Alaska Cruise Room Choice

sazzle12

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 26, 2019
We are taking a Disney Cruise in July 2022. I am debating between an oceanview room vs interior room. We have young kids (3 and 5), so we do not want a balcony. Oceanview deck 2 has been recommended to us for the large porthole, however I have also read oceanview rooms can be too bright late at night and early in the morning (3am!) due to long hours of sunlight. Has anyone cruised oceanview to Alaska and have any tricks for keeping the room dark? Or are we better to book interior? Any other tips for good rooms vs. rooms to avoid? Thank you!
 
We are taking a Disney Cruise in July 2022. I am debating between an oceanview room vs interior room. We have young kids (3 and 5), so we do not want a balcony. Oceanview deck 2 has been recommended to us for the large porthole, however I have also read oceanview rooms can be too bright late at night and early in the morning (3am!) due to long hours of sunlight. Has anyone cruised oceanview to Alaska and have any tricks for keeping the room dark? Or are we better to book interior? Any other tips for good rooms vs. rooms to avoid? Thank you!

We had looked at Alaska but never been on yet.

What I will say is that everything I read said you wanted at least an Oceanview that way you would be able to watch from your room instead of being on the top deck where it can fairly cool.

I would also look to see which side of the ship makes sense.
 
What I will say is that everything I read said you wanted at least an Oceanview that way you would be able to watch from your room instead of being on the top deck where it can fairly cool.

Problem with that (OV or Veranda) is what if you're on the Port side and an announcement comes "Whale off the Starboard side"? You're not seeing it from your window or veranda. To see it, you'd have to run out of your cabin and up or down to get to an outside deck. If you're already out on the top deck, you can shift to the other side.

I would also look to see which side of the ship makes sense.

See above. With a round-trip each side will get the same basic views - just one on the way up and one on the way down. Whales and bears are going to be where they're going to be, when they're going to be. There is no way to predict that.
 
The curtains keep out the light. Bring 2-3 clothespins/clips to keep the curtains completely closed (clip them together.). Lol, we had a lot of misty/ foggy weather on our cruise, so no real issues with sun coming in.
 


If you are going to pay the DCL price for Alaska anyway I would really recommend spending the little (relatively) bit extra to get a balcony. The balcony doors are very heavy and can be hard for an adult to open, plus on DCL they have an extra (out of reach) child lock that you can use for peace of mind. We've done lots of Alaska cruise with kids from 6 months to 12 and I don't think I would do Alaska (or any cruise) without a balcony. Alaska is so much about being outside, and having the ability to pop in and out quickly from your cabin is really worth it in my opinion. You definately want to spend time viewing out on the open decks as well! I've never really thought about the extra hours of daylight as being an issue. The curtains are floor to ceiling as I remember and do a really good job of keeping the light out. We used to have to bring nightlights on some cruises when our kids were little.
 
We've cruised both Alaska and Norway/Iceland in the summers when the sun barely goes down. We never had issues keeping our stateroom dark. The bigger issue for us was we would lose track of time because it was always sunny and kind of forget to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.
 
We've never done an interior room, so I can't comment exactly, but I will say that on our oceanview cruises, we've often enjoyed looking out the windows from our room. Our first cruise we booked that since we were worried an interior would induce claustrophobia, but now even though I don't have that worry, it's hard for me to imagine a cruise without the ability to look out the window from the room. But, when we did the Alaska cruise, we found we were usually out on the top decks when we really wanted to look around. It's not as though your only way (or even the best way) to see the scenery is from your room (and, most days weren't actually that scenic - really just the glacier day, as I remember it, and we wanted to spend as much of that time on the top deck as possible).

I expect I'm in the minority on this, but I'll disagree with an earlier poster about the balcony rooms. We've only tried one once, and it was on a Caribbean cruise, not Alaska, but we found that we never really used it, and it certainly isn't worth much of an increased cost to us over an oceanview. I will agree, though, that I think you'd find that there's less concern about kids on the balcony once you see it, so I wouldn't really let that be a major reason to avoid it. But,, since your cruise is supposed to be a relaxing time, if you think you'd find yourself more stressed/worried due to having a verandah, then just avoid it.

OK, one last thing - that I'm sure puts me even more in the minority: we are totally fine with the tiny mini-portholes on Deck 1 of the Wonder/Magic. In fact, our next cruise booked is just that: a Deck 1 Oceanview on the Wonder! I know most people prefer the large window on other decks, though. The curtains do keep out light well, but I'll say that if you really want the room to be able to block outside light, the mini-portholes are real portholes - you can actually swing metal closures over them (which I expect are watertight if fully fastened)! So, if you really want to keep out the light, those rooms are great for that.
 


We did ocean view on our Alaska cruise. We loved being able to look out at the scenery. But to get the full view you will want to be out on deck. Due to that and the price, we skipped the verandah. The curtains keep out the light, no worries about that. And either side of the ship works. You will love Alaska!
 
Problem with that (OV or Veranda) is what if you're on the Port side and an announcement comes "Whale off the Starboard side"? You're not seeing it from your window or veranda. To see it, you'd have to run out of your cabin and up or down to get to an outside deck. If you're already out on the top deck, you can shift to the other side.
We cruised the Wonder to Alaska a few years ago, and there were no announcements in the staterooms about animal sightings (which was fine for us as we wouldn't want the interruption).

OP, are you all okay with being out in the cold? The problem with being on top deck is that it tends to be cold, particularly if you're not cruising at the height of summer. So if you're not comfortable being cold, that's a problem. We cruised in early June and despite being bundled up, the top deck wasn't a place where I could hang out all day. Coat, gloves, hat, layers underneath, etc., but it was still cold out & if you don't like being cold, you're just not going to enjoy that. It was much nicer to have a verandah, so that we could go to the top deck for an hour or two to get the panoramic view, then retire to our stateroom to keep warm and relax, yet be able to look at the view outside from indoors, or go out onto the verandah to get the fresh air and an even better view, then easily get back inside when we started to get cold. We also saw some nice views in the early morning and late evening from our verandah that we would never have seen otherwise because we wouldn't have headed out of our stateroom at that time of day.

OP, for Alaska I strongly recommend at least an oceanview (deck 2 or higher for the big window) if you can afford it. The ships have thick curtains that will block out the light. Bring binder clips to be extra vigilant about crevices if any light at all at night bothers you. (We didn't bother with binder clips & still had no issue with light at night.) I would also mention that DCL has verandah locks that are adult reaching height only, so they're still quite safe if you have children, but it's understandable if you just don't want to go there.
 
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As far as checking out views on public decks, I preferred doing it from the deck 4 promenade. There were fewer people there, less exposed to the elements, and closer to the water. (Also just 2 decks up from our room.)
 
The oceanview stateroom gives you the option to have a view even when the weather outside is too cold or windy. The inside stateroom gives you no option. The curtains are heavy and darken the room (yes, bring clothespins or use a skirt/slacks hanger with the pinchers). Nap time and you're stuck in an inside room for how long?
 
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The oceanview stateroom gives you the option to have a view even when the weather outside is too cold or windy. The inside stateroom gives you no option. The curtains are heavy and darken the room (yes, bring clothespins or use a skirt/slacks hanger with the pinchers). Nap time and you're stuck in an inside room for how long?

Yes I was thinking about nap time and that a window would be nice... but then realized the curtains would need to be closed to have the room dark so the kids sleep!
 
Yes I was thinking about nap time and that a window would be nice... but then realized the curtains would need to be closed to have the room dark so the kids sleep!
In oceanview & verandah staterooms, there are heavy curtains in the middle of the stateroom, too. So the kids can nap on the queen bed or in a pack & play, while the curtains are drawn with you on the other side, able to enjoy the light and the view, and the TV, if you want.
 
Yes I was thinking about nap time and that a window would be nice... but then realized the curtains would need to be closed to have the room dark so the kids sleep!
@Cheburashka is correct. Put the kids in the bed and just pull the curtains between the bed area and the sofa/TV area. You can still enjoy the view, read a book, etc. It's what we use when my husband wants to take a nap!


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I have never had a problem with the light as long as the curtains are closed completely on sides and in middle. I pack large binder clips to hold it shut in the middle. If you forget, use the hangers that have the clips on them. But I also love the darkness of the inside rooms!

We have booked our first Alaska cruise and are doing inside for cost--doing that allows us to get 2 rooms and bring along some extra family. (The price difference for a verandah is more on the Alaska cruises than on the Bahamas and Caribbean cruises).

With a 3YO though, are you going to be in the room for naptime? In that case, I might want the balcony so I could relax some out there and watch the views during naptime. Maybe a navigator's verandah would be a good choice for you. Watch some Youtube videos on how the balcony doors work. I was terrified to get a balcony when my kids were little, but then when I saw it in person I realized I didn't need to worry.
 
We were lucky enough to get the secret porthole room on our Alaskan cruise. We booked the day after opening day—it’s a slightly obstructed porthole room for the price of an inside cabin. I’m not sure how hard these are to get, we were on a cruise at the time and the CM at onboard booking recommended it. Might be my favorite Disney “bargain”.

We have since experienced veranda room and my husband never wants to go back. I would be ok with a porthole room, though.
 
We were lucky enough to get the secret porthole room on our Alaskan cruise. We booked the day after opening day—it’s a slightly obstructed porthole room for the price of an inside cabin. I’m not sure how hard these are to get, we were on a cruise at the time and the CM at onboard booking recommended it. Might be my favorite Disney “bargain”.

We have since experienced veranda room and my husband never wants to go back. I would be ok with a porthole room, though.
There are three secret porthole rooms showing on deck 5 for the May 23 Alaskan cruise. I was shocked they were available, but think someone must have booked them and let them go.
 
Hi - we are a family of five - so we needed two rooms - we decided to get a porthole room and an inside room - thinking that anyone bothered by the light could use the inside stateroom - but we found that the porthole room's curtains were good and we never had a problem - and we did find that going into the glacier was kind of cold - so we actually had everyone in the porthole room watching the scenery and we also had room service delivered to the room so it made it fun - my youngest was 5 at the time and it was fun with the porthole and he didn't have to stand outside to see everything - so if you can afford the porthole - i recommend it
 

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