Higher decks vs. lower decks

[denegate]

First time cruiser here... I have booked the Disney Dream for 2011 and was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are to being higher decks vs. lower decks.

 

[williamson_ja]

Higher= more expensive, lower=cheaper. lol

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Aside from price: The higher you are on the ship, the more you'll feel the ship swaying side to side; the lower you go the more you'll feel the vibration of engines, waves, etc.. Also, bow notices up and down more than stern (both of which are reasons why restaurants are on lower decks and aft of midship.) If you're prone to motion sickness, the bigger question is inside vs outside. Inside doesn't give you any horizon point-of-reference, so your inner ear has trouble syncing with your brain. One reason why one of the best cures for motion sickness is to get to an outside deck where you can watch the horizon.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Aside from price: The higher you are on the ship, the more you'll feel the ship swaying side to side; the lower you go the more you'll feel the vibration of engines, waves, etc.. Also, bow notices up and down more than stern (both of which are reasons why restaurants are on lower decks and aft of midship.) If you're prone to motion sickness, the bigger question is inside vs outside. Inside doesn't give you any horizon point-of-reference, so your inner ear has trouble syncing with your brain. One reason why one of the best cures for motion sickness is to get to an outside deck where you can watch the horizon.

I agree with everything in this post, bar the bit about the top deck swaying more side to side, which isn't actually physically possible. Plus if it did all the water would flow out of the pools, if you are on the top deck you can see how much it moves by looking at the sea.

What does occur, is the middle, midship of the ship ( the center) has least movement, like balancing a pencil on your finger, forward and aft move true, but all decks lower and higher than deck 5 move relative to each other. -again if the higher decks sway more, why do all ships put the expensive rooms there?

 

[trwprid]

I was wondering about this. DH stated early on that he didn't want to be in the "lower bowels" of the ship because he saw Titanic. Wait'll he finds out our stateroom is on deck two!

I don't think he gets that the lower decks aren't underwater.

Fortunately, we're smack dab in the middle of the ship and have a porthole (thank you, travel agent), so we shouldn't have too much of a problem with motion sickness.

The last cruise I took - stabilizers or not - I spent all four days with rubbery legs holding out my arms and going "whoa." We had some really rough water.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I agree with everything in this post, bar the bit about the top deck swaying more side to side, which isn't actually physically possible. Plus if it did all the water would flow out of the pools, if you are on the top deck you can see how much it moves by looking at the sea.

What does occur, is the middle, midship of the ship ( the center) has least movement, like balancing a pencil on your finger, forward and aft move true, but all decks lower and higher than deck 5 move relative to each other. -again if the higher decks sway more, why do all ships put the expensive rooms there?

Pure physics my friend. The further away an object is from a fulcrum, the more physical distance it will travel around that fulcrum for every degree of movement at the fulcrum (think teeter-totter). The higher decks have a more even and rythmic motion than the lower decks (inverse sqare law: the amount of energy detected is inversly proportional to the square of the distance between the point of origin and the point of measurement) - which is why the water in the QC pool routinely flows out of the pool on either side but nobody really notices - it happens slowly.

Higher rooms are more expensive than lower rooms because movement is muted by the distance from the fulcrum point (keel)

 

[Blanche_Neige]

If you're prone to motion sickness, the bigger question is inside vs outside. Inside doesn't give you any horizon point-of-reference, so your inner ear has trouble syncing with your brain. One reason why one of the best cures for motion sickness is to get to an outside deck where you can watch the horizon.

in that case wouldn't the virtual port hole in the inside staterooms on the Dream be the same as the real porthole?

 

[eskimoinparadise]

That's a good question. Given that the Dream will be the first liner to install this technology, it will be an interesting study (hope someone is planning on gathering data). Depending on how well synched the video is with real-time motion, and whether the video you see on the VP is what's actually outside of your stateroom rather than just a generic view of that side of the ship, hypothetically, it could help reduce symptoms. The key is whether the visual motion signals to the brain and the physicalmotion signals to the inner ear are timed close enough to each other so that the brain can interpolate and adjust.

Unfortunately, if the signals are too far out of sync, the combination could actually intensify the symptoms

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Pure physics my friend. The further away an object is from a fulcrum, the more physical distance it will travel around that fulcrum for every degree of movement at the fulcrum (think teeter-totter). The higher decks have a more even and rhythmic motion than the lower decks (inverse square law: the amount of energy detected is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point of origin and the point of measurement) - which is why the water in the QC pool routinely flows out of the pool on either side but nobody really notices - it happens slowly.

Higher rooms are more expensive than lower rooms because movement is muted by the distance from the fulcrum point (keel)

Well the misconception occurs when the ship is considered to be like an upturned triangle, IE people see the front (Bow) and see a point near the bottom and assume that runs the way through, and assume it moves like an upturned pendulum, but in fact, if you look from the back (Stern/aft) you see its square, and the vast majority of the hull, is square.

Therefore everything is relative, and if top/port moves then relative to that starboard/bottom moves. Also bottom/port and starboard/top.

At any point where something is knocked or in contact with something else will move or vibrate more than an other point, ie if you knock a spoon at one end it vibrates more than elsewhere, so at the point where the ship meets the sea (water) has greatest vibration and movement and the ship overall flex's in the water to absorb that, (if it didn't it would snap), and therefore the point of impact of waves is where the force is and higher decks have less force.

Now the point I made and you remade is yes you see some movement at the Cove, Goofy, and Mickey pools on some rough days, this is gentle back and forth, and so a good yardstick to gauge the movement of the ship.

Top deck being welded to the other decks will move relative to each one.

Now the issue for debate is every person notices different things, sea conditions differ, the ship takes on more ballast in heavy seas altering the centre of gravity, and if you are on open decks the wind force will give you a sense of movement, where inside decks without wind will make you feel less movement.

Ships are fully stabilized and try to avoid bad weather and rough conditions sailing around thoose, so most people never experience movement so will all say they are the same. The myth of the top deck moving far more than any other deck is actually impossible but is a common myth.

We most likely will bore everyone on this thread so we should leave it there.

I actually agreed with the vast majority of what your orginal post said.

 

[Shoog]

If it is a motion issue - avoid the back of the ship. I could never finish a meal in animators due to the rocking that you feel there.

 

[sayhello]

. -again if the higher decks sway more, why do all ships put the expensive rooms there?

Because there is a left-over caste system from the old days of oceanliners, when that was the *only* way to travel across the ocean. All the steerage (cheap, lower-class) passengers were stuck in the hold below decks, and the rich and psuedo-rich wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from the "common" rabble. So the higher your cabin was, the more prestige it had. The steerage passengers weren't even *allowed* on the higher decks.

That perception is still around, that the higher your cabin is, the "better" it is. I've been on large cruiseships where I couldn't even tell the ship was moving until I went up to the higher decks. The movement was much more noticeable up there.

Sayhello

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We most likely will bore everyone on this thread so we should leave it there.

Agree. Who knows, one of these days, we'll be on the same ship, and we can properly debate this over a pint, but for now we've probably put everyone else to sleep

 

[denegate]

thanks but I think I may be more confused now than ever.....oh well, we are on deck 10 in room 10047, hopefully we won't feel the ship swaying too much. I thought I had heard that you very rarely feel the ship actually swaying but I guess I'm wrong.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

thanks but I think I may be more confused now than ever.....oh well, we are on deck 10 in room 10047, hopefully we won't feel the ship swaying too much. I thought I had heard that you very rarely feel the ship actually swaying but I guess I'm wrong.

True, most people aren't consciously aware of the motion of the ship - unless it really starts rockin in a storm or high seas - but your body senses it (called getting your "sea legs"). if you're like most, you actually feel the motion after you get off the ship and back on solid ground.

 

[NancyIL]

I was in a deck 2 cabin on my recent Wonder cruise. The cabin was very conveniently located by the midship elevators and stairs. It was a bit noisy at times from the stabilizers - or so my roommate thought that's what made the noises.

I would NOT want to be in the pricey cabins on the deck underneath the pools!

 

[denegate]

I was in a deck 2 cabin on my recent Wonder cruise. The cabin was very conveniently located by the midship elevators and stairs. It was a bit noisy at times from the stabilizers - or so my roommate thought that's what made the noises.

I would NOT want to be in the pricey cabins on the deck underneath the pools!

Why not? I imagine people wouldnt be paying extra to stay in those staterooms if it was disruptive.

 

[ufcabear]

We were on deck 2 in May on the Magic (oceanview) and thought it was great. We onl had to go up one flight of stairs to the night clubs and it is great when getting off and on the ship at port. It is nice to come back on the ship and stop by the room to drop things off, etc... before hitting the pool or food areas.

We were also just on deck 2 on the Wonder about 3 weeks ago. It was also good.

My thoughts are "get me on the ship."

 

[NancyIL]

Why not? I imagine people wouldnt be paying extra to stay in those staterooms if it was disruptive.

The scraping of deck chairs being moved early in the morning or late at night, the clomping of people running on the deck, the screams of kids jumping in the pools. Nope - you wouldn't catch me in a cabin under the pool deck!

 

[denegate]

The scraping of deck chairs being moved early in the morning or late at night, the clomping of people running on the deck, the screams of kids jumping in the pools. Nope - you wouldn't catch me in a cabin under the pool deck!

Have not heard of those problems. The Dream is to have much better insulating under and above floors which will take care of that problem if it exists. Thanks to all for the helpful tips.

 

[Shoog]

I was in a deck 2 cabin on my recent Wonder cruise. The cabin was very conveniently located by the midship elevators and stairs. It was a bit noisy at times from the stabilizers - or so my roommate thought that's what made the noises.

I would NOT want to be in the pricey cabins on the deck underneath the pools!

8032 is our favorite - it is right under the pools and there was only 1 time that we heard noise (when they were moving deck chairs in the evening) - we spent plenty of time on the veranda and would have noticed any excess. There is excellent insulation to keep down the noise levels.