Norwegian Coastal Voyages' new Millennium-class ship M.V. Finnmarken has the potential to rival the great cruise ships plying Norwegian waters... but Holland America she's not.

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The Finnmarken's cabins are designed for passenger comfort and rival the standard cabins on most cruise lines' passenger ships. They are not fancy nor elegant, they are decidedly utilitarian, but the use of space is excellent. With plenty of closets, drawers and shelves, these rooms are adequate for the 11-day cruise up and down the coast or for the shorter cruises depending on the embarkation city.

Some of the design elements are brilliant: Instead, for example, of having two standard lower bunks, one of them is a sofa that swings over with a bunk underneath it. The other is suspended with brackets and folds up and out of the way during the day, giving a spacious feel to a small living area. Upper bunks are designed the same way, similar to Murphy beds that fold down from the wall. The television is suspended with brackets above a counter area, the desk is plenty big enough for a laptop, and the bathroom, while small, is similar in size and attributes to a standard cruise ship toilet/shower combination. Light-colored composite materials with gold colored metalic trim are used for the closets, shelves and dressers. The "soft goods" are color-coordinated in blues, greens, burgundies and mustards; the deck you are on determines the color scheme of your cabin furnishings.

My cabin had a composite wooden floor, which was unique and interesting, but baffled me until I discovered that it was an "anti-allergy" accommodation.

Ordinarily I don't mind being low and forward on a cruise ship; in fact, I quite like it. My assigned cabin, however, was so dark that I went to the front desk and asked for a change into something with some light. I don't do well in small dark spaces and found myself feeling anxious every time I returned to my room. The ship was full, I was told, but there was a couple on Deck 3 aft who also wanted to change. They had a window, but the thruster noise bothered them greatly. The receptionist would have exchanged our rooms but the couple who didn't like the noise also found my cabin too dark and oppressive, so we were at an impasse.

I asked again the following day, and as luck would have it, I could take the cabin with the "noise" and there was another for the couple already in it. "How bad could a little noise be," I wondered, "on a ship this new?" I would gladly exchange a little thruster clunk for my dark and claustrophobia-inducing space.

I repacked and happily moved my belongings to the cabin on Deck 3 aft. What joy! The windows are not large on this vessel, but light was streaming into my new cabin and I cheerfully unloaded my clothing, shoes and books. For the next two nights, this was my "home." I had gone from a blue-themed room on Deck 2 (the car deck) to a burgundy-themed room on Deck 3.

The cabin sofa flips over into a bed. Note upper bunk stored above it.