I have booked a few balcony and suite gty. The sooner you pay it off, the sooner you will be assigned your room. Gone are the days of being assigned room at 30 days out or less.
The big upside to this is that you can switch your room for no fee as long as it is in same catagory. The rooms have codes, like 4d,2c, etc.
I paid off a cruise for anthem. Got assigned a balcony on deck 12. On anthem since things are inside i prefer deck 7. 2 decks down to all the action. Only need elevator for jammer and pools. I had a wide choice of rooms and drcks since we are still far out.