Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?

tanyamary627 · August 2012

My FI and I are strongly considering an Alaska cruise for our HM. If we got an oceanview room, it would cost us $800 more than an interior room. It we got a balcony room, it would cost us $1,000 more than an interior room.

In your experience, is it worth it to spend the extra $$ for an oceanview or balcony room? Will we be miserable in an interior room? I've only cruised once and I had an oceanview room, and my FI hasn't cruised at all.

TIA!!

MrsKathyC · August 2012

I've only cruised once and we had an ocean view room too, but not the balcony. Our window was pretty big though, it wasn't one of those little portholes. If we ever cruise again, I would never have an interior room!

SD210 · August 2012

Splurge for the balcony, if you can afford it. When I am on a cruise, I love sitting out there in the mornings with coffee or going back to the room after dinner with wine to relax. Cruise ships can be crowded places (depending on the size of the boat), and we enjoy a little down time away from the crowds. Plus, from what I hear, the views and scenery on an Alaskan cruise are AMAZING - - and you'll get to enjoy it without fighting people for chairs on the main decks. Go for it, if you can swing it!

Lilshell812 · August 2012

We went to the Caribbean with Holland America & we had a balcony. That's the only cruise I've ever been on so I don't have anything to compare it to...but it was AMAZING! We would get up early to watch the ship enter the port and at the end of the day, watch the ship pull away. It was so nice!

Also, the cruise ship had 2 formal nights (we're not formal people) so we stayed in our room with a bottle of wine & room service and just enjoyed our nights on the balcony.

I'd imagine the scenery in Alaska would be WELL worth it. How cool would it be to have glaciers as your background while you enjoy your morning coffee on the balcony?

Of course, this would be if you can swing the extra money. Don't break your bank.

hz80408 · August 2012

Personally, I'd never want to have an interior room on a cruise ship. I get claustraphobic enough as it is; I like being able to see outside

SuMmErKuTiE · August 2012

I did an interior room on my first cruise, but have done balconies ever since and could never go back to an interior room. The balcony rooms are larger with a sitting area, plus you have your own private balcony to sit out on, and we like to order room service (always free) each morning and enjoy our breakfast out on the balcony instead of going up to the overcrowded buffet. It's especially neat when you're pulling into port to watch. It's also a great place to enjoy a glass of wine before dinner or to just enjoy a night cap at the end of the night. Definitely worth the extra $$.

To me, the oceanview rooms aren't worth the extra money because they're bascially an inside room with a tiny porthole and they're at the bottom of the ship, while the balcony rooms are on the upper levels of the ship and are much larger.

Cinderella30 · August 2012

For the Alaskan cruise definitely get the balcony, particularly if it goes by the glacier. You can come into your room if it gets too cold whereas everyone else will be outside freezing their booties off. Besides, the scenery is absolutely amazing.

kaos16 · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_cruise-oceanviewbalcony-rooms-worth-the-price?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:b6f124e0-b747-40d4-b73e-852de5cfb897Post:9affae94-e329-462f-b56e-6d3517620f3f">Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?</a>:
[QUOTE]Of the 15 cruises I have sailed, 4 had a balcony, 5 had a window, and 6 were inside. Alaska is a destination where the virew from the ship is a big part of the trip. There is beautiful scenery all the way. You will miss a lot of this if you have an inside cabin. I question the pricing. Cruise lines have price promotions during the year. You wedding isn't until next June, so the price promotions haven't had time to come out yet. The cruise industry plays games with their pricing, just like your department stores with sales. The balconies will always command a premium price. They sell out the fastest. However you could save several hundred dollars by waiting. After the balcony promotions, there will be sales for the window rooms. Typically, you will pay the price for an inside cabin and get an upgrade to a window room. Those cheap inside cabins (sleeping closets) will always be available until the ship almost sells out. Are you working with a travel agent? You should be! There are several cruise lines that sail Alaska, most notably Princess and Holland America. Other cruise lines just sail the inside passage, but that is a beautiful cruise, too. I would wait to book until about February. There should be a lot of good promotions by then. All rooms have the same beds, the same storage space, and tiny little bathrooms with showers. You get the same food and the same shows. You can go to the Promenade deck to see scenery, though that is a lot more inconvenient than just leaning out your balcony. Those "private" balconies aren't really very private. Yours is only divided from your neighbor by a flimsy partition. They are very small. If you want to sunbathe, go up to the Lido deck (pool area). If you try to sunbathe topless on your balcony, be aware that there are security cameras that scan the sides of the ship, and the crew will be watching you, and maybe the passengers on the decks above you!
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

The Knot's resident cruise guru. . . . .seriously, everytime someone asks a cruise related question, I wait for you to answer. . . . . love it :)

lls31 · August 2012

I cruised once with an ocean view room. For the amount of time we actually spent in the room while the sun was out, it wasn't worth it to me. We've done interior ever since and it's perfectly fine. However, we did splurge for our HM and went with a balcony.

I think if we ever booked an Alaskan cruise, we would likely go with a balcony for the reasons Cinderella30 and CMGr mentioned.

tanyamary627 · August 2012

Thanks for the info everyone! Thanks for the tip to wait until around February to book. We aren't in any rush to book it, I was just calculating the approximate costs so we know how much we will need to save for it, so I'll check back for discounts. We are leaning towards Princess Inner Passage w/ Glacier Bay roundtrip from Seattle.

saritak · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_cruise-oceanviewbalcony-rooms-worth-the-price?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:b6f124e0-b747-40d4-b73e-852de5cfb897Post:44c248f1-7c4c-45fc-8890-e565ae1af310">Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?</a>:
[QUOTE]I did an interior room on my first cruise, but have done balconies ever since and could never go back to an interior room. The balcony rooms are larger with a sitting area, plus you have your own private balcony to sit out on, and we like to order room service (always free) each morning and enjoy our breakfast out on the balcony instead of going up to the overcrowded buffet. It's especially neat when you're pulling into port to watch. It's also a great place to enjoy a glass of wine before dinner or to just enjoy a night cap at the end of the night. Definitely worth the extra $$. To me, the oceanview rooms aren't worth the extra money because <strong>they're bascially an inside room with a tiny porthole and they're at the bottom of the ship</strong>, while the balcony rooms are on the upper levels of the ship and are much larger.
Posted by SuMmErKuTiE[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>This is not necessarily true. All of the times we've gotten an oceanview room, it has been a fairly large picture window and on a deck in the middle of the ship, not the bottom.

</div>

saritak · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_cruise-oceanviewbalcony-rooms-worth-the-price?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:b6f124e0-b747-40d4-b73e-852de5cfb897Post:0d740473-31ee-4f22-b2e8-df61a24fcd05">Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price? : I agree with this. When I was a young teacher, I lived in an apartment with no windows. It was the most depressing year of my life. I am not really happy without some natural daylight. That's just me. I like knowing whether or not it's light outside. I have cruised with inside cabins when it was a destination that I REALLY wanted to see (Greek Islands), but I can usually snag a sale to get a window view cabin at about the same price. My recent cruise featured a large picture window that looked over the top of some lifeboats. It was a lovely view. On our Hawaii cruise, the window was on the lowest passenger deck, and I saw whales swimming right up to the ship! OK, a balcony might have been better, but not at those prices.
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

<div>Yeah, I really wanted a balcony on the British Isles cruise we did in July, but couldn't justify the over $1000 price difference between a balcony and an oceanview, especially with the high cost of plane tickets. In hindsight, it was the right decision considering the temperature didn't make it past 65 degrees, so I'm not sure how much we would have used a balcony. We didn't even go to the pool once and when we were outside it was quite windy and cool. However, there are definitely cruises where a balcony is pretty much a must and worth the extra price.</div>

HobokensFury · August 2012

We went on a cruise for our HM and booked an inside room. We told them it was our HM and a month before our trip they contacted me and gave us a free upgrade to an ocean view room so maybe you'll get lucky like we did.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · August 2012

You will be miserable in an interior room. I've done it! I splurged on the oceanview room for my next cruise.

Cruise ship rooms are much smaller than hotel rooms. They're like 150 square feet. Barely enough room to walk around the beds. Add to that the fact that I had to have the interior lights on everytime I was in the room, and that when I woke up in the morning I had NO idea what time it was until I looked at the clock (could be 5am, could be 9am, I had no clue), the room feels really claustrophobic and like a cell.

The balcony rooms seem nicer because the bed isn't against the back wall, so there's more room to walk and sit. But I'm not sure how much you'd want to use a balcony in Alaska. I just think it might be too chilly for breakfast!

alithebride · August 2012

if you can in any way swing it do the balcony.
to me the balcony is worth it and the window room is not.

tanyamary627 · August 2012

Thank you all for the info!!

alithebride · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_cruise-oceanviewbalcony-rooms-worth-the-price?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:b6f124e0-b747-40d4-b73e-852de5cfb897Post:71562cee-6aba-42e7-be1b-c0d200b38b2a">Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price? : One more tip, on Holland America the window cabins have full sized bathtubs and larger bathrooms. That is worth the difference in price. This isn't true on Princess. I don't know about otherlines.
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

while i LOVE my baths i wouldn't prefer a tub/larger bathroom over a balcony. i get on just fine in the regular bathrooms.

cwaggoner07 · August 2012

I agree with others in saying that a window is not worth it, but a balcony would be. When we went, we got interior, and we will never do that again. We couldn't really hang out in the room at all, whereas with a balcony it would give us a reason to hang out alone. We just spent so much time in the common areas to get some sunlight.

Ankur · September 2012

We are splurging for a balcony....nothing like having that amazing view!

Cruise - oceanview/balcony rooms worth the price?

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