Balcony question

[Zesty Italian]

Would someone with experience on a transatlantic cruise tell me if you are able to use a balcony on deck 7?  I read awhile back that you would get wet from spray and wondered if that is true.  Now that we have to rebook our cruise, I'd like to know if a balcony is usable.  We will likely be on Riviera.

[eldaradoe]

2 minutes ago, Zesty Italian said:

Would someone with experience on a transatlantic cruise tell me if you are able to use a balcony on deck 7?  I read awhile back that you would get wet from spray and wondered if that is true.  Now that we have to rebook our cruise, I'd like to know if a balcony is usable.  We will likely be on Riviera.

its very handy if you want to take a swim.....spray....maybe on the lower decks in bad seas....

Edited March 13, 2020 by eldaradoe

[LHT28]

Unless it looks like this  you should be fine    😉

we were on deck 8  so maybe worse on 7

 

[Mura]

My first reaction was, no that isn't a problem.  But then I re-read the question.  Our first cruise on Renaissance was on a Deck 7 veranda (the R2 now Regatta) and I used the balcony all the time.  But that was NOT a TA.

 

Our TAs on "R" ships have pretty much been on Deck 8 cabins but we never had a problem there.  And we never encountered storms ... but if we had, that would have been another question!

 

Remember:  there are no guarantees where weather is concerned.  That doesn't mean that you should assume you couldn't use your balcony on a TA.

 

Mura

[eldaradoe]

4 minutes ago, Mura said:

My first reaction was, no that isn't a problem.  But then I re-read the question.  Our first cruise on Renaissance was on a Deck 7 veranda (the R2 now Regatta) and I used the balcony all the time.  But that was NOT a TA.

 

Our TAs on "R" ships have pretty much been on Deck 8 cabins but we never had a problem there.  And we never encountered storms ... but if we had, that would have been another question!

 

Remember:  there are no guarantees where weather is concerned.  That doesn't mean that you should assume you couldn't use your balcony on a TA.

 

Mura

it was a silly nonsensical question.....but we tried to answer....maybe the sea will be calm maybe they won't....maybe the wind will be blowing in  toward the balcony maybe it won't...14 days....maybe you will have seven good days....maybe you'll have seven bad....of course the balcony is useable especially on a transatlantic with 4-5 continuous sea days but it depends what you like.

[Mura]

Exactly!  We have done several TAs and just didn't have bad seas that I can recall ... maybe some rougher seas in the North Atlantic ... no, definitely rougher in the North Atlantic!  But no problems doing something like Miami to Barcelona, or Barcelona to Rio.  Maybe we were just lucky?  Except, I tend not to think so.

 

 

[LHT28]

11 hours ago, eldaradoe said:

it was a silly nonsensical question.....but we tried to answer....

Why was is silly nonsensical question?

 

 I would have never expected  a snow storm  on the crossing  but it happened 😲

[Paulchili]

Being that it is a TA cruise is that cruise even sailing now ?

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Being that it is a TA cruise is that cruise even sailing now ?

I think  they are looking  a future cruise   from the sounds of it

Could be wrong 😉

 

[YoHoHo]

19 hours ago, Zesty Italian said:

Would someone with experience on a transatlantic cruise tell me if you are able to use a balcony on deck 7?  I read awhile back that you would get wet from spray and wondered if that is true.  Now that we have to rebook our cruise, I'd like to know if a balcony is usable.  We will likely be on Riviera.

Yes, there can be spray. We were in an "extended" balcony cabin on a Caribbean cruise a while back and it was mostly unusable . Too hot or so much spray left salt depoist on everything. Combination of waves plus high winds. Maybe the other side of the ship was fine or maybe not. Not complaining, just saying that is the way it as for us.  On another sailing it might be aok - I think that is what another posters is not quite to saying  - no one can predict the sea ad wind on your sailing. That said, it is a realistic question - deck 8 might not get such spray,  and would have to be extreme for deck 9. 

 

That picture of snow on your TA is amazing, LHT28. I would not ever have expected that. We have twice crossed in the Fall and had warm weather that surprised me. Very high seas once and warm and sunny. And you got snow. Show the unpredictablity

 

All that said, we did have another of the same cabin type booked for the upcoming now cancelled March 31 TA so we are willing to fend of the spray , if any.

 

[Zesty Italian]

Thank you for the helpful replies.  Silly nonsensical question.  Really?  For the record, we sailed in a deck 7 extended balcony cabin on our first Riviera cruise.  It was a 10 day Med cruise and we loved the balcony!!  Used it every day with no hint of spray or problems.  I had booked another extended for our Mar. 31 TA, when I read a few people mention spray and that balcony was useless.  Having no experience with a TA, I didn't know if spray went that high because of seas or speed so I asked a reasonable question of people who have done a TA.  No I certainly can't predict weather and wind, but that was not what I asked.  I wondered if spray was a predictable problem on a TA as that was the tone of some messages.  Our cruise has been cancelled and was thinking of booking another in the fall.  We wanted to know if balcony is useless on TA or just a factor of weather which is luck of the draw.  Again, I do appreciate people who tried to answer my question respectfully.  That snow picture is something.  Since we are escaping winter to go, that would be bad 🙂

[Hawaiidan]

From my experience  on trans atlantic runs both ways,  the balcony was of little use... always windy rain squalls, not  much time to sun or see anything but the thin blue horizon in every direction...  If you dig that then go for it   If not  save $$ and sit on the pool deck 

Ask your self what is it that you expect to derive from having a balcony...  only you can answer .    We all are different.  

Edited March 14, 2020 by Hawaiidan

[LHT28]

The salt  can get on everything   the housekeeping staff  do a good job of cleaning up the balconies  but  if you go out early there will probably be salt on the railings & maybe the chairs

We have had  the salt on deck 9 railings

 

[eldaradoe]

48 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

From my experience  on trans atlantic runs both ways,  the balcony was of little use... always windy rain squalls, not  much time to sun or see anything but the thin blue horizon in every direction...  If you dig that then go for it   If not  save $$ and sit on the pool deck 

Ask your self what is it that you expect to derive from having a balcony...  only you can answer .    We all are different.  

opening up the doors getting ready for dinner,,,,having a cocktail waiting for the ship to leave port....going out on the deck at 2am to see the stars,,,,if you like an inside cabin that's your choosing but a balcony is definitely better than a room without it...if you didn't have to pay more I bet you would ask for it every time!

[Queen of DaNile]

Guess it depends on which TA itinerary and luck with weather.  Been on some in the North Atlantic when we couldn't even open the doors due to wind. Did Barcelona to Rio recently and enjoyed cocktails and sunsets on our Deck 10 balcony on many evenings.

 

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Queen of DaNile

[eldaradoe]

2 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

Guess it depends on which TA itinerary and luck with weather.  Been on some in the North Atlantic when we couldn't even open the doors due to wind. Did Barcelona to Rio recently and enjoyed cocktails and sunsets on our Deck 10 balcony on many evenings.

 

 

and the fact that you can open the door to let some fresh air in itself makes it worth every penny but hey that's what make the world go round!

[Hawaiidan]

35 minutes ago, eldaradoe said:

opening up the doors getting ready for dinner,,,,having a cocktail waiting for the ship to leave port....going out on the deck at 2am to see the stars,,,,if you like an inside cabin that's your choosing but a balcony is definitely better than a room without it...if you didn't have to pay more I bet you would ask for it every time!

In  truth, having sailed in everything from PH to inside,   the answer is  no..   many of the times  the balcony is great if  you on port intensive  of sailing say Norway fjords or  around Tahiti with nearby vistas.   However, on a transatlantic  you sailing either early or late season  its cool and the weather is a real mixed bag .   Sailing from Miami or Rome   you may only have 3 or 4 ports  out of 16 days   Thats 12-13 sea days in the open ocean with nothing to see but open ocean and the weather.    and any time the ship is moving you have 25-30 mph wind....   If you are good with that then go for it.    Cost is not the factor..practical usability is, to me.

 In stormy weather a balcony is no advantage ....you might as well have an inside.    

By the way leaving your balcony door open will make you real popular with your neighbors because it will shut down their cabin ventilation/ heat or AC

[eldaradoe]

3 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

In  truth, having sailed in everything from PH to inside,   the answer is  no..   many of the times  the balcony is great if  you on port intensive  of sailing say Norway fjords or  around Tahiti with nearby vistas.   However, on a transatlantic  you sailing either early or late season  its cool and the weather is a real mixed bag .   Sailing from Miami or Rome   you may only have 3 or 4 ports  out of 16 days   Thats 12-13 sea days in the open ocean with nothing to see but open ocean and the weather.    and any time the ship is moving you have 25-30 mph wind....   If you are good with that then go for it.    Cost is not the factor..practical usability is, to me.

 In stormy weather a balcony is no advantage ....you might as well have an inside.    

By the way leaving your balcony door open will make you real popular with your neighbors because it will shut down their cabin ventilation/ heat or AC

that's not true about the AC on the new ships and I'm not sure with the older ones but if that's what you could afford I'm not arguing but the rest of what you are saying is nonsense. 

[Zesty Italian]

Thanks Hawaiidan for the comment about speed and wind.  That was my original question about how usable the balcony would be.  I'm sorry some people keep telling others that their comments are nonsense or silly.  Keep non helpful comments to yourself.

[eldaradoe]

3 minutes ago, Zesty Italian said:

Thanks Hawaiidan for the comment about speed and wind.  That was my original question about how usable the balcony would be.  I'm sorry some people keep telling others that their comments are nonsense or silly.  Keep non helpful comments to yourself.

again it absolutely depends on the weather....I have been on 5 TA's and lucky that we only had 2 bad sea days. Some days were cooler than others but not any colder than up on the pool deck...do I sit out on the deck for hours....not at all....we are rarely in the room but for the couple of hours daily that we are up and in the room....before going out for breakfast....before dinner it's great to have and is useful. But all of this about the sea mist, winds and every other comment is kind of ridiculous....your on a ship in the ocean....if you can afford it go for it...the room is much nicer, brighter and airier ....if you don't want it that's fine as well! But the question and answers are what they are.

[Mura]

Hope you didn't think my initial response was to say that the question was silly because I definitely did NOT think that it was.  We ask questions when we want information.  I haven't seen many "silly" questions in my time on earth.  The fact that there have been varying answers here proves that the question wasn't silly.

 

What is difficult is that it's impossible for anyone else to "guarantee" that your veranda will be useable on your cruise.

 

I really like taking a drink out to the veranda on sail-outs or -ins, but that of course is quite different from asking about what it would be like in open seas with variable weather.

 

Mura

[eldaradoe]

2 minutes ago, Mura said:

Hope you didn't think my initial response was to say that the question was silly because I definitely did NOT think that it was.  We ask questions when we want information.  I haven't seen many "silly" questions in my time on earth.  The fact that there have been varying answers here proves that the question wasn't silly.

 

What is difficult is that it's impossible for anyone else to "guarantee" that your veranda will be useable on your cruise.

 

I really like taking a drink out to the veranda on sail-outs or -ins, but that of course is quite different from asking about what it would be like in open seas with variable weather.

 

Mura

Then how can it be answered... How do we know how the weather will be?? It's more usable than it's not that's for sure! I think it's worth the extra but I would never stay in a room without a balcony.

[Mura]

So do I but that doesn't mean for others the balcony isn't necessary.

 

Our first cruises (when we were in our 30s) weren't in insides but I do remember a port-hole cabin with bunk beds on our Alaska cruise to Princess in 1990.  We were happy with it and I did get some great photos shot through that port hole window.

 

As we got older, we wanted more comfort and upped the ante.  But not everyone wants to do so.

 

Mura

[marylovestotravel]

4 hours ago, Zesty Italian said:

Thanks Hawaiidan for the comment about speed and wind.  That was my original question about how usable the balcony would be.  I'm sorry some people keep telling others that their comments are nonsense or silly.  Keep non helpful comments to yourself.

 

The 1st time we cruised with Oceania it was a transatlantic from Rome to Rio. It was also the 1st time we sailed in a veranda stateroom. I will admit to being somewhat of a cruising novice, but we used that balcony constantly. One of the pleasures of doing a transoceanic voyage is to have time for yourself. There was a lot of pleasure reading a book  on our veranda (sometimes not even very actively) and watching the ocean and the spray from the ship (we were on 8th level so did not get wet - I don't think we would have gotten wet in the 7th either). Of course we might have been exceptionally fortunate. We crossed late Nov/early Dec. and the weather was  glorious. I told my girlfriend who loves to cruise, but experiences mal de mer, that the Mediterranean was rougher than the Atlantic. 

 

Of course I was hooked on cruising. And Oceania.

 

Mia

[LHT28]

I seem to recall someone here   complaining if they could not get  an extended balcony  one of the end one  they would cancel the cruise 🙄

Now advocating  for insides

On & on about the free laundry/drink packages etc

 Always telling others how they should spend THEIR  money

When he pays for my  cruise  then I might listen

 Book a cabin that works for you  ..it is YOUR $$

JMO