First timer cruisers

[Linny]

My husband and I booked a cruise leaving May 8th on Caribean Princess. We booked an inside room on the Caribe deck. Tell me the truth, should we change to a balcony while we still have the chance. Will we truely be missing the balcony or will we be happy in an inside cabin???? I'm counting on you. We have heard so many different views on this.

 

[Cruise cutie]

=welcome again..I love the balconies but had a inside room 1x too,sigh..never went back ,Spoiled "princess"that I am now !!! Caribe is an excellent deck .you should be happy..as with the other post if you post this in the "community Links you'll get 10 x many responses on BOTH Questions >>HONEST!!!.....:grin...Enjoy>>>..Joanne

 

[ocean.queen]

Linny,

At least go for the outside cabin. We booked an inside once...never again. I had to send my husband upstairs and outside to give me a weather report before I could get dressed! Fifteen cruises later...I wouldn't think of NOT getting a balcony. We love the sea air, sound of the waves off the bow, & the stars at night. Go for it if you can!

Kathy

 

[McCall]

depends on if you are a public or a private person. some people are never in their cabins. I don't frequent the lounges, casino, movies, theater etc. So for me the best Cabin and balcony I can afford.
Having a balcony is an entirely different cruising experience than not having one.

 

[Sharkin]

Having a balcony means I can go outside and look at the ocean whenever I want without any fuss. My wife and I are rarely separate onboard and she doesn't have to hurry and get ready so I can take a glance at the sea. I won't feel as if my cruise was spent bugging her to take a stroll to the Lido or Promenade. The fact that we know exactly where there is a seat for us is nice also. Even though we enjoy the social interaction that is common on cruise ships, the knowledge that we can be alone outdoors is a comfort. On the newer ships the cost difference isn't that great between inside and balcony. The way I look at it is I haven't wasted the couple of hundred on a balcony to get what we want, I would have wasted the whole fare, if we settled on something we weren't satisfied with. When I look at the overall cost of the trip, the increase isn't that significant.

 

[sailboat]

HI. I think you are going to get a lot of conflicting ideas/opinions. It all depends on you. Do you like to wake up and see the sun right away? Then an outside cabin is for you. You can't really see anything at night, so it's the morning you want to focus on. I've had both inside and outside. For us it's a tradeoff based on cost. We spend very little time in the cabin and can wait a few minutes till we dress and go topside to see the sun, so we take the difference in fare and spend in on other stuff. Since this is your FIRST cruise, I'd say go for the window. We had a window on our first cruise and I believe it added a lot to the overall experience. Once you've had a few cruises under your belt, and I hope you like it enough to repeat, you may find as we did that the window or lack of one doesn't matter so much anymore. Re privacy -- On some ships the windows overlook the promenade deck and some windows have a view of lifeboats. If you are going to make the switch, be sure to ask what the window overlooks. Your best bet is an unobstructed view with windows that do not abut a walking deck.

 

[samjjones]

Once you go balcony, you never go back. Definitely worth the extra $$$.

 

[seagarsmoker]

As others have already said, it is up to you. But since you asked, I'll add my two cents. Having a balcony will let you be outside away from others (as in public areas).
Examples - I'm an early riser and having morning coffee sitting on the balcony is heaven for me. At sea or at a port, it is a great bonus to any room.
Sometimes (ahem - ALWAYS for me) I'm dressed and ready for dindin and my wife isn't. The balcony is great to be close (when she is ready), yet not confined to the room.
Some people like to crack the balcony door open for fresh air - you can't do that with a regular outside room. Also, from my experience, 90% of the really good pictures I've taken on a cruise, have come from the balcony.
Hope you have a great cruise!

 

[sparkle56]

I agree, once you have a balcony you can never go back. There is just nothing in the world like going to sleep with the balcony door open, listening to the sound of the ship moving through the ocean. Ah, the smell of the sea.

And having coffee and breakfast on the balcony in the morning, in your jammies, is sooo relaxing. So many times we would wake up, night or day, and just go outside and enjoy the beauty and the peacefulness. . .the twinkling of the stars or the shimmer of the moon on the waves. It doesn't get more romantic that that.

We never worried about getting deck chairs. . .we had our own when we wanted to sunbathe or read or sleep. . . and because of the configuration of our balcony we weren't particularly worried about what we sunbathed in. : ) (An aside here: One of our cruise friends woke up one morning, flung open the drapes to his balcony in a grand gesture to greet the day and he was stark naked. In most cases this isn't a problem but he was looking directly into a commerical shipping vessel that was passing and the guys on board thought he was pretty funny!)

Arriving in port is special, too. You wake up, go to the balcony and there before you is a small, lovely island with the lights still twinkling but the sun rising in a pretty dawn. Every afternoon we would go to the Horizon Court, pick up some cheese, crackers, veggies, shrimp and go have before dinner drinks on our balcony. We spent every sailaway like that. It was just the best. We have a balcony on our next cruise and can't wait.

We have had a window and it just isn't the same.

If you can afford it, go for the balcony (Caribe deck, especially. . .they are HUGE balconies, half covered, half open).

Hope that opinion helps you.