Once we accidentally booked a porthole. Not much advantage to it. You could look out and tell whether it was daylight or not. You could also get a little insight into the weather. That was about it. Definitely not worth the extra money.
This time we splashed out and got a balcony. Why not? It was our 10th anniversary. We should celebrate in style. I've got to say that all around, the room was bigger - queen bed and a small sofa - bigger bathroom - bigger closet - more hangers. Two chairs and a small table on the balcony. This was going to be fantastic!
We settled in to our stateroom. I unpacked everything and we were still over four hours away from sailing. It was time to have a short nap and a cuddle. We laid down on the bed. Mark was dozing and I was looking out onto the balcony - well, as much as I can look without my glasses on.
And then I saw a face peering around the side of the balcony wall right into our stateroom.
"There's someone looking into our room!"
I guess he heard me or maybe he thought he made eye contact with me. (It might have appeared that way to someone who didn't realize I can't see two feet in front of me.) Either way, he put his head back where it belonged - on his own side of the wall. I could have booked an interior room for about $1500. I'd paid $3000 for this balcony and now I had a Peeping Tom, or a Peeping Kumar. Really?!? Even though I didn't peep into his room, I'm pretty sure all the staterooms look pretty much the same. You can see pictures of the staterooms online. You don't need to crane your neck around to look into someone else's room! What was he looking for? Did he want to see if our room was bigger than his? Was he hoping for something a little more tantalizing? I can't even imagine what would possess someone to peep into someone else's room. It's a wonder he didn't fall off his balcony.
In light of that, I supposed we'd have to keep the curtains drawn when we were sleeping just to maintain our privacy. But I thought we'd be able to keep the door open so we could hear the sounds of the sea at night. Wrong again. At 5 AM, Raj and his three wives, or his wife, mother, and daughter, or his wife and two daughters, or his three girlfriends - whoever those three women were with him all started to argue. Loudly. 5 AM. I paid an extra $1500 for a balcony and now not only do I have to be concerned about a peeping Kumar, I also have to be concerned about being awakened by arguing at 5 AM. Of course, given that I couldn't understand what they were saying, it's possible they were just being loud and happy. No way to know. But that was the final straw.
Later in the day I went to the customer service desk and told them that it was quite enough that my neighbor had peered into my window and that I was willing to forgive them the noise at 5 AM that morning because maybe they were excited and disoriented by a change in time zones, but that if that kind of noise broke out at 5 AM the following morning, all hell would break loose.
I'll never know what, if anything, customer service said to him/them. (They never spoke to us. They did glare at us in the dining room one night.) But there was no more arguing at 5 AM. (They waited until at least 8 AM to get loud.) But I'm not sure I'll ever spring for a balcony again.
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