So what do you think of aft balconies?

[Stockjock]

Never tried one, but considering it.

 

All things being equal, would you prefer aft or mid-ship?

 

What do you or don't you like about aft balconies (or even aft cabins in general)?

[Once Upon A Time]

We love the aft balconies.. The view of the wake, the sound, the privacy.. Perfect! We've never felt vibrations or uncomfortable motion and we've had aft cabins at least a dozen times...

[Thrak]

Had an aft balcony on Caribe deck on our last cruise. Wonderful. Nobody came down the hall but the few people with the aft balconies and the aft suites. We had the wake to look at from the balcony. Being on the stern there was no wind. With a balcony on the side of the ship you will always have that 25 - 28 knot wind due to the motion of the ship. On the aft-facing balcony we had no wind. My wife LOVED that stateroom. We paid a bit extra for the room (we actually turned down a mini suite for very little more) but it was well worth it. We would take that room again in a heartbeat.

 

We did feel a little bit of vibration but it was nothing that bothered us at all. Some people find the wake "noisy" but we loved the sound. The view was fantastic as you could see "forever" from the balcony. I got up in the night and sat on the balcony marveling over the giant moon shining on the sea and the wake.

 

Dang! This is killing me. I want to be there NOW!!!

[Ethel5]

What he said! :)

[iceleven]

I always loved our aft balconies which we chose for a couple of our Alaska cruises (not on Princess ships at that time) No excessive wind and the wake is hypnotic. Depending on the ship, there can be a bit of gritty pieces of ash from the smoke stacks. I believe there were several threads about this when Princess' new ship began sailing. I believe it has been fixed or will be.

[custompcsys]

I too have had an aft balcony on the Caribe deck and thought the balcony and the view were outstanding. My only issue was that there was definitely more movement in the aft location than midship, and in rough seas you will definitely feel the affects if you are prone to motion sickness. There is also a slight vibration and shimmy but nothing too obnoxious. On the upside, the balcony we had was huge and it was a great place to sit and relax. For my money though, I will take a midship location from now on. Been there, tried it, not for me :)

[Duck Duck Cruise]

I agree with all of the YES! responses. There is nothing like looking at the curve of the Earth at the horizon and seeing the past disappear behind you!

[Donder1]

Has anyone recently sailed on the Royal with an aft balcony ? Is the soot issue now resolved?

[dorisis]

Aft balcony on Carnival Legend was very long but same width as others. No cover so hot all day. Not worth what we paid extra.

[-Lew-]

We were in B749 on the Emerald in '07 for the Grand Med itinerary. The cabin itself is the same size as a typical balcony cabin. Due to the placement of the cabin, it is situated at a 90° angle to cabins along the sides of the ship.

 

The balcony is as large or larger than a typical Caribe deck balcony. However, it is fully covered. There is virtually no sun on the balcony at any time.

 

I am well aware the aft facing cabins are considered primo by many cruisers. For us, however, there are a number of reasons we just didn't enjoy that location on our '07 Grand Mediterranean:

 

• We did not like the completely covered balcony. I was aware of this when we booked the cabin, but I thought it wouldn't be an issue. I was wrong. We usually book a balcony cabin on Caribe deck and enjoy the large half-covered balcony.
   
   
  
• We did not like the placement of the bed in the cabin. It was placed so that rocking of the boat from side-to-side, actually rocked the bed from head-to-toe. It took us quite a few nights to become accustomed to this.
   
   
  
• The location of the cabin meant, when in port, we were facing the bow or stern of another ship. We really didn't enjoy much of a view anywhere along our itinerary.
  

Again, I know a lot of cruisers love this location. It's just not for us.

 

Lew

[onefine89]

We were in an aft mini-suite on the Sun Princess for a Panama Canal Transit and it was fantastic! As others have mentioned the views are amazing from the stern!

[lizinindy]

C752...(corner) your own private hallway to your cabin door, an expansive view because you see the side also. The sun poured in even though the balcony is covered from above so when we were in Alaska, I peeled down to my tank top. Our side balcony friends came over with windbreakers on and thought we were nuts........for about 5 minutes.

Quiet.

Sleep with the balcony door cracked to hear the ocean all night.

Worth every penny!

Once you do aft, you'll have a hard time with anything else.

[Colo Cruiser]

It is a great location! :D

[IdahoCruises]

We had an Owners Suite - B750 - for our 15 day Hawaii cruise last October.

 

Watching the wake is great! Service was impeccable. Room was awesome. Bed very comfortable.

 

Not much passenger traffic except those that had rooms there.

 

Although we had a beam running from ceiling to floor. it did not bother us at all.

 

Would book another aft in a heartbeat....

[Pythian]

Has anyone recently sailed on the Royal with an aft balcony ? Is the soot issue now resolved?

 

We had a aft balcony on the Royal during her TA from Ft L to Copenhagen. I suppose it depends on which way the wind is blowing and how fast the ship is sailing concerning the soot. We had one day with a noticeable amount and two days with a trace amount. The other 12 were clean. The cabin steward cleaned the balcony well on the days it needed it. No real issue. My only issue on the Royal aft balcony cabins was that we were on Caribe and didn't know that we would not have any overhang / cover on the balcony. All the other decks on the Royal aft did (and other princess ships) and the Caribe balcony was about 4 foot smaller than on the other decks.

We always take the aft when it is available - but probably not on the Royal Caribe deck (probably one of the others though!). You might not know where you are heading, but you always know where you've been. Great views!

Edited July 8, 2014 by Pythian

[sept10dsm]

We were lucky to have a corner aft balcony only once and it was wonderful. Although not on Princess, I just have to say how perfect it was for our Bermuda cruise! It was very large and just so neat to be able to watch the seas!

[PunkiC]

DH doesn't like them because of the limited view. He always says he wants to see where he's going, not just where he has been.

 

It was nice however when we were stuck at the dock in SFO for an extra four hours due to a missing crew member. We sat on our deck and watched the Oracle sail boats racing in the bay. That was fun.

[Jim Avery]

We are hooked on aft balconies. All the above good things apply here as well. No wind when underway (for the most part) when wind can make forward or midship balconies un useable. Go for it.:D

[Northender]

We love the aft balconies.:) We have been on the aft for at least 95% of our cruises.

 

As far as the Royal, we had an aft and the soot was a huge problem for us. No matter how often they cleaned the balcony, you just could not sit out there. :( This was on Caribe. We did get moved half way through our trip. Even tho we had a much smaller balcony, at least we could make use of it.

 

According to Princess at the time, there is nothing much they can do with the soot issue, but "we are working on it."

[2 to cruise]

Totally agree with all the above positive comments. We booked an aft Owner's Suite for our Anniversary cruise to Hawaii a few years ago. Now we are "hooked" - we book Vista Suites in the aft now and love it! The beam is not an issue and especially love no wind!

[shredie]

We have the first one for us booked in October on the Golden. Can't wait! (And this one I had to fight for.;) Curse the Upgrade Fairy!:p)

[thepie]

we were on the Emerald princess recently. had a aft cabin.. loved it. we were lower it was a lil noisy out on the deck and a few vibrations. but it was awesome anyway... we usually get aft cabins but sometimes they are a bit pricey.

[phillies fan]

We just returned from enjoying an aft balcony on an Alaskan cruise on the Crown Princess. It was nice not to have any wind as the ship was at sea and we enjoyed the view over the wake.

One other benefit is that there is very little "hallway traffic" at the aft end. We never heard passengers yelling up and down the hall to others, as has often been the case on other cruises.

The one downside is it is a long walk to the front of the ship, but we were never in a hurry.

[lovevacadays]

I sailed in an aft balcony - Aloha deck on the Sapphire. There was not anything I didn't like about it! I loved it! The wake view is amazing. I loved being able to go out the door at the end of the hall and be out on the aft deck by the aft pool and then a few steps up to the Horizon Court. I prefer aft cabins to mid deck because I spend so much time up on the Lido deck in the aft area.

[lovevacadays]

Had an aft balcony on Caribe deck on our last cruise. Wonderful. Nobody came down the hall but the few people with the aft balconies and the aft suites. We had the wake to look at from the balcony. Being on the stern there was no wind. With a balcony on the side of the ship you will always have that 25 - 28 knot wind due to the motion of the ship. On the aft-facing balcony we had no wind. My wife LOVED that stateroom. We paid a bit extra for the room (we actually turned down a mini suite for very little more) but it was well worth it. We would take that room again in a heartbeat.

 

We did feel a little bit of vibration but it was nothing that bothered us at all. Some people find the wake "noisy" but we loved the sound. The view was fantastic as you could see "forever" from the balcony. I got up in the night and sat on the balcony marveling over the giant moon shining on the sea and the wake.

 

Dang! This is killing me. I want to be there NOW!!!

 

Oh, your description made me want to find a cruise to book an aft cabin on and made me wish my November cruise was tomorrow!

 

I agree with all of the YES! responses. There is nothing like looking at the curve of the Earth at the horizon and seeing the past disappear behind you!

 

Love your description.