Is it worth the extra cost for a verandah?

[mousefan73]

interesting thought. Now you got me paranoid.

We have to have one...the wife wants two ways out of our cabin in case of an emergency. From that height, she'd probably break a bone if she jumped, but she wants the option.

For 2000 is tons of money. We recently booked Hawaii and got porthole. Simply too much of a difference. Insiide we cöuldnt do. We were only on the dream with verandah. Loved it bit it wasnt a must have. Honestly I loved the loungers on deck 4. if I wanted to read I‘d go iso my own balcony. Sure with a verandah you can roll out of bed and go out in pjs or naked if that‘s what you Want.

Also I am the paranoid type. I was nervous with my 12/13 yrs olds doing something stupid.

What we did do is on port days put our wet swimmers on the Chairs. NOT while moving.

 

[Claireywalsh]

I think it depends on the itinerary - if your on a cruise where the scenery is the main draw then you would really benefit from the use of a verandah when kids are on down time or if you want a lazy morning/evening. If the cruise is shorter or doesn’t have that much to see in transit I would consider an inside or Oceanview the utilise the public decks more for fresh air breaks etc. If you intend to do shore excursions then the money would be better utilised there - on the other hand if you don’t then why not splurge and enjoy the verandah.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We like the verandah and have one booked on our 2020 southern Caribbean cruise. But I don’t think I could pull the trigger on it for two rooms. Especially if one room was for my kids, lol.

 

[Otimon]

Yes.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Does this mean you keep the verandah door open?

Not when we sleep. The AC cuts off when the door is open and of course it can make for a downright dangerous situation when you open the cabin door. However, it's often cooler outside (we tend to cruise in the winter) so we leave it open a bit before we go to bed to cool off the room.

Also, we will relax out there before going to bed as long as we are not in port.

 

[ludari]

I once upgraded to a veranda stateroom because it was a minimal cost (<$100). I typically get a window view stateroom and aside from sleeping I don't spend too much time in my room. I only went out on the veranda once (when I first got to the room) so personally I thought it was a waste of money but luckily it wasn't too expensive but I'm glad that I tried it once.

 

[hardis5]

I think it depends on the itinerary - if your on a cruise where the scenery is the main draw then you would really benefit from the use of a verandah when kids are on down time or if you want a lazy morning/evening. If the cruise is shorter or doesn’t have that much to see in transit I would consider an inside or Oceanview the utilise the public decks more for fresh air breaks etc. If you intend to do shore excursions then the money would be better utilised there - on the other hand if you don’t then why not splurge and enjoy the verandah.

Can't agree more...to us it is almost entirely itinerary dependent. Doing a transatlantic, to sit out on a windy cool (ok downright cold) veranda seeing nothing but water and waves, I'd put my $ elsewhere in the sailing.
Doing a Hawaii cruise (the Pacific can be colder than the Atlantic) I may again forgo a veranda. Now for a Panama Canal cruise where it is warm and there is a lot to see, we chose a veranda. I'd add if it is too cold out to enjoy the club, then a veranda's need can as well be questioned

 

[cedricandsophie]

We used to only do verandas. But realized we really never use them. When I read or relax I prefer to be in the adult area to be around people. The ocean view cabins have big windows so we get lots of natural light and if we want to see out we have a nice window.

 

[Dug720]

The AC cuts off when the door is open.

And it cuts off the air to all the cabins in your block - including OV and Inside.

That is why there is a sign that the door should be closed except when going in and out.

 

[Garyjames220]

He are currently booked on deck 6 on the dream aft balcony but I seen a stateroom on deck 9 aft balcony for about 25 more

Would u say it’s worth changing ?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Not when we sleep. The AC cuts off when the door is open and of course it can make for a downright dangerous situation when you open the cabin door. However, it's often cooler outside (we tend to cruise in the winter) so we leave it open a bit before we go to bed to cool off the room.

Also, we will relax out there before going to bed as long as we are not in port.

As long as you're aware that leaving the door open messes with the AC. Not just in your room, but in other rooms in your area of the ship.

 

[southerngirl528]

Sure with a verandah you can roll out of bed and go out in pjs or naked if that‘s what you Want.

One warning here! This is true ONLY on sea days! I'll never forget stepping out onto our verandah on one of our very first cruises in my nightie, only to be immediately seen by ship workers hanging off the ship's side near us as well as all sorts of folk on the ship docked right NEXT to us!!! That lesson was learned by me REAL fast!!

And it cuts off the air to all the cabins in your block - including OV and Inside.

That is why there is a sign that the door should be closed except when going in and out.

As long as you're aware that leaving the door open messes with the AC. Not just in your room, but in other rooms in your area of the ship.

YES. And for those of us that run "hot" all the time, and truly must have a cool room to be comfortable, we would TRULY appreciate that all our neighbors would keep that door closed, pretty please!!!

 

[Dug720]

YES. And for those of us that run "hot" all the time, and truly must have a cool room to be comfortable, we would TRULY appreciate that all our neighbors would keep that door closed, pretty please!!!

Funny story. In 2016 when I was on the Brilliance of the Seas doing a Med cruise, the first night I thought my OV room was a little warm, but never having had a front-facing cabin, I thought maybe it got a little more sun. I was going to mention it to guest services after breakfast the second morning. Well, I walked out and turned the corner into the main hall and knew instantly what the problem was. The second cabin from the front of the hall had their balcony door open - you could HEAR the wind rushing there. I was chatting with my stateroom host who was setting up her cart for the morning (she started the chatting), and the deck manager came along because he'd gotten a call about a cabin where the water was either too hot or too cold. He stopped to say hi and make sure everything was ok and got a call over his radio that some guests were stuck in their cabin because they could not get the door open.

Guess which cabin?

He got to the door and knocked and they said "We're stuck!!" He said "Close your balcony door and I think you'll be freed." Sure enough, as soon as the wind sound stopped, their cabin door opened without a problem. Go figure. I left to head to breakfast as he was starting to give them a polite but firm lecture about NOT keeping the balcony door open.

 

[southerngirl528]

Funny story. In 2016 when I was on the Brilliance of the Seas doing a Med cruise, the first night I thought my OV room was a little warm, but never having had a front-facing cabin, I thought maybe it got a little more sun. I was going to mention it to guest services after breakfast the second morning. Well, I walked out and turned the corner into the main hall and knew instantly what the problem was. The second cabin from the front of the hall had their balcony door open - you could HEAR the wind rushing there. I was chatting with my stateroom host who was setting up her cart for the morning (she started the chatting), and the deck manager came along because he'd gotten a call about a cabin where the water was either too hot or too cold. He stopped to say hi and make sure everything was ok and got a call over his radio that some guests were stuck in their cabin because they could not get the door open.

Guess which cabin?

He got to the door and knocked and they said "We're stuck!!" He said "Close your balcony door and I think you'll be freed." Sure enough, as soon as the wind sound stopped, their cabin door opened without a problem. Go figure. I left to head to breakfast as he was starting to give them a polite but firm lecture about NOT keeping the balcony door open.

WOW! I knew that if you have your verandah door open and then open your cabin door it creates a virtual hurricane of wind jetting through a cabin (never tried that , mind you, but I've seen pix and heard about it! ) But I've never heard of not being able to get the cabin door OPEN if the balcony door is open!

I'm assuming and hoping you had a nice, cool room afterward?

 

[Dug720]

WOW! I knew that if you have your verandah door open and then open your cabin door it creates a virtual hurricane of wind jetting through a cabin (never tried that , mind you, but I've seen pix and heard about it! ) But I've never heard of not being able to get the cabin door OPEN if the balcony door is open!

I'm assuming and hoping you had a nice, cool room afterward?

Yeah, it creates a vacuum effect.

It was definitely cooler the rest of the trip.

 

[Aluvendale]

Not for us. We don’t spend enough awake time in the room. A nice big porthole or two is good enough. Now, we wouldn’t do an inside room. We like natural light and the open feeling a porthole provides.

 

[Vicki106]

I'm going to echo those who stated that it is dependent on the itinerary.

We cruised in 2 connecting veranda staterooms on 2 cruises in the Caribbean and to the Bahamas, and enjoyed sitting on our verandas before we went to bed and again for a few minutes in the mornings. BUT we decided while we enjoyed it, we didn't NEED the veranda.

However, we sailed to Alaska this summer (on another cruise line) and we booked a mini-suite with a veranda and an interior room across the hall. That way we could all enjoy the fabulous views from our balcony whenever we wanted to. I wouldn't really want to skip the veranda in Alaska.

We are sailing from NYC on the Magic for Thanksgiving and we decided to cut costs and booked 2 connecting interior rooms. We figure it will likely be cold/cool outside for at least a couple of those days and that we won't really miss the veranda too much. We'll see how it goes.....

Bottom line: Have a great time on your cruise!

 

[LiZaArd]

I'm going to echo those who stated that it is dependent on the itinerary.

We cruised in 2 connecting veranda staterooms on 2 cruises in the Caribbean and to the Bahamas, and enjoyed sitting on our verandas before we went to bed and again for a few minutes in the mornings. BUT we decided while we enjoyed it, we didn't NEED the veranda.

However, we sailed to Alaska this summer (on another cruise line) and we booked a mini-suite with a veranda and an interior room across the hall. That way we could all enjoy the fabulous views from our balcony whenever we wanted to. I wouldn't really want to skip the veranda in Alaska.

We are sailing from NYC on the Magic for Thanksgiving and we decided to cut costs and booked 2 connecting interior rooms. We figure it will likely be cold/cool outside for at least a couple of those days and that we won't really miss the veranda too much. We'll see how it goes.....

Bottom line: Have a great time on your cruise!

Question - Were you able to 'connect' your verandahs? Currently on the Dream in Feb and my brother just booked and ended up with a room down the hall that has a connecting room available. We were thinking of taking it and then enjoy the combined verandas but not sure if there is a way to find out if the 2 rooms indeed have that feature or if it is just a few rooms here and there.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Question - Were you able to 'connect' your verandahs? Currently on the Dream in Feb and my brother just booked and ended up with a room down the hall that has a connecting room available. We were thinking of taking it and then enjoy the combined verandas but not sure if there is a way to find out if the 2 rooms indeed have that feature or if it is just a few rooms here and there.

Except for a few rooms (verandahs) on deck 10, all verandahs connect to the one next door.

 

[LiZaArd]

Except for a few rooms (verandahs) on deck 10, all verandahs connect to the one next door.

Thanks so much PrincessShmoo!!!