What are the steps you need to take to make sure you get an amazing cabin on
your next cruise? I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my tips for
travellers. A lot of people tell me they're not that bothered about the
cabin they get when they go on a cruise, because they just use it to sleep in or
to get ready to go out. However, that all changes when people have a terrible
cabin experience. So, I want to talk about the five steps you need to take to
ensure that you get cabin heaven - not cabin hell. The first step is to book a
fare which allows you to choose a specific cabin, rather than a guaranteed
cabin fare. What's the difference between the two? If you've booked a
guaranteed cabin that means you're simply buying a grade. You
might book an inside cabin, ocean view, balcony or a suite. The cruise
line then decides which specific cabin to allocate you, and they normally
allocate that close to the cruise going once they know which cabins are
available. You have no say over the specific cabin in that grade that you're
going to get. If you book a fare that allows you to choose a cabin it will
often be a slight premium to a guaranteed cabin, but the premium is not
always that great. However, you then can choose a very specific cabin. If you
want to make sure that you get a great cabin, choosing a fare where you choose
the cabin is always going to give you a greater chance of getting a great cabin.
Remember with a guaranteed cabin fare the cruise line will allocate you a
cabin and you have no say over how good or bad, or where, that cabin is going to
be. The second step, once you have control over choosing cabin, is to
look at the deck plans of a ship (either online, in the brochure or by talking
to your cruise agent) and focus on cabins that are midships. This is in the
middle of the ship, and a couple of advantages to that: first of all,
midships means that you're always going to be close to the various activities
and the facilities. You are not at the front of the ship or the back of the ship so
you don't have those long distances to go. You'll normally find that it's a
great location to get to the various facilities wherever they are on the ship.
Secondly, and probably more importantly,
this is where you're going to have the least amount of motion. If
you're worried about seasickness or motion sickness, being in the middle of
the ship is the best part to be because when a ship moves it moves on the
axis, with the midship being the midpoint. AS the ship moves up and down the
middle stays pretty constant, and the front and the back of the ship move the
most. So, you're going to have the least amount of motion there. If you are
particularly concerned about seasickness, the lower down you go in the ship also
the least amount of motion. Ironically, the highest grades of cabins, which are
the Suites, tend to be very high up on the ship and that's also where you
have more motion. Focus on midship and, if you're
concerned about motion sickness, also think about the lower level as you start
to look at cabins. The third step, and the
third tip is probably the most important of all of these tips and it's a very
simple tip. When you look at a cabin, look at the deck plans and look for
cabins which are surrounded on all sides by other cabins. You want cabins above,
you you want cabins below, you want cabins to either side of you and ideally
also cabins opposite you. If you don't have cabins opposite you, make sure you
know what is going to be opposite you. The reason for that is you're then
buffered from noisy venues. This is probably one of the most critical things
to do: being surrounded by cabins. The worst cabins I've ever had are when the
cabin is above, below or next to a venue or a place that generates noise,
vibration or other kinds of disturbance. Look at the deck plans and make sure if
any of these kind of venues are opposite you, above you, below you or near you.
Look out for things like the nightclub and bars which have live music. If you're
directly under the pool deck, you'll find that you can get disturbed by
deck parties but even more importantly by people scraping and moving around the
deck chairs. I've been in amazing cabins below the
pool deck and every morning have been woken up really early as the crew starts
moving around the loungers to set up the pool deck - and again at the end of the
day if they might be preparing it for a deck party. Other places to avoid are
above, below or next to the theatre, because you'll find the production
shows have loud music and that can go on at all hours of the day. When you
look at the deck plans and there's nothing showing there, figure out if
the kitchens are there. I have lots of stories of people who've been disturbed
at all hours of the day and the night with the kitchens, as a lot of those
kitchen operations can be 24 hours a day as they prepare food . It can be very
noisy. Another thing to look for is those ships which have a big central promenade
and cabins overlooking those. They can be quite noisy because
they will have parties in the central atrium or parades and it can get quite
noisy. A lot of people I know that have stayed in those cabins
often use things like white noise devices to try and just muffle out some
of the bass sound and the sound of some of the parties going on. Another area
that I've been advised to avoid, by crew on a ship, is in the front of the
ship close to the bow of the ship if it's quite a small cruise ship as you are near
the anchor. I was on an expedition cruise on quite a small ship and they
put some of the expedition team right at the front of ship because that was very
noisy when the ship would be mooring letting down the anchor at early hours
of the morning - and that noise was very disruptive for people trying to sleep
in the early hours of the morning. Basically look out for anything on a
cruise ship where there's likely to be lots of concentrations of people and
noise. So very simply, when you book a cabin
make sure you're surrounded on every single side by other cabins, and if
there's not a cabin opposite you double check what is opposite you to make sure
it's not one of those big noise areas.
My fourth tip is one that I am a little bit obsessed about, and that's when you
book a cabin and you've done all the things so far, don't ruin it by
booking a cabin with an interconnecting door. Of course, if you're traveling
with people and you do want an interconnecting door that's a very
different story. However, an interconnecting door could be a source
of a lot of disruption for you because they're not that soundproof and if you
have neighbors next door that like to party or play the television really loud
when you're trying to sleep, you'll find that can be very disruptive. If
you are travelling by yourself and not with family or
friends where you want to be interconnected, make sure when you look
at those deck plans or with your agent, check that there's no
inter connecting door, because you could have done all of these other tips and have a
great cabin, great location, surrounded on all sides and disrupted by an
interconnecting door. I have been on a couple of cruises where the people
next door have been really disruptive and its put a dampener on
the cruise because I've been woken up late at night within partying.
It's a simple thing to do, but double check you don't have an
interconnecting door unless you absolutely need one because your kids
are next door or there's friends or family and you want to be able to do
that. My next tip might sound a little bit crazy, but it's also a really
important one. Once you've gone to all of the bother of going through these steps
one of the things I really recommended you is refuse an auto upgrade. When
you book you're often asked either to tick a box if you're booking online or
your agent will ask you: "do you want to accept an auto upgrade?". The reason
for saying no is you have no say over that upgrade. If you've said yes to an
auto upgrade and the cruise line moves you from your inside cabin to an ocean
view or an ocean view to balcony or whatever, they again decide which cabin
you are moved to and it's extremely unusual (in fact I don't know any cruise line
that does it although you may have had that experience) but normally the cruise
line will just allocate your new cabin, and you cannot go back and you cannot refuse
that upgrade. So, you might find yourself put into a theoretically "better cabin"
but it's next to a noisy venue, it has an inter connecting door, it's a bad
location, it's the front of ship or the back of the ship or whatever. One thing I
always so is refuse an auto upgrade and focus on finding a cabin that I'm
really happy with, and I don't accept an auto upgrade because I have no say over
what cabin I'm going to get. You could go from what is your cabin heaven into
your cabin hell, even though it's theoretically a better cabin. I have a
whole separate video about the whole minefield of upgrades, and if you want to
know more about upgrades and when it could help or not help take a look at
that video and discover a lot more around how to navigate the whole area of
upgrades. My main tip is don't take the auto upgrade. People keep telling me
that the cabin is not that important. It's just a place to sleep and get ready
to go out on excursions or whatever. That all changes when they have a terrible
cabin experience and I have hundreds of people telling me that they've had
terrible experiences on a cruise, and it's ruined the cruise, because they didn't
spend time choosing the right cabin. You are going to spend more time in
cabin than anywhere else on the cruise. Even if you're only sleeping
four or five hours a night, because you're parting, if that four or five
hours is a terrible night's sleep you're not gonna have the energy to then keep
on partying and going out! Focus on these five steps to ensure that
you get a great cabin and have a great cruise. I have loads more cruising tips,
loads more cruising advice in other videos. Please watch more of those now.