The 9 Best Cruise Ship Inside Cabins...and 3 to Avoid (2024)

Not everyone thinks "best inside cabin" is an oxymoron. While some insides are hardly more than dark closets with a bed and bath, others are downright spacious or have cool decor and nifty technological features.

These days, not all inside cabins are the bottom-of-the-barrel inventory. Creative cabin designs -- such as insides that sleep as few as one or as many as six, staterooms with virtual views or interior-facing windows, and Zen-like boudoirs with spa perks -- may not be the cheapest options, but they're usually more affordable than similar cabins with actual ocean views or balconies.

Also keep in mind that accessible cabins are larger, and oddly shaped cabins can also net you more space. (Check your cruise line's deck plans for details.)

For a general overview of the highlights and lowlights of inside cabin categories across mega-ship cruise lines, here are our picks for the eight best inside cabins -- and three you may very well want to avoid.

1. Best Standard Inside Cabin: Carnival

Carnival, that everyman cruise line, does not believe that those who pay less for inside cabins should suffer in tiny digs. While other lines average about 140 square feet of cabin for those booking the lowest category of inside cabin, Carnival's standard insides start off with a comfortable 185 square feet. (A close runner-up, size-wise, is Celebrity Cruises' Solstice Class, with insides starting at 183 square feet.)

Just like their suite-living shipmates, passengers in Carnival's standard insides get bathrobes for on-ship use, flat-screen TVs and comfy beds and bedding. Carnival Breeze adds some nifty storage options, such as bureau shelves that fold down or up for custom space.

2. Best "Deluxe" Inside Cabin: Holland America

Cramped and claustrophobic are two words not typically associated with HAL's Large Interior staterooms, which measure 200 square feet. Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Westerdam and Zuiderdam each offer more than two dozen of these cabins; most other ships (excluding Prinsendam) feature just a handful. On Koningsdam, there are 18 of these cabins; the line's newest ship, Nieuw Statendam, has even more Large Interior staterooms, each of which offers up to a whopping 266 square feet.

These spacious digs tout tasteful design schemes, and some feature roomy L-shaped layouts. HAL also offers gratis robes and shoeshine service to all passengers, a nice touch for a line that keeps one foot in the classic cruising camp. One key reminder: There is some cabin category overlap. Standard Interiors and Large Interiors might be labeled in the same category. Consult your deck plan, or ask your travel agent to be sure.

3. Best Inside Cabin With a View: Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean invented the concept of the cabin with an interior-facing window. These promenade cabins (194 square feet) look out onto the Royal Promenade, an enclosed shopping street lined with stores, restaurants and watering holes. Whether you love an inside cabin with a view or hate the lack of privacy (your across-the-way neighbors and promenade wanderers can see in when the shades are up), you will find the biggest of the promenade cabins on the Oasis-class ships. (Smaller versions are also found on the line's five Voyager-class ships and three Freedom-class ships; the latter offer the notorious Ben & Jerry's "Sweet," with a view partially obstructed by the ice cream shop's fake cow.)

4. Best Inside Cabin With a Virtual View: Royal Caribbean

These industry-first Virtual Balcony inside cabins come equipped with 82-inch LED, HD, floor-to-ceiling screens that stream real-time views and sounds of the sea and ports -- everything but the ocean breeze -- right into passengers' rooms.

Every single interior stateroom (nearly 400 of them) aboard Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas feature the virtual balconies -- including the single-occupancy Studio (measuring 101 square feet), Standard Interior (166 square feet) and Large Interior staterooms (measuring 178 to 187 square feet). Other ships with Virtual Balcony inside cabins are Harmony of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.

5. Best Solo Inside Cabins: Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian's pint-size studios (100 square feet) are found on Norwegian Bliss, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape, Epic and Pride of America, and they make a big impression for numerous reasons. They're dedicated as solo cabins (and priced for solo travelers as well, with no single supplement fee), a concept that Norwegian pioneered in the mainstream cruise industry that is largely based around couples and families. The staterooms feature funky, multicolor lighting effects and a round window that looks onto the corridor. Each offers a full-size bed and lots of storage you can hog all to yourself.

But even better is that residency in these cabins gives exclusive access to the Studio Lounge, a hip hangout where cruise travelers can watch TV, hang out with a coffee or beer, and socialize with other solos.

6. Best Accessible Inside Cabin: Celebrity Cruises

Six roomy inside cabins (245 square feet) on each of the line's five Solstice-class ships -- Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Reflection -- feature cabin doors that automatically open with a card swipe, roll-in showers, grab bars and ramped bathroom thresholds.

Celebrity's newest ship, Celebrity Edge, has three accessible inside cabins featuring a sleek design, but they're slightly smaller than those in the Solstice Class. The line's other ships also feature accessible insides, but they're even smaller and don't have the automatic doors.

7. Best Standard Family Insides: Disney Cruise Line

Always in a category of its own, Disney just does things differently than the other lines. Its Standard Inside staterooms (164 square feet) are family friendly without being special family cabins. On all four ships, they offer the line's famous bath-and-a-half, featuring a room with a shower/tub and sink, and another with a toilet and sink -- great for avoiding fuss at bed- and bath time. (Deluxe Inside staterooms offer all the same amenities, with 200 square feet of space.)

A convertible sofa and a pull-down upper berth house the extra guests, and a curtain divides the room in half so Mom and Dad can stay up reading or chatting with the lights on while the wee ones snore away. While Disney Magic and Wonder have the bigger cabins (184 square feet for Standard, 214 square feet for Deluxe), Fantasy and Dream get the nod for their fantastic touches: raised beds for easier luggage storage, iPod docking stations and "magical portholes" -- faux windows that show a real-time video of the view outside the ship, enhanced with animation of Disney characters swimming or flying by.

8. Best Special Family Inside Cabin: Royal Caribbean

You can squeeze a family of four in a regular inside cabin, but it isn't pretty. If you've got a family of five or six, you could book two cabins -- or nab one of Royal Caribbean's special Family Interior cabins instead. The biggest we found (324 square feet) are on Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Independence of the Seas; they sleep up to six on two twin beds that convert into a queen, a pullout sofa for two and a double pull-down bed. (Oasis-class family insides have a separate bunk room for the kiddos, but they're significantly smaller at 260 square feet.)

The cabins feature plenty of storage space but only have one bathroom. Mom and Dad, consider leaving the bathroom squabbles to the young'uns, and shower at the spa.

3 to Avoid

Too Small: Majesty of the Seas' Standard Insides

Feel the squeeze in the smallest standard cabins offered by Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas (among the smallest industrywide). At 114 square feet, these insides are glorified closets, but Royal Caribbean manages to stuff a lot into these cabins, including a vanity table with extendable working space. With pull-down beds forming bunks, you could even sleep four in these tiny digs. (Just don't all stand up at once.)

Hit or Miss: Carnival's Category 1A Cabins

Carnival says its 1A cabins measure 185 square feet, but Cruise Critic members with measuring tapes beg to differ. Booking a 1A is a bit of a crapshoot: Some have pull-down bunk beds, while others have a bunk and pullout sofa. Some, surprisingly, have porthole windows, meaning they're technically outsides. Many of the 1As are odd-shaped, squeezed-into-corners cabins that come lumped into one cheap category, so their layouts vary by ship and even by cabin number.

Awkward: Norwegian Epic's Family Insides

While the snug solo studio cabins aboard Norwegian Epic (and other Norwegian ships) get high points for their design and perks, many Cruise Critic members have warned that the same ship's Family Inside Staterooms on Decks 13 and 14 aren't nearly as boast-worthy. Complaints vary but largely hone in on the cabins' small size (128 square feet), awkward layout (including poor TV positioning) and in-cabin noise from the bathroom. Another reviewer griped that, despite being billed as family-friendly, the cabin wasn't large enough to fit in a cot for a baby on a recent sailing. The general overall consensus was that this "family-friendly" cabin wasn't truly suitable, space-wise, for more than two passengers.