Thread: Can a balcony be a useless waste of money on some cruises?

It sure beats fighting for a window table in the buffet. I'd rather sit on the balcony than waiting for people who won't give up their seats for more than a couple hours. Many times, when arriving in port, people go to the buffet for the best view while eating. I'd rather go to the main dining room for breakfast after watching the arrival in port. Otherwise, buffet food will get cold while searching for a table with a good view. Departures are the same, so you don't have to find a spot on the upper levels to view especially if you don't have a balcony for Alaska.

I'm currently in this dilemma as we were upgraded to a suite on NCL and I just booked another one with a future cruise credit that I purchased. I keep hearing on another HAL group that if I book a stateroom on their line that I'm going to be amazed! We are normal people and really don't require pampering. There are some nice things that a suite will get you on NCL, but it comes with more mouths to feed at the end of the cruise...namely a butler and concierge!

After reading this thread, it made me rethink that we really need to go for a balcony with a Panama cruise. We have a double whammy and are aft bums, but with the price of a Panama cruise, we will not be doing that more than likely either. So we are going to try and go back to a balcony and possibly an oceanview so we can just get a feel for other cruiselines depending on the prices. The perks are nice on NCL with a suite, but seriously it sounds like other lines do many things that NCL make you pay extra for normally.

A balcony is a very good thing to have on a Panama Canal cruise. Going through the canal is a LONG day. Very nice to be able to sit out on your own balcony at times. We liked having a lower deck balcony. We could acturally see better than we could the time we had a balcony on the highest deck.

Good point Lulu. And most of the public areas are on higher decks.

Originally Posted by nealberk

Good point Lulu. And most of the public areas are on higher decks.

Thanks, Neal!

This is why:

In the high balcony cabins you have to get up and out of your chair to look DOWN to see when actually going though the locks.

In the Lowest Possible Balcony Cabins you are able to stay seated and still see.

Great suggestion!! Now I need to book that cruise...

I agree! We had a great view of all the workings of the locks from our balcony. We were on Deck 7 of Serenade of the Seas which is the lowest deck with a balcony.

NOTE: those were the smallest balcony cabins on the ship. If you are more comfortable in a suite, there is an aft corner 2-bedroom suite on that deck, but they may require 3 or more passengers to book that. Otherwise, most of the suites are on Deck 10, which is only one deck below the pool deck.

A picture is worth 1000 words. Thank you MC!

I would never consider an Alaskan cruise without a balcony. Too much scenery to be running up to and on deck every few minutes.

Originally Posted by Char

That's because some of us are balcony snobs!

I know just what you mean! We are balcony snobs - we have one at home; why would we go without on vacation?
The last cruise we went on, we booked outside staterooms as we were also paying for other staterooms for family members. We felt we should all have the same category of cabin. Ultimately we were thankful for not paying for balconies for us all as we got caught up in Tropical Storm Nicole - a balcony would have been futile!
However, in normal circumstances, it's a balcony every time. Morning coffee and a quiet read before the mayhem of the day is one of life's simple pleasures.