Carnival Cruise Line is best known for a few things in the cruising industry. First, the cruise line has some of the most fun ships at sea with nonstop activities and parties from the moment you step onboard. You can anticipate a lively crown onboard, creating a very upbeat atmosphere during your Carnival cruise.
Second, the cruise line is considered one of the most affordable options with a diverse range of itineraries across North America. Most cruisers will drive to a nearby cruise port to set sail on one of Carnival’s “fun” ships. Short sailings to Mexico, The Bahamas, and Caribbean provide cheap cruise options for those looking to save money.
Third, Carnival keeps their stateroom category selection quite simple with only a few different cabin types. Unlike competitors, Carnival mostly offers interior, oceanview, and balcony cabins for guests to choose from.
Suites are limited on a Carnival cruise ship with less than 100 suites on most of the cruise line’s vessels. Older ships in the fleet are comprised of mostly interior and oceanview cabins with very few balconies, as this was common in the 1990s when these ships were built.
There are only 58 suites on Carnival’s oldest ship, Carnival Sunshine, with 723 standard interior cabins. Similarly, the cruise line’s older Fantasy Class ships have less than 30 suites!
In contrast, the cruise line’s newest Excel Class ships will have the biggest range of cabins available, along with the most suites onboard for those wanting to splurge. For example, there are 181 suites on Carnival Jubilee, along with 700 standard interior rooms.
In the last two years, I’ve sailed on Carnival’s oldest and newest ships. Carnival’s newest ships in the Excel class include Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee. On the other hand, Carnival Sunshine is the oldest ship in the cruise line’s fleet at 28 years old.
During my sailing on Carnival Celebration, I booked the cheapest interior cabin available. This was one of the first sailings on Carnival Celebration in November 2022, and we only paid $1,300 for the 7-night itinerary. Comparatively, I booked the cheapest interior cabin on Carnival’s oldest ship for $1,700 on a last-minute, 4-night sailing a few weeks ago.
With a higher price for the older ship, I was eager to see how the interior cabins would compare. It’s always interesting to see how cruise ship design has evolved over the last few decades, particularly with staterooms. Cruise lines are constantly looking for ways to improve the onboard experience.
Here’s how the cheapest cabins compared on Carnival’s oldest and newest ships, including the drastic, unexpected differences between the two.
Price
For both of these cruises, I booked a guaranteed inside cabin. This was the cheapest cabin available on both the new Carnival Celebration and the old Carnival Sunshine. Most of the time, a guaranteed interior stateroom will be the most affordable option on a cruise ship.
When booking a guaranteed cabin, you won’t get the option to choose your stateroom’s location. Instead, the cruise line will randomly assign you a stateroom before the sailing. These are typically leftover cabins that no one wanted to book, meaning you could be stuck with an undesirable cabin.
I paid $185 per night for two guests to sail on Carnival Celebration, including port fees, taxes, and prepaid gratuities.
Carnival Celebration had just launched in November 2022 as the newest Excel Class ship. Considering the newest cruise ships are in high demand, this was a great price.
On the flip side, I booked a 4-night sailing on Carnival Sunshine for $425 per night for two guests. This was nearly triple the cost per night compared to our sailing on Carnival Celebration. I was surprised the price was so high, considering the oldest ships in a cruise line’s fleet are usually the cheapest.
However, Carnival Sunshine was clearly in high demand given this inflated price. Carnival Sunshine is the only mainstream cruise ship that sails from Charleston, South Carolina, likely contributing to the higher cost. Moreover, our sailing was sold out with the ship at full capacity! Looking back, I would consider this price to be too high for the oldest ship in Carnival’s fleet.
Cabin Overview
As is common with inside staterooms, both of these interior cabins were simple and functional. Our interior cabin on Carnival Sunshine was slightly larger at 185 square feet compared to Carnival Celebration.
Comparatively, our stateroom on the new Excel Class ship was only 162 square feet. Inside cabins typically measure between 150 and 190 square feet, so our stateroom on Carnival Sunshine was on the roomier end.
Although this newer interior cabin on Carnival Celebration was comfortable for the two of us, this cabin would feel cramped with more people. This small room might have enough space for a family with smaller children, but four adults would be a tight squeeze, in my opinion.
For Carnival Cruise Line, it appears that interior cabins have become smaller over time as the cruise line’s ships are getting bigger. Our stateroom on Carnival Sunshine was quite spacious, which surprised me. We were also randomly assigned to an accessible cabin, which is designed for guests with mobility concerns.
We did not request this type of cabin, so the cabin’s unique design was new to us. For example, the bathroom was larger than a standard interior cabin with grab bars to assist a guest with mobility issues.
In terms of size, our Carnival Celebration interior cabin felt smaller and less roomy compared to the old Carnival Sunshine cabin.
However, the stateroom featured bright lights that helped make the space feel more spacious. On the other hand, our older cabin felt more drab and worn down. This was expected for a 28-year-old cruise ship, though!
Neither of these cabins provided additional seating in the stateroom. I prefer having a sofa, loveseat, or even a chair to use while in the cabin. Otherwise, you always have to sit on the cabin’s bed if you want to relax in the stateroom.
My biggest gripe with the newer interior stateroom on Carnival Celebration was the wasted space from unused pullman beds. With only two of us in the cabin, we didn’t need to use the other bunk beds.
Instead of having the bunkbeds suspended from the ceiling, these bunkbeds were jetting out from the wall. This design made the room feel more cramped, as the bunk beds were taking up space in the cabin and were not being used.
Location
Although this wouldn’t always be the case, the location of these two cabins couldn't be more different.
By booking an interior guarantee, the cabin’s specific location onboard is up to chance. We won the gamble on our Carnival Celebration cruise, as our interior cabin was in a great location on Deck 4. Our cabin was quiet, allowing for a comfortable stay throughout the week.
In contrast, our interior cabin on Carnival Sunshine was a horrible location. Our cabin actually shared a wall with the elevator shaft on Deck 6, creating loud noises at all hours of the day. Throughout the night, we could hear thuds and the wall would shake with the elevator’s motion.
While being located to the elevator and stairs was convenient, the elevator’s loud noises kept us awake all night.
We could also hear people screaming in the hallway, so it was pretty evident that our cabin lacked any soundproofing! I struggled to sleep for all four nights of the sailing, and I am shocked the cruise line would place a cabin that shares a wall with an elevator.
Read more: 13 tips to sleep better on your next cruise ship
Functionality
Inside cabins might lack the bells and whistles of other staterooms, but cruise lines continue to design these smaller spaces to maximize functionality. In the end, interior staterooms should have everything needed for a comfortable cruise.
Even still, newer staterooms on a cruise ship usually have better functionality compared to older ships. Our expectations were much lower for our cabin on Carnival Sunshine considering the ship is almost 30 years old.
When we first entered our stateroom on Carnival Sunshine, we could not find a single outlet. The main outlet appeared to be a European plug, which was being used to operate the cooling fridge.
After investigating, we found a US outlet behind the massive phone on our vanity. With about three different outlets in the room, this is more than you might find on ships built in the 1990s.
Luckily, my sister packed her European adapter to use on the vanity. This plug had a few different outlets available, which we both used to charge our many devices. I was grateful that she packed this adapter for us to use, along with a long phone cord for easy charging since there weren't any outlets near our beds or on the lamps.
On the other hand, our brand-new cabin on Carnival Celebration had tons of outlets for charging devices. There was a large charging strip on the vanity with four USB plugs and three US outlets. We also utilized USB plugs near our nightstand, which is a thoughtful design touch. This allowed us to use our phones in bed!
Interestingly, our older interior cabin on Carnival Sunshine did not have any nightstands. I have never been on a cruise ship that lacked nightstands!
We ended up moving over an unused end table we found under the vanity. This worked well for a nightstand, although I am still surprised the cabin lacked this functionality.
Finally, the new interior stateroom on Carnival Celebration required our cruise card to provide power to the stateroom. This is part of the cruise line’s sustainability efforts to conserve energy when the stateroom is not being used.
Design
Comparing the decor and cabin design between the two cabins is difficult. This is like comparing a brand-new house with one built in the 1990s. Of course, design and decor trends change over time and new cruise ships will always feel more modern.
However, Carnival Sunshine did have its cabins redesigned in 2013, which certainly updated the decor to be more stylish. During the ship’s major refurbishment, all staterooms received amplification.
Even still, our cabin on Carnival Sunshine had a more outdated design compared to the new Carnival Celebration. This was expected considering the massive age difference between the two ships. Personally, I love to see how these design trends change over the years!
Our new interior cabin on Carnival Celebration felt bright, airy, and light compared to the design of our older cabin on Carnival Sunshine. We found the newer interior cabin beautifully designed, which is what we anticipated for a new cruise ship.
The woodwork was lighter with blue accents around the cabin, which helped the cabin feel more spacious. The newer interior cabin had a bright light on the ceiling and the vanity that illuminated the space.
Looking at the older interior cabin, the decor was darker and more worn. The cabin did feature some well-placed lights that provided nice brightness and warmth to the space. While the design was nothing to write home about, it was more up-to-date than anticipated.
Storage
Regardless of how long my cruise is, I prefer to unpack my suitcase to feel more settled. I hate the feeling of living out of a suitcase while traveling. I appreciate how cruise cabins typically have plenty of storage to unpack comfortably, and this was certainly the case for both interior cabins, regardless of age.
Our old cabin on Carnival Sunshine had two closets, each on separate ends of the room. My sister used one closet while I took over the second one. My closet had shelving, and my sister’s had space to hang dresses.
Sadly, the two closets were a little worn, dusty, and dirty. I was glad we packed using packing cubes, so we could just place the cubes right in the closet on top of the dust. We were able to place our suitcases in the closets after unpacking, which helped save room in the small space.
The vanity also provided three drawers for more storage, which we used to keep the vanity uncluttered.
I wished there were more shelving around the vanity, as our newer cabin on Carnival Celebration had two shelves near the vanity. Although the older interior stateroom was bigger, the storage on Carnival Celebration was better.
In this way, our new interior cabin on Carnival Celebration had two large closets to unpack. For a 7-night cruise, we had a little more luggage and clothes for the sailing. However, everything was placed in the closets and drawers easily. We appreciated having shelves and hanging space in the closets.
Bathroom
When it comes to the bathroom, the two can hardly be compared.
Cruise ship bathrooms have greatly improved over time with modern designs to optimize the small space. While our bathroom on Carnival Celebration was one of the highlights of the stateroom, the same could not be said for sailing on the old Carnival Sunshine.
In fact, the bathroom was one of the worst parts of our entire cruise on Carnival Sunshine. I felt like I was using a public restroom at a hospital!
First, the bathroom on Carnival Sunshine had a horrific smell throughout our cruise. The smell was so overpowering that we would actively avoid using the bathroom. Moreover, the bathroom had rust and gunk in many of the corners. I was disappointed to see how poorly maintained the bathroom was.
Of course, I expected the bathroom to look old and dated. I don’t mind an outdated design as long as the bathroom feels clean and well-maintained. I’ve sailed on many old ships with perfectly fine bathrooms, but that wasn’t the case here.
As if the stench wasn’t bad enough, the shower would flood anytime it was used. The shower curtain would stick to our skin, and the water would get all over the floor. It’s no wonder the bathroom had a horrible smell! We had to use towels each evening to mop up the water that would linger.
On the other hand, our newer bathroom on Carnival Celebration was beautifully designed and featured a huge walk-in shower. Although the bathroom was small, the design was modern and very efficient.
I was most impressed with the shower, which featured a glass door that maneuvered inward and to the side, which I found very innovative.
The new interior cabin also featured way more storage with shelving above and below the sink. I appreciated the towel rack being located directly under the stink. Although nothing major, the thoughtful touch felt noteworthy.
Bottom Line
Staying in an interior cabin while cruising might not be the best choice for everyone. However, those looking to save money on their vacation would likely consider the savings worthwhile to book these cheap cabins. After all, you never spend that much time in your cabin anyway with so much to do onboard!
At the end of the day, these interior cabins couldn’t be more different. Between price, functionality, design, and location, the brand-new cabin on Carnival Celebration was the better option of the two. Although this was not surprising, I expected more from the cheap interior cabin on Carnival Sunshine.
While the cabin was outdated, the horrible location and poorly maintained bathroom created a more negative stateroom experience. Though the cabin was bigger, we were left frustrated and disappointed with the experience, especially considering how expensive the cruise was.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
