Mardi Gras - Havana Cabana (HE) or Aft View Extendend Balcony (8M)?

[Diserella]

Which would you choose and why?

[RenoNanaOz]

2 minutes ago, Diserella said:

Which would you choose and why?

We were in a Cabana on The Vista and while we enjoyed the privacy and being right around the corner from pool and bar. We much more prefer the Aft, the view is so lovely and soothing. 

[Diserella]

Thanks. I know the location of the Havana Pool and Bar are not as good on the Mardi Gras as they are on the Vista. And then the Aft on the Mardi Gras has the pool below instead of being closer to the ocean. Hmmm...

[csm5986142]

We are booked in a Havana Cabana room on Mardi Gras in 13 days.  I think it's just personal preference, but my reasoning is that the Havana area on Mardi Gras is very small when compared to how huge the ship is (less than 100 rooms if my research is correct, which is less than 4% of overall cabins). And this is what we were looking for.

I have been on Mardi Gras at 50% capacity, and although we absolutely loved it, I can't even imagine it at full capacity.  So, my main goal was to have a quiet retreat from the spring break crowds.  I like to relax and read, we don't usually swim, so it works well for us.  Someone who is more social, wants more activity, a bigger pool area, etc. probably wouldn't feel the same way.

[Diserella]

1 hour ago, csm5986142 said:

We are booked in a Havana Cabana room on Mardi Gras in 13 days.  I think it's just personal preference, but my reasoning is that the Havana area on Mardi Gras is very small when compared to how huge the ship is (less than 100 rooms if my research is correct, which is less than 4% of overall cabins). And this is what we were looking for.

I have been on Mardi Gras at 50% capacity, and although we absolutely loved it, I can't even imagine it at full capacity.  So, my main goal was to have a quiet retreat from the spring break crowds.  I like to relax and read, we don't usually swim, so it works well for us.  Someone who is more social, wants more activity, a bigger pool area, etc. probably wouldn't feel the same way.

Looks like we'll be on the same cruise and we are currently booked in a Havana Cabana room too. See you onboard!

[csm5986142]

14 minutes ago, Diserella said:

See you onboard!

 

Yes - not soon enough! 😃 

[ScubaDuck]

Wife and I scored the aft extended balcony on Vista deck 6 a few weeks ago. The size of the balcony was unreal. Two full loungers plus a mini-lounger (not sure what to call it) plus maybe two end tables. Only complaint was the prime afternoon sunning/relaxing hours impacted by the too-loud karaoke coming from the Havana bar 🙂 First world problems, I know. 

[csm5986142]

We were on Mardi Gras last week in a Havana Cabana.  I probably would not book this room again (well I guess I should say it would depend on price).  I recently priced a Havana Cabana on Celebration and it was exactly $1000 more, and that is not worth it to me.  

We absolutely loved our little patio, but it is different from a traditional balcony.  Depending on location, you will have a walkway in front of your patio and possibly additional lounge chairs.  It's still very nice, but different from a traditional balcony.  The pictures make it seem as though you have no privacy and that is not the case (the first several feet of the balcony is like a traditional balcony with sides and top enclosed, but then the outer portion (with the little fence around it) is not.  Furnished with a "swing chair", a lounge chair, a regular chair, and small table, it was plenty of room for the 3 of us.  

Being on a spring break cruise, I was really looking forward to a quite location away from all the kids, and that was not the case.  I'm not sure how, but people do manage to get children under age 12 in these rooms (there was one right down the hall from us that looked about 5 or 6).  And kids from all over the ship are free to run through the hallways (just like anywhere else on the ship).  

As far as the Havana deck itself is concerned, we never saw anyone checking for the wrist bands, so after a the first day we just took ours off (there is sticker on your card as well, but nobody ever asked to see that either).  On our trip, people seemed to be abiding by the sings, as it was very quiet on the Havana deck (very few people) and the pool hardly got used (yes, it is smaller than on the Vista class ships, but certainly big enough to get in, cool off, and swim around a bit, especially since you usually have it to yourself).  

According to guest services, we were "sailing full" and the ship was definitely crowded so it was nice to have the option of not only our own quiet patio, but also the Havana deck in general was pretty secluded.

We have been on Mardi Gras twice and have found that we spend very little time in our room (there is just so much to do on the ship) so I'm trying to keep that in mind when I look at cabins/pricing.  

[Eli_6]

On the Vista class ships I would choose the Havana hands down, but the Havana area on the MG is very small. I would go for the aft view extended balcony.  We sailed on her in an aft wrap suite and our room was amazing.  

[Eli_6]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:15 PM, csm5986142 said:

We are booked in a Havana Cabana room on Mardi Gras in 13 days.  I think it's just personal preference, but my reasoning is that the Havana area on Mardi Gras is very small when compared to how huge the ship is (less than 100 rooms if my research is correct, which is less than 4% of overall cabins). And this is what we were looking for.

I have been on Mardi Gras at 50% capacity, and although we absolutely loved it, I can't even imagine it at full capacity.  So, my main goal was to have a quiet retreat from the spring break crowds.  I like to relax and read, we don't usually swim, so it works well for us.  Someone who is more social, wants more activity, a bigger pool area, etc. probably wouldn't feel the same way.

I agree with this statement 100 percent. We sailed on MG on the second or third sailing and it seemed somewhat crowded to me then...not to the point that it affected by enjoyment, but I feel like it would have been less enjoyable if there were more people.  I would not want to sail it at 95 to 100 percent capacity. 

[CheckersMidwest]

We stayed in a Havana Cabana on the Horizon and have one booked again on the Panorama in July. They do normally run about $1000 extra. We had such a great experience. They did check for wristbands and told people to leave - even when they argued for whatever reason. They ran off kids and we never even saw teenagers much except for some college ones traveling with parents. We like a regular balcony room but rarely use it to be honest, we did use the Cabana. It was also so nice to be just around the corner from the pool area and not go down elevators & hallways, just very convenient.