My next cruise is getting ever closer and I am starting to have flashbacks to what a five-week cruise was like the last time my friend and I had an inside cabin.
Usually, I am more than content with my onboard space, however, in 2012 my friend and I embarked on a 35-night cruise and as usual I just booked us an inside cabin. I know some people really like to have a view to the outside world, need the space of a bigger balcony cabin for kids, or have the money to splash out on a suite, but for me, an inside cabin suffices…until I start going beyond a 16-night cruise.
Shopping Madness
During the epic Caribbean adventure, we managed to go shopping in just about every single port, the cabin was already full with our clothes, shoes, toiletries and so on before we even left Southampton, so to then add 5 weeks of shopping into that mix became a bit of a squeeze, but I have to admit that it was fun! Our cabin really took on a life of its own and it was no longer just our cabin, it was our floating home.
On this cruise, we have just as many ports and the one that caused the biggest shopping issue last time, Cozumel. Everything is so cheap there, so it was incredibly easy to just keep buying things for myself and gifts for friends and family back home. I must force myself this time to not buy everything I see and I mean that quite literally. See, it’s so easy to keep buying because there are no baggage restrictions…they really don’t make it easy for us, do they!
I think we had things stored in just about every free space within the cabin. We even managed to take over the small gap between the safe and the shelf above it – that’s how serious things became. Our cabin steward must have hated coming to our door. There was no surface area, anywhere! I have to admit though that even with limited space to breath, let alone move, our cabin was always clean and tidy and he never missed a spot that needed a dust or clean. He clearly took great pride in his job.
Do some research on your accommodation
I suppose the moral of my blog today, is to say that you really do need to give your onboard accommodation some good thought and research before you book. Even now, I am still quite happy to have an inside cabin on a long cruise, but for some it really would be a nightmare. If you think you will need extra space then just book the bigger cabin, save yourself the hassle of humming and haring and just go with the decision. Yes, you are going to pay more money for more space, but on longer voyages it really is worth the added expense.
Please wish me luck…wish us both luck because we are going to need it! I will update you, upon my return, on how things went.
Image credits: Prayitno, Anne Worner, Roderick Elme
