Inside room on AOS-cat. M room 9601-a BIG mistake? Help please...!

[abster70]

Hey Gang,

 

I'm new to cruising, this will be my first in Jan. '06 w/DH for our 10 year anniversary and our first vacation alone in 6 years!:eek:

 

We were going to go on the Golden Princess but found the AOS Southern Carib. itinerary to be more interesting. (heard Grenada is a MESS after hurricanes and Caracas no exactly paradise...Princess goes to both. We also like the idea of two days at sea, not 1. After all this is at least partially about enjoying the ship, right?)

 

So, we decided to book early and the difference between an inside category I (Deck 9-cat M) and a balcony room across the hall is $700. YIKES. :(

 

We debated for DAYS before making the choice to do the inside cabin and here's why...please tell me if I am all wrong.

 

We'll be in port 5 out of 7 days, only 2 days at sea. (7 night Southern Carrib.)

The money we save helps give us a serious head start in our shore excursion budget.

 

We chose to get an assigned cabin dead center ship and not do the guarantee. (Again, a mistake?) If we do the guarantee, I know we would have a great chance of being upgraded. The thing is, I don't want to get "upgraded" to a part of the ship I do not want to stay (namely, low down on deck 1 or 2, in front, or directly under a pool/club, noisy location. I am a SERIOUSLY light sleeper ever since I became a Mom. ;)

 

I also have NO idea how my body will react to sailing and have been told to stay mid-ship. A lot of the outside rooms without balcony are not in a very good area of the ship it seems. Yet those would be considered an "upgrade".

 

I've read about upgrading as you board. Will we still pay that $700 or do they reduce the difference at port? Is that a good option for us?

 

I know balcony is the way to go, but $700?! We don't have a ton of money...are inside rooms on AOS that bad? Everything is changeable for us at this point so we really need some advice. THANKS

[Heidict]

I had an inside room on the AOS on the 12.5.04 sailing. Room 9355. I found that it was fine. Not nearly as small and I thought it was going to be. The bathroom was fine for one, but not really for two (unless the other one was in the shower!!)

 

The bed was made into a king size and we had a little walking space on each side. Plus a couch, coffee table, desk and all. There isn't tons of floor space but my husband and I found nothing to complain about and said that we would book another inside without hesitation (all though we would like a balcony). Just move the coffee table to the side, this will give you extra floor space.

[Fairsailing]

A balcony is totally worth it, but if it puts you over your budget to the point that you can't do anything else, I'd say stick to the inside. I wouldn't want money problems to affect my vacation. The inside cabins on Voyager-class ships are by no means bad.

 

Have you looked at outside (window) cabins? Maybe that's a compromise. You said that you are worried about seasickness, too. Since most of the outsides are on decks 2 and 3, you would be nice and low. And close to the exits when it comes time to disembark at the ports. Being on a lower deck is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

No matter what you choose just make sure you relax and have a great time!

[Jimbo]

I have another suggestion, how about go for a Promenade Cabin, it's alot better then just a regular inside cabin with nothing to look at but the 4 walls.

 

The Promenade Cabins have a bay window in them that over looks the Royal Promanade, where you can people watch down below and even see the parades from there that take place on deck 5 in the middle of the ship.

 

They are on decks 6, 7 and 8........I checked your sailing date.........1/15/06 and the following cabin is available and is in a good location, Best deck for those cabins in my opinion is deck 7.

 

Ask for Cabin # 7587, it is available and is just about mid ship in a perfect location.

 

Cost would be only about $80.00 total for the cabin more then you are paying now.

 

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do and have a great cruise

 

Jimbo:)

[cmason]

Just came off of Navigator. I have now stayed in balcony (Explorer) and a Promenade on Navigator. The balcony room was bigger, but overall, we found we were not in the room enough to justify the expense, so we tried a Promenade on the next cruise. The Promenade room was smaller, but it was not an issue for us. The IDEA of a Promenade was nice...to be able to look out a window, etc. But in practice, our curtains were pulled nearly all the time. The only time we were in the room was to sleep, and shower/change, so the curtains were closed.

 

A Promenade is smaller than an inside room. Since we got no benefit from having a window with the curtain closed, for our next cruise, we have booked an inside room. Don't worry, and inside will be fine, no different than having a room with the curtains closed.

[HorrorFan]

We have only cruised once. Two adults and two children in an inside cabin on the Explorer. We had no problems with it. If you wish to spend a LOT of time in your room you might be better off with a balcony, but we were in our room very little, except to sleep and change our clothes. Theres so much to do, you don't need to spend much time in your room. We're going on the Voyager in February, again 4 of us, and we've booked an inside room again. For us, its just not worth spending all that extra money for a balcony. With the money we've saved on two trips, the third is free.

[jean-lynd]

We had a balcony on the Explorer but picked an inside on the Voyager because of budget constraints. We found that we really did not use the balcony enough to justify the expense. We use the cabin to shower, change and sleep and an inside cabin is really better for those activities. We selected our own cabin instead of a gaurantee because we wanted to pick our location. We picked deck 10 near the stairs and elevators so that we could get outside whenever we wanted to by just heading up a set of stairs. I figure the less I pay for the cabin the sooner I will be able to cruise again. I think you will be just fine. Enjoy!

[chgocruiser]

Hi,

 

Yikes! If you can without breaking the bank, get the balcony. I have tried them all, from the smallest inside to a owners suite. The key is to get something in between. The newer ships have stablizers so even somewhat forward or aft won't make you sick. If you don't get the opportunity to go often and want to spend some special time with your spouse you will be glad to get the balcony. You both can have some together time. My husband will not go any lower. When I travel with friends I really don't care. By the way...to save some $$$$ don't book shore excursions thru the cruise line. Many excursions are right at the dock and they are hawking for business, at less then what you pay the cruise line, some of them advertise online. Have Fun

[bplazo]

Keep watching the price of your cruise, on our second cruise we were able to upgrade when the price of the cruise was lowered.

[abster70]

Thanks for the reply everyone, bplazo mentioned an upgrade because of watching the cruise prices...how far out did you notice the drop? Did you watch the price on Royal Caribb. website or did your travel agent alert you? Thanks for all the advice crew!

[Jimbo]

Doesn't much matter where you check to see if prices for your cruise went down. Either any online cruise web site that lists prices or the RCCL web site.

 

The thing you have to rememeber is just keep checking the SAME Place. When you see that price go down where ever you checked that means the RCCL price went down, all the online Cruise Sites prices are based off the RCCL prices.

 

Where ever you choose to watch it's important you know the exact price it was for your category the date you booked.

 

As far as your agent doing it, sometimes they don't catch ever price drop, some drops don't last very long plus they have alot of clients to keep checking prices for, plus some agents might not like to tell you since it cuts down on their commisions.

 

Jimbo:)

[Adventure Girl]

I've been on the AOS twice.....D2 balcony cabin the first time....inside cabin on deck 9 the second time. Both are great. I felt the inside cabin was basically the same size as the balcony cabin, but w/o the balcony. If you are looking to save a little money....go for the inside cabin. It is fine. You are rarely in the cabin anyway. You will spend more time up on deck than you will in your cabin. Even for sail away....yes, it is nice to have your own private balcony for sail away....but the view is much better from deck 12 or 13 during sail away.....you get the full view departing the island.

 

As far as motion sickness....these ships are huge. You will barely notice you are moving. I'm very prone to motion sickness and I have never had a problem on a Voyager Class ship. I've never taken dramamine or the patch or anything. (if you begin to feel queasy...drink more alcohol....it works every time)

 

Enjoy!

[sl0905]

Another thing to consider is being a light sleeper. We had a balcony on the Mariner and we would hear our neighbors opening and closing the balcony door at night. We also heard our neighbors outside talking on their balcony at 4:00 am. Our daughters had an inside across the hall and I must say it was so quiet and dark they would sleep better in the cabin than at home. I would definately stick to the mid ship cabin whatever you choose. If you're toward the front or back you feel like you walk forever to get to the elevator. Good luck.

[SkyMaster]

Hello! I too, as a veteran of nearly 100 cruises, and after considering what you have told us, vote for the inside cabin, midship. You will find that it's a very nice cabin, and as you have stated, central to everything aboard. Motion is felt less in a midship cabin as well. You will save a "boat load" of money, which you can spend on other things too! The cabin will be nice and quiet, and dark, so if you wish, you can nap during the afternoon so that you'll be rested up for all the evenings activity. Although the balcony cabins are really, really nice, I don't feel that they are worth the extra money. My wife and I would much rather sail twice in an inside, than once in a balcony.

Happy sailing,

Ken

[stbmom]

I have only had inside cabins and try to make them a little close to midship. We have had no problem with them. When we want to see outside, we just go upstairs to one of the open decks. If you spend a lot of time in your cabin - then a balcony may be worth the cost. However, we are not short of money, we would just rather spend the money doing shore excursions.

Also, with many ships, there are so many on board activities that if you want to see outside, you can do it enjoying what the ship has to offer. Motion sickness can happen anywhere. In fact, last week many people got a little sick one day due to the rocking and they were actually walking around the ship, not just in the stateroom.