Balcony vs. a porthole stateroom

[JLitfin]

I just held a 5B and a 9A stateroom for the Feb, 2012 sailing on the Magic. I'm really excited, this will be our first Disney Cruise and we'll also be celebrating our 25th Wedding Annv. But, I'm having trouble picking a stateroom.

We had a balcony on the Royal Caribbean Lines and used it when coming and leaving from the different ports. We loved having the balcony but didn't like the way other cruisers near us would smoke on their balconies. The smoke would come up into our stateroom when the door was open. We weren't in our rooms much, so I'm not going to complain about the smoke. I really liked having the balcony give or take the smoke.

On the other hand, my DH wants to save some extra bucks by having a oceanview porthole instead of a balcony. It's about a $700 difference between the balcony stateroom and the porthole stateroom. Since I had the balcony room once, will I be disappointed not having the balcony and going with the porthole stateroom in order to save a little bit of money?

Why should I pick a balcony over a porthole stateroom or a porthole stateroom over a balcony stateroom?

I have 5 days to make up my mind. Thanks.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

I just had a balcony room in September for the first time. I really enjoyed having it, but in the future, it won't bother me if I don't get one. I just don't spend enough time in my stateroom to say that it made that big of a difference.

My preference would be to save the $700 by booking the porthole room and spend that $700 on excursions or souvenirs!!

 

[HallsofVA]

I would go with booking the lowest cost room you feel you would be comfortable in for the duration of your cruise, and use the money saved for something more fun. I take the approach that I book the lowest cost room I'd be comfortable in, and then keep an eye out for any deals that may come my way. If no low-cost upgrade options surface before the cruise, and I have confidence that the cruise isn't sold out, then I'll get to port early on sailing day and see if there are any low cost upgrades available for purchase that morning. (Cost is often significantly lower at port than in advance, but they're not always available.) I figure if I was meant to sail in a higher category, there will be an upgrade that comes my way. If not, it wasn't meant to be.

We've decided we don't have to have a verandah, since we don't use it much, except in the instances you mention, so we've booked Oceanview rooms on our cruises this year and beyond, except when the verandah is cheaper or relatively the same price as an Oceanview on a longer cruise (such as the WBTA). Even with an Oceanview room, you can always go up on deck when you enter or leave port, and then you don't have to worry about your room not being in the perfect location for the port you're at.

Since you're talking about the Magic, have you considered a 9B room on Deck 2? The rooms are the same size as the 9A rooms on the higher decks, and you have the option of being aft or midship, while the 9A rooms are only located in the forward part of the ship. There are a few rooms on that Deck that I try to avoid, because they're under a kitchen or restaurant, but there are many nice quite rooms down there, and they're convenient to Decks 3 and 4, and also when you're getting off in port.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We have had both and honestly we prefer the oceanview. We find that we are wasting the additional $$$ for the price of the balcony. Smoke is always an issue for us and just don't use it as much because of it. We are also out of the room more than in. You can save the $$$ and spend more on souvenirs or excursions

 

[JLitfin]

Thanks guys, we decided not to book the balcony stateroom in order to save on $$$. Another question, DH and I were just talking about the 7A cat -Deluxe Oceanview with Navigator's Verandah stateroom, what do you think about this cat., located on deck 7? Would love to see some photos if anyone has any.

HallsofVA - not interested in deck 2, don't really want to be that far down into the ship. Thanks for the suggestions.