French balcony vs veranda

[cruisin from florida]

We're planning our first river cruise and were looking at Viking and Ama veranda/balcony cabins. Avalon has some good deals going on, but they only have french balconies. 

We've done a lot of ocean cruising, and I didn't really care for their new infinity veranda on Apex. 

Looking for opinions on Avalon and their panoramic suites vs the true (but probably small) verandas on Ama and Viking.

 

Thanks!!

[morneau]

We just returned from a Viking River Cruise and were in a Veranda Suite.  We used our Veranda only once.....most other times we were tied up to another ship.  The balcony on Viking is quite small/narrow. We really enjoyed having a French balcony in the bedroom and often kept it open in the evenings for some fresh air.

[ljandgb]

The best views are from the lounge or up top.  As mentioned, there's a good chance you'll wake up and be belly to belly balcony-wise with someone else, so not likely to go out and sip your coffee while staring into the eyes of a stranger, who may or may not be clothed. LOL

 

I did enjoy the Avalon French balcony just to let in fresh air.

[*Miss G*]

Loved loved loved our Panoramic Suite room with the sliding doors on Avalon Imagery II.  There are two levels for Panorama Suites — an upper and a lower.  We chose lower as it was at water level.  We would definitely choose that level again.

 

The doors open floor to ceiling so it’s like being out on an ocean ship balcony… only much closer to the water.  

 

This link takes you to a video of what it looks and sounds like when you are sitting in your room with the sliding door open:

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

We had a veranda/balcony on AmaStella when we cruised from Amsterdam to Budapest in April. I sat out on it lots when we were sailing. It had room for 2 lounge chairs and a small table. Lovely for a glass of wine, watching the river flow or just reading in the fresh air. It was also fun to jump onto the balcony as we passed through locks.

The balcony made our room very bright and airy. I loved it. I am disappointed that my upcoming cruise on Capella only has a French Balcony. 
In my opinion the veranda/balcony is well worth it.

[gnome12]

16 minutes ago, Kristal Blade said:

We had a veranda/balcony on AmaStella when we cruised from Amsterdam to Budapest in April. I sat out on it lots when we were sailing. It had room for 2 lounge chairs and a small table. Lovely for a glass of wine, watching the river flow or just reading in the fresh air. It was also fun to jump onto the balcony as we passed through locks.

The balcony made our room very bright and airy. I loved it. I am disappointed that my upcoming cruise on Capella only has a French Balcony. 
In my opinion the veranda/balcony is well worth it.

I, on the other hand, had an Ama twin balcony when I sailed the Mekong. I found that neither the actual balcony nor the French balcony were large enough to use, even though I travel solo. 

[Kristal Blade]

6 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I, on the other hand, had an Ama twin balcony when I sailed the Mekong. I found that neither the actual balcony nor the French balcony were large enough to use, even though I travel solo. 

Maybe the Asian ships are smaller? We fitted 2 on our balcony comfortably, but it is quite narrow. I would sit on the chair with my feet up on the rail and loved the fresh air because we couldn’t always go up on the top deck because of low bridges.

[Kristal Blade]

Ihave found a picture.

will try to attach 

[cruisin from florida]

Really great input and information! I'm thinking we might want to enjoy a glass of wine on a balcony while sailing... For our first trip I'm leaning towards Ama or Viking for the balcony. If we don't use it, we'll try the French balcony on our next river cruise.

[Kristelle]

 Cant speak for AMA or Viking - but I  travelled on Scenic and  had a balcony and we did use it. We also only twice out of 14 days docked side to side against another ship and then only for part of those days. This happens but perhaps not as much as people think - and of course might not always affect you  depending which side of ship your cabin is at the time.

 

Balcony was small but large enough for 2 chairs and a small table.

Advantages of balcony vs french balcony IMO - you are genuinely sitting outside, you can separate from your partner - for example if  I were reading a book on the balcony and he was watching something on the TV

 

But it depends on the price difference between french balcony and true balcony if those were my options and all else same.

 

[Rebel54]

I love that I can open the cabin up all the way on Avalon and enjoy the fresh air in the room and sit right in front of the open space.  I also love that the space in the cabin that would have been used for the balcony is not lost to me if I don't want to be out there.  I would compare the size of the staterooms on the ships with balconies and with french style.  If you don't mind losing the internal floor space then go for a ship that gives you a full actual balcony.  Also remember that many times you will be rafted to other boats while in port and that space will be useless to you unless you want to chat with your neighbor so why not have that extra sf in your cabin.

[Got2Cruise]

Check the total square footage of the cabins. Lots of times they include the square footage of the balcony included in the total room square footage. I’ve tried all room categories. The only advantage of a true balcony vs the panoramic French balcony is if one member of the party wants to be outside and the other wants to sleep on the bed in darkness. That never happened to us. 

[reeves35]

We had a French Balcony on Travelmarvel and probably used it less than we expected.  As has been said, rafting happens quite a bit and sometimes a dock or lock is right beside you so you prefer to keep it closed.  The window was nice to put down to bring in fresh air if we were having a brief afternoon rest but, it it was a nice day, we'd prefer to sit on the sun deck.

 

The room aren't huge; the ships are only 11 metres wide and, after allowing for the hallway, it means the cabins are only around 5 metres long including the bathroom and balcony.  The advantage of the French Balcony is that the chairs you sit at when the balcony is open are also chairs you can use when you're not.  Viking partially gets around this by using its asymmetric layout which means there is more space for the outdoor balcony but the cost of this is a tiny French Balcony cabin much smaller than you would find on any other line.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I like Scenic's approach [which is also used on another line that I can't remember now – I'm sure someone will provide the answer!] of a huge window that lowers the full width of the balcony down to the railing.  Both the upper and lower parts are glass, so you can still see through floor to ceiling, but now you have all this fresh air.  There is also a folding door to screen off the rest of the cabin, and a window screen to keep bugs out when they are a problem.  We used it a lot on the Douro, with daily cruising and almost no rafting [thanks to Scenic's 11-day schedule that had us off-cycle with all the 7-day itineraries].

[Kristelle]

and further to above - the door opening onto the balcony on Scenic ships is a folding glass sort of door, opens the length of the cabin  - so you can open it all the way and have your balcony as part of your room if you want, or separate when you don't.

[Canal archive]

Don’t knock rafting up (breasting up) just share a glass with your neighbours we still very occasionally hear from a couple we did this with in pre covid days. Your right Kristelle, Scenics system does cover most eventualities use one glass door or fold all back or close and if you don’t want to be bothered with changing it ask your butler or cabin steward so that it’s ready for your late afternoon cocktail. Sit back and relax.

[pontac]

I've had rooms with French Balcony on Viking and with  Verandas on Scenic and Viking.

 

No one has mentioned time of year and weather. Sitting outside when cruising is very enjoyable, but the boat's movement creates a draught. Sitting outside in cold weather is no fun; the only time I made full use of a Veranda was in August this year on the Rhone when the temperature was a glorious +-30C.

 

Also  if one is travelling through a particularly picturesque region, say the middle Rhine with its multiple romantic castles and the Lorelei Rock, from a Veranda or French one can see only one bank of the river so miss half the sights. One is better off on the top deck or in the lounge.

 

Also, you don't mention where you intend cruising. Boats are made to fit the locks and conditions of the river so the same company will have different sized boats. And the boat outside Europe are quite different. 

 

If you're cruising in winter, then is a veranda worth paying extra for? If cruising in summer I'd say yes!

 

But, there's plenty of outside seating so one can get the outside experience and see the views no matter which cabin you have.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by pontac

[cruisin from florida]

2 hours ago, pontac said:

I've had rooms with French Balcony on Viking and with  Verandas on Scenic and Viking.

 

No one has mentioned time of year and weather. Sitting outside when cruising is very enjoyable, but the boat's movement creates a draught. Sitting outside in cold weather is no fun; the only time I made full use of a Veranda was in August this year on the Rhone when the temperature was a glorious +-30C.

 

Also  if one is travelling through a particularly picturesque region, say the middle Rhine with its multiple romantic castles and the Lorelei Rock, from a Veranda or French one can see only one bank of the river so miss half the sights. One is better off on the top deck or in the lounge.

 

Also, you don't mention where you intend cruising. Boats are made to fit the locks and conditions of the river so the same company will have different sized boats. And the boat outside Europe are quite different. 

 

If you're cruising in winter, then is a veranda worth paying extra for? If cruising in summer I'd say yes!

 

But, there's plenty of outside seating so one can get the outside experience and see the views no matter which cabin you have.

 

 

We're doing late spring or summer in Europe. I think we'll use the balcony. If we're docked right next to someone, maybe we'll make new friends!

[Daisi]

We prefer the French balconies, as you don't lose any floor space (unless travelling with Viking, and they have their reasons for it - pay more for a balcony, you should get a bigger cabin), you can have the window open almost across the entire cabin and also have the comfortable chair and love seat to sit on while you are in your cabin. We don't pay extra for having an outdoor balcony that you can't use if rafted, and we like our fresh air. 

[ddaley822]

20 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

For our first trip I'm leaning towards Ama or Viking for the balcony. If we don't use it, we'll try the French balcony on our next river cruise.

Just booked our first river cruise with AMA and found they’re currently (or they were Oct 12) offering a cabin upgrade. I was able to put my deposit down on the price for a French Balcony but we were upgraded to a BB with the twin balconies. The AMA-assigned TA also was able to get us $75 OBC each and included gratuities. Couldn’t say no after all that! 

 

We are huge balcony sitters on ocean cruises so we will see how much we actually get to use it on the Rhine. Like you, I figured go big for this first one and I can always come down to a cheaper cabin category next time! 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, ddaley822 said:

We are huge balcony sitters on ocean cruises so we will see how much we actually get to use it on the Rhine. Like you, I figured go big for this first one and I can always come down to a cheaper cabin category next time! 

One of the big differences between ocean cruising and river cruising is the size of the ship. On a river cruise it is so easy to get somewhere where you can have a view all around (unless you are cruising the Main with the sundeck closed).

[dd57]

The Viking veranda cabins have more floorspace than the French balcony ones.  If you look at the photos on their website, the veranda cabins have room next to the bed for a chair while the French balcony ones do not.  Yes, we spend most of our time out of the cabin, but it is nice to not be squished on that side of the bed.  We have been in both.

Edited October 26, 2023 by dd57

[Daisi]

1 hour ago, dd57 said:

The Viking veranda cabins have more floorspace than the French balcony ones.  If you look at the photos on their website, the veranda cabins have room next to the bed for a chair while the French balcony ones do not.  Yes, we spend most of our time out of the cabin, but it is nice to not be squished on that side of the bed.  We have been in both.

 

Yes, because they offset the hallway so the more expensive veranda cabins have more room. This is one thing Viking has done that I agree with, as I'd be pretty mad to realise that the neighbour across the hall paid less and actually had a larger cabin because they had a French Balcony over my Full Balcony. The river ships are limited to width for the locks, so unlike Ocean cruising where your balcony is an extension of your cabin, on a river ship, it's actually part of your cabin's floor space.

[Bill Y]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:42 PM, Kristal Blade said:

We had a veranda/balcony on AmaStella when we cruised from Amsterdam to Budapest in April. I sat out on it lots when we were sailing. It had room for 2 lounge chairs and a small table. Lovely for a glass of wine, watching the river flow or just reading in the fresh air. It was also fun to jump onto the balcony as we passed through locks.

The balcony made our room very bright and airy. I loved it. I am disappointed that my upcoming cruise on Capella only has a French Balcony. 
In my opinion the veranda/balcony is well worth it.

I think that you will pleasently surprised, as others have said you can only see one side from a cabin/balcony. Panoramic views are best from the open decks or the lounge. A good feature of the sun deck on Capella and her sister ships is the section above the lounge is a couple of feet below the rest of the sun deck so people could stay up there most of the time on the Main, I don't know if you will encounter any low bridges on your trip. Cabin may look dark in the photo but it looks as if we were aside another ship. As regards the window we only opened it a few times mainly to see what the temperature was in the morning, but we did not have hot weather.

 

Ships are now going around the bend towards Budapest so that would appear to be one thing less to be concerned about. After a promotional offer for next year we looked at this years cruise last week and nearly joined you but decided we would prefer not to sail so late in the year. The price of your cruise is no longer being displayed just "request quote" so you won't be annoyed.

 

Bon voyage, and looking forward to a review.

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

Thanks BillY,

The cabin looks good, thanks for the pictures.

I have been tracking Capella and she looks to be moving steadily towards Budapest.

I’ve been checking weather forecasts too and it looks like it will be better than our current heavy rain!

Hoping to start my review on Monday, but we will be getting up about 0430 to start our journey so I may be a bit too muddle headed to get going then!