Welcome to Cabin 7219!

Hey there! Come on in! This is our “tiny house” for the next 7 days. I specifically chose this stateroom for a couple of reasons.

1. It’s on a deck that’s sandwiched between two other decks of passenger cabins. It should be relatively quiet (read: not under a disco that’ll be rocking till the wee hours.)
2. It’s located in an area that doesn’t lend itself to much foot traffic. The only reason to walk our little corridor is because you have a cabin nearby.  
   
3. 
   Our cabin has a veranda. When we first started cruising, we always bought “ocean view” accommodations. We figured it didn’t matter how big our cabin was because the whole ship was our playground. Now we enjoy the feeling of having our own private retreat with our own. And because of the way this Carnival Dream is configured, we can lie in bed and watch the ocean race by.

(I tried to make a video tour of the cabin with my phone, and it shows up great on my little screen, but I can't figure out how to post it here. I've played with it long enough to get frustrated and have decided I'll work on it when I get home. After all, right now I'm on vacation!)

Now that we’re here, we’ve discovered a few challenges.

That's not Charlie on the bed.
It's the sad ruin of a towel lobster our room steward made for us last night!

1. There’s only one electrical outlet in the whole cabin. This gets exciting when we need to charge laptops, tablets, cellphones & Herkimer (my Portable Oxygen Concentrator) all at the same time.  We brought a power strip with us so this helps, but it also means we have a tangle of electrical cords criss-crossing the room.  There is an outlet for European style appliances, but we can’t use it. (Note to self: Always bring the converter we use on our trips across the Pond.)
2. The bedside tables are pitifully small with a teeny lamp affixed to the center of it. I can’t set up my bi-pap machine on it. There’s barely enough space for my glasses. Fortunately, the sofa is close enough to my side of the bed to serve double duty at night. However, if the DH needed a c-pap too, we’d be in a pickle.
3. The bathroom doesn’t have an enclosed medicine cabinet, just open shelving with short rails to supposedly hold things in during rough seas. It would have been good if I’d brought a small storage container or two to fit into those spaces.

But that said, there seems to be enough room for us and our stuff. All our clothing fits well in the three closets (two for hanging clothes and one with shelves), five drawers and multiple wall cabinets, both enclosed and open. There’s a fridge in the cabin and we saw a number of enterprising passengers bringing on their own soft drinks and liquor. This is not something that’s generally allowed on the other cruise lines we’ve traveled with, but evidently it’s ok with Carnival.

We’ve discovered that even with all the packing and planning, we forgot a few things.

As we were driving down, just a few miles south of Memphis, the DH smacked his forehead, a la “I-could’ve-had-a-V8!” and announced that he’d forgotten to put in his suit jackets. He’d intended to leave them on the hangers, swinging on the bar in the back of our van, until we got to NOLA where he’d transfer them to his suitcase. He didn’t want them to wrinkle. Since they’re still hanging on our bedroom door back home, I think they’re safe.

I’m sadder about the fact that we forgot our binoculars. We could also use a tote. We’ll need something for odds and ends when we go ashore. I really expected Carnival to supply us with one, so I left my Holland America bag at home. I’ll bring it next time.

So the take-away is that we need to have a checklist for essential items.

What would you want on a cruise ship to make your home away from home more comfy?