Whereas on Independence of the Seas for a five-night Western Caribbean and Excellent Day cruise, I stayed within the most cost-effective cabin accessible.
Usually after I cruise, I select to remain in cheaper cabins. My reasoning is that I solely want a spot to sleep, retailer my belongings, and prepare for the day. I don’t really feel the necessity to spend extra money to remain in a cabin I do not spend a lot time in!
For this explicit cruise, my mother and I selected an inside assure cabin. All these cabins are “assured” as a result of Royal Caribbean selects the inside cabin’s location on the ship. Fortunately, shortly after reserving, we had been assigned a cabin in direction of the aft of the ship. I a lot want having aft cabins since you are inclined to really feel extra motion when located in a ahead cabin.
Reserving this cruise a couple of month earlier than the sail date, we ended up paying $2,075 for the 2 of us. This included pre-paid gratuities.
We had been assigned cabin 6447, on deck 6. Our cabin was only one deck above the Royal Promenade, however we had been far sufficient away that we by no means heard noise from this busy space of the ship.
Cabin 6447 wasn’t positioned on one aspect of the ship (starboard or port) and was thought of midship. This meant to get to our cabin, we needed to undergo a separate hallway.
We rapidly found there was a door we may use that was three cabins down from us that will lead us close to the elevator and stairs. We used this door each time we left or got here again to our cabin as a result of it was rather more handy than happening the 2 hallways.
Additionally, being on this separate hallway away from a lot of the different cabins, we discovered that there was little to no corridor noise (aside from our neighbors who had a loud child). We had been afraid we might hear folks coming out and in of the general public door close to our cabin, nevertheless it was by no means noisy.
Strolling into the cabin for the primary time, I used to be immediately struck by how gentle all the things was. I used to be anticipating the cabin to be much like those on Journey of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas, however I preferred that it felt extra trendy with lighter colours.
The mattress was separated into two per my request earlier than the cruise. Every of us had a big nightstand subsequent to our mattress, and we had a small gentle above our heads. There was a swap in the course of us that managed all of the lights within the cabin.
After studying a Royal Caribbean Weblog article about inquiries to ask your cabin steward, my mother needed to request just a few issues from our cabin steward. She requested:
- A mattress topper
- Printed copies of the Cruise Compass
- Further hangers
- A brand new mattress configuration
- Additional pillows
- Additional towels
My mother requested a brand new mattress configuration as a result of she needed her mattress (on the precise) to be pushed in opposition to the wall. That means each of us may sleep in opposition to a wall. This made the dual mattress really feel wider, too. I actually preferred how this configuration created a bigger walkway between our beds!
The additional pillows and mattress topper made an enormous distinction within the high quality of sleep my mother received whereas on our cruise. She had by no means requested a mattress topper on earlier cruises, so I feel she’s going to begin doing this on future cruises.
Our cabin had a properly sized sofa and a glass desk in entrance of it. We sparingly used this sofa, nevertheless it was nice to have one other place to sit down if we needed the choice.
There was a light-weight close to the sofa, nevertheless it did not work. I assume it’s good for adornment!
Throughout from the sofa was the vainness and closet space. This included the TV, retailers, mini cooler, secure, and plenty of drawers. The three giant drawers had been nice for storing our garments. There was one other small drawer behind the chair, however we did not use it.
The flat-screen TV was in a position to prolong outward and swivel so my mother may watch TV whereas mendacity in mattress or sitting on the sofa.
The vainness had three retailers: Two three-prong retailers and one European outlet. I packed my adapter and I used to be tremendous grateful I packed it so we may make the most of the European outlet.
Subsequent to the closet had been two handles that opened up extra storage areas. The underside drawer held the hair dryer. This drawer was small and could not maintain a lot, so we did not use it. The highest drawer included three cabinets – one was for the cabin’s secure. These cabinets had been excellent for our miscellaneous issues, like hats, baggage, sunscreen, medication, and so forth.
Under these cabinets was the mini cooler that we used to maintain our water bottles chilly all through the cruise.
The closet was giant and had three built-in cabinets for garments. There have been solely 10 hangers for the 2 of us (and we packed a number of garments), so we requested extra hangers from our cabin steward. This was a lot appreciated!
There was somebody who complained on the cruise’s Fb group about their air con not working of their cabin, however ours labored nice!
Subsequent up, the toilet. At first look, the toilet was up to date properly and provided numerous storage, however we did run into just a few issues.
First, our rest room wouldn’t flush twice throughout our cruise. We needed to name our cabin steward to let him know that we tried flushing quite a few instances with no success. He even instructed us different cabins round us had been having related issues. As soon as we reported the problem, it was mounted inside an hour.
Additionally, the warmth within the bathe was fairly complicated. I’d flip the deal with in direction of the warmth and it will take a minimum of 5 minutes to get heat. Generally, it will be heat after which get chilly after which heat once more with out touching the deal with. My mother and I had difficulties attempting to get the knob at simply the precise spot so we may constantly get heat water. When it was heat, it was a nice bathe expertise.
Lastly, a small factor to level out, each time my mother and I needed to make use of some rest room paper, the bathroom paper would fall off the holder! We realized that we needed to place our thumb on the holder so the bathroom paper would not fly off.
On newer Royal Caribbean ships, there’s a built-in nightlight within the toilet so when the cabin is pitch black, you may nonetheless navigate to the toilet. Nonetheless, our cabin on Independence of the Seas didn’t have this. We did pack a nightlight to make use of in our cabin and that helped tremendously.
Total, my mother and I had a snug keep in our cozy cabin. Though we had some toilet points, this didn’t destroy our trip by any means. We by no means felt the ship shifting, and our cabin’s location proved to be splendid because it was positioned close to the Royal Promenade and different lower-deck actions.