We had shared on an overview of our cruise experience onboard Costa Victoria and the dining experiences onboard Costa Victoria – I will share more on the Costa Victoria Balcony Stateroom Cabin is like.

The cabin is decked with modern contemporary decor – the room size is typical of most cruise cabins’ size. Adequate space to walk about and open up a luggage and that’s about it. The pillows are the soft feather types – unless you are staying in a suite, there is no pillow menu to request for firmer pillows so if you need firm pillows, you have to either bring your own or request for more pillows (complimentary) from the cruise cabin staff to stack up.

There is a TV with cable channels from around the world e.g. CCTV, HBO and reception is ok most of the times during the cruise. Besides the side table you see in the picture below, there is a another long table attached to the wall on the other side of the bed (not seen in this picture) and a large mirror. The power sockets are located below this table. There is also a spacious wardrobe (with a lot of hangers provided) and a short corridor that leads to the bed from the door. The in-room safe (located inside the wardrobe) is quite a small one – not big enough to store your laptops and iPads (adequate size for jewelry and wallets).

As I have shared in our 11 tips to make your Costa cruise a more enjoyable experience, the electrical sockets onboard Costa Victoria are all Italian (or European) ones – the 3 round holes in a line-type. You can borrow an adaptor from Guest Services for free – they will charge USD 25 to your account which will be waived when you return the adaptor. Do note that you will need to return the adaptor by 11pm the evening before you disembark at Singapore so there will be a 15-hour window where you won’t have access to electricity to charge your laptops, phones and other devices. So bring your own adaptor and extension plugs if you need it.

This is what the toilet/shower room looks like – small as expected but enough space to move about comfortably. Bath and hand towels and hot water shower are available but no toiletries e.g. toothpaste, toothbrush, shaving kit are provided – so remember to bring your own toiletries. Small soap bars are provided and there is also a shampoo (I assume as it is not labelled) dispenser. If you are particular about your requirements for shampoo, body wash and conditioner (not provided), bring your own.

The best part about the Costa Victoria Balcony Classic stateroom has to be the balcony of course…

… where you can chill out by the chairs on the verandah and take in the view of the vast Straits of Malacca – from dawn to dusk) – check out the sunrise and sunset timings indicated in the daily Today programme – you might not be able to catch either from the balcony – depending where the ship is sailing towards. You have a higher chance of catching the sunset/sunrise on Deck 11.

If you can choose your stateroom, I suggest selecting one nearer the bow of the ship (the forward end of the ship) as opposed to the stern.  In this diagram below, the staterooms nearer the bow are the blue and orange ones.  This is because I had experienced stronger ship vibrations at the area around the stern of the ship e.g. Festival Theatre, Sinfoni restaurant.  I assume the same for the staterooms in those areas – this is not verified.

Me posing with our cabin attendant – Brian.  The cabin attendants are an important part of the whole stateroom experience from greeting you on your day of arrival and showing you key features of your room and doing daily housekeeping of your stateroom while you are out roaming about the ship or on excursions to Phuket and Langkawi.  For any special room requests like more pillows, they are the ones you turn to.

Costa Victoria cruise journeys vary from three to five nights travelling from Singapore to popular destinations such as Phuket in Thailand as well as Malacca, Penang and Langkawi in Malaysia.

Cruise fares of these voyages start at SGD 259 per person. There are sometimes early bird discounts, including free upgrades from Inside cabins to Oceanview cabins starting at SGD 338 per person e.g. a 4-to-go special offer for booking Inside cabins on 3-night sailings starting SGD 259 per person; and a 50 per cent off offer for booking Balcony cabins on selected 3-night sailings starting at SGD 429 per person. Kids under 13 years old will also be able to enjoy a “kids cruise free” offer.

Bookings can be made through Costa Cruises Preferred Sales Agents in Singapore – Citystate Cruises, Chan Brothers Travel, Commonwealth Travel, HongThai Travel Services, JP International Travel, SingExpress Travel and Stamford Discovery Cruise Center. For more information on Costa Cruises, see: http://www.costacruisesasia.com/