I'm in the same boat, I cut the cord in 2008 and truly feel that my kids had a better experience as youths. Having cable tv in a hotel was a huge deal for them, although they didn't really understand commercials.
Ha ha, yeah my kids were shocked by the repetition and onslaught of commercials. "How does anyone watch this?" they asked. Yeah.
Strangely my reaction was the opposite. I didn't really have tv, and I LOVED commercials, I would even put on the paid programming channels if left alone.