Choice between rear balcony on back of ship or mini-suite on Golden ~ Please help!!

[Ocruise]

Hi all. For our 2005 Southern carribbean cruise, we decided to go with the Golden Princess. We are about to book & I have a choice between cabins.

 

What would you select between the following:

 

Aft Balcony Cabin (on the rear of the ship, I hear this is a wonderful spot for a balcony, that these spots go quickly)

Caribe Deck C752 or C753 (BB category)

 

-or-

 

AD category Mini Suite Emerald Deck - cabins # E729, E727, E725, E723

 

Here is my decision, what i'm wrestling with;

 

I have always been curious about a baclony in the back part of the ship, where you can see the wake

 

But we live in an apartment with a shower, and the mini suites have tubs. To me soaking in a tub is such a luxury! I feel like i'm deciding between a gret spot & a tub!

 

Please help with any advice,

 

Marina

[sue d. miller]

If you send me your email, I'll send you a pic of the balcony. suemiller87@aol.com

 

Sue

7 days on Star Princess 10/24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sue d. miller]

If I had the choice I would take the balcony in a heartbeat. It is a BB aft and there are very few of them. They book fast and are the secret of Princess. Very inexpensive for an aft balcony. You are surounded by suites.

 

Sue

7 days on Star Princess 10/24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Toto2Kansas]

On Princess ships, definitely the mini suite everytime. The tub, the sitting area, the minis are great. The balcony cabins are so small, if the price were comparible, the mini suite would win out no matter where it was located.

 

Tahitian October 14th,2004

[skarletohara]

We had a balcny cabin on the Star on Caribe deck. Smaller room, smaller bathroom, huge

balcony and then we had a Vista suite on the

back of the Golden in December. It was wonderful! We loved being on the back of the ship. You can sit out there all night long if you want and no wind You're so protected from the elements. We didn't get to enjoy our balcony on caribe nearly as much because of the wind.

Getting ready to book Princess # 3 and we're going for the mini-suite though. The bathrooms are nearly twice as large as the bathrooms in the regular balconied cabins.

That being said, the tubs weren't what I'd deem

"soaking" tubs. You're dealing with small bathrooms here, so keepin mind that there IS a tub, but it seemed very petite, for lack of a better word. Of course we were comparing the tub to the tub in the Vista Suite which was a deep soaking tub.

If anything, I think it's advantagous to have the mini just for the shower being twice as big as the other ones in the BD through BA's

which mean a shower curtain adhering to your body throughout the whole shower!

One other thing I might add. When on the back

of the ship, hardly any noise from neighbors.

We were on Emerald deck, so there was no one beneath us.

But when on the sides of the ship, big time lack of privacy and LOTS OF SMOKE drifting up

and over, so that is a definite advantage to being on the back, less noise for sure!

We slept with the door open every single night to hear the ocean.

 

Carnival Holiday 6/92

RCCL Monarch of the Seas 6/94

Celebrity Infinity 6/28/01

Star Princess 2/08/03

Golden Princess 12/06/03

[AmyinGA]

I'd go for the mini. I did enjoy the larger bathroom and tub. The tub isn't large, but it's adequate. We just had a balcony room and we really missed having the sofa and extra storage. That is a great location for a balcony, but if you like the bigger bathroom I'd go for the mini.

[PeabodyNVL]

Marina -

 

E729 is the cabin I am in on my May 9th cruise. It has the bonus of an extended balcony. I'd try that one, plus having the extra space of the mini-suite and larger bathroom is nice.

 

Pea

 

5/9 Golden Princess  

[stevel45]

I agree with Peabody as we also have E729.

This cabin has a balcony that is extended so

you can view the aft as well as the side.

This cabin is sometimes refered as a corner

cabin.

Steve

 

Majesty 9/94

Grand 2/01

Summit 2/02

Mercury 2/03

Galaxy 8/03

Summit 2/04

Golden 6/04

Summit 2/05

[39august]

Take E 729. This is a highly desirable cabin and, along with E 728 on the other side of the ship, has been discussed many times on this board. Besides the above mentioned perks of this cabin, is the fact that the balcony is covered as are all minisuites on Emerald deck. All the minis on other decks are open balconies which other cruisers can see down into. We've enjoyed E 728 on both Golden and Grand.

[dexter]

We've never had an aft cabin on Princess, but we had one on Constellation and Glory and believe me you won't regret getting one if you can. They are always the first cabins to go. I booked early and was able to get both those. The balcony on the Glory was wraparound. The one on Constellation was big enough for two tables, four lounge chairs, and two regular chairs. I wish on I would could get one on my upcoming Caribbean Princess cruise, but they are all gone. Take the aft!

[doctrd]

In process of booking Golden and was interesting to read input here. Guess you can't tell from ship layout all these details. So cabins E729 and E728 have view aft also? Does this apply to all the end cabins, ie D733, C743, B745?

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/doctrd

 

 

Paradise 3/04

Destiny 11/03

Destiny 3/03

Voyager of Seas 11/99

Paradise 7/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 4/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 11/98

Imagination 7/98

Fantasy 7/97

[PeabodyNVL]

Doctrd -

 

E728 and E729 mini-suites don't have full direct aft views...they are the last cabins on the Emerald deck on the sides of the ship, port and starboard. Only balcony and full suites are on the aft. But, you get slight aft views, a larger, covered balcony and the extra space of a mini-suite.

 

Pea

 

5/9 Golden Princess  

[Socal404]

What about the motion in a cabin aft?

 

Panama Canal Cruise

 

[Toto2Kansas]

Socal, There is a bit more motion back there I have to admit. We have sailed in E728 abd E729 on the Grand Class. If motion bothers anyone, this is not the cabin for you, but find one more midship.

 

Tahitian October 14th,2004

[goodtome2]

Doctrd,

Thanks for your "pics" of grand suite. My

wife and I have this suite on the CP for next

year. I am wondering if the layout will be

similar to "the Grand". ***We love the back

of the ship----we may not leave the room or

the balcony all week.

CP 4/9/05

[doctrd]

goodtome2

 

I am looking at the latest brochure from Princess, and they list the deck plans for Grand/Golden/Star as exactly the same plans. Well I know the Grand was totally different. There were 2 Grand suites, midship on the lido deck. The view in the brochure shows only 1 Grand suite, aft. The layout does not look the same. I don't see any hot tub on the deck plan as we had. But nice big deck on the newer ships, aft view, and that table with 6 chairs looks useful.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/doctrd

 

 

Paradise 3/04

Destiny 11/03

Destiny 3/03

Voyager of Seas 11/99

Paradise 7/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 4/99

Grand Princess (Grand Suite) 11/98

Imagination 7/98

Fantasy 7/97

[cbreit]

I would definitely take the balcony on the aft!!! Had one last year on a Carnival ship and absolutely loved it! This year we were on the port side, it just wasn't the same...

 

Grand Princess