When is a balcony not a balcony? When a line discovers that some of the balconies on their brand-new ship are actually obstructed, when they'd previously been sold as unobstructed. Oops!
Celebrity has a bit of egg on its face today, and many customer service representatives are busy notifying agents and consumers that, once the ship arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, they discovered that many of the cabins on Decks 6 and 7 (Continental and Sunrise Decks) actually have obstructed views from their balconies. The obstruction comes from the life boats below.
Some of the cabins only have obstructed views when you try to look straight down to the water (which isn't uncommon on other ships), while a few of them mid-ship actually have horizon-level obstructions as well.
As a result, Celebrity has quickly recategorized many cabins, some going to an "Obstructed Balcony Category 07" designation, others being changed to a Category 2C which denotes some obstruction in the view of the waterline. Other cabins have been recategorized as a result, to better bring the cabins in line with their "desirability." Most of the changes have actually resulted in an upgraded designation, but there are 76 cabins which have been "downgraded" and officially designated as obstructed in some way.
The new deck plans are already posted on Celebrity.com, but I'll summarize for you here.
- The mid-ship cabins on Deck 6, between cabins 6179 and 6209 on the port
side, and 6180 and 6210 on the starboard side are now categorized as Obstructed
Balcony Category 07, with "obstructed view when looking down to the water, and
have slightly obstructed 'horizon' view"; - Cabins 6155 through 6177 and 6243 through 6303 on the port side, and 6156
through 6178 and 6242 through 6302 on the starboard are now all categorized as
Category 2C cabins with "obstructed view when looking down to the water, but
have a completely unobstructed 'horizon' view'"; - Cabins 6101 trough 6153 on the port and 6102 through 6154 on the starboard
are now upgraded to Category 2B, which is unobstructed balcony; - On Deck 7, cabins 7109 through 7157 on the port and 7110 through 7204 on
the starboard are all now upgraded to Category 2B; - Midship cabins 7221 through 7239 on the port and 7266 through 7284 on the
starboard have been upgraded to Category 2A; - Cabins 7249 through 7287 on the port and 7294 through 7336 on the starboard
have all been upgraded to Category 2B; - Cabin 7305 on the port and 7306 on the starboard are both now recategorized
as a Category 2C obstructed view; and - Cabins 8258 through 8277 on the port and 8232 through 8250 on the starboard
midship on Deck 8 are now a Category 1B.
Those who have been "downgraded" will be refared at a lower rate, and in some cases offered an onboard credit on the following formula:
- Downgraded from 2C to 07, $250/cabin onboard credit;
- Downgraded from 1A to 07, $250/cabin onboard credit;
- Downgraded from 1A to 2C, $500/cabin onboard credit;
- Downgraded from 2B to 2C, $500/cabin onboard credit.
I've checked all my bookings, and while some of my clients are affected by the changes, none are booked in downgraded categories, though some booked in Category 2C cabins do have some waterline obstructions, and some client's cabins have been recategorized higher.
This is confusing, so if you have questions, about a current or future booking or potential booking, give me a call! I've updated my deck plans, so can advise you appropriately. Of course, when I am on the Solstice in 2 weeks, I'll be checking out these obstructions personally, so will be able to give first-hand information on the impacts.
