Once on board, Ed and I found our room. I had studied the ship online so much from menus to floor plan that I took us directly to it. We were right at the top of the stairs above the casino floor. We didn't have to walk a long hall. We were always right next to the elevators or stairs. Really convenient.
We also had an outside cabin with a huge window - not just a porthole. That was one thing I insisted on having, a room with a window of some sort. I hate to get up in the dark and just the thought of a room with no window was making me claustrophobic.
Where we saved money was to get what they call an "obstructed view" room. What that meant was that outside our window was a lifeboat (actually not a bad idea if you ask me). The 25th anniversary cruise we took had a balcony that was "obstructed view". All we had was a lifeboat that was off to the side of our balcony and the view was just fine. So I booked this cruise as an "obstructed view" and had a lifeboat about 10 feet out from the window, not right up against our window, so we could see just fine. And the walkway around the ship was a floor below us so we never had to close the curtains for privacy's sake.
An ocean view with an obstructed view is about $100 less than an ocean view room so try it sometime and spend the money elsewhere.
AND about two weeks before we left home for the trip, the cruise company called us and asked us if we wanted to upgrade to a room with a balcony for only $100 more. They only offered this to ocean view rooms. This would have been a great room at a great savings but here's where "Jane's Perspective" kicked in.
My "Jane's Perspective" on my room choice was to keep the obstructed view room that we had originally booked. Why? The obstructed view room also had a different configuration from all the other rooms on the ship (leave it to me to want to be different) and it really felt like more space in that room. We never had to slide between the foot of the bed and the wall and our bathroom didn't open into the walkway into the room. We had a lovely full wall closet with the bathroom opening out next to it so that it felt more like a dressing area. We were perfectly happy with what we had.
And I got a chance to visit in a room with the balcony later in the cruise and it did look just as I suspected, sorta like a really narrow hotel room and yes, you had to slide by the beds to get to the balcony and seating area.
Maybe next time we'll get a balcony but I'll wait until they make me an offer I can't refuse.
Once we settled in, I turned on the tv and started reading all the info they give you about the boat. Ed crashed from jet lag. "See, I told you you should have slept on the plane."
