Will I be sleeping under water??? (First timer needs reassurance re: Deck 1!)

[lornak]

Hi, everyone...

I am booked on my first ever cruise for 10/18. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. We are traveling with some extended family members so we needed several connecting cat. 9 rooms. The only thing available for that number of connecting rooms in the same hallway was on deck 1. The deck layout in the Cruise catalog makes deck 1 look far, far away and very lonely. Could anyone give me the REAL scoop on deck 1?

-First and foremost, AM I UNDERWATER????
-Is it noisy?
-Is this an "undesirable" location and that is why it was available?

I'm really not trying to obsess...ok, maybe just a little, but I really want everything to be just right for our first cruise. I would like some reassurance that deck 1 will be an ok experience. Thanks in advance for humoring yet another first timer!!!:D

[Michelle]

NO, you're not underwater at all. :) Only crew quarters are below the water line!

I've heard that Deck 1 is amazingly QUIET and convenient so don't worry. The only issue you have with Deck 1 is that the windows are two smaller porthole windows rather than the one larger window that the Cat. 9s have on Deck 2.

Enjoy! :)

[lornak]

Thanks for your response, Michelle--

I did search and find another thread re: deck 1. It was actually very postive! :) Just a couple other questions to add...

-Is there anything else on deck 1 besides cabins?
-Someone else mentioned that deck 1 is where you access the ports. Could someone explain how this work?

Thanks again....

[SueEllen]

To answer about accessing the ports--

When the ship docks, there are doors on Deck 1, both Aft and Forward. Depending on which direction the ship docks that will decide from which set of doors you will debark the ship. Other than at Port Canaveral, you will debark the ship from Deck 1, either forward or aft.
As for if there are other things on deck 1--there are some crew only areas there other than guest rooms.

Sue Ellen

[Gretel]

The medical center is also on deck 1. Been there on two out of our three cruises with DD#2

[Dave_from_Marietta]

To add to Michelle's post... when you board at Port Canaveral, you enter into the Atrium on Deck 3. This is also where you depart from on your last morning. But at all ports of call, you depart from either the forward or aft lobby on Deck 1.

[nyloc]

Just to add to the comments ...

Our first cruise on the Magic was Deck One outside (9 of us in 3 adjoining cabins). We enjoyed it so much we tried to do the same for the Western cruise leaving day after tomorrow. Waited too late, so we had to settle for inside cabins ... right across the hall.

We loved it there for several reasons ...

First, the closer you are to the water line, the less motion when a ship rolls side to side (but you are indeed still right at the water line).

The cabins on Deck 1 are concentrated midship ... so less motion when the ship "pitches" front to back.

There is only a limited number of cabins so there's not alot of traffic up and down the hallways EXCEPT as already mentioned, when there are port visits and folks are embarking / disembarking. Though even then people generally came down the correct elevators/staircases instead of traipsing down the narrow halls ... and you're trying to get off at the same time anyway. Actually one of the benefits is that you have almost "instant" access to the staging areas and don't have to fight the other 2,000 happy cruisers for the elevators at the same time ... especially a factor at Castaway Cay when everyone seems to have the same idea at the same time ... "lemme off now!!".

One really neat thing for me about the outside cabins is that you hear the sound of the water slipping past the hull when the ship's underway. Soothing. Our house is right oceanside in Nassau and I really miss the slurp of the waves all night when I'm in a hotel somewhere.

[caseymaureen]

We did the four day wonder in Nov. 02 with cast members discount. We had three rooms on deck two. Very convenient as they said, and pretty quiet. The best thing is we took the steps alot, up to dinner down etc. Other DC stayed on deck, 6 and 7.

[lornak]

Thank you all for your informative posts. I appreciate the information. If anyone else has had experience with deck 1 I would love to hear it!

[Mermaid02]

I stayed in 1072 on my January 2002 cruise... I liked the location! I thought it was convenient to deck 3 (internet cafe & Triton's) it was also nice and quiet! I would stay there again.