Is a verandah a must?

[SueSue]

This will be our first cruise. Is a verandah a must or can we save some money by booking an inside stateroom? I'd love to hear from all of you experts!

 

[MrsMork]

Inside stateroom works well for us and our budget. This allows us more $$ to spend on other things on our cruises and also allows us to cruise more often.

 

[DrCavin]

You are going to get a mix of answers. 3/4 day cruise I would say no verandah is necessary, 7+ day cruises I would.

Basically it is a personal decision & some say have to have one, others dont want one.

 

[JimB.]

We have traveled on DCL with inside statrooms, Porthole rooms (Cat 9?) and verandah rooms (cat 4/5/6).

While we LIKE the verandah rooms the best, if it were a choice between non-verandah rooms & not going, we woulod do without the verandah.

I would NOT, however stay in an inside room again. They are not brightly lit enough for my personal tastes.

 

[stampinshauna]

We booked an inside for both our first & second cruises. I figured I'd rather save the money and go on another cruise than pay double for a veranda. We booked a category 12 guarantee both times. The first time we ended up in a category 11 inside and the second time we got a category 9 oceanview. I did like the oceanview, but don't know that I'd pay that much extra for it. We are going on our 3rd cruise in May and we do have a balcony, but that is because we are going to Alaska and there is so much to see (instead of just ocean) and the fact that we got a great deal and are paying the same as we would for an inside.

I'd say it depends on your finances. If you haven't cruised before, this is the time to do an inside. I've heard once you have a balcony, you'll always want one.

 

[KKB]

DH & I agree that verandah's are waste of $ for us.
We had oceanview for 1st cruise (upgrade), and verandah on Disney(both 7 day cruises), but rarely used it. We have booked an interior for our 3rd cruise. We only use a room to shower, sleep & .
Now my parents love a verandah and will cruise no other way.
To each his own.
Happy cruising!
Kris

 

[MelanieC]

For us it was $50 more pp ($200 more) to a cat 9 Outside. It would have been about $1500 more for a verandah. For us, $200 more was reasonable but $1500 more was not.

We also stay at the All Star Movies or Pop Century when we go to WDW (except the time I got a $99 rate at the Contemporary through Shades of Green). So for us we would rather take longer and more often vacations and stay in less expensive rooms than to pay tons more for the more expensive rooms/hotels. For us its about quantity of time we get to spend together on a vacation and not luxury (to an extent- I like nice hotels so I wouldn't book a small motel to save money).

 

[KatHuss]

On our first two cruises (3 day and 7 day) we had cat 11 and loved it. We weren't in the room much so didn't mind not having a verandah. Last summer we did a 3 day and had a verandah and hardly used it. We are doing a 10 day this winter and started out with a cat 8 oceanview but downgraded ourselves to a cat 10 because the only difference between the two was the window and for a difference of $1300 we'd rather do without the window and have more to spend on excursions, etc.

It really is a personal choice but I wouldn't pay the extra for the verandah or even the window.

 

[TheWog]

This will depend on you and your cost tolerance. It is a must for us as DW has issues with motion and such and we like to have the fresh air right there if needed and I also love it to watch everything that goes on in port and to watch the sun rise with a cup of coffee in the morning.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Not a must, be a nice-to. We did a verandah on our first (and only so far) cruise and my DH used it a lot. He liked having the ability to have the door open, too, if he was just sitting inside the cabin, so w/o a verandah, he couldn't have done it. We enjoyed having the verandah when we docked at Costa Maya as we were able to "people watch" on the other ships And it was nice on Sea Days to enjoy being outside without being in the fray.

However, now that we've sailed with a verandah, if it ever became an issue of cruise w/o a verandah or don't cruise at all, we'll skip the verandah and take the cruise

 

[SueSue]

We're a family of 5, and will probably go for 2 adjoining inside rooms instead of one cat. 4 with a verandah. More space for 2 teens and one almost teen! I sure appreciate the feedback - I'm sure I'll be asking A LOT of questions in the future!

 

[BuzzNutt]

I agree this is a personal choice. If it is between verandah and not going...definately forget the verandah. For my party of three, we love them. Coffee in the morning and ice cream at night are just not the same for use.

 

[unixadm]

We just went on our first cruise...the 7 night eastern.

We had an inside stateroom. NEVER again for us. My wife gets a little claustaphobic and with no window, it kicked in a bit. On top of that, getting up in the morning was tough since it was always pitch black in the room and always seemed like nighttime.

We checked out a Cat 7 room and she was MUCH more comfortable in it (too bad we couldn't upgrade on board!)

We are doing a Verandah for the DVC Members cruise, and will either go with a Verandah if money/DVC points permit or an Oceanview room on all future cruises.

Some people prefer the inside staterooms.....cheaper, and they like to sleep later in the morining...

It is a personal preference...you have to decide what you prefer.

 

[christinou]

It really is a personal choice, we did a inside CAT 10 and I really missed having the sunlight, so the next cruises, we booked a CAT 9, I cannot justify the extra $1,500 for a verandah, as we do not spend much time in the room. If I had younger kids who still napped I would probably be tempted.

 

[webray]

Definately a personal preference. For hubby and I, a verandah is a must, not matter what length the cruise is.

There is nothing like getting up in the middle of the night, going out there, checking out the stars/moon over the water...just beautiful and peaceful.

Also, nice for relaxing on at anytime during the cruise, having a drink or some room service delivered, hubby loves to kick back and read out there to wind down. Good place to watch for sea life also.

 

[lbgraves]

We would rather go on the cruise every year with an inside room than spend twice the amount on a verandah. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a 4 last cruise, so we have experienced it. I wouldn't have paid the price for it though. We will be in a 10 next cruise & be very happy.

 

[jodifla]

WIth older kids, a verandah isn't so necessary. But with little ones, it's a great thing to have.

We can be out on the verandah at night after he's gone to bed, or first thing in the a.m. while he's watching TV. It's like adding another room to the cabin.

We are folks who like to lounge around, so my husband refused to cruise without the verandah.

 

[tvguy]

We got upgraded for free to a room with a verandah and loved it. But we all agreed we would not have paid the $1500 extra to book a room with a verandah.
It's like a lot of things in live, if you can afford it, and it's important to you, then fine. But $1500 is enough for a 7 day cruise for 2 on other cruise lines, or a trip for a couple of days for the 4 or us to Disneyland, and we'd rather take the extra trip.

 

[WDWLVR]

It all depends on you. For me I always try and cruise with a verandah. I like the peace and quiet of sitting out there in the early morning and at night. I'm a pretty private person and like my personal space so a verandah is important to me. It isn't for everyone. I've done a Cat 8 and for the 4 day cruise we were on it was fine. Personally I don't think I would like an inside cabin. Again all personal preference.


My favorite staterooms are the navigator verandahs. They are a little more enclosed, cozy and cheaper than the regular verandahs.

 

[AshAlytwins]

We spent the extra $200 for a verandah and loved having it......we stay at Pop Century to have the extra money. We liked being out there when we pulled into ports and at night just to hear the ocean going by. It is to each his own though. We would have missed views like this though....