I still remember the worst cruise ship cabin I have ever stayed in.
It was on a Carnival Cruise Line ship – I can’t remember which one – and it was right in the middle of what I call the Bermuda Bad Cabin Triangle on Carnival Cruise Lines.
This is the area around the aft elevator bank, located on the cabin deck above the main entertainment deck. If you stay in a cabin in this area, especially one on the starboard side, you’re not only dealing with carnival noise coming from the elevators late at night, but on many ships the sounds of piano bars and nightclubs are coming from the stairs directly below you.
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Things aren’t much better in the cabins surrounding the forward elevator bank and stairs on the same deck, which on many Carnival ships sit directly above the bustling atrium and adjacent casino. It was not a quiet area.
Is it obvious that I went to bed early?
Choosing the perfect cabin location on a cruise ship can be a subjective endeavor. Some people want to enjoy the view from a high deck. Others want to be on a low deck for stability. Some people want to be close to a kids’ club or spa or other venue they know they’ll frequent. Some people really don’t care. Instead, they book “guaranteed” cabins, and as long as you make a deal, you can tell the cruise line to pick up any old cabin for you.
Still, after testing hundreds of cabins and cabin types on more than 200 ships over the years, I’ve determined a few hard-and-fast rules about which cabins you should generally avoid.
Cabin near the elevator
The area around the elevator banks and stairs on cruise ships can be noisy, just like in land-based resorts and hotels. People mill around while waiting for the elevator. On some ships, you’ll also hear a unique chime each time the elevator arrives.
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Conditions vary from ship to ship and from route to route. Some ships have elevator banks located slightly away from the cabin corridors. On other ships, there is almost no separation between the elevator and the nearest cabin. Additionally, some boats have cabins that are better soundproofed than others.
One of the flaws in the basic cabin design on many Carnival cruise ships, at least in my opinion, is the vents built into the cabin doors. This is to improve air circulation, but unfortunately it also allows sounds from the hallway to drift directly into the room.
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Cabanas above nightclubs (and other late night venues)
Going to bed early in a cabana above a nightclub, piano bar, concert hall or theater can be a challenge, depending on the venue and the soundproofing of the room. The same goes for cabins underneath such sites. I always recommend taking a good look at the deck plan before choosing a specific cabin to see what’s above and below the room. If it looks like it might be noisy, stay away from it.
Cabanas near all-night restaurants are also worth reporting as they can be bustling late into the night.
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Cabin above the casino
The problem with being near a ship’s casino isn’t just noise – but casinos can certainly be loud. There’s also the smog factor. On many cruise ships, the casino is the only place inside where smoking is allowed, thus attracting a steady stream of smokers.
Of course, this isn’t always the case. Some cruise lines, such as Celebrity Cruises and Oceania Cruises, prohibit smoking in casinos. But many ships still allow it.
While cruise lines that allow smoking in casinos try to control smoking through ventilation systems, they are not always successful. I’ve been on many ships where a cloud of smoke drifted out of the casino and down the stairwell to a nearby cabin.
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Cabanas below the pool deck
You might think that the pool deck on a cruise ship is quiet at night and in the morning, so staying in a cabana below the pool deck is no big deal. But if there are quite a few ships, you’d be wrong.
The pool deck sometimes becomes the venue for late-night revelry, loud enough to carry to the deck below. Then, when morning comes, the crew usually drags their deck chairs around as they get ready for whatever the next day has to offer—sometimes very early in the morning. This top-level tidying can cause squeaking sounds from the ceiling, disrupting sleep.
You’ll also want to avoid cabanas beneath basketball courts (nothing drives you crazy like a ball bouncing off the ceiling), jogging tracks, and other top-of-deck exercise areas.
cabin near anchor
When looking at a deck plan, it’s not always clear where the anchor is located on the boat. But let’s say it’s at a low level near the front. Depending on how the ship is configured, there may not be any cabin close enough to the anchor that the sound of its deployment does not cause interference. But I’ve been in the forward cabin of the ship many times and been jolted awake at dawn for a few minutes by a sound like a freight train rumbling by.
Living in cabins close to anchors is a particular problem when sailing on routes with many “supply ports,” which are ports where ships drop anchor offshore and crews “pick up” passengers ashore via small supply boats (in recent years, some airlines have begun calling these “water shuttles”). If your ship spends most of its port calls (not that the docking process doesn’t create noise), then this is less of a problem.
Related: Why Balcony Cabins Are Your Best Choice
cabin anywhere near the bow
Anchor noise issues aside, one big reason you might want to avoid the bow of a boat is that you might feel the movement of the waves more clearly. The bow of a boat is probably the most uncomfortable place to be in a big wave.
This is because the front of the boat tilts much more in the waves than the center or even the back of the boat.
Think of the seesaw you played on as a child. Every boat has a balance point around its center (usually tilted slightly back), like the balance point of a seesaw, that moves the least as the boat bobs up and down in the waves. The closer you get to the front and the more you stretch on the seesaw, the more movement you’ll feel.
On some ships and in some parts of the world, this problem is more severe than others. If you’re on a giant ship in the relatively calm Caribbean (and there’s no tropical storm blowing nearby), you’ll probably barely feel any movement of the ocean in your cabin, no matter where it’s located. But if you’re on a smaller boat in rough seas, this can be a problem.
It also depends heavily on your tolerance for exercise. After years of sailing every few weeks, I’m used to the waves. The possibility of seasickness usually doesn’t influence my choice of cabin location. That said, if I were to book a cabin on a small ship, its itinerary would include passage through an area known for rough seas, such as the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica, even though I’d be aiming for something closer to the ship’s balance point.
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Cottage with obstructed view
Some cabins on the ship, despite having windows, don’t offer the best views. Sometimes they don’t offer any views at all. On some ships, the view from the windows of some cabins is partially or even completely blocked by the lifeboats. On other boats, windows provide views of mechanical equipment (such as lifeboat winches) or structural elements of the ship (such as steel overhangs).
This is true even for cabins with balconies. Of course you can sit outside. But you’ll be sitting in front of a big, bulky lifeboat.
Typically, such cabins will be marked with some kind of symbol on the cruise ship’s deck plan indicating an obstructed view. It pays to look carefully at a deck plan like this and avoid cabins so marked if a blocked view bothers you. On the plus side, cabins with obstructed views often cost less than similar cabins with unobstructed views.
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adjacent cottage
Some cruise ship cabins are designed with doors that lead to adjacent cabins. This feature is attractive to families booking multiple cabins. They can book two side-by-side cabins and then open the doors to build a larger complex. But such a cabin can come with a drawback if the person in the cabin next to you is a stranger: You might hear more than you’d like, since the seals between these doors are sometimes not completely soundproof.
If you end up finding a noisy couple or children in the doored cabin next door, you may find it in trouble. I’ve experienced this myself over the years.
Related: Why you should spend money on a suite on a cruise ship
bottom line
Not every cabin on a cruise ship is ideal. It pays to do your homework before booking a specific cabin – this means studying the ship’s deck plan carefully to make sure you’re not above, below or next to a noisy venue, or in another position that could cause trouble.
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