Cruising in a balcony stateroom is a luxury that I don't always want to pay for. However, I splurged for an upgraded room on my 12-night cruise instead of settling for a tiny, windowless cabin - and it made all the difference!
I just returned from a culturally-immersive, whirlwind cruise in Asia aboard Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas. This 12-night repositioning cruise departed from Singapore to far-flung destinations in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
This wasn’t my first time sailing on Anthem of the Seas. My husband and I cruised on the same ship back in June 2022 when we visited the Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal.
I was thrilled to be back on Anthem of the Seas, one of my favorite ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet. I’ve always been a fan of the Quantum Class overall - it offers unique itineraries and contemporary features while maintaining a manageable, not-too-overwhelming size.
For this bucket-list itinerary, I traveled with my sister, Angie, and our parents. We had rolled-over cruise credit from multiple cancelled and rescheduled sailings, dating all the way back to 2020. The four of us have been wanting to visit these ports of call, and this cruise on Anthem of the Seas fit our schedules perfectly.
Because of the longer itinerary, my sister and I decided to splurge on a balcony cabin. Having a bit of extra space, both inside the stateroom and on a private veranda, seemed worth the upgrade.
Typically, my sister and I prefer to save money by booking interior cabins. However, I’ve found that newer ships often have more affordable balconies because there are simply more cabins available to book. Fortunately, when we booked the cruise about 18 months ago, the price for a balcony was surprisingly reasonable.
We ended up in cabin 11268 on Deck 11, while our parents booked the adjoining stateroom next door in 11266. It was our first time trying connecting cabins, and we were curious to see how that setup might enhance the experience.
We paid a nightly rate of $240 per person for the 12-night cruise, which is a little pricey.
Roayl Caribbean only offers this unique itinerary in the fall and spring when the cruise line repositions ships between Asia and Alaska. For this reason, the demand seems to be higher due to the limited number of sailings offered.
For the two of us, we paid $5,776.16 for our balcony cabin, or $2,888 each. This includes port fees and taxes, but we forgot to prepay gratuities. This resulted in an unfortunately unexpected cost of $222 by the end of our cruise! I won’t forget again about prepaying gratuities.
We paid around $240 per person, per night for this sailing, which is definitely higher than what we typically spend on a cruise. In fact, it was nearly double the daily rate we paid for a repositioning cruise just last fall with Celebrity Cruises!
Even so, this felt like a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and we decided the splurge was worth it. This proved to be a smart move, as just a few months later, prices skyrocketed to nearly $10,000 per person with only suites remaining.
Our ship had just completed dry dock, so our cabin was recently refreshed.
Cruise ships receive routine maintenance during dry dock, which occurs every five years or so. When we booked this cruise, we hadn’t realized that Anthem of the Seas would be coming out of a 30-day dry dock in Singapore just before our sailing.
Although I’ve been on many cruises, I’ve never sailed on a ship immediately after dry dock. As such, we were eager to see what was updated or added during this maintenance. According to crew members, all cabins received brand-new beds and carpeting.
When we boarded in Singapore and made our way to the cabin, we were very impressed with the cabin’s condition. After traveling more than 24 hours to Asia, we couldn’t wait to get settled, unpack our bags, and make this stateroom our home for the next 12 nights.
The balcony stateroom was spacious, modern and well-appointed.
Royal Caribbean debuted Anthem of the Seas in 2015, and we happened to be onboard for her 10th birthday! Despite being a decade old, the ship still feels incredibly fresh, especially in our stateroom.
Our cabin had the feel of something you’d find on one of Royal Caribbean’s latest ships, with its sleek design and contemporary touches. The stateroom was spacious with a thoughtful layout and very little wasted space. For this particular stateroom, our beds were located near the balcony door while the couch and bathroom were closer to the entrance.
The balcony stateroom featured a palette of blue and grey tones, including a blue couch and navy blue accent wall. The geometric light fixtures and textured carpeting added personality to the stateroom without being too distracting. The warm lighting felt inviting and cozy, so it was easy to make ourselves at home.
The layout is better suited for keeping your beds together instead of separate.
Like any cruise cabin, we had the option to keep our beds together in the king configuration or two twin beds. My sister insists on having the beds separated, so we each had our own twin bed. These tiny beds always reminds me of my college dorm room, although the brand-new beds were very comfortable.
Each bed had its own nightstand, but ours were squished together to create one big nightstand. A small bedside lamp was on each side, and my side of the bed had an outlet. I prefer to keep my phone charging during the night, but my phone plug was protruding into my pillow. I know what you’re thinking, first world problems!
This functionality would definitely work better with the beds together, as the nightstand would be directly under the lamp with no spacing issues. Even still, I loved being able to peak out of the balcony each morning when we pulled into new ports of call. I was giddy like Christmas morning when we arrived to Vietnam, and I could watch it all from my bed.
We had plenty of storage to unpack our five suitcases.
We had quite a bit to unpack between our carry-on bags and checked luggage. Thankfully, the cabin had plenty of storage. There were two wardrobe closets in this stateroom: one with hanging space and the other with shelves and drawers. I used one closet with hanging space while my sister unpacked her belongings into the shelving of the other closet.
Since I brought more clothes, I also took advantage of the drawers built into the vanity. Between the closet space and drawers, everything fit comfortably. We were also able to slide our suitcases under the beds, which helped keep the room clutter-free.
I was impressed with all of the storage available in this cabin. For instance, under the TV, there was a small shelf where we could store smaller belongings. We ended up using this for all of the documents that we received regarding immigration, excursion tickets and daily compasses.
There were multiple outlets and USB ports to keep our devices charged.
For such a big adventure, we had a plethora of devices that needed to be charged daily between the two of us. Cameras, phones, tablets, watches, headphones and more all needed to be charged every night before the following day's adventure.
I was relieved to find a full charging station built into the cabin vanity, complete with two U.S. outlets and two USB ports. There was also a European outlet, which came in handy with our travel adapter. My sister and I were able to keep all of our devices charged without any issue.
Considering some older ships only have one or two outlets for charging, we appreciated having so many outlets. It’s a small touch, but it’s an important functionality of any cruise cabin.
Having connecting staterooms ended up being a lifesaver.
With my parents in the cabin next to us, we asked our room steward to unlock the connecting doors. He also opened the balcony between the two cabins, so we had one big balcony between our two staterooms.
The connecting rooms were extremely convenient for the four of us traveling together. In particular, my mom ended up sleeping on our couch for a few nights when my dad came down with a nasty cold. She didn’t want to be up all night with him coughing, so she asked our cabin steward to make the couch into a makeshift bed. She was surprised how comfortable the couch was!
Having the connecting rooms allowed for easy access between the two cabins, and my mom ended up sleeping on the couch for nearly half of the cruise. We will definitely look at booking connecting staterooms again in the future.
Our cabin location was convenient and quiet.
Our balcony cabin was located near midship, but closer to the ship’s aft. Located on Deck 11, we found this stateroom to have a central, accessible location. We were near the aft elevators, so we were never too far from our stateroom.
In addition, were only a few decks below the Windjammer buffet. During early mornings before excursions, we were able to quickly grab breakfast and head back to our cabin to get ready.
Most importantly, our cabin was wonderfully quiet - we never heard any noise from the hallway, and our neighbors were completely silent the entire trip. Because our deck was above and below other cabins, we never had to worry about noise from the public venues. There’s nothing worse than being kept awake by a nearby lounge or pool part!
Of course, the balcony was one of the highlights.
Because we normally book inside cabins, it was a luxury to have our own private balcony! The balcony install included two chairs with footrests and a small table to use. During this cruise, we had so much beautiful scenery - from the luscious jungle in the outskirts of Vietnam to the iconic skyline of Hong Kong.
I loved being able to use our balcony throughout this cruise. One morning, I ordered complimentary room service as we arrived into Hong Kong while enjoying my morning breakfast. Later that night, we watched the nightly light show across the bay from our balcony as the ship departed. It was a memory I will never forget.
One of the best surprises about our cabin was being able to share the balcony with the connecting rooms. We hadn’t realized the divider could be removed when you book adjoining cabins, and it made it so much easier - and more fun - to enjoy the space together.
The bathroom was functionally designed, too.
There’s nothing worse than feeling squeezed into a tiny capsule shower on a cruise. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here. Cruise ship bathrooms have come a long way, and the showers in particular are now much more spacious and comfortable to use.
Like most Royal Caribbean ships, our shower was stocked with the standard 2-in-1 shampoo and body wash combo. For this reason, I always bring my own shower toiletries when cruising. We did receive upgraded amenities because of our loyalty status, but I still preferred using the products I packed from home.
We had no issues with water temperature or pressure in our cabin, but we did hear some complaints from other guests. Some reported having minimal hot water at times, while others experienced very low water pressure in the shower. It may have been tied to the ship’s recent dry dock, but issues like that can definitely impact the overall cabin experience.
Overall, I wouldn’t hesitate to book this cabin again.
For our 12-night cruise, this balcony cabin truly became our home away from home. After long, hot, and humid days exploring culturally-diverse ports across Asia, there was nothing better than coming back to this comfortable and quiet cabin. Whether we were cooling off in the air conditioning, unpacking our souvenirs, or simply relaxing on the couch after a full day of exploring, this stateroom was perfect for us.
I wouldn’t hesitate to book this same cabin again, whether on Anthem of the Seas or any other Quantum Class ship. The layout was thoughtfully designed, the decor was modern, and the location was incredibly convenient for getting around the ship. We also had plenty of storage and connectivity in the stateroom, which is important for longer, port-intensive itineraries.
Having our own balcony was definitely a highlight for this cruise, especially with all of the bucket-list destinations we visited. I don’t think it’s always necessary to splurge on a balcony, but this was certainly worthwhile on this itinerary with unforgettable sights to see.
