Inside staterooms are usually my least favorite cabins on a cruise ship; however, I was pleasantly surprised by my windowless room on Wonder of the Seas.
I began cruising on Oasis Class cruise ships at 14 when my family embarked on a weeklong spring break voyage aboard Oasis of the Seas to the Western Caribbean.
However, I sailed on Oasis, Allure, and Harmony of the Seas before finally staying in an interior stateroom on Symphony of the Seas a few years ago.
Since then, I've become accustomed to saving money by booking inside cabins. Most recently, I cruised in an interior stateroom on Wonder of the Seas on a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida.
To save even more money, we booked a guarantee cabin, meaning that we couldn't choose our stateroom's location. As such, we were randomly assigned room 9116 at the front of the ship.
Initally, I was worried I'd regret not selecting my cabin, as staterooms in the forward of a cruise ship can sometimes experience more motion, especially during rough seas.
Thankfully, the seas were calm during our weeklong voyage, and we did not experience much rocking in our tiny cabin.
Our interior stateroom was $2,292.10, including prepaid gratuities. However, I'm confident we could have gotten a better rate on our shoulder season cruise had we booked more than two months in advance.
Though I wish we had a more central location on such a large ship, I was happy with my stateroom on Wonder of the Seas. I rarely spend much time in my cabin when cruising on mega-ships anyway!
Tiny but well-appointed
Cruisers seeking spacious accommodations rarely book cheap interior staterooms. Because they lack natural light and don't have private verandahs, they're typically the smallest accommodations on a cruise ship.
This was certainly the case aboard Wonder of the Seas. Our cabin wasn't large but was cleverly designed to maximize the available space. The layout was efficient, with just enough room for the essentials, including a bed, desk, chair, dresser, and two nightstands.
On embarkation day, I asked my cabin steward for a mattress topper, as I don't find Royal Caribbean's beds the most comfortable.
Though I was disappointed to learn Wonder didn't have toppers, he padded the bed with an extra comforter. It wasn’t quite the same as a mattress topper, but it helped improve the sleep experience and made the mattress feel much more plush than without.
Because Wonder of the Seas is a newer ship having debuted in 2022, the stateroom was well-appointed with a fresh aesthetic and modern amenities.
Perhaps one of my favorite features was the beside charging options, as the table lamps were outfitted with USB ports and standard American outlets.
Older Royal Caribbean ships don't usually have bedside charging options, so it's nice that the company has updated their rooms with practical, convenient features.
I appreciate charging my phone directly from the bedside table. While it's a small detail, it makes the cruising experience much better, especially after long days exploring the ship or port when you want to scroll on social media or play a mindless game before bed.
Cabin 9116 didn't have a shortage of other charging options, either. The vanity was home to three American outlets, two USB ports, and two European plugs.
Typically, I never travel without my trusty European adapters, as some ships have just two American and two European outlets.
But with the ample charging options in this cabin, I didn’t need to worry about running out of places to plug in my devices.
Another pleasant surprise was the storage space
Before my 7-night cruise on Wonder of the Seas, I spent 4 nights on Margaritaville at Sea's Islander and two nights in Orlando, Florida, visiting Universal Studios (I'm bummed I was there one week before they launched the new Wizarding World wands!). As such, my checked bag wasn't light, coming in at around 45 pounds!
Between my almost-overweight bag, backpack, and my partner's belongings, I was a little concerned about where we'd stow everything in our interior cabin. To my surprise, there was enough space to organize everything.
The closet had enough hangers for our dresses and blouses, while the small cubbies were great for stashing my packing cubes, shoes, and other smaller items.
There was also a small dresser directly next to the closet with multiple drawers where we kept undergarments and swimsuits.
However, I wish our stateroom had hooks for beach bags and lanyards. Because there wasn't a great place to hang anything, our cabin's singular chair, excluding the vanity chair, became a catch-all place to help keep the floor and vanity clear of clutter.
Modern bathroom
The bathroom also had plenty of storage. I never travel without my hanging toiletries organizer, and it stayed out of the way on the back of the door during our sailing. This freed up the three shelves for my partner.
Even then, the bathroom never felt overwhelming with cosmetics or toiletries strewn about. The shelves provided more than enough space for essentials, and the bathroom felt organized despite the small size.
The shower had amazing water pressure and felt larger than other standard showers. Rarely did I bump my elbows into the glass door!
Like other Royal Caribbean ships, however, the shower had the same 2-in-1 shampoo-body wash hybrid and small toiletries shelf.
I'm always prepared with my own products, never leaving home without my preferred shampoo and conditioner.
That said, because I was on a two-week trip, I brought larger bottles instead of my usual travel-sized ones.
The small shelf isn't ideal for larger bottles, and outside of my shampoo and conditioner, there wasn't much room for my face wash or our two razors.
Moreover, after 14 Royal Caribbean cruises using the cheap bar soap provided, I finally tried one of the best bathroom hacks: bringing your own liquid soap.
Perhaps I just have chronically dry hands, but I hate using the provided soap. In fact, it's one of the reasons that lotion is always on my must-pack list.
However, the foaming Dial soap turned out to be a game changer. The gentle formula felt much better on my skin and didn't create the same soapy mess that bars typically do.
Relatively noisy during the day
As soon as we were assigned cabin 9116, I went to Wonder's deck plan to see where exactly we'd be spending 7 nights. I was disappointed to learn it was at the front of the ship and even more upset when I discovered it was next to a crew-only area once onboard.
I didn't have many issues with the noise as I prefer to spend as little time as possible in the cabin while on a cruise ship. However, my partner prefers to take afternoon naps in the stateroom versus a Solarium chair.
Because our cabin was next to the linen closet, she frequently heard crew members outside the stateroom in the afternoon while cabins were being serviced. Sometimes, the noise would start as early as 7:45am as they prepped for the morning shift.
Read more: I always choose this time to have my cruise room cleaned
Thankfully, though I was worried about feeling the ship rocking at night, I didn't feel much movement at all. My partner felt a little differently, but she's more sensitive to motion sickness than I am.
Dramamine, motion sickness patches, and acupressure bands helped turn an otherwise negative experience into something more manageable.
Read more: I tried the most common seasickness hacks on my cruise. Here’s what works best
While I didn't have a bad cabin experience, I'd hesitate to book this stateroom again because of its location
Deck 9 is such a great deck on Oasis Class ships, as you're only one deck above Central Park and four above the Royal Promenade.
On massive ships like these, grabbing an elevator can sometimes be difficult, so it was nice to know we didn't have to rely on waiting for an elevator after a show when the banks were busier than usual.
However, I'll always take a midship stateroom over one in the forward or aft of the ship simply because you never know what sea conditions will be like on any given sailing.
Because my partner is much more susceptible to seasickness than I am, paying extra to choose our cabin is almost always justifiable, as we've had some less-than-pleasant experiences, such as when sailing on Disney Magic last November.
Sometimes, however, you can get lucky with guarantee staterooms. On my upcoming sailing on Icon of the Seas, we gambled with another GTY cabin and booked an unassigned Surfside stateroom for $3,802.46.
Weeks before sailing, however, we noticed that we were assigned a midship Central Park infinite verandah, much to our surprise!
