Cruise Ship Room Comparisions - Balcony View vs. Oceanview vs. Inside Rooms.

I've been cruising for years and I get asked all the time What rooms do I prefer. The answer is usually, it depends. You will see deals all over the internet for low cost cruises with various room options so I decided to give my take on the various rooms.


Balcony

This is flagship room for me normally. I tend to use these 90% of the time it keeps all the members of my family happy which is most of the battle. I suppose you could upgrade to a suite but I've done that only once and it was not that great. I tend to like the balconies because you have access to the ocean as a whim through your own cabin. It also offers in a reduced space environment a place to retreat to that lets others have more room. This is very useful when getting ready for dinner etc. The rooms tend to be bigger and offer more storage space but it's still a cruise ship and it's not palatial

Ocean View

The next step down in rooms, these offer a porthole view of the ocean and are on the lower decks .They can be a bit smaller than the balconies and offer no access to the ocean directly. I do not mind these. There is no place to retreat when getting ready for dinner so typically I get ready and leave to a lobby area and meet everyone there. It's comprise that I can live with and they are typically much reduced in price over the balconies.

Inside Rooms

This is typically the lowest level of room and offer no access or view to the ocean and are usually small in size. I tend to find these room a bit claustrophobic but that's me. They are not real spacious and can be in locations of a lot of noise. The upside is that they are cheap.. ans can be very very cheap for a quick cruise. I do not do these often but occasionally the price is right.

Summary

Lets face it on the cruise you spend most of your time outside the room so to be honest it's really a personal preference in the end. My wife tends to like to have access t the ocean so we are ocean-view and balcony folks mostly but I like the price points of some of the inside room fire sales the cruises have. On most cruise lines they do not distinguish between cabin classes for access to the outside amenities so therefore a balcony person gets the same services ans rights as the inside cabins. There are exceptions so check with the cruise lien you are considering. I rule I generally employ is .. longer cruises 7 days up I go with balconies, 4-7 days I'll do Ocean-view and balconies and for shorter cruises under 3 days I'll consider all three types.