Is an ocean view widow cabin worth it?

Hi all!

We’re traveling on the Gem in a few weeks and after saving a little extra dough pre cruise we called to find out if we could pay for a room upgrade. We have the opportunity to upgrade from an inside cabin to an ocean view (not balcony) for a few hundred dollars. My partner and I are waffling back and forth, so I’d love to hear from you. Any one out there with strong opinions either way? Should we go for it, or save our money for Bingo or a shore excursion instead?

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Unless you’re claustrophobic, there’s absolutely no way I would pay even $100 more for ocean view than inside. Definitely not a few hundred. A balcony, yes. But not ocean view.

"A few hundred dollars"

I guess it depends on a lot of things but if the upgrade from inside to OV is a few hundred dollars, how much was the inside? If you could buy almost a whole other inside category cruise for the cost of the upgrade, I might do that instead.

Having said that, I am not an "inside" sailor although I have done it once. It really depends on how much you use your room. I like to be in my room a lot, so a room that is really comfortable to me to spend a lot of time in is worth the money (and I probably spend less in the rest of the ship.) If you are outgoing, like to go-go-go and do-do-do, and plan on coming back to the cabin for showers and sleeping, maybe the extra money towards your next cruise (or a shore excursion you wouldn't normally splurge on, or whatever floats your boat) makes more sense.

The one OV I was in, the window was filthy and I looked out once and never again. But on some ships/lines, an OV room is slightly bigger or better configured so in that case, it might be worth it--that was really why we chose the OV on the one cruise, not necessarily for the window (but that was on Carnival). So if you get something more than just the window, I might say it's worth it, otherwise no.

We always had a balcony or above. Then we decided to try an ocean view. We usually take 14 night cruises but we were now doing 7 night cruises. We were on the Dawn deck eight forward. Hated it. You could not look out the window unless you were at the top of the bed. The ov locations all stink. We then tried an interior deck 11 on the dawn. It was fine. Found ourselves out on the promenade a lot. Location was great. Never missed the balcony. Our next cruise we have a ba balcony but it is 14 nights. If you are on a seven night cruise you may not have a problem with an interior as long as it is in the right location.

Speaking for myself I won't do anything less than an OV.

I've done insides and find the total darkness messes with my sleeping patterns.

Without the natural light to trigger my brain that it is time to wake, I tend to over sleep, find it hard to get up, even with an alarm and am tired all the time.

If you don't have this issue,I think a couple of $100 from inside to OV is too much, I would pay that for inside to balcony.

Lois

Unless you are sailing over the holidays with cabins nearly sold out, definitely not worth paying several hundreds more to upgrade (for 2 of you, in total ... I assume)

Do you have a specific Inside cabin assigned ? BTW, just noticed that you are new to CC and first post ... welcome & come onboard.

We just sailed the Gem for a 2nd. time (almost 5 years since our post-Sandy special ... hence it was a Storm Special, Take #2 for us, LOL - last month, again) The typical OV is slightly bigger than Insides, and natural lights - whether it's a oversized porthole, obstructed OV (priced lower vs.) or rectangular picture windows (usually sell for more, locations varied) - middle ship ones on Deck 5 are generally preferred instead of those on Deck 4. If either one of you are prone to motion sickness, OV on Deck 8 Fwd or Aft aren't the best - midship Deck 8 has the obstructed ones, which we like ... not caring for nor concerned the lifeboat views, rather for its convenient access location to other public areas of the ship.

Have you checked or know for sure whether you are able to participate in the Upgrade Advantage bidding program ? Check your email and/or MyNCL dot com account to see ... unless you did the booking with a Travel Agency (TA) that opted out. Pricing for the minimum bids vary, but it is possible to submit an offer and upgrade for much less, maybe just $100 to $150, or $200 for both (thus, $50 p/p to $100 p/p max) and get upgraded - no choice in what NCL assigned to you, but not going to cost "several" hundred dollars more for sure. No extra "free" perks but you keep what you have now on the winning bid. There is a big thread about this that you can read all about it.

For longer sailings (more than 7 days) and several sea days, the slightly bigger room for a little more money is worth it to many - but, if you don't plan to spend a lot of time in the cabin - not a deal breaker either. Bathroom is the same size = small but functional.

I would rather have an inside than an OV as I sleep better with an inside. DH just has to open the curtains and the light wakes me up, not him. I would pay (and just did) to upgrade from inside to balcony, but would not pay a dime for OV, never mind hundreds of dollars.

I imagine you are not claustrophobic or you would not have booked inside to start out with. We have been in an inside for cruises of 28 and 35 days with no problem....small inside on NCL and large one on HAL. That said I am looking forward to my balcony on our upcoming cruise.

In general - whatever cruise line I'm cruising on -- I would never book an inside. I'm claustrophobic so, an inside is a closet - no matte how big!

that said, I find looking out at the water relaxing. While I prefer a balcony to sit and read or nap, I will take an OV if my budget requires it.

Debbi

I would check which location the OV is first. :) I'd rather have a higher deck (8,9,10,11) inside than a low deck outside (most outsides are on deck 4,5).

That being said I was pleasantly surprised of the inside some of my family members were in a couple of years ago. Did not feel at all claustrophobic or small. I really liked it. Ok I only stayed there while meeting them and waiting them to get ready but anyway.

I would most likely either keep the inside or then try to upgrade to an obstructed outside (deck 8 as already mentioned) for a very small amount of money. The location of those obstucted outsides is just fantastic and some offer even some kind of view and all natural light. :) For a few hundred (or more) I would upgrade only to a balcony.

If Bingo and shore excursions are something you really enjoy then I would use the savings for that. A room is just that. As some posted before it depends on how much you are in the room. I don’t see anywhere how many cruises you have taken, but if it’s not many you many spend quite a bit of tim3 outside the room.

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We've done inside, OV and balcony, all with different cruise lines. It's a matter of personal preference and of course budget. DW would really prefer not to go with an inside, but we would probably book an inside rather than an obstructed OV. Our OVs have had a large window with a good view and plenty of natural light, but still not as good as a balcony.

We've just booked with another line, where the balcony price went up before we could make the booking so we have selected an OV but in the top category to make sure we got a big window with a good view. My suggestion is check details of the window size and position before you book so you can judge whether you will feel you have had value for the extra dollars, and also bear in mind that usually OV staterooms are larger than insides.

Hi all!

 

We’re traveling on the Gem in a few weeks and after saving a little extra dough pre cruise we called to find out if we could pay for a room upgrade. We have the opportunity to upgrade from an inside cabin to an ocean view (not balcony) for a few hundred dollars. My partner and I are waffling back and forth, so I’d love to hear from you. Any one out there with strong opinions either way? Should we go for it, or save our money for Bingo or a shore excursion instead?

 

 

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How much is a "few hundred" for how many days cruise?

We often cruise inside cabins. If the cruise is 7 days and the upgrade is two hundred dollars total, not each, I'd do it but if it's more, I wouldn't.

How much is a "few hundred" for how many days cruise? We often cruise inside cabins. If the cruise is 7 days and the upgrade is two hundred dollars total, not each, I'd do it but if it's more, I wouldn't.

For a directly negotiated upgrade (which I am doubtful NCL are still doing) $75 to $100 x 2 pax would be our max limit for a deck 5 midship (there really aren't anything higher for OV that I rank better, as far as I know ... obstructed OV on #8, yes - not everyone liked them) If it's bidding blind for a GTY with Upgrade Advantage, $50 x 2 would be max for us ... maybe, possibly $75 for X'Mas and/or New Year)

To OP, if you care to share your sailing dates, some of us can probably offer a little more "insight" on a ballpark figure that we would be comfortable with ... and look at the supply & demand factors, since you are likely new in cruising and with the NCL pricing, etc. Whatever you decided, have a great & wonderful criuse.

Speaking for myself I won't do anything less than an OV.

I've done insides and find the total darkness messes with my sleeping patterns.

Without the natural light to trigger my brain that it is time to wake, I tend to over sleep, find it hard to get up, even with an alarm and am tired all the time.

If you don't have this issue,I think a couple of $100 from inside to OV is too much, I would pay that for inside to balcony.

Lois

THIS. Last December, we had an Inside cabin on the Jewel. I kept waking up at night and wondering if we were going to be late to our morning events, shore excursion times, etc. I'd check the time on my cellphone but just doing that woke me up enough that I couldn't easily get back to sleep.

From now on, I'm settling for nothing less than an OV or at the minimum, an "Inside" cabin on the bigger ships that has a window looking out on to the promenade or whatever. Just something where I can see natural sunlight in the mornings.

Hi all!

 

We’re traveling on the Gem in a few weeks and after saving a little extra dough pre cruise we called to find out if we could pay for a room upgrade. We have the opportunity to upgrade from an inside cabin to an ocean view (not balcony) for a few hundred dollars. My partner and I are waffling back and forth, so I’d love to hear from you. Any one out there with strong opinions either way? Should we go for it, or save our money for Bingo or a shore excursion instead?

 

 

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I was in an Inside once ,never again . However,if you are changing for an OV ,make sure that if you are paying that amount of money that it is a large non-obstructed window.

Just my opinion

I will only do an OV if the prices are comparable. No way I would pay anything more than $100 more total for the cabin, certainly not a few hundred for a window.

Balcony..absolutely ... Ocean View, not for me unless a great deal

Just buy inside guarantee and use upgrade option to upgrade. Not sure what date you are on but I bid $50 for the OV and got it on 12/12 Gem.

We are fine with the inside cabins. Love them because we get the best sleep in them because they are pitch black when the lights are out. We have only bothered with windows a couple of times since we rarely have use for them. One very large circular 72" window on the Celebrity Summit was nice (it was a cabin added later where the meeting space used to be, so the window was much larger than normal). Two 48" round windows in an RCCL Family Outside cabin (nice for the kids to look out of). Best of all was the Panoramic Family View cabin on the Freedom (20' wide window ceiling to floor) - our favourite cabin ever.

Usually, we are out and about the ship, so having a window is not something that we find of value to us personally.

THIS. Last December, we had an Inside cabin on the Jewel. I kept waking up at night and wondering if we were going to be late to our morning events, shore excursion times, etc. I'd check the time on my cellphone but just doing that woke me up enough that I couldn't easily get back to sleep. ....

When we have inside cabin we put the tv on the bow channel. Easy to see when it's daylight.

Yes, we love these. Especially if it is a port heavy cruise.

Hi all!

 

We’re traveling on the Gem in a few weeks and after saving a little extra dough pre cruise we called to find out if we could pay for a room upgrade. We have the opportunity to upgrade from an inside cabin to an ocean view (not balcony) for a few hundred dollars. My partner and I are waffling back and forth, so I’d love to hear from you. Any one out there with strong opinions either way? Should we go for it, or save our money for Bingo or a shore excursion instead?

 

 

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Sorry, but I won’t pay another penny to upgrade. I book an inside to save money, and I don’t miss the window one bit! I’m sure lots of people would disagree, but with our limited retirement budget, every $ counts, so it is something I wouldn’t do. I can’t imagine shelling out another $100+ after I just finished paying off cruise!

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We started with inside, then got a deal with the balcony and never looked back. It was a balcony every cruise. Last September we took a quick unplanned last minute cruise on Breakaway and got an inside cabin. My husband absolutely hated it..

Now we are taking a Holiday cruise on Gem. The prices are astronomical but we really wanted a holiday cruise. We are cruising from NY so 2 days out and 2 days back are too cold to be on a balcony. Plus Gem has great outdoor decks with a lot of places to sit and relax in a good weather.

My husband didn't want to hear about booking inside but a balcony was out of reach for us. So for the first time we went with unobstructed OV. I hope we will not regret it.

We have been in an inside ONCE - it was a last minute booking and we grabbed one of the new 12th deck cabins on the Dawn. Loved the cabin (because it was new) but will NOT do an inside again. We prefer to see light from outside.

When we see an itinerary that we are so interested in we book a cabin on ship based on our budget, how port intensive it is, etc. Last cruise was a transatlantic and we had a mini-suite as we booked so long in advance. Next one is a port intensive and bit pricy so it's an OA cabin.

We have stayed in OK (obstructed oceanview) a few times and found them great - close to elevators. We like the sideway ones.

Perhaps if there is an OK available and the difference cost is low, maybe go ahead? The OK cabins are the lowest priced in the OV category and surprise, all the OK cabins are on deck 8.