i was buying 3 cruise cabins on different ships last weeks, and had many cabins available to choose from even in the same price category, what i did to find a good one was of course first check what is above/under the cabin and what is around.... also, you can get invaluable info by searching the specific cruise forums with the exact cabin numbers, you can find threads of discussion on the best/worst cabins on a given ship/deck... very useful