Families comparing an interior cabin with a balcony tend to start with the view and end up surprised by everything else the choice changes. With young children, the useful comparison is about the hours you will spend inside the room, not the ones you will spend looking out of it.
Sleep is the first difference
An interior cabin is genuinely dark; a balcony cabin has daylight, and daylight has opinions about naps.
For some families that darkness is the whole reason to book an interior: a toddler who naps on schedule is a family that enjoys the evening. For others, a room with no natural light makes the morning harder for everyone. Neither answer is universal — it depends on the child you actually have.
Floor space is the second
Ask where a stroller, a travel cot and a suitcase will physically fit once the beds are made up for the night.
Those answers are per ship and per cabin. Ask them about the cabin you are considering rather than about the category.
- Whether a cot is provided by the ship, requested in advance or brought by you
- How many people that specific cabin is approved to sleep, which the ship decides
- Whether a sofa bed or an upper berth is involved, and who will use it
- Whether connecting or adjacent cabins exist for your dates
The balcony door is a conversation, not a veto
If a balcony is on the table, ask directly about the door, the latch and how the cruise line expects families to manage it.
Some parents find a balcony transforms the trip: a quiet place to sit while a child sleeps. Others decide the door is one more thing to hold in their head for two years and choose the interior with relief. Ask the question out loud before booking rather than on the first night.
Then ask what the difference is for your dates
The gap between the two categories is not a fixed amount: it moves by sailing, by cabin and by date.
So the useful question is never whether a balcony is worth it in general. It is what the difference is on your sailing, and what your family would do with that amount somewhere else in the trip.
With small children the cabin decision is about darkness, floor space and doors. The view is the part you can decide last.
Details that change by date, supplier or destination should always be confirmed before you decide.