M, L, JJ, II QWERTY...how do you tell the difference?

[hbeard]

I've poked around the board a bit, but I haven't found anything definitive:

 

Are there any "count on it" rules that distinguish between the different cabin classes of the same cabin type.

 

Example: I see on a future Carribean Princess cruise a price on an inside "M" room at $699, while an "L" room is $999.

 

Does each one have a square footage difference, a "noisy under the casino" difference, or something I haven't thought of?

 

Are there great "M" rooms and lousy "JJ" rooms? (I was on an inside JJ on the burning Star...which was just fine for us).

 

If you "guarantee" the lowest class, and none become available, but a higher class is available...do they give you the higher class at the same price?

 

hbeard

[Nancyquilts]

With a guarantee, the very worst cabin you will get is one in the class you booked. If that class is full, you will be bumped up. (I keep hoping). We like guarantees when we are happy to have the least desirable cabin in that class. Within the "inside" or "outside" range, price seems to depend on what the cruise line considers to be the best cabins as in location. Sometimes, but very rarely, the cabin sizes are different. Nancy

[chasetf]

With a guarantee, the very worst cabin you will get is one in the class you booked. If that class is full, you will be bumped up. (I keep hoping). We like guarantees when we are happy to have the least desirable cabin in that class. Within the "inside" or "outside" range, price seems to depend on what the cruise line considers to be the best cabins as in location. Sometimes, but very rarely, the cabin sizes are different. Nancy

We always book guarantee and usually and inside to get on as cheap as possible. On our two upcoming we have been upgraded twice on the Golden and once on the Dawn. We are up to Outside obstructed on both of them as of now. :D Still months to go for the Golden (but glad to be where we are now). :cool:

 

We like to be up top having a drink for the sailaway (so a balconey is not a requirement). We have booked them before where the price was right and the cruise was special. ;)

My advise is if you need to be in a special part of the ship (midships because of seasickness, near an elevator because of limited mobility) then book the cabin you want / need a be assured. Otherwise, get in with the roll of the dice upgrade and see where you land. :D

[KreinKrunker]

The different classes of cabins are based on three things.

1.-Location

2.-Location

3.-Location

The farther up, and the closer to the center of the ship, the higher the class.

[Mactarheel]

The different classes of cabins are based on three things.

1.-Location

2.-Location

3.-Location

The farther up, and the closer to the center of the ship, the higher the class.

That is not exactly the case. On the Caribbean Princess, with the exception of the Penthouse Suites on Riviera Deck, the most expense staterooms are either at the front or rear of the ship or on Dolphin Deck which is one of the lower decks.

[donnaw]

The different classes of cabins are based on three things.

1.-Location

2.-Location

3.-Location

The farther up, and the closer to the center of the ship, the higher the class.

Hi, What's new? Anything planned that we should think about? Joe asked what you were up to. He won on the next one (sort of) and back to land (sort of). 3 days SFO 3 days Dawn Princess and 3 days SEA.

 

to our op the above pretty much covers it when dealing with insides and outsides. Balconies have rules of their own depending on the ship. The other trick that effects all but the top level balconies and suites is that (generally), each cabin class will be on two decks. It will be the midship cabins on the lower deck and the aft and fore cabins on the deck above it.

[DanJ]

That is not exactly the case. On the Caribbean Princess, with the exception of the Penthouse Suites on Riviera Deck, the most expense staterooms are either at the front or rear of the ship or on Dolphin Deck which is one of the lower decks.

 

I beleive the Dolphin deck is mini-suites, so they will be more than the balcony cabins above that deck. But as far as one type of cabin goes, say insides, the forward and aft insides on one deck will be cheaper than the midship insides on the same deck. We had a balcony on the back of Sapphire (BC category) and our friends had midship balconies on the same deck, and they were one category higher (BB), for the same room, except ours had a slightly larger balcony. The BC cabins on the deck below us were midship.

[Two4Sea]

Hbeard.. every change in letter is a change in size, facilities (shower/tub, sitting area, frig, butler, etc), location/motion/noise/vibration, view (none/partial/full, window size) or balcony. If you can't find a difference inside the cabin then it's motion or noise, especially motion. If all the passengers tried all the cabins and ranked them 1-25, the cabin model with the highest rank would be the one that is the highest price. Marketing staff are very clear on how much money each additional feature can finess out of the potential customer's pocket and they also learn well what the customers percieve as a difference in motion.

 

Ships of the past 20 years have uniform cabin designs so there are only a few out of the way ones that show layout differences. But there was a time when nearly every cabin was different in layout as the designer fitted them around the structural needs. That's where cabin categories started but they didn't stop when the designs became more uniform.

 

Additional differences that require close reading of the brochure are reduce sized windows on lower or foward decks (look at the outside pictures), noise from the anchor chain locker and the bow thruster (you'll never miss an early tour), heat and steady background noise from the engine room (large empty spaces on deck plans downwards from the smokestack area), heavy propellor vibration at the stern, morning joggers on the pool deck over you, bedroom windows facing the strollers on the promenade deck (can't watch the sunset while you change for dinner), late night noise from elevator lobbies, noise from laundry rooms/pantries/offices. Lots of little details to read off the deck plans, you can spend an hour prying through them.

 

B

[khfadpi]

We just got our room assignments and we are on Caribe - J. Our rooms are interior mid-ship. I noticed that there is alot of "vacant" ( no rooms) area beside of us. Does anyone know what is in that area? We had to get 4 rooms near each other and this is where they put us. Do we need to see if we can change rooms? Will there be alot of noise ? Our rooms are 533, 537, 621, and 625. Thanks!!:)

[KreinKrunker]

Hi, What's new? Anything planned that we should think about?

 

We just booked Zenith for the 11 day eastern trip in February. We also thought about the 11 day Dawn Princess trip. We've got free air, from a voluntary bump this spring, and Air Tran doesn't fly to SFO. The Michigan economy is in the dumper, so we're counting our dimes. (Not down to pennies yet, and the Soaring Eagle hasn't been too kindly to us.)

[Two4Sea]

Kim -I have not been on Princess’s larger ships but I notice that the galleys are several decks below you next to the dining rooms. The space may be ventilation uptakes from them and from spaces below. Small empty strips amongst inside cabins can also be ones permanently assigned to such crew as entertainers, lecturers, casino staff and purser’s staff so you may actually have more cabins to each side of you.

 

B

[Nancyquilts]

Kreinkrunker - Does Air Tran fly to Oakland, or even San Jose (don't know how you would transfer from there, but Oakland wouldn't be too much of a problem. Nancy

[KreinKrunker]

My mistake! I should have checked better. Air Tran does go to San Francisco. It also goes to Los Angeles. From both of these cities you can go to Indianapolis or Atlanta. These are the only two cities in California. The problem for me to fly to the west coast with them is, that I would have to go through Atlanta. That means going south for 2 1/2 hours, then west for about 5.

 

This should be a link to the Air Tran route map.

http://www.airtran.com/route-map/city_information.aspx

[hbeard]

We just got our room assignments and we are on Caribe - J. Our rooms are interior mid-ship. I noticed that there is alot of "vacant" ( no rooms) area beside of us. Does anyone know what is in that area? We had to get 4 rooms near each other and this is where they put us. Do we need to see if we can change rooms? Will there be alot of noise ? Our rooms are 533, 537, 621, and 625. Thanks!!:)

 

We had Caribe deck C524 on Star. JJ class. Inside cabin..which is just fine with us..we don't spend much time in the room other than changing and sleeping.

Felt like there was plenty of room for "moving in" our stuff.

No unusual noises that we noticed.

 

Had a great time until the flames came...

 

hbeard

[khfadpi]

Thanks for the input. How far away from the fire were you actually? Was it hard to get to your muster station?

 

Thanks, Kim