Secret Porthole after having verandah

[maminnie]

I have booked a Secret Porthole Room after having a verandah on a four night and a seven night.

Please help - will I regret it? The verandah was another $1500 and we are travelling with other families so I thought we probably won't have time to use a verandah much.

What are my concerns about not having a verandah:

1) Had a verandah once and will know what I'm missing.

2) No fresh air in the room.

3) Room will feel so much smaller.

4) Forward location versus mid-ship re seasickness.

Also, why is there no steamer trunk in 5020 and 5520? Are these two rooms smaller?

Any and all thoughts are so welcomed. Thanks in advance.

maminnie

 

[Skatermom23]

bumping up...

I would also like to hear about the motion in this area. I have rooms 5022/5024 booked and I do get motion sickness. Can anyone comment on how much you feel the rocking from these rooms?

 

[markmyboy]

OK....Our first cruise was on the Magic & we did have a verandah & we LOVED it. However, in order to cruise again we needed to pinch a few pennies & were fortunate enough to snag one of the secret portholes, 5024 (i think) and we loved IT even more!!

The location cannot be beat. We LOVE having our room on deck 5. We never noticed anymore motion than our midship cat. 6. But we don't seem to be TOO affected by the motion to begin with?? Deck 5 , in our opinion, is the best, most convenient location for the room....especially if you have kids in the clubs, but even if you don't, it's great. There are not that many staterooms on this deck & there never seems to be more than a couple other people in the halls at any given time.

I hope you like the location as much as we do. Since our first trip in the secret porthole, we have only cruised if we could get the secret porthole again. (for the 14 day repo we went for a balcony!! Not sure about TWO weeks without the verandah....but for 1 week...you will be fine!!)

OH...the steamer trunk..the rooms are not smaller, there is just no little notch in the wall to fit the steamer trunk like there are in the others. We did alright without the added storage.

 

[dclwdwlover]

Our 1st & 3rd cruises we had a verandahs - the 2nd we did not - we had SPH staterooms. I did miss the verandah, but we do use it A LOT. I think that makes a big difference.

We really did like the SPH's, but I think the only time we really would have missed having the ability to have fresh air was when I got sick on the first night (on the 3rd cruise during hurricane time) & had to open the door & hear the waves & get fresh air. I wasn't sick at all on the other cruises & didn't notice any difference in motion when we were in the SPH's. I also didn't feel that the room felt much smaller.

There are no steamer trunks because there is no room for them. The other SPH's have a cut-in area in the wall for them to fit into.

If $$ is a concern, & $1,500. is a lot of $$, I think that you will be very happy in the SPH stateroom. My preference is a verandah, but sometimes we have to alternate our plans depending on finances.

 

[maminnie]

Has anyone else gone from a verandah room to a room with the large single porthole?

Still trying to decide.

Thanks,

maminnie

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We are going from verandah on 4 Night to inside Cat 11 (with no window) on 7 Night . Know we'll like it because we've been in Cat 11 before.

A few thoughts:

You can't really keep verandah door open for fresh air in the room because all the AC goes out and the room gets condensation on the ceiling. Step outside, yes; fresh air in room, no.

I really like the single bath better than the two small baths (see Tag). Got running back and forth naked to get supplies...(sorry for that visual)...

Our kids are 6 and were too distracted by the verandah to rest/nap in the afternoon (which we all needed). Inside room: TV on, that's about it.

Can think of a lot I can do with that $1500 in savings.

Doesn't matter where we are on the ship - the point is WE'RE ON THE SHIP!!

You'll at least have some daylight and a peek at the outside as well as the two baths if you like those.

Try not to worry about it - you got a good deal and you'll have a great time with your friends. Have fun!!

P.S. Previous Cat 11 room was 5513 right near SPRs and sway was not an issue.

 

[Laura24]

Originally posted by maminnie
Has anyone else gone from a verandah room to a room with the large single porthole?

Still trying to decide.

Thanks,

maminnie

of the cruise. Had the verandah ( cat. 6) on our 1st 7nt..loved it, had the Navigators verandah ( cat. 7) the 2nd 7nt...just as good except for the solid walls (no glass) and as for the 3 nt, didn't miss the verandah since the time was short, but the large port hole was great for the visual affects. Have since rebooked a cat. 8 for our next 3 nighter!!

 

[Mjasp]

Our 1st DCL cruise we had a verandah, on our second cruise for the 10 night 8/28/04 cruise we had the SPR, it was fine. Deck 5 is a great location. Am booking a category 8 and although DCL shows the BEST location as deck 7 I still think deck 5 is great.

Enjoy
Joanna

Edited to add...It has a light outside the window and the light does shine through the curtains and it acts like a night light.

 

[morrowdl]

I can let you know when I come back...I'll be on the magic 10/30 in stateroom 5520. The last time I cruised was on the Wonder and I did have a verandah, so I understand your concern.

 

[westjones]

Originally posted by markmyboy
The location cannot be beat. We LOVE having our room on deck 5. We never noticed anymore motion than our midship cat. 6. But we don't seem to be TOO affected by the motion to begin with?? Deck 5 , in our opinion, is the best, most convenient location for the room....especially if you have kids in the clubs, but even if you don't, it's great. There are not that many staterooms on this deck & there never seems to be more than a couple other people in the halls at any given time.

We love the 5th floor too! I even like the Cat. 11 sideways rooms! (we had friends stay in one last week with us while we were in a SPR, we decided if we couldn't get a SPR we would go for one of those Cat. 11 rooms in the future).

It was so great for our twins to be able to just walk back to our room from the lab from right around the corner. The movie theater is also on this floor. The Walt Disney Theater is right below, so it is a quick walk down the stairs to go to the shows at night.

We absolutely loved this hallway! And we loved having the window in our Cat. 10 Secret Porthole room!
DJ

 

[fredms]

I am making the change for the January cruise. I had a navigator's verandah - but I will have adjoining SPH rooms with my nieces and nephews. Can someone highlight the main differences? Is there only one bath in the SPH rooms?

Thanks!

 

[westjones]

The Cat. 10s have the split bath (and the SPRs are Cat. 10 rooms).

These are a great value! We always try to get one of them.
DJ

 

[brack]

We had a veranda on our first cruise because we thought it was the only way to go. Before we departed we looked at the inside cabin across from us and liked it. For our next three Magic cruises we booked inside cabins and have enjoyed them ..... not to mention the extra money to spend in the ship's store and excursions!

 

[maminnie]

Thank you everyone for your help.

For anyone cruising in the future, have a great one!

maminnie