Cabins are standard Carnival offerings (which means they are well-sized for a mega-ship). There are 444 verandah cabins (185 square feet with 35- to 75-square-foot balconies), 327 standard oceanview cabins (185 square feet [with a few larger 220-square-foot versions]) and 530 inside cabins (185 square feet). The decor features peach bedding, a red pleather couch, and Formica closets and drawers -- the absurdly comfortable beds trump any questionable design elements. Bathrooms in all categories have showers, a hair dryer and a medicine cabinet. Carnival includes free toiletry/amenity kits; ours included disposable razors, soap, shampoo and conditioner, breath mints, emergen-C energy booster and a Binaca-like Listerine product.
All cabins have TV's, radio, phones, and an adequate amount of closet and drawer space. Most have twin beds that can be converted to a king upon request. Although we kept our beds separated, a nice feature of Carnival cabins is that their beds are genuine twins, so instead of combining to form a queen as on most other lines, you have a king-size bed. TV channels include CNN, Fox News, a music video station, a Carnival station (replays of your cruises' Match Game and Newlywed (Not So) Newlywed Show, as well as port excursion overviews by cruise director), and a channel dedicated to Carnival Corp. advertising.
You'll also be relieved to hear that the towel animals remain a Carnival mainstay. My traveling companion was enamored of the towel animals to the point where suspicions arose. Be it the elephant bunny mutant, the seal with bifurcated tail doing a split (transformed into manta ray with a flick of the wrist), or the hanging monkey with sun glasses, Greg insisted on each animal's preservation, even in the event that we ran out of towels for shower use. (That never happened -- thanks Leslie the room steward.) Each night I was forced to waste valuable camera memory on said creatures.
If you need anything ironed or laundered you can simply point out what needs doin' to your cabin steward. Be sure to check the rate sheet prior to requesting this service; we paid $13 to have four items ironed (three shirts at $3 each, one pair of pants at $4). We also shelled out $15 to have a sack of laundry cleaned and folded (no jeans or dress shirts allowed). There are six small self-use coin-laundry rooms (with irons for use) if you're a self-motivated type.
I think our room was directly below one of the kitchens of the Mediterranean Dining room, as we could hear what sounded like carts rolling back and forth above us until about 1 am every night....continue
This room was perfect for us. Plenty of space, clean, worked for our family of 3. We only heard noise once from the "storage rooms" for the stewards and room service across the hall. It was a wonderful proximity to the elevators and stairs and a perfect location in between...continue
