Magic Cloud 9 Spa Balcony???

[gambler]

Booked this cruise last week in a balcony room on the 8th floor. Found out that deck 5 extends out so what you look down on from your balcony is lounge chairs and spas, not the water. My friend lives on the balcony and is not too happy. Looking at upgrading to one of these rooms forward on deck 11, Panorama. The spa stuff will be nice but does anyone have pictures and/or tell me more about the balconies on this floor? Will this be a better choice?

Thanks

[firefly333]

Even a cheaper cove would be a better choice .. or even move a lot more forward or aft to avoid the non private areas of the deck you booked on. I would move though.

[k2excursion]

I agree about the cove. Those are the best for privacy, and being so close to the water would be amazing. But if you're under Early Saver, they don't let you downgrade. I've got tons of pics of the Magic and the spa in my review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1603329. We did a spa interior, which also includes the spa extra. It was nice to have, since we were there on a crazy Spring Break week. I got to visit a deck 12 balcony on Magic's sister ship, Dream. The lanai doesn't seem to be much of a factor from that height. Yes, you can see it way down below, but it's not nearly as big of an obstruction as it is from decks 6 & 7. From deck 11 or 12, the people on the lanai won't be able to see you unless you're leaning over the railing of your balcony. If you think of your view from the balcony, from top to bottom, as being 180 degrees, the lanai takes away over 45 degrees of your view from a deck 6 balcony (and more for those above a hot tub). But from deck 11 & 12, it's probably only about 5 degrees.

 

You can check out that review, where I explain the spa stuff in more detail, mainly in posts 3 & 18. But here are some pics of what's included with the room. The therapy pool:

 

There are 4 rooms that are like fancy saunas, but are various temps & scents. This is the least hot of the 4 rooms:

 

This is the same room, with the door to one of the really hot rooms straight ahead. The special shower is off to the right, which was also really nice for rinsing off, and has a scented mist setting.

 

This room is a little hotter than the one in the last 2 pics, and was my favorite. The other really hot room is through the door straight ahead. I still remember the scents from these rooms. I really enjoyed them, but that therapy pool seems to be the most popular thing for most people.

 

I took this pic to show what somebody on the lanai can see. Deck 6 balconies are right above; very little privacy. Deck 7 is also not too good. Deck 8 is not nearly as bad, and on up to Deck 11, which I can't really see any part of the actual balcony.

[gambler]

Thank-you. Just what I wanted to see, a picture looking up from that deck. Loved your review and the great pictures too.

[ChefSusan]

Booked this cruise last week in a balcony room on the 8th floor. Found out that deck 5 extends out so what you look down on from your balcony is lounge chairs and spas, not the water. My friend lives on the balcony and is not too happy. Looking at upgrading to one of these rooms forward on deck 11, Panorama. The spa stuff will be nice but does anyone have pictures and/or tell me more about the balconies on this floor? Will this be a better choice?

Thanks

The one thing that convinced us to book our Cloud 9 Spa cabin on Magic a year ago was the fact that smoking is not allowed anywhere - not even the balconies. We loved that unlimited visits to the spa's thalassotherapy pool, steam rooms, saunas, and the heated recliners were included in the price of the cabin, plus we also got priority booking at the spa, and we also each got two complimentary fitness classes. We also got upgraded linens, towels, bathrobes, slippers (that were nothing to write home about), and there were samples of Elemis products that were available in the Spa. If we ran out of these products, they were immediately replaced by our cabin steward.

 

We also loved that we could not hear anything from the chairs on Deck 5, and that the hallways were quiet for the most part. We were also much closer to the Serenity deck, so if we felt like chilling out there - and we could find a couple of loungers or clam shells - we would go there instead of the pool area.

 

Every day, after a long day touring Italy's fabled cities, we would retreat to the Thalassotherapy pool for about 30 minutes to relax our sore muscles, and then would hop on a heated recliner for about 10-20 minutes and chill out. We are not sure if wine glasses were allowed, or else we would have brought a bottle of wine with us!

 

I say if you can make the switch, and you feel as though you will use the spa amenities on a daily bias, then do it and switch cabins.

 

Best of luck with your decision!

[gambler]

Thanks for the info, we just changed to the Panorama deck 11. Do you have any pictures of these balconies? Thanks

[Sameday]

We did the same thing for our cruise on the breeze this summer. Switched from a deck 7 balcony to a deck 11 spa balcony. Only cost $100 more after price drops. We did have to switch to a past guest fare so no more daily visits to the fare checker.