private deck
 

I have heard of a cruiseline that has a deck with about 10 cabins with their own private pool. Does anyone know what cruise line ? Has anyone ever been in these cabins? Is it worth the extra money?

Some ships have private hot tubs and deck with the 'grand suites'. There is ONE hot tub on each private deck but there are usually only a couple of these cabins on the ships. I think RCCL has these suite - more square footage than a 3 bedroom house. And these suites have 2 or 3 bedrooms and 2 or 3 baths!
Yes, they are a LOT higher fares than say a balcony cabin. Are they worth it? That's for you to decide. I don't think they are. The pool in the very back of the ship is usually for adults only and never crowded. On most ships now that area has a roof that closes at 6PM or when its raining.

I called RCCL and they have 2 bedroom suites but you need 5 people to book these. What I meant with the private pool was that the 10 cabins share a pool. We are going with a 15 and 17yo. Any other cruiselines that have this?

I think you're referring to NCL. Their villa's have access to a private hottub and pool. See this about the Garden Villas http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/fleet/stat...l?shipCode=GEM

Thank you. That is what I was thinking of. I will research that.

I haven't sailed in one of the NCL, but I've seen them on several occasions.

You have to book a Courtyard Villa or above (category A4 or higher) to have access to the private area, which is quite nice (a decent-sized lap pool, a couple of pieces of exercise equipment, small steam and sauna, and an expansive relaxation area poolside with an absolutely gigantic private sundeck above). The Courtyard villas themselves have really great bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and a nice living area. I also love the cappucino/espresso maker.

You also get special boarding privileges and access to breakfast at Cagney's restaurant by staying in these suites.

There's a pretty substantial price differential, though. You end up paying something like $3500 for a typical 7-day cruise or $4500 in the larger A3 cabin. That's more than double what you'd pay for a minisuite. And for that kind of money you could sail on a more luxurious line like Oceania and on a smaller ship. So while you get a much better cruise experience in a courtyard villa, the overall quality of the cruise isn't nearly that of a true luxury line. Though you get to avoid the overly crowded pool and sundeck areas where the rest of the passengers have to fight over inadequate deck space.

I think Doug has made some good points. I have sailed several times with NCL (younger and poorer) and I agree that if I was going to spend that amount of money, it wouldn't be on NCL. We have sailed Oceania (loved it) and this summer will try Azamara.