Verandah or Port Hole......Which one do you book and is it worth the money.

[lsteadman]

Hello...all.... I am a few hours from booking my first Disney cruise. However, I cannot decide between a stateroom with a Port Hole or a Navigator Verandah. Please tell me why you book with a Porthole or Verandah. Do you really enjoy sitting on the Verandah drinking coffee and eating pastries in the morning? Does the wind blow hard when the ship is moving that it makes it impossible to enjoy a meal on the verandah? Can you take really good pictures of the islands as the ship docks? How else can I justify the Verandah. Help me give more of my money to Disney! I want to get the most of this cruise down to the last drop of Pixie Dust.

There is a big price difference! $738.00 difference between Cat 7 Navigator Verandah and Cat 9 Porthole. Can someone also tell me what the difference is between a Cat. 8 room and Cat 9 room? The cast members for this cruise are me (32 years old) and my 8 eight old daughter. So either way we will have more than enough room. My daughter will probably leave me stranded for the Oceaneers Lab anyway. So I probably be hanging out by myself. .....Yes! Mommy time!

 

[Scratch42]

If it is a 3 or 4 day, I would not waste the money!

If it is a seven day, go for it! It is well worth the extra money especially if you daughter is like mine and likes to sleep in! It is so nice sitting out there with your first cup of coffee!

m2cw

Scratch

 

[denise5374]

We are going on the 7 day and opted for the porthole Cat. 9...I couldn't see spending the extra $$ for a Verandah. We don't spend that much time in our cabin so it wasn't worth it for us.

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

If $$$ is an issue, go for the porthole. We've traveled in an inside and a verandah. For the $$$$ I skip the verandah. I'd rather be up on the deck. There are so many places were you can relax w/o a verandah.

 

[rcdisneyfam]

If your TA books you at a Guarantee for a Cat. 8, (porthole) room, then you are guaranteed to get a port hole room, you just won't know your room # from the beginning and you can possibly get a free upgrade to a Verandah Room as we have in the past. We did on our 4 day cruise the first time and lucked out with a verandah. It's worth asking about.

 

[cjsmith]

We book a verandah on every cruise and I wouldn't change it. I love going outside in am and sitting for the longest time having my coffee. It also was a great place to take a nap when we were in high seas in January. The fresh air was wonderful and I was close to my bathroom just in case we needed it!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I've had a CAT5 twice and a CAT8 once. If the cruise were a 3- or 4-day, I would not waste the money on the verandah (unless money isn't an issue) and go for the CAT8 porthole. Personally, I can't justify the extra money for the verandah after experiencing the 8 on my last 4-day. If it were a 7-day I would definitely spring for the verandah, though.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DECISION!

 

[Jiffymom]

My vote.
No comparison. GO FOR THE VERNDA, you won't regret it.

 

[MisterBubbles]

We booked a specific stateroom with a porthole last summer and were given a free up upgrade to a room with a verandah about 2 weeks prior to sailing. Our TA called us to let us know. It would have cost us $1,000 extra had we paid for the verandah.

The verandah was WONDERFUL. We sat out there in the morning and at night after the kids went to bed. It helped us feel like we had more space. Given how much we enjoyed it we still could not justify paying for it on our next trip and booked another porthole stateroom. Maybe we will get lucky again!

 

[WDWLVR]

As my tag says - have veranda will cruise. I love having a veranda and the navigator verandas are my favorite. That being said when we did our last 4-day we had a porthole room and it was a very nice. For a longer cruise I would definately go with a veranda as I love it as a nice quiet place to relax, read a book, and watch the sea go by.

 

[inkkognito]

Although I absolutely love having a verandah, if it were a matter of money, I would go with the porthole. We did a secret porthole room on our three-peat (three back to back on the Wonder) and had a great time. We spent a lot of time on deck 4, the secret deck 7 verandah, and in the Tropical Rainforest. We often book the secret porthole rooms because if it's a matter of quantity vs. vernadah, I will go for the quantity. But that's not to say that I don't prefer a verandah...we'll be in my favorite Cat. 6 room, 5650, on our trip this weekend.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[ronandot]

Very interesting that so many pixels are devoted to this subject but I am in the same boat also. Trying to justify the $1600 difference between Cat 9 and Cat 5 for our trip on the Magic next week. It will be our first cruise and recent posts have mentioned that the weather is not that warm and many have commented on how windy it was. Can you really enjoy a verandah this time of year? Any input from experienced cruisers would be greatly appreciated. Not much time left

 

[inkkognito]

The weather does have some bearing on your enjoyment of your verandah, but it's very hard to predict. There is only one trip where we had a verandah and the rain kept us off it for a long period of time. On other cruises, there were some rainy days, but also plenty of enjoyment time.
The cold hasn't kept me off the verandah, but being used to the Chicago winters, "warm" for me in the winter is anything about 55!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com