Don’t judge a ship by its inside cabins
Entry-level accommodations good option for budget-conscious cruisers, light sleepers
This column is all about value. In a few days, I will be setting off on a 16-day cruise through the Canadian Maritimes and Greenland — and I’ll be doing so in an inside cabin.
Inside cabins — literally a room located within the inner section of the ship lacking a windowed view — are some of the most frequently maligned cabins on board any cruise ship. Their downsides are immediately apparent: small and lacking natural light, the mere mention of an inside room introduces fears of claustrophobia and entrapment into even experienced cruisers.
However, inside cabins have several advantages. First of all, they’re economical: you won’t find more value-packed accommodations aboard any ship. For a fraction of the price of a balcony cabin — and hundreds less than a windowed oceanview stateroom — passengers in an inside cabin get to experience the same cruise, itinerary and amenities as guests in nearly every cabin grade. Only suite guests are typically privy to a few extra niceties.
Inside cabins also are ideal for light sleepers: no windows mean no bleed-through from sunlight that can disrupt sleep patterns in places such as Alaska and — you guessed it — Greenland, where the days are long during the summer months and darkness is in short supply. As a side note, I never thought I was bothered by this until I cruised to Arctic Svalbard a few years back and experienced the worst bout of insomnia in my life thanks to the region’s near-constant daylight.
Inside rooms can also be cooler, as they’re not affected by the heat of the sunlight beaming through the window in places like the Caribbean. And some lines even offer “virtual” portholes in inside cabins.
Take Disney Cruise Line (cruise.center/disney), for starters: On board its Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, a digital screen is hooked up to position-relative cameras on the vessel that mimics a real outdoor view — with some special Disney surprises, too.
Royal Caribbean (cruise.center/royalcaribbean) has “virtual balconies” on some of its inside cabins, using a similar system.
And some ships even have great inside cabins dedicated to solo cruisers. A trip years ago on Norwegian Cruise Line’s (cruise. center/norwegian) Norwegian Epic had me salivating over the ultra-hip “Studio Insides” with their own private corridor, lounge and mood lighting.
My reasons for booking my inside cabin were more prosaic — everything else was sold out.
The truth of the matter is that, given the choice, we’d all like to cruise in a suite, just as we’d all like to fly business class and graze forever in the lounge on the Fairmont Gold floor. For most of us, these are all aspirations: one-off splurges that define honeymoons, anniversaries and special occasions.
I feel great about cruising in a small, windowless room. I still get to sleep on the same comfy bed as everyone else. I get to enjoy the same voyage. And I saved a bundle of money in the process — money I can put toward splurging a little onboard or doing something interesting ashore. The couple in the inside cabin that didn’t stretch their budget is the couple that might take a helicopter and land on a glacier in Alaska.
This column is really for new and experienced cruisers alike. Don’t be afraid to take that entry-level accommodation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saving a little money — especially if it makes the difference between taking that dream cruise or never doing it at all. Happy cruising.
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