Your
home away from home
Essentially, a balcony
or verandah cabin is an outside cabin with floor to ceiling sliding
glass doors that open onto a private slice of deck.
While the cabins have
large expanses of glass, their balconies are sometimes cut out of
cabins' square footage (depending on the ship). To give the illusion
of more space, a balcony cabin might also rely on the generous use
of mirrors for an even roomier feeling.
Balconies are usually
furnished with two chairs and a table for lounging and dining
outdoors. Be aware that balconies are not always 100% private—dividers might be opaque and may not extend all the way from ceiling
to floor or from the ships hull to the railing. On Princess Cruise
Line's Grand-class ships, the balconies are "stepped" like
a layer cake. The result is that certain categories have balconies
which are visible from above.
In addition to the
usual amenities, your balcony stateroom might also have a small
refrigerator. The cabin's vanity/desk will almost always have
two electric receptacles—one will accept standard US-style plugs
(110-volt) and the other for European style plugs (220-volt). To
plug in more than one appliance at a time, you'll need a power
strip, or, for dual voltage appliances, a plug converter.
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|
A
balcony stateroom with sitting area on board Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian
Star
|
Bathrooms often have a dual-voltage outlet suitable
only for electric shavers.
A hairdryer may be mounted on the bathroom wall, or
located at the vanity/desk.
Two twin beds can be
joined together to create one large bed, the equivalent of a queen-
or king-size bed.
Most balcony
staterooms on modern ships have intimate sitting areas outfitted
with a small sofa or loveseat with a cocktail table or small side
table. Some of those tables can be raised to dining height. Sofas
usually covert to beds to accommodate a third person. A nice touch in some cabins are floor to ceiling,
wall to wall curtains that allow passengers to create a
"private" sleeping space. You may even find a combination bathtub/shower instead of just a
shower in some balcony cabins.
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