After 16 cruises I can tell you that I think that you need to look at the floor plan. In general, you pay more for a higher deck. If you have the option of an inside cabin on deck 8 or dec 3, I would look at the floor plans and selects one of the upper available decks. Why? Well I do most of my stuff near the top of the ship. It is very easy to go to breakfast and then pop back in your cabin if it is just down the stairs. This can be nice when you don't want to carry certain items around.
Similarly, if you spend most of your time in a lounge or var, then you may prefer a deck nearby. I often take elevators only if I am going up or down 2 or more flights, so if my cabin is one flight away from where I am, I often just use the stairs and not have the wait involves with an elevator, and I get the added bonus of exercise.
As for noise, I actually find having a cabin in a long hallway with a hundred other cabins to be louder than being located elsewhere. Why? Well, you often hear doors slamming, kids running and yelling and parents telling kids what to do. Also, many times people congregate outside their cabins, even leaving the cabin doors open and kind of party there, which can certainly be louder than other areas of the ship.
Bottom line, less cabins around means less chance of one of these situations happening near your cabin.
