Location, Location, Location—Pick Your Stateroom as You Would Your Home

What’s the perfect location for a stateroom on a cruise ship?

Well, that depends.

What would you look for in a home? How far it is from work? Is it near good schools? Where’s the closest supermarket? Is the neighborhood quiet?

On a cruise ship, it’s not too different. Maybe you want to know how close your room is to the dining room, buffet or pool. And how far are you willing to trek down that long lonesome hallway to get

somewhere? Does quiet matter?

How far are you willing to walk down this long lonesome hallway on Allure of the Seas?

One thing for sure—like with a home, where your bed is on a cruise ship can impact how happy you’re going to be. 

Decorations won't help if you pick the wrong place

So, you want to give some thought into what you want and time into planning. Here are a few tips on selecting a room:

Know what you want. Prioritize what you want to be close to, and then select a room that's nearest the elevator that will take you there. You don’t have to worry about elevator noise; I haven’t been on a ship yet where a room near the elevator is a problem. Elevators tend to be set away from staterooms.

If it’s quiet you’re after. To find the quietest rooms, avoid adjoining ones (which can draw families) and those across from inside rooms (slamming doors, folks hanging out in their doorways). Pick decks that don’t have these above or below: pools, buffets, restaurants, gyms, jogging track or discos.
 

If it's quiet you're after, don't get a room below the pool...

...or under decks like the Promenade on Navigator of the Seas

And when looking at deck plans, be sure to note empty spaces near rooms—they can be the crew’s linen closet or galley, which can mean a lot of activity early in the morning. Be careful too to avoid baggage areas and laundry rooms.

...or near laundry rooms like the ones on the Regal Princess

Steady as she goes. The parts of the ship with the least amount of movement tend to be mid-ship. If you don’t think location is important, check out how the prices vary—you’ll pay a premium for being in the middle of the ship. And these rooms tend to go faster.

Help for planning. Looking at deck plans can be as fun and easy as reading a camera manual. If you can even read the print (which gets smaller all the time!), it’s hard to know what you’re even looking at. Fortunately, the cruise lines generally have decent online versions. Also consider cruisedeckplans.com for an easier online experience.

Deciphering deck plans can be as fun as studying for finals

The last step. Say you’ve narrowed it down to an actual room, but you want to make sure it’s what you want. You can:

* Call the cruise line for information, but what you get may be limited

* Throw a question out on the cruisecritic.com boards; see especially Cruise Discussion Topics/Cabin Selection Tips

* Google the room number (including the ship name)

One last idea is to scout out the rooms and decks on Disembarkation Day. If you can spare a few minutes, note where you’d want to be—or don’t want to be—should you (hopefully) find yourself on the ship or same class of ship at some point in the future. 

Princess Preferred: A Review of the Caribbean Princess

A mouthful of luscious Love
from the Caribbean Princess

From the Norman Love truffle pops at the Welcome Toast to the restaurant-like beverage service in the buffet, Princess is filled with surprises that make it my favorite among the mass market cruise lines.

It won’t blow you away with bumper cars or carousels, but what it does deliver is consistently solid service, attention to detail and an eagerness to please.

The recent trip on the Caribbean Princess, our fourth on the line, proved to be as good as the first. With many of the lines noticeably scaling back, Princess is an exception. Here’s some of what made it special:

Ship shape. Princess’ mini-suite is ideal for those who want more space but not at a suite price. It’s essentially the size of a hotel room with two flat screen TVs, a full-sized couch, large counter, and porch furniture featuring reclining

A mini-suite is a perfect size but
doesn't come at a steep price

chairs, foot stools and a large table. The closets in the mini-suites—as well as the balcony rooms—are the largest we’ve had on any cruise line, and can accommodate three hanging shoe bags, along with a whole lot of clothes.

The staterooms—as well as the public rooms—were immaculate. You’d really have to look hard to find any evidence that the ship was built 11 years ago.

The piazza, the hub of ship activity, this trip featured a pianist, a we-can-play-just-about-anything band and singer, steel drums and a former circus performer who twirled lighted hoops in a blaze of 

A performance in the piazza

color and grace.

The only downside to the handsome piazza is that it can’t always accommodate everyone who wants to be there. Getting a good enough view to take photos of the Mardi Gras party or a seat to eat your International Café quiche can sometimes be all but impossible.

Food; themed and otherwise. Speaking of food, it ranged from fair to good, in both the Main Dining Room and Horizon Court buffet. One innovation in the MDR was Caribbean cuisine, a welcome reminder of where we were. And it was nice to see lobster tail still on the formal night menu.

Horizon Court themed nights were a lot of fun and we found ourselves there more than the MDR. German night was alight with a color-changing, larger-than-life beer stein (in ice, not on ice), landjagger bites and German hams, pretzel rolls, red cabbage, sausages, and linzer and sacher tortes. Italian night, with its gondolier-costumed waiters, served up prosciutto and hunks of parmesan, fennel au gratin and pasta many ways.



Part of the bread spread on German night

The bakery stuff is where Princess really excels. The breads are great—from the sunflower-studded rolls to the cheese-topped croissants to the onion-infused focaccia. The chocolate desserts were excellent, rivaling some of the best bakeries on land.

The ship was as generous with its buffet hours as it was with the food offerings. You can get breakfast until 11:30, lunch until 3:30 (if you miss this, there’s “afternoon snack” from 3:30-5:30, which is a scaled down lunch), and full dinner is available until 11. Late dining was an especially mellow meal, just us, a few other night owls and the crew.

Fun and games. While standard fare, the entertainment was generally good; highlights were a juggler/comedian whose not-G-rated shtick brought on belly laughs, and a magician/comedian with same-but-different sleight-of-hand tricks and fast wit.

In fact, everyone seemed to be a comedian on this trip—including the cruise director, Paul Chandler-Burns. The Brit’s quips shot out like sparks—in an understated, under-the-breath sort of way—and made him the ideal emcee. His banter during the “The Marriage Match Game Show” made it easily one of the best we’ve seen on any ship.
 

Love Boat disco

There were several themed parties, the most memorable was the “Love Boat Disco Deck Party” held by the pool. The ship’s singers and dancers, dressed officer-like in white pants suits and captain hats, did the hustle and other moves, while the Movie Under the Stars screen revived scenes from the TV show, interspersing its octogenarian cast members somewhat disconcertedly jiving to a disco beat.

Well served. Service onboard was attentive from the room steward to the well-orchestrated disembarkation. Ironically, some of the best service we had was in the buffet. One night, I was asked by three different waiters within 10 minutes if I wanted any water or coffee.

With the generous room space, great service, varied entertainment with plenty of laughs, satisfying food sprinkled with surprises, and four good Western Caribbean ports (seven days of sun didn’t hurt either), we felt gloriously pampered from ship to shore. And felt that Princess did its best—and succeeded—in helping us “come back new.”

Small talk: Princess Patter, the onboard newsletter, was named after the very first Princess cruise ship, the Princess Patricia.

 Photos by RJ Greenburg