The pursuit of (cabin) happiness

In my life as a cruise agent, an oft referred to thing are the imperfections of a particular cabin in search of the one that is going to make their holiday perfect.

So what are the truths and fictions behind some of these things, well a lot of it is personal choice and any truth in the matter is somewhere in be

tween.

For example a connecting door cabin. I’ve stayed in many hotels around the world and been in a few cabins where connecting doors have been present.

Sometimes I’ve barely noticed this situation and haven’t found anything that much noisier…. and that’s in a hotel. In other rooms the sound next door would be enough to wake the dead. Personally I think that is more to do with the people next door and their tendency to make noise than anything else. On cruise ships (and presumably on hotels as well)  these doors have to comply with fire regulations generally so therefore are not going to be any less thick than the walls that surround you. I think maybe people forget that because so much emphasis goes on cabin choosing on a cruise when perhaps they wouldn’t give it a second thought with a hotel.

So in short, if you have noisy neighbours or a noisy cabin location you are going to hear some noise whether you have interconnecting doors or not. That’s my experienced opinion on this but hey, everyone’s different.

Now what of obstructed view cabins. Well I honestly hadn’t seen one of these in the flesh before my recent trip on Britannia and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw, would I accept a slightly obstructed view for a lower price. In that context, absolutely yes. That said it possibly doesn’t tell the whole story, I think what should really happen with cruiseline is that they should make clearer every cabins’ view outside on their website deckplans so that it is clear what customers are getting. That way there is less room for vagaries but unfortunately more room for unsold cabins which is somewhat the reason they wouldn’t.

Finally with cruise cabins there is position and it a long held opinion that being midships is best. This one sort of depends as on some ships whatever gains you make steadiness wise from being midships you are going to lose in convenience as these sort of cabins can be a fair way from lifts. This is also the case for restaurants, bars and theatres as you will often find the theatre is right at the front of the ship and the restaurant is right at the back. Not ideal if you are someone who doesnt like walking too much. That said one recent experience I had on a cruise ship was engine noise being near the back of the ship and lower down.

In the end though someone enjoyment of a room is in the eye of the beholder and in the lap of the gods, especially when you consider the lottery of who will be your neighbour in a cabin. Regardless of how thorough you are with position, view etc who is going to be next to you cant ever be controlled!