balcony use on a TA in April

[sanjim]

Hi, I am thinking about doing the TA in early April on the Eurodam. Thinking about a balcony, however I was thinking it may not be warm enough to use it much while crossing the Atlantic. Any suggestions or comments , Thanks in advance

[1of4]

Difficult to predict the weather for any cruise. But when I did a TA across from Barbados to the Med it was beautiful sunny and definitely balcony weather. So if the weather is good it can be beautiful.

[doublebzz]

A lot will depend on the wind direction. If it is coming from astern or the opposite side of your balcony, it will be very pleasant. Also, depends on the route to some degree. Although its unpredictable, we have done about six April crossings and always got, at least, some use of our balconies.

[Hlitner]

I guess my first reaction would be to ask if you enjoy cigarette and cigar smoke, because that is always a possibility on any HAL cruise when on your balcony. A to the weather, we have done more then a dozen spring crossing and the only certainty about the weather is that it is uncertain :). The Eurodam is doing what I like to call a "medium route" in that it is not really Southern (i.e. to the Canaries) or Northern (i.e. to Amsterdam) but just in-between. These crossings are the most unpredictable regarding temps and you might get days in the 70s...or they could be in the 50s. So you need to pack layers.

 

Would we book a balcony on this cruise? Probably not....unless it was a very good deal (not much more then an outside cabin). But our reasoning would be more about the potential smoke rather then weather concerns.

 

Hank

[sanjim]

thanks for all the quick answers, Hank you got me thru Europe a few years ago, There is nothing worse than a smoker to a smoker that quit

[jtl513]

You could play a little roulette: book a C guarantee. If you get a free upgrade to a balcony and the weather is poor, well you've only paid for an Outside anyway. If no upgrade, you've still got a nice location on the Main deck, center. :D

[WisRiver]

We have taken three TA cruises two westbound and one eastbound on HAL. On our first westbound in October on the Nieuw Amersterdam, we had a balcony on the right hand side of the ship. This meant we were in the shade. It was a great cabin and we used the veranda a lot. There was never a problem with smokers because of the air movement, even when we in the lee. The only time we could smell smoke was when we were docked, but we were usually off the ship. On our next two crossings we chose the shady side of the ship. We had a couple of stormy days on each trip, but we liked the shady side, and smokers were not an issue.

[johnmik1]

We did the crossing on Nieuw Amsterdam last April and except for the first and last few days the balcony was very cold and windy.This year we booked a cabin on the stern so we could avoid the wind.

Edited February 13, 2015 by johnmik1

[Lance881]

Hi, I am thinking about doing the TA in early April on the Eurodam. Thinking about a balcony, however I was thinking it may not be warm enough to use it much while crossing the Atlantic. Any suggestions or comments , Thanks in advance

 

I am also on that ship. For maximum sun on the balcony and therefore maximum warmth select a cabin on the starboard side. (right side facing forward) The sun will always be to the south.

[ris_scot]

We also did the TA on NA last year and enjoyed our balcony. That said from Scotland we thought the weather was still very nice for most of the crossing.

 

We enjoyed it so much last year we are doing the same route in April on the Eurodam. Balcony again.

[Folk Singer]

Enjoy your Balcony and the TA.

[OCruisers]

While we never use our balcony very often, we always want to have one.

It's nice to be able to step directly outside from our cabin when we wish. :)

LuLu

[Hlitner]

thanks for all the quick answers, Hank you got me thru Europe a few years ago, There is nothing worse than a smoker to a smoker that quit

 

Thanks for the kind words. Ironically, last spring DW and I had planned on taking a HAL TA cruise so we could get to Europe for a lengthy driving trip in France. At nearly the last minute (the day we were going to book) we changed our mind and booked the Ruby Princess (28 days) which made it possible for us to jump off the ship in Le Havre..one day early (the cruise went on to Southampton). The deciding factor in switching from HAL was the difference in smoking policy (no balcony smoking on Princess). We loved the Ruby (our first Princess cruise in about 4 years) and made us move Princess back to near the top of our preferred cruise lines (HAL is now at the bottom of the list).

 

We did take a fall cruise (38 days on the Oosterdam) across the Pacific where we had a balcony with few smoke issues (we got lucky). On that cruise we went ahead and booked this July's Voyage of the Vikings Cruise. But over the following few weeks we had 2nd thoughts. It is an expensive cruise and we did not want to gamble on the smoke issue. So, for the first time ever, we cancelled a booked HAL cruise (which got us 2 phone calls from Seattle asking why). What is interesting is that despite having more then 300 days with HAL, the only time we have ever had a phone call from HAL was when we cancelled thatt cruise :). We did explain why, and they responded they were familiar with the "smoking issue."

 

Hank

[doublebzz]

I thought there was a single thread that dealt exclusively with smoking issues.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

You could play a little roulette: book a C guarantee. If you get a free upgrade to a balcony and the weather is poor, well you've only paid for an Outside anyway. If no upgrade, you've still got a nice location on the Main deck, center. :D

 

That is a good idea...

[Barrheadlass]

I went on a eastern bound TA last April (Miami to Barcelona) and we got a lot of use out of our balcony. Loved it.

[debsjc]

We did a Northern TA in August, and booked a retreat cabana for the cruise, thinking it would be warm enough. We did use it, but most of the time we were wrapped in 2 blankets up there!

[knittinggirl]

We may not go out on the balcony much, but we really prefer it for the floor to ceiling windows.

[PathfinderEss]

We may not go out on the balcony much, but we really prefer it for the floor to ceiling windows.

 

I agree, I say get a balcony.