Cabin choice-family of 4 on the Wonder

[limace]

looking at the 14 day Fall 2019 Panama Canal Cruise on the Wonder. My kids will be 10 and 13 at the time-trying to decide what cabin configuration would give us the best bang for our buck. Looks like about 12.5K for a family verandah-but I’ve also heard folks say it’s too hot to get much use of the verandah on this itinerary. Two ocean view cabins might be about the same price-thoughts? Or one regular verandah? How much nicer are the family verandahs?

 

[ACQUADUCK]

looking at the 14 day Fall 2019 Panama Canal Cruise on the Wonder. My kids will be 10 and 13 at the time-trying to decide what cabin configuration would give us the best bang for our buck. Looks like about 12.5K for a family verandah-but I’ve also heard folks say it’s too hot to get much use of the verandah on this itinerary. Two ocean view cabins might be about the same price-thoughts? Or one regular verandah? How much nicer are the family verandahs?

Panama = verandah.
1/ not too hot, in fact the opposite, do you want to be on top deck, no shade and staking out your spot all day near the equator?
2/ Verandah, come and go as you want, inside with air con, out side for views. Flexibility.
It's a very very long day, on deck hard, everything near the docks takes lots of time, so with a verandah you can view, get room service, kids if bored watch a movie inside whilst you continue to view, get something to eat and come back, not loosing a place on deck.

On our three Panama cruise crossings, we missed a lot the first time due to having an inside cabin, the other two we have had a verandah.

Note each time we had tropical thunder storms, the water coming down is used for the canal! On deck you got drenched verandah protected.

Deck 8 has an overhang so some protection from the fierce sun, and any tropical rain.

A family of 4 can really use a Cat4 well, get fantastic views of the locks the train line, both sides are similar but we preferred Port going West and starboard East. Note with a verandah you are not stuck in it. You can walk around see the other side, fellow cruisers will let you in for a photo, you can have the BBQ or fast food snacks on deck, then go back.

Children get bored so the room helps as a base, whilst adults view the sights.

On route you still get value at other ports, we had bands playing us in, we had fireworks going out if a port, and sea days wonderful.

 

[dcassetta]

looking at the 14 day Fall 2019 Panama Canal Cruise on the Wonder. My kids will be 10 and 13 at the time-trying to decide what cabin configuration would give us the best bang for our buck. Looks like about 12.5K for a family verandah-but I’ve also heard folks say it’s too hot to get much use of the verandah on this itinerary. Two ocean view cabins might be about the same price-thoughts? Or one regular verandah? How much nicer are the family verandahs?

That's a long cruise and having more space might be nice. Have you considered booking a verandah cabin with an inside right across the hall?

 

[Geomom]

The family verandah (304 sq ft including verandah) has 36 sq ft more room than a regular verandah (268 sq ft including verandah)--so it is just a little longer--long enough to fit the convertible sleep chair for a 5th person. If you were going with 1 verandah, I'd say a regular one should be fine--it would have the twin sleeper sofa and the 'ceiling' bunk above it.

We've only done the Alaska cruise so far, in a deck 2 oceanview with our girls who were 12 and 16 at the time--it saved us $3K over getting a verandah and we loved the location of our room. We weren't in it much anyways.

For a long cruise, I might want that extra space of 2 rooms--and I'd go with connecting oceanviews...but while I say that...the money minded side of me is still going for the cheapest room I'm willing to take!

 

[RedSox68]

We loved having a verandah through the PC. I highly recommend it.

 

[woody64]

We did a regular verandah last August to Alaska on the Wonder with myself (6'), my DW, and my to DS (22 & 19 and both over 6') and it was plenty of room for us. We love being able to go outside for short periods and then be able to be back inside in seconds.

 

[xavier2001]

We did the PC cruise with our 2 10 year olds this Spring. We used the verandah a LOT! Nice to have a retreat and def not too hot. We had the regular verandah on Deck 6, the kids were fine sleeping in the bunk beds.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

I’m going rogue here: we had a secret porthole room last year for the wbpc and loved it! We saved almost a thousand dollars over the cost of a verandah, which paid for excursions, souvenirs, liquor tasting classes, Palo brunch and dinner....

Next year we are doing the same cruise again, so we wanted to make it different somehow - so I’m trying to upgrade our OV to an aft verandah or a Navigators verandah. But they’re so popular the platinum cruisers scooped them all up on opening day.

But we will be perfectly happy where we are if we can’t upgrade. And deck 4 is shaded and out of the rain, for canal viewing

 

[dcassetta]

I’m going rogue here: we had a secret porthole room last year for the wbpc and loved it! We saved almost a thousand dollars over the cost of a verandah, which paid for excursions, souvenirs, liquor tasting classes, Palo brunch and dinner....

Next year we are doing the same cruise again, so we wanted to make it different somehow - so I’m trying to upgrade our OV to an aft verandah or a Navigators verandah. But they’re so popular the platinum cruisers scooped them all up on opening day.

But we will be perfectly happy where we are if we can’t upgrade. And deck 4 is shaded and out of the rain, for canal viewing

Not rogue at all. Verandahs are great, but they are also more expensive. If the choice for your budget is a verandah with no excursions or an inside/oceanview with excursions, I think this is a no-brainer!