February 7, 2008: Playa del Carmen & Chichen Itza
	February 6, 2008: Belize City
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When we originally booked our stateroom, we discussed the types that were available that we might get. I knew that we didn't want one of the interior staterooms; Grant and I had one of those on the cruise that we took in 1991, and it was claustrophobic. But then we didn't want a suite either; if the cruise is at all fun, you don't spend that much time in the room anyway, so the extra space would be a waste. We thought about getting a stateroom with a balcony, and that would have been good (as it turned out), but it seemed that for our first cruise we might just as well stay with something simple and inexpensive. So we chose an "oceanview stateroom" on one of the two decks where the staterooms do not have balconies.

Fred in Our Stateroom

The room we were assigned was Stateroom 3042 on Deck 3, port side. It was a pretty convenient room- just a couple of doors down from the access hall leading to the forward elevator lobby. Joe and Virl had a similar cabin on the other side of the ship, but theirs was a good ways down the narrow hall.

To begin our tour of the stateroom (which won't take long since it was only 150 square feet or so), we'll walk from the elevator lobby to the port side hallway and turn aft. Here is a view of the port side hallway looking aft with me standing right at our stateroom door.

When you open the door and enter, you are looking directly port at the queen‑size bed and the large window behind it. The room that Grant and I had on our cruise was similar in size and layout, but it didn't have the window, and that made all the difference. If we happened to be in the room during the day, the window offered enough light to make the room seem larger, while at night, when we were cruising, we could see the phosphorescence of the waves- made even more interesting due to the fact that the windows were pretty much soundproof.

On the right as you come into the room is a closet, and just beyond that into the room is a small desk, and this is where we set up the laptop to download pictures each day. You can see the desk and closet in the view at right that looks back toward the door into the stateroom. In another view looking into the room from the door, you can see me working at the desk.

On the other side of the room from the desk there was a small sofa and coffee table. This area was not spacious, but offered enough room for us to sit and watch TV (although we used the sofa more as a storage area than anything else. Here is a picture of the sofa/sitting area.

On the left as you enter the room (opposite the closet) is the bathroom. The bathroom was small, but quite adequate, with a fair-sized sink vanity and mirror. The really interesting feature was the circular shower enclosure. I remember the same kind of thing on the first cruise we took, so I guess this is a fairly standard feature of this type of stateroom. (Of course, Greg's room had a regular bathroom with tub and shower.)

All in all, the stateroom, while certainly not roomy, was adequate for the use we made of it. If were had been older, or perhaps planned to make more use of the stateroom than we did, it would have been better to get a larger one. Just before we left the ship on our last day, I got one more picture of Fred in our stateroom.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	February 7, 2008: Playa del Carmen & Chichen Itza
	February 6, 2008: Belize City
	Return to the Caribbean Cruise Master Index