Every day, the stewards would arrange the girls' pillows and toys to make us feel at home

Being a family of five, the only accommodation option on a cruise ship is to purchase a triple and a double cabin.

That is unless you score one of the few family cabins on Royal Caribbean ships.

Now, I am not sure how many the penthouse suites on P&O ships sleep (we'd never be able to afford those anyway, but happy to try one out if someone wants to pay for my next cruise) so if I am wrong, please someone correct me.

I have cruised on five different occasions. My first was a two-nighter from Sydney to Melbourne on the Dawn Princess, twice for three nights on the Carnival Spirit and four nights on the Jewel. Attempting 12 nights was a huge challenge for me. The reason I mention my previous adventures is so that you all can know what I am comparing the cabins on the Eden with.

Dawn - double, inside cabin, very small, tiny bathroom - score: 5/10
Spirit - double, outside cabin, balcony, decent bathroom, narrow room - score: 7/10
Jewel - Triple, outside, bunk beds, window, decent size room and bathroom - score: 8/10
Eden -  Triple, inside, spacious room, decent bathroom, two single beds and a sofa - score: 8/10

Now, it's kinda hard comparing rooms on different ships but there are a few points that surprised me with the Eden.

Bathroom:  I'd say all the bathrooms were comparable on the Spirit, Jewel and Eden. None had baths. No-one enjoys those weirdo toilets on cruises, so you spend as little time as possible doing your business! My toilet on the Eden was leaking clean water when we first arrived (from the cistern) and once I reported it, it was fixed pretty quick (about an hour or so). I wasn't going to get into a foul mood over some water leak, but I was relieved it was fixed quickly. If it couldn't be fixed, I would have asked for a different cabin. Plenty of towels, great shampoo, conditioner, soap and body wash. Surprising as the shampoo and conditioner on the Spirit was AWFUL. I still brought my own (four curly-haired girls need lots of conditioner) but the provided stuff was a great backup.

Bedding: I was sharing the triple with my two eldest (the youngest is very possessive of her dad) and when we first entered the cabin I was little disappointed that the third bed was a sofa. The steward made it up for me and added extra quilts to make it more comfy, but I was expecting a similar configuration to the Jewel (bunks). If you cannot imagine sleeping on a sofa-pull out, don't book a triple. I survived and it wasn't so bad - the worst was sleeping alone (boo-hoo - no snuggles for Honey). Lots of pillows.

Facilities: There's a TV, DVD and phone but NO FRIDGE. This point I was not happy with to be honest as I expected a fridge was just standard in EVERY cabin. I take daily medication that needs to be kept under 30oC and so I had to get creative. Cold bags, ice buckets and the A/C on full ball. I understand some cabins have fridges and others don't, so I would have liked a warning (or it stipulated somewhere when I booked). The bar staff were very accommodating with supplying ice buckets so our bottles of water and soft drinks were cold.

Cleanliness: I could not fault the cleanliness. I am a clean freak at home and the standard the stewards kept both mine and my husband's room (double) was very high. I do not like people picking up after me, it makes me feel uncomfortable having others clean my mess, so tried to keep the rooms tidy. I must confess, we went through an inordinate number of towels which I'm not proud of, but when they're there, you seem to become a glutton for those fluffy, folded white things. (The same could be said about food - but that's another blog post). Our rooms were cleaned TWICE daily and a turn-down service every night - WITH chocolates. On one of the days Eden (Miss 10) went a bit mental applying blue zinc. She started with applying a few stripes on her face and before I knew it, she was a smurf. A little smidge (about 5cms mark) ended up on the sheets.  We went for a swim and forgot about it. When we returned at night, the sheets had been changed.

Smell: What I lack in eye-sight has been made up in my other senses. I have supersonic hearing and smell. The rooms smelled fine (probably because of the A/C) and I don't think the dust was too bad. Miss 11 has a very high dust allergy and she wasn't too sneezy. However, on odd occasions walking down the hallways of deck 5, a waft of sewage-smell did blast my sensitive nostrils. It didn't enter my room, but it was noticeable, but only sometimes. My husband didn't notice any foul odour, but he has bad hearing and a bad sense of smell. He does however, have GREAT taste in women!

No interconnecting cabins: As I mentioned earlier, I booked and paid for my cruise about 4 months ago. I specifically wanted deck 5, smack bang in the middle. This improved my chances of combating any rocking. As we booked TWO cabins, I really wanted them side-by-side. This didn't happen. I'm not sure why common sense did not prevail here with P&O and just moved us down ONE cabin. I must apologise to the lovely lady and her son in the cabin between our two as the little ones continually went between the two rooms, knocking and squabbling. I believe there are interconnecting cabins, but we didn't get one.

And that, my dear friends, is about it. As you can see, I wasn't 100% happy with a couple of things, but believe me when I tell you, these little niggling issues became LESS and LESS important as the cruise went on. We had safe, clean rooms - and we only really spent time in them when we slept (remember, I was in a different cabin to my love). Both my hubby and I aren't fussy and accepted the  cabins we paid for are for sleeping and showering in. I was nervous about having no window or balcony, but honestly I found it quite peaceful. Every one is different, but I would not hesitate booking an inside room again. But, I need a fridge!



As a mum of three young kids, I actually HATE cleaning up every day. But I do it, like other parents who can't afford a cleaner. I felt spoilt and lucky that I didn't have to lift a finger. Okay, it sounds a bit contrived, but it is the truth. Not having to make a bed, vacuum, scrub a toilet or dust was so, so NICE - worth every cent spent. Our stewards did everything with a smile, with humility and graciousness - and worked VERY long days. Thank you Myron and Iris -  I love you both and am very grateful from one worn-out mum.

P.S Tip your stewards. It's just a nice thing to do.

P.P.S Towel animals are super cute and we had a few different ones folded for us and waiting for us when we got back from our days out or dinner. However, I still can't figure what this one is. Any guesses?