We have cruised with P&O a couple of times before and this was a fairly last-minute decision to go to Norway to see the fjords. We decided to see whether the most basic inside cabin would work for the three of us (me, husband, teenager). Firstly, the cabins look great - the decor is modern and stylish and the shower particularly is well-designed and easy to use. The sofa bed is very firm but quite comfortable and is just about big enough.

Embarkation and disembarkation were handled pretty well. We never try to eat breakfast on the last morning, as everywhere tends to be jammed, but I suspect we probably could have done on this occasion as passengers' movements seemed to be well-managed.

Cabin downsides: it's really very small. It's not just that there isn't enough room to get to the far side of the bed without limboing under the tv, it's also that there is only enough space between the bed and the bathroom to open the bathroom door, plus about 2cm. This means you have to knock on the bathroom door when you want to come out, in case someone is sitting on the bed and is about to get their knees removed by the door. With 3 people the cabin felt like one of those puzzles where you want to move from A to B, but have to move 6 other pieces systematically out of the way first.... There was also very little storage, so even somewhere to put the sofa bed back cushions overnight or the pillows during the day was a challenge. There was a little wardrobe and a tall cupboard plus a couple of open shelves above the tea and coffee making bit, which was big enough for a kettle, 3 mugs and 2 glasses and that was pretty much it. We also couldn't really get to the fridge or kettle because the only place to put the tiny coffee table was in front of them. With 3 people in the cabin it felt very claustrophobic and completely airless. It was also difficult to keep the room cool enough, even with the temperature turned all the way down. It didn't help that we were a LONG way from fresh air or daylight, being on deck 12. Honestly, I felt quite uncomfortable and suffocated a lot of the time. I think an inside cabin would work if you have virtually no luggage (we had 3 small and 1 medium case, so 1 of the small cases fitted inside the medium one), there's only 1 or 2 of you, or you're going to spend virtually no time in the cabin other than to sleep and shower. The shower is great by the way, and beds were ok - bit too soft for my taste, but fine for a lot of people. The cabin wasn't very clean and when we arrived, there were things left in the fridge from the previous guests. Not great... We met our cabin steward exactly twice - once when we checked in and once when I had to track him down to tell him the shower wasn't draining (the problem was sorted quickly). The rooms were given a basic clean each day, but unfortunately they spray powerful air-freshener in the cabin so it smelled unpleasantly of chemicals if we returned to the cabin with 2-3 hours of it being cleaned. Read more