We recently had the opportunity to cruise in an inside stateroom featuring a virtual balcony on Quantum of the Seas. We choose this stateroom type for the sole purpose of seeing if the virtual balconies measured up to the hype.
Every inside stateroom on Quantum of the Seas features a virtual balcony. The virtual balconies are floor to ceiling screens that have curtains on the side of them giving you a real live look at outside the cruise ship.
The view each cabin receives is the exact same view as if there was a real balcony in place of the TV screen. Our view was towards the front of the ship and we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over New York on the day we disembarked from our cruise. (As seen in the picture above) Royal Caribbean did a study and found that if the view did not match the motion of the ship, it could lead to seasickness.
Sometimes the view was drowned out by the glare of the sun, but it just proved that there was no “fake view” being shown. What you see if what is really going on outside the ship. If it is raining, you will see rain. At night, the screen gets extremely dark and you won’t see anything but the balcony railing that is added to the screen.
There was a remote control where you can turn the screen off, although we left it on 24/7. It is nice knowing when the sun is coming up so we wouldn’t oversleep.
Although it wasn’t even close to the same as having a real balcony, it blew away every other inside stateroom I have ever cruised in. When you are in an inside stateroom on a cruise, you really can’t even tell you are on a cruise ship, feels like you are in a closet. With the virtual balcony, the live view really enhances the inside stateroom experience.
The few times I have cruised in an inside stateroom, I tried to spend as little time as possible in the cabin. With the virtual balcony, the time spent in the cabin didn’t feel like I was “wasting” it away. I wasn’t sure what to expect but ended up loving it and hope that other cruise lines add them to cruise ships that they are building in the next few years.
Here is a short video of our stateroom (7527) and I would be happy to answer any questions that you have about these new inside staterooms in the comment section below.
What is the quality of the video? VHS, DVD or BluRay ?