How to Score the Best Cruise Ship Cabin: Tips From the Experts

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Picking the right stateroom might be the most important decision of your cruise. (Photo: iStock)

You’ve decided when, where and with which cruise line you’re going to take your next cruise. Now comes the hard part: picking a cabin. Modern cruise ships can have up to 2,000 staterooms for you to choose from. So if you booked your cruise online, you’re going to be presented with up to 2,000 little colored boxes that represent all the ship cabins. And you’ll be tasked with choosing the one where you’re going to be spending your cruise.

Make no mistake: This is nothing like picking an airline seat you’ll be in for a few hours when you book a flight. The cabin you select — its type and location — can truly make or break your cruise vacation.

“This isn’t a three- to five-hour flight,” cruising expert Stewart Chiron, a.k.a., “The Cruise Guy,” tells Yahoo Travel. “You’re not going to be on this for a short period of time. This is three, four, five, or seven days of your life. And it’s imperative to be cognizant and very careful because there are many advantages and disadvantages to being in a certain location.”

“You can transform your [cruise] experience by making the right choices,” agrees Geraldine Ree, senior vice president of sales and marketing for cruise booking agency Expedia CruiseShipCenters. “There are a myriad of things to take into consideration.”

Feeling the pressure yet? Don’t worry: Our experts are revealing their top tips for picking the right cruise stateroom.

1. Decide what’s most important: a good price or a good cabin

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Sometimes a stateroom with a balcony is worth the splurge. (Photo: iStock)

It’s often an either-or proposition: an inexpensive cabin (which tend to be interior staterooms with no windows, no balconies, and no ocean views) or a more desirable one (maybe a cabin with a balcony or, better yet, a suite).

Spending less on an interior cabin, of course, has its own benefits: i.e., you can save money or, better yet, have more money to spend on other travel expenses like shore excursions. But you can very easily make a case for shelling out for a pricier stateroom with a balcony.

“If you’ve always wanted to go to the Panama Canal and you’re going to spend nine hours transiting the locks, it’s priceless being able to sit in your stateroom to enjoy that in privacy,” says Ree. Having your own balcony to, say, gaze upon amazing natural phenomena like Alaska’s Glacier Bay is also an expense that’s well worth it.

Related: 12 Things You Need to Know About Taking a Cruise in Alaska

That’s not to say you can’t get a premium cabin for less. “If people are flexible about a cabin type and would rather save money versus choosing their cabin, a great option is to look at a cabin guarantee,” says Chiron. “Say you want a balcony. But instead of taking a specific cabin location, you go for a ‘balcony guarantee,’ which means that you’re guaranteed to get a balcony cabin or better. Sometimes you can wind up in a suite, you never know. A lot of times — depending on the ship, the sailing date or the cruise line — you could save hundreds, if not maybe a thousand dollars, per passenger.” To up your chances, think about doing this if you’re traveling in the off season.

2. Think about what you’ll be doing on board

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Plan to do a lot of eating on board? You may want to consider that when selecting a stateroom. (Photo: iStock)

When selecting a stateroom, it’s good to have an idea of what you’re going to be doing during your cruise. “Are you an early morning riser?” asks Ree. “Are you a late night gambler? Do you tend to be at the dining room or are you going to do the buffet rather than the set meal."

Ree suggests that, especially on a larger ship, you select a cabin that puts you in close proximity to your chosen activities and habits. (Just check the detailed map of the ship on the cruise line’s website. It will include what’s on each deck.)

For instance Ree, an early riser, likes to have a stateroom a deck below the buffet hall where she gets her morning coffee. "I like to slip upstairs in my slippers while my family’s sleeping, go get my coffee and take it back to my stateroom,” she says. “So I always actually book a cabin toward the forward part of the ship (near the buffet hall).”

3. Know what’s above your chosen cabin

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This looks like fun. But maybe not so much fun for the cabin directly below. (Photo: Jive Addiction/Flickr)

Ree says your odds of a peaceful cruise are more affected by what’s above your cabin than what’s below it. “It’s like living in an apartment,” she says. “You don’t notice the people who live below you but you sure notice the person in high-heeled shoes on the hardwood floors above you.”

Chiron learned that lesson to hard way: He once spent one miserable, and noisy, cruise in a cabin that happened to be located right below the ship’s dance club. “I can tell you, it’s a horrendous experience,” he says.

Related: The Top 7 Cruise Planning Myths… Busted!

He also advises against booking below a pool deck. “If you don’t like to get up at 5:30 in the morning when the crew are tossing deck chairs around getting ready for the day, those locations may not be ideal."

Ree says, however, you might luck out as long as your cabin is directly below the swimming pool itself. "You’re certainly not going to hear anything under the swimming pool because that’s going to be insulated,” she says.

4. Beware of public spaces

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Some staterooms overlook this promenade. Ask yourself if you want to be this close to the action. (Photo: Royal Caribbean)

Some cruise ships put cabins right next to, or just above, public areas like a main deck, shopping area or atrium. That could be an issue, especially if you are a light sleeper, easily bothered by crowd noise or concerned about your privacy.

Chiron recalls one cruise ship that had cabins right outside the promenade deck — decks that extend the entire length of the ship that are popular walking and lounging spots. “In theory, it looked good, but when you got there you didn’t realize that the deck chairs for the promenade deck were right outside the cabin. So you had to keep your blinds closed."

The cabins right above the promenade deck weren’t all that great either. "You still heard the noise, plus you also had the bottom of the lifeboats” — which could present another noise issue when crew members lower lifeboats into the water during drills.

According to Ned Levy of Elliott.org, some ships also have self-service laundry rooms that operate nearly 24/7, especially on cruises with lots of families. “I try to choose cabins far from them,” he says.

If you value your peace and quiet during a cruise, you want to be far away. Speaking of which…

5. Avoid the elevators

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“Ding!” Get used to that sound if you book a stateroom near one of these. (Photo: iStock)

Just like in a hotel, you want to pick cabins away from the elevators — that is unless you enjoy the sound of the constant “ding” of the doors and the loud conversations of the festive (and often inebriated) passengers as they load and unload from the lifts.

“Sometimes there are staterooms that are open to the alleyways or the elevator bank,” says Ree. “That’s a natural one to avoid — obviously anywhere there’s going to be large congregations of people talking as they go towards their staterooms. I always avoid those.”

But remember that you have to use the elevators, too; you don’t want to have to take a mini-hike to the lift every time you need one. “You don’t have to go 15 cabins down [from the elevators],” says Ree. “You can go three cabins back and it’s quiet as a mouse. And you have that convenience of just zipping up for a coffee or going out to grab a photo or any of those things.”

6. Consider seasickness

A Princess cruise ship captain recently explained to Yahoo Travel how technology keeps ships steady in rough waters. (Video: Sid Lipsey)

Modern cruise ships have stabilizer technology that dramatically reduces some of the motion that leads to sea sickness. But as effective as this technology is, it doesn’t eliminate all of a ship’s movement — which you may want to keep in mind if motion sickness has been a problem for you in the past.

“The rolling, the side-to-side movement of a ship, is amplified the higher up you go,” Captain Stefano Ravera of the Star Princess recently told Yahoo Travel. “So if you’re lower, you have less rolling.”

“They’ll tell you the most stable areas of the ship are the mid to low decks within the main hull,” says Chiron. “The middle/lower decks are typically the most stable. But I’ve never had a problem being in the high decks in a good section of the ship — not way forward or way back."

7. Front vs. back — it makes a difference

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The closer you are to the front or rear of the ship, the more noise you may hear. (Photo: iStock)

While determining whether to book a high cabin or low cabin, you have to also think about whether to go toward the front, back, or the middle of the ship.
"Sometimes people think mid-ship,” says Ree, noting that some passengers prefer to split the difference between being too close to the front or the back of the ship. But the biggest downside to being in the middle is you really aren’t very close to anything. “You end up constantly walking either to the restaurant or to the theater,” says Ree, recounting the trouble her 80-year-old mother once had navigating a ship from a centrally located cabin. “You’ve actually doubled the amount of walking you have to do.”

Related: Cruise Secrets: How Ships (Mostly) Keep You From Getting Seasick

Booking a cabin in the very front (fore) or the very back (aft) of a ship comes with its fair share of risks and rewards as well.

Levi of Elliott.org says, “[A]ft cabins often have larger balconies than other ships’ cabins,” which of course is a plus.

But “[In] the forward and aft cabins, you feel more of the motion from the ocean,” says Chiron. “In the aft cabins, especially on some of the older ships, you may feel the rumbling of the propellers."

Additionally, being in the very front or the very back of the ship increases the chance of you hearing a little too much of the ship, be it the churning of the propellers, the thrusters that maneuver the ship when docking, and — particularly for those in front of the ship — the sound of the anchor dropping (fortunately, some of the newer cruise ships don’t use anchors).

Related: How to Avoid Getting Seasick on a Cruise (and What to Do If You Do)

Still, Chiron says some prefer aft cabins, in part because of those very noises. "I know a lot of people who love to feel that,” he says. “They just like the sound of the sea as the props are churning up the water. They love to see the scenery going off into the distance.”

8. Does anyone have mobility issues?

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Look for cruise ships with accessible cabins. (Illustration: iStock)

With more than a quarter of cruisers being 60 years old or older, a significant number has trouble getting around. And cruise companies have responded.

“The cruise lines do a great job providing facilities for people with all kinds of needs,” says Chiron. He says cruise lines have specially outfitted cabins to accommodate travelers who need scooters and wheelchairs. “The doors are wider, the staterooms have additional square footage. The showers have railings,” he says.

“[Cruise lines] have a good range of cabins for mobility challenged individuals,” Ree agrees. “But they go really quickly so you have to book really early.”

9. Watch for specials

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Look out for opportunities to upgrade at a discount. (Photo: Royal Caribbean)

Cruise lines also run specials that may make it advantageous for you to book a certain cabin class, even if it’s a more expensive one. “Sometimes from a pricing perspective, many of the offers will apply for balconies and above,” says Ree. “But if they’re offering prepaid gratuities for balconies and above, you’re literally paying little if anything more to upgrade to a better suite. And you’re getting more amenities.”

10. Get help

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A good travel agent who knows the ship can be invaluable in helping you pick the right stateroom. (Photo: iStock)

As you can probably tell by now, booking your stateroom is a complicated process that can involve a lot of factors. That’s why travel experts often recommend not booking cruises by yourself but getting help from a professional, be it a cruise line reservation agent or — preferably, according to our experts — a knowledgeable travel agent.

“It’s important to deal with an experienced cruise seller who’s actually been on the ships versus an order taker or people just looking in the computer themselves,” says Chiron.

Ree says her colleagues at Expedia CruiseShipCenter are trained to ask passengers questions about their vacations so that they can help make stateroom choices that best fit their trip plans. “If people try to do this on their own they might miss these things,” says Ree. “For the exact same amount of money, you can deal with a travel professional who will add value to that experience because they will tell you the things you didn’t know.”

Yes, all these tips are a lot to think about. But don’t let all these decisions lead to paralysis by analysis; it’s important to make a cabin decision quickly. “These ships fill up very quickly,” says Ree. But here’s the good news: according to the cruise industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association, 89 percent of cruisers enjoyed their cruise vacations. They obviously picked the right cabins; chances are, you will too!

WATCH: Cruising With Kids? You Need to Know These Tips

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