Aulani island or pool view room and ncl cruise inside cabin?

[Dizney73]

Our current plan is to enjoy Aulani for 5 nights and then hop on the ncl Hawaiian island cruise. We visit Disney World often and we cruise every summer (on many different lines). We are DVC members and we use our points thriftilly( usually a value room at akv or standard at Boardwalk) to get 2 or 3 trips a year. We also generally book an inside cabin ( except we had a balcony in Alaska) since we truly are out of our room most of the time.
Will we be disappointed if we don't book an ocean view room at Aulani or a balcony room on the cruise? How much time did you spend on your balcony at Aulani??? Also, I know that the Hawaii cruise is very scenic but it also spends much time in ports where I would want to spend the extra money on great excursions...so I am undecided on a cruise ship room.

What are your experiences? Booking category regrets? Recommendations?

 

[DSNYDREAMER]

I am a firm believer in booking what the budget allows! If booking a lower priced view means more money in the budget for fun and excursions than go for it. We are about to take our 4th trip to Aulani, one of those was in an ocean view room, we also stayed in island view, pool view and this next time standard view. We made the decision to go with the one bedroom standard view over the studio with ocean view, this time opting for the extra space. My husband, who is definitely the more frugal of the two of us, actually really enjoyed the ocean view and felt he got good use out of the balcony. The only place he considers paying extra for view to be worthwhile. That trip we decided to go with studio to allow for the upgrade in view. We really do this every time we travel, we set the budget and then decide where we will save and where we will splurge!

We have also done the NCL cruise. On this we chose a suite as we booked last minute and happened upon one that was close in price to the balcony. We often cruise in inside staterooms, with the exception of Alaska. I found on the Hawaiian cruise the last day of scenic cruising we were happy to have our own balcony. There were other times throughout the week where it was nice, but I didn't think it was as necessary as Alaska. We decided to go with balcony and ultimately the suite, due to space. We found the cabin size on the Pride of America was smaller than we were used to with other lines and we were travelling with our teenage son.

 

[Dizney73]

Thank you for all of your experiences in resort and ship rooms! We really can afford to do what we want... I suppose I am just frugal with my points and like to get the best value for our points and money. We had an inside Cabin on the Norwegian epic in the Mediterranean 2 summers ago and boy was that room small! But honestly, in the end we spent more time on the decks and off the ship than we did in our room. We just couldn't have the bunks down and watch TV before bed or in the am without getting a kink in the neck!
I have time to think about the room at Aulani but I want to get the cruise booked. If the dates don't end up working out for Aulani... We will make a Plan b.

I just don't want any room regrets!

 

[cleophus12]

I will say that of all our cruises, we were most happy to have a balcony on the Hawaii and Alaska cruises. You are passing by beautiful landscapes often, and it was great to be able to do from our room.