We were in an outside room, about as far forward as we could be (2002) on our first cruise. We loved it! It was cool to be so close to the water; having an outside room for our first ever cruise was great. We did have one night where we really felt the motion of the ship, but I think that was fact we were so far forward, rather than the deck level. We did not notice too much congestion on port days, but perhaps that was due to when our excursions were scheduled, or the elevators/stairs we used?
I'd take a 2nd floor room again in a heartbeat!