Why We Won't Get a Verandah Next Time

[Werner Weiss]

We just completed our first Disney Cruise -- 7 nights in a Category 6 stateroom on the Disney Magic 3/23 cruise. I thought we'd get a lot of use from our verandah. I was wrong. We spent so much time away from our stateroom, that we seldom made use of the verandah.

I thought my wife would spend a lot of time reading on the verandah, but she prefered the wonderful deck chairs on Level 4. And, I thought we would enjoy a glass of wine on the verandah between the end of the 6:30 p.m. show and our 8:30 p.m. dinner seating, but, instead, we really enjoyed going with our kids to the delightful 7:45 p.m. family cabaret shows and game shows in Rockin' Bar D, Off Beat, and Studio Sea.

I thought the verandah could be a wonderful place to enjoy room service breakfasts -- but with four of us, and only two chiars on the verandah, we ended up going to one of the restaurants each morning for breakfast.

One of the few times that I wanted to use the verandah was as the ship was departing from St. Thomas. Unfortunately, on the verandah next to ours, a man chose that time to engage in a long and very loud cell phone call -- and then to light up a cigar. I tried to tune out his voice as I read my book, but my nose couldn't tune out the stench of his cigar, so I left our verandah.

Don't get me wrong. The verandah was very nice. The two plastic chairs are fairly comfortable, and I did spend a few hours on the verandah over the course of the week. I'm not advising against getting a verandah -- I'm just saying that I wouldn't do so again for my family.

I would be curious how much use other Disney cruise passengers on this board have made of their verandahs, and whether they would book verandahs again.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Aside from the incident with the neighbor's phone call and cigar, it sounds like most of the reasons you didn't use the verandah was because you were having too much fun.

As for me, I'll probably go with a Category 8 next time. Or a Category 11 near Deck 7 Aft.

 

[aalan]

my wife and i were on the same cruise: sorry we missed you! i didn't find any dis members but didnt look too hard, couldnt remember the meeting times or places...still had a great time. we had a veranda, but it was only the two of us, and we used it a fair amount, but not as much as i thought we would. we did eat, read, listen to music, and just chill out on the veranda. we also opened the door a lot to get some fresh air mixed in with the a.c. air. i think that without the veranda the room would have just seemed too small: it felt more open and nice with the sunshine streaming in (we were in 6150 by the way). when we cruise again we'll get the veranda.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by Dave_from_Marietta
Aside from the incident with the neighbor's phone call and cigar, it sounds like most of the reasons you didn't use the verandah was because you were having too much fun.

Very true!

Even though I had studied the Navigators at Dave_from_Marietta's Web site, I had no idea that there would be so many good reasons to be away from our stateroom so much of the time.

 

[albiats]

For our situation, we really enjoy the verandas. It is just my DW and I and we do have early coffee from room service every morning that we can.

I also use the veranda every evening after we come in from the shows and clubs and before we go to sleep.

I also use it when we arrive and leave ports of call and if we're back in the room during the afternoon for any reason.

I can see where it might be more difficult for a family of four to use it, but I would be disappointed without it.

On a cruise last September, we did have an 'enthusiastic smoker' and she also had a voice that was hard to block out. No cigar or cell phone, but still unpleasant. After the second day, we somehow managed to be on the veranda when she wasn't and it was better. I certainly agree that the opportunity for loud and smoking neighbors is always there.

 

[Michelle]

Glad you had a good time, Werner!

I think the verandah becomes more of an issue the more you cruise with DCL...I do spend a fair amount of time on my verandah, more so now that I have cruised Disney so many times and am not as involved in other ship activities. I'm sure I did not spend as much time there as on earlier cruises, but I still always enjoyed it.

I am a total "ocean" person and the verandah is important to me. I can understand how others can live without it, though.

 

[jadedee]

my parents went on a few different cruises and the love there viranda, they left it open at night and listened to the water lap against the boat and used it just to get away for a while.

If I would ever go i On a cruise i would have to have the viranda, if not i wouldnt be able to sleep no fresh air, i would feel to closed in

 

[WDWLVR]

As long as we can afford it, especially for a 7 day cruise I want a veranda. I'm a morning person and my husband really takes a while to wake up and get moving. I spent that time every morning out on the veranda reading a book or just looking at the water. I also found it a great place to get away in the middle of the day. We usally hit the pools early and then when they would get a little crazy I'd go relax on the veranda for a while.

We never did drinks or breakfast out there and I can see where it would be hard with 4 people, but I love the veranda and don't want to give it up.

We are going on a 4 day cruise in May and trying out the Navigator Veranda.

 

[dbond]

I think we would feel claustrophobic without a verandah. We've cruised Disney twice and had a verandah both times. I enjoyed my earling morning coffee in the fresh air every morning, it was so quiet while everyone was still asleep. It was also nice to see where we were each morning and then to just take a peek oustide while we were changing or taking a break in the afternoon. I don't think we really used it at length, but we would have missed the immediate access to the outside world if we didn't have it.

 

[SC Minnie]

There we 3 of us on our Jan cruise and we fell in love woth the veranda. DH is the early riser in our family and he would sit out on the veranda having his coffee every morning while me and dd slept.

We spent more time out there than I had originally anticipated. We sat out there and watched as we docked in St Thomas and Castaway Cay. We had drinks out there a few afternoons before the shows.

THere was few times when all three of us were on the veranda at the same time. I could see how it would be crowded with a family of four.

 

[Lisa F]

Werner,

Thank you SO much for posting this thread. After much debate, my husband and I decided to downgrade our cat 6 to a cat 10 on our upcoming january '03 cruise. After our January '02 cruise where we compromised and got a Cat 8, we just didn't spend enough time in the room to justify spending 1.5 times more on the cruise for a verandah over a cat 10.

Every time someone posts that they cannot cruise without a verandah, I go through another round of self doubt. We were all the way forward on deck 7 in our cat 8 and we basically got the cat 10 inside stateroom across the hall for next year. I really loved the location there, just a few flights of stairs to our favorite place to look at the 360 view of the stars at the front of the ship.

I'm not saying a verandah isn't for anyone, but I have my own list of reasons why it's not worth the money for me and I'm glad that someone else articulated some of the same reasons that we decided not to pay $800 more for a private balcony when we have entire deck 9 and 10 included in the cost of the cruise!

Lisa

 

[Casey's mom]

We were on the same cruise (3/23) and we used our verandah a lot -- but I also think its a matter of priorities and personal choice. We have 2 young children (5 and 4) and without fail someone needed a nap during the day or just wanted to relax in the room for a while and play (or watch Pinocchio for the 100th time). Therefore, we were on the verandah a lot and it was well worth it for us. We were out there coming in and out of ports, checking out the sights in the morning or just hanging out reading a book while everyone was getting dressed for dinner. I really enjoyed it and would always prefer to have one. That being said -- if the kids were older and $ was more of an issue at the time, I know we would still have a great time on the ship without a verandah.

 

[wdwobsessed]

I have a verandah for our upcoming cruise on the 11th. I think the main reason we booked it is because when we went on the Carnival cruise a few years ago .... we remember gazing at the Wonder and being so jealous of those who had verandahs.

At that point ... we said if we ever did the Disney cruise ... we wanted a verandah.

Plus, we work hard for our vacations .... and we like to be spoiled when we are on vacation.

I'll see if we use it ... but I do know on the Carnival cruise .. the ocean made me VERY uneasy and I felt better when I went outside and looked at the water / got some air.

So that is another reason.

Looking foward to it

wdwo

 

[candleonwater]

In December we used our verandah a lot more than we expected. We had three generations in a Cat 6 room, so we were working with 3 different sleep schedules. It was a wonderful place to just sit and read, any time of day. I have booked another Cat 6 for our next cruise

 

[jenc]

We are on the Wonder for a Land/Sea vacation this June and DH and I got a veranda. We will be with DS (age 4) and DD (age 2.5) and they may nap/go to bed early (9 pm). DH will probably hang out with family members, but I am hoping to be able to enjoy some quiet time on the veranda. I think if the children were older, it may not be a priority, but at their current ages, a place to stay up while they are sleeping is a big plus!

JenC

'96 - CBR (honeymoon)
'99 - CSR
'01 - AS Movies
'02 - Wonder/ Riverside

 

[Bev J]

Now we LOVE a verandah when we cruise, we have sailed with outside cabins, inside cabin(hated) and balcony, we feel the extra cost is worth every cent. It is like having your own private spot on the ocean. Now we have never really had any problem with our neighbors. I love to get up early while we are pulling into port and watch the docking, I don't have to be dressed and be around a bunch of people so early the sunrise is WOW . Last cruise we took our kids and they really spent quite abit of time checking out the view. For our family a verandah enhances our enjoyment of a cruise. We spend plenty of time on the outside decks and have a great time, but a little privacy is great also.

 

[maryisme]

I agree with Werner. We were lucky enough to be upgraded from a category 11 to a category 5 on our first cruise in January of 2002. There is no doubt that a verandah is great but I don't think its worth the extra cost. Well, I should say, for our family it is not worth the extra cost. I think I am stretching it when I say we were out there for a total of 2 hours for the entire cruise (4 day). I also envisioned enjoying a glass of wine, reading, and relaxing on our verandah but it never happened. We did enjoy coffee out there in the mornings but we didn't all fit so I had to drink fast .

Mary

 

[Cheryl in PA]

Hi. We too were on the March 23rd cruise. We had a category 4 with a lovely verandah and would absolutely get one again. It wasn't that we spent so much time out there, but we were out there enough and felt it added to our enjoyment that we would get it again if we go.