Hello -

We have rooms at the back of the ship which I've heard provide a nice 180 view. I've read that some people stay on their balconies while others urge people to go up on deck for a panoramic view. When should we stay in our rooms and when is it worth it to go up?

I also ran into a review that complained of soot, hoping this isn't a chronic problem as we won't spend any time out there if that's the case.....

If you go on deck, you are competing with everyone else to get a good view. This is particularly annoying if you are trying to get some photos and everyone's head is in the way.
We had one particularly cold afternoon when we stayed in our cabin, had the television on to get the commentary from the park ranger, watched the scenery through the window and went onto the balcony every few minutes for photos.
We've had a balcony cabin which was two doors from the back of the ship - never noticed any problems with soot.

We too had n aft balcony cabin on our Alaskan cruise and enjoyed spending lots of time on our balcony but we're not much on crowds so it was very enjoyable. As to soot, I too had read the same thing but not a problem at all on our cruise,

Enjoy your trip,