Verendah go for it or pass?

[anricat]

Just reading through this and wanted to comment that some of the disagreement may be cultural. People from "the British Isles" tend to be more blunt than Americans. They would call the way Americans "sugar coat" things fake. Americans call it being sensitive to other people. Tomaato, tomato. I would say having a balcony (verandah, whatever they call it to make the up charge worth it) is probably far superior to not having a balcony. I personally refuse to pay the upcharge to get one... and I want my children to "suffer" a bit. They are already over privileged just cruising-- the last thing they need is concierge or a balcony.

I think we're getting a little off-topic here, but I deeply disagree with your broad overgeneralization. I have relatives from NYC that are about the most blunt people you've ever met. I also have friends from the UK and they are about the most kind and considerate people I've met. I don't think this is about bluntness or sugar coating, I think it's about treating people with kindness and respect and I think that is something that various people from all cultures do and don't do to varying degrees. I think that sometimes the world as a whole needs more of the former.

 

[ironz]

We chose a navigator's verandah for our Alaska cruise 2017. I'm going to agree with my friend anricat-- one simply should do what one can afford and will give them the value they desire for their particular needs/desires, and that is not going to be the same for everyone! My DH and I certainly cannot afford a verandah on every cruise. What made it more affordable in our case, is that we are doing one of the May cruises-- so the prices are less, and that is where we found some savings. A 7A on the May cruises is more comparable to an ocean view on the mid-summer cruises, cost-wise.
The weather may not be as good, although posts I have seen from this year showed several days of good weather. And May is easier for me to get the time off from work.
My DH does love just hanging out on the verandah, and we were lucky enough to get a great VGT deal on the Wonder for our honeymoon 2 years ago. So, of course, we enjoyed that experience. Would we lose all enjoyment of the cruise without it? No-- we are perfectly capable of looking out the window, or going to a deck to look around. And we will balance our time looking at nature with other activities, shipboard and in port.
We splurged for this, being a bucket list item. However, PC is also on my bucket list, and, while the prices (per night) are better for those cruises than Alaska, we pretty much have decided if/when we book, we'll choose an ocean view and not a verandah.

 

[Hundredacre]

I think we're getting a little off-topic here, but I deeply disagree with your broad overgeneralization. I have relatives from NYC that are about the most blunt people you've ever met. I also have friends from the UK and they are about the most kind and considerate people I've met. I don't think this is about bluntness or sugar coating, I think it's about treating people with kindness and respect and I think that is something that various people from all cultures do and don't do to varying degrees. I think that sometimes the world as a whole needs more of the former.

I agree with you and understand your perspective. I do think people are not all the same in the US or wherever and I also think it is important for us all to respect each other. I am only offering my perspective- which is definitely just that. Right away when I read Disney Fantasy's posts I shook my head and laughed. All I could think was how British he was and that it was both annoying and comforting. I lived in Europe for some time and once you get to know them, Europeans definitely have a lot to say about what they think about the US and Americans- not necessarily bad things, just observational. Things that are "annoying" can also be endearing. I am not defending Disney Fantasy, just saying that some things may be lost in translation here-- and maybe not. It is funny that you bring up NY, because I have lived there too, and when I first moved there I thought New Yorkers were awful people- incredibly rude. Now that I no longer live there, I crave their bluntness. They turned me. Funny how that happens.

 

[richkaryn]

Having just gotten back from the Alaskan cruise, we were a family that felt we just "had to" have a verandah when we booked.....now that we're back, in all honesty, we may have spent an hour using it the whole cruise....we spent a lot of time on deck/out of our room doing activities, etc. We went down to the room after being on deck for the glacier viewing and viewed some more and took some pics from that angle. I also woke up super early the first morning bc I was still on home time and went on to the balcony while DH and DS slept and caught an amazing sunrise. Other than that we hardly used it and decided we'd like to do Alaska again in the future but would spend the extra $ on some different excursions we didn't do bc of high cost this time (Glacier dog sledding to be specific) instead of a verandah.

 

[mkymouse40]

How do you find out if a room has a "white board" or "plexiglass" verandah wall?

 

[Ofinn]

I agree with you and understand your perspective. I do think people are not all the same in the US or wherever and I also think it is important for us all to respect each other. I am only offering my perspective- which is definitely just that. Right away when I read Disney Fantasy's posts I shook my head and laughed. All I could think was how British he was and that it was both annoying and comforting. I lived in Europe for some time and once you get to know them, Europeans definitely have a lot to say about what they think about the US and Americans- not necessarily bad things, just observational. Things that are "annoying" can also be endearing. I am not defending Disney Fantasy, just saying that some things may be lost in translation here-- and maybe not. It is funny that you bring up NY, because I have lived there too, and when I first moved there I thought New Yorkers were awful people- incredibly rude. Now that I no longer live there, I crave their bluntness. They turned me. Funny how that happens.

I get what you were trying to say. No doubt there are cultural differences. As someone who lives in a melting pot and deals with the public on a daily basis I totally get it. I know it's not politically correct to stereotype, but stereotypes weren't created out of thin air. It's not a bad thing it just makes the world interesting.

 

[michellekcm]

We had a veranda for our Alaska cruise as our son was 10 months old and was napping every day. Honestly, apart from the times when he was napping, we hardly ever used it. We spent time up on Deck 10 on Tracey Arm day and took lots of photos from the back of Beach Blanket Buffet and Deck 10 the other days.

We also spent a lot of time with the kids doing things - character meets, shows, open house kids club, and so on. So we spent a lot of time out of the room doing the DCL stuff. That pattern has continued on the other cruises we take too.

For us, we can't see that we'll ever book a veranda cabin again. That money can be spent on port adventures, photos, etc. while we can still enjoy the view from an Oceanview room.