Those Horrid Aft Cabins

[leilow]

OK folks, I’ve seen all kinds of high praise and gushing banter tossed around on these boards about those mythical bits of nirvana often referred to as “Aft Cabins” (whispered with a reverent lowered voice). Let me set the record straight on this conspiracy and expose the truth about those hell holes called “Aft Cabins”.

 

 

1. These pits of despair really are at the back (“Aft”) of the ship. Imagine yourself on embarkation day, sea pass eagerly in hand with that magic stateroom number (the one you triumphantly hunted down and booked eighteen months ago). You run to the aft elevators, eyes shining in anticipation, hop off on the correct floor and turn towards the “Aft”. You skip down the hallway, carry-on luggage thumping behind, watching those numbers on the doors slowly increase. After ten minutes it’s more like a trudge than a skip, but it’ll be worth it. Thirty-five minutes later, you arrive breathless on wobbly legs at the magical door. Surely the spasms of pain from those calf cramps will subside in a few hours. Maybe a stop for sustenance at the Windjammer would have been a good idea before inspecting the cabin? Then you hear the announcement, muster drill is in ten minutes. Where’s your station? Way back up there by the elevators? Oh Noooo.

 

 

2. They expect you to sleep right above those thrashing, multi-ton blades of death called propellers. Soothing vibrations my a**…might as well strap the mattress on top of a rock crusher from the local pit mine. Got any loose fillings? They’ll be gone in a week.

 

 

3. Is it a balcony or a slag heap? These “Aft Cabins” are all about the balconies. A few flakes of soot here and there are a small price to pay for the magnificent balcony, right? It’ll be OK, black lung doesn’t kill immediately and I’m sure no one will notice the black streaks on your shorts and tee shirt from that first nap on the slag-o-lounger.

 

 

4. Always wanted to ride the Cyclone at Coney Island for seven days straight? You’re in luck! You booked a room at the very end of the teeter-totter. Sorry, the bed does not have seat belts…just keep a death grip on the edge of the bed and you’ll be fine. You remembered to bring that big bottle of meclizine, right?

 

 

5. Too tired to make that looong trek for a sandwich and a cookie at the Café Promenade? How about some room service? No problem, a quick call, then settle down with a good book. Perhaps “War and Peace” would be appropriate, it’s going to be a while before room service finds you. Remember to tip the wait staff well, they lost three pound of body weight bringing you that sandwich.

 

 

There you have it folks. It’s all a conspiracy by the cruise lines to fill the most depraved quarters on the ship and to have them booked more than a year in advance! Save yourself, call your travel agent now, get on the computer, change that “Aft Cabin” reservation to a nice civilized balcony on the “Hump”. In a most magnanimous gesture, I herby vow to suffer and submit to the terrors of the “Aft Cabin” to save the rest of you from the horrors described above.

 

 

Thank you for your attention, your regularly scheduled programming will now resume.

[Lost_in_BC]

Thank you for your public service. I concur. Afts.... they are terrible, just terrible.....:D

[Spring Valley]

So, do you have an aft cabin for your upcoming Jewel cruise?:rolleyes::D

[Razman69]

...I can't conclude whether you are being sarcastic or serious with this post... my sarcasm detecto meter must be broken...

 

We've sailed aft cabins on three occaisions (Carnival and Princess and loved it!) and will sail the AOS in three days with an aft cabin also, this isn't what I wanted to hear this close to my sailing date...

 

Woe is me....

[leilow]

So, do you have an aft cabin for your upcoming Jewel cruise?:rolleyes::D

 

I must admit, to save anyone else from being seduced by the evils of Cabin 9256, I have humbly volunteered for certain misery.

[stevesaunders]

We have the aft balconies for two upcoming cruises in 2013: stateroom 9692 for the February 17th sailing of the Explorer of the Seas and 1690 for the April 14th sailing of Adventure of the seas. Imagine the depths of my self-loathing.... :D

[cb at sea]

Some love 'em....some hate 'em......something for everyone!

[Spring Valley]

I must admit, to save anyone else from being seduced by the evils of Cabin 9256, I have humbly volunteered for certain misery.

 

Nice choice, way to take one for the team!:D

[BecciBoo]

Yes, a pitty, but I'm am one of those who would be willing to sacrifice myself for the good of my fellow cruisers....just let me know if you need help! I already helped out some poor slob for our Alaska cruise...he begged and begged and we finally relented to take 9256 off his hands!

[sleepless]

I did sacrifice once, a couple of years ago on the Explorer - it was a corner aft on the highest deck. The balcony was so large, DH and I could not have a conversation without yelling. I was also saddened by the amount of furniture that was stored on the balcony: a couple of chairs, a nice size table and TWO LOUNGERS. Imagine how badly we felt knowing that others were deprived of those coveted loungers. We begged our room attendant to remove them, but he refused stating that they had to be stored somewhere. As already stated, the walk alone wore us out. We suffered so badly, that we vowed that if we ever went on the Explorer or a ship from the Freedom class, we would take that same cabin in an instant, to protect our fellow cruisers from the experience we had.

[frito58]

I have had 1688 on the AOS booked for over a year because the afts are terrible and nobody wants them , but I took it so nobody else would have to suffer through it for a week :rolleyes::rolleyes::p

[Darkwolfe]

Ya left off your "/sarc" tag lol.. :)

[stretchcruz]

Horrid, horrid, they are awful.....our friends and I decided to take 7652 and 7152 on the Vision on Jan 4 just to spare anyone else the pain. We have been in those cabins at least 4 times before, on the same ship, and they were so horrid that we didn't want anyone else to suffer the same way we did, so we decided to take them off the market for our 10 day cruise.

[MargaritaPlease]

Thank you for your attention

 

I'm with you buddy. I don't get it either. The need to feel "special" by booking an inferior location totally escapes me.

[cynalan]

To each their own. We;ve had aft cabins on numerous cruises and love them. We find sitting on the balcony overlooking the wake a very soothing experience.

[ASeaPrincess1]

Oh, GREAT! Now you tell me! :eek:

I have always been in the Hump cabins. Booked my first aft for 2014.

Guess I will be suffering!:D:D

[MavisMarie]

Yep, those aft cabins are, indeed, horrible places to end up....no one should ever even consider booking one. By the time you finally get all the way to your door, you're too tired to do anything else the rest of the cruise except get in that sagalounger and call for room service. What a life. :D

To the OP: I really enjoyed reading your post.

[wwcruisers]

And you left out the most important detail about the aft cabins --- they're HAUNTED! :eek: ;)

[KittyCat1Million]

I agree with the OP. I myself have several aft cabins booked for my cruises over the next year. But I guess I am just a masochist. I will be especially punishing to myself on my Jewel aft cabin. The aft cabins on the Radiance Class are the WORST!

[138east]

On one of my solo cruises in Feb I had to switch from an inside to an aft balcony on the EX in order to save money. With the diamond balcony discount the aft balcony was cheaper than an inside. Every time I do that walk I'll have to remind myself of the sacrifices I have to make in order to cruise more often.

[darla723]

I must admit, to save anyone else from being seduced by the evils of Cabin 9256, I have humbly volunteered for certain misery.

 

We are indeed kindred spirits, as I have also booked dreaded 9256 for our 30th anniversary cruise in July '13.

 

We have never taken one for the team before (no afts in our past 8 cruises), so we figure we'll step up and take this cabin off the market, at least for this cruise.

 

You're welcome ;)

Doreen

[BillOh]

...I can't conclude whether you are being sarcastic or serious with this post... my sarcasm detecto meter must be broken...

 

We've sailed aft cabins on three occaisions (Carnival and Princess and loved it!) and will sail the AOS in three days with an aft cabin also, this isn't what I wanted to hear this close to my sailing date...

 

Woe is me....

 

He was using reverse psychology to make it easier to book his next AFT. I'm a humper myself. ;)

[Clarea]

he was using reverse psychology to make it easier to book his next aft. I'm a humper myself. ;)

tmi!;)

[karena1]

I have had one aft balcony on Liberty, and honestly, was not all that thrilled with it. Yes, balcony is bigger, but we don't spend all day on our balcony anyway. Looking over the balcony, all we saw was someone else's balcony, I like seeing water when I look over by balcony

 

And while I walk a lot, I thought the walk was very long also. Told my sis right away my husband would hate that walk every time we had to go to the cabin.

 

That is why we like our hump balconies or balconies as close to the center as possible. Close to the elevators and everything you need. I still get plenty of workout by going to the gym every day and walking the stairs when not with my husband

 

There are a lot of people that love the aft balconies, but I will stick with my center hump on any ship possible.

[emmacruises00]

Thank you for your public service. I concur. Afts.... they are terrible, just terrible.....:D

 

I actually don't think aft cabins are that bad, BECAUSE... on one of our last minute cruises, our family of six (including grandparents) had to split up into 3 cabins because that was the only way we would get to go. So 2 of us had this great position midship, 2 of us had the terrible aft position, and 2 of us had THE WORST forward position. My mom tells me stories of that cruise (I was midship :) ). She said that every port day the anchor would wake them up at 4:00 A.M. and the crew was very noisy in the morning. That was the nice, summed up way of telling it. You don't want to know the details :) . Just book midship, and you'll be fine :) LOL.