• I'm a frequent cruiser who's been on over 50 voyages, and I never book balcony rooms on ships.
• Most balconies fit two people, so my family of three can't even comfortably sit on them together. 
• Balcony rooms also tend to be expensive, and I'd rather spend money on other amenities.

When my son was a toddler, he climbed on a chair and tossed a TV remote off of our hotel room's balcony. It happened so quickly that I didn't have time to stop the remote from falling 10 stories into the bushes — even though I was inches away from him.

Thankfully, I was able to grab my kid and lock the balcony door before he did any real damage, but at that moment, I swore off booking rooms with balconies at hotels and on cruises for good.

Now, I've been on more than 50 cruises, and my son has grown into a responsible, risk-averse tween. But after staying in a wide variety of room types, I've felt no desire to give balcony rooms another try for a host of reasons, most of which aren't safety-related.

Balconies aren't nearly as idyllic as I imagined

When my son was little, I dreamed of tucking him in for a nap and slipping out to my cruise cabin's balcony to read a good book and enjoy the fresh air. However, there were problems with this plan. 

For starters, his bed was right next to the balcony door on many cruises, making it all but impossible to slip in and out of the room without waking him. Also, I had no way of hearing him call for me when I was on the balcony with the door shut.

As he grew older, I still found cruise balconies to be impractical, but for different reasons. They generally only have enough room and seating for two, meaning my family of three was unable to comfortably sit on the balcony together. 

When my husband and I had the room to ourselves, the ship's movement meant it was often too windy to spend time in our outside space. Every time we opened the balcony door, it created a wind tunnel in our stateroom that sent objects flying through the air.

Sometimes, our neighbors smoked cigarettes or talked loudly from their adjacent balconies, interrupting what would've otherwise been a peaceful, private experience.

Many cruisers prefer to explore the ship rather than sit on a private balcony

Throughout my decades of cruising, I've noticed that many of my fellow passengers don't seem to use their balconies to the fullest, either. Many people prefer to be out of their rooms enjoying onboard amenities or lounging by the pool, leaving their balconies mostly empty.

On a somewhat recent voyage aboard Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas, I paid close attention to the ship's rooms with interior balconies. They face inward, making it easy to peep at how often passengers use them.

I saw people briefly step out on them before leaving their rooms to explore, but for the majority of my seven nights on the ship, these balconies appeared eerily vacant. Although they offered perfect views of onboard entertainment, I hardly saw anyone spending time on them. 

However, I did see passengers use the interior balconies to hang-dry wet towels and swimsuits. That certainly seems practical, but it hardly seemed like a worthy use of this costly space.

Of course, I was only observing the interior balconies, and cruisers with ocean-facing balconies might use their outdoor spaces more frequently.

Balcony rooms are usually some of the priciest on the ship

Though pricing for balcony rooms varies between cruises, they're almost always one of the more expensive cabins on a cruise.

On some ships, booking a balcony room can cost hundreds of dollars more than the base-level accommodations, and I can think of a lot of ways I'd rather spend money on vacation.

I understand the appeal of balconies and love the views they offer. However, I can usually get the same views for less money by booking a porthole room. Plus, I've found I look out of the portholes more often than I ever stepped onto my balconies.

This story was originally published on April 3, 2023, and most recently updated on January 8, 2025.

• Wall Street's biggest banks are gearing up to communicate 2024 bonus compensation to staff.
• Bonuses are expected to be as much as 35% higher as demand for corporate dealmaking grows.
• Here are the dates banks like JPMorgan and Goldman are expected to tell employees what they made.

Wall Street bonus season is kicking into high gear this week as the biggest banks get ready to tell employees how much they earned in discretionary income.

Morgan Stanley, known for leading social media company Reddit's IPO in March, is expected to start telling employees how much they earned in 2024 bonuses as soon as this week, according to three people with knowledge of the bank's plans. A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Other large banks are scheduled to communicate bonus numbers to staff later this month, including Goldman Sachs as soon as next week and JPMorgan Chase the week after that, people with knowledge of the banks' plans told BI.

From junior analysts to senior bankers, year-end bonuses tend to indicate not only Wall Street workers' own performance in a given year, but also their value to the company. It's common for bankers who feel snubbed with a lowball number to leave for other jobs after their check clears.

Bonuses have been down in recent years after hitting new highs in 2021 due to lackluster demand for mergers and capital raising.

This year, investment bankers and traders are expecting bonuses to tick higher (up as much as 35%, according to comp consultants Johnson Associates) thanks to a bounce in deal flow that's predicted to ramp up this year.

Worldwide M&A was up 11% in 2024 to over $3 billion, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. The five biggest banks — JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Citi — dominated the league tables last year, led by Goldman Sachs with 30% global market share, followed by Morgan Stanley with 25%, and JPMorgan with 19%. Bank trading revenue also skyrocketed, propelled by rising interest rates and stock volatility.

BI spoke to bank insiders and headhunters to find out when employees of the largest banks are expecting to learn their "number." They said bonus information tends to be closely guarded and that communication dates are subject to change. See when the biggest banks are scheduled to tell staff how much they earned in 2024 bonus money, in chronological order:

Morgan Stanley

Multiple people with knowledge of Morgan Stanley's plans said the investment bank, which ranked No. 2 in M&A last year, will start to share bonus numbers with staff on January 8, making it the first major bank to do so.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman is expected to begin revealing comp on January 15, the same day it reports its 2024 and fourth-quarter earnings, a process that tends to stretch out for several days, a person with knowledge of the announcements told BI.

JPMorgan

The biggest US bank by assets plans to start communicating bonus compensation to employees on January 21, a person familiar with the bank's plans told BI. Employees based in the US will be paid the following week.

Bank of America

Bank of America is aiming to begin communicating bonuses on January 27, a person with knowledge of the announcements told BI. A BofA spokesman declined to comment.

Citi

Bonuses at Citi will be shared in the second half of January, according to a person familiar with the plans, though it isn't clear which day. The bank has been undergoing a massive restructuring since 2021 when CEO Jane Fraser took the reigns.

• A portion of this post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Here's a fact that doesn't need checking: Meta is getting rid of its third-party fact-checkers.

The tech giant is following in X's footsteps by adopting a community-notes model for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

If you're unfamiliar with community notes, here's an explanation. In short, users can add context to posts that might contain misinformation or misleading information. Those notes can also be voted on by other users, hence the community aspect.

The announcement, which included a video from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also mentioned bringing back more political content to users' timelines and offering more customization to what people see.

It's the latest page Zuckerberg has taken from his rival Elon Musk's playbook, writes Business Insider's Amanda Hoover. From conducting mass layoffs to spending time in Mar-a-Lago, Zuckerberg has been following Musk's lead more and more.

At its core, though, the news is really about Meta and Zuckerberg appealing to President-elect Donald Trump, writes BI's Peter Kafka. From what Zuckerberg said — "the recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point" — to how it was delivered — via a segment on Trump's beloved Fox News — it was all packaged perfectly for the incoming president.

Meta's CMO Alex Schultz told BI on Tuesday that, while the announced changes bring Zuckerberg "back to the core of what he cares about," the reelection of Trump, and the shift in "the vibes in America," influenced its decision.

Trump even seemed to acknowledge as much, saying Zuckerberg was "probably" responding to his previous threats.

(As Peter chronicles in his story, this isn't the first sign of Zuckerberg looking to gain favor with Trump recently. From adding prominent Trump backer Dana White to Meta's board to replacing his head of policy with a longtime Republican, the reshaping of Meta is pretty clear.)

Some celebrated the change, having viewed Meta as too restrictive and biased of certain content. Others weren't as happy, raising concerns over what might populate on feeds. Here's what some business leaders and lawmakers had to say about it.

One group that was particularly upset: the International Fact-Checking Network. The group convened an emergency meeting of its members following the news. BI's Pranav Dixit had an exclusive interview with IFCN Director Angie Holan.

Questions still remain

Meta's changes will be rolled out in the next few months, but there's still plenty to chew on.

Here are two pressing questions:

What does this mean for users? Beyond the potential politics of the decision, there are still people using these platforms to consider. With billions of active daily users across platforms, that means the impact will be large. Here's how your feeds might start looking differently. (Hint: You could be getting a lot more viewpoints on your feeds.)

What do advertisers think of this move? While some users might appreciate a more freewheeling approach to their content, advertisers are a different story. X, which Meta largely modeled its new approach after, has had a contentious relationship with advertisers, to put it mildly.

This time, though, it seems like there will be less of a fight. BI's Lara O'Reilly spoke to industry insiders about the decision. Some might have grumbled about the move, but they don't seem likely to shift their spending budgets due to Meta's massive audience.

In his interview with BI, Schultz said Meta will take a different approach than X when it comes to relations with the brands that advertise on their platform, and Facebook would maintain its brand safety tools. "We're not going out there denigrating our advertisers and putting them in terrible positions," he said.

Google is kicking off a new experiment in Search Labs today called “Daily Listen.” It’s a bit like NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews, while there are also podcast parallels.

While there are lots of new and upcoming phones vying for your hard-earned money, you can get some serious bang for your buck by buying a slightly older phone at a substantially discounted price. With that in mind, a renewed Pixel 8 Pro is an absolute steal at Amazon.

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Sponsored by HabitView: Change your habits, change your life! Download on the App Store today.