Cabin selection is an important part of cruise planning. For those cruising on a new ship for the first time or first-time cruisers altogether, selecting a cabin can be difficult.
If you are planning a trip on Disney Cruise Line, we have you covered as we recently sailed on Disney Dream in an inside stateroom. For those comparing stateroom options on this ship, we have our Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Cabin Review to help you decide if this category is right for your family.
Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Cabin Review
Having previously sailed on three of the five Disney Cruise Line ships in Verandah Staterooms, I hesitated to book an inside stateroom for our most recent Disney Dream sailing. Did I make a mistake?
As a bit of background information, Disney Cruise Line offers four main stateroom types: Concierge, Verandah, Oceanview, and Inside.
Our Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Stateroom was on Deck 9, cabin 9079, midship on the portside. Our stateroom was conveniently located around the corner from the midship elevators. Further, with the pool deck, buffet, and beverage stations on Deck 11, it was a quick walk up the stairs for anything we needed. Except for embarkation day, we never waited more than a minute for an elevator.
Disney Cruise Line’s website has the room size for this stateroom listed as 204 square feet, which is much larger than comparable interior staterooms on other cruise lines. Royal Caribbean’s inside cabins hover around 175 square feet, while Carnival Cruise Line’s are 158 square feet.
Layout of Our Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Stateroom
Our Disney Dream cabin layout was comparable to other inside staterooms we had sailed in on other cruise lines, with a few added touches. The decor resembles the four classic Disney Cruise Line ship staterooms, with nautical theming featuring dark blues and a wood-boarded accent wall. We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of space we had at first look.
When entering the cabin, the bathroom is immediately to the right, while the closets are to the immediate left. Moving forward, a desk area is on the left of the cabin, with the sofa on the right past the bathroom.
Further ahead is a full-length curtain that can separate the “living” area from the bed area if desired, with the bed behind it against the far wall. Two lamps were on either side of the bed, and a shelf underneath simulated a nightstand with charging outlets on both sides.
Immediately inside the stateroom door is a slot for your Key to the World card to be placed in to activate the lights throughout your cabin. Any similar type of card will do; we chose to keep an empty gift card in the holder, sliding it in and out when needed instead of pulling out our Key to the World card each time.
Magical Extras
A great touch to the Disney Cruise Line inside staterooms is the magical porthole on the wall. The first four Disney Cruise Line ships have this feature, while the Disney Wish inside staterooms do not. The magical porthole is an LED screen “window” featuring real-time views from outside the ship similar to what cruisers would see if they booked an Oceanview stateroom.
Favorite Disney characters even pop up on the porthole from time to time! We saw characters like Mr. Potato Head, Donald Duck, and Tinker Bell throughout our four-night cruise.
Inside Our Disney Dream Interior Cabin
Bathroom
Disney Cruise Line features a split bathroom setup in most of its staterooms. Standard Inside staterooms do not have this feature, while Deluxe Inside Staterooms do feature split bathrooms as well as all higher cabin categories.
Opening the door closest to the entrance, you’ll find the toilet, a full-sized sink, and a mirror. One step further into the room, the second bathroom is home to the tub/shower combination, as well as a second sink, mirror, and a set of small shelves.
A big perk of Disney Cruise Line is that each stateroom has a tub and shower. This is especially beneficial for families with small children, as it offers more shower space than some older cruise cabins with just a curtained shower.
Within the shower, there are two retractable clotheslines to hang wet items. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are also provided. Though still a small space, my six-foot-tall husband had no issues with the shower throughout our sailing.
The sink vanities are small, but having two counter space areas to hold our toiletries made it less crowded. Two bathroom areas are always helpful, in our experience, but being in an inside cabin this sailing only amplified our opinion! With a minimal amount of space to begin with, it was nice not to have to use the desk mirror to get ready if someone was using the bathroom space.
Closet
Immediately to the left of the stateroom hallway are the closets. The first closet housed a small safe with a small shelf resembling a shoe shelf underneath. Both closets offered a full-length hanging clothes bar with enough hangers for our formal clothes and dresses. While the clothes bar did go across the entire length of the closets, the space above the safe only left enough room to hang items much shorter, such as shirts.
However, the lack of storage drawers was a setback, especially with a toddler who had little to no hanging clothes. For our four-night sailing, we made it work, but I can imagine that storage on a seven-night cruise would have been tricky.
Main Cabin Area
In the main cabin area, the desk area was on the left, while the sitting area was on the right. The sofa was comfortable enough to relax and transformed into a single bed at night. A small coffee table was situated in front of the couch but could easily be moved anywhere within the cabin if extra space was needed.
The desk offered two 220V plugs, two 110V plugs, and four USB plugs. A full mirror and an elevated shelf are situated above the assorted plugs. Aclosed-door cabinet is on the upper left, with the television and two open shelves on the right.
The mini-fridge is within the bottom right door of the desk, while the bottom left has three drawers for storage. A sitting chair rounded out the desk area features, though we never once sat in it. The counter space on the desk was large enough that we didn’t feel cluttered.
The queen bed was located on the aft wall, facing forward. Small shelves are on either side of the bed, but only one side had outlets, one 110V and one 220V. The other side of the bed housed the stateroom phone and the magical porthole on/off switch. There were no USB outlets near the bed for charging phones at night.
We had nothing but great things to say about our Disney Dream Inside Stateroom bed. It was comfortable enough that we woke up saying it was the best we had slept in weeks! Maybe the endless amount of activities onboard and one too many poolside ice cream cones had something to do with the good sleep, but we’ll give the bed the credit!
Recap of Our Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Cabin Review
Except for the lack of drawer space, we had nothing but positive thoughts about our Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Stateroom. Having sailed multiple previous Disney Cruise Line sailings only in Family Verandah rooms, including on the new Disney Wish, there was skepticism about booking this inside stateroom.
Though this ship is over ten years old, the stateroom was extremely clean, spacious enough for our needs, and up to date. Depending on how many adults or electronics you may have, one could argue that there was a lack of charging areas, but we never had an issue.
Would four adults be comfortable enough for a seven-night sailing in this room? Probably not. I would recommend this deluxe inside stateroom to couples or families with small children.
With the significant cost savings between inside staterooms and verandah staterooms, for a short sailing like ours, I would have a hard time justifying the extra expense for a verandah on our next trip.
For cruisers content walking up to an outer deck to see the ocean, a Disney Dream Deluxe Inside Cabin provides excellent value and a decent amount of space to satisfy guests throughout their sailings.
Comments
Have you sailed in a Disney Dream inside cabin? What’s your preferred stateroom category when you cruise? Drop us an anchor below with your thoughts on Disney Cruise Line staterooms!
Be the first one to post comment