Ever been in the most forward balcony?

[Marie213]

This will be our first balcony! My DH is concerned about smelling smokers from the balcony, so he wants to get the one in the front. We will be on the Grand Princess and hope to get Caribe deck. Does anyone have any experiences with front balconies? Is it a good idea or not? Or what about the 2nd or 3rd balconies back? Are they less windy? Thanks.

[jff50]

This will be our first balcony! My DH is concerned about smelling smokers from the balcony, so he wants to get the one in the front. We will be on the Grand Princess and hope to get Caribe deck. Does anyone have any experiences with front balconies? Is it a good idea or not? Or what about the 2nd or 3rd balconies back? Are they less windy? Thanks.

 

We were in a suite on the Diamond Princess at the front of the ship. The balcony wrapped around so that it looked over the front of the ship as well as out to the side. It was windy when the ship was under sail. In addition, there were no working lights on the balcony, and I seem to recall the drapes in the bedroom had to be pulled at night--in both cases the lights interfered with the bridge. If you are talking about the first balcony that faces to the side of the ship, and has a partition at the front, I don't see any reason it would be less windy than a cabin further back.

[Marie213]

Yes, jff, I am talking about the first side facing balcony on Caribe. Thanks for your comments. Does anyone know if it does have a partition on the front side to block the wind?

[cactusrose]

I wouldn't choose this cabin. The balcony will be windy and the further forward you are the more movement you get. If you run into any kind of seas you will be bouncing over the waves.

[jsiegel]

I agree with CactusRose. We were on the most forward balcony on Dolphin deck on the Island princess (two oceanview cabins more forward) and we really rocked and rolled when the seas were rough. It was also very noisy because whenever the bow of the ship comes out of the water it smacks back down with a loud bang and you are right out front with that motion and noise. On the plus side there was a bit more protection from the wind so when seas were calm we were able to use the balcony on sea days, where it might have been windier further back.

 

I will not book a far forward cabin again. It was amazing how more pronounced the movement was as you walked up the hallways from the center of the ship to the front.

 

Jackie

[Druke I]

Should you hit heavy seas, the pitching motion will be much more pronounced, and depending on your system, may be very uncomfortable. The Grand class are not particularly good riders in heavy running seas. You will also be more prone to thruster noise and anchor chain noise. It is also a long walk to the aft elevators for access to the Horizon Court on traditional Dining Room.

 

I much prefer to be closer to midships, preferably between the midships elevator bank and aft elevator bank (and closer to the former than the latter).

[MaryPoppinz]

I've never reserved one of these cabins, but I've been in them. Whew -- the bow slap is pretty wild. Hope you like a good bounce about every other second! :)

[seattlekckckc]

We were all of the way forward on the Caribbean Princess in the family suite. The balcony, while cool in port because of the size and view, was unusable while underway. We lost our table the first night, it was so windy. After that, we had to have the cabin stweard tie the furniture down, as it was so noisy we could not sleep. For us, the balcony was a bonus, as we were consolidated.upgraded from outsides to the family suite to accomodate an oversold situation. Even if we could not use it all of the time, it was more than we had before. HOWEVER, if I had paid a regular fare for that room, I would have been unhappy with the windy balcony. It was as a result of no barrier, even the second one back would have been better, I am sure.

 

The motion is EXTREMELY pronounced in the front of the ship. I personally love the movement, but as a previous poster mentioned, you can tell the difference even as you walk down the hallway. One of my roomies rolled right out of bed!

 

As far as cigarette smoke, not to get into a long thread about that, but I have found the "worst offenders' (ie, the ones I smell the most) to be above and below us. Even if you have someone to the one side of you, you will still notice it. I am afraid that is something you will not be able to get away from - and you may luck out have have no smokers anywhere around. You just never know!

 

Have a great cruise, regardless of what you decide.

 

Casey

[Marie213]

While I was looking for photos of the Grand front balcony, I ran across this website. http://www.aadhoogesteger.nl/cruiseschepen/cruiseschepenrotterdam.html

It has photos of various cruise ships visiting Rotterdam. Some of the close ups are really good of the balconies.

[JGR01]

Forget about cigarette smokers .. it is the cigar smokers you REALLY may have issues with.

 

In port with no air movement .. cigar smoke rises and moves and can be smelled a long way away. It ruined my enjoyment of the balcony (forward but not too far) while in several ports .. but I had no idea where it came from so could not really complain.

[cruzzers]

We were on the Golden a couple of years ago and had the first balcony on the the Carib deck. We did some major rolling around up there and had quite a bit of wind. I wouldn't want to do it ever again, even though the view was great with nothing in front of us.

[jennbill]

Had a penthouse suite on the Norwegian Sun in 9/02. Directly (one level) beneath the bridge. Could look up to see the Captain. Cabin was wonderful. Balcony was almost unusable. Needed to get behind the bulkhead of the ship to get out of the wind. However, the view, the perks, etc of the room far outweighed the inconvenience. Wish I could do the same room for the same fare now. Best deal ever.

[Marie213]

I don't think the movement will bother me. I think it will be fun. But I am worried about the wind. From pictures, it looks like there is a barrier in front of the balcony just like the ones in between balconies. Will that be enough to protect us from the wind? If not, how far back should we go?

[Sailaway Girl]

Had a forward balcony in a suite on the NCL Dawn right under the bridge. The balcony was huge and coming into port each day we had the best unobstucted view ever. In San Juan our balcony actually hung over the town. At sailaway we had front row seats and enjoyed our drinks while watching the sun go down. That's the upside.

The downside, when the ship was going full speed it was very windy. To enjoy our balcony we had to sit pretty close to the door. At night you could not use the balcony. Way too windy and you could really hear the wind. whipping around the ship. We actually had a special heavy door that closed over the balcony door. Our cabin steward would close it each night when he turned down the bed.

 

Would I stay in that cabin again--absolutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would I take a forward cabin again--Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jlp20]

>>> I wouldn't choose this cabin. The balcony will be windy and the further forward you are the more movement you get. If you run into any kind of seas you will be bouncing over the waves.

 

On the Sea Princess a few years back, we were in the fourth oceanview cabin from the bow. This put us two cabins forward of the first balcony stateroom. Only one night of rough seas, 14 feet. I myself enjoyed the motion, while my wife spent hours in the cramped bathroom, overmedicated herself and woke up 18 hours later.