I am usually an ardent critic of user-generated websites supplying opinions from amateur travelers based on exactly one visit to one hotel on their trip to a foreign or unfamiliar city. I am not only put off by the amateur basis of those opinions, but by the ease with which opinions can be fabricated by biased supporters or competitors.

But a user-generated message which points out that Cabin E-902 on Cruiseship ABC is located next to the motors or underneath a dance floor -- that's something else. Such an opinion isn't the kind that is often fabricated, and it's unaffected by the amateur status of the source. Which brings me to information about cabins on cruiseships:

When it comes time to book your cruise cabin, you should never assume that every stateroom in the same category will have the same proportions. No, as with homes and apartments, cruise ship cabins can vary slightly even within the same price category. Someone in the cabin right next door to yours -- the one with the larger balcony, and the bigger bathroom -- could be paying the same that you are. The difference between them and you is that they came into the booking process armed with information about which cabin number was the better deal.

Where do you get such information? Not from the cruise lines, which publish maps of their ships that are not to scale and would rather you didn't know which cabins are worth less than others. Not from travel agents, who deal with so many ships and price categories that they are unlikely to be able to tell you which cabins are best on any given ship. Instead, you turn to the Internet, where passionate cruise lovers post their findings for the benefit of everyone.

The people posting on the message boards I'll cite below are very specific about which cabin numbers are the best value for the price charged in their category -- which have slightly more space, or slightly biggest balconies for their class, and so on. It's always a smart idea to check here before paying for a stateroom that could end up being less of a value than one just ten feet away. Head to Cruise Critic (www.cruisecritic.com) and CruiseMates (www.cruisemates.com), and search first by the name of the ship you'd like to take. If you don't find any advice directly pertaining to your proposed ship, take a moment to post a request for information. Cruise ship fans are a vocal bunch, and you'll be surprised how many come out of the woodwork to aid your request. Other valuable message boards can be found at CruiseReviews.com (www.cruisereviews.com).

CruiseDeckplans.com (www.cruisedeckplans.com) posts piles of maps of ships, along with some scoops about which cabins are preferable to others, but if you'd like nitty-gritty information about which cabin numbers are best, you'll have to pay a $12 lifetime membership to CruiseStateroom.com (www.cruisestateroom.com), its sister site. (Depending on how much extra value the information allows you to eke out of your cabin booking, you may find that expense worth it.)

Condé Nast Traveler, which normally revels in over-the-top luxury travel, recently published a list of excellent cabin values in a special issue that was mailed to subscribers. The resulting original article, which is so useful that it has been appropriated without credit by innumerable webmasters, can be found for free here on the magazine's online home, Concierge.com.

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