Don't DO IT!

Jay and I have spoiled ourselves...Once you go balcony you can NEVER go back. On our very first cruise we decided to get a ship room with a balcony, we were told that we wouldn't know the difference and to just get the inside stateroom. BUT NO, we had to get the balcony. We loved it, the sea breeze, the fresh ocean smell, our balcony door being open each night, being able to see the beautiful scenery from our bed, oh, and don't forget the great pictures we took! So needless to say we had to get the balcony suite on our Hawaii trip. On this cruise we could have maybe done without the room that cost us double in price because we were hardly ever at sea but always at a port and we were never on the ship. But... I must say it was so cool to brush my teeth AND watch a volcano over flowing with lava at the same time. So I don't think we will ever chance it and save the $1,000's of dollars by not getting the balcony suite because I just might miss a really great teeth brushing experience. So here's a bit of advice that I didn't take...if you go on a cruise it's not necessary to get the balcony suite, just get the inside stateroom, you won't notice the difference at all, you will still have a great time! If you want to look over a balcony, you can do it for no extra cost, just take a minute to walk up a flight of stairs, or even take an elevator up to the next floor and see it for free.
We'll when we stayed in a hotel for a few nights after our cruise, there was no way we were going to stay in a standard room, I mean we had just been starring at the ocean for the 7 days prior. So I told Jay "ask for a complimentary upgrade, and see what they say." Ask and you shall receive, we went from a small room with a view of buildings, to a huge room with an awesome ocean view. We were so happy, it would have been over $500 dollars more if we did it ourselves. We passed some rooms that should have been ours and we were "like no way we deserve the upgraded room"! We have been too spoiled! Now next time we get a hotel room we will think twice about getting a standard room, we'll say "hey, why not, last time we got a bigger, nicer room for free so why not splurge this time if we can't get it complimentary again"!
We are screwed with car rentals too, when I booked us a car I booked an economy car. I mean what does it matter what we drive, we will be in Hawaii. We'll at the first Hawaii island rental car pickup (out of 6 total different days of renting through Dollar Rental), the lady really liked us and gave us a 2 car upgrade complimentary. We should have had an Eco but we were styling instead in a nicer car! Well at the next island we went back and forth about" should we just pay for an upgrade, it's way better and last time we did get it for free! The lady at that place ddin't like us as much and wouldn't upgrade us for free. So, We we stood our ground, we decided being in Hawaii was enough, we didn't need to spend the extra money, the car is just going to get us where we want to go and then we will hardly be in it! Well that lasted until we got in the Eco, we started the car up, sat in the parking lot, then turn off the car and went and paid for a 2 car upgrade! We did that for the rest of our trip! So ultimately they made their money back and some!
We are also ruined for flying, on our way back from Hawaii we asked for exit seats, well the lady went above and beyond, and ultimately hurt us and will cost us $1,000's of dollars in the long run! She upgraded us to premier seating! It changed our life and dramatically improved our flying experience. Sitting in premier makes flying ALMOST fun! What a difference! I don't know what we will do for our next vacation! Trust me, what you don't know will not hurt you, so please just take the cheapest way of vacationing possible and DO NOT ask for a complimentary upgrade, in the long run they will ALL get their money back and some!