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Do you spend the extra money for a balcony cabin or do you get an inside cabin?

snshn3

By snshn3,
in Ask a Cruise Question

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momofmeg

momofmeg

Posted
Posted
This tread has been around for awhile now and I am sure I have posted previously. We did enjoy our only balcony on Miracle-our 8th cruise-first balcony. We also have a veranda cabin booked on Disney Wonder next month-which is what Disney calls their balconies-we got a super deal for it- we are only paying like $100 a person more for the Veranda cabin then if we had booked an oceanview on Fanasty or Sovereign so we went for it.

Anyway this is my take-if I can get a balcony on a last minute sale for a super deal I go for it-but I can also be happy with an inside cabin. For example we want to cruise Mariner of the Seas but she is too pricy the weeks we can sail on her this fall as those weeks she has about sold out-so we booked her a year ahead and went for one of the atruim cabins. I am happy with that as I have never been on a voyager class ship so I have never experienced that type of cabin.

Even inside cabins have their plusses-for example if you want to sleep till noon- not a problem- as no sunlight come in-I loved the Miracle balcony for morning coffee but leaving port ofcourse I could only see one side of the water. Up on the Lido you see everything. Also it seemed noisescarried-we heard a couple fighting around 2a.m. one night-we thought they were next door to us but when I walked out on our balcony I realized it was 2 decks up and to the side. I think they were out on the balcony which is why we heard them-you know- water carries sound. We also could smell our neighbor's cigerette smoke when they were on their balcony. That would be an easy problem to fix though- make one side of the ship smoking rooms and one side non-smoking. I wonder if any of the lines do this.
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H2O babe

H2O babe

Posted
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I've enjoyed reading this thread---booked my first cruise on the Glory for next March and started with an inside cabin. After one week I changed it to a balcony cabin because I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to just stand or sit out there and enjoy the water and the peace and quiet. Budget wise I had only planned for an interior but I will be cutting costs over the next 8 months to pay for the upgrade. Would I book an interior cabin?? Absolutely---but I'm afraid now I may be spoiled after this balcony one!
Whatever cabin you have I hope you have a marvelous cruise.
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  • 2 weeks later...
OldBaldGuy

OldBaldGuy

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We are taking our first cruise (the Inside Passage to Alaska) next year. We were going to save money and get an inside, then went for a window, then after talking to a lot of more experience cruisers who said that the Inside Passage DEMANDS a balcony we upgaded to that. Since we are letting a single friend share our room, the third person drastically reduced the cost. Our cost (for the two of us) for the balcony room is several hundred dollars less than the total cost of an inside room for just two people. Gonna be crowded we know, but what the heck And this way we won't have to fight for rail space, and there should be something to look at ALL the time...
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wallygator

wallygator

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Inside, balcony, suite all good. BUT to me its the cruise and the people I meet, the places I visit, the things I see and what I learn. I find I can't do any of the above any better no matter which cabin I book. :)
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kdw

kdw

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I agree with the couple who said they'd rather do two cruises with an inside then one with a balcony. I guess my concern with a balcony is that you don't have incentive to get outside and mingle. Meeting new people is part of the cruise experience. We live in an isolated rural area, and have more than enough time for just the two of us! :)
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Happy ks

Happy ks

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Unless you are in Alaska. We loved having our balcony, but then again, we cruised with friends and family and had 5 balcony rooms in a row. It was fun since we had people to share it with. I have to say, though, most of the balconys are so small, for us it just is not worth the extra cost. Since we usually cruise with our 2 teenage kids, we will book 2 inside cabins from now on until we no longer have to take them along with us.

I did notice that with the balcony, we did stay in our cabin a lot more than we normally would. We had coffee out there in the morning, that was nice. We usually get out of the cabin early and take a walk, watch the ship pull into port. After our cruise, we talked about it and we really did miss seeing some of the stuff we normally do on a cruise since we stayed in the cabin a lot.
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  • 3 months later...
joelmarj

joelmarj

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Just back from my first balcony and can honestly say I would find it almost impossible to travel again without it. It was fabulous to have. Breakfast at sea was wonderful, sail-aways heaven, and evening cocktails just perfect. It was probably some of the highest-quality time spent. And the best part was it was there whenever I felt like it. We were also fortunate enough to have gotten an oversized one, which enhanced the pleasure of it.

That being said, given a choice of no cruise or spending less and getting just a window (inside not ever an option), then I'd have to settle, but it would have to be a significant cost difference to forego the enjoyment of having one.
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HockeyMom44

HockeyMom44

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If I have time to plan my cruise,I will ALWAYS do a balcony at Least. MY personal preference is at least a JS. BUT, if I want to sail, and the price is right I'll take an inside. we've sailed for 400.-- for 2 of us for a 4 day to mexico.That includes port charges. :eek:
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bibb

bibb

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We always do an inside. We're only in the cabin to shower and get ready for dinner and to sleep. We go to bed anywhere from 1:30-3:00AM and will be up and on our way by 8:30. As someone said earlier, it's an unnecessary luxury for us. As to enjoying sitting out on the balcony, (and don't anyone get offended by this; it's just me) I have better things to do while on vacation.

We did 8 vacations this year (a cruise, Vegas/Grand Canyon, Europe twice, Hawaii twice, Kentucky & South Dakota) and spending money on luxuries, like balconies, would have seriously cut into our fun.
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KansasScrapper

KansasScrapper

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We only do balcony. We had one on Star Princess and we did NOT have a tub, just a stand up shower. So it may be the bigger rooms that come with shower and tub. I have friends that only do insides. They like to spend the money on other things. But then end up in our stateroom on our balcony. So on our next cruise they are getting a balcony. You could get a balcony and have your friend across from you in an inside. You can have room service (it's free on most cruises) or go get your breakfast and bring it down to your room and eat out on the balcony. Don't have to fight all the others eatting. Also, we loved going out on the balcony when pulling in & out of ports. No one to fight to "see" over.


Like for our cruise on [url="http://www.cruise.com"]www.cruise.com[/url] CP for Sept 17th it is $140 more pp. And well worth it. But we don't do expensive excurisons either.
[b][color=#800080][/color][/b]
[color=#cc0000][b]Sat, Sep 17[/b][/color]
[color=#000000]$519[/color] [color=#000000]$609[/color] [color=#000000]$749[/color] [color=#000000]$929[/color]
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momofmeg

momofmeg

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Well since this thread is still around I will post again. We loved our veranda on Disney Wonder. It was smaller then the extended balcony on Carnival Miracle but noises did not carry on the Wonder the way they did on the Miracle. We never heard our neighbors on the balcony unless we were out on the balcony at the same time. Once we got a slight smell of cigerette smoke from our neighbors on one side but it was very slight and no big deal.I can only assume that Disney ships are bult much better the Carnival ships.

As I said- we have booked for next October an atruim cabin on RCCL Mariner. I have never done this so I know this will be a great experience. What I will do is walk up to the Lido every morning for my morning coffee and to look at the ocean since I will not have a balcony this time.

I plan to still have a good time and as our daughter is rooming with a friend-hubby and I will have privacy-I would much rather have that then a balcony for the 3 of us.
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sj25

sj25

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So far I have only done the oceanview and didn't think it was worth the extra money then on Carnival...but this Oct. I will be on the mariner of the sea with RCCl and it's back to back the eastern first then the western. I got the inside room for the eastern and a balcony for the western. Now hubby and I didn't agree for which one to make the balcony and which one to be the inside because we wanted to do both cruises couldn't afford both to be balcony.
So hubby won and it's the western we're doing the balcony, but I think it should of been the eastern since your on the boat more????
But can't wait to be able to view if the balcony was worth the extra money!
:)
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