Which Cabin - an Overview

 Our balcony cabin on the Carnival Spirit. I think this is cabin 6194.

 Balcony went the width of the cabin.  Nice.  Carnival Spirit balcony is covered.  Some ships have a wedding cake style which leaves some balconies uncovered.  Be sure to check if a covered balcony is important to you.   Had a door not a sliding door out onto the balcony.  Balcony only had chairs and a table but no chaise lounger.   Even when we had the mini-suite we had chairs and foot rests, but no chaise.

 A couple of photos of the cabin bathroom with its tiny shower.   Pretty standard size whether inside, oceanview, or balcony on the Carnival Spirit.   Mini Suites and above have much larger bathrooms.  Our mini-suite had a jetted bathtub with shower.

So you have decided to take a cruise, which cabin will be right for you.  I found an article today that I think you may find beneficial if you are having a tough time deciding.

Choosing Your Cabin


Personally, we have cruised in inside cabins, oceanview cabins, balcony cabins, and even a mini-suite.  Here's some of my observations:

Inside Cabin:  WOW, is the cabin dark with all the lights off ... but that is great if you want to take a quick nap in the middle of the dark so you can party all night ... LOL.  It was funny, as we walked into the cabin, there was an area with a window drape on it which appeared to be closed.  Peeking behind the drape, we discovered the wall!!!  Cabin was the same size as the other standard cabins.

Oceanview Cabin:  Two small portholes that we had to stand on the bed to see out of.   This was back in 1986 on our first cruise.  Was nice to have a window tho.  Portholes do NOT open.

Balcony Cabin:   We now choose the balcony cabin the most often.   I like to have fresh air in the cabin as I have allergies.   Nice to be able to go out on the balcony and sit and watch the world go by and just relax.   We do use our balcony a great deal.  If you are just using the cabin to sleep in, don't need the fresh air in the cabin then save the $ and go with an inside or oceanview cabin.


Mini Suites:  On Carnival, these were 1 1/2 times the size of the balcony cabin.   Very nice.  Splurged when we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and my sister was on the cruise with her family.  Both families got mini-suites and we were next door to each other.  Had the staff open the balcony divider and we had one HUGE balcony for the 5 of us.     So nice.


NOTE:  On many ships the number of balcony dividers is limited because of fire regulations.

 On the Mariner of the Seas (RCCL), we had a corner AFT balcony cabin.  It was cabin #9390.  We absolutely loved being on the back of the ship.   The balcony allowed us to look down the side of the ship and across the back.   Cabin size was the same as Carnival.   Both had a sofa/love seat.

  We have noticed with Princess that the balcony cabins have a chair not a sofa.

 Looking out on our balcony.  This cabin has a unique HUGE porthole shaped window.

 Part of our balcony.  We had a chair, table and 2 chaise loungers.

 Had a door not a sliding door out onto the balcony.

 Our gorgeous view from our balcony.   LOVED IT.

 Hal is having fun.   This shows how HUGE the window area was, place that the ledge to it was wide enough for someone to sit there.

 This is a handicap accessible cabin on the Mariner of the Seas (RCCL).  Cabin #2320.  This is an oceanview cabin.   The handicap accessible cabins are much larger.  PLEASE do not reserve one unless you truly need it.   There are so few HA cabins on each ship.

 Bed can be split apart and made into two singles.

 Photos above of the HA cabin bathroom.   Lots of space to move around and get into with a wheelchair.

 Vanity area of the HA cabin.

Jackie showing us how easy it was for someone using a wheelchair to access the clothes in the closet.  There is a rod and the rack pulls down to a lower level.

If you need additional information on HA cabins, here's a great thread with many photos.  The thread is on Cruise Line Fans website.

This is a mini suite on the Carnival Spirit.  It is about 1 1/2 times the size of the regular balcony cabin.  We had a sofa and an side chair too with coffee table.

My sister and I relaxing on the balcony by their cabin.

This photo was taken at about the 1/2 way mark.   We had the divider opened.  This photo shows the depth (from wall to railing) and the length of one balcony for a mini-suite.

Our balcony view if we looked down at the railing.  That's a lifeboat you see to the left.  Sitting on the balcony, we only saw the horizon (never the lifeboats).

Have a wonderful cruise whichever cabin size you choose.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. This is a personal blog about information cruising to Hawaii. All opinions posted by me are my personal opinion. This blog is not sponsored or endorsed by any company or individual.