Advice re a suite booking on Arvia

[Longnails]

Hi. I am thinking of splashing out on a suite on Arvia in a couple of years, not something I've had before, always had balcony though.

All the rear suites are booked so only the ones in the front left, so was wondering if anyone has had one of these before and whether they found the balcony usable whilst at sea?

We like to spend a lot of time on our balcony sea and port days, it will be August/September in the med.

We are going to be 3 so want the space of the suite and not the mini conservatory.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Camberley]

We usually do aft suites as we love them, but we did have a fwd suite to the Med and Canaries. The inside suite was fabulous. We were sometimes able to use our fwd balcony at sea but it was mostly not a comfortable experience with the wind. But fine for the time in port when we got back to the ship although the balcony, while being a long corner balcony, was very narrow. I know, first world problems and all that!
 

If were us and that’s all they had left, for the price and given the limited P&O suite perks compared to other companies, we would not book a fwd again and would instead either do a different cruise or use a different company that had the aft balcony/other experience we wanted. That said, I know many love the fwd suites. Just not for us again,

Edited May 7 by Camberley

[Longnails]

Many thanks for your response.  This is what I feared, I am thinking the conservatory mini suite might be the way to go instead, it doesn't sound worth it if the balcony is that unusable.

[Clodia]

I nearly booked a forward suite on Arvia next April but a friend warned me about the wind. Then an aft suite came free so I grabbed that. It's deck 15 so there will be midday shade but don't mind that.

Deck 9 conservatory mini suites are great. Have had one twice on Iona

 

Edited May 9 by Clodia

[Longnails]

Ooh that's interesting, I didn't know they free up sometimes.  I am going for the mini suite but will keep an eye to see if a forward suite becomes free, thanks for tip!