Balcony snobs considering (gasp!) an interior

[mmcruise]

For our only two cruises, we've had balconies. With a small child, it's been amazing. But now that he's in school and we have to cruise during school time, we are considering an interior since the balcony cabin prices on school breaks are INSANE. We're looking potentially at either Grandeur or Freedom.

 

Any balcony-lovin' people stayed in interiors on either ship? With 3?

 

Seems like it's better to be on the ship in an interior than sitting at home in our house.

 

Thoughts much appreciated. We are looking to book during the sale on Wednesday.

 

Thanks!

[lv2bcruzin]

We are in the same situation. Except it's not kid related. My wife is getting her BA in Culinary Arts at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute and now we can only cruise during peak times (Summer & Holidays). We had been booking balconies. Not for the next 3 years or so now. We are back to the interior. Unless you were booking JS or above you really won't miss the extra room. We've done D1's and yes they are bigger and it's nice, but unless you are planning dance lines in the cabin you should be comfortable.

[Merion_Mom]

Just keep telling yourselves:

 

"We are only in the cabin to shower, dress and sleep."

 

"We are only in the cabin to shower, dress and sleep."

 

"We are only in the cabin to shower, dress and sleep."

 

"We are only in the cabin to shower, dress and sleep."

 

"We are only in the cabin to shower, dress and sleep."

[Gonzo70]

I would definitely rather cruise on an interior than stay at home. I have been on four cruises and had two balconies, two interiors. Although the balcony was nice, for us it was just an a nice perk and certainly was not a highlight of the cruise. I personally feel they are typically worth their price. Often for a 7 night cruise they are about $400 more per person, so that works out to over $100 per day for a couple to have a balcony. I certainly did not get $100+ per day worth of use out of them.

 

I think balconies are a bit more enticing when the focus of the cruise is on scenary (i.e. Alaska cruises) or for cruises with lots of sea days (i.e. Transatlantic or Hawaii cruises leaving from California). Otherwise I would much rather save the cash and book an interior.

 

One other option is to book an interior guarantee and hope for the upgrade fairy. Although most likely you will get assigned an interior cabin, you do have a shot of obtaining a balcony at the price of the cheapest of inside cabins (I was lucky enough to have that happen to me one cruise)!

 

Happy cruising :)

[Elaine0138]

I know it seems hard to move to an inside :)

 

We did an inside on our last cruise and it was fine, you do survive :)

[TwoTravelin]

Also, you may want to try a Promenade (sp?) cabin, which your 3-year old may enjoy watching the parades from.

[uksimonusa]

Also, you may want to try a Promenade (sp?) cabin, which your 3-year old may enjoy watching the parades from.

 

Unfortunatly, they only have promenade cabins on Voyager and Freedom Class ships, and they only accomodate 2 people. On Freedom Class they have a Family Promenade, but that has a minimum booking of 4 people:(

[BobBeaSea]

For the OP, I am a balcony person who would not cruise without the balcony....I just won't do it. :)

[AuzzieCruiser]

We love the balcony too. On our local cruise, only the 12 'Suites' get balconies (Ex Carnival Jubilee).:rolleyes:

We booked the Rhapsody this week for a 35 night cruise around Australia and NZ, and we just couldn't afford to pay over $6000 each for a balcony.:eek: So we settled for an Oceanview on Deck 3 for $4000. Better than not going at all.:)

[Cnd_Cruiser]

We have always booked an inside cabin, while a balcony sounds great we are happy just to be cruising. We have found that we spend very little time in the cabin and the maney we save will cover our bar tab.

[dmndlil]

Also, you may want to try a Promenade (sp?) cabin, which your 3-year old may enjoy watching the parades from.

 

Check out the promenade rooms on the Freedom early though as there are only a few that accomodate more than 2 persons.

[funfamilyfun]

Unfortunatly, they only have promenade cabins on Voyager and Freedom Class ships, and they only accomodate 2 people. On Freedom Class they have a Family Promenade, but that has a minimum booking of 4 people:(

 

 

We have tried to book a family promenade with 4 and they won't let us. I think the number is 5!

[shirleygr]

We've done all types of cabins. I would much rather be on the cruise than sitting at home. Yes, a balcony is very nice, but we did an 11 night cruise in an inside quad stateroom and found it perfectly enjoyable. We just spent more time out of the cabin on that cruise. Don't worry, you'll be fine. :)

[crusinmama06]

:eek: Can't you sail on one of the holiday breaks? lol

 

I agree about trying to nab a Promenade cabin for THREE on Freedom. Do not pick Grandeur over Freedom. The price of Grandeur tends to run as much as Freedom because it leaves the North East and the demand is high for North East ships. But that doesn't put it in the same class as Freedom. ;)

 

You have a child that will LOVE the H20 zone. No doubt!

 

But I would keep looking for deals to try to upgrade to a balcony. I can't sail with kids without one.

[threeofus]

We booked a GS and an inside for our DD on our 2008 Med. cruise.....

 

But......now we're all thinking how nice it must be to sleep in that nice dark comfy little oasis........ and DD says she is NOT giving it up...so go figure.

[Shanafan]

I have done balconies, inside and oceanview. On the Jewel for our first time we had a balcony booked and I changed it to an oceanview so I could be right down to watch the waves out the window. Weird.....yeah maybe, but on our first cruise we had an oceanview and the waves were so relaxing and beautiful. I can do any room. Just so long as it is on a ship!

[mmcruise]

I would definitely much rather have the balcony - specially after a delightful aft experience on Mariner in 1688 this fall (we're ruined!) but in this case it's $1500-$2500 (for Freedom) more expensive, and more than twice what we paid for a D1 in September. :eek: Finances may dictate it's this or nothin'.

 

As far as Grandeur vs. Freedom, here's my dilemma:

 

Grandeur

Pros

• Special itinerary features 4 ports we've never seen (San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Tortola) and a chance to revisit Bermuda where we went on our honeymoon.
  
• Port intensive-only 2 sea days, toward the end.
  
• Special itinerary goes into San Juan, back to Baltimore (repo) so we only have to fly one way and can rent a car.
  
• We could do Freedom another time (and likely will!) but this itinerary sounds so cool and probably one time only.
  
• Total savings over Freedom: $600 + potentially $400-600 on airfare. TOTAL savings with no balcony: possibly as much as $2500 in total. Big stuff.

Cons

• Older ship, smaller cabins, not as many amenities and features.

Freedom

Cons

• Even in the interior, $600 more than Grandeur + spring break airfare from Newark to Miami. Total probably $1000 or so more.
  
• 3 sea days, only 3 ports (St. Thomas, St. Maarten, San Juan)
  
• DS (who's 5, sorry if I wasn't clear, just started kindergarten) dying to ride the flow rider after seeing Samantha Brown do it on TV - and he can't; he's still too young.

Pros

• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Did I mention it's a Freedom class ship?

Thank you all so much!!!

[mmcruise]

Thanks for that!

[sj25]

I am finally doing the same the Empress of The Seas is having amazing ports that I have only been to one of them out of 8 ports. This 11 day cruise has no balconies left and we're doing a inside cabin for the first time...but we think

shower, dress and sleep ....I can do it in a closet...well almost the size...just will use the decks more and there is only 2 sea days out of the 11 so will not be on the ship all the time.

[Trekker954]

I've stayed in balconies, oceanview and inside. I actually preferred the inside. I would want a balcony for an alaska or new england tour, but for a carribbean, take the inside. I found it had a better layout than the other two, feeling more roomy. the darkness at night was great. there was little rocking of the ship, and it was very very quiet. I also found myself doing more, attending more shows, taking more excursions. I was in my room very little.

[Murphy]

I'll admit it, I'm a balcony snob! Over the past few years we've started out booking inside cabins to save money, but somehow by the time we actually cruise I manage to find the funds to move to a balcony! I keep telling myself I "could" manage an inside, but thankfully we've hit some pricing deals and with our Diamond balcony discount it hasn't been that much more for a basic balcony than an inside on the itineraries we booked.

[Sea Island Lady]

We booked an Interior Guarantee on the Grandeur and received an upgrade to an Ocean View (same size as an Interior with a window.) It wasn't too bad, but the bathroom was cramped. With a young child, it could be quite cramped.

 

I made a post a few days ago with photo's and a description. Let me do a search and I will post the link here:

 

Here you go!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=638795

[FL_Cruiser64]

For our only two cruises, we've had balconies. With a small child, it's been amazing. But now that he's in school and we have to cruise during school time, we are considering an interior since the balcony cabin prices on school breaks are INSANE. We're looking potentially at either Grandeur or Freedom.

 

Any balcony-lovin' people stayed in interiors on either ship? With 3?

 

Seems like it's better to be on the ship in an interior than sitting at home in our house.

 

Thoughts much appreciated. We are looking to book during the sale on Wednesday.

 

Thanks!

 

Nothing wrong with interior and in the freedom class you can get interior with window.

 

We have a basic rule: everything under 5 nights is a regular oceanview category and everything 6 or above is balcony.

 

The reason is quite simple: on a 5-Nighter and below we are hardly in the cabin. Just to sleep and change cloths. So balcony would go unused. On 7 and 9 nighters and above we may spend one of the days or at least good portion of a day on the balcony.

[FL_Cruiser64]

I would definitely much rather have the balcony - specially after a delightful aft experience on Mariner in 1688 this fall (we're ruined!) but in this case it's $1500-$2500 (for Freedom) more expensive, and more than twice what we paid for a D1 in September. :eek: Finances may dictate it's this or nothin'.

 

As far as Grandeur vs. Freedom, here's my dilemma:

 

Grandeur

Pros

• Special itinerary features 4 ports we've never seen (San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Tortola) and a chance to revisit Bermuda where we went on our honeymoon.
  
• Port intensive-only 2 sea days, toward the end.
  
• Special itinerary goes into San Juan, back to Baltimore (repo) so we only have to fly one way and can rent a car.
  
• We could do Freedom another time (and likely will!) but this itinerary sounds so cool and probably one time only.
  
• Total savings over Freedom: $600 + potentially $400-600 on airfare. TOTAL savings with no balcony: possibly as much as $2500 in total. Big stuff.

Cons

• Older ship, smaller cabins, not as many amenities and features.

Freedom

Cons

• Even in the interior, $600 more than Grandeur + spring break airfare from Newark to Miami. Total probably $1000 or so more.
  
• 3 sea days, only 3 ports (St. Thomas, St. Maarten, San Juan)
  
• DS (who's 5, sorry if I wasn't clear, just started kindergarten) dying to ride the flow rider after seeing Samantha Brown do it on TV - and he can't; he's still too young.

Pros

• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Freedom class ship
  
• Did I mention it's a Freedom class ship?

Thank you all so much!!!

 

Port intensive? LOL

 

I was in the same dilemma. I had to choose between Eastern and Southern Caribbean. I could have gotten the Freedom out of Miam (I live in South Florida but felt that having 3 days at see on a 7 night cruise (3 ports of call including San Juan) is not a good balance for me. I like to have port calls above 50% of cruise days. So I choosed the Puerto Rica itineray out of San Juan. I see everything from the Freedom itinerary plus Aruba and Curacao and have 2 days at sea. The cruise is 200 bucks cheaper (per person in Balcony) and with the flight cost from FLL to San Juan I pay essentially only $100 more per person but have 2 more ports.

[FL_Cruiser64]

We booked an Interior Guarantee on the Grandeur and received an upgrade to an Ocean View (same size as an Interior with a window.) It wasn't too bad, but the bathroom was cramped. With a young child, it could be quite cramped.

 

I made a post a few days ago with photo's and a description. Let me do a search and I will post the link here:

 

Here you go!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=638795

 

It could also teach a child that it can't have everything in life and sometimes mom and dad have to sacrifice.

:D;)