Cabin Review

I booked one of the new studio balcony cabins as I was the single traveling with two other couples who had each booked D1's. The cabin itself was clean and definitely compact. As I am normally used to traveling in a JS or a D1 balcony, I found the storage space to be very limited. It is definitely tight in there as the comforter on the bed had to be pushed aside to close the one thin closet in the room that abuts the right side of the bed (it matches the size of the smaller of the two closets in a D! without the door racks). I was left with just leaving my shoes at the base -- the location of the cabin lighting makes looking for something at the base of the closet like a scavenger hunt. Note: you must close the closet door or you can not open the bathroom door (the bathroom door must be fully open in order to enter it if you are a large person as once open it leaves little room to pass between the bed and the door).The left side of the bed contains the other closet - which is not really a closet at all- from top to bottom - this is the configuration of three deep shelves, the top shelf allows for about 18 inches of clearance from top to bottom but which you need to be 6 feet plus to access it of pull the ottoman that serves as the only seating in the cabin over to it. Once there you need the arms of an orangutan to reach the back, so at best, you can store clothing in the front. The second shelf is at eye level and also allows for about 18 inches of clearance (I am 5'7") but you still need to remove any clothing in the front in order to reach anything behind it. The third shelf has about 6 inches of clearance and the only use I could find for it was to store two evening bags side by side - the height of the shelf made the back area essentially useless. The next shelf contained the safe and underneath it was what could have been another 18 high shelf but it was covered, presumably to allow maintenance an area to secure and if necessary, access the bolts that held the safe in place and to allow a small inset about 8 inches high next to the bed to put a clock or charge your phone/ipad. The "closet door" ends here. Below that are two 12 inch drawers. To the left of the bed there is a low cabinet which houses both a small drawer for the hairdryer and below that the refrigerator. The refrigerator was stocked with water and soda, leaving no room for anything else - the top of the cabinet was the area that Beverage used to pile the snacks, wine, and alcohol. It also contains the register for heat/air so there is little room for anything else. Even the box of tissues was in with the hairdryer. Your luggage, once emptied is stored under the bed alongside what appears to be additional bedding wrapped in plastic. Directly opposite this cabinet area is a small arc shaped vanity with mirror and along with that tiny alcove on the left side of the bed provides the only other plugs in the cabin. There appeared to be some type of plug in the ceiling of the bathroom over the shelves, but I was unable to get the cover opened. There is a small ottoman (approx. 18 in. round) that must be tucked into the corner when not in use it will interfere with opening the balcony door. There is one full length mirror in the room opposite the clothes closet.The bathroom in this room was the same size and contained the same layout as those in the D1. Again, being used to D1's and JS's on other RCCL ships, I found the shelves and countertop area to be very limited.The cabin lighting is designed to stay on with the use of the sea pass card. It must be placed in the slot in order to turn on any light in the cabin. This made for some interesting stories: one person I spoke to said his wife left the cabin one evening to do some shopping and removed her sea pass card upon exiting the cabin. He was in the shower fully soaped from top to bottom when the lights went out, leaving him no other choice than to rinse off in the dark, fumble for a towel, and then make his way in the dark to find his sea pass and insert it into the slot so he could turn on the lights. My experience was less dramatic: having returned from dinner, changed to less formal clothes and having left my card in my evening bag, I was forced to do the blind-man's walk across the cabin to retrieve my card. After that experience, I went to Guest Services and asked for a second card to leave in the slot. Apparently, this type of issue must have been occurring fairly regularly as Guest Services had large stacks of blank sea pass cards from which they were handing one to anyone who asked for it. I kept mine as I am booked on four more Quantum Class sailings. If you plan on sailing either Quantum or Anthem, get a spare blank card a.s.a.p.The bed is a full sized one and is more than adequate. The TV is directly opposite he bed but do to technical difficulties many of the options were not available. I was unable to access my account and several other features four out of the eight days on board.The balcony for this cabin larger than others, deep, sheltered from the wind and rain, and contained to lounge chairs and a small table -- really the best feature of this solo cabin. Though it can be booked for two, I would not recommend it as you would find yourself needing to climb over each other and things to get around.