Alaska Spirit - will I be sorry booking an inside cabin?

[Gumtree]

Hello ~ We're a family of four, Spirit to Alaska in July, and are holding an inside cabin due to cost. Will this be a big regret? Opinions, please ??

4D @ $3676 .. 8G @ $5056

 

Thanks!

[dustyroad]

hi gumtree and welcome. first of all let me say that you will have a fantastic time on the ship and in alaska. i went solo to alaska on the spirit with a inside cabin and had a wonderful time. the ship is fantastic, the crew is wonderful and the spirit is awesome. as far as the inside for the four of you (i am not sure what inside cabin you have booked) but i think you might be somewhat cramped.. have you thought about getting two cabins beside each other or going for a larger cabin and taking the discount for the 3rd and 4th passenger.there is plenty of places too set on the decks and see outside at all the gorgeous scenery, but the cabin ( especially sharing the bathroom) will be pretty cramped for the four of you. but if money is a concern and that is all you can afford i say go for it and you will survive if you take only a few bags each and stay organized in the cabin. it will be worth it just to be on the ship and be going on the cruise to alaska. have a great time and i know you will love this cruise.

[dpfred]

Gumtree - We cruised the Spirit to Alaska last June and had a balcony room. Unlike cruising the Carribean, you are usually close enough to land to see the beautiful scenery etc. The balcony was also nice when we went into the college fjord up close and personal to the glaciers and could sit on our balcony to view them. I understand the concern about the $ but if I were to choose one cruise to have a balcony it would be the Alaskan Cruise. Have a great time.

dpfred

[tarbashchaputi]

If you can swing it, I'd opt for the balcony. First you will be crowded in the interior cabin, plus - when we went on our Alaska cruise 2 years ago (NCL), we spent a huge amount of time in the cabin on our balcony. I found the decks to be very crowded and gaining a good vantage point difficult. However, I might be prejudice to that due to the fact that we had a balcony.

 

You will have a blast regardless!

Brian

[MyImagination]

If you can swing it by all mean go for it. Also remember some of the best excursionsin Alaska are $$$$ so you might have to sacrifice on either the room or the ports. If you didnt plan on doing anything exotic at port I would opt for the balcony. Maybe you can hit the lotto and this will all be moot :)

 

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[dickinson]

Gumtree- First let me say I have not been to Alaska. I have read many threads about cruises there as I would like to someday go. I remember one thread specifically saying that if you never had a balcony then Alaska was the place to do so. However, not all of us can afford to do so. Sometimes it is the difference between going and not going. There is a big difference in price between inside and balcony. If it were me and I could not afford or want to pay for the balcony then I would go anyways. So what if the room is crowded with 4 people? It is only for a week. Do what you can with the $$ you have available. Remember, the shore excursions will be pricey. There are a lot of people on this board who always go for the least expensive cabin and therefore cruise a lot more often than others. Don't feel pressured to spend more money on a balcony because people on this board say it will make your cruise better. It probably would but that is not to say you won't have a good cruise with the inside cabin. Enjoy!!

[steveaaaa]

Hello ~ We're a family of four, Spirit to Alaska in July, and are holding an inside cabin due to cost. Will this be a big regret? Opinions, please ??

4D @ $3676 .. 8G @ $5056

 

Thanks!

We too are a family of 4 (12&14 girls)and we have been in the big suite's to the smallest inside cabin and I think the cheapest is the best.There is nothing that I can't see sitting in a lounge or up on deck. $1400 is a big savings.That is enough for a 4 night cruise from FL. I would rather the 2 cruises.

Steve

[Cruiser@Heart]

Having sailed in Alaska on the Spirit, I would not sail in anything less than a balcony. We normally book the cheapest cabin available (normally we aren't in our cabin very much), but do to the prompting of our TA we went with a balcony for that particular cruise. It was fantastic. The scenary is amazing (25 rolls of film to prove it) and we were able to see so many more things from our balcony than when viewing from lounges or even up on the deck. It was also very crowded in those areas most of the time.

 

We loved having the naturalist onboard giving information about the area we were in or pointing out the wildlife along the shore or in the water.

[ccletzgo]

Ask yourself, why are you cruising Alaska? Its not water sports, or beaches. This is the one cruise that I could not imagine without a balcony. We saw so much from our balcony during hours that I would not be out and about the ship.;)

The narrows are incredible and you are so close to the shore. I get goose bumps thinking of the sights we saw right out our balcony. The smell of the pine would feel our cabin. You could spot waterfalls all along the mountain sides. Also, you are going at the perfect time of year for a balcony. We went in sept and had alot of rain. July would be wonderful.

 

I would save and go at a later time, and do it right. Or take the inside cabin and go on a cruise where scenery is no big deal.:D

[bob&france]

We've been on 2 cruises with our kids, both times 4 in a room...Nothing brings a family closer together than being closer together...we loved it..we did however need 2 shifts in preparing for supper. 2 would head to the room early , get showered dressed etc....and then headed up for a drink, while the other 2 took their turn..and then we would meet up.....save the $....

 

bob&france

[pasto5]

We went with a group of 10 two years ago. Two outside cabins and one inside. My four kids were in the inside cabin and we had four adults in another cabin with my mom and my 9yo niece in a third cabin. My teen+age kids didn't mind the inside cabin but we loved watching the views from our cabins. It is a little nippy to be out on the deck when sailing. We were there during the warmest week they had all summer and it was still very cool. So, we enjoyed watching from behind our window. I am sure a balcony is wonderful although we have never sailed in a balcony room yet. I am hoping for our 30th to take the Hawaii trip via a balcony room but figure that it will be wam enough to be out on the balcony then. It is a wonderul trip no matter how you go!

[Gumtree]

Thanks to everyone for replying; I appreciate your opinions. After much thought, I have decided to stay inside rather than cut back on shore excursions. We recently sailed the Triumph over Thanksgiving and had 4 adjacent balconies (spoiled the kids, giving them their own cabin). I didn't care for the swing-out door or the fact that we couldn't keep our dividers open without trapping the next cabin. Knowing that the sq footage is the same inside or out, this helped swing our decision back "in". Really, rather than go to the 8g, I would have made the jump to the category 11 suite, but that price difference was $2200. To those of us that live in Florida, that's another last-minute cruise! Our first balcony was on the Star Princess to the Mexican Riviera, and we slept with the sliding door open every night. Cabins adjacent to us had a group and were able to open their dividers & enjoy a really long balcony! Since we're sailing with a few friends (who booked balconies), I think we'll just bring the wine & invite ourselves over!

 

PS - After boarding the Triumph, I regretted not bringing a bungy cord as was advised on many posts .. that would have helped the divider problem; our room steward scared us when she made us sign a form stating we were financially responsible if the glass divider broke after she unlocked it.