Cabin question - would you rather have two inside cabins or one balcony

[treasure4two]

Have you considered booking a mini-suite? It will cost you 1/3 more but will give you much more room and a balcony. A balcony for an Alaska Cruise is a must in my opinion.

 

I saw the mini-suite and it would work perfect and not make you crazy.

The cost of balcony is almost equal to two insides, so I think you would be

better off and not hurt each other on the cruise to take the two insides. We have done inside and balcony and do not feel that the balcony is worth the difference but the minisuite would be perfect and you would retain your sanity. There is plenty of room on ship decks to see everything and if you get a balcony, you will be limited to what is on your side of ship and in Alaska, many times, things are on both sides and in front. I vote for two insides.

[junglejane]

We have done 11 cruises with our family of four and we ALWAYS book two cabins. We have done insides, oceanviews, and balconies depending on the price. But we start from the assumption that we need two cabins and choose from there. There is no way I want to crowd us all into one cabin -- just looking at those webshot photos on Toto's post made me feel cramped! Even worse is everyone sharing one bathroom. In our case, family peace and harmony require two cabins.

[decr]

Take 1 balcony and 1 inside across the hall. It's usually not that much more for the inside than for the 3rd and 4th passengers in the balcony. The extra bathroom alone is priceless.

 

Our kids loved having their own room.

[MHMarkL]

The mini suites on the Sun Class ships are very high priced compared to those on the larger ships. Normally at least double what a balcony cabin would cost. They are designed more like the full suites (without the full suite perks) and if I am not mistaken, the Sun Class mini suites will only sleep three maximum not four.

 

I just checked sailings in July 2012 from San Francisco and the lowest priced mini suite is actually less than 150% of the lowest priced balcony. The mini-suite would be a much better value as well as it is priced at $10.20 per sq. ft. per person and the balcony is $14.59 per sq. ft. per person.

 

I only assumed that the sofa bed can sleep 2. I tried going through the booking process with 4 pax in a mini-suite and your right the Princess website would not allow this. Too bad since there is so much more room.

[Toto2Kansas]

I just checked sailings in July 2012 from San Francisco and the lowest priced mini suite is actually less than 150% of the lowest priced balcony. The mini-suite would be a much better value as well as it is priced at $10.20 per sq. ft. per person and the balcony is $14.59 per sq. ft. per person.

 

I only assumed that the sofa bed can sleep 2. I tried going through the booking process with 4 pax in a mini-suite and your right the Princess website would not allow this. Too bad since there is so much more room.

Interesting. I know when we used to sail on the Sun Class ships (all three of them) those minis were much higher in price and double if not more than the regular balcony cabins. But yes, that sofa bed is only for one, and these minis do not sleep 4 passengers. And you do not want the balcony quads on this class of ship, as they are nothing more than a long closet with 4 small bunk style beds, two lowers and two uppers (singles only, can not be combined to form a queen). ;)

[Coral]

Interesting. I know when we used to sail on the Sun Class ships (all three of them) those minis were much higher in price and double if not more than the regular balcony cabins. But yes, that sofa bed is only for one, and these minis do not sleep 4 passengers. And you do not want the balcony quads on this class of ship, as they are nothing more than a long closet with 4 small bunk style beds, two lowers and two uppers (singles only, can not be combined to form a queen). ;)

 

I just looked at a sailing on June 12th. The balcony cabins are $2300 pp and the minisuite is $3400 pp. So while the other poster is correct, I don't think the balcony prices are going to stick. I think the minisuites will stay the same and that the balconies are going to come down in price.

 

I priced out the Sea Princess this year and the price was significantly less for a balcony than $2300 pp. I wanted to jump to a minisuite but couldn't justify the price and we ended up not going.

 

When I put in 4 people for a minisuite, no cabins came up. Not sure if they are full or there are no minisuites for 4.

[4cats4me]

Personally I would go with two inside cabins. There are a lot of areas you can go to for public viewing such as the promenade deck. Living 4 in a cabin would just be too crowded, especially because I think the round trip SF trip is for 10 days.

 

Yes Alaska is all about the scenery, but you can see the scenery just as well or better from the Promenade or Lido deck in the public areas. I agree with a previous poster, find a location for inside cabins that are easy to get to an outside access.

 

 

I vote for two insides. We love balconies and usually booke them. However, all told, we use our balconies minimally, but everytime we go to Alaska we book non-balcony cabins as we'd prefer to be up on top deck to really enjoy the essence of Alaska. And after our weather turned cold, there's no way we would have ever used our balcony, although we did have great weather for the first 5 days. Also, depending on the time of year you're going to Alaska, those inside cabins might come in handy as it stays light out for many hours a day. There were times on this last cruise where I'd wished for one.

[j1x2z3]

Take the insides. Kids will get antsy if you are just sitting on your balcany or confined to one area for too long. They will enjoy the scenery on deck and probably get you to move around with them to get different vantage points. It will be a better bonding experience with them when you are together because if you are all in tight quarters for a few days they will just want to get a little space... so will you.

[nwwinelady]

On a previous cruise, we had a balcony and our two daughters (in their early 20's) had an inside directly across the hall. They were able to join us and our balcony. It worked well. On our first cruise (when they were 17 and 14), we shared an outside (large window) cabin. The down side was that they were coming in later than us. We had more than enough storage though (Celebrity).

[bbum]

We've stayed in A743 and A739 on the sun class ships and it is only about 10 steps and you're on a big back deck. It was like having a big huge balcony, just a few steps more than an actual balcony cabin. We loved those cabins as you could hang out there and be only a few steps back to the cabin and a bathroom. Only thing we noticed on one of the cruises is that you are under a hot tub, and for some reason it seemed that it started every day at 7 am, but after a day or two we were used to it and it really wasn't that bad to begin with. I'd try to get something on Aloha aft and make full use of that back deck.

[Hulagirl]

To the OP! Be glad you didn't book that triple/quad cabin on the Sea Princess. It was truly the worst cabin we have ever had. Yes, those are our pictures that Toto posted. The Sun Princess and this cabin back in 1999 almost ended our cruising with Princess. It was so uncomfortable and cramped. The 3 of us hardly used the balcony as there was so little room, and our daughter was only 9 at the time, so not another adult size. We took these pictures on the Dawn Princess for a 1 night cruise. Was upgraded to this for free and decided to stick with it so we could take pictures and show what it actually looks like. It is so hard to believe there are cabins like this. Nowhere can you even store a suitcase.

 

I would take two insides over this any day on these ships, and I never sail without a balcony. But it just isn't worth it.

 

Have a good cruise and be thankful you didn't book this cabin.

[mek]

We've traveled with our grandkids and have done the OV for us and an inside across the hall for them. So much better, IMHO than 4 of you in the same cabin - the extra bath is priceless with kids. We did do a cruise with 3 of us in a cabin and even that was challenging with the bathroom setup; I finally gave up and used the shower in the spa most nights.