If you are planning a cruise onboard one of the most modern and innovative cruise ships at sea, you might have the option of booking an infinite veranda. Before jumping onboard (literally), it is important to know that these are different than traditional balcony staterooms that you are probably used to.
Whereas standard balconies have a door that opens up to a personal outdoor veranda, infinite verandas are designed to bring passengers closer to the ocean by essentially turning the entire stateroom into a balcony.
Rather than having an exterior portion of the cabin, infinite verandas have a floor-to-ceiling window that opens with the push of a button.
With this revolutionary design, however, come some pros and cons. Are infinite veranda cabins worth it? Let's talk about it!
Pros of infinite veranda cabins
You get more living space
Since you won't have an outdoor balcony, the space that would be allotted to the veranda has been included in the interior portion of infinite balcony rooms. This makes the cabins larger than traditional balconies.
Onboard Celebrity Reflection, for instance, a standard ocean view balcony measures 192 square feet, with an additional 53 square feet of living space available on the veranda outside. In comparison, an infinite veranda room onboard Celebrity Edge measures a total of 244 square feet.
Even though both staterooms encompass roughly the same square footage, the space in the infinite veranda onboard Celebrity Edge is more versatile. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, you'll have more interior living space to utilize.
Read more: Solstice Class vs. Edge Class on Celebrity Cruises
Uninterrupted views of the ocean
The goal of infinite veranda staterooms is to bring passengers closer to the water.
Standard balconies are built with safety rails to prevent anyone from accidentally falling overboard. Oftentimes, the barrier is often made of colored glass or even metal! And while they serve an important purpose, they'll usually block your view of the ocean, especially if you are sitting down.
Infinite verandas effectively eliminate this issue since your entire wall is a clear glass window; you have an uninterrupted view of the ocean's horizon l no matter where you are in the cabin!
The veranda is more private
(Balcony cabins onboard Carnival Vista)
On the majority of cruise ships, balconies have dividers, rather than full walls in between them, meaning that you can easily hear your neighbor's conversation or even look directly onto their veranda if you lean over the railing a smidge.
In fact, when I cruised onboard Carnival Vista last year, my suite was located directly next to a public observation deck, and we constantly saw crew members and other guests outside.
Despite being a suite, an infinite veranda would have afforded us more privacy than the cabin we booked since the balcony portion is inside of the cabin.
Read more: I paid $3,600 for a suite on Carnival Vista - Take a look inside my spacious cabin
Cons of infinite veranda cabins
You cannot step outside
Because infinite verandas offer, well, infinite views of the ocean, you won't be able to actually go outside since the "balcony" is actually just a floor-to-ceiling window.
This means that if you're hoping to have a little escape from your cabin mates, you will have to physically leave the stateroom, as there isn't any kind of solid door separating the two spaces.
While you'll still get fresh air when you lower the window, unlike if you were staying in a standard ocean view room, it is not the same as physically standing outside!
The AC turns off when you open the window
When you decide you want to open the window, your AC in the cabin will automatically shut off. While this might not seem like a huge deal at first, your stateroom will fog up pretty quickly in the humid Caribbean.
After spending all day ashore in the heat, you'll likely want to return to a cool cabin, meaning there is a chance you will not take advantage of the "balcony" setting when in port.
If, however, you're sailing someplace like Alaska or Northern Europe, humidity will not be an issue.
You cannot open up adjoining balconies
(Traditional balcony cabins onboard a Royal Caribbean ship)
Let's assume you are a family of four traveling in two balcony cabins that are located beside one another. Upon arriving, however, you realize that you did not book adjoining staterooms. You are not completely out of luck, as you can have your cabin steward open up the balconies to walk freely from one stateroom to the other.
Since the infinite veranda is simply a large window at the far end of the cabin, there's nothing to open up. This means that if you want to be able to travel between staterooms without actually leaving the room, you'll have to ensure that you book connecting rooms.
What ships have infinite verandas?
Having first debuted on Celebrity Edge in 2018, infinite veranda cabins are a relatively new concept, so you will not find them on older ships in any fleet. Moreover, some cruise lines, including Carnival, Norwegian, and MSC Cruises, have yet to implement the design at all.
As of 2024, you'll find infinite veranda cabins onboard Celebrity Edge, Apex, Beyond, and Ascent, as well as Icon of the Seas and Viking Octantis.
When Star of the Seas launches in 2025, she, too, will have infinite verandas onboard, and while it has not been officially confirmed, it is assumed that the third Icon Class ship launching in 2026 will also have them.
Note that infinite verandas onboard Icon Class ships come with different views. Unlike Edge Class ships, not all balconies onboard have an ocean view. It is important that you pay attention to what cabin you are booking, as you do not want to be disappointed on embarkation day finding out you booked a Central Park infinite veranda instead of an ocean view one.
Read more: I got a sneak peek at Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas: Here's what you need to know
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she had the privilege of traveling frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas her freshman year of high school. She wanted to pursue a career that highlighted her passion for travel and strengths as a writer.
