Balcony vs interior

[overwhelmedwithoptions]

Is it worth $700 to get a balcony? That's the difference in price between the balcony and an interior room. It would pay for all of our excursions if I give it up, but I have heard that it can make your cruise so much better. So how do I know if it is worth it since I've never been on a cruise. I know everyone has a different opinion but I am hoping for a majority. We are considering Royal Caribbean in March '07 - Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Cayman. This site has been very helpful but I couldn't find any other postings regarding this question!

[CSloan]

There are a lot of people who cruise with inside cabins all the time, and seem to really like them. So, like you said, everyone has a different opinion.

 

We always go for at least a balcony - it's definitely worth it for us. When I'm on a cruise I consider the cabin part of the cruise experience. There's nothing like having that first cup of coffee (from room service) while sitting on the balcony in your bathrobe. It's a great way to start each day. I also like to see the view as soon as I wake up. Looking out on the ocean, or a new port each day when I wake up is part of the experience. And, at night, before going to bed, it's nice to take in the sights and sounds of the ocean at night.

We don't spend a lot of time in the cabin, but, when we are there, we really appreciate - and use - the balcony. It's also a nice option if you want to sit outside, but want to get away from the crowd.

 

So, if you can swing the balcony, and still do everything else you want to do on the cruise, I say "go for it"!

[johnql]

$700? If we were talking about Alaska (where the scenery is a major reason for going), I would say yes. Otherwise, I'd be perfectly happy saving the money and booking an inside.

[Raceroc]

For us it depends on How long the cruise is and what ship.

7 days or longer... Balcony is a must!

3-4-5 days... Inside is OK, unless cost for balcony upgrade is small.

[Momof2angels]

Up until our last of couple of cruises we always went inside (due to $$$).

We decided to try a balcony as a little splurge once and now we can no longer go to an inside cabin. I can't imagine giving that up. I like to look or go outside and feel the warmth of our destination. It keeps your spirits up. When you wake up and you don't know if it's day or night, sunny or overcast, it just doesn't feel the same for me.

So, what would I do if I were in your shoes.....

You don't know what you are giving up till you experience it; therefore, if $ is a factor go for the inside. You really won't be in the room that much.

However, if you could make the balcony happen and just want to know if it's worth the $700 you mentioned, my answer would have to be YES!

[catmand]

We have cruised with balcony, ocean view (window) and inside. Actually sailed with the inside on the last cruise, which was 11 days. I think it really depends on the price difference. Seven hundred bucks on a seven day cruise? Is it worth ONE HUNDRED BUCKS A DAY to be able to sit on the balcony, hear the ocean etc etc etc. It wouldn't be to us.

Example, we are going back to Alaska this year. Sailing with two couples who we have cruised with in the past. The difference ocean view to balcony is one thousand dollars, thats a LOT of excursions. Tow couple are passing on the balcony.

Maybe price an ocean view? Remember, everything you can do with a balcony you can do out on deck (OK, maybe not EVERYTHING)

[98Charlie]

We booked only insides for our first 14 cruises. We were upgraded to Ocean views for 2 of those. The last 2 were balconies. One because it was Alaska the other because the price was right.

 

How often do you take a real vacation (not working on the house with a short tip to the lake or something)? If it's once every year or more, I might consider the balcony. Although I agree with Catmand that $100 a day for 60-80 sq ft of balcony is a lot.

 

That $700 would pay for 1 person's inside cabin on the next cruise in 6 or 8 months instead of next year or later:D

 

Charlie

[samtig]

We have never had an inside cabin - I have a touch of claustrophobia & just couldn't handle not being able to see outside. At the minimum we book a window. If the price difference isn't very much we book a balcony. Having a balcony is great & really adds a lot to the trip.

[Sea and Me]

We have had balconies in the past and also oceanviews. However we booked in inside for our 7 day cruise 1/27/07. Our first inside!! I like the balcony rooms but the last time we had smokers next door. I don't want to spend the extra money to smell cigar smoke at 7:00am but that's me. A balcony is nice to sit out there and "meditate" or just to have some alone time away from the crowd. I'm sure you would enjoy a balcony but if I could save $$$$$ and go on another cruise I'd give up the balcony. Have a great time no matter what cabin you choose.

[karen sharpe]

We always get the balcony ,never had an inside room. For me the best part of the cruise is enjoying the magnificent ocean.The balcony extends our living space and there is nothing like a private evening dinner for two on your balcony. Outside of rough seas it's wonderful sleeping with your balcony door open and listening to the waves!

[shamrockace]

We had the same decision to make. More excursions or a balcony. We choose the excursions because we only go to the room when we are going to bed anyway, and we can go up on the deck to view. I'm a social butterfly and prefer mingling anyway.

 

I talked to my Brother-in-law whose gone on 2 cruises, one inside and one with balcony and he said his wife got seasick with the balcony due to seeing the waves.

 

While I'd love to have a balcony, I can't justify that price difference. This way I can book the next cruise that much sooner!

[mared1]

Besides the price,you might want to consider the size of the inside cabin - on some cruiselines the inside cabins are rather small. (Carnival has the same size cabins for inside, oceanview and balcony).

Another consideration is how much time you think you will be in your cabin - if you like to be around people, plan to spend a lot of time in the bars, the casino, etc. an inside might be fine.

We like having a balcony and have not considered an inside, however, my husband recently said if we could get an inside cabin on the Lido deck and save quite a bit of money he would go for it. (the Lido deck is often the deck that has the pools and buffets.

[klct39lg]

I agree with the other posters who say that a balcony is part of the cruise experience.

We have only cruised twice and we had inside cabins both times. There are pros and cons, on the plus side they are less expensive and you can sleep late because they are so dark. The bad thing for us was that because they are windowless and dark we did not want to be in the cabin. And when we were in there we felt like we were wasting our time sitting in a dark little box, so we were constantly on the go trying to “enjoy the ship”. Consequently, we did not do much relaxing either cruise and came home tired. For our next cruise, we will do our best to get a balcony. I want to be able to sit in the sun, enjoy the ocean, and relax while “enjoying the ship”.

[Arwenmark]

A balcony is fabulous, but it depends on what YOU are looking to get out of the cruise, there are many people who are NEVER in their cabin except to change clothes shower and sleep. they are on the go all over the ship all the time.

Others like me seldom leave their cabin except for meals and the occasional trip around the ship. for them a balcony is a MUST. I probably spend 80 percent of my cruise on my balcony day and night. so for me absolutely.

 

If you do decide on an inside at least be on a ship that has a promenade deck, not just the sun type deck but one lower down.

[rebeljohn]

We've only had a balcony once, and loved it, We were upgraded at NC, so we really didn't pay for it. BUT, we always book inside cabins, because we never use the cabin, other than to sleep and shower. If $$$ was no probem, I would go for the balcony................

[pisces1]

To the poster who said their partner was more seasick because of seeing the waves....well that is just not the way it works. The fastest remedy for anyone who experiences sea sickness is to see the horizon. Very hard to do in an inside cabin. Sea sickness is caused by an inner ear imbalance, and your brain needs to see a stationary object to quell those feelings. I have been a boat owner for over 20 years and if anyone starts to feel ill on our vessel the first thing we do is have them operate the boat. We never send them down below to "rest" unless we want to do some serious clean up duty later. Aside from that, I have been in both and will never go back to an inside. I don't want to spend every hour of every day of my vacation wandering the ship, so the balcony is our escape and our much enjoyed private time.

[pogieone]

My wife and I do consider our cabin part of our vacation. We don't spend alot of time there, but its nice to get away from everything and everyone. We had an inside cabin on the Grand Princess for the Millenium in the Carribean. We decided to try a balcony on our next trip. :D On warm and humid afternoon, my wife was napping on the balcony on the Carnival Pride in the middle of ocean (alright it was off the coast of Mexico, but all we could see from our cabin was water and sky) when she was awaken by chirpping. At first she thought it was a flock of sea birds, but she looked up and there were none. When then looked down and saw dolphins swimming by the ship. This made up for a trip to the Mexican Riviera in July. (Why July is another story.):D

[KKB]

To the poster who said their partner was more seasick because of seeing the waves....well that is just not the way it works. The fastest remedy for anyone who experiences sea sickness is to see the horizon. Very hard to do in an inside cabin. Sea sickness is caused by an inner ear imbalance, and your brain needs to see a stationary object to quell those feelings. I have been a boat owner for over 20 years and if anyone starts to feel ill on our vessel the first thing we do is have them operate the boat. We never send them down below to "rest" unless we want to do some serious clean up duty later. Aside from that, I have been in both and will never go back to an inside. I don't want to spend every hour of every day of my vacation wandering the ship, so the balcony is our escape and our much enjoyed private time.

 

I understand this reasoning, but not looking was best for us!

 

We have had an outside & a balcony, and we find that while we would never refuse an upgrade to a balcony, it would rarely be worth the $ to us. We find rooms on vacation for sleep, shower & :>, cruising or not. SOOO lower price is fine for us. THIS BEING SAID, I always check room sizes...our outside was 168 sq. ft., and we felt that was a very comfortable size. I did notice that our inside is 160 sq. ft...I doubt I would want anything smaller than that.

 

Now, we did excursions on our first cruise, and were glad we did, but did none on Disney, and DH is only doing golf this time. SOOO we don't spend on excursions anymore either...

 

Think about what is important to you to make your decision

 

(my dad ONLY wants a balcony...)

[samtig]

We watch for the sales on balconies with major on-line travel companies. If we find one at a price not too much more than a window cabin, we call TA to see if she can match price or come close. If not we book a window. Have booked balconies ranging from $550 pp to $699 for 7 day cruise. It's worth it to us. We also drive to ports so haven't had air fare expense yet.

[cruizinmama]

I say inside room.Really,how much time do you spend in your room anyway,except to sleep.There is so much to see & do on cruise ships,who wants to always be stuck in your room because the view is the same on the decks.We always go with an inside room except if it was a really good deal.And I do not think $100 extra a day for a balcony is worth it.Just my opinion.:)

[cherylandtk]

One more vote for the inside; $700 more is not worth it as several others have noted. And being your first cruise, the inside room will not get much use anyway, you will be far too busy exploring the ship and discovering what cruising is all about.

[NAS-KARR]

Every one of our cruises has been in a mini, wouldn't cruise any other way.

The ONLY way you'll ever know is to try it yourself. Spend the bucks or someone else will have fun with your $$.

Try it once.

 

 

CIAO,

[gratefulguy]

As you can tell, this is a very personal choice--everyone has different needs. Some other factors to consider might be the ratio of sea days to port days (you have 4 ports listed out of 7 days), the expected weather (Caribbean can sometimes be too warm to enjoy a balcony if it doesn't have some shade), whether you like swimming pools (some have salt water) a lot, whether you like to gamble (time in casino), do you stay up late dancing after the shows, is it a romantic trip like anniversary, does having kids around seem less fun (March can have Spring Break families or college students in warm climates), and is the location of one cabin or the other less desirable because of its location (e.g.:a balcony too far forward, or an inside next to a crew area).

Since this is your first cruise, going where you're going, and having mentioned $700. worth of excursions planned, it seems to me you may be happier at the end of the cruise if you decide on the inside! One consolation, besides the $700., is that the inside can be steadier sailing because it is (usually) down lower and closer to the "centerline", so you may feel less motion.

This close to March, I'd say "book it now"!

Happy First Cruise

[chasetf]

Is it worth $700 to get a balcony? That's the difference in price between the balcony and an interior room. It would pay for all of our excursions if I give it up, but I have heard that it can make your cruise so much better. So how do I know if it is worth it since I've never been on a cruise. I know everyone has a different opinion but I am hoping for a majority. We are considering Royal Caribbean in March '07 - Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Cayman. This site has been very helpful but I couldn't find any other postings regarding this question!

I would not pay that much. Think of it as ..... for seven days you are paying $100 a day. If you spent 2 hours a day on it (which you won't because there is so much other things to do) it works out to $50 an hour.

 

We like the idea of cruising more for the same cost by sailing in the lower catagories. To each his own.... as you see on this thread, some folks will not sail without anything less than a mini.

 

You figure we all arrive at the same port at the same time, watch the same entertainment, eat the same food..... and they could be paying twice as much........so we should thank them for subsidizing our trip. :D

[jjinx]

On my one and only cruise (so far) we booked an inside promenade room. This gave us a window at a low price. We absolutely loved the cruise, and I enjoyed looking out the window at all the people!

 

That being said, my husband really wanted a balcony for our upcoming cruise. He spends more time in the room than I do, so of course I booked a balcony. He wants to spend early mornings drinking our coffee out there, and that sounds pretty good to me! We booked in the off season so we could afford the price difference.

 

I believe that whichever you book you will have a fabulous time!