Cabin Review

We had chosen an aft cabin on deck 11 (Barbados deck - B 749) and we were really happy with this. Our location at the rear of the ship ensured us peace and tranquillity but it was as far away from everywhere as was possible, so a lot of extra walking was necessary. The cabin was quite spacious and we were delighted with our extra large and extremely private balcony, which must have measured at least 3m x 3m. On the balcony we had 2 reclining chairs and a small table, as well as a foot rest. Our location at the rear corner of the ship ensured that we only had a neighbour on one side of us but were totally separated from them by a high smoked-glass wall.

Inside the cabin we had twin beds with individual bedside tables, a desk unit with a cupboard and a chair, another chair and a small unit that held the mini-fridge. Above this unit was the fairly small flat-screen TV and on top of the unit was the tea-making area with the kettle, the mugs and the box that held the tea-bags etc. We drank a lot of tea in our cabin and our steward looked after us well and kept the box refilled with tea-bags and milk pots for us every day. The milk pots were ridiculously small and a minimum of 2 of these were necessary for each mug of tea. We had brought some of our own teabags but these were not needed as the tea that was supplied was Twinings Everyday Tea.

The clothes storage area was excellent as it was away from the main bedroom, behind a wall and added the luxury of a dressing area as well as offering plenty of storage. We had the usual set of fixed hangers but also had about 20 other hangers that people must have left behind and a very long hanging rail that was long enough for the clothes of 4 people. There was also a tall cupboard unit with 5 shelves and a safe.

The shower room was located right opposite the hanging area and was totally private. As the shower room was extremely small, it could have been laid out better for improved usage. The shower tray was tiny and had a curtain rather than a shower screen. The shower head itself was fixed and located quite low down on the wall. This was fine for someone who is only 5 foot 3 inches tall but how someone who is 6 foot tall would manage, I have no idea. With such a limited space, the shower head should have been detachable, so that difficult-to-reach body parts could be properly showered off. A fixed shower head in such a small area ensured that only your head actually got a good showering!! There was nowhere to put your own toiletries inside the shower cubicle other than a tiny ledge that was only large enough for miniature bottle of shampoo or something. There was a soap dispenser fixed to the wall but most women prefer to use their own products, so a suitable ledge would have been an advantage – plus a couple of hooks to hang things on.

This lack of forethought also applied to other areas of the bathroom. The toilet roll holder was located right to the left of the toilet and as the toilet was wedged into a triangular corner of the room, this made access to the toilet paper difficult, being wedged under your left thigh! Why was it not located in front of the toilet, on the opposite side of the vanity unit to the tissue dispenser? Or even replacing the plastic bag dispenser that was for the disposal of personal hygiene items? After all, 85% of P & O passengers must be over 60 and no longer have any use for such things! The shelving unit located to one side of the mirror only had a small rail running about 1.5 inches above each shelf. This ensured that all the little tubes of creams etc. that are designed specially for holiday use, can fall easily through the space below the rail. Why could this have not been a closed cupboard unit? Some people like to keep their toiletries out of sight!

The bath towels were great but the small towels were not much use at all. Most women like to wrap a towel round themselves after a shower and another towel round their head when they have washed their hair. Hard to do with a towel that is only slightly larger than a face flannel! There were 2 straight pegs on the back of the bathroom door but they were no good for hanging a towel up after use as the towels just fell on the floor. The hooks were only suitable for hanging up an item of clothing that had a hanging tag on it. Why weren’t they made suitable for hanging up towels on, so that these could air off and not have to go back onto the tiny rail that they are hung on when fresh? One person uses their towel and then replaces it after use, ensuring that the other towel is now made damp from the first one. We are supposed to be considerate regarding the amount of laundry that we produce, so I am happy to use my towels more than once but the lack of hanging space in the bathroom made this difficult.

There was a pretty good selection of movies on the TV in the cabin but apart from objecting having to pay £2.99 to watch something that should have been included in the hefty price of the cruise, the TV’s are far too small to actually watch movies on if you’re sitting on the beds. If we were talking blockbuster movies on a larger TV that was located opposite the beds and not tucked away high in the corner over the tea-making facilities, then they might be considered better value.

The general information available on the TV was obviously aimed at cruises in the Caribbean as the weather forecasts were for places like Miami and never once showed any of the Baltic destinations that we were actually visiting. The excursion information was also not geared to the places that we were visiting. Surely it can’t be difficult to make a recording of the actual places that each cruise was visiting and show that during the cruise. I got quite fed up with learning about what I could go and see in Rome and how hot it was in Cancun! Lack of attention to detail perhaps?