How to survive an inside berth

Hi Guys :D

I've only ever cruised in outside Berths, once with a window, once with a balcony. But this time I've decieded to try and save money and booked an inside berth. So can you guys please give me some tips on how to survive being in an inside berth? Or is there really even that much of a difference??

Thanks again

Inside cabins are normally the same size as an outside, so the only difference is the lack of daylight. Depending on the line there are different ways to deal with that, but the old standby if you don’t wake up reliably is to bring a small alarm clock.

Leave the Tv on 24/7 may be.

A 7 night/day cruise I could do an inside cabin, but any longer no way.

I've done two cruises one 7 nights, one 10 nights, both inside cabins, as Thied says leave the TV on 24/7, no volume though, so when daylight comes it comes in via the TV, and you can at least see to a degree to what kind of day it's going to be. Second cruise we were on the same level as the front observation deck, so it was only a short walk to check the day out. We never spent time in our cabin other than to sleep so it was not a problem for us.

Check the location on a deck plan...pick an inside near to an outside door...some ships even have little decks nearby that can become your "private" outside space. Dawn Princess is one that had a little deck like that at the bow, Princess has similiar at the aft of the ship.

Otherwise leave the TV onto the channel that shows the bow cam..the room will become lighter naturally as the sun comes up. Leave the loo light on so you wont be stumbling around in the dark.

Partially obscured outsides can be good value too.

We have sometimes had an inside cabin but found that leaving the TV on was a bit disruptive. We always take a clock that has a large lit-up display. Love it!! At any time of the night we can easily see what the time is, and the light it emits gives a low glow in the cabin.

The main point is to have a clock that runs on batteries, but uses the power supply to light up the display. A clock made for Australian power supply that runs totally on electricity will not run accurately on ships that were built with 110volt/60 cycle power supply. Aust power supply is 50 cycles per second and a clock made for this power will run 'fast' on the ship's power supply. Other electrical equipment runs OK on that power. I hope that wasn't TMI (too much information!).

By the way, our clock cost $7.95 from Crazy Clarks.

Hi Guys :D

 

I've only ever cruised in outside Berths, once with a window, once with a balcony. But this time I've decieded to try and save money and booked an inside berth. So can you guys please give me some tips on how to survive being in an inside berth? Or is there really even that much of a difference??

 

Thanks again

Only done inside on Princess and their side lights have dimmers on them, so we turn them down very low and sleep with the light on, that way there is some light if you need to get up and also to be able to see in the morning, we have also taken a night light but never used it, should imagine it would work ok, an alarm clock or phone alarm are a must if you need to get up at a certain time, have'nt travelled a lot inside, but it certainly did'nt bother us, as we are only in our cabins to sleep and get showered and changed. With Princess we were on deck 12 so we could just duck outside to see what the weather was like, but you can also ring the weather on your room phone to see what the day is goi.ng to be like, so you know how to dress. Robin

Only done inside on Princess and their side lights have dimmers on them, so we turn them down very low and sleep with the light on, that way there is some light if you need to get up and also to be able to see in the morning, we have also taken a night light but never used it, should imagine it would work ok, an alarm clock or phone alarm are a must if you need to get up at a certain time, have'nt travelled a lot inside, but it certainly did'nt bother us, as we are only in our cabins to sleep and get showered and changed. With Princess we were on deck 12 so we could just duck outside to see what the weather was like, but you can also ring the weather on your room phone to see what the day is goi.ng to be like, so you know how to dress. Robin

I should also add that we have had balconies and outside cabins, and value for money there is nothing wrong with an inside cabin.

We have had balcony, outside and inside. We always go inside now. In 2009 we did 51 nights Southampton to Sydney, Dawn Princess, in an inside cabin. We leave the light on in the bathroom with the door closed. We also like to have a nanny nap in the afternoon so we can stay up later at night (now in the 60's not as much party animals as we used to be). We also find we can do more cruises for the price of an inside. On our next cruise, it is over $4000 per person to upgrade from inside to balcony - for that we can get a Panama canal cruise with air and accommadation in San Francisco and Fort Laurdadale.

Enjoy your cruise.

Cheers, Janet:)

I also leave the light on in the bathroom with the door closed.

Also set the alarm on my mobile phone for shore days.

I slept better because i wasn't woken up early.

We usually cruise in an inside cabin as we are a family of 4. We leave the TV on as suggested and mute the sound and turn the brightness down. We also take a small torch just in case and leave the bathroom light on too.

We have also taken a small night night. The ones that you plug into the power point. It depends on which ship and the type of power points though.

Another fun thing to do with kids in an inside is to buy one of the flashing glasses and turn it on in the cabin. Because it is so dark the glass provides a really disco.

Hi Guys :D

 

I've only ever cruised in outside Berths, once with a window, once with a balcony. But this time I've decieded to try and save money and booked an inside berth. So can you guys please give me some tips on how to survive being in an inside berth? Or is there really even that much of a difference??

 

Thanks again

Hi,

I wouldn,t cruise any other way....always have inside cabins.I have had balconies and outside cabins .the savings on inside cabins which are the same size can be considerable.I muich ptrefer to have the cheapest inside cabin and spend any money saved on tours etc

Col

Hi Guys :D

 

I've only ever cruised in outside Berths, once with a window, once with a balcony. But this time I've decieded to try and save money and booked an inside berth. So can you guys please give me some tips on how to survive being in an inside berth? Or is there really even that much of a difference??

 

Thanks again

I agree with most of the others responses..book an inside with confidence. We also have done window, and balcony, but once we tried the inside we were hooked. I love the dark room to sleep, at any time of day or night. As mentioned by others, we consider the savings as contributing to our spending kitty, or an extra cruise. Other than sleep and shower and storage, we do not use the cabin. We have just booked the full World cruise (104 nights) in an inside cabin with confidence..and excitement of course..cheers, Steve

Thanks Guys for all the responses :D I am going with a couple of friends and we are planning on partying like it's 1999 (Although we were all 12 at 1999, so that doesnt really work:eek:). Great to hear that there are a couple of people who are looking at doing LONG LONG cruises and still choosing insides, maybe I'll get hooked too :D

The Goddess reckons I look my sexiest in a darkened interior cabin :eek: :eek:

It has always surprised me that cruise companies have not followed the lead of Shaw Savill in the fifties. Southern Cross and her later near sister Northern Star had a special lighting system in their inside cabins in that a curtained light would come on with the daylight and gradually increase in intensity as it became lighter outside. This is a great idea in my opinion. Often inside cabins have a curtain in the position where a window would be in an outside and placing a light behind this that activated automatically would surely not be an issue in today's mechanical society. Of course there could be an option to deactivate the light so that you could sleep in if you wished.

The same system was in place aboard Achille Lauro when I sailed on her in the early nineties, though in her case the light was fitted in the main cabin light but opperated seperately.

The Canberra had a unique idea for letting light into inside cabins as well.

It never caught on though and it was not repeated in any other ship design.

They had Court Cabins.....I dont think they were sold as cheap cabins either

I've done 4 cruises and always stayed in an inside cabin, for $$$ reasons.

The biggest advantage of an inside cabin.. you don't get woken by the rising sun, so it's easy to sleep in after a late night. The biggest disadvantage.. you don't get woken by the rising sun, thereby raising the possibility of oversleeping.

We've never bothered with the TV, or even leaving the bathroom light on. We've always found that the light coming in under the door from the main corridor was sufficient to see when stumbling to the toilet in the middle of the night. You can always program the phone to give you a wake-up call in the morning if required.

We have had inside, outside, balcony and one of those Court Cabins on the old Oriana, The window letting in the daylight was so small it didn't seem to make any difference. Not sure what ship you are going on but on Sun Princess and Sea Princess the inside cabins have more cupboard draw space and more room in the bathroom than the outside/balcony cabins. We went to the UK on Sea Princess when she was Adonia and after we got used to it the cabin was fine. One advantage is that inside cabins are further from the side of the ship and don't move as much in rough seas. We always order coffee for the morning so the steward wakes us up, or on port days and if we have an early tour also take a battery operated alarm clock. On Oriana in 2008 we had an outside cabin and we moved to an inside one when our bathroom flooded, after several days of rough seas we had a good nights sleep, and referred to it as a night off! We now prefer to have a balcony cabin, mainly for the fresh air without having to go out on deck, but if the choice is inside or not going no contest go inside you still get to enjoy all the other facilities on the ship and if you are asleep, or getting changed etc the inside cabin makes no difference. Once you have had an inside cabin it doesn't bother you.

We have not had a balcony as yet, as the extra cost always seems to be something we could spend on other things like cocktails! In an inside cabin, we have the best sleep as it is so dark. But as people say, you don't spend time there unless you are showering or sleeping. However I can also see how it would be nice to just slide open you door and have fresh air and sea views without having to leave your room. I will have to try it one day!

I wouldnt mind staying inside but I don't think I would be able to cope with anything more than 7 days. I find it hard to sleep when there is a lot of light however it is nice to be able to see whats happening outside of the window.

On our first cruise some friends had an inside cabin - they said it was do-able but they preferred the outside. If it came down to cruising inside or not at all - I would certainly give inside a go. Althoigh, would probably want to try it on a short cruise (which I doubt will happen, I seem to be booking longer and longer cruises)!

If it's another P&O cruise, chances are you will get an upgrade to an outside cabin. We have for our past two cruises and my TA said P&O usually upgrade past passengers automatically. But even if you dont get upgraded an inside is fine, as others have said, the main problem is waking up late because it's darker.

Oriana had those to david but only had one large square window we had a cabin in the middle.

Rgds Sean

We don't do insides. I think I could with the amount you save.

Had 1 on one of the first cruises we did and hubby lasted 1 night:p.

He felt claustraphobic and called it the "CAVE".

So up we went to the pursers and we were able to upgrade for a cost.

Now we only do outsides balconies. Hubby has to have the light and fresh air.

Of our 8 cruises we've had 3 insides for $$ reasons. We don't get upgrades because we need a wheelchair cabin & you never get upgraded to another of those.

The one mistake we made was having an inside on our Alaska cruise. The days are so long that if you want to retire about 10pm, it's still light outside so there's views to see with scenic cruising but it's too cold to be out on deck. It would have been great to watch the world go by from a cabin window.

So think about the season & your itinerary when choosing cabin type.