I spent 7-nights on a Royal Caribbean cruise in a balcony cabin because I wanted to make it as convenient as possible to enjoy everything Alaska has to offer.
While I've sailed to Alaska before, this is still one of my all-time favorite places to visit around the world. My wife wanted to celebrate her milestone birthday returning here, so a balcony room made sense to upgrade to.
I picked a balcony room on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas in cabin 7658, which has an added bonus that most other balcony rooms do not have. The cost of the room was $3458.50 for two people, including gratuities, taxes, fees, and port expenses.
This category 4D stateroom on deck 7 comes with double the balcony space, compared to a standard balcony.
Here's a look around this room and why having a balcony on an Alaska cruise is worth it.
The balcony measures 41 square feet, which is perfect for families.
I've cruised over 100 times and stayed in plenty of balcony rooms, so when I see an extra large balcony, it stands out immediately.
Located towards the back of the ship, these category 4D cabins have an extended balcony that provides 41 square feet of space instead of 20.
There's room for two chairs and a table, but you could easily fit sun loungers in the space.
Having a private balcony like this meant we had lots of room to conveniently go outside anytime we wanted to go whale watching or enjoy the scenery passing by.
The problem with this balcony is there's no privacy
While the extra balcony space is fantastic, it comes at the cost of privacy.
The extra space doesn't have full walls. This is good for being able to see what's around you, but you can very easily see into everyone else's balcony and they can see into yours.
With a regular balcony, the walls provide enough privacy that you can feel like the area is just for you without prying eyes.
This is less about wanting to be naked on my balcony or anything like that. Rather, you feel like you're being watched by neighbors and it's a psychological discomfort. Moreover, we needed to be mindful of keeping the blinds drawn when we needed privacy inside the room.
I'd also add the odor of unruly passengers smoking on their balcony seemed to be more noticeable.
My large balcony was the perfect space for our glacier day.
If you ever question the high balcony cost on an Alaskan cruise, you will instantly forget about it when you sail near a glacier.
Our itinerary replaced Tracy Arm fjord with Endicott Arm fjord because of a rockslide issue. Nonetheless, we had a front row seat to an amazing displace of an ice age relic.
Serenade of the Seas slowly sailed into the fjord, providing views of water falls, seals, mountains, and more.
Beginning at 6am, I put on my heavy hoodie and sat outside to enjoy unfettered views. While other passengers had to find a spot on a public deck, I was able to enjoy my balcony.
The advantage of this particular room was it allowed my entire family and even some friends to join us on the balcony. The extra space was fantastic.
Our stateroom had a giant closet, which gave us plenty of space to store our belongings.
Despite the room being fairly small, I was impressed by how much storage space there was.
Walking into the room, there is a large closet with two doors. There are shelves and hangers, which could easily store all the belongings my wife and I had.
In addition, there are drawers below the vanity.
Once we stowed our belongings and put our empty suitcases under the bed, the room didn't feel as small.
The king size bed was positioned next to the balcony door for convenient viewings.
Royal Caribbean staterooms alternate between having the bed near the balcony, or the couch near the balcony. Luckily, this room had the bed next to the balcony.
The beds can be split apart or left together to form a king sized bed.
The advantage of this room configuration is you can be in bed and look outside to see what's passing by.
Another nice benefit was Royal Caribbean added extra power and USB outlets near the bed because this ship was used for a world cruise a couple of years ago.
In order to prep the ship for passengers that would spend months in the room, Royal Caribbean added much-needed upgrades around the ship.
The bathroom was tiny, but it had an important shower upgrade.
Unlike other Radiance Class ships, the shower was upgraded in two important places.
There are no clingy shower curtains here, as they were replaced with a plastic enclosure.
In addition, the shower head is newer, which helps spread the water spray more evenly.
Compared to the cabin I had on Radiance of the Seas last month, this felt like a big improvement.
Balconies cost more than inside rooms, but I can see why they're worth it in Alaska.
I may have paid more to stay in a balcony instead of an inside room, but the views we had made it worth every penny.
We were lucky the weather was so cooperative, because it made it far more inviting to spend time on the balcony.
I didn't love the lack of privacy because of the balcony layout, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the space at all. A standard balcony might have felt more private, but the extra space was more important.
The outdoor space was very comfortably and is a great choice for any itinerary where you will likely spend more time outdoors.
