Mardi Gras - Forward Excel Suite Question (decks 9-15)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Many times these are the only Excel suites remaining for a given date. Can anyone speak to the balcony on these with regard to usability on sea days and if one can easily see the sea (or, likely, not) owing to the lack of glass panels under the railing - steel instead.

 

There's certainly a lot less deck space, and thus less in the way of seating out there compared to most other Excel suites.

 

THANKS 

[bdever]

Hi Tom, by the looks of the balcony I wouldn’t book it. I can imagine how windy it gets on sea days too.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Watched the video, nice cabin, not so nice balcony, Carnival can do much better, no view from that balcony, not for us!

 

[SonoranDevil]

4 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Many times these are the only Excel suites remaining for a given date. Can anyone speak to the balcony on these with regard to usability on sea days and if one can easily see the sea (or, likely, not) owing to the lack of glass panels under the railing - steel instead.

 

There's certainly a lot less deck space, and thus less in the way of seating out there compared to most other Excel suites.

 

THANKS 

Hi Tom!  Welcome back.  When we visited for the Cabin Crawl on our sailing, my takeaway was that the balcony would have been unusable that sea day, because of the wind, especially the side wrap around section.  My understanding was that the trip back North was less windy up front.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Agreed - at this point, that puts my Thanksgiving Mardi Gras return in (even more) question. I'll sit back and see if something else opens up!

 

Tom

[mondello]

6 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Many times these are the only Excel suites remaining for a given date. Can anyone speak to the balcony on these with regard to usability on sea days and if one can easily see the sea (or, likely, not) owing to the lack of glass panels under the railing - steel instead.

 

There's certainly a lot less deck space, and thus less in the way of seating out there compared to most other Excel suites.

 

THANKS 

Hi Tom, @ftrref was on the inaugural sailing and had a deck 10 forward Excel, posted Aug. 8 that the wind made it a struggle to open the door. Also, said wouldn't book it again because seated on the balcony was "like sitting in a box," because you only get the view when standing.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

13 minutes ago, mondello said:

Hi Tom, @ftrref was on the inaugural sailing and had a deck 10 forward Excel, posted Aug. 8 that the wind made it a struggle to open the door. Also, said wouldn't book it again because seated on the balcony was "like sitting in a box," because you only get the view when standing.

 

Thanks - yep, no wonder those are typically the last ones to get snapped up!

[mondello]

9 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Thanks - yep, no wonder those are typically the last ones to get snapped up!

Yeah, with the wind problems, I'd have gone with a Scenic Oceanview type design, maybe forgo the the balcony for a larger suite with a wall of windows.

[IntrepidFromDC]

For balcony-lovers, hard to imagine anyone would book that suite after seeing that video.

[IntrepidFromDC]

For balcony-lovers, hard to imagine anyone would book that suite after seeing that video.

[KmomChicago]

Side suites maybe instead of corners?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

40 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Side suites maybe instead of corners?

 

That would be preferred, but they're even a rarer bird! And, they don't have the two room setup - which can be nice if one person wants some rest. Those also lack the private toilet (separate from the shower area). Having said that - if you recall Don's accessible OS cabin we met at for the cabin crawl --  all the cabins in that spot, on higher decks, are the side Excel suites, and have similar dimensions and spacious covered balconies (that's a plus)!

 

Tom

[KmomChicago]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

That would be preferred, but they're even a rarer bird! And, they don't have the two room setup - which can be nice if one person wants some rest. Those also lack the private toilet (separate from the shower area). Having said that - if you recall Don's accessible OS cabin we met at for the cabin crawl --  all the cabins in that spot, on higher decks, are the side Excel suites, and have similar dimensions and spacious covered balconies (that's a plus)!

 

Tom

 

Gotcha.  I can't believe it but we just booked a GS and a nearby 4D on Legend for December 19 out of Baltimore for the 3 of us plus my mom. It is just one big room but she really didn't like the uncovered deck on the Vista suite on the back corner. The suite will be the BR for mom and me as well as the living room for all of us, and the 4D will be the "2nd BR" for husband and teen. 

 

I had no intention of booking something again so soon but Carnival just won't let us go.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

 

Gotcha.  I can't believe it but we just booked a GS and a nearby 4D on Legend for December 19 out of Baltimore for the 3 of us plus my mom. It is just one big room but she really didn't like the uncovered deck on the Vista suite on the back corner. The suite will be the BR for mom and me as well as the living room for all of us, and the 4D will be the "2nd BR" for husband and teen. 

 

I had no intention of booking something again so soon but Carnival just won't let us go.

 

You didn't catch COVID onboard, you caught something different!

 

Did they have any Vista cabins on deck 4 available (4228 or 4237)? Those are SUPER cabins, with great overhang, unlike the other aft corners. A couple of times we booked those with the adjoining extended balcony cabin, and opened up the divider for even more real estate!

 

Tom

[SonoranDevil]

43 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

That would be preferred, but they're even a rarer bird! And, they don't have the two room setup - which can be nice if one person wants some rest. Those also lack the private toilet (separate from the shower area). Having said that - if you recall Don's accessible OS cabin we met at for the cabin crawl --  all the cabins in that spot, on higher decks, are the side Excel suites, and have similar dimensions and spacious covered balconies (that's a plus)!

 

Tom

Psst...and Aft Excel was open for the first sailing in September...at least it showed up last night.

[KmomChicago]

2 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

You didn't catch COVID onboard, you caught something different!

 

Did they have any Vista cabins on deck 4 available (4228 or 4237)? Those are SUPER cabins, with great overhang, unlike the other aft corners. A couple of times we booked those with the adjoining extended balcony cabin, and opened up the divider for even more real estate!

 

Tom

No, just decks 5, 6 and 8. Mom didn’t like the look or balcony of them as much as the GS. We’ll have a Scootaround in the room so the open space will probably work better than the Vista layout, though we did check out the vistas and I like the separate living room and that weird dressing room or office or whatever it’s supposed to be.

 

And the travel bug is a lifelong affliction; it just flares up worse from time to time. 🥳

[mondello]

@sc4125 This thread discussed the forward cabins, see the video in post #2.

[shackpacker]

My son had one of these suites in early January and absolutely loved it.  There were no problems with using the balcony.   There is a glass section in one portion of the balcony.