Claustrophobic and worried about our interior cabin, HELP!

[Athankfulheart]

We will be leaving soon for a short weekend cruise with family, our cabin cost was a gift. When our rooms were booked (way before we knew about the cruise) I didn't have any say in the type of cabin chosen for us. I can manage my claustrophobia for airline travel since they are usually of short duration and I have an isle seat. I asked if we could pay for the additional cost of a cabin with a balcony or even a window, answer was no, we could not change. My anxiety keeps going up daily and I'm afraid I'll be sleeping on a deck chair. I want to have a nice time but the thought of that dark windowless cabin is terrifying. I'm considering asking the doctor for a prescription to get me thru.

 

Any advice other than xanax, help!!!:eek:

 

I can relate to your problem. I have also cruised insides 50% of my cruises. You mentioned that you are able to handle flying ( I assume without meds). This is a great thing ! Most people that I come across do spend very little awake time inside their cabin. With our first inside I only slept in the cabin at night. The second time I also took a nap in there during the day. Like another poster said, the only time that its completely dark is if you turn out all of the lights. I have gained better and better control over my issue with being closed in. I don't know where you are in that progress, but from the clues you have given here, I don't think that you are giving yourself enough credit !

 

Getting a px from your doctor may serve to ease your pre trip anxiety, which if you are anything like me, may be a far worse enemy that the size of your cabin.

[xxoocruiser]

We will be leaving soon for a short weekend cruise with family, our cabin cost was a gift. When our rooms were booked (way before we knew about the cruise) I didn't have any say in the type of cabin chosen for us. I can manage my claustrophobia for airline travel since they are usually of short duration and I have an isle seat. I asked if we could pay for the additional cost of a cabin with a balcony or even a window, answer was no, we could not change. My anxiety keeps going up daily and I'm afraid I'll be sleeping on a deck chair. I want to have a nice time but the thought of that dark windowless cabin is terrifying. I'm considering asking the doctor for a prescription to get me thru.

 

Any advice other than xanax, help!!!:eek:

 

What cruise ship you are will have some influence on the size of the inside cabin.

 

Inside cabins vary in size from Cruise line to Cruise Line, ship to ship and also inside category can influence size. With that said, I find inside cabins to be very comfortable.

 

For what it's worth , general speaking there's very little difference in size between a standard oceanview window cabin and a standard inside cabin.

• There is always a large mirror in the room to reflect by the desk. Some even have a mirror over bed.
  
• Some ships have drapes over on the wall behind the bed to give the illusion that a window is there.
  
• Also you can turn to the TV channel to the Ship's Navigational Channel and it will help to give you the feel of having a window as you will see the front exterior of the ship cruising in water. Than when it arrives in port you'll see the port. At night it will be dark same as if you have a window.
  

[winifred]

I too am claustaphobic, so know excactly you how you feel, cruise before last husband who gets sea sick couldnt have curtains opened as we were low down near sea! and it made him ill, so unusually they were closed the whole time and it didnt really bother me as much as I first thought, so on next cruise I agreed to try an inside . Like you before we went was very worried took medication to calm me in case I had panic during the night etc:rolleyes: But have to tell you I managed fine I keep air con well up so room feels cool like window open told myself the picture above bed was a window,( I know but we claustraphobics have to do what works!) and I was absoloutely fine. Also so many people about late at night on the ship so if you did have to get out of cabin you could just have a wee wander no one would mind and come back and say if it gets bad I'll have another wee wander about in a minute or so land it helps you to feel in control. If you can get upgrade fine, but honestly I never thought I would manage but realised I can and it holds no fear now. Hope you get on okay and have a lovely cruise and a relaxing one whatever happens.

[fishycomics]

I bet you will do fine, and you will come back and keep us all updated?

 

the room is Big and more than likely you will be mostly out of it more than inside it .

 

If you feel like you need something like a window. go get yourself a poster of one

 

TV has an on/off switch, you may like to tune to the Ch 4 for the bow of the ship as posted.

 

again keep us posted after your ship sail[/quote

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It's not just about the size of the space for many people. A poster of a window won't help someone who suffers from claustrophobia. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe caceling is best, or get on that phone and try again, you may never know

 

a poster is like a tv why not also quote the tv person GEE. no pun intended or insulted. removing the quote is funny haw haw

[varoo]

Whoever booked this room for you did you no favor. This is no gift. IMO

I hope it works out well for you but think it such a bad idea the 'generous' one made such a choice and expect you to cope with it.

 

I'm sorry if anyone objects to my expressing this opinion but it is how I feel.

 

I would say "No, Thank You" and not go. Why should you have to be stressing and dealing with anxiety because someone else made this choice for you?

 

This is the most sensible reply of all.

No reason to subject oneself to something you dread, or to drug yourself in order to get through it.

This is hardly a disaster or war situation where you have no choice in the matter.

 

If it were a hurricane or tornado situation where the OP's life depended on staying in a windowless shelter, that would be an entirely different situation, but that is certainly not the case here.

A cruise is supposed to be an enjoyable vacation, not an ordeal to be endured under duress.

 

I agree with the others who suggested contacting the cruise line directly to try to get an upgrade to a cabin with a balcony, or at least a window.

 

We had an inside cabin for our 17 day cruise and had no problems with it. As someone already said, it is not dark with the lights on. It is also roomy for two. Finally, we did not spend much time there-mostly to sleep and change clothes. There is plenty of outdoor space on the ship to enjoy.

 

If you can sleep in your bedroom at home with the blinds drawn, you can stay, comfortably, in an inside cabin.

:confused: How well do you know the OP?

 

That may be a great choice for you, but there is no way even a professional therapist would predict whether or not a stranger you have never met would be comfortable under such circumstances.

 

There are different degrees of claustrophobia, some much more severe than others.

 

To someone with severe claustrophobia, that would be like advising someone with a fear of heights to take a vacation trip that requires walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon.

[Dayenu]

Hopefully, the curtain in the inside cabin will give you an impression of a window behind it. Are you sharing the cabin with somebody? Will they tolerate having the lights on?

 

Definitely get prescription meds.

[AKman2495]

:confused: How well do you know the OP?

 

That may be a great choice for you, but there is no way even a professional therapist would predict whether or not a stranger you have never met would be comfortable under such circumstances.

 

There are different degrees of claustrophobia, some much more severe than others.

 

To someone with severe claustrophobia, that would be like advising someone with a fear of heights to take a vacation trip that requires walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls or Grand Canyon.

 

I know the OP probably as well as you do. All I did was present the reality of an inside cabin. Facts. They are not totally dark. They are roomy.

 

Now, if the OP cannot handle that, at least the OP knows factually what they are like.

 

FWIW...

[jamessemaj]

Never had a problem in an interior. I know some people can't handle elevators. If it were that bad for me, I would thank the donor, but cancel if there was no alternative, and feel no obligation.

[EGG]

OK, none of us knows your situation but I can tell you my husband can barely stand the elevatiors with more than 4 people but he is fine with an inside cabin. You will be using your cabin mostly for sleeping. Sleep in your bedroom tonight with the curtains drawn and the door closed. That is probably how your inside cabin will feel when you sleep, just no sunlight to wake you up. You will probably not be spending any time during the day in your cabin except to change and sleep and shower especially when you are traveling with a group. One or two days you might even be off the ship all day in port.

 

I'm not you, but here is advice since you asked for it. Take what you want and leave the rest. I would try to make the best of it and make it a game to spend as little time as possible in the cabin and participate in as many of the activities as you can during the day, eat your meals leisurly in the dining room rather than rushed at the buffet and during free time find a lounge chair and read and sun or swim or talk. Stand by the rail and watch the water, walk a mile on the promenade deck, play trivia, watch a movie, play cards, play a game, go to the fitness center, play miniature golf, sit in the whirlpool, play bingo, go to the casino, do an arts and crafts class, take a dance lesson, go to an art auction for the free champagne, climb the rock climbing wall, watch the hairy leg contest or the belly flop contest, go to a lecture, take a spa treatment, sit at a bar and listen to the music, find your pictures in the photo area, sit at the pool and listen to the music, go get an ice cream cone, window shop in the stores on board, look at all the artwork around the ship, read a book, take a nap on a lounge chair, take a lot of pictures of the ship to post on cruise critics. All these activities are during the day so you never have to even go back to your cabin. We are earlybirds and we start the day in the fitness center, I leave a little before my husband to shower and while he is showering I put on my makeup. Then breakfast in the dining room and then off to activities. After dinner there is the show and after that music and entertainment all around the ship. We go to our cabin exhausted and quickly fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat.

[LandlockedCruiser01]

The real problem with inside cabins isn't the closed-in feel; it's the darkness. Given the way ships are built, insides are about the same size as oceanviews or balconies. But they are pitch black 24 hours a day if the lights are turned off. So when you gotta wake up in the morning, you don't know what time it is unless you look at your clock and/or turn on the bridge cam on your TV.

 

The good news is that you won't be spending much time in your cabin. I myself had a porthole cabin on my last cruise (interestingly, Carnival classifies them as insides), and I spent 1 hour a day there maximum. I was always out and about in public spaces, until coming back around 2:00 AM and conking out. The bad news is that the 24-hour darkness can confuse your sense of time. (Not unlike polar night in Alaska.)

 

I say go on your cruise, with all the precautions in place. Get the prescription meds from your doctor, turn on your TV to the bridge cam channel, and don't spend much time in your cabin outside of sleeping, when it's dark outside anyway so it'll be dark there with or without a window. Also, you didn't specify if you were sharing your cabin or not; perhaps you'd safer with a sharing with a friend? Of course, if the thought of an inside is making you dread your entire cruise, bite the bullet and decline the gift. You can always book your own cruise, with the accommodations you feel comfortable staying in.

[Bonnie J.]

Years ago I took a picture of a port hole with the ocean and blue sky. It was on a black wall. So I have a picture of the port hole, the ocean and clouds in the blue sky. I had it made into a poster and we post it in our inside cabin. If there is a curtain where a window would be we post it there with the curtain hiding the tape. In the morning we say 'What a beautiful day'! We keep it rolled up in our suitcase with painter's tape. We tell people we have an inside cabin with an ocean view!

We also leave the bathroom light on, just almost close the door. And we have an electric candle we sometimes burn in the cabin.

[navybankerteacher]

On every recent cruise, other than trans-Atlantics, we have regularly seen notices that the ship is sold out and that no requests for changes can be contemplated. Requesting an upgrade might be futile from that standpoint.

[sail7seas]

On every recent cruise, other than trans-Atlantics, we have regularly seen notices that the ship is sold out and that no requests for changes can be contemplated. Requesting an upgrade might be futile from that standpoint.

 

 

We see that sign at the front office almost every cruise.

 

[RockeyBullwinkle]

yep, it's dark unless you turn on the light. looking at the room plans of the newer ships the rooms all look about the same except some have windows and some don't. get a nightlight, one of those battery candles or leave the bathroom light on or leave the TV on. the last place I plan to be on the cruise is in my room except to sleep and shower up. maybe you should get whomever that was nice enough to pay for your cruise a sign that says.. NO GOOD DEED EVER GOES UNPUNISHED.

[fishycomics]

Years ago I took a picture of a port hole with the ocean and blue sky. It was on a black wall. So I have a picture of the port hole, the ocean and clouds in the blue sky..

 

 

And that was what I was trying to say when that poster tells me differ Lol

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We all understand, you do not want to give this gift back. it would be an insult. We all understand that.

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Heck I leave my cabin door open if I had to.

 

trust us the inside cabins are spacious.

[pollygirl]

Hopefully my TA (OP) isn't seeing this. She's also my MIL!