Cruise Ship - Inside Cabin or Balcony Cabin

I need some advice. My wife and I are planning to take a cruise to Alaska in July, where we will travel from Vancouver to Whittier (near Anchorage). We have taken an Alaskan cruise in May of 2008, though we did not go as far north (Seatle to Seatle - round trip). We did get a balcony cabin last time, but since it was so cold in early May, did not really take advantage of sitting outside.

We have a choice of getting an inside cabin (absolutely no view) or a balcony cabin. The price difference between the two options is $1,200 total.

While we could afford either, $1,200 is a good amount of money. This could be used for several fun shore trips that my wife and I would both enjoy. Perhaps even a couple of nice dinners. We tend to do things around the ship, but might take advantage of sitting outside our balcony now that the weather is nicer during this time of the year.

Has anyone gotten an inside cabin before? How was your experience? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

I mean really, is sitting outside for a little while every day worth
$1200? Buy a picture of AK mountains and look at it once in awhile,
whats the difference. I used to live in Santa Barbara and had
a really great ocean view. I realized if I bought a picture of
the view I could look at it anywhere I lived, what the heck was
the difference. I moved.

Go for the inside. I have been on 4 cruises, always in inside cabins. I consider them a much better value. Sure it is a nice luxury to have a balcony, but is it worth at least a $100 per day premium? I say no. There are plenty of areas on a cruise ship to take in the sights, and quite honestly a lot of time spent on a cruise is at sea or in port, there normally isn't too much scenic cruising. I have found in all 4 of my cruises that I hardly spent any time in the room as I was either on deck (poolside), at a bar/club, at the casino, in port, at a show/performance or walking the promenade. Take the 1,200 to do some fun things in port, I have heard that there are a lot of great excursions up that way. This is a gambling forum, so might I suggest taking an extra hundred or two for your bankroll on the ship? Best of luck, cruising is my favorite type of vacation!

How much is the premium for an ocean view?

Quote: winmonkeyspit3

This is a gambling forum, so might I suggest taking an extra hundred or two for your bankroll on the ship??

This is the best advice yet!

Inside.
Only use the room for showering sleeping and privacy.
Rest of time, take in sights and activities.

Outside/Balcony

In my opinion, makes a huge difference!

FYI, Don't play Craps on the ship! Been on 3 cruises, haven't seen a single person leave with a single $ profit playing craps.

Quote: EvenBob

I mean really, is sitting outside for a little while every day worth
$1200? Buy a picture of AK mountains and look at it once in awhile,
whats the difference. I used to live in Santa Barbara and had
a really great ocean view. I realized if I bought a picture of
the view I could look at it anywhere I lived, what the heck was
the difference. I moved.

Although I agree with you do you think this is a fair comparision?

The biggest reason to go on an Alaskan cruise is for the scenery. The public decks will be packed with passengers who don't have a view because they don't have a balcony. It's one cruise where the balcony is worth it.

I've done that cruise. Had an inside cabin. Never regretted it. Me and my two sons would go on the top deck for 'scenery'. Very little time spent inside the cabin. There was never a crowd that interfered with good viewing.

Couldn't agree more. Don't know the length of the cruise, but let's say it's 10 days. Let's say you spend 4 days in port, during which the balcony is essentially worthless. So for the sea days/scenic cruising days you are now paying $200 per day. There is so much to do on the ship, how much time are you going to spend on the balcony, two hours? If so that's $100 an hour.

My wife and I have been on 13 cruises. The first 4 we booked inside cabins to save money. The next 9 were a mix of 5 outside cabins and 4 balcony cabins.

I can confirm both sides of some previous posts that may appear to disagree: Those people who book inside cabins spend very little time in their cabins; those people who book balcony cabins, spend much more time there simultaneously enjoying a private space and an exceptional view.

Ships constructed during the 1990s tended to have a theme of the 5 to 7 story atrium -- it was the latest, greatest feature. Those ships only had a few balconies for the highest tier staterooms. Ships constructed in the following decade had a dominant theme that almost every outside stateroom had a balcony. Some ships built in the 90s have now been retrofitted to add a fair number of additional balconies. If you book on a 90s ship, the balcony rooms are still marketed at premium prices, while ships with a majority of their staterooms having balconies market them more as a commodity.

The reason inside staterooms are sometimes offered at much lower prices is that, in contrast to some comments here, they sometimes have a heck of a time finding people who will accept an inside room on a cruise for which scenic views are an important feature.

Part of your pricing quandary arises because you have chosen the very peak of the Alaska cruise season. They have probably booked most of the balcony staterooms, so there is not much incentive for them to offer you a good deal. Some things to keep in mind:

(1) The cruise lines are constantly offering sales. Look for them.
(2) If you have flexibility on cruise week and what ship to sail, you are much more likely to be able to find a good deal.
(3) Never pay rack rate unless you have money to burn.

It may not be applicable to your own decision, but if my wife and I were considering another cruise to Alaska, we wouldn't even be looking at inside staterooms. We might, though, do price comparisons between outside cabins and balcony cabins.

I've only taken one cruise. From NJ to Bermuda. I had an inside cabin and was fine with it, even though it was very tight. I could not imagine why anyone would want a balcony on that cruise.

As luck would have it, I was checking into an Alaskan cruise recently. The route taken is mostly inland. I.E. While the ship may be traveling, "At sea" is certainly not the same as floating in the middle of the ocean.

So maybe a balcony isn't such a bad idea.

On the other hand, do you really want to take in that view privately? There's something to be said about going out on deck and sharing the view. Plus there's the times where the good view is on the other side of the ship.

So, I remain in the inside cabin camp.

Quote: CrapsForever

Outside/Balcony

In my opinion, makes a huge difference!

FYI, Don't play Craps on the ship! Been on 3 cruises, haven't seen a single person leave with a single $ profit playing craps.

You'll have to define leave. On my first trip, after the first night I was up $300.
After night 2, I was up $1,000 for the trip.

At the end of the cruise, I put my markers on my credit card :-(

Thanks for the feedback. I will talk with my wife.

One other question. How is the gambling scene on cruise ships? Quality of games, video poker, slot machine holds, etc.

Horrible! Other than a colluding dealer I had on carnival, expect the worst.

Quote: Juyemura

Thanks for the feedback. I will talk with my wife.

One other question. How is the gambling scene on cruise ships? Quality of games, video poker, slot machine holds, etc.

I am sure it is not the same on every ship but the craps game on our cruise was 2x odds and the crew was not all that good. The card games weren't horrid but the rules were mid-pack or lower. Slots seemed tight. It took the whole trip for my wife to get to "drinks on us" status. Video poker was 7/5 or 6/5 jacks if I remember correctly (other games were available, too).

I still had a good time and kept losses to under $1K for a week...limited the bankroll for each day...

Quote: Juyemura

How is the gambling scene on cruise ships? Quality of games, video poker, slot machine holds, etc.

The casino is only open when the ship is at sea. In that situation, it is similar to there only being one casino in town and no means of transportation to another town. How would you expect the games to be?

Craps is commonly 2x odds, and I have been on ships that limit you to 1x. Blackjack rules tend to be bad, with plenty of side bets available. The good news is that table minimums tend to be quite low.

I echo everything said about cruise ship casinos. The Hold 'Em games end to be soft however.

We have never sailed inside so I can't vouch for the experience. $1200 seems like a hefty premium for outside.

Quote: slyther

I echo everything said about cruise ship casinos. The Hold 'Em games end to be soft however.

Watch out for the rake on the poker games though. Word is it's 10% period on most of them. This will kill a game pretty quickly.

Quote: Juyemura

Thanks for the feedback. I will talk with my wife.

One other question. How is the gambling scene on cruise ships? Quality of games, video poker, slot machine holds, etc.

It varies from cruiseline to cruiseline. There are other forums that have extensive discussions about playing conditions on the ships. I have always found the dealers to be excellent, though very undertipped compared to land based casinos from what I have observed. I think most ships have had between 4 and 8 blackjack tables, 1 or 2 carnival games like 3CP and Caribbean Stud, 2 roulette tables, 1 craps table and 1 or 2 texas holdem tables.

As far as blackjack is concerned they will often offer a lot of quirky promotions to attract new players. The first couple of nights there are usually 3 dollar tables, but then they raise them to 5 dollar later on. These are usually the dreaded 6-5 tables. If you want full pay blackjack, you probably need to bet 15 or 25, depending on which cruise line you are going on. There are dumb promotions like a 1 dollar side bet that if you get a blackjack you get to spin a wheel for a prize. As we know the odds of a blackjack are like 1 in 21 or 22, and the average payout on the wheel was around 15. I have found that the 25 dollar and 50 dollar tables usually stand on S17 whereas the lower limits hit it. The level of skill of players at the table games, especially blackjack, is atrocious, so be warned if you are one of those people who hates it when people "take the bust card". So many who have never played in a casino before see the blackjack tables and decide to give it a try for the first time. These can be very nice people, but they really slow down the game and often don't know well enough to tip.

As far as slots and video poker, I know that the video poker pay tables are far from the full pay that you see in some Vegas casinos. If I had to guess I would say that the slots are probably pretty tight seeing as there is no competition. That being said, my dad put a 20 dollar bill in a Buffalo Wild slot machine and triggered a 186 dollar win on a 20 cent bet, so anything is possible when on the high seas.

Most cruise lines offer a player's club, but I've found the rewards to be stingy. For slots you needed 1000 points for $10.00 cash back, and I think every dollar or so wagered earned a point, so not a very good offer. For 500 points they offered you a t-shirt, but I don't play slots much so I was never bothered by this. They will rate you at table games, I believe if you are betting 15 or more (again my vary by cruiseline). They can't really comp you much as food is included in the price of the cruise. I have seen the suit buy players drinks, though they don't do this often because they want to avoid the poolside bar crew from coming into the casino to mooch off free drinks, alcohol is a major revenue generator for cruiselines so they have to be careful with how much they comp. While playing blackjack I talked to one fellow who was betting 50 per hand and he said by playing 3-4 hours a day throughout the cruise he gets all of his cruises 50% off when he calls the cruiseline and gives them his players club number. I don't know how many times he has cruised or if he always bets 50 per hand, but this seems like a pretty substantial rebate. One more thing I forgot to mention, the 3/5 dollar tables I have seen are single deck with 6:5 pay, the 5/10/15 tables are 8 deck CSM, and the 25 and up tables are generally 6 deck no CSM. If you have any more specific questions feel free to ask, sorry if this is a little long winded.

Quote: CrapsForever

Outside/Balcony

In my opinion, makes a huge difference!

FYI, Don't play Craps on the ship! Been on 3 cruises, haven't seen a single person leave with a single $ profit playing craps.

I have only been on one cruise, Mexican Riveria 7 day from LA, and didn't much care for the cruise experience as I found it constricting. The only good thing about the cruise was the $1000 I made at the craps table.

I would probably go for the balcony if I ever decide to go on another cruise since I am not much of a show or pool person.

I've taken a number of extremely long "cruises", all in inside cabins and not exactly on cruise ships, if you get what I mean.

Even though you spend little time in there, stateroom quality matters a lot in the overall state of mind. It's where you retire after a long day, doesn't take a lot of time spent there to make you feel better about it.
So if I ever go on a cruise, it's going to be a balcony cabin only, however much time I spend outside it and however little inside.

In your case, though, you're not going on a tropical cruise, the weather on your route is usually lousy, so the balcony isn't going to be an enjoyable place, particularly during the late hours you'd spend in there. Plus, you have your wife with you.
The ship's going to be the experience, not the outside. And two weeks isn't enough to get claustrophobic, it only starts pressing on you after about a month, though everyone's tolerance is different.

This is a really tough question to answer without knowing the financial state of the asker. I can afford to buy a first class plane ticket, but would never consider it as for the extra few thousand dollars I am willing to not have that luxury. Restaurants don't only serve filet mignon, they serve cheaper cuts of steak, too. I like P90's answer-- I've cruised on smaller ships with outside cabins/balconies, and there is something to be said for the general 'feeling' of being in one. I've been on two "big as a city" cruises, one inside, one outside, and it really didn't make a difference to me.
If anyone is interested in some esoteric cruises (Galapagos, Nile, Yanghtzee, Inland Russia) you can PM me.

I had a boss who had a good deal of money (both a high salary and a wealthy family) and could afford just about anything she wanted. Her favorite way to cruise was in an inside cabin, no matter where they were going. She never desired a balcony or window; those were distractions to her. She wanted to do all of the night things every night and all night. Then she wanted to sleep and not even know that the sun came up. An inside cabin was what made her happy.

I knew a doctor who went on a cruise after a strenuous residency. He had an inside cabin. He slept for two days straight because he was overly tired and it never "seemed like" morning in there.

My kids had an inside on our Dream cruise last year. They stayed out late and slept far into the day (unless it was a port day). They loved everything but the size of the bathroom (and many of those are the same size unless you go to a suite; inside or outside doesn't matter)...

Me? I want to see daylight. I want to look out and see the night sky or the sea at sunrise. I don't want to be where there is no natural light. We'll always book an outside cabin, even if it is just one with a view. I prefer a balcony but price does matter.

Each of these examples are of people that could have had either cabin based on costs. if you can have either one, you need to figure out where you fit on the desire to see the outside. I would 100% choose outside on an Alaska trip...or any other.

Quote: Juyemura

How is the gambling scene on cruise ships? Quality of games, video poker, slot machine holds, etc.

I wrote rather extensively about the cruise I took to Bermuda this past September, here:
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/other-casinos/6715-royal-caribbean-cruise-line-cruise-and-casino-review/

I also wrote specifically about the on board casino, here:
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/other-casinos/6715-royal-caribbean-cruise-line-cruise-and-casino-review/#post95800

The two things that shocked me was that the craps table was only 1x odds, except 2x on formal night. The poker table was $2/$5 no limit with a 10%, $15 max rake. Not only that, they had 50¢ chips so the rake didn't need to be rounded down as far. But there were enough fish at the table where the sharks made money despite the rake.