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Balcony, Oceanview, Obstructed?
H and I booked a 16-day cruise for next April, we initially booked an "obstructed oceanview" room..we didn't want to spend a ton of $ but the thought of having no window at all sort of made me anxious thinking about how small the rooms are and everything.
Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before so I'm not sure just how obstructed this view is. Is a lifeboat or something completely covering the window? Is there any natural light coming in at all?
Do you think sticking with the obstructed view is fine? Or should we fork over an extra $800 and upgrade to a picture window, or an extra $1800 for a balcony? Or downgrade to an interior (if the window is completely blocked then that seems pointless to spend extra money for it)? For those of you who cruise, are you spending a lot of time in your room or out exploring the ship? I just don't know if the type of room you have really makes or breaks the whole experience. I'd just hate to spend 16 days hating our room!
ETA: The $1800 upgrade for the balcony is not per person, it is total. And it is upgrading from an obstructed view stateroom. It is the price I saw online, should I call and ask if it's possible to upgrade at a lower cost?
Re: Balcony, Oceanview, Obstructed?
I stayed in a balcony room on my last cruise and I thought it was totally worth the extra money. We frequently had breakfast and drinks on the balcony, and it was nice to throw open the curtains in the morning and scope out the new destination. That said, $1800 is a lot of money! We cruised with Norwegian, and I don't think the price difference between rooms was that high- maybe more like $500.
I would probably stick with the obstructed view room. Definitely don't downgrade to an interior room- you would go nuts with no natural light for 16 days!
We always get a balcony. Even when we sailed up to Russia. There's nothing like being able to get fresh air and sit outside together, privately, regardless of the time of day. It's great when you're at sea, too, because the decks are full of people during days at sea.
I'm not usually one to pressure someone into spending more money, but I don't know a single person who has upgraded to a balcony room and regretted it. Totally work your money. I highly suggest it.
It's also a great way to get a feel for the outside temperature when you are getting dressed for the day, without having to run to one of the main decks. 16 days is a long time!
We opted for the balcony on our cruise and I totally agree with all the pps, it's so worth it. Loved having our breakfast brought to our room and eating it out on the balcony with our morning java, so relaxing and peaceful. Also at night for our wine-time, it was awesome!
I would never be able to fully enjoy a cruise of that length without some good light in the room and fresh air, but that's just me. I would hate an "obstructed view" or no view, I like to see what's going on out there, lol, and where we are, etc.
If you can afford it, do it!
I think it totally depends on your budget, the cruise itinerary, and your personality! I have always gotten some kind of balcony room when cruising, but all of my cruises so far have been to warmer climates with pretty landscapes (Caribbean, Bermuda, etc.). We normally use it quite a bit since there are usually several sea days. Plus, it is nice to get the fresh air!
However, we are leaving for a Baltic cruise in May and got an interior room for several reasons.
1. The price was significantly lower.
2. There are very few sea days, as it is a very port intensive itinerary.
3. It is going to be quite chilly, so I doubt we would lounge on a balcony that much.
4. There is going to be very long hours of daylight, and considering how busy each day or touring will be, I would prefer pure darkness to get a good night's rest.
5. The port we are visiting are not beautiful landscapes, per se
Though I do want to get up early and see the ride into Stockholm from the deck - I hear it is amazing.
I'll be sure to report how we managed with an interior room. Maybe we'll have a visit from the upgrade fairy...doubtful though
DH and I book interior rooms. We spend very little time in the room anyway and would much rather have that extra money to spend elsewhere during the vacation. Especially in your case, skipping the balcony would give you tons of extra spending money!
I personally don't find it to be any trouble to go up to one of the open decks for our sunshine and fresh air. We routinely take our breakfasts away from the main buffet area and can easily find a peaceful area outside- seems similar enough to a balcony breakfast to us.
There can be perks to an interior room too- it definitely makes it way easier to sleep in or perhaps take an afternoon nap. On our last cruise, DH got a migraine one of the afternoons and he was thrilled to be able to have a totally dark room to go back to.
I don't think that there is a wrong answer! Enjoy your cruise!
Thanks for the replies!
It's a Princess Cruise to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and a few stops in China). From what I've read the weather will be pretty warm at that time of year. There are times where we are at sea for 2 days in a row, and knowing me and my husband, we will want to escape the crowds and just chill in the room for a bit.
I'm really considering upgrading to the balcony now...I Googled my question and saw what all of you guys said over and over again, that it's worth it! It's in our budget, since it's so far off we diligently budgeted for the trip and can definitely do the upgrade without affecting our fun money for the excursions and whatnot. Hmmm..I'll have to think on it for a few days, hopefully there isn't a big change fee if I do decide to upgrade.
I don't think I would upgrade for that kind of money. Although I love having a balcony, that is a really high premium.
I looked into that itinerary when we lived in Japan, so I'm trying to remember if there was a lot of good scenery. IIRC, you'll be in Halong, which is supposed to be incredible. The Malaysia area would be worthwhile, too. The Korean coastline really isn't much to look at at all, that is, if you can even see it through the haze. Still, I'm not sure that even Halong would sway me at that cost. I can also find some isolated deck chair.
Having an interior room encourages me to not stay inside
The ports you'll be in are so intense, I doubt you'll be spending much time on the ship.
When are you going? SE Asia is warm all year, but the Beijing and Korean portions may not be.
We are going in late April.
I am so torn right now, I've been reading tons of opinions on the whole to balcony or not to balcony debate. I think I'm definitely going to upgrade to at least an oceanview, no obstructions. And then I've been reading that sometimes the "upgrade fairy"
will give you a call if you're lucky and you can upgrade to a balcony for just a little more or you can call a week or two before the cruise and see if there's one available and again, upgrade at a lower cost. I might go that route and cross my fingers.
I don't foresee us sitting at port hanging out in our room/on the balcony since we want to see as much as possible at each stop. It's just those days at sea that have me wondering if we'll regret not splurging for the balcony...
Wow, a cruise that long for yours first cruise? You're brave for jumping in like that!
I've had all sorts of cabins on cruises... oceanview, interior, balcony. Honestly, the way I cruise, I don't spend enough time in my room that it really makes that big of a difference. I like doing activities, swimming, sunning, exploring, etc. and would prefer to be out and about then stuck in my room all day.
But there are some pros and cons... for interiors what bugged me the most was never knowing if it was light or dark out and since there are no alarm clocks in the room (btw, BRING YOUR OWN, I learned my lesson the hard way!) I never knew what time it was. Also you don't know what the weather was like. We'd have to dress and go to breakfast then re-dress if the weather wasn't what we expected it to be in port that day. Very annoying.
Having a balcony on our last cruise was nice but that's mostly because we cruised with a large group and we managed to get an Aft/Stern balcony which has an oversized balcony. It was our meeting room for our guests. We played card games on our balcony, watch sail away on there, etc. However, if I couldn't get an aft/stern balcony I wouldn't want one. I get a little freaked out on them, especially when the ship is going over 20 knots. Oh, and our balcony was obstructed view BUT the only thing obstructing our view were a few metal poles. No biggie!
It really depends on what you feel you will enjoy the most. Personally, I'd stick with the oceanview.
Oh, also, wait to upgrade! Prices may drop and you can upgrade for much, much cheaper. When we originally booked our last cruise we chose an oceanview but about a month before the cruise prices dropped dramatically. We ended up upgrading to our balcony for only $40 per person! My parents went from a smaller balcony to the largest available for just $20 per person! Most cruiselines allow you to upgrade at the current prices and just pay the difference so there's a chance you can get a balcony for cheap or even free if you keep an eye on the prices!
Janine & Cody | Georgetown, Grand Cayman | Feb. 28th, 2012
Surprise BFP | Baby Due Late July/Early August 2013
I believe in a lot of things. I believe in fresh tennis balls, the healing power of bunnies, and that the novels of Susan Sontag are something I'll never read. In fact, I don't even know who Susan Sontag is. What is she... like... a painter? I believe in Crystal Lite because I believe in ME. I believe in the movies of Val Kilmer, though these days it ain't so easy. I believe in Darren Sproles, the word "dabble", the first season of "Silk Stockings", and big, warm, moist, gooey chocolate chip cookies that melt in your mouth and all over your face.
I know, it is a long cruise! But, as much as I want to see that part of the world, I know I probably wouldn't plan a week long vacation to any of those locations, so to go on a cruise and get a little taste of each place is really appealing to us. I'm not sure I'll become an avid cruiser or anything...but hey, I'll try anything at least once!
I'm going to wait a few months to upgrade, fingers crossed the price will drop!
I either go interior or balcony, no in between. I just don't care about having a window, but I do care about being outside, having fresh air.
April can definitely still be chilly at the northern end of your trip. Beijing could be in the 50s. Busan should be a bit warmer since it's on the southern edge, but that's still early spring.
DH and I cruised Princess last summer to Alaska. We booked an obstructed view room and had a delightful view! We strategically booked between lifeboats and just had a little pole in our view.
Go to cruise critic and look for the thread about obstructed view rooms - I'm sure it's still on there. People have posted photos for the different staterooms in the obstructed category.
I would totally do it again in a heartbeat. Like a pp, I would prefer to spend the money elsewhere.
Also if you drink wine, Princess does allow you to bring your own wine onboard. It saved us TONS of money!
This fact alone just made me wayyyyy too happy. Thanks for the info!
I've done this cruise in a normal oceanview. What time of year are you sailing? Ours was late November, and it was too cold to be outside much on sea days until we reached Vietnam. That's half the cruise, so to me the balcony would not have been worth it. Why pay for extra space that you'll only be able to enjoy for half the cruise?
We had actually booked an obstructed oceanview because I was worried about being on such a long trip with no natural light. From everything I've seen/read, you will have zero view in an obstructed OV, but you will get some natural light. We ended up with an upgrade to a full oceanview, but there really wasn't much to see. It's either empty ocean or container ports. And actually, since the full oceanview was on a lower deck, there were some mornings when there were dock workers right outside our big picture window! Eek!
Honestly, my choice would be to stay with the obstructed. Maybe you'll get upgraded, but even if you don't, the window wasn't a big deal on that cruise.
That's interesting, GilliC. Thanks! We are going in April which is apparently when it gets pretty toasty in that part of the world, but it may still be chilly on some portions of the trip. I'm glad that there's still some natural light coming in with the obstructed view, if that's what we stick with, because that's all I need. I don't care much about the view, I just don't want to feel like I'm in a coffin for 16 days.
How did you like this cruise? Any recommendations for anything?
This was definitely one of my favorite cruises. I loved the variety of the places that we visited, and every time we came into port it was a whole new culture! It does have a lot of sea days, though, so you have to figure out how to entertain yourself on the ship. I really liked the schedule because our port days were so hectic that it was nice to have lots of time to unwind in between!
Are you sailing northbound or southbound? In April, it will definitely be warmer in the south, and up around Japan and South Korea, it will be comfortable but less likely to be lay-by-the-pool weather, since it tends to be a bit breezy at sea.
One suggestion for the sea days - Are you sailing Diamond Princess? We were on her sister ship, the Sapphire Princess, and I absolutely love the thermal grotto in the spa. Go check it out during the spa open house the day you get on the ship. You can buy a pass that's good for the entire cruise, and I recall that it was a great deal for a 16-night sailing. It has some co-ed sauna and steam rooms and stone "thermal beds" to lie down and relax. It was a quiet, relaxing place for DH and I to kill some time together during the days at sea. It was also nice to be able to pop out to use the hot tubs and pool and then back into the spa, and it felt kind of VIP that you could go to the spa and borrow a robe even when you just wanted to laze around in the hot tub.
Another thing to note is that because it's a long cruise that's pretty far away for most people, it's a mostly older crowd. We hung around with a lot of 40- and 50-somethings, because they were among the "young" people. We still had a great time, and a group of us even arranged a reunion in Copenhagen a year later! The older crowd, paired with a lot of Aussies and Brits also means that it's more formal than most other cruises I've been on. On formal nights, floor-length evening gowns and tuxedos weren't uncommon. Of course you don't have to dress up that much and not everyone did, but if you have the inclination...
As for the ports:
Nagasaki is fairly compact and very easy to get around on the tram. Obviously the highlights are the peace park and the atomic bomb museum. We also wandered around the Glover Garden, since it was right by the cruise pier and we were there on a nice day.
In Busan, if you're up for a culinary adventure, go to the fish market and eat at one of the stalls. We had some kind of grilled fish, and it was the best Korean food I've ever had! Fantastic! I also wanted to go to the Yonggungsa seaside temple, which was quite pretty. If you go out there, I would arrange a roundtrip taxi, because we had a little trouble finding a taxi back (we took the subway most of the way out).
In Nha Trang, we did the local sightseeing and then went out to the mud baths outside of town. It was strange, but fun! This was another great place to eat, and we got a local recommendation for a hole in the wall where we had some fantastic seafood.
The other ports are big enough destinations, that they're probably straightforward. We were living in Beijing at the time, so we'd already been to Shanghai and Hong Kong before the cruise, and we spent those days shopping and getting a massage from one of our favorite Chinese massage chains!
Awesome! I copied and pasted your response into my cruise planning stuff on my computer
I am so excited to hear that you had a great time! I kind of have been getting the feeling this is an older crowd cruise, I've been on Cruise Critic and so far everyone on my cruise is 40+, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest. Sometimes the crazy older ones are more fun than the young ones
but at 26...yea we'll probably be the little babies on board haha
How cool that you lived in Beijing for a time! I am so excited to see this part of the world. When I travel internationally I always opt for Europe, so this culture will be totally new and different. Did you do any of the excursions that Princess offers or did you opt to sightsee on your own? I am trying to decide what's best. I'm sure Princess tours are overpriced, but at the same time I am nervous about navigating a foreign country where I couldn't translate anything if I tried.
I'm also glad to hear about how it may be more formal than other cruises. My biggest concern is feeling like cattle being herded onto this ship for 2 weeks with a bunch of obnoxious people haha. That's what I picture a lot of those Caribbean cruises to be like...kids running wild, trash everywhere, tacky buffet food, noisy neighbors (I know it may not be like that, but this is the nightmare I've pictured in my mind about cruises), hence why I have never had a desire to cruise. I like doing things on my own time, exploring things that aren't typical touristy, but...I couldn't pass up seeing so many awesome locations in one trip, so we booked this.
I feel like I have so much to research for this thing, I don't even know where to start.
When you noted about finding time to kill on at sea days, that brings me right back to the balcony dilemma. H and I are definitely the type of people who like to take a couple hours to chill in the room on vacation. We are busy, get-up-and-go vacation people so when we do need a break we like to get away from EVERYBODY. Sitting on the deck just won't cut it. I worry that the room will feel teeny tiny and claustrophobic without that damn balcony. Grrrr...I'll figure this out eventually.
We are sailing northbound, Bangkok to Beijing on the Diamond Princess. Ok last question, how far in advance did you purchase your flights? I was thinking of waiting until November/December to buy. And I think we are going to do the whole "extend your stay" thing, both pre and post cruise.
Re: the flights, I won't be much help there! A week before the cruise we called up a taxi driver we used to hire for day trips to the Great Wall. We made a deal with him to drive us from Beijing to Tianjin, where the ship docks. We did need flights for the trip back, but it was a one-way flight from Singapore to Beijing (our cruise had Bangkok as a port day and then ended in Singapore for dry-dock renovations). I booked it as soon as I found a good deal, which ended up being through a Singapore-based travel agency, since for some reason it was more expensive to book it through the Chinese travel agencies.
Since your trip is warmer, the balcony might be worth it. It definitely wouldn't have been on ours, because it was winter-coat weather when we left Beijing (I still have a winter hat that I bought in Tianjin on that trip).
Regarding excursions, they're definitely easier. It's really a matter of how adventurous you are. We did excursions for Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, because the ports were two hours from the city, and I was a little worried about the risk of making a 2-hour return trip on questionable roads. For HCMC, we actually booked "Ho Chi Minh On Your Own," which was really just an expensive bus ride to/from port. But to me it was worth the peace of mind to know that if something went wrong on that long bus trip, the ship would have to wait for us (if you're off on your own, the ship will leave without you if you're not back on time). Bangkok was a similar situation, but the "On Your Own" excursion was so expensive that we decided to pay a little bit more for a full-day tour that included the palace, a boat ride on the river, and a Thai lunch with a dance show. It wasn't bad - though I'm glad we went with the excursion that served Thai food instead of the similar one with an "international hotel buffet" (yawn). The Thai lunch was actually better than the food we had on the ship*!
Hong Kong is ridiculously easy to do on your own. It's an English-speaking city, and the public transportation is excellent. Sapphire Princess was too big to dock at the HK cruise terminal (near Tsim Sha Tsui) when we were there, so they bused us there from a container port. If you figure out what you want to do that day, there are plenty of people on the board who can help you figure out how to get around. If it's clear weather, take the Peak Tram up Victoria Peak for the great view of the city. I also really enjoyed doing a self-guided walk through the traditional Chinese area of HK Island to see the temples and shops selling Chinese medicines, etc. since it's so much more "classic" than what you see in mainland China after the Cultural Revolution.
Singapore would be another easy one. They have a pretty good public transit system, and it's a very international city with a huge ex-pat population. The Singapore Zoo is excellent (it's too bad you can't do the famous Night Safari with just a day in port) and I quite liked the orchid garden. If you've never been to India, Little India is a fun introduction to South Asian culture, and Arab Street is similarly interesting. With Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese cities coming up, I think you can skip Chinatown. We indulged in the popular tradition of having a Singapore Sling at Raffles, which was kind of fun if you don't set your expectations too high.
Shanghai is also pretty easy to get around on your own. It's a fairly tourist-friendly city. The must-do is to walk along the Bund and see the historic European treaty port buildings on one side and the incredibly modern skyscrapers across the water in Pudong. Yuyuan Gardens and the Shanghai Old Town are nice, and the Shanghai Museum is excellent if you're in a museum mood (it's the best museum in China, IMO).
In Nha Trang, I think it depends on what you want to do. There are plenty of cyclos around that will take you to the temples, buddhas, markets, etc. in town. And it's inexpensive to hire someone to take you somewhere farther out like the mud baths. Just settle a firm price beforehand and pay after. Some friend of ours did an excursion to see some of the local culture outside of town that they quite enjoyed.
Nagasaki is less English-friendly, because it's a small city, but the Japanese are generally helpful and because the city isn't very big, I would consider skipping the excursions there. Definitely don't bother with an excursion to Glover Garden, since you can walk there right from the pier. You can probably figure out a way to visit the same places on your own, and there were quite a few people from the ship who used the local trams.
Busan isn't as easy as the others, but you can still do it on your own. Princess offered us a shuttle to a spot near the fish market, and we were able to walk to the Busan Tower from there as well. The subway was tough to manage because everything was in Korean, and I know zero Korean, so if you want to go beyond walking distance, take a taxi. To communicate with the taxi driver, we found that if they didn't speak much English, the easiest way was to just show them a picture of where we wanted to go (this worked when we went to the Yonggungsa seaside temple).
We also visited Kuantan (actually docking in Kemaman), Malaysia. We tried to explore on our own but we didn't see much and managed to get lost. I glanced at some of the Princess itineraries, and it doesn't look like they're headed there anymore, but if you are - do an excursion or expect a short little day wandering around a small Malaysian town with not a lot to do.
*The ship's food was one of the disappointments. Usually cruises have spectacular food, and this was the first cruise I'd been on where there were actually some dishes that I would consider "bad" rather than just "okay." This was compounded on the fact that we were sailing past amazing countries with such wildly different cuisines, and that was never reflected on board. It was all North American and Western European dishes to reflect the passenger demographics. I understand that, but I was disappointed that even when there were 4 or 5 options, none of them even had a hint of the local cuisine. We also heard that a lot of the ingredients had to be flown in frozen from the US because of health concerns. I would definitely say that most of the meals we ate in port were better than the ones we had on board.
PS - I did this trip in late 2006, so obviously some things may have improved since then! And if you're interested, I think there are a bunch of photos from the different ports near the end of my bio.
I think I'm just going to keep hoarding money into our vacation fund and if we have enough wiggle room for a balcony splurge a couple months before the cruise, then we'll go for it.
Bummer about the food..although, I'm kind of anticipating that to be the case. Hopefully it's not too disappointing.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience, you've been really helpful. And your pictures from your cruise made me really excited! I can't wait to go.
Ditto. I think the extra for an ocean view is total crap when the window is SO tiny. I wouldn't pay for an obstructed oceanview.
Either downgrade to interior, or splurge on the balcony. Since this is your first cruise and its SO long, I'd probably do the balcony just in case you get sea sick and need some fresh air.
They make the window seem so big in the pictures! A tiny window would make me feel even more claustrophobic than no window at all...makes me anxious just thinking about it
We'll see what the upgrades look like a couple months out, and either splurge or downgrade..I'm leaning towards a splurge..
It's not likely you will get upgraded to a balcony from an obstructed oceanview. They usually keep upgrades within categories.
On cruisecritic.com, they have a useful Princess forum and you can get more information about your ship and the cabins.
The unobstructed oceanview we were upgraded to on that cruise wasn't a tiny window. It pretty much looked like the brochure photo:
http://www.alaskacruiseexperts.com/imgs/CruiseLines_MAIN/Staterooms/princess-sapphire-OceanView.jpg
That's the whole window (there isn't any more hiding behind the curtains), but I didn't think it was particularly tiny.
I found a photo of one of the obstructed oceanviews on Diamond Princess. Check out the photos for cabin E216. It's one of the ones partially blocked by the lifeboats:
http://www.cruiselinerooms.com/room_list.php?ship=47
This is true. It's very unlikely to get a free upgrade, but you can often pay to upgrade your reservation closer to the sailing date if the rates for the better cabin have dropped.
But the upgrade fairy does really visit sometimes. That one obstructed-to-unobstructed was our only upgrade out of all of our cruises, but my parents cruised Alaska with us on Princess, right after the economy tanked, and the ships were so underbooked that they were upgraded from inside to balcony! In Alaska! That never happens!
You can certainly never count on an upgrade, though, so always book a cabin that you can tolerate.
I definitely don't expect a free upgrade, I'm just wondering if I wait a few months if the price to upgrade will be a little lower? Do you think it will be a significant drop? I really want a balcony...when I look at the rooms without one I start getting antsy. Not to sound super dramatic but I used to be VERY claustrophobic, like full on panic attacks in elevators or little hallways with too many people or anything like that. I'm about a million times better with it now, but I still have times where I'm like....eeeek. I think I may be over-thinking it. But I don't want to psych myself up and then get in the room and feel like I'm trapped.
There's so much overwhelming (but also helpful) info on Cruise Critic. This is such a long trip and a first cruise and I just want to do it the right way and enjoy it!