Can you answer some questions about my upcoming cruise?

I was assigned my cabin for my cruise, and I finally looked it up on the declplans. It is towards the front of the ship and has portholes instead of windows. I’m not very happy about it.

Do you have any opinions about being at the front middle or rear of the ship? Portholes vs. Window? I know some of the windows are blocked by life boats, maybe the portholes have a better view than those? Not sure. I plan on calling, but wanted to get some feedback first. I really wanted a balcony room, but they are sold out. Oh, and now of course the prices have come way down, so it is frustrating to not have at least one of the better window rooms.