After Dozens of Cruises, This Is the One Room I Refuse to Buy

Over more than a decade, I’ve taken dozens of cruises, vacationing aboard (nearly) every major cruise line. And in the course of all those months at sea, I’ve sailed and toured just about every type of cabin a passenger can book.
A certain room type is one that I can’t recommend if you’re paying a full price.
This goes all the way from touring the penthouse suites that offer amazing features that most cruise passengers don’t get all the way to sailing in tiny solo cabins that are less than 100 square feet in size.
But there is one cabin type that I refuse to ever pay full price for again.
Four Groups of Cabins, But One Type of Balcony Room Not Created Equal
When it comes to cruising, you can broadly separate all the cabins into four different categories. There are interior, oceanview, balcony, and suite cabins.
But within these broad categories are different sub-segments of the room type. For instance, suites can encompass everything from rooms that are just slightly larger than your typical balcony cabin all the way to multi-story suites with their own hot tubs, separate bedrooms, and even butlers.
Interior cabins can be so small you’re not sure how they are built for two people to rooms that are every bit as large as any other cabin, just without a window.
But it’s within the group of balcony cabins where there is a room type that we make sure to avoid.
The typical balcony room on a cruise is coveted. You have your own balcony space to take in views, get light, fresh air, or just to sit and have a drink while watching the water go by.
Rightly, cruise lines charge a premium for these cabins. After all, there’s big demand for your own private balcony. What passengers need to watch for, however, is a sub-segment of these rooms that aren’t worth it if you have to pay full price.
Lifeboats Create “Obstructed View” Balconies
Every cruise ship you sail will have lifeboats onboard with enough space to handle all the passengers and crew on the ship. It’s extremely rare that these need to be deployed, yet they must be ready.
To fit all those passengers, the lifeboats are actually quite large. A single one can handle hundreds of passengers. And to help get the boats into the water, there are large davits — essentially cranes — that lower the vessel. Between the boats, davits, and cables, the life-savings systems can take up a lot of space.
And given their use, these boats are held on the side of the ship, near the water. In many cases, they can be in a position to where they are right in front of cabins on the ship.
Just because these rooms have a large lifeboat in front of them, however, doesn’t keep the cruise lines from booking the space. Instead, they are referred to as “obstructed view” balconies.
Balconies That Don’t Have the Biggest Perk of a Balcony
‘Obstructed view’ is no joke. If you’re picturing just a slight obstructions, that’s likely not the case. In this instance,e the balcony is smaller than normal and the view is severely limited by lifeboats.
I’ve actually booked these rooms twice in the past. I can tell you personally that when they are said to be “obstructed” in their view, that’s being polite.
In these cases, yes you could still look out and see the water from your balcony, but your view was taken up largely by the lifeboats and the associated rigging. In one case, I could see only a lifeboat if sitting down on the balcony. I had to stand up in order to look over it and see any scenery.
Undeterred, I booked another obstructed view balcony cabin just to make sure this wasn’t a one-off.
On that second ship, the balcony had a lifeboat below, but davits and rigging through the middle of the view. So no matter if you were sitting or standing, you weren’t going to have a great view.
Discounted Fares May Be Worth It, But Not Full Price
The view of this balcony is completely of the lifeboat if you are sitting down.
For me, there’s no way that after two different experiences in obstructed balcony cabins that I’d pay full price for one of these cabins.
If there is good news, it’s that you can find deals on these rooms. Depending on the price, they may be a good deal for you.
For example, I found a 7-day cruise aboard Discovery Princess charging $686 per person for an obstructed view balcony but $948 for one with an unobstructed view. Meanwhile, an interior cabin for the same trip was selling for $628.
So for about $60 per person extra, you can move from an interior cabin to at least a room with some fresh air and natural light. That’s possibly worth it given the small upcharge.
However, based on my experience, if you run across an obstructed view balcony that’s priced anywhere close to a balcony without the obstruction, then you should definitely avoid that cabin.The post After Dozens of Cruises, This Is the One Room I Refuse to Buy first appeared on Cruzely.com.
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