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You’ll virtually all the time discover me in an inside cabin on a Royal Caribbean cruise. While the other of luxurious, I by no means thoughts my small, windowless rooms, particularly if it means I can get monetary savings on cruise fare.
Nonetheless, I simply disembarked a 4-night cruise in a Spacious Ocean View cabin on Liberty of the Seas. Wanting to “treat myself” but additionally attempt one thing new, I upgraded my cabin for $248 additional on high of the $779 I initially paid for an inside cabin. This introduced my whole cruise value to $1027.
I all the time love attempting new methods to cruise with Royal Caribbean, so once I realized I might improve to a Spacious Ocean View cabin for an affordable worth, I figured I’d give it a attempt.
I had by no means sailed in an ocean view room earlier than, so I used to be curious to see how my cabin expertise would differ from an inside or balcony cabin. The worth of an ocean view cabin is normally between inside and balcony cabins, however I had two major questions:
- Would an ocean view cabin be that completely different from an inside to justify the additional value?
- If I’m upgrading to an ocean view, is it higher to spend somewhat extra to improve to a balcony?
With additional room and scenic views out the porthole window, was this improve value it? Let’s discover out.
Royal Up vs customary improve
Many cruisers look to Royal Caribbean’s stateroom bidding program, RoyalUp, when hoping to improve their cruise ship cabin. I’ve used RoyalUp as soon as earlier than (with none luck), however I’ve since realized it’s higher to first contact your journey agent about the associated fee to improve with out bidding.
Related: Royal Caribbean’s RoyalUp information, ideas, and tips
RoyalUp permits company to bid on greater stateroom classes with the hope of profitable the bid and upgrading at a decrease value.
What I’ve realized, nevertheless, is that the minimal bids on RoyalUp will not be all the time cheaper than upgrading your stateroom immediately by means of Royal Caribbean or a journey agent.
When I requested my journey agent how a lot it could value to improve from my inside cabin, for instance, I used to be shocked to see such affordable costs. The Promenade View Interior and Guarantee Ocean View cabins have been truly cheaper than the unique worth I paid for my inside stateroom.
Meanwhile, if I had positioned a bid on a Guarantee Ocean View by means of RoyalUp, I’d have needed to bid a minimal of $30 per particular person for the weakest bid doable.
Initial impressions
As quickly as I walked into our cabin, I used to be happy to see it was fairly spacious, though I used to be a bit shocked that the room was the identical dimension as a balcony cabin.
For some cause I anticipated this cabin to be much more spacious than a balcony room, however that is in all probability reserved for the Ultra Spacious Ocean View cabins.
Regardless, in comparison with the tiny inside rooms I normally keep in, our ocean view cabin felt large! The inside cabins on Freedom Class ships are tiny, and whereas I’ve stayed on this dimension stateroom with company earlier than, it’s positively a good squeeze.
Related: I attempted one of the best inside cruise ship cabin hacks to see how properly they labored
Our cabin was outfitted with many facilities, together with:
- King mattress (that we later separated to 2 twin beds)
- Desk and vainness space
- Wardrobe
- Couch and aspect desk
- Television
- Mini fridge
There was ample storage within the room, from drawers on each side of the vainness to our nightstand and a spacious wardrobe. There have been additionally cabinets on the aspect of the vainness close to our mattress which I discovered helpful all through the cruise.
There was additionally storage positioned behind the mirrors within the vainness and loo which might simply be missed, so we took benefit of this, too.
The greatest a part of our cabin, in fact, was the porthole window. This window was bigger than I anticipated, though I used to be shocked that we had a “balcony” exterior the window.
Because this room is on deck 7 versus nearly all of ocean view cabins on decks 2 and three, the porthole missed a non-usable balcony earlier than reaching the ocean.
Pros of our cabin improve
More area
An apparent advantage of staying in our Spacious Ocean View cabin was having more room. We by no means bumped into one another within the cabin and had no scarcity of cupboard space.
We didn’t even make the most of many of the storage, actually, as a result of there was greater than sufficient room to maintain our suitcases on the ground of the cabin with out having to unpack for a brief cruise.
I spent extra time than standard in my cabin
On a brief 4-night cruise, I by no means count on to spend a lot time in my room. Between attending onboard occasions and filming movies across the ship for the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube channel, I normally spend little time stress-free in my cabin.
This week, nevertheless, I spent extra time than standard in my cabin. I’ve a couple of hours of pc work to do every day, for instance, which I normally do from a public space onboard when staying in an inside room. Unsurprisingly, I don’t love working in a room with out home windows.
Related: Can you’re employed remotely from a cruise ship in 2022? I put it to the check.
With an ocean view room, I spent these hours working subsequent to my non-public porthole window as an alternative.
Our itinerary additionally modified attributable to climate and we ended up with two sea days as an alternative of only one. This meant we had additional time to get pleasure from our stateroom (take naps) in the course of the cruise.
Great possibility for a first-time cruiser
I sailed on Liberty of the Seas with my cousin Keli, and she or he had by no means been on a cruise earlier than. I believed having an ocean view cabin versus an inside was good for my cousin’s first cruise.
While I’ve introduced many first-time cruisers onboard in inside rooms and we’ve had an awesome expertise, I believed Keli would recognize being in a extra snug room with a window.
And it labored, as a result of she’s already trying ahead to crusing once more sooner or later!
Cons of our cabin improve
Stateroom location
One disadvantage of our upgraded stateroom in comparison with the inside room we initially booked was the situation.
Our ocean view cabin was positioned within the very aft of the ship, so this location wasn’t as handy as someplace nearer to the elevators and stairwells. We spent quite a lot of time strolling backwards and forwards to our cabin down an extended hallway.
Plus, as a result of it was on the ship’s aft, I felt somewhat extra motion than I usually would as we sailed by means of the Caribbean. Our upgraded cabin location wasn’t a dealbreaker, however I’d in all probability take the situation extra into consideration subsequent time I improve my stateroom.
The one plus of our stateroom was that it was positioned on deck 7, so we not often needed to take the elevators as we have been positioned just a few decks from all the principle sights onboard.
Spending cash on a cabin improve as an alternative of different actions
Looking again, we in all probability might have stayed in our inside cabin and used the $248 we spent on a cabin improve for different cruise add-ons.
For round $120 per particular person, for instance, we might have booked an Unlimited Dining Package for our 4-night cruise. Dining at specialty eating places as soon as (or extra) day-after-day might have enhanced our cruise expertise greater than somewhat more room in our cabin.
We additionally might have put this value towards shore excursions, drinks, web, and different onboard spending.
Only a 4-night cruise
Spending $248 on a cabin improve would have unfold out additional on a 7-night cruise in comparison with simply 4 days. This introduced the nightly value of the improve to $62, whereas it could solely be $35 per night time on a weeklong cruise.
Next time I improve my cabin, I’ll calculate the nightly worth of the improve to assist justify whether or not or not it’s value it.
Obstructed view
This con didn’t hassle me an excessive amount of, however our “ocean view” truly appeared out towards a balcony not in use, so we didn’t have the panoramic view of the ocean we’d have gotten in a smaller, cheaper ocean view cabin.
Was the improve value the associated fee?
I’m nonetheless torn whether or not our cabin improve was value the additional value or not. While $248 is not some huge cash within the grand scheme of our cruise trip, we might have put the cash towards different onboard experiences.
That being mentioned, I actually loved having a bigger stateroom with beautiful ocean views from the porthole. There’s little question this room was higher than an inside cabin, and I might have spent my whole day studying in mattress subsequent to our cabin’s window.
Overall I’d lean towards the improve being value it fairly than a waste of cash. While I’ll in all probability proceed to sail in inside staterooms for the bottom cruise fare doable, it’s good to deal with your self each occasionally!
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