balcony cabin for alaska

[steelhead1]

We have booked cabin A627 on the Island Princess for June 4th Alaska but would like opinions/advice as to whether cabin C705 which I have a hold on is a better choice. It looks like A627 is an uncovered balcony and C705 is half or so covered but is a mini suite thus more money. Is the part covered balcony and additional cost worthwhile for Alaska?

[satxdiver]

We have booked cabin A627 on the Island Princess for June 4th Alaska but would like opinions/advice as to whether cabin C705 which I have a hold on is a better choice. It looks like A627 is an uncovered balcony and C705 is half or so covered but is a mini suite thus more money. Is the part covered balcony and additional cost worthwhile for Alaska?

 

IMO no. Any sun that shines down on a balcony is welcome since it mostly is cool to cold most of the time (one evening I landed in Ankorage in July and the temperature was 95F!). Whether you are going north or south, just be sure to be on the land side of the ship. Those balconies tend to go first.

[Colo Cruiser]

We spend more time on the balcony in Alaska then any other place.

Regardless whether its uncovered or not. :)

[BRANDEE]

We have booked cabin A627 on the Island Princess for June 4th Alaska but would like opinions/advice as to whether cabin C705 which I have a hold on is a better choice. It looks like A627 is an uncovered balcony and C705 is half or so covered but is a mini suite thus more money. Is the part covered balcony and additional cost worthwhile for Alaska?

We used our balcony every day on our Alaskan cruise. It was worth every extra penny. Viewing Glacier Bay , however, should be seen at the top of the ship. Breath taking!!

 

We had a partial covered balcony and the sun is beautiful and warming on a cool day. Our TA was on the cruise with us. We were part of an escorted land and cruise tour with 140 cruisers. We were all booked on the starboard side going south, which is not facing the shore. Reason: we had sun from 10am to 10pm which made our balcony 25+ degrees hotter than the port side. This allowed us to read, play cards and eat on the balcony while floating by glaciers and waterfalls. We did go up on board to get pictures of the shore when docking, but the ability to use our balcony all day was great.

 

At first I thought we would only see water on the starboard side, but we were no more than 300 feet from glaciers and waterfalls. BTW we were on the Inside Passage Cruise.

 

Either way, this is the cruise to splurge on a balcony.

[steelhead1]

We used our balcony every day on our Alaskan cruise. It was worth every extra penny. Viewing Glacier Bay , however, should be seen at the top of the ship. Breath taking!!

 

We had a partial covered balcony and the sun is beautiful and warming on a cool day. Our TA was on the cruise with us. We were part of an escorted land and cruise tour with 140 cruisers. We were all booked on the starboard side going south, which is not facing the shore. Reason: we had sun from 10am to 10pm which made our balcony 25+ degrees hotter than the port side. This allowed us to read, play cards and eat on the balcony while floating by glaciers and waterfalls. We did go up on board to get pictures of the shore when docking, but the ability to use our balcony all day was great.

 

At first I thought we would only see water on the starboard side, but we were no more than 300 feet from glaciers and waterfalls. BTW we were on the Inside Passage Cruise.

 

Either way, this is the cruise to splurge on a balcony.

We are on the northbound Vancouver to Whittier with Glacier Bay and College Fjord glaciers so we are thinking we would really use the the balcony on those days and just thinking that if its raining the partial covered balcony would be nice, but at this point worth about 600.00 more?

[steelhead1]

moved to where?

[BRANDEE]

We are on the northbound Vancouver to Whittier with Glacier Bay and College Fjord glaciers so we are thinking we would really use the the balcony on those days and just thinking that if its raining the partial covered balcony would be nice, but at this point worth about 600.00 more?

When you get to Glacier Bay and College Fjord, you really have to go up on top to get a full view and "feeling". It was cold and windy but words can not describe the total view.

 

We did spend a lot of time on our balcony as we cruised. Surprisingly, our TA put us on the side of the ship not facing the shore, we were always told to take the shore for the view. But we had the side with 12 hours of sun, so our balcony was used to the max. When cruising the inside passage, there is land on both sides of the ship, but not towns. We did see glaciers and waterfalls and seals and whales and pippins and little icebergs. Partial cover does give you shade if it is too sunny and cover if it rains. On sea days we spend a lot of time on the balcony, too.

 

My husband still talks about out balcony experience on the Alaskan cruise. For us, it was money well spent. We cruised the Sapphire on the Carib deck (larger balcony with regular cabin).

Edited January 31, 2014 by BRANDEE

[BRANDEE]

I forgot to mention that when cruising into Glacier Bay , the ship does a very slow 360 turn.

[sunlover5]

Thank you so much! We have been researching Alaska for the last 6 months. We are planning on 1st part of June 2015. I have everything ready to book the second the dates open......but now I am going to rethink our balcony choice. My DH loves to use the balcony so makes sense to be on starboard for the sun!!! Thanks for pointing this out! Something to think about.....:D