Cabin Review

We booked an inside cabin on the Main Deck (5). Cabin 549 is situated very near the forward elevators and two decks below the Showroom at Sea, but we never experienced any disturbance from rehearsals nor from other passengers.

However, we did experience a great deal of early morning noise as the crew prepared for their work days. As frequent sailors we realise that a ship runs 24 hours a day, and her crew have duties to perform, but the 6:00 a.m. series of thumps, bangs and crashes was an unwelcome intrusion most mornings.

TIP: deck 5 is located quite low in the hull, so if you are prone to sea-sickness, it might be a good location (noises notwithstanding)! We could certainly feel the rolling and pitching as we headed south through a Force 8 gale, but the effects were much more noticeable on the upper decks. Some passengers were really ill on this trip, although free anti-nausea medications were available at the Front Desk.

Cabin 549 is very spacious and very conveniently arranged. There is plenty of storage space for hanging clothes and plenty of extra drawer space. Cabin stewards Gede and Eko are excellent—very amenable and very helpful. Individual chocolates appear with the nightly turn-down, and our stewards created a collection of amusing towel animals for us.

The bathroom is similarly large for a shipboard facility with open shelves rather than cabinets, and the shower stall did not feel cramped. TIP: the hot water in the shower is fiercely hot, and you can easily scald yourself if you are not careful. There is a sign at eye-level warning you to take care, but the temperature control in cabin 549 did not lend itself to micro-adjustments, so we recommend you adjust the water temperature carefully BEFORE you stand under the shower!

On our third day in port we noticed an unpleasant odour of garbage in the corridor on 5, and on the last day it had crept into our cabin through the ventilation system. A complaint to a senior officer solved the problem within an hour.