Med cruise, but now I am wondering if we would have been happier with a mini suite instead. If there was not much of a price difference, which would you prefer?

[JanetMarie]

DH and I always take an aft cabin. We love sailing at night, watching the ship's wake and the stars...

[Coral]

I love aft cabins - but for a Med cruise, I would choose the minisuite if it wasn't significantly higher. The extra room would be worth it.

On my future Caribbean cruise - I was surprised that the balcony cabins and minisuites were the same price. It was a no-brainer for me :).

[critterchick]

Depends on the price difference. We love the aft, but also love the space of a mini. Aft minis of course are ideal, but Princess deosn't have many of them:(. For a longer cruise, I would probably vote for space over wake view, unless the price difference is too much (for us, about $100 per day is our pain threshold).

[beary]

If you have never had an aft cabin balcony, I would do that for the experience at least once. More often than not, folks say once you get an aft cabin, you will never settle for anything else again. But if it turns out you're not that impressed, at least you know and will get a mini suite next time.


Kevin and Sally

[marciemi]

I'd definitely vote for the aft. The privacy, (no one looking down on you like most of the minisuites), the aft & side view from that cabin. We had C752 on the Grand and loved it so much I have C753 on the Diamond booked for Dec. Check out my pics of 752 & I bet you'll love it!

[url]http://community.webshots.com/album/102025550UlWCMW[/url]

[39august]

I've had both aft and minis, and would not take an aft balcony cabin for a longer cruise. There is simply not enough room in the balcony cabins. There is no sitting area, just a small chair. Take the mini if it's not a lot more. I guess we're spoiled now because the first 3 cruises we had a simple balcony cabin. Now, if I can't afford a mini-suite, I end up on another cruise line as RCI, Celebrity and Hal all provide a sitting area with sofa in their balcony cabins which are usually priced about the same as Princess.

[MauiLuvr]

Definitely the mini-suite. I've sailed in E728 twice now two years in a row and, with that, you get both aft AND mini-suite.

[fryml]

Do you have any pictures of E728? We'll be there on the Grand in the spring. I here there is an extended balcony. How much bigger is it from the standard baalcony. Did you like it being covered?

[Grego]

Although it's not on the Grand, we have booked an aft mini-suite on the Sun next Feb 27. It's D751 and we are thrilled to have been able to get it.

Like others that have posted on this thread, we look forward to sitting out under the stars (with the possibilty of a full moon although I haven't checked that out yet) with a glass of something and have the feeling that this is "where I belong".

My guess is that now we have a mini-suite with a balcony, so do our friends that are traveling with us. Something about if one has it - all have it. Nothing wrong with that at all as long as they leave in time for our last Foo-Foo of the day.

Greg

[39august]

fryml- We've been in E728 twice and will be again in Dec. The balcony curves around toward the aft, but only offers an aft view when you are standing by the rail. The wall toward the back of the balcony is solid metal, so you can't see thru' it as you can the front wall. I believe there are 2 loungers and 2 chairs as well as a small table on the balcony. However, there's not much "wiggle room" with that much furniture. We usually just use 1 lounger and the 2 chairs. Next time will ask steward to remove 1 lounge so we can move around more freely. I'd say the additional room makes the balcony about 2/3's again as big as the side balconies. Yes, we like having a roof. That way if it rains, you can possibly stay dry, depending on the wind. It certainly does not impede looking at the stars at night. You wouldn't look straight up anyway.

[Lynda90]

[b]Definitely the mini. The extra room, the larger bathroom with tub, the larger closet--to me a no brainer. Enjoyed the aft, but the Alaska cruise I was on was very bumpy and we were really, really rockin' and rollin' around in the aft. Those towards the middle, hardly felt anything. [/b]

[Grego]

[quote name='lyndabaker'][b]Definitely the mini. The extra room, the larger bathroom with tub, the larger closet--to me a no brainer. Enjoyed the aft, but the Alaska cruise I was on was very bumpy and we were really, really rockin' and rollin' around in the aft. Those towards the middle, hardly felt anything. [/b][/QUOTE]
On wonders what you were really describing. Regardless of the "bumpy ride" it is still far better than watching a video at home.

[jerseygirl3]

It really depends on which is more important to you...more cabin space or more balcony space.

When I was trying to make this decision, I realized that it was just my husband and myself...how big a balcony did we really need? However, I wanted more cabin space, which is where we spend more of our time. I liked the idea of the separate sitting area and the larger bathroom with full tub was heaven.

I have since opted for the mini-suite every time. I peaked into a standard balcony cabin, and the space is much smaller inside the cabin.

[ERsecurity]

I just did my first Mini on the grand class ships. The extra closet space and storage was good but the larger livable space was great. I would choose it on anything longer than seven days...