Blog after blog I mention how much I enjoy the rough weather at sea, don’t get me wrong one needs sunshine too but I always hope for rough seas at some point, only once have I been disappointed.

The only bad thing about rough weather (if you don’t suffer from seasickness of course) is the flexing of the ships decks. I always seem to end up in the “squeaky” cabin and must call on the services of a carpenter to work his magic and get rid of it.

Usually it doesn’t bother me too much but on one cruise 2 years ago I reached a point where I wanted to deconstruct the cabin myself and put it back together. We seemed to experience moderate seas the entire cruise so as soon as we moved the noise started. Imagine an empty coca cola bottle being squeezed that was the kind of noise we had continuously.

After a few nights of putting up with it I had finally had enough and made a comment about it to reception. It was late in the evening but two crew members came along to “hear it” for themselves. How typical that as soon as they entered the cabin it would almost stop! There were a few squeaks and moans and I was told that it was normal for the decks to flex. I politely responded by saying I know the decks are designed to flex but this is not normal flexing and we need to sleep, if it can’t be fixed tonight I want a different cabin for the evening, please! Just as I got the words out of my mouth the noise started again and didn’t stop. Both crew members agreed it needed to be rectified, it wasn’t normal and that we would be moved to another cabin for the evening. Result!

I was shown to a cabin aft on A deck that was entirely sound free, heaven to my ears! I left the door latched as I didn’t have a key and made my way back to my cabin to grab some things. My friend decided she would stay where she was, she was too tired to start moving as by now it had passed 2am, I told her she would regret it and off I toddled to my new abode for the evening and queen sized bed!

It was quite strange actually because the cabin had not been made up properly ready for guests. The bed was made obviously, but there was only one towel, no flower, no sweets, nothing! It felt very empty but it was quiet and I had the best night’s sleep of my life!

The next morning I took advantage of having the cabin to myself and spent an age in the shower before getting dressed and finally leaving. As I opened the door I noticed the cabin steward three doors down, he looked at me like I was a ghost then upon realising I was in fact mortal his expression changed to one of “did you just come out of that cabin”. I forgot for a moment that as the cabin was not occupied he wouldn’t be expecting someone to come waltzing out of it. I explained what had happened and he told me he would make up the cabin for me just in case I needed to visit again.

I returned ‘home’ to find my friend still in bed! Apparently she had been awake all night because of the noise and wished she had joined me on the cruise ship camping trip.

Later that day the carpenter paid a visit and as if by magic the noise was gone! It turned out that the cabin had actually separated slightly in two corners of the room.

Today’s blog was just a general story, sometimes things pop into my head and I assume someone else might be interested in hearing about it. 😉

Author: Danielle