Ideal Cabin Location

[Frogtog]

Just want to ask the veteran cruisers where the ideal Cabin location is. Aft, midship or bow? And is there a premium for these locations?

[LHT28]

personal preference

 

I prefer mid ship or aft  I find it too much motion in the bow for me

 

YMMV

[John Bull]

Mid-ships is the most stable, but whether that's important depends on your itinerary (outside the hurricane season the Caribbean is usually benign, in winter the North Atlantic can be pretty frisky), your luck with the sea-state, and how well you cope with the ship's movement.

If you don't know how you'd cope, play safe and go with mid-ships - and as low a deck as your ego will allow you. Higher decks attract a premium, but the higher you pay the more you sway.

LHT  says stern rather than bow, for the same reason.

Simple geometry tells me differently - but for whatever reason LHT is right.

 

Midships also means you don't have to walk from one end of the ship to the other for your dinner, a show, your favourite bar etc. And a lower deck is no less-convenient, it means you just press a different button in the elevator. 

 

I've not travelled on all cruise lines, but its been my experience that mid-ships is no more expensive for a same-grade cabin - but you'll find that mid-ships does get booked earliest and later bookings  flow from there to the extremities.

 

JB 

[Heidi13]

As others mentioned it is personal preference, but a number of factors can be considered. Since DW doesn't like ship movement we always book midships, on the lowest deck that has cabins below.

 

We never opt for the lowest deck that may have entertainment venues below, or the upper deck with sun deck above. Another area to avoid is below the Prom Deck.

 

In the Fwd cabins, in addition to increased motion, you may have noise issues/vibration from the anchor or whistle (navigating in restricted visibility). At the stern, the movement is less than the bow, but you may get prop noise and/or vibration. Note - this is significantly reduced with modern ships and due to lower speeds these days.

[Pyrate13]

We prefer forward Lido balcony but that's just us, others prefer different cabin types and locations. Only you can decide what's right for you.

[GeezerCouple]

And we strongly prefer a forward view, and preferably as high as possible.

(This is typically expensive, so we don't always get this location.)

 

Thus far, we don't mind the ship movement, and that includes one time last year when we literally could not stand up, and furniture was moving around.  We sort of crawled to the "safety of the bed", and decided to stay there until the worst was over, which was the next morning.  (The captain had announced in advance the rough seas, so we weren't worried about what was happening, etc.)

That time, we were also in a "location that gets a lot of movement", a high deck all the way aft.  (My understanding is that the same height at the forward part of the ship, such as above the bridge, would have had more movement, but we couldn't venture out to go check!)

 

GC

[cb at sea]

WE like something near stairs/elevators, and on the deck closest to the pool, as that is where the majority of my time is spent.  Life is easier if you are within a flight or two of your DAYTIME preferred spots on the ship.....that's when you tend to do most of your back and forth to the cabin...not so much at night.  Easier if you can use the stairs, rather than waiting on those little elevators...don't know why they make them so small!

[taglovestocruise]

Oasis Class deck 12 forward.

[Ashland]

Mid ship or a true aft (the corner's are amazing) and always try to make sure there are cabins above and below me and not a connecting cabin.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Frogtog said:

Just want to ask the veteran cruisers where the ideal Cabin location is. Aft, midship or bow? And is there a premium for these locations?

We prefer a low deck,mid ship

[leaveitallbehind]

Midships balcony staterooms near the main elevator banks on a mid level deck will put you most conveniently located to the upper pool / activities decks and lower restaurant / theater decks while affording an open air sea view from your stateroom.

 

Aft facing balcony decks are also desirable for their unique rearward view and typically larger balconies.  The only disadvantage is they require more of a walk to the elevators.

 

Both locations - in particular the midship - will reduce the affects of the up and down motion, which will be felt the most the farther forward and higher you are on the ship.  Side to side motion is the same throughout the ship, but is the motion that is minimized by the ship's stabilizers.

 

As mentioned, forward locations with feel the motion of the ship the most and with forward facing bow locations, there typically will not be a balcony.

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Midships balcony staterooms near the main elevator banks on a mid level deck will put you most conveniently located to the upper pool / activities decks and lower restaurant / theater decks while affording an open air sea view from your stateroom.

 

Aft facing balcony decks are also desirable for their unique rearward view and typically larger balconies.  The only disadvantage is they require more of a walk to the elevators.

 

Both locations - in particular the midship - will reduce the affects of the up and down motion, which will be felt the most the farther forward and higher you are on the ship.  Side to side motion is the same throughout the ship, but is the motion that is minimized by the ship's stabilizers.

 

As mentioned, forward locations with feel the motion of the ship the most and with forward facing bow locations, there typically will not be a balcony.

 

Some forward-facing cabins/suites definitely do have balconies.

In some cases, depending upon how they are sheltered, there can be a lot of wind when underway (also depending upon whether ship is heading into or is sailing "with" the actual wind).
We've never found the wind to be a problem.  If it's really windy, we just sit down, where it has been enough sheltered from the front of the balcony.

 

GC

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Some forward-facing cabins/suites definitely do have balconies.

In some cases, depending upon how they are sheltered, there can be a lot of wind when underway (also depending upon whether ship is heading into or is sailing "with" the actual wind).
We've never found the wind to be a problem.  If it's really windy, we just sit down, where it has been enough sheltered from the front of the balcony.

 

GC

 

Agree there are definitely some ships with them.  I was only saying many ships typically do not have them.

[MicCanberra]

Depends on the cruise (itinerary and length), the ship, the region, the prices when we decide to go. We have cruised insides and Suites and all the classes in between. If nothing else was a determinate, we pick sandwich deck balcony towards the aft.

[D&L Thomas]

I’ve had ALL the way forward, ALL the way aft, high decks, low decks, in between. Motion doesn’t bother us at all (and we’ve seen some high seas).

 

We often book GTY since it saves $$ and the whole ship goes the same places. Given a choice we pick mid-aft close but not too close to the passenger laundromat (Princess) and higher up to be closer to the Lido for morning coffee.

[SRQbeachgirl]

We like Lido Deck forward balcony cabins (or next deck up if we can't get Lido). We don't have trouble with motion and we like being so close to the action.

[ldubs]

I agree that midship & lower is generally the most recommended for lessoning the effects of ship motion. 

 

We prefer mid or rear not too far from elevator/stairs.  When I'm asked for preferences between choices, I typically look at egress as part of he equation.  

 

I think someone could go nuts looking for the "ideal" cabin location.   Make the best selection you can based on your budget.  I bet it will be terrific.  Enjoy!   

 

 

[MicCanberra]

I do like being down the corridor so that there is little to no passing traffic past our door.

[Joebucks]

I am not bothered by any rocking or anything like that. My biggest issue is actually elevators. I hate using them. It takes forever to come, then it's not unusual to be full or hit almost every floor on the way. I also do not prefer being in the front, because there tends to be less of what I want to do over there. So for me, generally aft or mid, and at least halfway up, if not higher. I like to use the steps when I can too to at least get some exercise.

[navybankerteacher]

Responses like “Lido Deck” or “Oasis Deck” are line- or ship-specific.   Most ships I’ve sailed have no passenger cabins on such decks.  That said, it always makes sense to refer to deck plans to find something convenient, but not too close, to elevators, something which is not below or adjacent a noise or vibration producer, and perhaps something which is convenient to parts of the ship you are most interested in.  Since motion is not a problem to us, we do not focus on that.   On trans- Atlantics we want to be on the sunny (port westbound, starboard eastbound) side.  Similarly, when on a winter cruise from a northern port we like port side - to make morning sun on our first day and afternoon sun on our last.