In about a week, we're going to take our first cruise since the pandemic ruined it for us. (I cannot wear a mask for reasons I won't go into.) Main reason is to find out what it's like now, whether it's still worth it. I can tell by reading these forums that RCI is cutting corners and pinching pennies as hard as it can, and I don't blame them. They lost a LOT of money.
For me, I'll generally take an interior because it's cheaper (and yeah, that matters to me), which means if we decide to resume our cruising habit, that means more cruising.
I'll address several things on this thread:
I have a form of night blindness, which you would think would make an interior cabin out of the question. But my smart wife always sends me to bed first, and after I fall asleep, she places two rows of those battery operated little candles from the bed to the bathroom. It looks like a runway, but it works. I can find my way easily when I get up to answer nature's call, and for her it makes a sort of night light.
I've enjoyed balconies, and all things being equal I'd prefer one, but the price is anything BUT equal. Saving bucks means more excursions, more drinks, more generous tipping, and the possibility of turning a short cruise into a B2B. In other words, I postpone the agony of getting kicked off the ship!
Bottom line, even though I like balconies, how much time do I really spend on one? So with an inside, I can choose which side of the ship has the shade I want, while on a balcony the sun gonna shine if it wants to, and if I don't like it I have to go back inside.
With an inside cabin, yeah, I spend almost no time in the cabin, and with a balcony, I spend more time there. Oh, and my experience is that a balcony usually allows more noise into your cabin when you try to sleep. People partying too loud either up a deck or two, or to the left or right. I remember one cruise where a drunk couple started a loud argument up one deck and over two cabins. (I ignored the noise until I heard him start throwing stuff at her. Then I picked up the phone.)
I'm pretty flexible when it comes to features and amenities, since the important thing for me is watching the sea go by and smelling the salt air, and you can do that on that wide deck where they used to have the mustard drills. Balconies are good, but if inside cabins save me enough clams that I can convert to a B2B, or buy specialty coffee, and maybe hit J.Rockets once or twice for a BLT, and assuming I can still enjoy things with the cost-saving efforts they've necessarily had to implement.
It's a beautiful thing that a ship can offer so many options for all of us. This thread explains all the pros and cons nicely. Now I need to find a thread that will help me figure out if I should try that royal up thing they do.Not this trip, but for future cruises, should this one pan out as I hope it will.