Costa Smeralda – Balcony Cabin Photo Guide and Honest Review

If you are taking a cruise on the Costa Smeralda you may be wondering if a balcony cabin is a good option for you. I’ve just disembarked a cruise onboard the Costa Smeralda and I stayed in a balcony cabin on deck 15.

We stayed in the balcony cabin 15180, and this review is based on this cabin.

Below is a photo of our balcony cabin. When you first arrive there may be a plastic mat on the bed for you to put your suitcase on when you unpack, but it is then removed by the cabin steward once you have done so.

Changing The Bed Configuration

We were cruising as a couple, and the cabin was made up with a double bed.

If you are sharing with a friend or family member and need twin beds, you can speak to your room steward and ask them to split the bed into two singles.

You can sometimes select twin beds when booking, but it isn’t uncommon for this message not to get through to the ship/ cabin steward.

On all cruise lines, apart from Disney Cruise Line, the beds are able to be configured as twins or a double bed.

Balcony Cabin Cabin Size

The size of Costa Smeralda’s balcony cabins are slightly larger than that of most cruise ships.

The majority of cruise ship balcony cabins measure roughly between 180 and 200 sq ft – our balcony cabin was 205 sq ft  – so a good size!

To learn more about how the size of cabins compare across cabin grades, check out this post: How Big Are Cruise Ship Cabins? 27 Examples, All Cabin Types

The cabin is made up of the following:

• A double bed
• Two small shelves by the bed
• A Desk
• A Chair
• A Sofa
• Drawers and Closet Space
• TV
• Phone
• Two Mirrors – one over the desk, one in the wardrobe
• Bin/Trash Can

This balcony cabin felt comfortable and spacious, and we were very happy in there

Cabin Design

The Costa Smeralda was built in 2019 and is quite modern in design.

Modern colours, design and soft furnishings were all around – in both the public spaces and the cabins.

(I was generally very impressed by the “upmarket feel” of the soft furnishings onboard, I felt that they had gone to a lot of effort.)

The artwork onboard was often a quirky take on Italian Renaissance paintings. Probably not to everyone’s taste but it’s impossible to have artwork that suits everybody. We liked them!

The cabin has two mirrors which I liked, one over the desk and a full-length one on the back of the wardrobe door

I LOVED The Beds

The beds were incredibly comfortable and we all slept well on the cruise. We were cruising with family and we all agreed that the beds were very comfortable.

The bedding felt of high quality and the pillows were very soft.

When we first arrived, there was only one pillow per person on the bed. We prefer to have two pillows each, so we spoke to the cabin steward, and when we returned later in the day, two more pillows had arrived. Very efficient.

The cabin steward came in and cleaned the room once a day, in the morning.

When we first arrived there was a welcome pack on the bed, giving us all the information that we needed. We also had a paper daily schedule.

Costa have an App that you can use onboard if you prefer. You don’t need to buy the ship’s Wi-Fi package to use it.

To find more details about cruise ship Apps, how to connect to them and what they can be used for, check out this article below:

You Don’t Need to Pay For Wi-Fi To Use a Cruise Line App – Here’s Why

There was plenty of room under the bed so we stored our suitcases there.

Which Plug Sockets are There In the Balcony Cabins On The Costa Smeralda?

In Costa Smeralda’s balcony cabins, there is a European plug socket with 2 USB’s by the desk area. There is also a European plug on one side of the bed, but no USB’s. Other cabin grades may have extra sockets.

If you are ever in doubt about which plug sockets a cruise ship has, check out this searchable table: Complete Cruise Ship Plug Socket Guide: Search by Ship.

On many modern cruise ships, you’ll find USB sockets by the beds, it would have been handier to have that – or at least a socket on each side of the bed.

There is no kettle, or tea and coffee-making facilities in the cabin. This is very typical of American and European cruise lines.

British cruise lines, and sometimes cruise lines sailing out of Great Britain (like MSC) often supply them, as they know how much the British appreciate being able to make a cup of tea!

The TV showed a variety of shows in multiple languages. There were quite a few news channels, we were also able to watch some documentaries.

The large flat-screen TV was on the wall at the foot of the bed. It was perfect for watching TV in bed – if you could find something of interest

Was There Enough Storage?

There were plenty of shelves and hanging space in the balcony cabin – but in my opinion, not enough drawers!

There were only 2 drawers in the cabin which were in the desk. There were no drawers at all in the wardrobe area – nowhere to put your socks or underwear!

The Bathroom was an Interesting Design!

The bathroom was designed very well to make the most of the available space. It had a toilet, sink and quite a large shower area. (This was far bigger than the standard, quadrant-type ship shower cubicles.)

The slightly odd thing about it was there was a glass window/panel in the shower itself.

This could be covered over with a curtain on the cabin side, if you didn’t wish to see your cabin mate in the shower or using the bathroom.

I think the idea of this was to get more natural light into the bathroom.

In actual fact, we just found it a little annoying. If you went into the bathroom during the night and switched the light on, the light around the curtain disturbed the person still in bed sleeping.

The shower itself did have a proper glass shower door, not a clingy shower curtain.

There was lots of storage in the bathroom. There were a couple of shelves in the corner, a whole bank of open shelves just inside the door, and extra storage below the sink area.

I personally loved the black and white tiled floor, and the large shower. Everything was always very clean and functioned well.

There was a silver pump bottle in the shower and another by the sink that I can only assume was a generic soap/body wash. It wasn’t labelled, so your guess is as good as mine – It smelt perfectly fine.

Often on cruise ships, you’ll find that the water from the shower leaks into the main bathroom, the bathroom floor did get a little wet, but it was never a problem.

Our Cabin was in the Middle of the ship, Near The top

The location of our cabin was in the middle of deck 15, just below the dome on deck 16.

Normally if you are towards the top of the ship, you are close to the buffet. On Costa Smeralda, the main buffet is on deck 8.

Quite a long way to go if you wanted something to eat. The main dining room for us was way down on deck 5 – ten floors away.

There is a “family restaurant” for those with children on deck 16, but we never went in there.

The sea was a little rough at times, and I did feel some movement in the cabin – although not enough to worry me or make me feel sick.

The “White Night Party” is held under the dome directly above this cabin. Unfortunately, this kept me awake!

Themed parties start around 11pm and carry on until around 1am in the morning.

Although many like to stay up late on cruises, I am not usually up partying late into the night!

Would I Recommend This Cabin?

It was a clean, comfortable room with a good-sized balcony.

It is very typical of many other cruise ship balcony cabins. The décor was modern and, like the whole vessel, had a “new ship” feeling about it. I would definitely recommend the cabin.

Things That I Wasn’t So Keen On

If I was choosing a cabin on this ship again, I would probably choose a balcony cabin lower down.

I would then be closer to the buffet and I would not have had any noise from the dome above.

I was not overly keen on the glass window in the shower although it wasn’t a problem.