verandah questions
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Marv · 03-28-2009, 05:14 PM

We've sailed on DCL twice. Once was a 3 night and second was the Mexican Riveria on a 7 night. Both trips were an inside cabin. I've booked again for this summer on a 7 night western with an inside cabin. I'm considering upgrading to a verandah because I really felt like I would like some fresh air on last trip without having to go out of our cabin to do so. I wasn't claustrophobic, just felt at times like fresh air would have been nice (porthole would do nothing for me). It's 1700.00 for the upgrade though. My concerns with a verandah are:
-additional noise from neighbors on adjoining verandahs
-what if someone smokes on another verahdah, will we be able to have door open, my son has respitory induced asthma and the Dr. said if he happens to have a cold, even walking past smoke could induce an asthma attack. I just don't know how often people run into other smokers on verandahs.
-is there a lot of light let in from the windows - we plan to stay up late and sleep in. We've always had the pitch black room and love that.
-is weather on western itinerary nice enough to sit outside (it was really cold in June for our Mexican Riveria cruise-we couldn't sit by the pool unless all covered up with clothes or towel!).

I'm wondering if it's worth the extra money to upgrade? I've always wanted a verandah but don't have lots of extra money! Any thoughts would be appreciated.

**Colexis Mom** · 03-28-2009, 07:07 PM

We loved our verandah the last time we cruised!!

I don't recall too much noise from other passengers!

There was a lot of light let into the room with the drapes open, but they are heavy drapes and I don't recall too much coming in during the early morning (we pulled them tight every night). We never left the door open, for too long anyway. I just opened it and closed it when I went to sit out on it (I was the major user in the family)!! So I'm not sure how it would affect your DS, but with the door closed, I don't think you'd see any effects!

I'm going to assume the weather is going to be warm enough to sit out on. The Gulf of Mexico has very warm water (upper 70s to low 80s that time of year) compared to the Pacific Ocean which I think is only in the 50s/60s (so there would definitely be a temperature difference with the sea breeze). We didn't have any cool spots last time, but that was only Nassau and CC.

**Dave Marx** · 03-28-2009, 11:29 PM

There have been times we've left the verandah door open, but the room became very humid. Also, the room isn't built for cross-ventilation, so you won't really get a good breeze through the room. If you're looking forward to the fresh air, think in terms of going out on the verandah, rather than leaving the door open.

Smokers have never really been a problem for us, but it doesn't mean you wouldn't get unlucky. Still, since you'll probably choose to keep the verandah door closed anyway, it may not be a problem.

Sometimes you can hear fellow passengers on nearby verandahs, but only if you're out on the verandah. Sound doesn't travel well around corners, so even if the verandah door is open, it's not likely someone indoors would hear the neighbors (or vice versa).

The blackout curtains in the stateroom do work very well. They overlap a solid section of wall, so if you close them securely you'll just get a little bit of light around the edges.

OffKilter_Lynn · 03-29-2009, 08:24 AM

I just wanted to add my personal experience with smokers. With a chronic dry-eye condition and allergies, smoke is something I need to avoid. Only once (out of 4 verandahs) have we been next to a smoker and they were very understanding and didn't smoke if I was out there. I know not everyone would necessarily be that accommodating, but I like to think that they would (especially for a medical condition).

Also, outdoor smoking is only permitted on the port (left) side of the ship on decks 4, 9 and 10 (in addition to stateroom verandahs). When we've had port-side cabins, I have noticed drifting smoke from other verandahs or even from the outdoor deck smoking areas - especially when docked. Consider a starboard-side cabin to less this possibility!

**Kenny** · 03-29-2009, 09:40 AM

I only have one cruise to draw experience from, and most of your questions were answered by the others, but I will add my 2 cents, too.

-We did notice noise from the kids in the room next to us when they were on their veranda, but only when we were on our veranda.

-We were on the starboard side and did not notice any smoke. I don't know if any smokers were next to us or not. I would not have noticed it, I don't think, but DW probably would have, she has asthma, too.

-We were reprimanded (kind of severely for vacation

) for leaving the veranda door open. Our housekeeper said to keep it closed because of the humidity and air flow on the ship. He said they could tell which ones were open, too. I did notice that when the cabin door and veranda door were open at the same time, there was a terrific rush of air through the cabin.

-There is a lot of light from the veranda when the curtains are open... but as Marnie and Dave pointed out, the curtains are heavy and block out almost all the light when closed. I don't believe you will get pitch black during the day, but it will be too dark to read.

-We were on the Western in October and were on the veranda day and night all week. It was never cold, at least for me, I think DW may have put on a light jacket or sweater a couple of nights when it was damp or drizzling outside.

-Is it worth the extra money? To us, yes! DW says she will not cruise without a veranda, and I certainly would not want to. On the starboard side we were on the scenic side in every port. I'm not sure if we were just lucky, or if that is the norm, but we were on the "island side" in all four ports and the "pirate ship/beach" side at CC.

That is, though, a lot of extra money. Is that for the Navigator's veranda? The Navigator's veranda might be just the thing for you. It would keep out even more light, be less windy, keep out more noise than an open veranda, and be harder for any smoke to get in, but it would be cheaper and you would still get the fresh air.

Marv · 03-29-2009, 11:58 AM

Thanks so much for your all your input. I really appreciate it being it's a lot of extra money to spend. Great point about smoking on port side and to choose the starboard side. I would have never thought of that. Well, it's back to disney.com to see what is left on starboard side and whether that's the route we will go!

TinkNanny · 03-29-2009, 03:44 PM

We LOVED our balcony. It made the room seem so much bigger. We had the door open a good bit because we would go on the balcony a lot when we were in the room. It was also a nice retreat away from family without leaving the room. It was like having a 2 room suite; kinda...
We never heard any noise when the doors were shut, but could hear conversations from the adjoining rooms when we were all on the balconys. (Careful what you say..lol)
The curtains really were great at blacking out light. We came in and took a nap an it was perfect.
We did have some smoking issues. Someone in a room below (and few rooms over) was smoking and it drifted up in our area, espically when he was leaning on the railing and smoking. But I found that a little "coughing" must have given a hint, because he went in. My daughter also has asthma, so I didn't let her go out if I could smell cigarette smoke.
It's good to know about the starboard side being NS. I will save that info for next trip!

For our family, it is definately worth the money. We like to lounge around on the balcony, and in general, take a slow pace. For those families that hit the floor running at sunrise and stay busy all day; I would say save your money.
Hope that helps.

**Disneybine** · 03-30-2009, 03:34 AM

We had a verandah on our 4-night cruise last year and booked a verandah stateroom for our upcoming cruise this year again. I think we've been spoiled and probably won't ever cruise without a verandah

For us, it is pure luxury to be sitting outside in the privacy of our own verandah, sipping coffee or soda, and watch the ship pull into port or just watch the wide ocean. It's definitely worth the extra $$ for us. Now, if you know you're usually rather "out and about", having fun at activities and won't want to spend much time on the verandah to relax, I wouldn't spend the extra cash. We did have smokers in the stateroom next to us, and we could smell the smoke on our verandah when they were out on their verandah smoking. We found it a bit annoying but didn't say anything. I hope we'll have more luck this time around.

theJordans · 03-30-2009, 04:32 AM

We`ve sailed three times, twice with an inside cabin and the last time with a verandah. I absolutely loved the verandah, but I can live without it. We did have a few smokers around us, it wasn`t too bad. I agree its difficult to leave the verandah door open, the windows steamed up and you could feel the airflow.
If you don`t want the extra cost, can you get an inside cabin close to the "secret" deck 7 area. I`ve used that alot on my "inside" cruise trips.

bornin49 · 03-30-2009, 06:05 PM

We really enjoy our verandah and spend quite a lot of time out on it. I actually sleep out there most nights.

**rescuesk** · 03-30-2009, 09:02 PM

We will never again have an inside stateroom. We are also guilty of leaving our verandah door open but unlike Kenny, we did not get yelled at for it!

We had coffee out there every morning, breakfast from room service out there once, and on this last cruise, afternoon Asti Spumante and sweet treats courtesy of a fellow Passporter!