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The Truth About Cruise Cabins: What Every Cruiser Should Know
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Oct 8, 2024
I look at 5 things that no-one, including cruise lines don't like to talk about, when it comes to cruise ship cabins - and why and how it is affecting the way passengers like you cruise and ingenious ways that the choices cruise lines are making on cabins means people are paying more to go cruising. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
One thing I try not to think about as I'm settling into bed in my cabin is the sheer
0:04
number of people who've slept in it before me. There are around 52 sets of people in
0:09
the past year alone that will have used that bed before me. It's not only something I don't
0:13
like to dwell on, but also not something the cruise lines like to draw attention to. So it got
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me thinking about other things that they don't like to talk to us about regarding our
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cabin and why. Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Rembridge and I want to start with how cruise lines are
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using cabins to make us slowly but surely spend more to cruise and so increase their profits
0:36
While most cruisers know there are four types of cabins, there has been a series of clever
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moves the lines have made in recent years to change which cabins we choose to their financial
0:47
advantage. To remind you, there are four main types of cabin inside which have no windows
0:52
ocean view with a portal or window looking out to sea, balcony which have those as the name suggests
0:58
and suites which are larger and often multi-roomed. Now there's a few things to note though
1:04
First of all, the price difference is surprisingly large between these cavern types
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For example, I was recently on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas on the seven-night
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western Caribbean cruise. An inside cabin started around 100 to 150 per person per night
1:21
A balcony cabin was absolutely twice that at nearly $300 per person per night and a suite started from twice the
1:28
price of a balcony cabin at $600 per person per night and it actually went up to $1,400 per
1:34
person per night. That means the cheapest suite was four times the cost of an inside cabin
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The second thing to note is that not all of those four cabin types are available on every
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ship and the cheaper ones are dropped as we basically move higher and higher up the category of
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cruise lines. Resort style mass lines like Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSEC cruises and Norwegian have
1:58
all four types. Premium lions like Holland America, Virgin, Celebrity, Cunard and Princess
2:04
usually do too. While some of the small ship luxury lines like Azamara do have all four
2:10
classes, most do not. Windstar only has ocean view and above. And lines like Viking and
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Saga in this grouping only have balcony cabins and suites. While ultra luxury lions
2:21
like Seaborn, Region 7 Seas, Crystal and Silversy, they only have sweets, although
2:26
This is an exaggeration because when you look at them, many are in fact more like large balcony
2:31
cabins. More on that later, by the way. Many lines offering suites do call larger balcony
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cabins with the seating area and bed area, kind of a suite and they charge sweet prices
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while true suite should really have separate rooms for these. The third thing to note about
2:47
the four types of cabins is there isn just one cabin price for each of those four types on the ship there are multiple grades within each of those grades so cruise lines can charge more for cabins in the same category
3:00
Often when you go to book a cabin grade and an insider or balcony, you'll find different prices for them
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That's mostly driven by location. So those that are midships with less motion and away from noisy or busy venues will be more costly
3:13
But something no one is talking about and cruise lines are drawing people's attention to when it comes to cabin types
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is that cruise lines are rapidly increasing the percentage of more costly caverns on newer ships
3:25
to grow revenue and profits. The first big change came was significantly increasing the percentage
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of balcony cabins. Here's an example of how dramatic and fast that change is. Royal Caribbean's
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oldest ship in service at the time of recording is grandeur of the seas. That was introduced in 1996
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Only 32% of the cabins on that ship are balcony or suites. There are airs
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are inside or ocean view, so only 30% balcony or suites. But on the newest ships like Royal Caribbean
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simply of the seas, that I mentioned, 70% of cabins are now balconies and suites, a huge change
4:01
And as you heard earlier, they charge way more per cabin as a result of that change
4:06
I heard an interview with Stephen Payne. He's the man who designed Cunard's Queen Mary 2 transatlantic
4:11
liner. And he said Cunard asked him to add many more balcony cabins to his original design
4:17
because they could then charge much more per cabin and make the service more profitable
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That's why on that ship they actually had balcony cabins cut into the hull of the ship
4:27
Another trend to increase revenue by cabins is adding more suites and grouping them into
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closed-off ship within a ship area with dedicated restaurants, bars and pool decks
4:37
These include celebrity retreat, MNC Cruises Yacht Club and Norwegian Haven. And on the subject of suites, one thing the lines keep quiet about is they choose
4:47
to not have them in the best locations on a ship, believe it or not. I once went to a cruise
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line host a dinner and sat next to a ship architect. And he said from a design perspective
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he felt sweets should be on lower decks and midship, as that is the most comfortable
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and best sailing location. But he was always told to place sweets high up and some at the front
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and some at the rear of the ship, which has the most movement in rough seas, as those are perceived
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as the best locations for views by guests and were easier to charge a premium for and to sell
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Next is something really unusual that's not spoken about and probably has never crossed your mind
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And this is the unusual way that cruise ship cabins are constructed and why. I saw this for my own eyes when I was invited to visit a shipyard several years ago
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To my surprise, I discovered there are dedicated cruise cabin factories in a different
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location Now they make and transport fully assembled cabins complete with the fittings the carpets often the furniture to the shipyard Then each cabin is hoisted by a crane and slotted into a location on the ship
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one by one, a bit like building a Lego set. Cruise cabins are made on an assembly line
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much like a car is, with workers doing the same specific task on each cabin as it moves along
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The factories even test that the plumbing and all the electrics work before then sending
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these prefab units to the shipyard. The cabs are. designed to be low maintenance, easy to clean, and able of course to cope with loads of wear
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and tear because as I mentioned, they're around 52 sets of people churning through each cruise
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cabin every single year. The walls, the ceilings and doors are made of metal to be robust
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They also have a special kind of hard wearing paint coating which makes it easy to wipe down
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harder to damage. They normally have easy to dust light fittings and fixtures. Many easy
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to clean features are also kind of built in their recess to make them easy to make them easy to make them
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maintain. The bathroom floors have a slight slope and a drain hole in them so if there's any
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water spillage that should hopefully not flood the cabin. There are usually no sharp corners on
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fixtures and fittings to avoid people injuring themselves and pretty much everything that can be
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is screwed down to make sure it doesn't get knocked over or damaged through people or if the sea is
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moving about. Also as cabins overall generally small, they have storage all over the place
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even having beds designed to be high enough to store suitcases underneath
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The next thing that has not been noticed nor is spoken about much is how cruise lines are
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increasing the percentage of cabins that can sleep more people in them than in the past
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Ship capacity is advertised based on double occupancy of a cabin. And the beds in most cabins
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can be set up either as twin beds or push together to make a double bed. The only cruise
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I've been on where the beds could not be set up as either twin or double in a cabin was
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on Disney Magic, in a veranda cabin and in a penthouse suite on the Haven and Norwegian
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Viva. Both of those actually had full proper fixed double beds. On newer ships I have
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noticed that more cabins than ever before have been designed to take a third or fourth
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guest. This is because the cruise lines are hoping to accelerate growth by targeting
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families, multi-generational travelers and to a lesser degree groups of friends. To help they normally charge the full rate fare for two people in a cabin
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then have big discounts for third and fourth guests in the cabin. I find it pretty much impossible
8:20
to rare these days to actually have a sofa and not a sofa bed in my cabin. And often I notice
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there will be additional bays that can be pulled down from the ceiling or out from the wall
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making it much easier to have third and fourth occupancy. Now these additional people per cabin
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is leading to many ships, especially in school vacation and big holiday seasons like Christmas
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sail over official capacity making them really crowded For example I went on MSC virtuoso to the Norwegian Fjords the week before school holidays and there were 4 people on it
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but I was told by the crew that the same itinerary the week after in school holidays would have
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6,000 people. All those extra passengers being kids sharing cabins with their parents
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One thing to understand is that whilst cabin perks will of course differ and increase the higher
9:09
the grade, fundamentally, all cabins have the same things. These include a bed or beds
9:15
as mentioned, a bedside table with lamp, and on more modern ships, you'll find electric plug
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sockets and USB charging ports and cabin light controls by the bed. It'll be kind of a dressing
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table, vanity or desk with a mirror above it. There'll be some seating which increases
9:29
in scale and size the higher the type, and of course, these days all have a bathroom
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Cabins have air conditioning with varying degrees of control. Older ships basically only the temperature, but modern ones you can start to adjust fan speed as well
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While older ships have limited plugs and sockets, modern ships have many around the cabin
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including USB C and regular USB ports. The sockets are usually mostly USA format with one or two European-style plugs as well
9:59
All cabins will have toiletries, which these days tend to be large pump dispensers to reduce
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single-use plastics, you should get shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, some sort of hand wash
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and usually body lotion. Cabins also usually have a hair dryer, coat hangers in the
10:14
cupboard and some kind of fridge, whether it has mini-bar items in it, and whether you get
10:19
charged for using them or not, depends on your cruise line and your cabin grade status
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I found that while many cruise lines have a safe in their cabins, not all lines to include
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them, like on my last few princess cruises, they had no safe. Another key feature of the
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and one that is becoming more important is the television and the interactive features
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You have to watch the safety video there as part of the new e-muster process because they
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don't have the in-person must process. You often can book dining and excursions, review
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the bill and so it's a good alternative to using the cruise line app on your phone
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Many cruise lines will have videos to stream on there, a daily what's on TV show run by the
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cruise director. There'll be a bow camera channel so you can see what's going on and several
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TV channels. The TV channels are limited, mostly news-focused and can be pretty erratic because
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although many cruise lines have moved to Starlink for their Wi-Fi, which is really good
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the televisions are still delivered through a satellite service. I found I can't usually stream
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shows from my tablet or phone, nor can you plug in a laptop or games console into the televisions
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in a cruise cabin. If you want to dive further into cruise ship cabins, watch this video where I talk
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about the things that I always do the minute I get into my cabin and why. Starting with one
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thing that people don't do that could make or break your cruise. See you over there
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