InternetAgeTraveler

It's a matter of expectations, we didn't do the Point when we did the Conquest, but we did Harry's on the Liberty. We chose one of the "formal" nights so we already had a reason to dress up and have a night out. We had an enjoyable time, shared a nice bottle of wine, the meal was good and the deserts in particular were memorable (no chocolate melting cake this night). In the grand scale of things, the 'up' charge wasn't too bad.

This link has 2 sets of pictures from the Conquest (2007 and 2009, both Western Caribbean)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roseoftexas/collections/72157601820066732/

and a review from the 2009 cruise

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=56659

Maybe not that unique, but what a fun time I had on the Conquest.

More of my journey at

The "funniest" part of this one are the people I didn't know who are hiding so you can't see them holding the bear. What fun "cruisers" are....

If the prices dropped and the gap closed, maybe.

Well, someone with some influence must have read my post from earlier and said, "sounds like they really want a balcony, let me help out".

This last weekend, NCL put the balconies on sale for my cruise, a great deal, went from an Oceanview Room (deck 5) to a BC Balcony (deck 9) for only $368 more. That was the deal closer.

As I said, we've have done it either way, but this makes it more fun.

But I still agree that getting to go, is better than not going at all, at any price....

I have been following this thread with some interest. If Life were easy...

For our last several cruises we haved booked balconies, including the Pearl to Alaska in 2007, and we really enjoyed them. We saw things we wouldn't have seen otherwise (like Porpoises playing in the ships wake). But many of our most memorable moments came outside of our room.

This year we are sailing on the Pearl again and we booked an Oceanview room. The difference was just over $800 (roughly 1/3 more). It came down to a decision of whether we could justify this or not. The answer after much discussion was no. Justifying the cruise itself this year was a tough enough decision. We were already on a budget.

Would we take a balcony at the same cost, you bet? If the prices dropped and the gap closed, maybe. There were dates and itineraries that were also cheaper, but the dates and itineraries also played into our decision in the first place.

Alaska, unlike a Carribean cruise does have things to see most of the way, so its not likely you are going to say you wasted your money...

You have to weigh all of the factors, take all of this great input, and make a decision. That's the way it works.