Taking a long weekend vacation on the Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship is the perfect escape, and I think paying more for a balcony room was worth it.
In February, I went on Utopia of the Seas for a 3-night cruise to The Bahamas and I paid $1,723.54 for a category 4D balcony room instead of a cheaper inside room.
I went with a balcony because I wanted the natural light and extra space you get with the outdoor veranda, but the room itself was bigger than I expected.
We stayed in room 9282, which is on deck 9 and a short walk from the aft elevators.
I'm no stranger to Utopia, having sailed on her already a half dozen times. Picking a room on deck 9 meant we were mostly equidistant to the public decks, but closer to the Royal Promenade than the pool decks.
Royal Caribbean doesn't let guests access their cabins until 1pm, but that's only a few hours of waiting (assuming you board the ship as early as possible).
I prefer to be close the elevators rather than pick a room down the hall. While I can appreciate the view you have on the back of the ship, I prefer the convenience of being near an elevator.
All cabins on Utopia of the Seas are opened with your SeaPass card, which uses RFID technology. This means just tapping your card against the reader instead of inserting the card in the door.
Because Utopia is a new ship, the rooms look about as contemporary as you'd expect in terms of aesthetics.
I had just stayed in a balcony room on an older and smaller ship a few weeks prior to this, and the differences in the room are rather stark.
I found this balcony room on Utopia to feel bigger and more open than the one on Enchantment of the Seas. Of course the decor looks more dated on Enchantment, but that ship was built in the 1990s.
As you walk into the room, there's a vanity on your left and a couch on the right.
The vanity has a desk, chair, and mirror. It also has a number of USB outlets.
Royal Caribbean has been steadily increasing the amount of USB outlets in its cabins, in addition to standard electrical outlets. More people are bringing more devices with them on vacation.
I really think you could stay in a room on Utopia of the Seas and not need to bring a USB or power extender with you and not feel constricted with how to keep everything charged.
The couch is rather large, but doesn't open up into a bed.
While I'd like to tell you I used the couch for leisurely afternoon naps or to sit and have a conversation with my wife, but in reality, the couch was the destination for so many of our belongings.
Bags, dirty laundry, pool towels, and souvenirs all seem to end up on the couch one way or another.
On either side of the couch are two rather large closets.
There's an impressive amount of storage space in this room, something I missed having on Icon of the Seas.
You'll also find the room's safe in one of the closets.
My wife and I each took one closet, and that was more than enough room for our clothes on a short cruise. There was even an entire set of drawers opposite the closet we never used.
The drawers offer lots of storage access as well. Eventually Utopia will stop doing just weekend cruises and move onto longer sailings. When it does, rest assured there's enough room for all your clothes.
The king size bed is next to the balcony in this particular cabin. Keep in mind every room alternates whether the sofa or the bed is near the balcony.
The bed can be split into two upon request by your stateroom attendant.
There's a nightstand on each side of the bed, and both have a lamp with one power outlet and one USB C outlet.
I cannot stress enough how convenient it is to have a power outlet near the bed so you can keep your phone charging at night while you use it from the comfort of being in bed.
Nearly all other ships don't have an outlet near the bed, so I have to plug it in back at the vanity.
Opposite the bed is the TV. It's a nice flatscreen television that's big enough to see from the bed.
The one feature it doesn't have is the ability to stream videos from a smart device or computer. Some other recent Royal Caribbean ships have that feature, but not Utopia.
While I would have liked the ability to cast a YouTube video or Office episode to the TV, the truth is I rarely watch any TV on a cruise.
Below the television are a set of hooks you can use to hang up items.
This is useful for keeping hats, umbrellas, or anything else lightweight off the floor (or couch, in my case). It's a case of Royal Caribbean noticing all the cruise cabin hacks calling for magnets to be brought onboard and providing something on their own.
Moving out to the balcony, a sliding door provides access and you'll find two chairs and a table.
Each chair has a foot rest, which is a really nice idea.
It's not a spacious balcony, but there's enough room for two people to comfortably sit or stand and enjoy the view and ocean breeze.
While I'm comfortable enough booking an inside cabin, paying more for a balcony is such a nice luxury. Being able to pop outside on a whim is lovely.
I don't spend nearly as much time out here as I should, but I really like going out in the morning to gauge the weather, or enjoying a sunset at night.
Back inside our room, the bathroom was bigger than I expected.
The bathroom has a mirror, sink, toilet, and shower. I was impressed that a standard stateroom has both a shower wand and shower head.
While you can't use both at the same time, it's a feature usually only found in a suite.
Overall, I was quite pleased with my room selection. We booked the connecting balcony room next to it for my kids to stay in, providing the ultimate family cruise hack that I rely on so often.
I didn't set any records for the cheapest cruise cabin price, but this is a brand new cruise ship. New ships are just going to cost more, period.
Because I live about an hour by car from Port Canaveral, being able to quickly drive to the port and hop on a cruise ship for the weekend is worth the higher cruise fare compared to having to fly or travel a longer distance to another ship.
