Aft, Ctr or switch ship for bump cabin?

[Travel itis]

We have an aft on the Mariner, but it's deck 7, so we'll be seeing plenty of the superstructure. We've never had any kind of obstruction, and I'm beginning to wonder if aft on the Mariner isn't so great after all. We could switch to a balcony along a side, keep our aft, or switch to a Freedom class ship to a bump cabin. What's better?

Thanks

 

[Cruizer]

Whats better, an apple or an orange? Line up ten people and you'll get eleven answers on which is better. Since you seem to know what you are talking about, you'll have to decide.

The aft is famous for its larger balconies, less wind, less shade and the view of the wake. However, on the Voyager and Freedom class the view out the back also has a lot of structure to deal with (this is from the 8th deck on the Freedom OTS) ...



I have not been on the bump yet, but the advantages of the bump is a better view long the side and a little more privacy. A standard side view balcony is, well fairly standard. There is a little more wind, more shade and no soot (which was a problem on the Freedom - see photo) ...



Now in this case you are also comparing the Mariner (the youngest of the Voyager class) to the Freedom (newer, bigger and with a few more "things"). The Mariner will be leaving the east coast for the west coast in early 2009 if that is of any interest to you. The Freedom is bigger (too big for tendering unfortunately) and has the Flowrider (which unfortunately has limited hours) and the H2O Zone (a mini water park) which is great because the little kids can run around the H2O Zone and that leaves more room in the pool for those that want to swim.

So, you decide which is better and make that your pick.

 

[Travel itis]

We've had only 2 balconies, neither of which was on the side or standard size. One was directly over the bridge (OS -huge balcony w/hot tub) and the other was aft on HAL (very big aft wrap). Otherwise we've had OV and an inside. We could get a bump cabin on the Liberty, but we might be taking our kids on her Jan '09. For several hundred less we could have an unobstructed aft wrap on Carnival Triumph, but we thought the Mariner was a far prettier ship. I'm also thinking about convenience, and the aft on the Mariner seems to be a pretty inconvenient location. Well, maybe that's good and will only keep me from grazing the buffet more.

 

[Travel itis]

I appreciate that photo, because that was a pivotal piece of info. My husband is fine with that view, and we decided the extra walking will fit nicely into our plan to keep active and help burn calories. Now I need to overcome my concern about the Mariner costing $600 more than the Triumph. It's worth the money if it's going to be a much better ship for us to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

 

[Wuollebear]

You can't go wrong no matter what you decide. We personally love the "bump" we've had balcony cabins on the bump all 3 cruises and will continue to book ahead so we can keep getting them. If you get one of the 2 right on the tip/furthest point out on the bump you can see completely down both sides of the ship.

 

[Cruizer]

[quote Wuollebear]You can't go wrong no matter what you decide. We personally love the "bump" we've had balcony cabins on the bump all 3 cruises and will continue to book ahead so we can keep getting them. [/quote]

Did I read this right? You want to get bumped on your next cruise? :S

 

[teachofyear]

What is a bump cabin and what is the difference between that and a hump cabin? We have done balconies always midship- don't know what the difference is.

 

[Gayle V]

Definitely do not take Triumph over Mariner. I've been on both, and the Mariner wins is all ways over the the Triumph. (Except maybe food would be a tie.)

And don't take a bump for privacy. We had one and I don't see any extra privacy there. And if you get a cabin on the sloping sides of the bump (that's where the balconys are bigger, not the center) On the sides of the bump, the angle of the verandah allows part of it to be visible from other nearby cabin.s That angle allows you to see down the side of the ship, and onto other verandahs also. So it's less privacy, not more, on the part of the verandah that is farther out from the ship.

 

[Gayle V]

Here's the veiw from that verandah on the side of a bump. This was on the Serenade, though.

<img src=http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d109/GayleV/IMG_0028.jpg>

Remember it's just the farther out part of the verandah that isn't as private. If you're nearer to the door to the room, you have just as much private area as the other cabins. It's the extra part of the verandah that's not so private.

 

[Wuollebear]

[quote Cruizer][quote Wuollebear]You can't go wrong no matter what you decide. We personally love the "bump" we've had balcony cabins on the bump all 3 cruises and will continue to book ahead so we can keep getting them. [/quote]

Did I read this right? You want to get bumped on your next cruise? :S[/quote]

lol:lol What are you nuts!! No matter what happens please don't bump us OFF of the cruise!! I'd take sleeping in the engine room! It's a good thing I didn't call it the "hump"

 

[Wuollebear]

[quote Gayle V]Definitely do not take Triumph over Mariner. I've been on both, and the Mariner wins is all ways over the the Triumph. (Except maybe food would be a tie.)

And don't take a bump for privacy. We had one and I don't see any extra privacy there. And if you get a cabin on the sloping sides of the bump (that's where the balconys are bigger, not the center) On the sides of the bump, the angle of the verandah allows part of it to be visible from other nearby cabin.s That angle allows you to see down the side of the ship, and onto other verandahs also. So it's less privacy, not more, on the part of the verandah that is farther out from the ship.[/quote]

I agree with this statement....we were on the farthest point out of the bump/hump...no one could see us but if we leaned over we could see more of the neighbor on the side that was on the slant. We have only been on Voyager and Freedom class ships so I'm not sure what it's like in comparrison to others.

 

[Travel itis]

Thanks for the input. We decided to stick with the Mariner and switch from aft to this balcony. We decided that the bump facing aft didn't sound that great, and I wasn't thrilled with all the obstruction of deck 7 aft balconies.