Aft-facing stern suites on Oosterdam

[twentyknots]

We are considering the Oosterdam later this year and are tempted to try one of the aft-facing stern suites. Here are the available cabins: 4180, 4185, 5190, 6177, 8140, 8147. The pool deck above deck 8 concerns me from a privacy standpoint and maybe noise. I don’t know about the other decks. I assume anyone on a deck above can look down to the lower deck. I know too on some ships not all wake cabins are created equal. Some may be covered, some not. Some may be more subject to noise, movement, and soot than others. Comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've had an aft corner on deck 8 and did not have problems with noise. It was an Alaska cruise, so maybe that meant fewer people by the outdoor pool. But even on glacier viewing days, there wasn't a lot of noise.

 

We've had deck 7 on various Vistas and loved it. Both 7 and 8 were a bit more than half covered, which is perfect for us. Never had soot issues on either of those decks. I think of the various decks, 6 has the smallest balconies, but I've never been on 6, so I can't swear to that.

 

If you want BIG balcony, grab the one on deck 5. It's enormous! It's also covered all the way to the edge. Most people love these. I was on 5 this winter, but I still like 7 better. I found with 5 being covered to the edge (and lower in the ship) meant it trapped the noise of the wake, which I noticed quite a bit compared to 7. Also, I like to stand at the rail and not be under a cover, especially at night to look at the stars. On the partly covered balconies, I feel like it's just me and the sea when I stand at the corner.

 

I think the room was larger on 5 than 7, but the NS are so big, it didn't make a difference to us.

 

Any aft cabin will be subject to more motion than midships in rough weather.

 

Except for 5, which is fully covered, your balcony is visible from the deck above, but only the outer part of it.

 

Hope this helps. Have you looked at pictures on halfacts?

[frankc98376]

5190 and 5191 are larger than the other aft wraps by a few sq feet inside. The balconies are amazing- could easily hold 40 people.

[twentyknots]

Thanks Kathy for the in-depth response.

 

I have not checked out the pictures but will for sure. Deck 7 does not have suites available and I'm a little leery of deck 8 because of it being just beneath the pool deck, so that leaves decks 4, 5, and 6 from which to choose. I like what you said about the size of the veranda on 5, but I think we'd like it partially covered.

 

Thanks again.

[twentyknots]

Thanks Frank and Loren.

I just looked at the pictures of 5190 on HALfacts and it's amazing. It looks as if the wrap around provides a sunny location. We do like mainly shade, but there are times when sun is nice too. My wife loves it. I think we'll book it tomorrow.

[RocketMan275]

Thanks Frank and Loren.

I just looked at the pictures of 5190 on HALfacts and it's amazing. It looks as if the wrap around provides a sunny location. We do like mainly shade, but there are times when sun is nice too. My wife loves it. I think we'll book it tomorrow.

 

Go for it, you won't be disappointed. We were in 5090 on Westy and 5191 on Oosterdam. We loved both of them. We found that at times the side wrap was not usuable due to wind but there was never a wind issue on the aft portion. We did not think the wake noise was an issue on either ship.

 

We particularly enjoyed having dinner there. We had room service from the Pinnacle Grill. Not as complete a selection but very adequate with the small steaks or small lobster or even the large lobster tails.

 

Being able to book one of these deck five aft wraps will be a major factor in our selection of cruise dates.

[DaveOKC]

I would take 5190 in a minute! We had over 40 people from our roll call on the deck one evening and it was not crowded.

 

The room is a BIT smaller than the conventional Neptunes, but not enough that we really noticed it. ,

 

Great place to have an in-suite dinner (little wind and great scenery).

 

Only negatives - long walk to the Neptune Lounge and Crows Nest. Also, I found the cabin attendants not to be as good as in a conventional Neptune, likely due to only 1 or 2 Neptune cabins in their group - several times we did not get Neptune mailings for example (and this happened on 2 different ships).

[CORealtor]

I agree! 5190 is by far the best choice! I have been on all of the Vista class ships in this cabin, and LOVE it!

[RenaeInCA]

We have had 5190 before and while it is mostly covered, we still got plenty of light in our suite. The balcony is VERY private, even from the upper decks. We were going to take 5190 again on our last cruise, but we decided to take an upsell to the PS. We've also had 7142 which was great because you're close to the Neptune Lounge. I wouldn't choose the 8th deck because of noise from the desk chairs being moved around and the lack of privacy from the Lido above.