Mini suite question

[jimbo1683]

Sky Princess deck plan indicates that M107 and 108 balconies can only be used when in port. I've seen several reviews suggesting otherwise. What's the reality?

 

Also do you know what the white space is on the deck plan between M107 and M109?

 

I am considering booking M107 as I'd like a club class mini suite but prefer to be tucked away from corridor noise etc. So I thought this looked like a good cabin. Any thoughts?

[cruzsnooze]

It's a mixed review. When underway you can't usually open the balcony door due to wind. At night you can't keep your light on due to the interference with the bridge which you're below. The cabin and balcony look bigger than the standard mini. The forward location is a far walk to anything. Forward cabins feel the most motion. Decide what's most important for you and go from there.

[Sea Hag]

There's a door in that location near M107. My guess is that it's crew access down to the bridge. We had M108 on the Royal and the door out to our deck was never locked. But it did get windy! We loved that cabin and would book it again anytime. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Sea Hag

[jimbo1683]

Thank you. Do you think the access door woukd be bothersome or is it not used much?

I'm assuming we wouldnt want to use the balcony anyway if it was windy, I'd rather sit in a cocktail bar. It's helpful to know it wasn't locked so can be used if weather permits.

 

Cruzsnooze when you say you can't keep the light on I guess you just close the curtains?

Edited September 21, 2021 by jimbo1683

[memoak]

22 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thank you. Do you think the access door woukd be bothersome or is it not used much?

I'm assuming we wouldnt want to use the balcony anyway if it was windy, I'd rather sit in a cocktail bar. It's helpful to know it wasn't locked so can be used if weather permits.

 

Cruzsnooze when you say you can't keep the light on I guess you just close the curtains?

Yes the curtains need to be closed at night but you don't have to stumble around in the dark cabin

[azbirdmom]

We were in M107 on the Majestic last month.  It's odd that the deck plan for the Majestic Princess shows the same white space next to cabin M107 that the Sky Princess deck plan does.  But there was definitely a cabin next door as I saw folks on the balcony where that white space would be.  The divider between the balconies could also be opened (although we didn't do that as we didn't know our neighbors).  And I don't recall an unmarked door there.  So it's either a mistake on the deck plans or it was so unobtrusive that we didn't notice it.

 

As for using the balcony, yes it can be quite windy but no, you aren't restricted from using it when at sea.  We were headed into very strong winds and had quite a bit of rain during our cruise.  We could wander around when the deck when the conditions were better and did also go out during strong winds when we stuck to the side of the balcony rather than the front.

 

The sliding glass door to the balcony is on the side of the ship so you can go out at night.  We did keep the bedroom curtains closed at night as that faced forward and light pollution may have caused issues for the bridge.

 

And we actually have booked this same cabin for our cruise on the Regal early next year.  Love the cabin and of course that balcony.

 

Below is the notice that was on the wall of the cabin.

 

 

 

[Sea Hag]

43 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thank you. Do you think the access door woukd be bothersome or is it not used much?

I'm assuming we wouldnt want to use the balcony anyway if it was windy, I'd rather sit in a cocktail bar. It's helpful to know it wasn't locked so can be used if weather permits.

 

Cruzsnooze when you say you can't keep the light on I guess you just close the curtains?

I don't see how the access door would be a problem. I doubt it's used much at all. 

 

When we had M108, we kept the curtains shut until we went to bed and then opened them all up. The stargazing out the bedroom window from the bed can be spectacular. 

[Sea Hag]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

We were in M107 on the Majestic last month.  It's odd that the deck plan for the Majestic Princess shows the same white space next to cabin M107 that the Sky Princess deck plan does.  But there was definitely a cabin next door as I saw folks on the balcony where that white space would be.  The divider between the balconies could also be opened (although we didn't do that as we didn't know our neighbors).  And I don't recall an unmarked door there.  So it's either a mistake on the deck plans or it was so unobtrusive that we didn't notice it.

 

 

 

 

We have M107 on the Discovery booked for next September, so when we were on the Majestic we went to see what we could see in that area between M107 and M109. There is definitely a door there. The deckplans for this class shows stairs, which must go down since they can't go up. I'm still of the opinion that this is bridge access.

[azbirdmom]

Just now, Sea Hag said:

We have M107 on the Discovery booked for next September, so when we were on the Majestic we went to see what we could see in that area between M107 and M109. There is definitely a door there. The deckplans for this class shows stairs, which must go down since they can't go up. I'm still of the opinion that this is bridge access.

 

We sure didn't hear that door open and close.  I wonder if it's a crew cabin?  As I said, there was definitely an adjoining balcony next door but that could have extended from the cabin on the other side of the balcony.  If it's a stairwell we sure didn't see or hear anyone using it.

[Sea Hag]

1 minute ago, azbirdmom said:

 

We sure didn't hear that door open and close.  I wonder if it's a crew cabin?  As I said, there was definitely an adjoining balcony next door but that could have extended from the cabin on the other side of the balcony.  If it's a stairwell we sure didn't see or hear anyone using it.

Gosh, I don't know, but it would be a very narrow cabin if it were a crew cabin. There's one video of M109 in Cruise Deckplans, and you can see a guy waving over from M107, but I can't tell much else about where one cabin's deck stops and the other begins. The door is more like a crew-only door that you see around the ship. We may never know on this. 🤣

[azbirdmom]

14 minutes ago, Sea Hag said:

Gosh, I don't know, but it would be a very narrow cabin if it were a crew cabin. There's one video of M109 in Cruise Deckplans, and you can see a guy waving over from M107, but I can't tell much else about where one cabin's deck stops and the other begins. The door is more like a crew-only door that you see around the ship. We may never know on this. 🤣

 

Of course now it's getting me curious.  I looked back at my pictures and the only one I have of the balcony next door is from a video my DH took.  Here's a screenshot with the balcony next door pictured.  The divider in front of it is the edge of our M107 balcony.  But looking at it again, it could be a stairway and our balcony extended in front of it.  Can't tell... you are right we may never know.

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by azbirdmom

[azbirdmom]

Edited above but this picture of the side of the balcony I think shows that the M107 balcony extends into that "white space", so a stairwell to the bridge may fit.  But still it wasn't noisy at all!

 

[Mary Ann 2]

We stayed on the Lido deck with a front facing balcony last month.  It could be very windy, but it was incredible on Glacier Bay day!  We also saw more whales onboard because we could see both sides of the ship and ahead of the ship.  We did not feel like it was a long walk anywhere as the hall from the elevator is broken up with several bends and seems shorter that way.  Plus it was super convenient to get to the middle of the ship just down the elevator and out past the stores or easy to get to the buffet.  We have one of these side room mini suites on Lido for our fall cruise and can't wait!

[Pink-belle]

Those corner Club Class mini suites are great, I love the design of the stateroom.  My DH loves the huge balconies.  Last month we had two loungers on M108, (never had those before) as well as table and chairs. 
 

No restriction placed on the use of the balcony, it would just be your own comfort.  
No view of the sea unless standing due to the balcony being ship structure, so really depends on what you like. 

[Merly]

We were in M108 on Regal last week and loved the cabin.  So nice to have the area split into 2 separate spaces. We didn’t get much use from the balcony as the weather wasn’t balcony weather but I did lay out on one of the loungers to read my book one day.  Another day as we were leaving port I went out to watch the sail away, in my dressing gown, then noticed everyone else on their balcony along the whole side of the ship could see me.  Rushed inside to make sure if DH was coming out he wore more than just his pants!  
it is a long walk from the cabin to the gym, but classed that as exercise. I would book that cabin again.

[RedEarth]

I believe (and I think I read this several years ago in another thread on this forum) that the white space in question is a small crew stairway up to marina deck from the bridge to give the bridge crew a quick route up to allow access to some deck equipment in the middle of the ship that they access via a small corridor that's marked as white space on the deck plan between M101 and M102.

 

We had L108 on Royal a few years ago and it was absolutely brilliant, especially sailing into Kotor, which we did twice due to Istanbul being dropped from the itinerary. However M107/108 would be even better due to the massive balconies on the bridge wings.

 

Having to maintain darkness at night was no problem at all, just needed to keep the curtains drawn as others have noted. It did get very windy sometimes at sea, but the balcony door was never locked. There were a couple occasions when we had to tuck the balcony furniture underneath the sloping metal balcony-front to stop it blowing round in the wind at night, but the cabin steward seemed to love setting it back out for us every day!

 

If I had the opportunity to book M/L107/108 on a royal class ship, I'd book it in a heartbeat!

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, RedEarth said:

 

However M107/108 would be even better due to the massive balconies on the bridge wings.

I’m not so sure…. I actually find the Lido 107/108 cabins to be better. The only thing the M Deck rooms have are very very large balconies, instead of “just” very large balconies lol. Unless you’re hosting a large party, I find the half-shaded and more private very large balcony on L107/108 to be a better choice.

 

Also the room layouts are different…. I’m a morning person and hubby is not, so I like L107/108 having the closets and drawers in the hall rather than the bedroom, so I can let him sleep while getting dressed in the morning. Plus the bedroom is huge, more so than M107/108.

[RedEarth]

12 hours ago, vjmatty said:

I’m not so sure…. I actually find the Lido 107/108 cabins to be better. The only thing the M Deck rooms have are very very large balconies, instead of “just” very large balconies lol. Unless you’re hosting a large party, I find the half-shaded and more private very large balcony on L107/108 to be a better choice.

 

Also the room layouts are different…. I’m a morning person and hubby is not, so I like L107/108 having the closets and drawers in the hall rather than the bedroom, so I can let him sleep while getting dressed in the morning. Plus the bedroom is huge, more so than M107/108.

That's a fair point about the balcony size, I had no complaints about being in L108, and it was nice to be on Lido deck. It's quite surprising how much the internal layouts of those corner cabins differ between the two decks though, I think there are a couple videos on YouTube that show this quite well.

[vjmatty]

57 minutes ago, RedEarth said:

That's a fair point about the balcony size, I had no complaints about being in L108, and it was nice to be on Lido deck. It's quite surprising how much the internal layouts of those corner cabins differ between the two decks though, I think there are a couple videos on YouTube that show this quite well.

Yes those videos are very well done as far as showing the differences between the different decks of M6 minis.  Don't get me wrong, if the Marina deck were the only ones available I would still take one, but for me the edge goes to Lido.  Which works for me because most of my fellow American passengers are drawn to size and would choose Marina deck first 😉