Cabin Decision

[Cellagirl]

This will be our first Alaskan cruise. Coral Princess May 15th northbound.

 

I am hoping past cruisers can help with cabin choice. A Cat EE ocean view mid ship Emerald Deck or Cat BD Balcony Baja Deck stern. Any advice would be appreciated:D

[Yukon]

On a sailing that early, the extra money for a balcony is wasted IMO - it'll probably be too cold to use it.

[Cellagirl]

Not a matter of money. $90.00 pp. More interested in photo ops and location of cabins on the ship. The Coral is mostly a balcony ship so there will be a lot of people using balconies. Location, location, location !!!!

[iamaqt2]

I did a lot of research for our cruise, and decided we didn't need a balcony. So many people have stated that the best views are all on the upper decks, that we just booked an OV on the promenade deck. We are just a few steps away from going outside, and we'll be on the biggest balcony on the ship;)

 

Plus we are leaving the same date as you, and with the weather being a big "if" I couldn't justify the added expense.

 

And, I got a smoking hot steal on my OV at 500 pp less than balcony, so for that kind of savings it was worth it to me not to have the balcony.:D

[Budget Queen]

IF you are only considering your glacier viewing from your cabin, in Glacier Bay and College Fjords, then you need a port side cabin. All the "pauses", and commentary happen with the ship sailing in on that side.

[LindaKE]

We really were glad we had a balcony in Alaska. So much of the inside passage is within sight of land. Even though we didn't sit out on the balcony most days, we did step out frequently to admire and photograph the scenery. In Glacier Bay and College Fjord, we divided our time between our balcony and the public decks. By turning on the TV we could hear the naturalist's comments in our cabin. The public decks were crowded at the railings, so it was hard to get good photos without someone's head or other parts of their anatomy. We could go inside to get warm from our balcony.

[tetleytea]

$90 pp for a balcony is a steal. If you don't know yet how you feel about oceanview vs. balcony, now is a good time to find out, even if you only get to use it a portion of the time. For that matter, even if you don't end up going out on the balcony at all, you still get the floor-to-ceiling windows. But it could also be unseasonably warm next year, and you get to use it all the time.

 

I'm looking on the Princess website now, and it shows a ZERO price difference between OV and balcony. I assume the $90 has to do with the particular categories you chose--but the way I read it, this seems to be one of those free-balcony-upgrade deals. So I don't understand what's going on there. The midship vs. stern thing I don't think is a big deal--actually, I like stern better. The naturalist will spot wildlife before you do more often. That's a good thing. And it all may be a moot point, anyway, because it's not unlikely you'll get upgraded again. You're more likely to get bumped up from a balcony to a higher-class balcony than you are OV to balcony.

[gertz]

To do an Alaska cruise on one of the finest ship's you can find without doing a balcony is IMO and a lot of others is a mistake. Don't make it. To do a cruise anyplace without a balcony IMO is a mistake.

However, do agree 15 May could be little early but we did ll April this August on the Island which should be fair to good weather and it was terrible weather but we still enjoyed our balcony. Just bundled up. But believe me it was much colder on open decks.

[Cellagirl]

Gee!!! Everyone makes sense. Now I need to make my decision and stick to it. Other opinions welcome!!!!!

[NancyIL]

For a $90/pp price difference, I would go with the balcony cabin. However, on many ships - getting a balcony cabin doubles the price of the cruise, and I would never pay that much more. In 3 Alaska cruises, 1 was in an inside and 2 were in obstructed oceanview cabins. I don't know what I was missing by not having a balcony, but I took advantage of outside viewing areas, especially on glacier days.