Tom Stieghorst
Carnival Vista has addressed one of my pet peeves about
cruise ships, and I only wish that more cruise lines would follow suit.
It has often
baffled me why, when returning to my stateroom, I have to work so hard to find
out which side of the vessel my cabin is on.
There are
odd-numbered and even-numbered cabins on every ship. But on so many vessels
there’s no way to tell which is which except by randomly picking one way to
turn after you climb the stairs or get off the elevators.
I must return to my
cabin a hundred times or more over the course of a seven-day cruise. I’ve never
counted. But I get tired of rounding the turn and finding that I’ve headed
toward the even side when my cabin is an odd number, or vice versa.
All too often there
are no distinguishing features once you get to the proper deck to let you
quickly determine which way to turn.
On the Vista, like
all vessels in the line, there’s a pair of signs with 4-inch-tall lettering
posted on each landing. They’re visible from the staircase. One says “even”
with a directional arrow pointing one way. The other says “odd,” with an arrow
to the opposite direction.
They’re also color-coded:
even in red, and odd in blue.
It isn’t rocket science,
but this basic signage makes a cruise a little bit easier a dozen times a day.
Carnival has odd/even directional signage on all of its ships. So
congratulations to Carnival for getting it right.