Vista suite?

I'm booked for the 22 night Antarctica cruise in January on the Zaandam in an OV stateroom. Getting a suite is an option financially but it's a LOT more expensive (over 2X as much) and I have to convince DH. Because it's one of the older ships there's nothing in between an OV and a Vista Suite. Here's what I'm wondering:

Half of this cruise will be sea days and scenic cruising. I'm thinking that the view from a balcony stateroom will be dramatically better than out of the OV window. That it would really enhance the experience. True?

We have the lowest category of OV stateroom, aft on the Dolphin deck. It's described as a full view (not partial or a porthole.) Any way to get an idea of the size of the window?

Will we be able to sit on the balcony? Or will it be too cold?

What are the other perks that come with a suite? I need good things to tell my husband!

HAL's suite guarantee is not as expensive. HAL warns that the guarantee suite may be noisy. The guarantees are category BC of which I only see 4, they're aft under the sea view pool. But I probably need to reserve today to get the "limited time offer."

Any thoughts will be much appreciated.

I am sorry I can't answer most of your questions but I can tell you that there are really no perks beyond the balcony with the Vista "suite". You will get double Mariner days if you buy one of them, unless it is an upsell offer. We did an Alaska cruise in a Vista Suite (we took an upsell offer), and we did use the balcony but not as much as we use a balcony on a warm-weather cruise.

One of the perks listed for a Vista Suite is a "telephone concierge" which we found of no value.

About the cabin you are currently booked in, try googling "HAL facts Zaandam" and see if you get any sites that provide pictures. That might give you an idea of the size of the window in the cabin you are currently booked in.

That is some awesome cruise you are booked on :) (y)

Any way to get an idea of the size of the window?

We did the Zaandam Antarctica cruise a couple of years ago. We were in an OV. Personally I would not have wanted a balcony cabin. Wherever you are, you only get a view to one side of the ship from a balcony. For this trip you need to be out and about in parts of the ship where you can see in several directions. We spent time in the Crow's Nest, and a lot of time walking around outside, well wrapped up! The views are amazing, but not from the cabins, IMO.

This is a fantastic trip and it gave us the taste for returning to Antarctica. We are now booked to do an expedition cruise down there next year!

First of all this is a fantastic itinerary and you will really enjoy it.

We did this some time ago on the same class of ship. My friends had an inside and we had a balcony ( now called a Vista Suite).

Our group ended up in our balcony cabin a lot for pre dinner drinks so we could gaze at the beautiful scenery. Originally we were going to alternate between the cabins,but we had the views, so that's where we all were. I still remember the waterfalls, little fjords, etc.

Was it worth it to have a balcony for us? I would say yes. Were the others happy with an inside and an OV - yes.

Did we use the balcony? Yes.

But, there are views available in all kinds of public places on the ship so it's a matter of what you prefer.

And what is worth the $ to you. There is no "suite" to the Vista Suite other than double Mariner points. It's basically a balcony cabin.

The problem with HAL's R and S class ships (the smaller ones) is that the only cabins with a balcony are suites. The Vista suites are only a bit larger than the Oceanviews, except for the balcony of course. That is one reason why I prefer to sail on the larger HAL ships, in a Signature Suite (which is alot larger than the balcony cabins).

The Signature suites are smaller than the Neptunes, but not by alot (IMO). Since we get some of the Neptune "perks" anyway being 4 Star, it is a better value for us.

I've done the Antarctica cruise three times---all in an inside cabin. Although I loved sitting out on the deck as much as possible while in Antarctic waters, and would have used a balcony a lot more than most, there were many times I was glad I could choose which side of the ship I was going to sit on. Some of that wind, in the cold weather, was biting while the other side of the ship was in the lee. That shelter came in very handy.

The scenery on this cruise is such that you will want to be out and about all over the place. Even the bow is open often for scenic cruising.

If I were you, I would save the money to upgrade airfare to business (that flight is a killer) and stay in the outside cabin.

Ruth has a great suggestion to upgrade your airfare and stay in the OV cabin[emoji106] Agree that you will want to be all over (we ended up liking the Lido area so we could see a lot but quickly run out if we needed to grab photos.). If you want to, let your TA know you want to be notified about any upsells and you might get lucky. Awesome cruise...eager to do it again.

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I most whole heartily agree with the you want to be out and about during this cruise down the channels and in Antarctica, but with that said, we also really enjoyed our Balcony a great deal. It was nice to be a bit more sheltered and able to dash inside a bit easier at times. It was also nice to be able to sit out and watch the icebergs and their occupants (penguins, seals, etc.). In fact without our balcony we would not have witnessed one of the best sites of the whole cruise.

We had gotten back to your cabin around noon (after spending almost 8 hours out on the bow) and I had a just showered to warm up a bit. I was starting to get dressed when I noticed something out the window. I grabbed my camera and headed out onto our balcony when my wife yelled at me, your naked:eek:, put on some clothes first. So I did, as quickly as possible.

What you could see once you were outside, was a pod of killer whales swarming about 300-400 yards off the ship. They were feeding on a kill, which the naturalists told us later was probably a baby whale. The ship stopped and we spent 30 minutes or so watching nature at work. While sad, it was also fantastic to view, as the killer whales were leaping out of the water and swarming all around the kill. The ship even got it on video and it was included on DVD of the cruise. It the only time we've bought the cruise DVD.

Needless to say, we also got some great video and a lot of pictures, but our video was not as good as the ships can get with those bigger cameras.

Also we wanted a bit more space for a 19 day cruise. Even by the end of the cruise, you couldn't really sit on most of the couch, as it was piled with the stuff we've acquired and just keeping all the cold weather clothes readily available.

The problem with HAL's R and S class ships (the smaller ones) is that the only cabins with a balcony are suites. The Vista suites are only a bit larger than the Oceanviews, except for the balcony of course. That is one reason why I prefer to sail on the larger HAL ships, in a Signature Suite (which is alot larger than the balcony cabins).

 

The Signature suites are smaller than the Neptunes, but not by alot (IMO). Since we get some of the Neptune "perks" anyway being 4 Star, it is a better value for us.

Having sailed the Signature Suite, loved it, on the Oosterdam we were a bit disappointed to not have those on our Xmas sailing coming up on Rotterdam. You clarified it for me making me realize on the older R class Rotterdam suite means balcony more or less. " Suite " is such misnomer on ships now a days. Can mean real deal size of multiple cabins or merely a pillow menu :) Some can offer even a butler while others have no amenity other than size such as on Carnival. You really have to research, which is why CC boards are great, or have an agent or someone that really knows ships assist. Even same cat suites can differ so much buy location on ship etc. Most cat differences are simply location, mid, aft, upper deck lower deck, same cookie cutter module now on especially new ships.

Now just as common to take 6 cabins located by spa area and suddenly they become Spa SUITES, offering same cabin but some innocuous amenity like an avian water ( first one only complimentary ) 10% off spa treatments ( often better deals during cruise ) or a better robe while adding significant $$$ to the cabin cost. The terms SUITE, CONCIERGE, SPA , are so overused now!!!