More info on AFT cabins please.

[Grandma7]

I had booked a C3 cabin for the TA on Reflection for Oct 2015, but now am wondering if I would rather have a C1 AFT. I have looked over the thread about S class cabins but have more questions.Some people have mentioned that some of these cabins have larger decks than others. Is this true. If so, then which ones. I also wonder if the soot problems I have seem mentioned are worse the higher the deck you go, or does it make a difference. How about fumes?Are they a problem?There seem to be several C1 cabins left and I had thought about waiting to see if price drops, but one comment I saw said this cabins are rarely discounted. Is this true? I know it is a long walk to these cabins, but the view of the wake seems very enticing. Thanks for any input.

[vulcan1971]

I had booked a C3 cabin for the TA on Reflection for Oct 2015, but now am wondering if I would rather have a C1 AFT. I have looked over the thread about S class cabins but have more questions.Some people have mentioned that some of these cabins have larger decks than others. Is this true. If so, then which ones. I also wonder if the soot problems I have seem mentioned are worse the higher the deck you go, or does it make a difference. How about fumes?Are they a problem?There seem to be several C1 cabins left and I had thought about waiting to see if price drops, but one comment I saw said this cabins are rarely discounted. Is this true? I know it is a long walk to these cabins, but the view of the wake seems very enticing. Thanks for any input.

 

 

Did you go out to the spreadsheet on the S class room sticky and look at reviews of aft cabins? Many of the questions you're asking are things that would be commented on by those passengers that stay in those rooms.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network using Tapatalk Pro

[patty1955]

Did you go out to the spreadsheet on the S class room sticky and look at reviews of aft cabins? Many of the questions you're asking are things that would be commented on by those passengers that stay in those rooms.

I surprised at how often that's the only answer to these type of question. Not all cabins are listed in the spreadsheet. I've been looking for the same information for 1407 on the Silhouette. I can't find any information and each time someone asks a question that might relate, the response about the spreadsheet seems to end the subject.

Fellow CC members, if you have checked the spreadsheet and it didn't help, please put that in your post.

[Grandma7]

Yes. I thought I noted I checked the thread (maybe I should have said threadsheet) It doesn't talk about prices not dropping latter (this was noted on another site) also regarding fumes or soot , I can't really see a correlation regarding deck levels.Does it help to be higher up?

[vulcan1971]

I surprised at how often that's the only answer to these type of question. Not all cabins are listed in the spreadsheet. I've been looking for the same information for 1407 on the Silhouette. I can't find any information and each time someone asks a question that might relate, the response about the spreadsheet seems to end the subject.

Fellow CC members, if you have checked the spreadsheet and it didn't help, please put that in your post.

 

Patty1955 -

 

Appreciate your comments, but your criticism isn't necessary. Sorry that your search for information on 1407 has been less than stellar.

 

All too often, when questions like this one are posted, various other posters do go to the "sticky" at the top of the page as well as the "spreadsheet" to see what kind of information is available, or if information is available at all, before they make these kind of comments. I know as I have done this on several occasions.

 

New people come to Cruise Critic every day and it takes a bit of effort to help those folks with learning about the various resources available. Given that this medium is not 3-dimensional, some comments, intended in good faith, may be taken or received by different audiences not in the manner in which it was intended by the person trying to help out. And some folks on here just seem to take everything said to them too personally, as if it was a personal attack.

 

 

Also, the amount of effort I put into a response depends on which device I am sending it from. It is much easier to send longer and more detailed replies (usually with more advanced thoughts) from a computer, but many times I am providing information from my mobile phone (on the fly) through a well known forum application called Tapatalk. I can use "voice to text" features, but still needs extra editing/review before I sent it out. One of its other faults (currently) is that I am unable to see how many posts a particular person has made on the Cruise Critic boards. However, post count is not an accurate determination (or indicator) of how "new" a person is to Cruise Critic versus someone that just "lurks" and does more reading but is not a regular/routine poster on the boards.

 

Yes. I thought I noted I checked the thread (maybe I should have said threadsheet) It doesn't talk about prices not dropping latter (this was noted on another site) also regarding fumes or soot , I can't really see a correlation regarding deck levels.Does it help to be higher up?

 

ledbetn -

 

In the spirit of "helping" you out as I don't know how much you use this forum or how well you know how to navigate the available resources, here is a bit of information I found just from searching the spreadsheet.

 

Specifically, there were 3 entries for Reflection C1 Aft cabins. Those cabins are 1218, 1222, and 1415.

 

Generally speaking, an Aft C1 on the other S-Class ships (Equinox, Silhouette, Solstice, Eclipse) are going to have the same kinds of issues/concerns that you are inquiring about on Reflection. While it won't be the "exact" room (or ship) you are staying in (sailing on), it will provide you with some understanding and knowledge about what to expect. With that said, I found entries on deck 9 for 9378, 9380, 9382. On deck 10, I found entries for 1407, 1409. On deck 11, I found entries for 1660, 1664, 1666, and 1673.

 

I won't regurgitate details, because you should spend the time reading them yourself and benefiting from using this very hand tool. However, the general consensus was that soot (in general) was never a problem or very rarely. It will sometimes depend on air currents and their direction of movement relative to the direction that ship is moving.

 

Your other questions/concerns on price drops and such are not something I can provide assistance.

[miataman19]

We had cabin #1222 on Reflection. If you look at an aft picture of any "S" Class ship you will notice that there are agroup of cabins that run down the middle that have larger balconies, about 4 ft. wider. Attached is a photo

[Lsimon]

If you look at a photo of the aft of the S class ships, like this one:

http://www.depping-design.de/test/displayimage.php?album=246&pid=8097#top_display_media

you will see that in the middle there is a vertical row of cabins (one per deck) where there is a wider space between the sliding glass doorways. This is because there is a cabin stewards' storage closet in the hallway which spaces the cabins further apart by a few feet. The cabins to the left of this extra space (as viewed from these aft photos) has their veranda extended a few feet to the end of this space. Other than that all the aft CC and Sunset veranda cabin verandas are the same size. There are no huge aft verandas like on the M class ships, although the S1 Sky suites on the aft corners of the S class ships have pretty wide verandas. A little work with the photos and a deck plan will help you identify the cabins with the wider verandas.

 

We were aft cabin fanatics on the M class ships as we loved the larger verandas and the aft view. We've had one aft veranda on an S class ship (a CC cabin on an Equinox's westbound TA in 2009) and did not like the aft cabin even though we had one of the wider ones. There was almost always soot falling on our veranda. We could not sit on the chairs without getting our clothing very dirty unless we covered the chairs with a clean towel. We tracked soot into the cabin and didn't like going out there barefoot because of the soot. There was very little privacy as the verandas are uncovered so about half of the depth could be seen from the floor above. Also we sometimes had water from the floors above raining down on our veranda because cabin stewards were hosing off the soot from the verandas and this sometimes occurred when we would have wanted to sit out there.

 

With all that said, reports of soot problems seem very intermittent. I don't know why but I'd guess it depends a lot on where the ship is traveling as to how much of their garbage is incinerated. I'd guess it also depends on ship speed and direction relative to the wind and weather. Many cruisers report no problems with soot and many love the aft verandas.

 

I also did not like the distance from the cabins to the closest elevator and staircase. Not a big deal but enough to bother me despite the fact that we're generally in good shape and walk long distances frequently for exercise.

 

Personally I would no longer book an aft S class cabin with the exception of the cabins on the highest deck which do have an overhang covering from the public area above.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Lsimon

[patty1955]

Patty1955 -

 

Appreciate your comments, but your criticism isn't necessary. Sorry that your search for information on 1407 has been less than stellar.

I'm sorry you read my comment as criticism. My point was that people need to be clear that they have checked the spreadsheet and need more information.

[Trainer]

We were on Eclipse last month in an aft balcony on Deck 7. No problems or issues with soot on the deck. The Cabin Steward had said to be careful but we never saw soot. Yes, the balcony is partly uncovered but the view outward is wonderful. I enjoy watching the wake as we travel, and the view when we go enter a port is often interesting. Since I don't do anything 'private' on my deck, the lack of cover is not a problem. I have posted my comments in the 'sticky' about S class cabins, but thought I'd reiterate it here.

The walk to lifts is a bit long but I view it as my exercise program.

[vulcan1971]

I'm sorry you read my comment as criticism. My point was that people need to be clear that they have checked the spreadsheet and need more information.

 

Patty1955 -

 

Since your comment directly quoted my post (see post #3), it does come across as criticism to me, especially since your comments went further to complain about (or discuss) how you feel when a similar action happened to you in other threads.

 

Regardless, if you were making your comment as a "general statement" with no intended target audience, you could have posted "without" quoting me and maybe (just maybe) I wouldn't have felt like I was the target. However, that is still a tough sell since your comments were regarding an action similar to what I had just done in this post.

 

Lastly, the OP was clear that they said they looked. I was skeptical that there was NO information about aft cabins so that is why I looked as well, after which I made my first post.

 

Most people find my posts very helpful, but as I made clear, this communications medium is not 3-dimensional and some folks still seem to find fault (perceived or otherwise).

Edited January 9, 2015 by vulcan1971

[QuakerBoy]

My 2 cents: aft cabins on M class are great, S class not as great simply because of the design of the ship with no aft elevators/stairs. It's a REALLY long walk just to get to or from elevators/stairs to get anywhere on the ship, every single time you leave or access your room. Go to the pool and forget your sunglasses, that could take 20 minutes.

[phoenix_dream]

It is fun to watch the wake of the ship, and that section of the ship tends to be more quiet as it is so far from the elevators. The negatives are the soot problems which occur sometimes, the very long walk to the elevators (which gets longer each day:)), and the extra motion that is felt the further fore or aft you get on a ship (bothers some, does not bother everyone). You also are subject to some side to side shaking motion (usually mild) at the very back of the ship (not always, but sometimes) which some find soothing and others find it adds to motion discomfort.

[vulcan1971]

It is fun to watch the wake of the ship, and that section of the ship tends to be more quiet as it is so far from the elevators. The negatives are the soot problems which occur sometimes, the very long walk to the elevators (which gets longer each day:)), and the extra motion that is felt the further fore or aft you get on a ship (bothers some, does not bother everyone). You also are subject to some side to side shaking motion (usually mild) at the very back of the ship (not always, but sometimes) which some find soothing and others find it adds to motion discomfort.

 

My partner has commented that a previous negative experience in an aft cabin (years ago) has kept him from wanting to book another aft cabin. I'm trying to convince him to sail in an aft balcony cabin for a future Alaska cruise we are starting to discuss. I hope I am successful.

Edited January 9, 2015 by vulcan1971

[happygran]

We just love the aft cabins............had them on the Eclipse & Equinox..........no soot.......quiet & a wonderful view. It was a walk to the lifts but it never bothered us...... would choose an aft cabin every time, given the chance.

Edited January 9, 2015 by happygran
spelling!

[phoenix_dream]

My partner has commented that a previous negative experience in an aft cabin (years ago) has kept him from wanting to book another aft cabin. I'm trying to convince him to sail in an aft balcony cabin for a future Alaska cruise we are starting to discuss. I hope I am successful.

 

I have had a couple of bad experiences as well, motion-wise. That said, sometimes I will bite the bullet anyway if the room is worth it and just pump up my meds. A lot depends on the itinerary. Does your Alaska cruise have a lot of time in open water (like the upcoming Solstice itinerary)? If so then an aft might be a dicey choice. If you are doing a one-way out of Vancouver or Seward, then there is really only one day that motion is often felt. Not a 100% guarantee there could not be others, but the odds would be in his favor.

[TKS]

We were in 9307, aft center on Solstice, sister of the ship you're looking at, two years ago. Loved it! So much, in fact, we booked it again and convinced six other couples to join us back there for an upcoming Alaska cruise. And, yes, the adjoining center cabin balcony was a bit wider, but not an issue for us. Since we were three cabins together on the last cruise, and seven this time (:D), the cabin dividers can be removed. We enjoyed the wonderful view with our friends with drinks/snacks on "our" balcony(ies). And, since you're at the end of the hallway, the noise level outside is virtually non-existent in aft cabins.

 

We had no problems with soot, fumes or downdrafts. The partially uncovered balcony didn't bother us, and the distance to the elevators was not a problem - just getting part of our 10,000 steps/day.

 

If you enjoy viewing the wake, you will love these cabins! You get to see twice as much as those on port or starboard, plus you get the bonus of the wake view! We especially enjoyed the view leaving ports - the receding panorama and the pilot boats heading back to shore - with adult beverages and snacks in hand:D.