Stateroom Solutions

I have learned something on every single cruise I’ve taken and I’m always picking up tips from more experienced cruisers about unpacking and solutions for those annoying things that can drive you crazy in your stateroom.

Some of you might notice these things right away and others maybe not at all or not until you hit rough seas but regardless of what does or might irritate you, I have a solution.

• Noise-It wasn’t until our 8th cruise when we went to Hawaii on the Disney Wonder that noise in our stateroom was a problem. Being in the middle of the Pacific left us with some serious motion issues and our stateroom turned into an accordion. I couldn’t believe how noisy the room was at night, it seemed like every single thing was eeking and creaking and moaning and groaning and I could NOT sleep. Thankfully we met some friends who were far more experienced cruisers and had extra ear plugs to give me. Earplugs are now always in my travel pack of little essentials so if I need them I have them on hand and if I don’t, no harm done...they take up virtually no space.

• Hangers Clinking-On our last cruise I noticed the hangers were clinking together at night and it was bothering me. In the hangers defense there were more hangers in that closet than i’ve ever seen and I had nothing hanging so they were probably just needing a little attention. The top of the closet where the lifejackets are turned out to be a nice insulator for the noisy hangers. I just moved them to the top and wedged the life jacket in to hold them still and voila...no noise!

• Smelly bathroom-Disney is incredibly clean....no one works harder than the stateroom attendants and if you’re ever out and about on the ship in the wee hours of the morning you’ll see a full crew working tirelessly disinfecting every single surface. That being said, sometimes there’s a funky smell in the bathroom. It happens. It’s not because it’s unclean it’s just one of those things. A cheap car air freshener will do the trick. Cram it in a corner somewhere out the way when you arrive and it will get that funky stench out of there. Other things that smell nice-dryer sheets or a small container of baking soda (I recommend a sturdy tupperware if you’re going this route because the fine grain of baking soda will be nearly impossible to clean up if it spills in your suitcase). 
• Note: you cannot have open flame in your room it will set off the fire alarm so no candles!

• “The Light!”-I said that like The Count from Sesame Street so if you didn’t read it that way, you are missing out. Light...it can wake you up in the morning on the Classic Ships that don’t have snaps on the curtains. A clothespin or two will keep the curtains closed. You can also use them in the bathroom or for odds and ends in the closet. The staterooms are very dark at night on the classic ships (no illuminated alarm clock) so bring a night light or leave the bathroom light on with the door closed to give you enough light for those middle of the night potty runs.

• The traveling TV-Also on our Hawaii cruise we had our first ever debacle with the TV. The flat panel TV’s are conveniently mounted on a swinging movable arm to maximize your view based on your location in the stateroom. This is great...until you’re laying in bed at night trying to watch TV and the TV is moving all over the place and smashing into the wall. I had a stroke of brilliance and solved that problem with the existing privacy divider curtain in the stateroom. 

 

Ta-Da! Those are my solutions for those pesky stateroom issues. Share your stateroom solutions or problems here!