How important is it to have an "outside cabin?"

[Dodie]

Besides being able to look out the porthole, are there any advantages to having an outside cabin?

Potential first-time cruiser here.

 

[mmouse37]

It's really a matter of personal choice. We happen to love having a window and a verandah. With an outside cabin you know what is going on outside. You can check the weather, watch the ocean, and I find it wonderful to have natural light coming to wake me up in the morning.

With an inside there is no natural light coming in at all. The rooms are very dark and it is difficult in knowing what time it is in the morning.

If that is not a problem for you and you don't care much about checking out what is outside from your room then save some money a go with an inside.

Like I said it is all a matter of personal choice.

Hope this helped a little.

MJ

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Not really an answer to your question but just my feel on the window vs no window
Before my first cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line in Dec I always felt I needed a window for light etc.
However, after cruising I dont feel the window is necessary more a luxury. But I do think a split bath is more a necessity. Of course if we ever got upgraded to a window we would take it.
We are booked on the Disney Magic in Nov with a split bath, not a window.

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I've never been on any other cruise line except DCL, so I can't say normally how big the port holes are. But I was shocked at how big the port hole was on DCL. We have pictures of DS sitting in the window. It has to be at least 4 feet across. Our twins are 3 and they take naps, so it was nice to sit and look out the port hole during the afternoon naptime. Also, it's really exciting to wake up in the morning and look out to see the new port of call, especially CC. We always book a cat 9 because that's the least expensive with it.

 

[wovenwonder]

If you are trying to keep costs low ---- try to get one of the cat#10 rooms on Deck #5 (thats all you will need to do the request). All of these (6) cat #10 rooms on Deck #5 have the obstructed view porthole for the price of an inside cabin. You can view the pictures of these 'Secret Porthole Rooms' at:

www.castawayclub.com

 

[Annie_has_4]

we just got back from the NYE wonder cruise. We had a cat. 11 inside room on deck 5. It was great. Ours was the kind that goes right to left not front to back. It seemed larger (minus the sjplit bath) of our other family members cat. 8 across the hall with a porthole. I would have liked the split bath especially with larger kids.

If money matters, don't worry about an inside room. THey are very nice. If you are going with an outside room, look for a verandah. That would have been nice. I would rather have a verandah than just a window.

 

[Casey's mom]

We have only cruised twice, but both times had a veranda. As we have young children who napped, I spent a fair amount of time in the room. It was great to be able to go sit on the verandah and read and relax while the kids slept. We also enjoyed having a very early morning cup of coffee out there. I think it depends on how much time you think you will spend in your room. From these boards, it seems that many people with inside cabins (or any cabins for that matter) are only in their cabins to shower and sleep. If you think you will be one of those people, paying more for a window or veranda may not make sense. On the other hand, we really enjoyed it. The veranda made our cabin so inviting and a great place to relax and enjoy the outside. Both cruises at least one of my DDs slept through the sailaway party, so I sat on the veranda reading and watching us sail out of the port. I could hear a little bit of the music and festivities, but really enjoyed the serenity of our little porch. I'm sure you would enjoy the cruise either way! It is a beautiful ship.

 

[Daisimae]

We had a inside cat 10 room, on deck 7 in 2002. Not having the porthole wasn't a problem. It was very dark in the room at night and hubby brought along his alarm clock so we coudl wake up in the am. We also turned on the TV to the picture of the bridge in the morning.

This year we have another cat 10 room, but it is one of the secret porthole rooms on deck 5. I think that we will like to see daylight in the am, but, if I had to, I would stay in the cat 10 without daylight again.

Daisimae

 

[imgoingtodisney]

I cruised with my MIL in Dec. There were no children with us. When I woke up I went up to either the sun deck or pool deck to check out the scenery. This was immediately when I woke up before I even showered. But this enabled MIL to get into the bathroom. (If I had bedhead I wore a hat). It was so quiet and peaceful on the sun deck at that hour of the morning. I dont think the same scenery could have been viewed from a window. IMHO
This Nov Im cruising with DH and DS (who will be 10.5). DH enjoys getting up early and finding a quiet spot to read.

 

[Chattyaholic]

For us it's a verandah, or we don't go at all! Hubby and I took our first cruise last January and we spent quite a bit of time on our verandah. We enjoyed it in the early morning for that first cup of coffee, and we enjoyed it various times during the day to just sit and relax, read a book, watch the water go by, watch us leave port, etc. At night it was so romantic to sit out there and gaze up at the stars, and we left the door open at night so we were lulled to sleep by the warm, tropical breezes and the soothing ocean sounds. We have our second Magic cruise booked for 1/03, probably could have gone this year if we would have opted for an inside room, but we're spoiled! Gotta have that verandah!!

 

[atigeg]

We've sailed in most types of staterooms (inside, secret porthole, nav. verandah, and regular verandah), and my personal preference is to at least have some light via a porthole, if not a verandah. But since we sail so much, we frequently end up booking inside staterooms. I'd certainly rather be inside than not on the ship at all! But lately we have been lucky to snare the secret porthole rooms for our non-verandah sailings. Even with the obstruction, that extra bit of light is so cheerful in the morning. Of course, nothing beats enjoying breakfast outside on your verandah! But if you can't swing it, secret porthole or inside are perfectly acceptable. You will probably find that you're not spending much time in your stateroom anyway!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Gramma]

We sailed in January 2000 in Cat. 5 with a verandah. My DH just loved watching the ship dock in the morning. It was nice to have the doors open and listen to the outside. We are going again March 16th and have the same room.

 

[buzz2400]

I was in cat 11 inside stateroom on deck 7. I booked the same for our second cruise. You are not in your room long enough to gaze out the porthole or verandah. It was only two of us so the bathroom did not cause a problem. I think you enjoy it more when you go up on deck and sit.

 

[princsdi1]

Just putting in my two cents, We thought having the veranda would just be nice to look out, but actually the first day when I wasnt feeling so well, the fresh air was a god send, you get a little claustraphobic in there. We were on the starboard side and it was great because when ever we passed land we coud see it out the window. And when we pulled into port at the different islands we coul look out and see it. When we pulled into St. Thomas on Wed. morning I was up about 6:30 or so, it was so pretty to see all the light lit up on the mountainside and all the pretty boats in the harbor. One of my favorite pictures, Hope this helps a little. Princsdi1@aol.com

 

[CamColt]

We sailed in a cat 11 on deck 5. We had no problem with no light. We left the bathroom light on at night and kept the door open a crack for DS. We had 2 little ones with us, 3.5 and 8 mos. As for nap times, usually the baby just slept by the pool reclining in his carriage, and both kids napped during parts of the shows, so we didnt need the room for nap time. We were only in there for sleeping, getting ready, and we got room service once.
I would have no problem sailing in an 11 again, however for our next cruise, we sprung for a cat 10 secret porthole.

 

[SingingMom]

We've only cruised once, but after experiencing the verandah, I wouldn't be able to go any other way! I so enjoyed my morning tea while lounging on the verandah.

I know people say "you don't spend much time in the cabin", but we where there enough to enjoy the verandah. We always had the drapes pulled back to have the sun shine through! Gave the illusion of a bigger cabin, also.

 

[gscott8075]

I think I could live with an inside for a 3/4 day.

Being on an inside for 7 days would make me feel a bit claustrophobic.

DCL does it right on the inside - they installed porthole size mirrors to give you an outside feel.

 

[WDWLVR]

It really is about personal taste, but for me as long as we can afford it I'm getting some type of veranda. I'm a morning person while DH likes to sleep later and is hard to wake up. I spent time every morning out on our veranda reading and watching the world/water go by while he was waking up. In May we are saving a little money and trying out the Navigators veranda.

The rooms on DCL are very spacious and we could do without an outside cabin if we had to (I'd just sneak off to deck 4 and read).

 

[Dopey & Grumpy]

IMO - an inside stateroom is o.k. IF your cabin is good size. We've sailed 4 other cruises (none on the Disney YET) and twice we've had a porthole, once we had a window, and once we stayed inside. The inside stay was in a room not much bigger than a long closet. My DH and I could not dress in the room together because we kept bumping arms. One of us had to dress in the bathroom and the other in the room. I would have loved a porthole to at least give it the illusion it was bigger than it really was. We're sailing on the Disney Magic in Sept. and have one of the "free" porthole rooms but from what I read on this board, the rooms are big enough that even without a porthole, the room will be great.

 

[Lisa F]

I strongly agree that it's all about personal opinion. My husband and were on the Jan 5th sailing of the Magic in an outside stateroom with a porthole (not a verandah). We had previously booked a 7 night for Jan 2003 with a verandah and after our first cruise, we are downgrading from a cat 6 to a cat 10! Although when we did look out the window it was nice, I personally do not feel like it was worth the extra cost and I would not do it again.

As far as being outside, we did spend almost every evening taking a stroll up on deck 10... We stayed in the forward section of deck 7, we'd walk up to deck 9, walk all the way aft to grab some milk at the beverage station, go up to deck 10 and walk all the way forward again. We always spent a decent amount of time all the way forward where there are no lights and where we could star gaze with practically a 360 degree view of the night sky with very little light pollution. We did check out the promenade deck one night and much preferred the complete openness of deck 10.

Of course, we don't have kids. If we did have kids and my choices for naptime were sitting in an inside cabin and twiddling my thumbs or sitting out on my verandah, the verandah would win hands down. But for the two of us it is almost a $1,000 difference between the inside (cat 10) cabin and the verandah (cat 6) cabin and that can buy a lot of shore excursions and spa treatments and fruity drinks in tall glasses!

On the last day there we did get to peek into a category 11 room just down the hall from us and decided that it would be worth it to spring for a cat 10 over a cat 11 because we liked the split bath (even for just the two of us!) and the layout a bit more.


Lisa