We are thinking about booking the Star to Mexico this fall and am confused about the balcony cabins. I have read that some of the balconies have no privacy. The whole purpose of having a balcony is to enjoy one's privacy. Could someone suggest a best deck or cabins for privacy. We are looking at balcony cabins, not balcony suites.
We were on Baja deck and no one could look in (but we could look down on others). I think Baja is the first (or second) deck that has the private balconies, but let me tell you, the 50 percent private ones are much larger.
I have been on both the Grand and Golden which are sister ships to the Star.
the 50% private 50% open to above (also are much larger balcolnies) are the ones located on the Caribe deck. (cat BA and BB on caribe)
If you want a 100% private i'd suggest Baja or Aloha. Aloha on the sides as you get towards the back of the ship (CAT BC rear area) is not private as the sun deck level at the back of the ship allows people to look down onto those balcolnies.
I am booked in a Caribe BA balcolny as its the best of both worlds to me.
All minisuites on dolphin deck have NO privacy and I wouldnt not reccomend those unless you dont mind the caribe deck people looking directly down 100% at you. Also compared to the size of the balcolny on the caribe the minisuites balcolny looks very small.
I sailed on the Star Princess in May and had a totally private balcony on Baja deck. The balconies above, on Aloha deck, are also completely private. The balconies on the decks below (in the balcony category) are not 100% private, though they are larger. I liked having a private balcony very much, but still think that oceanview cabins are just fine, too.
I just went through this for two bookings on the Star to Austrailia/New Zealand and also the Greek Isles, both next year.
The largest balcony cabins are on Caribe deck, and the category BB/BA are half covered and half open. The cover is the balcony from the Baja deck, which also provides shade that the Baja cabins don't get. All the other balconies are smaller that the 9 X 9 on the Caribe deck. We loved our midships BB balcony on the Grand in the Med; breakfast under the cover in the shade every morning while coming into port!
However, I love to sit and watch the wake from the stern so my favorites are the category BB aft cabins with balconies. They are large, covered, and completely private. The one thing that you have to remember, however, about the Mexican Riviera cruise is that it's smooth sailing on the way down, but always a bit rough between Cabo and LA on the return trip. Not really bad, but if you're prone to seasickness, you should pass on the aft cabins.
As far as mini-suites, E-728 and E-729 have are extended balconies that are completely covered and are also about twice as long as any others. Category AD on the Emerald Deck. They don't actually "wrap around" to the back, but they extend far enough that you get a view of the aft. However, again, if you're prone to seasickness, then skip those for a midships BB on the Caribe deck.
We literally just got off of the Star Princess yesterday. We had a balcony on the Dolphin deck (level 9). Although our deck was open, and I didn't mind it at all, the deck above us was the Caribe deck. We could look right up to them. The decks above, Baja and Aloha, we could not see as well although we could hear them.
It depends upon how much privacy you want. Although the Dolphin deck is open, the deck above us is open to us also.
The cabins mentioned above by DebR, while not private, do offer a few advantages over the private ones:
- As long as the sun is on your side of the ship, you're always able to get full sun
- At night, you can sit out there and look straight up into the stars.
We had the same cabin type on the Grand and loved it. It just depends on your own taste.
We were on Star on Aloha deck and had a "private" balcony. Balconies below were partially visible from our deck. There are some on Caribe deck that are about 1/2 covered. Some were fully open. Some photos from Star at: http://community.webshots.com/user/rewilliams2002 Hava a great time!
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Star Princess Balcony Cabins
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