Will a balcony spoil me?

[superduper123]

I typically book oceanview or interior, strictly because of the price. My friend has booked a balcony and invited me to go with her. Wonder if after this cruise I will be content to sail an inside cabin once I've experienced a balcony.  Although, as I'm typing this, I realize that as Diamond status, I believe there is some sort of balcony discount? I've never actually looked into it before...

[cb at sea]

It might "spoil" you...but that will depend on how much you value the experience!  Many folks don't use the balcony too much...as they enjoy being "out and about" on the ship.  It's really up to you and the way you use your cabin!

[FOXTROT]

Yes you do get a balcony discount. Yes it will spoil you. enjoy

[KmomChicago]

I love this question.  The answer to this is really about what kind of person you are: are you an easily spoiled person?  Once you have the best of something, do you have trouble enjoying the more modest options that used to be good enough? 

 

Some people find that they want to spend a lot of time alone enjoying the sea view and breeze, and so they get a lot of use and pleasure from their balcony.  Others are mostly out enjoying activities and public spaces, have trouble with noisy neighbors out partying all night on their adjacent balconies or find that the exterior rooms are too warm.  I find it's easy to sleep in inside cabins as they tend to be very cool, dark, and quiet, so I have been just as happy to go back to them after having both outside and balcony rooms.

 

My family and I don't look at vacations as competitions - which ship is best, which room is best, which port is best.  Each journey is a new experience and we don't expect it to be the same as the last one, so we have little trouble flexing back and forth between features.

[barbeyg]

I don’t see it as spoiling. 😀

 

I see it as discovering new adventures that are important (or not). We love time out on our balcony, and I value private time away from everyone else. We get a balcony for that reason.

 

We also have a fantastic mountain view from our home.  So, views are important to us. Not everyone feels that way though. Splurge and see if you do/don’t. 

[shipgeeks]

We were upgraded to a balcony on an Alaska cruise.  We only used it once during the 10 night cruise, for an hour or two.  We've never since been interested in having a balcony, even when the price was the same or lower than our preferred OV.  Highly overrated amenity, IMO.

[Ourusualbeach]

38 minutes ago, superduper123 said:

I typically book oceanview or interior, strictly because of the price. My friend has booked a balcony and invited me to go with her. Wonder if after this cruise I will be content to sail an inside cabin once I've experienced a balcony.  Although, as I'm typing this, I realize that as Diamond status, I believe there is some sort of balcony discount? I've never actually looked into it before...

 

Is your friend also Diamond.  Reason I’m asking is that if she is not then you can still get your Diamond balcony discount applied to the reservation even if she’s the one who made the booking.  On a 7 day cruise it would be up to $225 for the discount.

[bouhunter]

We sailed nothing but balcony's our first 15 years of cruising.  Did an inside last March and it was fine   2 of our 7 bookings the next 18 months are insides (promenade) now.

[LidoBoy]

This is easy... for us we will only cruise in a balcony cabin.  We started out booking inside and ocean view cabins, but once we experienced the added pleasure of sitting on our own balcony away from the crowded decks on a sea day afternoon, we can't go back.  Also as a guy who doesn't take long to get ready, waiting for DW to get ready to head out, it's nice to spend that time on the balcony mesmerizing at the sea as it goes by.  It is so relaxing.

 

In the end for me, is it a luxury I can afford?  At the moment, I would say yes.  

 

Good luck to you and get out on the balcony and enjoy the experience.

 

Tom

[JAMESCC]

What spoiled me is I HATED an inside cabin on my first cruise. Had balconies since and won't go back to an inside room. I need sunlight from somewhere, either a window or balcony. Prefer and really only book balconies now. Balconies really aren't that much more than an Oceanview. Inside cabins are quite a bit cheaper. Oh and a balcony is especially amazing if you do a New England/Canada cruise. The views, and sights approaching those ports of Portland, Bar Harbor, St Jonhs and Halifax are some of the most beautiful you'll ever see in your entire life.

[sjb317]

We started our cruising addiction by booking interior rooms as I was too cheap to pay the extra for a balcony.  We decided to splurge for a balcony for our first European cruise and enjoyed it tremendously.  Now we book balconies for long cruises, anything over 7 days but we still will book interiors for shorter,Caribbean cruises if the price is right.😀

 

 

Sherri🙂

[LuCruise]

We tried a balcony on our Mariner cruise in August and I must say we loved it.  DH and I would go out there in the mornings before our kids awoke. Or if just waiting for showers, etc, then we'd step outside.

 

Having said that, we have 2 future cruises with our kids where we went for 2 interiors instead (one cruise has virtual balcony and other are promenades).  We selected the extra space over the balcony ...price was similar.  I do keep though thinking about the balcony wondering if we will miss it...but we've done interiors before so not a huge deal.  The balcony is really nice, but we also don't spend a ton of time in our stateroom.

[grest]

Yes, you will be spoiled...but it is possible to still enjoy a different arrangement.  We prefer balconies, but sometimes an outside works just fine.  We have stayed in inside cabins, but I want to see the great ocean when I wake up,  so we don't do those any more.  

Edited October 27, 2018 by grest
more specificity

[dwayneb236]

Once my wife had a balcony she stated she will never go back to an interior. As long as I'm on a ship somewhere with her, I"ll go where she goes. All good for me. 

[Dewaldcruiser]

I truly love to wake up in the morning, open the curtains, walk out onto my balcony and greet the new day.  I doubt that I would be content in an inside cabin of an ocean view.  The balcony is also great for reading on sea days.

[matj2000]

It isn't that great.

 

Most people don't even use the balcony.

 

On the majority of my trips I have never seen people on either side out there even once.

 

 

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

It isn't that great.

 

Most people don't even use the balcony.

 

On the majority of my trips I have never seen people on either side out there even once.

 

 

 

I tend to agree with you Matt.  It's often to humid, to much sun, not enough sun, to hot, to cold, etc.  Also, with my luck they are on the wrong side of the ship 75% of the time.

I was caught up booking aft balcony for a while, but they are to far away. 

Then we were booking the deep hump balconies on Oaisis class, to far forward.  

 

I still think we'll book balconies, with the D+ discount they are about the same as an OV. Good for checking weather

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

 ... Good for checking weather

 

And for the huge amount of natural light, compared to a regular (non-panoramic) OV.

[iahawkfan21]

We mostly cruise in Inside rooms, but have really enjoyed the couple balcony rooms we've had.  For us it's all about the price difference.  If it's reasonable to us we'll do it, otherwise we're perfectly fine with inside rooms as we don't spend much time in the room.  We primarily use our balcony early in the morning when waking up or pulling into port but rarely much beyond that.  If anything, biggest advantage is the extra space in the room itself.

[cruzinlady1947]

I absolutely love balconies, especially the aft corner balconies.  I have only had them twice and haven't had a whole lot of balcony cabins with our 40+ cruises. We  book inside or ocean view, so we can go on more cruises.

 

I do use a balcony, if we have one.  I am on it sometimes in the middle of the night or early morning to catch the sunrise.  I sit on it during the day too.  If I don't have a balcony, you will find me on the outside Promenade deck watching the sea as we sail by. That is why I only like the smaller ships that have that Promenade deck with chairs and lounges.  Not interested in sailing on those huge ships. Just doesn't interest me.  But, everyone has their own likes. That's what makes cruising great. You can do as much or as little as you want.

 

I don't feel spoiled from sailing in a balcony cabin, but, if the price is right or it's a special occasion, we will pay the extra. It's a special treat.  We do get the balcony discount, which is nice too.

 

With what we save on booking insides or ocean views, we can cruise 4 or 5 times a year.  To each, their own...

 

Gwen 😀

[lovescats5]

We love our balconies and we are on them all the time.  Alaska was cool weather but we spent time looking at glaciers and the views were amazing.  Even when the mornings were cooler on the New England/Canada cruise we were on the balcony watching the sunrise, sunset, or arriving in port.  I cannot imagine a cruise that did not include a balcony.  Guess we are one of those that got spoiled and we will never go without a balcony.

[Keri's Cruisin']

I have done ocean view, inside and balcony staterooms and LOVE having a balcony.  I have breakfast out there every morning.  I will never go back to an inside, and on my next cruise the price for a balcony stateroom and an ocean view were the exact same price but I would pay more and budget accordingly to have a balcony.  I love the sea and want to be as close to it as possible while cruising...

[blackshirt]

I’ll even go so far as to say only an ocean view balcony for me. We tried Central Park on Oasis, never again. I don’t think I’d even like a Boardwalk balcony. I don’t want any balcony where someone across the way can see into mine.

[davekathy]

Booking balconies has never spoiled us. 

[bobmacliberty]

We are balcony people also.  We don't spend a lot of time out there but love the time that we do...coffee in the morning, pulling into and leaving ports, staring at the ocean while waiting for my wife to get ready for dinner, etc.  Natural light is also a nice bonus.