Video Diary: I Survived a 14-Day Cruise in an Inside Cabin
I was pretty sure I made a horrible mistake in booking an inside cabin for a 14-day Alaska cruise. I mean, who chooses to vacation in a a windowless cell for two weeks? Apparently I do. And since I’m here writing about it, it is clear that I survived.
But did my marriage survive? Ah, that is the question!
Because I have sailed in inside cabins in the past. All by myself. (And for seven days) And I had a lovely time. All by myself. (And for seven days.) Huge proponent of solo travel, I am. But this time I was to vacation in a windowless cell for two weeks WITH MY HUSBAND. Did I mention I was pretty sure I made a horrible mistake?
So I did what any normal person would do in this situation–I recorded the experience. I video recorded it. So you can suffer along with me learn how to make your own inside-cabin budget-cruise dreams a reality!
Check it out:
NOTE: YouTube is having issues with this video for some reason and thus the embed link is not working. Please VISIT THIS LINK to view the totally awesome video of my two weeks in an inside cabin.
A note on this video: I’m still not so good at the vlogging. And inside cabin lighting isn’t helping anything about how pretty I’m not. But I bought an eyelash curler thinking that would somehow help, and I do think my eyes look kind of nice–like for twelve seconds around the minute and forty-four second mark. But you should still watch this video if:
- You are a cruise super-fan and will watch anything cruise-related.
- You want a glimpse of what an inside cabin looks like on the Holland America Zaandam (and other HAL -dam class ships.)
- You know me and are a fan of my husband, Doug. He is unwillingly featured in portions of this vlog.
- You want to watch me get fatter and fatter over the course of a 14-day cruise. *THIS IS A LEGIT REASON TO WATCH*
- You’ve got eleven minutes and fifty-six seconds to kill.
Up next: an annoyingly-long vlog series outlining how you can enjoy Alaska ports of call on-your-own and on-a-budget. Stay tuned!
Edited to add: the #1 comment I’ve received on this video has been ‘WHERE IS THE REST OF YOUR LUGGAGE?!?’ If you are new to The Suitcase Scholar, check out THIS post for more on how and why I pack carry-on only for every trip.
Yes, I did have 11 minutes and 56 seconds to kill…time well spent ! Both of you are a delight ! The inside cabin was better than I expected, however, I’m claustrophobic so it would NEVER work for me…So looking forward to your next post.. Thank You !
Thank you! And I am ALSO claustrophobic! I will drive hours out of my way to not drive through a half-mile long tunnel (seriously). But I was somehow ok in the cabin. It really wasn’t that small. And it had a door, so I was cool with it.
I’ll get to work on the next post asap!
Skills definitely improving. Your voice is especially good for this- nice, low and (of course as a former teacher) you enunciate very well (a personal pet peeve of mine is poor pronunciation). Seriously, you are getting to be very good! You stuck to your topic- no bird walks about excursions, or meals, etc. Saved those for other blogs??? You kept it to a nice length. And you made it not boring! Well done!
Thank you! And yes, I tried to stay focused! Also, watching myself on video is helping me grow in other ways as well. I talk to people for a living, and I realized that I speak WAY too fast. So I worked on that, and I think I’m improving. I can kind of tell from day one to day fifteen that I’ve slowed my speech. But man, I sound like I’m from Philly! Maybe I need to come down to NC and hang out with you for a bit to get a better accent. Seriously!
You are welcome to visit any time!!! I had an extreme north Georgia accent when I was younger (lots of LOOOOONG I sounds, strange Rs, and a weird, not quite nasal, not quite gravelly throaty sound). I worked VERY hard to loose as much of it as I could. I did public speaking competition in 4-H, and some acting in high school and college. I even had a fellow teacher ask me once if I was from New Hampshire or the Mid-west. I still sound a bit southern, though. And people tell me I talk fast (for a Southerner) and get way too loud (that’s a family trait).
I didn’t think your accent was very noticeable. Just enough to make you ‘real’ and not like a news anchor who sounds flat. A slight accent is interesting.
Again, you are welcome to visit! Just come on down!!!
I was on the Zaandam at the end of their Alaska season. That would be a round trip Vancouver – Hawaii. In cabin 6203, yes a deluxe veranda or whatever fancy name they called it. Loved the destination. The ship not so much. Bad design, especially for mobility challenged passengers. Food and service not as good as other Holland America ships. There was just something “off” about the crew. Not that they weren’t pleasant to us, but they’d huddle together in little groups. Clearly a problem. Anyway there was flooding on the floors with the lower cabins. Burst pipes. Yes that would be inside cabins, because those floors too low for balconies. On the 2nd and 3rd floors fans were set up in the hallways and they were trying to figure out what to do with passengers in flooded cabins. Chatted with a couple who’d been relocated to the linen room and cots set up in there. They’d been offered $500 compensation. Not sure if they took it or holding out for better compensation. I suppose the moral of the story is try to book a cabin on an upper floor because if the pipes burst water is going to run downhill into the cabins below. One day outside the dining room a maintenance guy was up a ladder working on repairing a leaking pipe and the hotel manager was observing and we asked what happened. “Scheduled maintenance,” he says. “You planned pipes bursting and you planned a flood?” My husband asks, and everyone around started laughing. The manager glared at him and stomped off. Like I said, something was just “off” with the Zaandam crew and I think it had to do with this guy’s leadership.
Yikes! That sounds awful! We encountered none of this on our sailing, thank goodness! The linen room? Oh HELL no. I would have insisted they drop us off at the nearest port and reimburse our travel costs home, as well as the cost of the sailing. Nothing less would be acceptable.
When was your sailing? My understanding is that the Zaandam underwent dry dock this past spring and had lots of improvements.