3 cruise ship cabins you should never book 

Traveling with young kids I can see the appeal of the infinite balcony. Feels it would be much less stresseful than a traditional balcony

I once stayed in a Boardwalk Balcony stateroom on Oasis of the Seas and wouldn't recommend it unless you don't mind a good deal of noise. From the Aquatheater shows, to the Playmakers crowd, there was a pretty solid din most of the evening and into the night. I later stayed in a Central Park Balcony stateroom on that same ship, and the experience was much more serene. I've also booked a number of staterooms under the pool deck, and while they can be a little bit noisy during the day, most people are finished with their poolside activities by the evening anyway. There are, of course, some sounds of chairs being moved by the crew once the crowds die down, though.

Matt - we are currently on Icon in an Infinite Oceanview Balcony. We were expecting to hate but it turns out we LOVE it. The room feels so much larger. This may be more of a personal preference, but we prefer shade to sun, so this is a perfect way to get a great view and relax in the chairs without being super hot/sweaty. We almost never have the window open. We also have 8200 (Ultra Spacious Oceanview Interior) booked on Freedom in August so now interested to see about this shaking 🤦🏻‍♂️

I agree with your advice not to book a connecting cabin unless a family is staying in both cabins. I recently booked one, and to my dismay, the guest next door was very sick and would cough and blow her nose all night long.

I 100% agree with your assessment of the connected cabins.

We're in a family infinite balcony right now and I would book it again in a heartbeat. We use the space way more than we ever used a balcony. I think it's more like an ocean view than a balcony, but it's an incredibly useful space for us. As a bonus, the curtain is a near blackout. It's way darker than any balcony we've been in.

I would also say Promenade view cabins. I was in one on Indy, we had an early shore excursion the next morning... from Disco night. lasting Disco music till 11:30, midnight, and having everyone sing along is not helpfu for reting to get a decent night's sleep in for an early morning.

We have an Infinite balcony booked on a Transatlantic. We do not expect "massive humidity problems" when we use the window on the North Atlantic in the fall. Therefore we are very calm about it.

I agree totally with your cabins not to book. I would add to try to avoid cabins adjacent to the elevators and crew service rooms. We normally look at the ships online deck plans and select a cabin that has several other cabins adjacent in a row to avoid being near or across from crew service rooms and crew elevators. I would also caution about booking a cabin that is just below the pool deck or above a bar, lounge, or public area. Noise may be a problem in these cabins. On lower decks near the front of the ship, the dropping of the anchor in tendering ports is similar to the noise from the bow thrusters. Take care...

We loved the Infinite Balcony on the Icon. We would book it again. It would probably be better in a cooler climate though.

Infinite balcony isn't for us. Often, one of us is out on the balcony while the other may be taking a nap. We need the air on inside for the nap while the other of us is outside.

We LOVED the forward family staterooms on the Voyager class ships. The thrusting noise/vibration never bothered us in the least and it was so nice having that extra space. At the time, we were a family of 6(we have four boys) so the bunks and the sofa bed were perfect. It kept everyone together nicely. Now that my boys are all grown men they obviously want their own cabins when the join us on cruises, but for families with small to tween kids its absolutely perfect!

Give Us the '''OLD TIME ''' Balcony every time . As always Great Tips ....

Infinite balcony cabin would be my worst humidity nightmare!

I ALWAYS pay a little extra a pick my own room. There can be issues with guaranteed cabins the cruise line picks for you, including the cruise line overbooking rooms and giving away yours. Nine times out of 10, you're going to get a room that no one else wants, like a connecting room. I'm glad I cancelled my central park infinite balcony on the Star. Most rooms have that ladder right in front of it and it's not a balcony, it's a window! Hopefully they'll rethink some of these things with the 3rd Icon ship; that and using baskets in open spaces as drawers and taking away a closet! My favorite is Oasis class ships.

We stayed in a boardwalk balcony on Wonder. We were not fans of this. It was so loud. We were close to the aqua theater, which was extremely loud (they practice quite a bit) plus like 6 shows through the week. Will never do that again.

I always pick our cabins now because the first time we went on navigator of the seas they picked a balcony room above the smoking Deck it was terrible cause I have COPD

Nah. Infinite balcony is a dream come true. I love cruising but always get a regular window cuz Im afraid of falling or somehow winding up overboard with a traditional balcony. With that Infinite one I could actually enjoy that extra space and open air completely stress free. Thats what Im booking next time I go. You gotta speak for yourself on that one. You know what you're getting with that so I dont know why anyone would be hating.

Our absolute favorite rooms are Aft Balconies!!!! The views are awesome and quiet.

Our first cruise over 20 years ago was on Explorer of the seas and we had ocean view at the very back of the ship. We could hear and feel the engine vibration but wasn’t enough to ruin the room. We barely used the room as we were constantly exploring the ship. Now 15 cruises later we enjoy our cabin time and I think we would not like that cabin noise. Although we have been splurging on nicer rooms lately.

Great advice. I just returned from an Alaskan cruise on the Quantum of the Seas. We had room 8634 which was a Grand Suite with a wraparound balcony. Amazing space on the balcony for sure, but because it of its location, it was a constant wind tunnel. We could hear the wind howling outside our cabin from the minute we left port in Seattle. So, we weren't really able to use that extra wrap around portion of the balcony because we always had to keep the metal door between that area and the main balcony closed while we were sailing. Once in port, we could go out there and be comfortable and the view out the round porthole to the front of the ship was nice for extra light, but I think we might have been able to utilize our balcony more if we were in a regular balcony cabin or Jr. Suite with a balcony.

We had an infinite balcony on Icon and loved it. No humidity issues. No banging of the regular balcony partitions. We've had that issue on regular oceanview balcony. It rained one day during our trip and we could still sit on our "balcony" and enjoy it without getting wet. Plus there is a room darkening shade that was great and there was a curtain between the balcony area and the rest of the stateroom that allowed for privacy. We have already booked an infinite balcony on Star of the Seas in 2026. Everyone we spoke to on Icon that had it loved it.

I am with you Matt, I enjoy the regular old balcony cabin, we have done Ascent, Beyond and Icon in infinite cabin and did not enjoy it at all!

We loved our Oceanview cabin in the front of the Mariner of the Seas. We never felt an earthquake like shake for us. However, you tend to get seasick, I would never book a cabin at the front of the ship. We had residual waves from a hurricane that was 600 miles away and our 3rd night was SO rocky!! I was trying to keep the kids calm but even I was scared.

We stayed in a connecting balcony room when we were on Wonder. Luckily, it was a family with two small children and we actually didn't hear them at all. It probably helped that we were always out of our stateroom for the majority of the cruise, plus our bed was away from the connecting door. It was a guarantee room so we couldn't complain, but def will keep this in mind in the future.

I booked a connecting cabin on Wonder of the Seas earlier this year and didn't know the people in the adjoining cabin. I never heard or saw them the entire cruise. They did try to open the door, but I was standing on the other side and told them that they didn't know anyone in this room!😂😂

Excellent review, thank you! I'm planning my first cruise and your videos are so valuable; I really appreciate your attention to detail.

I figured the Infinity Balcony would be a problem with the Humidity. Especially on those days where it's over 80%. The only way I would get it if I travel to a cool or cold area, like Alaska.

I totally agree, I think they're making a huge mistake calling these Infinite Balconies. They should call them Oceanview Windows or something like that. My worry is they'll start putting fewer and fewer traditional balconies in favor of these because they can claim it's like a balcony but better, but it's NOT. I'd much rather they replace some oceanview cabins with these and just call them upgrades to the non-openable window Oceanview cabins.

Amazing Content! I love all of your videos!

As a people watcher, loved the infinite balcony on Icon in the Central Park neighborhood. My friends and I actually stayed in one of the forward facing cabins on Independence and we loved it just because of the extra space it afforded us and we only have 1 late sleeper in our group so the arrival noises didn't bother us. Connecting cabin, yeah not a fan but this is just as a security thing so extra precautions were taken. Luckily haven't had any loud neighbors.

We do ocean view balcony guaranteed on Harmony and we have never had an obstruction or a bad location. For the most part, there are cabins above and below, near the aft end, you get a free additional balcony on decks 6-8 (it’s a shared space by the rock wall but many people never hang out there because it’s out of the way) and you get a free view of the aqua shows from there too as well as a little hidden area with chairs. We saved almost 800 on an ocean view balcony going guarantee

I stayed in the family oceanview room on Enchantment (cabin 8012). I didn't feel much vibration when the bow thrusters came on, but two things were not great: 1) When we came into port, it seemed like we got an exhaust-like smell in the cabin. Maybe there was something funny about the location of the air conditioning intake, and the firing of the thrusters. 2) This cabin was the highest and most forward cabin on the entire ship, so it exaggerated the movement on the ocean, which was unpleasant because the waters were pretty rough coming up the coast from Roatan to Cozumel. Nonetheless, the room was a unique, inexpensive option which gave us space to spread out (and it had two bathrooms!). I would not rule out this type of room for myself in the future, but I'd be more mindful of the location. Thanks for this great video, Matt!

Great info. TNX

Thanks for the tips.

I have a Boardwalk Infinity balcony on the Icon next month. I wouldnt pick this type of cabin but it was a free casino offer cabin except for the fees, taxes and port fees

The infinite balcony on Icon, the one we stayed in and a few others we heard about, creaked constantly.

I think the infinite balcony room is not too far off from being a decent concept, but it wouldn't work for me and who i normally cruise with in its current iteration. One of the ideas for improvement i have would probably require the room to be maybe a tad bit larger than it is now. I would like to see a balcony style door with accordion type folding panels to separate the "balcony" from the room. This way the ac can stay on in the room unless both the window and balcony partition are open. I would also like to see a separate blackout curtain in front of the partition.

They love each other a lot !!! I was rolling ...😮😅😂

0:43 i stayed in one of these. I thought when i booked it that it might be a weird concept but wanted to try it out. Its nice to have the extra space when you have 4 people in the room but any time you open the window it effects everyone in the room and it isnt very quiet so it will also wake everyone in the room.

Thank you. Agree with everything you said.

I actually like the connecting cabins on Royal Caribbean because the door is a large clear area where it is convenient to hang our storage rack (aka. "hanging shoe rack") and the magnets hold better because there is no layer over the metal. That also adds a layer of sound insulation, although I have spent about 20 years of my life living in a basement suite so neighbor sounds don't bother me.

Cruised in an ultra spacious cabin on Serenade twice and loved it for 3 adults. Going on Liberty in September, so we'll see if we have a different experience! Hopefully I can sleep through the shaking 😂

I usually stay in Balcony cabins because I enjoy the fresh air early in the morning, but to save a little money, I also enjoy the "Promenade View" cabins on Liberty. I can't imagine booking a connecting room with strangers. I guess it might save money, but it sounds awful. 60 days until Liberty Of The Seas (In a Deck 7 traditional balcony cabin).

Another vote for the infinite balcony cabin loved it!!

Great video, Matt! Thanks for sharing. I have booked a GTY interior cabin for my Alaska cruise on Brilliance of the Seas, but then bid for a ultra spacious ocean view like the one you mention here. At first I considered cancelling my bid because of the noise issue you mention, but then I realized that the gangway opens late in the morning at every port of call, so I have decided to give it a try. Besides, I can be assigned a connecting stateroom if I remains with the GTY booking. Does any of that make any sense to you? Best regards.

While you addressed infinite balcony on the Icon, you didn't address how connecting rooms on the Icon use a different method to 'connect the rooms.' (Ours was connecting using the method I will describe, but I cannot say for certain ALL were that way.) Ours was connected in the hallway, not by a door in the interior wall. Outside the cabin door, was what I called a wall door.... like 2 doors outside the actual doors... that when closed actually formed like a small vestibule that closed off the 2 feet or so in front of the room doors from the hallway, so when closed the main doors could be open to access either room but closed off from the hallway. I hope I explained this okay....

I hate connecting rooms anywhere when I don’t know the folks next to me. But at times I don’t have a choice. 😢

Yes, so much for efficiency of the cooling system. They complained before about having the balcony door open. Now, you have a room losing all cooling efficiency.

I love me an interior cabin near the middle elevator, not had the connecting cabin noise problem yet

Great tips.

I haven't stayed in an infinite balcony, but when we were in Russia they didn't have screens in there windows and my wife and I spent the night swatting mosquitos.

Those shutters on Icon of the Seas just look junky. For the life of me I don’t know what RCI was doing.

Booked an infinite balcony room for Star of the Seas next year. We'll see how that goes 🤞

I just took a pic with Matt. On my ship today sailing to Bermuda.

The infinite balcony is not the name used by Norwegian. They do have a version on some NCL ships though, Pride of America comes to mind. I think you're correct, if it was marketed as an ocean view cabin with a window that opens people would think upgrade, not I've been tricked.

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Yea, won’t book a forward room due to early morning wake ups!

Cabins next to any of the hallway Ship's Storage. Bang! Clang! Shang A Lang! All hours.

The ultimate family suites/ townhouses, they are only cool if you have kids 6 and below maybe and it is tearable in turns of pricing

Tony Barnette, did you write this script? Loved the jovial tone of this video. 😅

While trying to book my most recent cruise I wanted to get a connecting cabin for my kids and my parents. However, there weren't any available because only ONE would be taken. I don't understand why ANYONE would want to pay more for a connecting cabin but not want the other as well.

They really loved each other … a lot😂😂😂

Just had a porthole cabin. Not bad. Always at the front of the ship for extra walking. Now for the Asian pork tacos that gave us food poisoning. No bueno.

We are going on our first cruise soon on Royal Freedom and our cabin is on the very front of the ship and on the 9th floor and a basic window cabin...will we still feel the shaking? There is nothing we can do about it anyways as it's less than 2 weeks away and we are going with friends that payed for it all and booked it for us...

I generally agree with you Matt, but I have to disagree with your input on the Infinite Balcony. We had this on Icon and absolutely loved it. The extra space was amazing and when the window is open you simply pull the curtains and the rest of your room stays cool. We will book this again on our next Icon cruise.

I loved the infinite balcony! The ones that I have heard yapping about them are upset because they can't sunbathe.... I have the perfect built-in tan, so I don't care about sunbathing! 🤔

Really loved each other…a lot!🤣🤣🤣

I royaled up and got a promenade interior above the cafe…. IT WAS HELL. Literal hell never Royal upping for promenade room again

Had a regular balcony on the Allure and an infinite balcony on the Icon. The infinite balcony is much MUCH better than a regular balcony by a longshot.

Ugh … we have an infinite balcony booked for our ABC cruise ….. not looking forward to losing the ac every time I open the ‘window’

I agree

Pray that you don't have noisy neighbors next to you. Some people don't care how they act. Slamming the walls and acting rude at all times. Also, beware of connecting rooms.

If you have young kids, and dont mind inward balconies, id rather stay in the surf side suite, than infinite family ocean balcony. The Surf suite, is a sky class suite, with sky class amenities, but is cheaper than family infinite balcony as of now for Icon.

Still can't find a better deal than our local ferry. $7 for a 45 minute ocean voyage, after which you drive anywhere before taking another $7 ride home.😂

We booked a guarantee balcony cabin - I just discovered it is connecting so we don’t know the persons next door. What do you suggest? Will they change our room?

Matt, I heard there's this one cabin that is really small, has a bunch of camping gear and when a button is pressed it can be detached from the ship so you have your own little cruise. I think it's called a Lifer Aft. I'm guessing that means it's at the back of the ship?

Exactly correct about those ridiculous infinite balconies. I don't know who the teams of executives and designers are who approved such an absurd concept. It's as if they have no idea how a ship actually functions with the points you highlighted about the A/C and humidity issues. Plus, they tell you to "Save the Waves" by re-using your bath towel. But, then RC is essentially *air conditioning the entire Caribbean* by having thousands of cabins dump all their air conditioning outside and then making the system work hours to cool the cabins back down. Ridiculous!!

The inside balcony cabins just seem awful to us; step outside to get some air and stare at 50 other balconies. It's like being at port along side another ship for the whole cruise. Even opening the blinds is weird. We booked a Promenade view room on Mariner without doing any homework for our first cruise. It wasn't too bad but if you were in the room and there was a party in the Promenade, you were at the party; like it or not.

Infinite "Balconies" are fine. But they're not balconies. I wouldn't NOT go on the cruise because all I could get was an infinite style balcony.

The people in the other cabin were probably doing jumping jacks. You cant fault them for that.

Your wording was perfect, "They really loved each other a LOT!" 🤣😂 This happened to me at a resort room I was sharing with my son. It made it a very awkward two nights listening to our neighbors. We just laughed and turned up the TV to drown out their noise!

I think the infinite balcony should be called an infinite ocean view instead and be priced accordingly.

I’m calling it now. The infinite balcony is going to end up rebranded as the “infinite ocean view.” I have heard too many bad things about them from too many people.

(FIRST TIME CRUISER) okay so٫ im wondering will it ever get cold on a cruise? Both day and night٫ not Alaska cruise though. We are first time cruisers and I dont know if its gonna get cold or the chances to get cold. ( We are also going on utopia of the seas!) sea's I asked on the live stream recently but didnt get an answer٫ but I also left early. Any tips for first time?

Does anyone booking one of these balconies ever have a problem with birds?

I never knew they had a huge family suite, hopefully I can find one not in the front, and has anyone gone on a cruise with an autistic child? Worried about my nephew who can’t handle loud noises.

Carnival is way better. All the rooms are good for a fun vacation! Comment anything below if you agree 😁

If you want to have sex on your balcony, an infinite balcony is going to be much more practical and respectful of your neighbors.

I agree with the infinite balcony. Haven't been in one, but the 1st time I saw a video of it - - - - I hated it.

Inside balcony . It should have a different name. I feel bad for new cruisers who don't know better and get one.

Wow 12 mins ago