One of my favourite stories, which I used in my book, "High Tea on the Cunard Queens", was about the passenger, who on embarking and being shown to his cabin for the first time, was most unhappy. Looking out the balcony doors, all he could see was the huge towering pier. Disgusted, he turned to his steward and complained in all seriousness, "This is wrong, I booked a sea view cabin. I don't call that a view." The steward told him not to worry as the captain would turn the ship around for him.
I must confess to hating inside cabins and my two contrasting views from a recent cabin on the QM2 show that the little extra for a balcony view is worth some financial stress. One day there's a view of downtown Sydney, another day and there's the far northern waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Way to go!
