Is a Balcony Cabin on an Alaskan Cruise worth the extra cost?

[bluejbird]

Hi,

I'm planning on taking an Alaskan Cruise on the Diamond Princess this year and I can't decide if I should pay double the amount of an oceanview obstructed to get a cabin with a balcony. :confused: I'm assuming I'll be able to enjoy the glacier cruising from the balcony, but maybe the cabin will be on the wrong side of the ship. A lot of people say you're hardly in your cabin to take advantage of it, so I'm not sure what to do. Does anyone have an opinion on the subject?

Thanks

[MHMarkL]

Hi,

I'm planning on taking an Alaskan Cruise on the Diamond Princess this year and I can't decide if I should pay double the amount of an oceanview obstructed to get a cabin with a balcony. :confused: I'm assuming I'll be able to enjoy the glacier cruising from the balcony, but maybe the cabin will be on the wrong side of the ship. A lot of people say you're hardly in your cabin to take advantage of it, so I'm not sure what to do. Does anyone have an opinion on the subject?

 

Thanks

Book the balcony and you will never go back! The few Alaska cruises we have been on, it didn't matter which side you were on. You see one side on the way in and the other on the way out.

[LoriPhil]

I'd strongly recommend the balcony. There are many fleeting moments of spectacular scenery and wildlife that we've seen from our balcony early in the morning or preparing for dinner, that we would have missed if we'd had an interior room. Last September I cracked an eye open around 1 AM and saw swooping masses of white birds dipping and diving along side - I almost thought I'd dreamed it but someone asked the Naturalist about it the next day. If money's tight, skip an excursion and enjoy the balcony for the entire cruise. We've had cabins on both sides of the ship and if sailing the inside passage, you get magnificent views on both sides so don't worry about that.

 

Whatever you choose, you'll have a great cruise - Alaska is amazing!

Edited February 17, 2010 by LoriPhil

[Mom33]

Alaska is a scenic cruise! Don't miss the scenery with an obstructed view.;)

[palolake]

I was trying to make the same decision when we took our cruise to Alaska last June. More people said to skip the balcony than said to have one. They were sooooo wrong.

 

We normally cruise in the Caribean and have always booked a balcony. I figured it would be too cold for Alaska and that we wouldn't be out on it much so maybe we should save the money. We spent WAY more time on our balcony in Alaska than we normally do. There is so much to see. And remember that it's light out most of the night. I even went out in the middle of the night! Don't skimp on the money if at all possible!

[Minoushka]

Absolutely especially for early morning viewing of GLACIERS ans scenery NOthing beats looking at glaciers dressed over PJ"S with a cup of coffee.We were at College Fjord at 6AM . It was so peaceful I was able to film and watch it all while my son slept ...and most of the ship too !!!I REALLY enjoyed my coffee outdoors

GET A BALCONY ...be advised you will get hooked!!!

 

Enjoy .I loved Alaska SO MAJESTIC TRy to go as FAR north as possible.Go to Yukon AWESOME!!!

 

Michele

[cruiserone]

YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!!:D

 

You will NEVER be sorry that you did it. I became obsessed with goin outside to look for whales, large fish, bears, etc. With the hours of light it was just amazing to be awake at 1AM and be sitting on your balcony watching the scenery go by.... Just Do It!!:D

[flamomo]

Unequivocally YES, it is worth every penny.

 

We spent hours on our balcony, especially during scenic cruising, and that was in September, when it was rather cool and often drizzly. We didn't care because the scenery was so awesome. It seemed that everywhere we looked there was something new and even more beautiful to look at.

[jff50]

I've done Alaska 4 times--with and without a balcony. If it's a choice between a balcony OR a few great shore excursions, I'd take the shore excursions. It may not be as convenient, but you can see at least as much from the open deck as you can from a balcony. My best memories of Alaska are the shore excursions (whale watching, helicopter to a glacier, flightseeing and cruising Misty Fiords, flightseeing and glacier landing out of Talkeetna, etc). Alaska excursions tend to be pricey. Given my choice between splurging on the excursions and a balcony, I'd take the balcony. If I didn't have to choose, I'd do both.

[kaclmay]

YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!!!!

 

^^^^ Totally agree! 'cept I might say 'a MILLION times YES'!! Seriously, you will absolutely LOVE having the balcony, and especially in Alaska. A Balcony cabin, on any cruise really, is the way to go! Have fun!!!!!!

[Embracedbylife]

I'm in total agreement with everyone else that it is an amazing experience and well worth the money to have a balcony room on this cruise. Of any cruise we've been on this is the one that we used the balcony most and enjoyed it most!! We had a baja deck balcony which is category BE on the Diamond - second to the cheapest balconies and it was wonderful! We usually get Baja 242 or around there on the port side for the classes of ships we were on (Star, Diamond, Emerald, and upcoming on Caribbean). Love being near the front of the ship and up high - not much movement either! And I have a tendancy to get sea sick sometimes, and not once on all of our cruises! In fact our friends had Caribe deck in the aft on our last cruise and we had Baja 238 and there was less movement in our room than their's!

 

Port side (left side) is the way to go for upward cruises from Vancouver/Seattle to Whittier. Going back down you'll want a Starboard Side room (right side). We went up from Vancouver to Whitter one way and it was incredible!!!

 

Go for it without question and enjoy enjoy enjoy!!! :)

 

PS - i should also metion we were on one of the first cruises of the season in May and it was warm most days and just incredible weather to be on the balcony!!

Edited February 17, 2010 by lisacollie

[derdejoh]

Okay, I'll play the role of the contrarian (but only a little bit)!

 

If you have the money to spend, then get a balcony and you'll be able to get some fantastic views from your stateroom. Otherwise, go with the obstructed view. You'll still be able to look out and see what is going on in general, and then you can head up on deck to get the sweeping views of the scenery. Certainly any view of Alaska is breathtaking, but as they say: "The grass is always greener," and no matter which side of the ship you are on, there is always going to be something more interesting on the other side. If you are in your cabin, too bad, maybe it will be there when the ship turns around and comes back (yes, the glacier is not going to move (at least not very quickly!), but the the pod of whales or other wildlife likely will be gone). But if you are up on deck, or standing at the bow of the ship, you can simply walk across to the other side to see what the naturalist is talking about.

 

Plus, it is Alaska. Depending upon the weather, you may be fine wearing your PJs out on the balcony, but you may also be bundling up to stay warm -- if you're going to be putting a jacket on anyway, you might as well be up on deck and seeing *everything* that Alaska has to offer.

[snrlnd]

The balcony is a must in my book. If it is really cold you can duck back into the room to get warm or grab more layers.

 

If your on open deck it will be windier and not as easy to duck back inside.

 

Spend the extra bucks, you won't regret it.

[luvlake]

For my DH and I, we will always have a balcony in Alaska. We have cruised twice with balconies and it is almost like an all day excursion of beautiful scenery!

 

Two tips I will give is to be sure and check out deck blankets on the upper deck of the inside pool. (This was on the Sapphire which is Diamond's sister ship) They are great for sitting on your balcony and you get to keep them for the week. Also be sure to check out Skywalker Night Club during the day. It is a wonderful place to sit and visit with an almost 365 degree of scenery to see.

 

Alaska is the one place that we feel a balcony is a must!:)

Edited February 17, 2010 by luvlake

[2Oregonians]

Absolutely worth it. It won't be too cold to be out there with a coat on. We used ours plenty and wouldn't do a cruise, even Alaska, without one.

[amapola]

We debated this greatly when we went to Alaska and decided to go with a window instead. For us, it was the best choice because it was so cold we could hardly stand to be outside anyway. The only day we spent any length of time outside was in Tracy Arm (we bundled up and spent the entire morning on deck, because that's what we were there for, right? but I have thin tropical blood :D and was miserably cold and damp). We really wouldn't have used the balcony much, and saved a ton to spend on tours.

 

I can't wait to go back to Alaska! It was by far my favorite cruise out of the 9 we've taken (all the others have been to the Caribbean, and all but 3 we've had balconies). I would again opt for an oceanview. For us, it's the best choice, but YMMV! :)

[luvlake]

We debated this greatly when we went to Alaska and decided to go with a window instead. For us, it was the best choice because it was so cold we could hardly stand to be outside anyway. The only day we spent any length of time outside was in Tracy Arm (we bundled up and spent the entire morning on deck, because that's what we were there for, right? but I have thin tropical blood :D and was miserably cold and damp). We really wouldn't have used the balcony much, and saved a ton to spend on tours.

 

I can't wait to go back to Alaska! It was by far my favorite cruise out of the 9 we've taken (all the others have been to the Caribbean, and all but 3 we've had balconies). I would again opt for an oceanview. For us, it's the best choice, but YMMV! :)

 

See this is why there are so many choices for cabins. We just got back from a Caribbean cruise with an inside room. I decided that after being of other Caribbean cruises that since all we see is water except in port that an inside room was a great option.

 

For Alaska where the scenery is non stop a balcony is a must for us. I also thinik the weather is definately a major point on balconies. We were a B2B this last summer in July. We had 2 weeks of beautiful sunshine weather and so our balcony became an extension of our room. We were outside as much as we were inside at all times of the day and night!:)

 

This is why it is called choices and this is why they are able to fill a ship!

 

Happy Cruising!:)

[Minoushka]

Do not fret over the cold .I bought a jacket in Alaska 20$ .cheap/It is VERY warm and fleecelined.I got mine in Skagway...so glad I did .Great for Montreal too plus it has nice colours Lots of shops have them .I found the Skagway ones to be the warmest

.I used it on our South American cruise .VERY WARM with my jacket on

You will need a hat scarf and gloves .Running shoes sprayed to be waterproof is Great.

I spent hours outdoors watching beautiful scenery .As soon as the bells would ring announcing Michelle our Naturalist I would go on the balcony ...talk about a Pavlovian DOg ....and listen to her describing a not-to-miss sighting

You can hear everything on the balcony .It was perfect

I loved my BTB

[DeepWaterMariner]

For all those who use their balcony more in Alaska than in the Caribbean, we are just the opposite. We love using a balcony on warm weather cruises. In Alaska our balcony got much less use. We've done Alaska with insides, oceanview, and balcony and I agree with those that say save the extra cost of a balcony and use the money on tours.

[bluenoser2]

We would have loved to have a balcony on our Alaska cruise last year, but knowing that it was either book a guarantee obstructed oceanview cabin, or NOT GO, we went with the first option! We were upgraded to an unobstructed oceanview on the promenade deck and had a great time. It was pretty rainy every morning of our cruise, so I didn't miss having the balcony at all (our previous cruise we DID have a balcony and I loved it, but actually didn't feel I was missing a lot on this one - partly because of the weather). I'm originally from BC so alot of the views were what I was used to - we spent a lot of time on the decks - ALL OF THEM! We loved being able to dash back and forth to see what was on both sides of the ship. (Kept us warm too!) My hubby prefers to be at the closest to the front of the ship when viewing the glaciers and such, so he would never have been on the balcony anyway! You'll have a great cruise either way - it just depends where you can or want to spend your money.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

We got a great deal of enjoyment out of our balcony. On the scenic cruising day on the Princess TV channel in the morning, I remember them telling us that on the starboard side at 3 pm you will see whales and sea otters. We couldn't wait for that time to occurr and were not disappointed. I couldn't believe the number of people out on their balconies and we would help each other as we spotted wild life by shouting 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock which told them where to look.

You will not be disappointed with a balcony. Princess provides lots of blankets if you are cold.

[WeBeGone]

We were on the last cruise of the season (mid Sept) and the weather was so bad we were glad we hadn't paid for a balcony. When we wanted to go outside, it was a quick walk to decks where we could move side to side and weren't "stuck" seeing the views from just one balcony. If I had to choose between booking a balcony and shore excursions, I'd take the excursions and book an oceanview.

[texasmelrose2]

We booked a mini suite with Balcony on the Sapphire for Sept and cannot wait...it is our first cruise and our belated honeymoon so we decided to go for the balcony. We plan to spend a LOT of time out there...rain or shine, cold or warm...layers is my new motto! :D

 

I do agree with the others, though...the main thing is GOING. If it is not in the budget for a balcony then take what you can get and have a blast!

[DougH]

If you're only going once and can afford it I'd say a balcony may be for you, my choice is and inside or obstructed cabin. I spend lots of time on the open deck and its free. No balcony is also a reason I've been able to cruise to Aalska 13 times and my next cruise is my 41st. An inside cabin saves lots of money for the next trip!

[Tohna]

ABSOLUTELY, take the balcony, you will be so glad you did.