which is better deluxe w/verandah or oceanview

[frozensmoke99]

I am stuck between a rock and hard place. I have booked a deluxe w/ verandah for 2/12 to 2/15 on the WOnder (around $2200) which i think is overly expensive. Maybe I should downgrade to an Oceanview....is it worth it?

 

[Epperbiker]

You have two different questions.

Yes, having a private verandah is better than having just a window... but is it worth it - Only you can decide. (For us, yes)

 

[HoosierFrog]

I am stuck between a rock and hard place. I have booked a deluxe w/ verandah for 2/12 to 2/15 on the WOnder (around $2200) which i think is overly expensive. Maybe I should downgrade to an Oceanview....is it worth it?

I was in the same dilema as you. I finally decided that for a 3 or 4 day trip, it was not worth the additional for the verandah. We would be out around the boat or off on excurssions for the majority of the time and would not get a chance to appreciate the verandah. If we were to take a longer trip, I believe I would have opted for the verandah. Instead, we went with the category 9. You may even want to try for the Category 9 GTY and possible get a free upgrade, but for this "short" a trip the ocean view will be just fine for us.

The true decision of course is yours to make.

Regards,

Tim

 

[Jaime]

I am stuck between a rock and hard place. I have booked a deluxe w/ verandah for 2/12 to 2/15 on the WOnder (around $2200) which i think is overly expensive. Maybe I should downgrade to an Oceanview....is it worth it?

We were in this situation last year...we had a cat 6 verandah room booked on the Wonder 4 day sailing and three months before sailing my dh was browsing around online and noticed how much cheaper the cat 12 rooms were…we had no idea there was such a big price difference. We decided to switch our cruise to a 7 day cruise on the Magic in a cat 12. It cost just under $2600 for our family of 4 to sail on the Magic in the cat 12 room...actually less then the cat 6 we had booked on the Wonder. Our feeling is we would probably spend more time in our room if we had a verandah and would enjoy the time spent there more if we did however after sailing with DCL and exploring all the decks and being in a couple different category rooms we would never be able to justify the price difference...however that being said I would book a verandah room before I would pay the extra money for a porthole. We never spent a lot of time in our room...there was always somewhere fun to be…you will have a great time no matter where you sleep

We are glad we decided to spend the money on the extra days at sea and not the verandah...we are booked in a cat 12 again for 2009.

 

[KayR]

We had a veranda for our 7 night. Whilst we used it, we did not use it a lot. Our next cruise we are trying an oceanview room on deck 7. Saved $$$$ and we figure its not too far to deck 9 for fresh air

We will find out next year if we miss it ...

-Kay

 

[webray]

Nope..keep the balcony, you will love it in the middle of the night.

Get up, go out and look at the moon/stars/water. Priceless.

 

[disney1990]

Is this your first cruise? For a 3 day cruise, I woudl say to skip the balcony. Your are going to be soooo busy exploring the ship and doing things, they you will have so little time to enjoy the balcony. I say, wait for a longer cruise before you put out the extra money. Spend this trip just enjoying all the other areas that the ship has to offer.

 

[noahsmom]

We had category 6 rooms for our 1st three cruises, then we tried a category 9. When DS was smaller the veranda was very nice because of his early bed time, now that he can stay up later we found it was needed as much. So we now will save the money. It really depends on what you want and if you think you will use it. It was nice to watch docking procedures from the veranda and it's nice to sit out in the early morning or evening and watch the ocean go by.

 

[Donald_Quackers]

We had a veranda for our 7 night. Whilst we used it, we did not use it a lot. Our next cruise we are trying an oceanview room on deck 7. Saved $$$$ and we figure its not too far to deck 9 for fresh air

We will find out next year if we miss it ...

-Kay

Don't forget the hidden public deck on Deck 7 aft. If you have an aft stateroom, you could jump out there, too.

Myself, I wanted my first cruise to be something special, and I couldn't get more special than a Disney cruise with a verandah.

 

[SLK1]

We always get a verandah - it helps if anyone were to get motion sickness. Also, if you have small children that might need naps, keep the verandah so that when they're napping, you can still enjoy some fresh ocean air. It's also neat when you're pulling into a port, especially Castaway Cay, to be on your own deck watching the sights of the port - yes, you can do that up on other decks, but how convenient to be right out there from your own room.

 

[cruisinmama06]

If you have young children, then a balcony cabin is priceless. The kids go to bed, the adults go out on the balcony.

If there are just two adults in the cabin, then no, it's not a necessity because you can just leave the cabin and sit up on the top decks.

At this point, I won't sail without a balcony. But I have young kids.

 

[Anal Annie]

For only 3 days skip the balcony and save your money for a longer cruise with sea days. On the 3 night one you don't even have time to unpack let alone sit & relax out there! Another thought I have is although I have never cruised in the winter it's possible that it might be too cool to spend a whole lot of time out there too. Save the verandah for a longer cruise. We had one on our first cruise and a porthole on our back-to-backs this summer & we honestly didn't really miss it. We were really only in the room to sleep & shower!

 

[trivial]

If you have to ask, it's not worth it. In addition, the shorter your cruise, the least likely you are to spend much time on a balcony.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We've had a verandah each time we've sailed (7-night, 10-night, and 3-night) and used it quite a bit -- DH especially enjoys it. We like that it gives us a little bit more "room" to the cabin by having one more place to park a body when we're all in together. I don't sit out there much as I tend to roam around the ship, but DH won't sail without one (and who am I to argue!).

I especially like having the verandah for DH after he has his daily run (around deck 4) and he's all sweaty and stinky when he comes back - we make him "air out" on the verandah while he's cooling down.

 

[disneykibbes5]

We have looked at that price differnce also. however our First cruise the balcony was a Blessing. When our youngest had to take a nap we didn't have to turn any lights on and we could sit out there and enjoy the fresh air without leaving one of us there and doing it by ourselves.
We have a cruise booked in Sept. next year ( a 4 night on the wonder) and Yes the price difference would be nice however for us the feeling of the extra space and the fresh air is so worth the extra cost.

 

[crisi]

I think so, but value is relative. The question I'd ask yourself - if I had that extra money in my pocket, what would I do with it - and is THAT worth more than the veranda.

 

[samily]

We have traveled both ways and now my dh will not cruise without a verandah (I prefer it as well, but I'm more budget conscience than he is so would consider something else if traveling without the kids). We have cruised several times late Jan/early Feb and have always gotten a lot use out of the verandah so I wouldn't worry about the weather being too cool to enjoy it. We love to sleep with the verandah door open & getting some nice fresh ocean air in the cabin...

 

[frozensmoke99]

If you have young children, then a balcony cabin is priceless. The kids go to bed, the adults go out on the balcony.

If there are just two adults in the cabin, then no, it's not a necessity because you can just leave the cabin and sit up on the top decks.

At this point, I won't sail without a balcony. But I have young kids.

Yes, so in this deluxe room with verandah it will be me (27 yo female, my 8 yo daughter, and my 78 yo nana)...I know we might not be in the room that much but at least my grandmother will have some privacy to look out if she doesn't want to hang out with me and my daughter right?

 

[NancyIL]

If you'll spend time on the balcony, it might be worth it to you. If you just want to have some natural light in the cabin - get a window instead.

I was on the 4-day last January with my mom. I wanted a cat. 11, and she wanted a balcony. I agreed to pay more for the balcony, since my mom doesn't get off the ship in ports. Well...we had crappy weather leaving Port Canaveral and in Nassau, and nice weather at CC and on the sea day. If my mom had spent time on the balcony, I would've been ok with spending the extra money. However, all she did was shoot a roll of pictures of CC from the balcony. In my opinion, it was money wasted.

 

[samily]

Yes, so in this deluxe room with verandah it will be me (27 yo female, my 8 yo daughter, and my 78 yo nana)...I know we might not be in the room that much but at least my grandmother will have some privacy to look out if she doesn't want to hang out with me and my daughter right?

I say keep the balcony to treat your nana!