Do you plan on sitting in your room for the bulk of the cruise? If yes, then make sure you have that balcony on that side. If you'll be moving about, willing to go to public areas, then don't worry about it.
(Had ocean view room for first/so-far-only Alaska cruise and was rarely in the room so it didn't matter what the view was...plus, sitting on the balcony Alaska while the ship is moving sounds windy and cold!)
Adding...the above came off rude, when thinking about it, and I didn't intend that. Sorry for the accidental tone; I'm really stressed out this morning b/c I have a baby shower to go to, and since we've never been able to have a second baby (as anyone who has dealt with infertility knows) I'm pretty uptight. Sorry if it came through in the above.
anyway! If you're on a Radiance class ship, those were MADE for Alaska. Tons of huge walls of glass to look out from, while protected from the outside air. Even though we did have balmy days in Alaska, when walking on a moving ship it's not the warmest of sensations. Our cruise was on Radiance, and even though our "window" overlooked the bow and we could have just stared outside at where we were going, we didn't. We went to the nice protected inside areas and looked out. For me, the idea of sitting on a verandah bundled in blankets to see what I can see just doesn't sound like fun. And that bias shines through when it comes to choosing a room. And it's not like there's nothing to see, ever, on the other side of the Inside Passage; looking at our honeymoon pictures it seems that I took NO pictures from the "right" side of the ship. Guess that coveted side didn't interest me, not sure why.
