travelbonnie

We are strongly considering the Island Princess due to date of sailing for Alaska.

1. Which deck is good for interior cabin? The travel channel suggested middle of selected deck, but they did not mention which decks are good.

2. I have also read that some people believe lower decks are better for sea sickness. Has anyone expericed this to be true?

Would love any advice. There is nothing like the advice of those who have "been there and done that."

Thanks for any help.

Ida101

Midship lowerdeck is indeed the best if you are afraid of seasickness.
More stable, less movement.
But you might hear a litle more noise by the engine.
On the other hand, you will be out of your cabin most of the time, just get there to sleep, dress etc.

Cruiser

Also look at the deck plan of your ship and pick a cabin that has cabins above and below that deck. That helps cut down on engine noise and high traffic area noise.

Yes, mid ship is best for less movement pertaining to seasickness.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

cd

travelbonnie
Have you ever been in a inside cabin? On our last cruise we took an inside to keep our cost down and I absolutely could not take it! I have to have light, I could not take waking up in the morning and there's no light, or even going back to our cabin for whatever and there's no natural light. The second day I pleaded for an upgrade to a window and thank God they had one. I will never try and save money this way again. I just wanted to bring that up for consideration if you have never been in an inside cabin, however, I know it doesn't bother everyone.

GBelle

A friend's advice for an inside cabin was to put on the TV and set it to the deck camera or bridge camera channel. During the night it will be dark, when dawn comes, so will the sun.

He also said to bring a nightlight.

Ida101

I have travelled in inside cabins and no problem with this.
Cabinsizes are often the same as those of regular outsidecabins.
Friends of us love inside cabins because of the dark, they sleep much better because of this.

traveller69

I am with Ida - I have no problems with inside cabins. In the early days of our cruising that is all we could afford. On some of the ships the less expensive outside cabins just have a porthole which you can't really see out of anyway. Now, we usually take an outside cabin with a picture window but if I can't get one midship I would definitely take an inside as opposed to an outside at the bow or stern of the ship. Again on most cruise ships the cabin configuration is exactly the same and you just pay more for location. I haven't checked the Island Princess deck plan but a good rule of thumb is the same deck as the dining room (not the lido) is usually the most stable.

mickrory

We always try and get a deck as high as possible away from the engine noise.

I have no problem with an inside, in fact I always sleep better as they are always pitch black. The idea of having the ship camera channel on is a good one because you never know what the weather is like when you wake up.

Enjoy your cruise

travelbonnie

Thank you, Thank you Everyone!!!

This is all great advice.

We were planning to take flashlights. We sleep in pitch black with black-out curtains at home in our bedroom, and use flashlights if we need to get up in the night. An inside cabin would probably be best for our odd sleeping habits. We grew up this way with a heavily wooded lot.

Thank you again everyone for the cabin location information. Now I will be able to tell the travel agent what we desire.

If anyone has been on the Island Princess, more advice is welcome. I will look back at this posting to check.

PS I love this Fodor's site. It is so helpful.

coussac

We used to do the inside cabin thing in days past, and brought a dim night light or cracked the bathroom with a light on. It does get very, very dark in those inside cabins.

After 5 cruises then having a veranda stateroom, I don't think I could go back to anything else.

Economics does play a role sometimes when cruising, but you'll still have a great time.

lindam

I totally disagree about economics playing a role in why people choose an inside over an outside cabin. In our case, that was never the reason. When we had veranda's, we felt we didn't use them enough. We enjoyed spending our time in the pool/public areas. For our Baltic cruise, we are inside, but for a
10 day Caribbean in Jan, we will have a veranda. We are going to try it again. But, I don't believe in wasting money.

I think in most cases it's common sense. Why pay for something you don't really need? If you want it and use it, fine. But don't assume those of us on the inside don't have money. We have ours in wise investments and in the bank,while fully funding our retirement accounts.

traveller69

lindam - I heartily agree with you. My priority is to have a midship cabin. I would rather take more cruises than spend a fortune on having a suite or verandah. When we know we are going to have a particular scenic cruise we may book the balcony but so much of the cruising is done in the dark or on open ocean during the day why bother. We have a budget for our travels and I want to do as much as I can with it. We have a Med cruise coming up in Sept and we have booked an outside for that but only because we found a really good sale - otherwise I am happy to just be on the ship.

FainaAgain

"Why pay for something you don't really need?" - but this IS economics! and this has nothing to do with how much money you have, only how you value them, and how you spend them.

Bonnie, for motion sickness I choose a cabin in the mid-ship section. As for the decks, I divide the ship approx. in half, and don't go higher. Don't get on the lowest deck either, may feel the engine.

lindam

I guess that isn't how I interpreted the post. I thought economics has to do with money coming in and going out---not the emotions involved.

After 18 cruises, it never occurred to me that those people on the other side of the hallway(with the balcony)thought we were to be pitied, because we had the inside cabin!!

We never feel the ship's movement on these huge ships. Or, I should say rarely (I got sea sick crusing Hawaii). We have been on deck 9,far to the front. I choose according to where the stairs are---quick 2 flights up to the pool/spa area.

lindam

Disregard my comments. I'm in a cranky mood, it seems!!

Eschew

Here is my two bits worth ...

Rules in picking a cabin are simple:
avoid close proximity to potential trouble spots and the trouble spots are (1) the show rooms and the night clubs (don't be directly below them) as you will hear the deep base music. (2) the smoke stacks (where there are "open" space where elevators should be but isn't) as you may have vibrations. (3) close proximity to public outside doors (as they will slam when people walk through and the wind will blow the door shut)

It is generally agreed that the midship (middle 50%) is best and the closer to the front (15-25%) of the ship, the worst off. I thought the back of the ship is okay but people have said they can feel the propellers (which is liken to feeling a pebble under a mattress)

Higher deck or lower deck is stricly preference. If you have a balcony, higher deck is better. If you have oceanview, the deck means less unless you windows are at the deck where the lifeboats are located and you have an obstructed view.

If you have an inside cabin, higher or lower deck means even less. Refer to the potential trouble spots for areas to avoid.

Most new crusie ships have stablizer and sea sickness is really not an issue. We were on a ship with storm coming and the sea is rather rough and the only time we felt the movement was when we are at the front of the ship, sitting down at the show room. We felt a bit of an upward and downward movement and that's about it. It is less movement than an airplane taking off. It's a small small world ride at Disney probably has more up and down movement.

More people will get motion sickness on a plane, a bus, even a car than on a big cruise ship.
Where you may have motion sickness is on a tender to shore if the sea is rough or a longer ride (example: from Cozumel to Playa de Carman)

Even if you have a cabin close to the trouble spots, it is still not really all that bad as most pepole won't hear or feel a thing.

Jsut book the trip and enjoy.

travelbonnie

Eschew,

Thanks for this advice. I read your advice and looked at the deck plans and picked an inside cabin that I feel will fit our needs.

Eschew

Drop us a note on your return and let us know how it went.

Good luck & enjoy the cruise!