I Stayed in 8 Of The Most Controversial Cruise Ship Cabins

I’ve stayed in some of the best and some of the worst cabins on cruise ships, many with features I never expected to find at sea.

I was surprised to realise that the worst weren’t the cheapest and the best were rarely the most expensive.

From windows that go nowhere to questionable decor, strange illusions to bathrooms with no privacy, I’ve tried them all.

Some impressed me, and others left me wondering why a cruise line would ever make this choice. 

Most of these cabins I didn’t choose. The majority were randomly assigned to me, and some of them were actually considered cabin upgrades.

That means that a person taking a cruise could end up in one of these without meaning to.

I’ll start with the strangest, cheapest cabin, and I’ll work my way up, getting to the more expensive ones.

In theory, the cabins should get better, but that wasn’t always the case.

I’ll let you know where I’d place each cabin on the scale of “I loved this room and would pay extra for it” to “I would pay extra to not be given this room again”.

There’s only one cabin I’d pay extra for. 

A couple of these I definitely wouldn’t book again, but some are hidden gems. 

The first cabin on this list was a cabin type you won’t find on the majority of cruise ships. Inside cabins are usually just metal boxes with a bed at one end and a bathroom at the other.

There is no natural light at all, the biggest downside for me of inside cabins is that you don’t know if its 3 am or 3 pm, it’s hard to get up in the morning and you don’t know what the weather is like outside.

Most are around 15 square metres, which is roughly the same size as half a bus, and I have shared this space with 3 other people before. 

When I saw that Royal Caribbean had something called a “Virtual Balcony”, I knew that I had to give it a go.

I knew that this could fix that daylight problem if it worked, but I’d also read a lot of reviews saying that it was more trouble than it was worth. It only cost £40 more per person than a standard inside though, which is $53 US dollars. 

The view was a live feed of outside, meant to trick you into thinking you had a balcony cabin, but it wasn’t on the same wall as the direction the feed came from.

We never found a way to turn off the screen during our cruise, but when we shut the curtains, the small amount of light didn’t bother us.

One thing that did bother me was the towel monkey that scared me so much when I walked into the bathroom. It was dark in there, of course, so it felt like the monkey came out of nowhere. (Have a look at that in the video below)

I loved being able to see what the weather was like outside; that was the main benefit for me. I certainly wouldn’t pick it over a real oceanview or balcony cabin, but it was good fun.

It helped me to wake up more gradually, too, as the screen got brighter. This is the only cabin in the list I’d pay extra for.

Have a look at that cabin here:

Helping with the daylight problem worked better in this cabin than in my next inside cabin, which you wouldn’t expect, because that one actually had a window.

I know that sounds ridiculous, an inside cabin with a window, but it is true.

I took a cruise with Cunard onboard the Queen Mary 2, and we sailed from New York to Southampton. I booked an inside cabin, and I picked what is called an “Atrium View” cabin. 

I hoped that this would make the room feel more spacious and that it would be fun.

But because the atrium lights were always on, it didn’t have regular window benefits. There was, of course, no lovely view of the ports or the ocean either. But I wasn’t expecting that.

We were right above a piano that played itself, and given that we had some really bad weather on this cruise, I was grateful for the cabin’s location.

The central location was definitely more important to me than the window.

It was fun to wave down into the atrium, but I never saw any of my fellow atrium cabin friends. I kept checking, but their blinds were always closed. 

I’d rate this cabin as one I’d be happy to have again, but wouldn’t pay extra for. 

Have a closer look at it here:

My next cabin also had a window that didn’t look outside, but this one was one-way privacy glass.

I very, very rarely saw anybody out this window. Occasionally, the housekeeping team, or somebody would walk by, but there were no pianos or choirs like there were on Queen Mary 2. 

The only people who were in this corridor also had solo cabins, so they didn’t need to look in, anyway.

If I didn’t have a solo cabin, I’d definitely want a look, though, because they are the smallest cabins at sea and so cleverly designed. 

The ship I was on was Norwegian Breakaway. These little cabins have everything that you need in a really small space, they have a toilet in it’s own little room, a shower on the other side, and a bed.

The storage was really cleverly designed, and this is probably the only cabin on the list where I felt like I got exactly what I expected.

I did scare myself in the shower when I accidentally saw my own reflection in the room, but I only did that once, and from that point on, I was all good.

Have a look at that clever solo cabin here:

The bed was very comfortable. It would have been even better if this cabin had a real window that went outside, but having a window definitely doesn’t automatically mean a cabin is good, as I learnt in the next room. 

This is the cabin I had on a river cruise with Uniworld, and the decor was unbelievable!

I’ll do my best to describe it. Imagine the busiest pattern you’ve ever seen, something you might see decorating a tea cosy in your Gran’s house.

Take that pattern and put it on all of the walls, on the wardrobe, on the door, on the chair and on the bed for good measure. That’s it.

The walls were slightly padded, too, and the water would come up and over the windows. 

I think the word to describe this cabin is bold. I didn’t mind the pattern honestly, when my eyes were closed I slept very well.

For me though, the fact that the two twin beds didn’t even move one inch apart was annoying. 

This was a river cruise, and space is at more of a premium than on ocean ships. The air conditioning was great, and as we cruised around Venice in July, it was much needed. The humidity was something else entirely. 

We couldn’t open the windows, of course because that would risk flooding in the whole ship.

The water did splash over the window when we were sailing, and the whole room would go dark. I thought it was quite fun, but I do understand why this would make some people feel claustrophobic.

I’m going to rate this room as I’d pick another, more plain cabin if it was the same price, but I wouldn’t pay extra to avoid the room.

I even wore my best 70s trousers for 70s night, because at this point, why not add more patterns?

Have a closer look at that Uniworld cabin here:

I’m happy to say that in the next cabin, we could get fresh air in what was basically sold as a balcony cabin. It wasn’t in the way that you are expecting, though. We didn’t open a door and go outside. 

This cabin is considered an upgrade on a standard balcony cabin. The ship I was sailing on was Celebrity Edge. This is what is called an “Infinite Veranda” cabin. 

Instead of going outside on to your balcony, the window comes down, and it opens up the room to create a balcony area.

One end of the cabin is the balcony area, and this is one of the most controversial cabins on any cruise ship. Some people love it, some people hate it.

We really enjoyed sitting here, and when you could have the window open and could feel the breeze, it certainly was nice.

The problem that I had with this one, though, was that because it’s all one space, it’s not like one person can get up early and go sit on the balcony. if they want to open the blinds, the whole room will be in daylight.

When the weather gets bad too, they will lock the windows, and they did on our cruise – even though it really didn’t feel like bad weather to me.

It felt as though I had a very nice opening oceanview cabin, rather than a balcony.

I definitely wouldn’t consider this an upgrade over the standard balcony, and I’d just pick the normal balcony. Even if it cost extra, I’d pay it. The rest of the room was lovely though, and I really enjoyed the ship. 

Have a closer look at that cabin here:

The next cabin that I booked did have its own outside space.

If you look at the design, it looks like a standard balcony cabin. The space was there, there were no weird patterns, no big windows, but our cabin faced inside the ship.

When I booked this cabin, I booked a guaranteed balcony cabin. I didn’t know where I would be assigned, but I knew that the oceanview balcony cabins did cost extra.

The ship I was sailing on was MSC World Europa, and I really wanted to see what would be happening in the inside area of the ship. 

It definitely did take some getting used to, but even from here I had a pretty cool view of the ocean.

I stayed on a similar Royal Caribbean ship where the oceanview at the back was almost entirely blocked, so I did prefer this one.

The cabin space was great, and the curtains were good. When I was out here, I was very aware that I was on show for everybody, but I quite enjoyed the people-watching.

The cabin itself had an interesting sideways layout, and the location wasn’t bad. We were quite far towards the back, but we didn’t have too bad weather and didn’t notice a lot of movement.

We did miss a port due to the weather, but I think that because we missed it and didn’t go into the bad weather, we had a pretty smooth ride. 

MSC didn’t have a lot of events down here, so although we could hear whatever was happening, it felt like most things were happening further into the ship.

One exception to that was the silent disco, which definitely wasn’t silent. It was so funny. 

Watch that in the video below:

I would pick an ocean-view-facing balcony over this one if they were the same price, but for the price I paid, I was very happy.

These cabins were quite a bit cheaper, and it was really clear to me what I was getting when I booked the room, even though I didn’t pick the cabin’s specific location. It told me that I could get a cabin here.

If the next cabin on the list also did that, it would have changed my final decision. 

The next cabin on my list did face the ocean, so you’d think that that would be an improvement. For many people, it would be, but for many others, it would be their worst nightmare.

This cabin was advertised as an upgrade, and I booked a standard balcony cabin. I was ‘upgraded’ into this room, and although the room is bigger and really nice, it comes with a catch. 

The cabin is called a “Conservatory Suite”, and I was onboard P&O’s Iona (although there are other ships that also have similar cabins). 

The big benefit of this cabin is the extra conservatory area, but the drawback for many is that the cabin’s balcony is basically on the promenade deck.

It almost felt like there should be a gate so that we could get straight down there. I was sharing the cabin with two other people, so I really appreciated all of the space, and the room was really nice.

If you were standing on the balcony, people would stop to chat, and you could even pat people on the head as they were sitting on the promenade deck.

The hot tubs were out here, and I heard some very strange noises when I was recording one day.

I’ll let you watch that video if you want to hear that. On YouTube, I can see when people rewind and watch certain parts of a video, and you loved that bit for some reason. 

Have a look at that video here:

There wasn’t a lot of privacy on this balcony, and I’d definitely pay more to have a balcony cabin that was on a different deck. One with a clear view of the ocean. 

Even if you have that, though, it doesn’t mean that you are safe from weird cabins. I booked a cruise on Costa Smeralda and had no idea that all of the balcony cabins had a strange feature. This doesn’t exist in the inside cabins. 

In this cabin, you aren’t on show to the general public, like in the P&O cabin, but I did find something interesting in the shower, which meant that you might be on show if you choose to be. 

On the deck plans, this cabin looks totally normal, it’s a good size, the decor is fun, the balcony faces the ocean, and there is nothing in the way between it and the sea.

That fixes all of the issues of the other cabins, but what I didn’t expect, and I’m sure you wouldn’t expect either, is that the bathroom wall, the one that goes between the shower and the main cabin, is glass.

I know this is very trendy in modern hotels – but I did find it really strange that the curtain is on the outside.

I’m sure some people would see this as a big benefit, though, and that is the main thing I’ve learnt through staying in all of these cabins. There “is a lid for every pot” as they say… 

Have a look at my Costa Smeralda cabin here:

Most cabins have some sort of quirk, whether it’s the design, the location, or something actually within the room.

The most important thing is to find a cabin where the things that annoy other people are actually things that you want.

For example, if you are somebody who likes to spend your time in the pub and you smoke, the cabin I had on a recent Marella cruise would be perfect, it was right above a smoking area and the nightclub.

It had a cabin layout I’ve never seen on a cruise before, but the weird layout worked really well for me as I was cruising with a friend.

Check out this video next to see what it was like staying in an aft cabin and to see how we fixed the problems that did come up.

Before You Go

Find out why booking a cheap inside cabin can be a smart choice here:

Why Booking The Cheapest Cabin Might Mean A Smoother Cruise

Find out why you are unlikely to get a free cabin upgrade when you cruise here:

Why You’re (Probably) Not Getting A Free Cabin Upgrade