Is a Cruise Balcony Worth It? I Priced Every Ship

What this video covers

Is a balcony worth the money? This video prices it on every Royal Caribbean ship, inside cabin against balcony on the very same sailing. Across the fleet the upgrade costs a median of 44 dollars a night per person, about 800 dollars for two on a seven night cruise. But it depends on the ship. Symphony of the Seas is the cheapest at 19 dollars a night, then Wonder at 20 and Oasis at 22: the six ships of that class take the top six places. Rhapsody of the Seas costs 126 dollars a night and Vision of the Seas 113, and the four oldest ships finish last.

The reason is how many balconies a ship has: Symphony has about 1,800, Vision about 136. On the big ships about one balcony in four faces inward, over the park or the boardwalk, so check which way it faces. On about one sailing in ten a balcony costs less than an ocean view room with a window, and on Symphony it is nearly half of them. The cheapest ship, Enchantment of the Seas, does not have the cheapest balcony. On a back-to-back you pay the upgrade on each leg, and legs can differ a lot: on one Radiance of the Seas trip out of Tampa a balcony cost 1,725 dollars more on the first week but only 201 dollars more on the next. Book the balcony on the cheap week and move cabins on turnaround day.

Prices and counts in the video are from the day it was made, Sep 29, 2026. The finder always shows today's.