My family of 5 booked an interior cabin and an ocean-view room on a Carnival cruise. Here's how they compared.
Lisa Galek
- I booked two 185-square-foot rooms on the Carnival Legend for my family of five.
- My husband and I shared a windowless accommodation, and my three kids stayed in an ocean-view room.
I was searching for a getaway in November, so I booked a seven-day cruise on Carnival Legend for my family of five.
On past vacations, we've all stayed in the same hotel room. Once, we all crammed into the same tiny cruise cabin.
This time, I reserved two separate 185-square-foot staterooms on the Carnival Legend's Riviera deck for more space and privacy.
My husband and I stayed in a windowless interior cabin that had a king-sized bed.
The king was actually just two twin beds pushed together.
We each had a bedside table with a reading lamp.
If one of us wanted to stay up a little later, we turned off the main lights and turned on the lamp.
My three children — aged 14, 11, and 8 — shared an ocean-view stateroom across the hall.
Connecting rooms weren't available, so my kids stayed in their own separate room.
The kids' room had two twin beds and a sofa that converted into a third bed.
It was more than enough space for the three of them.
The kids' picture window offered lovely natural light.
Our room had no windows and was sunless. In the future, I'd also reserve an ocean-view room for the adults.
The bathrooms in both cabins were identical.
Inside the bathroom, there were a lot of storage shelves for our toiletries.
Cruise employees cleaned the bathrooms and replenished our towel supplies every day.
Many hotels we've checked into stopped offering daily cleaning since the coronavirus pandemic began, but we enjoyed a clean bathroom and fresh towels every day on the Carnival Legend.
The showers had shampoo and gel dispensers.
There was also a retractable clothesline in our bathroom for drying wet swimsuits.
Even with three kids sharing one small bathroom, the floor stayed dry thanks to the shower's well-designed drainage system.
I was glad to see there wasn't water covering their entire bathroom floor.
Both rooms' layouts made excellent use of the 185-square-foot space.
We could easily store a week's worth of items thanks to all the drawers, shelves, and hangers.
Two of the closets had hanging rods for dresses and coats, with enough room to tuck away our suitcases in the bottom.
My husband and I had no issues neatly stowing our suitcases and clothes.
Like many cruise cabins, our room had one outlet next to the desk.
This was slightly annoying because my husband and I had to take turns charging our devices.
The crew confiscated one of our power strips.
I packed two power strips to avoid having to take turns using the outlet, but only one made it on board. Unfortunately, the crew confiscated the other.
Carnival's website says power strips without surge protectors are allowed, but ones that the crew deem hazardous will be removed and returned to the owner on the last day of the cruise prior to disembarkation.
However, the kids had no issues bringing their power strip into their cabin.
The TV screen was so small that my eyes felt strained by the end of the trip.
The too-small TV screen is no big deal if you're not a movie-watcher.
However, our family likes to wind down by watching shows, and by the end of the week, the tiny screen was straining my eyes.
Inside a table, there was a mini fridge that was big enough to store two bottles of wine and a few snacks.
The one downside was that it didn't get cold enough to chill drinks.
Our rooms had thermostats, but I don't think they worked well.
The rooms had thermostats with moving dials, but turning them didn't seem to affect the temperature.
Our cabin seemed too cold, and the kids' space seemed too warm.
Even though we were on a Thanksgiving cruise, we decorated our stateroom doors for Christmas.
The little copper box was a mailbox where crew members could drop off our excursion tickets and other informational flyers.
On future family trips, I'm going to stick to booking two separate rooms.
Our cabins were small but offered a lot of storage options that made them feel more spacious.
Next time we cruise or go on vacation, I'll consider booking separate rooms for adults and kids so everyone has their own private retreat.
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