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On every cruise ship, there are some cabins that you can book for a reduced price but the cruise lines rarely advertise them. Today, I’m going to tell you everything you need to look out for when booking a cabin so that you can get the best cabin on your budget.
The first way that you can dramatically reduce the cost of a cabin, and I’m talking hundreds, possibly even thousands of dollars, is to book what is called an obstructing view cabin.
A lot of people run and they hide when they hear the phrase obstructive view. And if you’re one of those people, I don’t blame you, but it can be a brilliant way to save a lot of money. And some of the cabins aren’t really obstructed at all.
An obstructive view cabin is basically a cabin where there is something in front of your window or your balcony. This could be a full lifeboat blocking everything you can see from the window or it could be the tiniest bit of machinery that’s on the deck below your balcony.
I like to think of obstructive view cabins as those seats that I always buy in the theater, where you’ve got a bit of a pole in the way, maybe a bar in the bottom third, that’s pretty much what an obstructive view cabin is.
Booking an obstructive view cabin doesn’t just mean that you get the cabin you want cheaper. It also means that you could possibly afford a cabin grade that you wouldn’t be able to afford before. If you’re somebody who’s used to cruising in inside cabins, I know I am, having an obstructive view, ocean view or a balcony, is a real treat.
There are a few things that could be obstructing the way. It could be a lifeboat, it could be machinery, or it could be something a little bit more strange. Some cabins are actually obstructed by whirlpools, some have kind of crew passageways that go between the window and the outside of the ship. And technically that’s enough of an obstruction that that cabin can not be sold at full price.
If you’re somebody who has one of these obstructed views that basically isn’t obstructed at all, it’s a really, really, really good way. And it feels so good to be in one of those cabins, and know that everybody around you, your cabin neighbours paid way more than you. And you know, they’re just one meter further over, it feels so good.
There were obstructive view cabins on every cruise ship and cruise lines tend to be very careful when it comes to obstructive views. They would much prefer to sell a cabin as an obstructed view and the passenger gets there and they think, “This is amazing.” as opposed to they sell it as a standard cabin and there’s a little bit in the way, then somebody complains. They don’t want to have to deal with that. So they definitely err on the side of caution and they call it a lot of things obstructed when really I don’t think they are.
When it comes to obstructed cabins, the absolute cheapest cabin you can get is an obstructed ocean view and these are usually the same price as an inside cabin.
If you’re used to cruising in an inside cabin, you’ll know that one of the weirdest things is waking up, it’s pitch black. You don’t know if it’s 3:00 AM or 3:00 PM. If you’re able to get an obstructed ocean view, you at least have light. Even if you have a full lifeboat that covers the entire window, you don’t have to worry about waking up in the dark. And if that’s the same price as an inside cabin or even a little bit more, I would definitely pay just for the daylight.
The amount of obstruction within an ocean view or a balcony cabin can vary dramatically. Some are completely blocked like the ones on the MSC Preziosa and some are not really blocked at all. If you have a look at the MSC Preziosa, you can see the deck where the windows are behind the lifeboats. The most common type of thing to be in your way is lifeboats because cruise ships do need to have lifeboats.
They’re all benefits above and beyond just the cost saving of getting an obstructed view cabin. The obstructive view cabins often have the best locations because they’re right behind the lifeboats, a lot of them, they’re right in the middle of the ship.
I know some people do care more about the location than they do the view from the balcony. So if you’re somebody like that, getting an obstructive view in the middle can be a really good way to get that location that you want, but without paying the premium price.
It can be tricky to find the right obstructive view cabin. And basically the more research you do into the cabins, the better experience you’re going to have. If you’re booking through an agent, you’re definitely going to want to work with them, and let them know that you are open to obstructed view cabins.
Then they can have a look and you can chat about how obstructed you would like to go. If you’re somebody who really is into researching your cruises, looking at deck plans, you can find out how obstructed each cabin is and find out which ones you’d be happy with.
If you’re booking directly through the cruise line or through some agents, you can see deck plans where you can see which cabins are obstructed view. There are various pictures on the internet of each cabin and the view. So the more research you do, the better chance you have of getting a good one, a really, really good one.
It’s important to note that the only way that you’re going to get an obstructive view cabin is if you book an obstructive view cabin. The cruise line can’t assign you an obstructive view if you booked a regular cabin. Some people do worry about this but unless you’ve specifically said, you are happy with an obstructive view, you’re not going to get one. This brings us on nicely to point two, and this is what I do every single cruise.
When you book a guaranteed cabin, you are guaranteed to at least get that cabin. So I tend to put guaranteed insides, guaranteed ocean views and I have on occasion booked eight guaranteed balcony. A couple of years ago, I took my first Cunard cruise.
I actually booked a guaranteed balcony cabin and it was absolutely amazing. I’m very used to cruising in an inside cabin, and it wasn’t much more for a balcony. If you’re somebody like me, who’s used to cruising in inside carbons, ocean view cabins, you probably don’t mind where your location is of your balcony because you’re so excited to be in a balcony.
I think it’s important to note that when you book a guaranteed cabin, you are guaranteed at least the cabin that you have. But you do get assigned kind of at the last minute, you do end up with the leftover cabins.
I have never ever, ever had a bad cabin or regretted the idea of not picking my cabin location. But if you’re somebody who particularly wants to be really near the buffet or near the kids club, or you have a reason to be in a specific location, a guaranteed cabin probably isn’t right for you.
If you’re somebody like me who is just very, very excited to be in an ocean view or a balcony, you’re very happy to be on a cruise, you don’t mind where you are, guaranteed can be a brilliant way to save loads of money.
The brilliant thing about choosing a guaranteed cabin is that if you had chosen that cabin, which you could have done, you would have paid more. So you feel like you’re kind of getting something for free. And for me, I don’t mind where my cabin is, so it’s a really good option.
Not all cruise lines offer guaranteed cabins. Some don’t give you any discounts even if you don’t pick your own cabin.
If you are booking on a cruise lines website, you’ll probably see two massive boxes, one of which will be, “I’ll pick my own cabin,” and the other one will be, “I’ll let you decide.” And depending on which one you pick, that is how much you will pay. If you are booking through an agent, just let them know that you’re flexible on cabin location and you can save a lot of money by doing that.
A guaranteed cabin isn’t a great option for somebody who really wants a specific cabin grade. Just because you’ve booked a guaranteed inside cabin, that means you’re guaranteed to at least get an inside cabin. But you could get an upgrade to an ocean view or a balcony or a suite. Anything could happen. You might think that is fantastic. Why would anybody not want an upgrade?
But what you’ve got to bear in mind is, this is what the cruise line thinks is an upgrade. So you might think the middle of the ship is the best place, they might upgrade you to say an ocean view with an obstructive view but it might be right at the front of the ship. And you really don’t want that, but because you’ve agreed that you’re not going to pick the location, you’re stuck at that point. You have kind of taken a lucky dip and that’s what you’ve got.
It is quite common if you’ve booked a guaranteed inside cabin to be upgraded to an obstructed ocean view or if you’ve booked an ocean view, to be upgraded to an obstructed view balcony. I don’t know but this is really tricky to say.
This is quite common because these cabins are often left until last. Some people are scared of booking the obstructive view cabins, especially people who are first-time cruisers or they’re not very confident in looking through deck plans and working out what all of the symbols mean.
It is quite confusing. I don’t blame you if you are scared of that stuff, but it does mean that these cabins are often left until last. So when the guaranteed cabins are being assigned, there’s normally a lot of space for people to get upgraded into the obstructive view cabins.
If you’re cruising as part of a group, you’ve got multiple cabins and you book all guaranteed cabins, you are not in any way guaranteed that they’re going to be close together. When I took the Cunard cruise, I had to guarantee balcony on, I was cruising with my parents and my brother, and we were very lucky, we got a lovely balcony on both sides.
We both got guaranteed balconies, one on one side, one on the other. If one side was a bit boring, we could go across and look at the good view and then go back. It was absolutely brilliant. I did the same thing on a Costa cruise that I took last time. I had a guaranteed inside cabin and I cruise with my parents on that cruise too, they were in a guaranteed balcony cabin and I was about three miles away from them.
Walking from one cabin to the other, I think it was up four flights of stairs and across the other end of the ship. They were very far cabins away, which is completely fine. I’m an adult. I don’t need to be that close to my parents. But just bear in mind that you’re not guaranteed to have cabins that are anywhere close to the other cabins even if you’ve booked together.
Saying you’re a family of five and you’re going on a cruise. You go on the website, you type in five people and it comes up with a handful of cabins. There are cabins for families of five but these are usually limited. They might be called something fancy, like a family balcony or something like that. But there’s less cabins that accommodate five people as opposed to three or four people.
One thing that is worth doing, which does go against everything that you probably think makes sense, is to have a look at getting multiple cabins. If there are only a few cabins left on a ship that hold five people, the cruise line can pretty much charge whatever it wants. If you are able to cruise in two cabins, on occasion, it can be cheaper to get two adjoining cabins rather than one cabin for five.
I know this sounds a bit strange but just if you are in that situation and you’re booking a cruise, you’re looking on the website, just try out different cabin combinations. On a lot of cruise ships, you’ll find cabins that are adjoining cabins.
If you do have a good agent, they will be able to find you adjoining cabins. But it’s just something you need to think about. You also need to have an adult in every cabin. It doesn’t matter if you’re in an adjoining cabin, each cabin still has to have adults in it and it’s usually a person over 21.
So if you were a family of five, two adults and three children and you were thinking about cruising in a cabin for five, and you decide to have a look just on the off chance at two adjoining cabins. This can work out cheaper but you do have to have one adult in each cabin.
The same thing often goes with solo cruisers which also goes kind of against what you think makes sense. If a cruise line does have solo cabins, these are a great option, and they’re often the cheapest option for solo cruisers but they do sell out pretty fast.
If a cruise line only got say, two solo cabins available, they can put the price up. They can charge whatever they want for those. And sometimes it’s actually cheaper as a solo cruiser to cruise in a balcony by yourself.
I know it doesn’t make any sense, but trust me, if you’re there, you’re booking a cruise, sometimes it can just be worth looking at different combinations of cabins. Even if they’re higher-grade cabins, sometimes they can be cheaper. So just take that five minutes before you can press book and think about different cabin combinations. You’ve got nothing to lose, and you could get something really, really good.
CruisesforSingles.net is dedicated to providing quality information on the subject of Cruises for Singles and in particular various other cruise ideas for customers and merchants online.
Cruises for Singles
On every cruise ship, there are some cabins that you can book for a reduced price but the cruise lines rarely advertise them. Today, I’m going to tell you everything you need to look out for when booking a cabin so that you can get the best cabin on your budget.
The first way that you can dramatically reduce the cost of a cabin, and I’m talking hundreds, possibly even thousands of dollars, is to book what is called an obstructing view cabin.
A lot of people run and they hide when they hear the phrase obstructive view. And if you’re one of those people, I don’t blame you, but it can be a brilliant way to save a lot of money. And some of the cabins aren’t really obstructed at all.
An obstructive view cabin is basically a cabin where there is something in front of your window or your balcony. This could be a full lifeboat blocking everything you can see from the window or it could be the tiniest bit of machinery that’s on the deck below your balcony.
I like to think of obstructive view cabins as those seats that I always buy in the theater, where you’ve got a bit of a pole in the way, maybe a bar in the bottom third, that’s pretty much what an obstructive view cabin is.
Booking an obstructive view cabin doesn’t just mean that you get the cabin you want cheaper. It also means that you could possibly afford a cabin grade that you wouldn’t be able to afford before. If you’re somebody who’s used to cruising in inside cabins, I know I am, having an obstructive view, ocean view or a balcony, is a real treat.
There are a few things that could be obstructing the way. It could be a lifeboat, it could be machinery, or it could be something a little bit more strange. Some cabins are actually obstructed by whirlpools, some have kind of crew passageways that go between the window and the outside of the ship. And technically that’s enough of an obstruction that that cabin can not be sold at full price.
If you’re somebody who has one of these obstructed views that basically isn’t obstructed at all, it’s a really, really, really good way. And it feels so good to be in one of those cabins, and know that everybody around you, your cabin neighbours paid way more than you. And you know, they’re just one meter further over, it feels so good.
There were obstructive view cabins on every cruise ship and cruise lines tend to be very careful when it comes to obstructive views. They would much prefer to sell a cabin as an obstructed view and the passenger gets there and they think, “This is amazing.” as opposed to they sell it as a standard cabin and there’s a little bit in the way, then somebody complains. They don’t want to have to deal with that. So they definitely err on the side of caution and they call it a lot of things obstructed when really I don’t think they are.
When it comes to obstructed cabins, the absolute cheapest cabin you can get is an obstructed ocean view and these are usually the same price as an inside cabin.
If you’re used to cruising in an inside cabin, you’ll know that one of the weirdest things is waking up, it’s pitch black. You don’t know if it’s 3:00 AM or 3:00 PM. If you’re able to get an obstructed ocean view, you at least have light. Even if you have a full lifeboat that covers the entire window, you don’t have to worry about waking up in the dark. And if that’s the same price as an inside cabin or even a little bit more, I would definitely pay just for the daylight.
The amount of obstruction within an ocean view or a balcony cabin can vary dramatically. Some are completely blocked like the ones on the MSC Preziosa and some are not really blocked at all. If you have a look at the MSC Preziosa, you can see the deck where the windows are behind the lifeboats. The most common type of thing to be in your way is lifeboats because cruise ships do need to have lifeboats.
They’re all benefits above and beyond just the cost saving of getting an obstructed view cabin. The obstructive view cabins often have the best locations because they’re right behind the lifeboats, a lot of them, they’re right in the middle of the ship.
I know some people do care more about the location than they do the view from the balcony. So if you’re somebody like that, getting an obstructive view in the middle can be a really good way to get that location that you want, but without paying the premium price.
It can be tricky to find the right obstructive view cabin. And basically the more research you do into the cabins, the better experience you’re going to have. If you’re booking through an agent, you’re definitely going to want to work with them, and let them know that you are open to obstructed view cabins.
Then they can have a look and you can chat about how obstructed you would like to go. If you’re somebody who really is into researching your cruises, looking at deck plans, you can find out how obstructed each cabin is and find out which ones you’d be happy with.
If you’re booking directly through the cruise line or through some agents, you can see deck plans where you can see which cabins are obstructed view. There are various pictures on the internet of each cabin and the view. So the more research you do, the better chance you have of getting a good one, a really, really good one.
It’s important to note that the only way that you’re going to get an obstructive view cabin is if you book an obstructive view cabin. The cruise line can’t assign you an obstructive view if you booked a regular cabin. Some people do worry about this but unless you’ve specifically said, you are happy with an obstructive view, you’re not going to get one. This brings us on nicely to point two, and this is what I do every single cruise.
When you book a guaranteed cabin, you are guaranteed to at least get that cabin. So I tend to put guaranteed insides, guaranteed ocean views and I have on occasion booked eight guaranteed balcony. A couple of years ago, I took my first Cunard cruise.
I actually booked a guaranteed balcony cabin and it was absolutely amazing. I’m very used to cruising in an inside cabin, and it wasn’t much more for a balcony. If you’re somebody like me, who’s used to cruising in inside carbons, ocean view cabins, you probably don’t mind where your location is of your balcony because you’re so excited to be in a balcony.
I think it’s important to note that when you book a guaranteed cabin, you are guaranteed at least the cabin that you have. But you do get assigned kind of at the last minute, you do end up with the leftover cabins.
I have never ever, ever had a bad cabin or regretted the idea of not picking my cabin location. But if you’re somebody who particularly wants to be really near the buffet or near the kids club, or you have a reason to be in a specific location, a guaranteed cabin probably isn’t right for you.
If you’re somebody like me who is just very, very excited to be in an ocean view or a balcony, you’re very happy to be on a cruise, you don’t mind where you are, guaranteed can be a brilliant way to save loads of money.
The brilliant thing about choosing a guaranteed cabin is that if you had chosen that cabin, which you could have done, you would have paid more. So you feel like you’re kind of getting something for free. And for me, I don’t mind where my cabin is, so it’s a really good option.
Not all cruise lines offer guaranteed cabins. Some don’t give you any discounts even if you don’t pick your own cabin.
If you are booking on a cruise lines website, you’ll probably see two massive boxes, one of which will be, “I’ll pick my own cabin,” and the other one will be, “I’ll let you decide.” And depending on which one you pick, that is how much you will pay. If you are booking through an agent, just let them know that you’re flexible on cabin location and you can save a lot of money by doing that.
A guaranteed cabin isn’t a great option for somebody who really wants a specific cabin grade. Just because you’ve booked a guaranteed inside cabin, that means you’re guaranteed to at least get an inside cabin. But you could get an upgrade to an ocean view or a balcony or a suite. Anything could happen. You might think that is fantastic. Why would anybody not want an upgrade?
But what you’ve got to bear in mind is, this is what the cruise line thinks is an upgrade. So you might think the middle of the ship is the best place, they might upgrade you to say an ocean view with an obstructive view but it might be right at the front of the ship. And you really don’t want that, but because you’ve agreed that you’re not going to pick the location, you’re stuck at that point. You have kind of taken a lucky dip and that’s what you’ve got.
It is quite common if you’ve booked a guaranteed inside cabin to be upgraded to an obstructed ocean view or if you’ve booked an ocean view, to be upgraded to an obstructed view balcony. I don’t know but this is really tricky to say.
This is quite common because these cabins are often left until last. Some people are scared of booking the obstructive view cabins, especially people who are first-time cruisers or they’re not very confident in looking through deck plans and working out what all of the symbols mean.
It is quite confusing. I don’t blame you if you are scared of that stuff, but it does mean that these cabins are often left until last. So when the guaranteed cabins are being assigned, there’s normally a lot of space for people to get upgraded into the obstructive view cabins.
If you’re cruising as part of a group, you’ve got multiple cabins and you book all guaranteed cabins, you are not in any way guaranteed that they’re going to be close together. When I took the Cunard cruise, I had to guarantee balcony on, I was cruising with my parents and my brother, and we were very lucky, we got a lovely balcony on both sides.
We both got guaranteed balconies, one on one side, one on the other. If one side was a bit boring, we could go across and look at the good view and then go back. It was absolutely brilliant. I did the same thing on a Costa cruise that I took last time. I had a guaranteed inside cabin and I cruise with my parents on that cruise too, they were in a guaranteed balcony cabin and I was about three miles away from them.
Walking from one cabin to the other, I think it was up four flights of stairs and across the other end of the ship. They were very far cabins away, which is completely fine. I’m an adult. I don’t need to be that close to my parents. But just bear in mind that you’re not guaranteed to have cabins that are anywhere close to the other cabins even if you’ve booked together.
Saying you’re a family of five and you’re going on a cruise. You go on the website, you type in five people and it comes up with a handful of cabins. There are cabins for families of five but these are usually limited. They might be called something fancy, like a family balcony or something like that. But there’s less cabins that accommodate five people as opposed to three or four people.
One thing that is worth doing, which does go against everything that you probably think makes sense, is to have a look at getting multiple cabins. If there are only a few cabins left on a ship that hold five people, the cruise line can pretty much charge whatever it wants. If you are able to cruise in two cabins, on occasion, it can be cheaper to get two adjoining cabins rather than one cabin for five.
I know this sounds a bit strange but just if you are in that situation and you’re booking a cruise, you’re looking on the website, just try out different cabin combinations. On a lot of cruise ships, you’ll find cabins that are adjoining cabins.
If you do have a good agent, they will be able to find you adjoining cabins. But it’s just something you need to think about. You also need to have an adult in every cabin. It doesn’t matter if you’re in an adjoining cabin, each cabin still has to have adults in it and it’s usually a person over 21.
So if you were a family of five, two adults and three children and you were thinking about cruising in a cabin for five, and you decide to have a look just on the off chance at two adjoining cabins. This can work out cheaper but you do have to have one adult in each cabin.
The same thing often goes with solo cruisers which also goes kind of against what you think makes sense. If a cruise line does have solo cabins, these are a great option, and they’re often the cheapest option for solo cruisers but they do sell out pretty fast.
If a cruise line only got say, two solo cabins available, they can put the price up. They can charge whatever they want for those. And sometimes it’s actually cheaper as a solo cruiser to cruise in a balcony by yourself.
I know it doesn’t make any sense, but trust me, if you’re there, you’re booking a cruise, sometimes it can just be worth looking at different combinations of cabins. Even if they’re higher-grade cabins, sometimes they can be cheaper. So just take that five minutes before you can press book and think about different cabin combinations. You’ve got nothing to lose, and you could get something really, really good.
CruisesforSingles.net is dedicated to providing quality information on the subject of Cruises for Singles and in particular various other cruise ideas for customers and merchants online.
Cruises for Singles
CruisesforSingles.net is dedicated to providing quality information on the subject of Cruises for Singles and in particular various other cruise ideas for customers and merchants online.
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