Cabin Review

The good: THE GOOD:

The closet had many hangers and had ample space. The safe in the closet also was roomy (could even comfortably fit my laptop width) for my precious belongings. The bed had two USB outlets just above our heads, in the middle of the bed. We really appreciated this so we could charge our phones while sleeping. If I was to be nitpicky, I only wish they positioned them on the opposite sides of the beds, so the cords wouldn't be obstructively behind our pillows. The shower pressure was good enough, considering it had a handheld head. There was a large coffee table between the couch and bed, which provided more than enough space for the room service tray. The TV was helpful with cruise information, and being able to see our entire updated room bill balance, but this is something I've expected from every cruise.

The balcony had two comfortable, clean chairs and a table between them, which was nice if you wanted to enjoy a drink outside. The A/C worked great, as it was quieter than a whisper and cooled down the room in no time. Finally, our steward (Agus) was SO nice, helpful, and accommodating. He asked us the day we arrived what time (9am-12pm or 6pm-9pm) we would prefer for cleaning for every day. Because our plans were up in the air each day, we bounced back-and-forth between the two service times, and he affably adjusted to get it done. Also, I would ask him in the morning for something extra when he serviced the room later (for example, a couple of large trash bags) and he would always remember to bring those items. And (like on many cruises) the towel animals he put on the bed after servicing the room were so cute and creative.

THE BAD:

The room had some typical space limitations that many average cabins tend to have. By that, I mean the entranceway was cramped, as were the closets that, when opened, prevented you from moving to the bathroom or entrance door. This also left very little space for us to put our large luggage. Every hotel, motel, and cruise I've been on, at the very least, provide bar soap, shampoo, & conditioner for their guests. This bathroom only had bar soap and two pre-filled liquid dispensers hanging on the shower wall for shampoo and body wash; no conditioner. The basin of the white toilet was horrendously stained in a shade of black, which suggested it wasn't cleaned, even though I know Agus did clean it every day.

The standup shower space was limited, but I've gotten used to that on almost all cruises. Of the two trashcans in the room, none came with liners. This was awkward when we wanted to throw out some small, messy food items, as well as our "flushable" butt wipes, as you can't throw anything but toilet paper in these toilets. The only outlet in the bathroom was positioned more than 6 feet high, at the top of the sink area, which thankfully was fine for my fiancé’s hairdryer, which had a long cord, but not for my electric toothbrush charger. Finally, the only time we actually wanted to watch TV was to kill about an hour of time before dinner, and the channel lineup was off. Of the many channels listed, we just wanted to watch the Food Network, and it was the Travel Channel.

THE UGLY: The bed was horrendous. Many cruise cabins don't have a natural king bed, so they combine two twins; this I've been used to. But the quality of the mattresses was horrible. They were overly soft and were one small step above the cheap dorm mattresses in college. What made things worse is the first night there were no pillowcases, so we had to sleep on just the pillow protectors. The next morning Agus assured us he received more clean pillowcases so we could sleep like any guest in any hotel/cruise room.

Also, the sheets covering the two twin beds didn't hold securely, so sometime in the middle of each night, I started sleeping on the mattress pad. There was only one room phone (which is fine) but it was located across the room, so just to talk on it meant I had to get out of bed. Now, I'm not lazy, but when you have a really fun night and are low on sleep, the last thing you want to do is being woken up and having to get out of bed to answer the phone three separate times because two different rooms with the same family called the wrong room. It also makes it harder to fall back asleep when you have to get out of bed. Most normal cruises and hotels put the phone on the nightstand, next to the bed.

Finally, and I can't believe I'm complaining about this, we had too much hot water. By that I mean the sink water was always way too hot and, even if you turned it on with the handle turned already positioned to the coldest setting, it would come out scalding hot and take at least a minute before it started to get colder and almost two minutes before it got to the coldest temperature. This made washing our hands and cooling down our faces with the washcloth an unnecessarily lengthy process every time.