Cruise Ship
Stateroom Selection OR How to Find the Smoothest Ride and Figuring Out Pricing
When trying to make a determination as to where to stay
onboard a cruise ship, there are two main considerations to make – what kind of
stateroom (the category) that you would like, and where the stateroom is
located on the ship. Both of these
factors come in to play when looking to find the best price and the overall
smoothness of the ride throughout your voyage. In order to fully examine finding the best price
and the smoothness factor, first we must look at the four basic types of staterooms found on nearly all cruise
ships.
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| Disney Cruise Line, Disney Dream: Inside Stateroom |
- Inside
– Inside staterooms are typically found on the inner side of the hallways,
across from the outside of the ship. Inside staterooms tend to be the least
expensive category onboard as they will be pitch black when you shut the door
and turn out the lights as they do not have any windows, or any way to see the
outside world at all. Most modern ships
offer them, but there aren’t as many onboard as there once were, as many ships
utilize the majority of that space for crew space or other needs such as Kids
Clubs, Business Facilities such as Conference Rooms, guest laundry spaces or
other functions. There is one line,
however, who offers Inside Staterooms WITH a view to the outside world. With the introduction of the Disney Dream in
2011 and the Disney Fantasy in 2012, Disney Cruise Line introduced the
innovative “virtual portholes” to its inside staterooms. These “windows” are actually round video
screens that look like porthole windows, and feature a live feed from cameras
facing out from the sides of the ship.
These staterooms, while still the most inexpensive onboard, have quickly
become the most popular too on Disney Cruise Line.
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| Disney Cruise Line, Disney Dream: Oceanview Stateroom |
- Outside
or Oceanview – Outside staterooms
are called "Outside” or “Oceanview" because they have windows where
you can see outside to the ocean, but the windows do not open. The windows are
typically very heavy glass portholes closer to the surface of the water, often
on decks 2 and 3. The windows themselves
are designed to be almost as strong as the hull itself, and usually have heavy
steel covers that can be closed and tightly screwed down in case of very strong
weather conditions. Some Outside or Oceanview rooms will offer just one
porthole, others offer two, and still others might offer one large porthole
that might be the equivalent size of three in one. Each line designs their ships differently, so
we cannot make blanket statements that cover them all, since that’s just not
possible.
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| Disney Cruise Line, Disney Dream: Oceanview with Verandah Stateroom |
- Balcony
– Balcony staterooms have a verandah, or balcony, with a door that opens. On the balcony, guests will find deck chairs,
often a small table and a strong railing that must be at least 42 inches high. Balconies vary in size, as well as the
separation device between them. Some
offer a full wall for a higher degree of privacy in between neighboring rooms,
while others offer less than a full wall.
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| Disney Cruise Line, Disney Dream: One-Bedroom Suite |
- Suites
– Suites are extra-large staterooms, but it is a mistake to assume that all
suites offer a separate bedroom space, because many do not. Keep in mind that cruise staterooms are not
hotel rooms in the same manner as on land, and are never as large as a
traditional hotel room. Suites are the
closest approximation, however. There are "Junior” or “Mini-Suites," "Family
Suites," as well as "Owner's Suites" and “Penthouse Suites” and
so many other name variations specific to each cruise line. The overall look and feel varies by cruise
line, but most of them have bathtubs, mini refrigerators, extra closet space
and larger seating areas. Some include whirlpool tubs, or dining areas, or are
even multi-level with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms.
When looking at the various ships in each cruise line’s
fleet, it can be said that the newest ships tend to have far more balcony
cabins than the older ships do. Simply
stated, this is because balcony cabins are the most popular category across all
lines. Nearly 80% of the staterooms on
the newest ships (within the past five years) offer a balcony; some luxury
ships are 100% balcony staterooms.
When looking to see what location to secure a stateroom
in onboard the ship, the location and category not only affect the price that
you’ll pay, but also how smooth your voyage might be. When it comes to location, the smoothest ride
is going to be experienced in the mid-section of the ship, or "mid-ship,”
located about half-way between the front (forward) and the back (aft). To understand why the smoothest ride is at
mid-ship, think of your childhood and playing on the equipment at the
playground, specifically the teeter-totters, and the up and down motion that
they make. A ship acts very much like a
teeter-totter as it glides through the ocean’s waters. The middle of the ship is essentially the
axis for the entire ship, as it goes up and down, called “pitching”, which
refers to the front of the ship moving up while the back moves down. Good captains
will face their ship into the waves because it is less dangerous than taking a
large wave from the side, so pitch is more common than “rolling”, which refers
to the motion moving from side to side, which happens when a ship takes waves
from the side versus the front. Still
imagining that teeter-totter, the ship’s fulcrum is the water line. The closer to the water line, in the mid-ship
section, the less motion is felt, while more motion is felt in the forward and
the aft. So, the “best” stateroom
location for movement purposes is on a lower deck in the mid-ship. Of course
the size of the individual ship comes into play as well, with the larger ships pitching
and rolling a lot less than smaller ships do, as the smaller ships are more
prone to respond to every wave than the larger ships.
The pitching and rolling effect experienced during your
voyage is what may cause trouble for you, if you are prone to sea sickness. The rougher the seas, the more difference it
can make. If you ARE prone to sea
sickness, do anything you can to stay away from the forward staterooms, as this
section will experience the most nauseating motion, thanks to that
teeter-totter affect. Aft staterooms
also can experience some of it as well, though nowhere as much as the
forward.
Now that you’ve considered the various stateroom categories,
and the locations of the ship, why are some stateroom sub-categories higher
than others, price wise? Each basic
category is often broken down even further into sub-categories, which can have
very different price points just within the main category. And pricing all comes down a couple of
primary factors: location on the ship,
and supply and demand.
·
Many categories might be available on multiple
decks, while some might only be available on specific decks. Within those category sub-sets, location
onboard comes into play as well.
Oftentimes the lower priced staterooms within a category sub-set might
be in the highest “traffic” areas, or be balcony rooms with an “obstructed”
view (either obstructed by lifeboats, of structural aspects of the ship itself
or something else).
·
As individual categories sell out, the price for
remaining stateroom inventory within a specific category or sub-category goes
up, and once inventory at specific price-points is gone, it’s gone. So be warned if you are looking to cruise in
the future and you want a specific stateroom category (or even a specific
stateroom), book early as the closer you get to the sailing date, the less
likely you are to be able to secure exactly what you want. The old adage “the early bird gets the worm”
certainly applies in the cruise industry as well, of course, here it’s the “the
early booking gets the prime locations and prices.”
