I Stayed within the Most cost-effective Cabin on Royal Caribbean’s Attract of the Seas Cruise Ship

There’s nothing higher than securing an important cruise fare, even when staying in an inside cabin. 

I lately returned from a 4-night cruise on Attract of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to CocoCay and Nassau. 

Reserving simply two weeks upfront as a part of a “Going, Going, Gone” sale, the fare was $834.36 for 2 folks in a assured inside stateroom. This breaks right down to round $104 per particular person, per evening, together with gratuities and port charges. 

I may have reserved a neighborhood balcony for lower than $100 extra. Nonetheless, having simply returned from an costly 3-night Disney cruise, I needed to maintain my prices as little as attainable.

My dad and I had been assigned cabin 8133 within the ship’s ahead. I appreciated the placement, because it was near Central Park. Even so, I favor mid-ship staterooms on vessels as giant as Attract of the Seas. Nonetheless, the placement wasn’t a deal-breaker by any means—it was good to step exterior and take within the greenery whereas at sea with out wandering removed from our “dwelling away from dwelling.” 

Sometimes, cabins within the entrance of the ship are inclined to really feel extra motion. I am grateful we did not expertise important movement throughout our voyage, although we had been close to the bow. Nonetheless, we weren’t going far on our quick cruise to the Bahamas from Florida. 

The cabin was spacious sufficient for the 2 of us, and I preferred how the structure maximized each inch of area. My dad remarked how roomy it felt in comparison with our inside stateroom on Quantum of the Seas earlier this yr. 

With Attract approaching her 14th birthday, she is not the latest ship within the fleet. As such, a couple of parts felt outdated, such because the radio with two 30-pin dock connectors. Apple changed these chargers in 2012 with the lightning connector. 

Furthermore, I want there would have been no less than one bedside outlet. I needed to depend on my transportable charger every evening, as the opposite charging choices had been discovered solely close to the self-importance. 

Learn extra: I attempted one of the best inside cruise ship cabin hacks to see how nicely they labored

Talking of retailers, there have been far fewer accessible than on newer ships, with only one European and 4 commonplace American plugs. 

There’s often extra flexibility in terms of charging on newer vessels; nevertheless, with my dad simply needing to cost his cellphone, it wasn’t a problem. The truth is, we by no means even used the retailers beneath the self-importance.

We did not deliver any bottles of wine onboard, however we used the mini-fridge to maintain our 4 complimentary bottles of water cool. I appreciated how the fridge’s door was bolted to the cupboard, a characteristic not present in all cabins. 

So far as the cabin itself, it had all the things we would have liked for a brief cruise. The mattress was comfy sufficient for the 4-night keep, and there was ample closet area to hold our garments. My dad even overpacked, simply bringing sufficient garments for a weeklong crusing. 

Learn extra: 115-item Final Cruise Packing Checklist

Whereas there have been simply two empty self-importance drawers, the closet’s built-in cubbies allowed for extra storage to put issues like folded t-shirts, footwear, and denims. 

The spacious self-importance was nice for preparing after spending the day at Thrill Waterpark or Blue Lagoon Island. I may unfold out my make-up merchandise and simply find my mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow brushes that always play hide-and-seek in my bag.

We additionally cherished the full-sized sofa versus our single chair on Quantum. Although we each unpacked for the 4-night cruise, the sofa rapidly turned our catch-all spot the place we would throw all the things from seaside luggage to towels. 

It was rather more comfy than the chair on Quantum of the Seas, too. Even with all our miscellaneous stuff on the sofa, it was a pleasant space for the dad to calm down and wait whereas I completed preparing with out having to awkwardly stand round or sit on the mattress. 

After we arrived, the beds had been positioned collectively, regardless of our request to have them separated. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a problem. Our cabin steward rapidly took care of the scenario and separated them as quickly as we identified the mix-up. 

This made the room really feel much more spacious, giving us a devoted walkway between the beds. It additionally helped create a way of private area.

The rest room, although compact, was purposeful. Just like the closet, there was built-in shelving to retailer toiletries. 

Nonetheless, I did not use any since I introduced my hanging toiletry organizer, holding all the things from hair cream to moisturizer and deodorant organized and simply accessible. It is my favourite journey product and has been used over 13 instances since I acquired it for Christmas final yr! 

Each time I sail on a Royal Caribbean ship, I hope the bathe can have two cabinets, permitting households extra area to retailer their toiletries—from totally different shampoos and conditioners to face washes—and hold them organized. This, nevertheless, wasn’t the case on Attract of the Seas. 

It is a minor element, however one that may make a giant distinction if you’re sharing a small area with one other particular person, particularly for those who journey with full-sized merchandise. 

Staying in a normal cabin meant we weren’t supplied with upgraded toiletries. As a substitute, we had been supplied with a single bar of cleaning soap and a shampoo-body wash hybrid within the bathe. 

Having lately cruised on ships like Disney Magic and Solar Princess, I’ve develop into accustomed to liquid hand cleaning soap within the rest room and regretted not bringing one among my travel-sized goat’s milk cleaning soap bars, which I purchased purposefully for ships like this!

The bathe had nice water strain, and I had no points adjusting the temperature to my liking. There was even a small ledge to make shaving simpler. 

Sometimes, I by no means use my stateroom’s phone; nevertheless, one afternoon, the Chef’s Desk was calling to supply particulars about the place to fulfill for our 6:30pm reservation. 

After I picked up, I may hear the crew member talking, however he could not hear me. He hung up and referred to as again, however the situation wasn’t mounted. The subsequent time, I made a decision to let the cellphone ring and easily listened to the voicemail as a substitute. 

Regardless of this small inconvenience, our cabin offered all the things wanted for a snug and enjoyable cruise. 

Though we spent simply $830 on our cruise fare, we splurged on different add-ons to boost our expertise, similar to admission to the Thrill Waterpark, a Blue Lagoon Island tour, two specialty meals, and Wi-Fi—all of which made an in any other case bizarre cruise particularly memorable. 

After all, reserving a cruise on the final minute comes with dangers. For instance, last-minute airfare will be expensive, negating the fee financial savings of the cheaper fare. 

Not solely that however some experiences can promote out upfront, so in case you are hoping to e book a sure tour or specialty restaurant, it’s possible you’ll discover that availability is proscribed and even fully booked by the point you get on board.

Fortunately, we utilized bank card factors to save cash on airfare and the pre-cruise resort. If we had paid for them out-of-pocket, our flights from Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale would have totaled over $1,000. 

Furthermore, we scored an important low cost on our Chef’s Desk dinner because of a Cruise Planner sale the week earlier than our departure. The onboard value is marketed at round $99/particular person; nevertheless, after making use of our onboard credit score, we solely paid $57 every for the 6-course meal, which included wine and espresso martinis with dessert. 

Would I e book a last-minute cruise fare once more? Completely. Due to my job, I can depart dwelling at a second’s discover, and when the chance arises to snag such an important deal, I’m all in—even when it is in an inside cabin.