Pete69 Posted November 9, 2013 #1 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Hi Guys, Just wanted opinions on is it worth paying $1500 more to upgrade from oceanview to balcony for the panama canal cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted November 9, 2013 #2 Share Posted November 9, 2013 I am banking on a no answer. We leaving Tuesday on Legend for a Panama cruise and for the first time since 2010 we will have an inside cabin. The difference in price for us was well over $3000. I figure for the canal I will be moving around on the ship to get different views so I will be ok for the transit. Don't need the balcony while in port as we will be off ship. But I will miss it on at sea days. :( But the balcony price was a deal breaker and we we really wanted to take this trip so I am sure we will be happy without it. :) Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted November 9, 2013 #3 Share Posted November 9, 2013 By far the best views of the Panama Canal are from the open decks. Be sure to view the canal from all sides of the ship including bow, aft, port and starboard and from different levels. As to the balcony, it all comes down to your budget. It is not necessary. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillB48 Posted November 9, 2013 #4 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Booking a balcony cabin just for your transit of the Canal is as you have seen a bit pricey. I would only recommend you book the balcony if it is important to you for the remainder of cruise. Spending too much time on your balcony during your transit, as attractive as that may sound can cause you to miss things you have traveled a long way to see. Let me provide you with an example... say you are all comfy on your starboard side balcony enjoying the sights... look at what you would miss on the port side... How neat is that? A little 19th century tech passing through a 20th century enterprise in the 21st century, kinda brings it all together! Best advice for your transit is to be out where you can see whatever is of interest. Things move at a pretty gentle pace at the Canal and you will have time to take it all in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedish weave Posted November 9, 2013 #5 Share Posted November 9, 2013 (edited) Don't waste the money for a balcony !!! Since you are already booked, this advice is for others. Look into a cabin in the 700 series on either the Coral or Island Princess on a deck that has the viewing areas fore and aft. Those ships have access to the small outside decks and are seldom crowded. The 700 series cabins are just a few steps from the exit to outside. They have lounges on the aft decks that are better than having your own balcony and are very lightly used except when transiting the canal. Edited November 9, 2013 by swedish weave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete69 Posted November 10, 2013 Author #6 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Thanks for the info guys - I haven't booked as yet so definatly something to consider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard in Panama Posted November 10, 2013 #7 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Balcony may have nice advantages on a cruise generally, but for the Canal you aren't going to want to be in your stateroom but out and about all over the ship for the ultimate Canal experience. You get different perspectives from all over the ship, so plan to move about. Regards, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle_and_hawk Posted November 11, 2013 #8 Share Posted November 11, 2013 We have a balcony room booked on the Coral for our upcoming trip in February. We plan on being up on deck with everyone else during the transit through the locks and not just see one side from the balcony. Same thing can be said for an Alaskan cruise through Glacier Bay as you would miss 1/2 of the scenery when it's passing by on both sides. That being said, if you like spending other time on the balcony then it might be worth the cost to you. We won't sail in room without a balcony. One of us may get up earlier in the mornings and a great place to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the world go bye. While we may or may not spend much time on it, it's an option we want available. David & Ellen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnjrockette Posted November 11, 2013 #9 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I am banking on a no answer. We leaving Tuesday on Legend for a Panama cruise and for the first time since 2010 we will have an inside cabin. The difference in price for us was well over $3000. I figure for the canal I will be moving around on the ship to get different views so I will be ok for the transit. Don't need the balcony while in port as we will be off ship. But I will miss it on at sea days. :( But the balcony price was a deal breaker and we we really wanted to take this trip so I am sure we will be happy without it. :) Bill We booked an Oceanview because the price was nearly $3000 for a balcony:( I KNOW I will miss the balcony but the price was a deal breaker. Will miss it for the at sea days as well. Report back on how you managed! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlatrice Posted November 11, 2013 #10 Share Posted November 11, 2013 What about an aft balcony? Does that make a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Aurora Posted November 12, 2013 #11 Share Posted November 12, 2013 What about an aft balcony? Does that make a difference? We have done three full transits, and two were in aft balconies. While we love that aft view of the wake and so forth, we still were out and about on the decks during the canal transits. So I don't think that an aft balcony makes any difference on a Panama Canal cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCruisers Posted November 12, 2013 #12 Share Posted November 12, 2013 To us having a balcony is worth it. It's a long day and love being able to come back to our own balcony when we are tired. LuLu ~~~~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete69 Posted November 12, 2013 Author #13 Share Posted November 12, 2013 Thanks again everyone for the advise - definatly something to think about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSLeesburg Posted November 19, 2013 #14 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I looked at a few cruises on Legend, and most of the suites were gone, so no idea what they cost but they must be very popular. For 15 days on a ship, I want some leg room :D In terms of balcony, transit through the canal is only about 8 hours or so, right? And most of the full transit cruises are 12-15 days, so you will be spending a lot more time outside the canal than in it :). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChelseaSailor Posted November 27, 2013 #15 Share Posted November 27, 2013 We had a balcony on our canal trip on the Zuiderdam. We had breakfast on our Balcony while heading into the canal. We had finished breakfast as we approached the lock and went topside. We had plenty of time to see the boat lift and check everything else. Our side of the ship was on the landward side in the Ports of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. It was well worth having the balcony on those stops. We also took the Ferry excursion to the Pacific side and found that better then being on the ship for the locks. ChelseaSailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matondo Posted December 5, 2013 #16 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I think the consensus is you don't need a balcony to enjoy the Panama Canal. What you might want to consider is how much time you usually spend in your cabin. My DH can spend the whole day in there and only venture out for dinner. As a result we always get a balcony. I just took my first solo cruise earlier this month and had an oceanview room. Yes I missed my balcony but I could not justify the extra expense as I spend a lot of time NOT in my cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Crew News Posted December 9, 2013 #17 Share Posted December 9, 2013 What about an aft balcony? Does that make a difference? Just left the canal two days ago in our aft cabin. The view of a following ship much higher than you and just a few yards behind is amazing. When two-way lanes are working, connections to the trains are on the port side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilovesailing Posted December 13, 2013 #18 Share Posted December 13, 2013 (edited) I disagree we have done this cruise before and what you see forward you will see aft, we had the Queen Victoria right behind us all through the canal. I'm talking aft cabin over the wake where you have 180 degree views. And it beats running around from side to side with people 10 to 12 deep. There is also a reason why they are expensive and it's because they are in high demand. Our 2015 cruise which is a yera off has only two aft penthouse suites left out of 16 and only two aft balcony cabins out of 6. Edited December 13, 2013 by Ilovesailing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCWalton1 Posted December 13, 2013 #19 Share Posted December 13, 2013 I disagree we have done this cruise before and what you see forward you will see aft, we had the Queen Victoria right behind us all through the canal. I'm talking aft cabin over the wake where you have 180 degree views. And it beats running around from side to side with people 10 to 12 deep. There is also a reason why they are expensive and it's because they are in high demand. Our 2015 cruise which is a yera off has only two aft penthouse suites left out of 16 and only two aft balcony cabins out of 6. That was my fear going into our cruise but those types of crowds never materialized. Initially there were quite a few up forward when we first headed into Gatun locks but even that died out after an hour. I was more concerned on the lack of balcony for the at sea days as I enjoyed a good balcony with my Kindle. But we found on this cruise that tables were open every day in the shade on the pool deck so we spent from breakfast to late afternoon up by the pool on at sea days. It was nice to be outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Smokeyham Posted January 20, 2014 #20 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) I'm hearing a number of people saying that a balcony is not worth it for Panama Canal, but friends who went through the Canal on Disney said they had a balcony and were very glad of it. They said that the heat really was pretty oppressive, and the ability to step out onto their balcony to see something, and then to quickly step back into the air conditioned comfort of their cabin was much appreciated. They also said that the best viewing areas were pretty crowded at times, and it was difficult to see from there. Edited January 20, 2014 by Smokeyham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare PurpleHays Posted January 21, 2014 #21 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We booked a balcony for the other 13 days. I don't plan on spending much time on it while going through the locks as I plan to run all over the ship and take a gazillion photos, but I love to sit there on sea days and there are nine sea days on our full transit. As a rule, we usually get a balcony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciaran Posted January 21, 2014 #22 Share Posted January 21, 2014 My opinion definite yes Sent from my GT-P3113 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hvbaskey Posted January 21, 2014 #23 Share Posted January 21, 2014 We did the full transit with Oceanview, only. We were never in our room! We were all over the ship and viewed the Canal from many different view points. I have NO regrets of not having a Balcony. The decks were our balconies and we were thrilled with the views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marigold252 Posted January 29, 2014 #24 Share Posted January 29, 2014 We were just upgraded to a corner aft balcony 10 days out from sailing. We are looking forward to enjoying it immensely, thanks for all the positive comments! Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPacificbound Posted January 29, 2014 #25 Share Posted January 29, 2014 For us a balcony is an absolute. I booked aft cabins for our next five cruises so this will be our first aft, looking forward to it. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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