On our recent trip aboard Royal Caribbean’s mega ship, the Oasis of the Seas, we decided to try out a larger inside state room. On our previous 7 day cruise vacations we had reserved balcony staterooms but this trip was only 3 days and we wanted to give an inside room a try. We figured that if it became tortuous, we’d be able to endure it for 72 hours. Plus, we expected to be out and about most of the time, exploring every nook and cranny of the ship and figured we could stick it out.
Well, we were pleasantly surprised at how manageable the whole experience was. Truthfully, we weren’t spending a whole lot of time “hanging out” in the room. Aside from sleeping at night and occasionally stopping back to change clothes we were rarely in the room all four of us together. We never really had a chance to feel cramped together.
One benefit for us, in this stage with our young kids, is that the lack of window meant that when the lights were out, it was truly dark in the space. There was no sun peaking around window curtains in the early morning. We really couldn’t tell what time of day or night it was when the lights were out. This meant that our girls were able to truly sleep in until they were completely rested each night. This was particularly helpful for my youngest who usually awakens with the sun each morning, regardless of what hour she went to sleep the night before.
THE VIEW FROM THE DOOR INTO OUR LARGER INSIDE STATEROOM WITH KING SIZE BED AND SOFA BED
We had booked a larger inside room which was off an inside hallway nestled near the elevators. It was located on deck 9 forward (forward means towards the front of the ship) and provided easy access to the kids club, Adventure Ocean, located on deck 14 forward via the elevators or the stairs. Since we were on an inside hallway, we didn’t have any noise or traffic from the main thoroughfare near the elevators.
The room had ample storage, a few drawers and decent sized closet. The bed was high enough for our suitcase to fit under it which was awesome. The sofa in the room folded out into a (almost) full size bed which was perfect for our two girls.
VIEW FROM THE BED TOWARDS THE CLOSET AND DOOR (THE BATHROOM IS BETWEEN THE CLOSET AND THE DOOR)
The bathroom was clean and had pretty aqua/blue colored tile backsplash along the sink and counter. The shower was very narrow with neat sliding doors that were opaque. It was pretty tight in there; I banged my elbows a few times on the walls or the doors while showering but for the most part it was comfortable. There was always hot water and steady water pressure.
Our room steward was friendly and easily accessible. Our room was kept very clean and tidied up well. He serviced the room twice daily, folding up the couch in the mornings and then unfolding it and dressing it for bed when he did turndown service in the evenings.
Hubby and I talked about how we felt about the inside room. He maintains that he was totally comfortable and considering that inside rooms are the least expensive room categories on cruise ships, he feels that we should always keep them in consideration when planning our cruise getaways. I agree with him mostly though I am apprehensive at doing 7 days in an inside room. The 3 days went well but I’m not sure if we would have made it to 7 without losing it, LOL. I guess we’ll just have to try it out again, on our next adventure 🙂
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