Our Sea Terrace Cabin

Ahoy, Sailor

Remember the days when you'd do a "doc dance"?  That was when your printed cruise documents arrived in the mail.   Those days are gone, with docs being delivered electronically.

When you sail on Virgin Voyages, you have something to look forward to in the mail once again.   It's your Sailor Bands.  They are personalized for you, and once you activate them via the Virgin Voyages app, they become your key to your cabin and everything onboard the ship.  You can expect them a few weeks before your cruise.

 

Tip:  Now that you are on the ship, you know who you are so, the name goes face down.  It's the other side that needs to be facing in order for it to be scanned.

There are no cards to carry around with you - just fasten the band around your wrist and off you go.

We got onboard and off we headed to our cabin.   It was on the "Z" side on deck 13 - yes, there is a deck 13 with cabins on there.  "Z" is starboard (right) side of the ship.  When we got off the elevator, there were crew there to direct us - so we didn't have any problems finding our cabin.

Sea Terrace Cabin 13062Z

Sea Terrace 

Whether you're getting ready inside at the glam area, rinsing off in your Roomy Rainshower or relaxing outside on your hand-woven terrace hammock, these spaces are designed to give you sweeping views of the horizon as mood lighting intuitively matches the light from the oncoming sunset.

Let's Talk Storage

Since this was a 5-night voyage, and since we didn't need to get all fancied up for a formal evening, we were able to bring just a carryon bag for each of us.   There's plenty of room in the "closet" to store small suitcases.   Larger suitcases would need to go under the bed.

When we unpacked our bags, the first thing we noticed was that there weren't drawers but rather shelves in the closet and under the desk.  There is a small refrigerator next to the shelves under the desk.

In the photo you will notice a drawer next to the bed.  There is another one hidden under the bed, but that was filled with extra linens.  We used this drawer to store our dirty clothes since we had enough room for our clean clothes on the shelving or hanging up in the closet.

It's possible for a longer voyage, you might have a shortage of space.

Note that in the bathroom, there is a shelf under the counter which can be used for frequently used items.   We put our deodorant, mouthwash, toothpaste, and toothbrushes on the counter next to the sink.   You can put less used items under the sink in the other area marked with an arrow.

Electronics & Controls

On the desk there were electric outlets which we used to charge our electronics.  There are two US plugs and one European outlet (could be problematic for European guests).

There's a tablet on the desk which controls the TV and lighting for the cabin.   The cool thing is when you open your cabin door, the lights come on and the balcony curtains automatically open to let light into the room.   There are various mood settings for different times of day.  The mirror lighting automatically adjusts as well.      If you don't want to use the tablet, there are also plenty of switches around the room to control the lighting and balcony curtains.

Above that storage drawer next to the bed, there are light switches, and also a USB port which came in handy when we wanted to charge our phones while lying in bed.  There was a USB port on the other side of the bed as well.

Final Thoughts

One issue we had was figuring out where to put the moveable table at night.  We never really used the table, and it would be in the way when you were going to  bed.  Our solution was to put it over the arm chair and pile the decorative pillows on top of it for bedtime.  

We loved the shower.  There is a hand-held wand and the overhead rainshower head.  The shower door swings in and out - so you do need to be careful that you have a good seal, or you could get water all over the floor.

Overall we were happy with the cabin.   It's not designed the same way as other ships, but once you figure out how you want to store your things, the positives outweigh any differences that you thought were lacking.   The hammock is a nice touch, although we didn't really make a lot of use of our balcony (since we were enjoying the rest of the ship when not in port).

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Vesteralen Cabin 515

Hurtigruten Vesteralen
 

Knowing that we would be exploring Norway most of the time and not in our cabin, we opted for an inside berth. Accommodations are pretty basic on Hurtigruten Vesteralen, but quite adequate.

There are two single beds in the cabin. Unlike other cruise ships, you don't have the option of putting them together to make a larger bed. In fact the one bed folds up and the other can be converted into a sofa when not functioning as a bed. We left the beds down the entire time.

Storage Space

There was sufficient storage space for our two week voyage, but it took some creativity to figure out the best use of the space.    Our luggage consisted of one standard suitcase and several smaller bags which could fold up for storage.  The large suitcase we stored under our bed.  We stored our dirty clothes in there.   Several of the bags were stored on one side of the closet.  They fit just under the hanging clothes.

Hint:  If you don't want to have your larger suitcases in your room, they will store them for the duration of the voyage in lockers on the third deck near the reception area.  

The other side of the closet also had space for hanging clothes as well as a few shelves on the bottom which worked out well for shoes and some other small items.   Larger bulky items, such as sweat shirts were stored on the upper shelves in the closet.

The only issue we had with the closets was that it was a bit tight when you opened the doors which were hinged in a way that the left side could open at a 90 degree angle to the closet.

Just inside the door is a storage unit with four drawers.  We used the first drawer for various supplies that we wanted to get at and the remaining drawers for underwear, sox, and t-shirts.  There was plenty of room for the 12 night voyage.

Bathroom

The bathroom is nothing fancy, but once again quite adequate for the voyage.  The mirrored cabinet above the sink has plenty of shelf space for your toiletries. There is an old-fashioned hair-dryer built into the wall.

The shower has a built-in soap / shampoo dispenser.  The shower has a two in one shower head.  Click on the images to get a closer look.

Announcements Announcements ....
Between the beds is a small table and chairs. We would connect our devices for charging overnight and when done, place the cords and our sleepwear on the chair so that it was out of the way.

Most importantly, there is a switch on the wall by the bed that controls whether or not you hear announcements for Northern Lights in your cabin. We had it turned on, and were glad we did since we were treated to a fabulous light show at 1 AM one evening.

Additional photos can be found on our Norway Shutterfly page

Vesteralen Cabin
MS Vesteralen (Facebook album)

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