Cabin Review

Deluxe balcony felt a bit larger than the standard balcony stateroom we are used to. The good-sized loveseat was nice to have for watching TV rather than always sitting on the bed. The bed was very comfortable, firm but with a pillow-top so it did not feel hard. The décor is elegant and calming in neutral shades with dark green and black accent pillows. The refrigerator was the same as usual, plenty of room for the ice bucket, water, Perrier and beer. The drawer above the refrigerator has a fairly useless hair dryer but there was plenty of room for my own plus some other items. The room was very quiet – we did not hear any noise from the adjacent cabins. The TV on the wall is very large and clear with good viewing from either the bed or the loveseat. The live channels were mostly news & sports – we would have appreciated having The Weather Channel to keep track of the snowstorms at home though. The other programming is On Demand so you can watch a program at your convenience. There were comedy shows such as The Middle, dramas such as Bones & CSI, some Discovery channel programs and, of course, episodes of The Love Boat. We were able to watch some recent movies as well like Gravity and Captain Phillips. Some of the shows taped at Princess Live! were also available (more on that later). A nice feature was that you could pause a movie, go to dinner, and come back later and pick up where you left off.The open closet was very roomy with plenty of hangers. The shelf cabinet is a bit narrower than other ships and there is one less shelf but it was still adequate for a 7-day cruise. Our check-in suitcases fit perfectly under the bed and there was plenty of room on the upper shelf in the closet for our carry-on bags and other items.The bathroom is arranged differently than on other ships. A big plus is that the shower is larger with a hand-held shower and a ledge on one side that is convenient for shampoo bottles and putting your foot on for balance. We liked the larger sink and there was plenty of counter space and roomier corner shelves for storage. They had to take the extra shower space from somewhere so there isn’t much floor space when you step out of the shower. We found it was easier to stand in the shower to dry off. I measured the balcony – it’s 4 feet by 9-1/2 feet (38 sq ft). I never measured the balcony on any other ship (I will next time though) but to me the balcony felt about the same as those in standard balcony cabins on the Grand class ships. There was plenty of room for my husband and me to while away the hours enjoying the warmth (we are from the northeast) and watching the flying fish pop out of the water. However, this ship does not have the “wedding cake” design with larger protruding balconies on Caribe and Dolphin decks so the even the mini-suite balconies are all the same size with a few exceptions. Therefore, anyone used to the larger balconies on the Grand class ships may be disappointed.