Room Darkening Shades or Drapes?

For those of you who have been on Northern Europe cruises, how did you deal with the extended hours of daylight? Did the ship have room darkening shades and/or drapes in the staterooms?

My DW and I will be on the Prinsendam next July. Sunset on July 22, 2016, ,when we will be in Oslo will be at 10:09PM (it will not be dark until 11:17PM), and it will start getting light at 3:27AM.

We would love to benefit from the experience of those of you who have cruised to this wonderful part of the world.

It is dark enough with the drapes closed. But, what an unbelievable site. Enjoy

With the obvious exception of insides, all HAL cabins have a set of heavy, room darkening draperies. There can be gaps, so some people bring clothes pins, or use the extra slacks hangars w/clips to keep them closed.

I love to see the outside, and can sleep with plenty of light, so when I had a balcony cabin on the Prinsendam, and went over the top of Europe, I left the draperies open all night. Had to remind the steward a few times that I didn't want them closed, as he was well-trained to do turn-down a certain way.

I loved rolling over during the night, looking out at the mountains with patches of snow, then going back to sleep.

Even when I have an outside cabin, I close the sheers, but leave the draperies open.

If you've got comfortable eyeshades, it'll be worth bringing them just in case.

Our HAL room was fine for a cruise when we had uninterrupted daylight for several days (north of the Arctic Circle). We'd brought eyeshades after a bad experience on a similar itinerary on a Princess ship, which didn't have blackout curtains. But we rarely used the eyeshades on the HAL cruise, and usually only because something had disturbed one of the curtains and we couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to fix the problem.

Friends of ours were on a cruise and the first morning when they got up he said to her "Wow, I had the best sleep; we're going to have to get a set of those curtains - they really kept the room dark." She replied "We're in an inside cabin, you idiot." I still laugh thinking about this.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

We find the drapes are pretty effective, but like other posters in this thread we usually prefer to have the drapes at least partially open.

I'm VERY sensitive to light when I'm sleeping, but I find HAL's drapes very effective. So much so that I need to set my alarm on port days for fear of oversleeping.

I'm also very sensitive to light at night, so in addition to the good curtains provided by HAL, I use some of the clothespins I bring along to make the contacts good and tight. Between the darkness and the rocking of the ship, I get some of the best sleeping nights on board!

Clothes pins are also a good idea for cabins on the walking deck, usually (always on HAL???) the Lower Promenade. Regardless of what others say, I frequently walk the decks after dark and if the curtains are not together and IF there are any lights in the cabin, you can see clearly into the cabin. I really try to not look in, but when walking along a fairly dark deck when you come to a window with a bright light the tendency is to look to the light without thinking. I work not to, and usually succeed but then if my mind wanders - there turns my head.

I take large binder clips for wayward curtains. If the curtains behave, I use the clips for stray papers, daily programs, menus etc.

We agree with Ruth about leaving the curtains open, except for an afternoon nap (cruising is hard work, you know how it is ......)

Once saw a beautiful flock of white birds flying along the side of the ship in the middle of the night. What a treat! Glad the curtains were open!!

Drapes.....

Sounds like many of us agree:

Bring a few clips in case your curtains do not perfectly meet to keep all light out.

I have always found the curtains dense enough to really block the light if they are completely closed.

We only ever close our drapes to keep out the sun when it is hot or when we are adjacent to another ship in dock.

We never close them at night. I love seeing other ships passing in the night if I wake up.

We did a Baltic cruise this past June on the Eurodam, and despite the curtains being closed I woke up at 4 AM several mornings when the room became light from the very early sunrise. We had an act balcony so it must have hit our window as the sun was rising. But no complaints here!

Neither of us can sleep with a lot of light.

Do like HAL's draperies to keep out the light.

We found as others mention, that clipping the curtains together helps those sensitive to any light. We bought clips for when we are by the pool on windy days to keep the towels clipped to the chairs. We use the same type in the room at night and they really work.

harry

With the obvious exception of insides, all HAL cabins have a set of heavy, room darkening draperies. There can be gaps, so some people bring clothes pins, or use the extra slacks hangars w/clips to keep them closed.

 

I love to see the outside, and can sleep with plenty of light, so when I had a balcony cabin on the Prinsendam, and went over the top of Europe, I left the draperies open all night. Had to remind the steward a few times that I didn't want them closed, as he was well-trained to do turn-down a certain way.

I loved rolling over during the night, looking out at the mountains with patches of snow, then going back to sleep.

 

Even when I have an outside cabin, I close the sheers, but leave the draperies open.

Unfortunately Eurodam and NA do not have drapes, only a heavy sheer, not room darkening

Unfortunately Eurodam and NA do not have drapes, only a heavy sheer, not room darkening

Really? I beg to differ; we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam last year in November, and again this past February and both times we had the long heavy room darkening curtains.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

We always have our curtains open as we like to be able to see out all night. I am used to waking at first light at home, so why change on a ship?

I am used to waking at first light at home, so why change on a ship?

Or what if it never gets dark all night? Or if the sun never sets?

We did a Baltic cruise this past June on the Eurodam, and despite the curtains being closed I woke up at 4 AM several mornings when the room became light from the very early sunrise. We had an act balcony so it must have hit our window as the sun was rising. But no complaints here!

We were on the Eurodam with a regular balcony from June13-July 7th on a Northern cruise and were bothered by light coming through our curtains they looked light blocking but they were not.Last year we did 3 weeks in Norway in the same timeframe on the Ryndam and had no issue with light.The Masdam also has light blocking curtains I think the quality of drapes is poor on Eurodam.I would suspect that the quality of curtains varies from ship to ship.

Eyeshades are a small price to pay for a wonderful cruise in a beautiful area have a great trip.

When we sailed to the Top of the World, I learned to simply fold a washcloth in fourths lengthwise to cover my eyes.

Barbara