Cabin Review

I had sailed a transatlantic cruise about 2 years earlier on the Fascinosa in a Samsara class cabin which is why I booked the Samsara class on this minicruise. Samsara cabin occupants had a dedicated dining room that was far superior to the MDR and alone justified the higher cost IMO (not to mention access to the restricted Spa facilities). I was soon to find out that as the result of a recent policy change even Samsara occupants are now required to pay $28.50 pp to dine in the "Samsara" restaurant. I found that out only after dining there the first night of the cruise.

My inside Samsara cabin had a bed that was situated so close to a wall and desk that getting out of bed on that sde meant squeezing through an uncomfortably narraw space. Bad. Our flat screen TV (about 26 inches) was located as far from the head of the bed as possible making viewing a bit strained but that turned out to be unimportant because there was very limited programming and what there was, was not unexpectedly, in Spanish (or Portugues).There was sufficient closet and drawer space for a mini cruise, but I doubt it would have been comfortably sufficient for a longer cruise.

The shower pressure in the bath was low which was a minor annoyance, but oddly there was no hair conditioner or shampoo. My girlfriend has hair like Shakira so conditioner is an absolute must. I have never been on a ship, much less in a supposedly superior cabin class like Samsara, where shampoo and hair conditioner was not supplied. I had to call guest services twice to get some little bottles delivered to the cabin. Not sure if this was SOP or our steward simply forgot to place the bottles in our bathroom. Bad.

When we went to the dedicated Samsara spa we were told by reception there that in order to get robes we had to ask our room steward. Subsequently, our room steward told us to get the robes at the spa. Hello? I was now beginning to entertain some doubts about this cruise. Another call to guest services resolved the matter.