Has anybody ever booked a guaranty balcony?

I just realized that our balcony for our next cruise on the Queen Elizabeth is a guaranty CA on deck 5, with a partially obstructed view.

Has anyone ever had one of these cabins? If so, what is the obstruction?

Has anyone ever booked one of these cabins and been moved to another category? I notice that there are only 18 such cabins and they have been pushing them on lots of sales.

How far out do they usually make cabin assignments?

We used to have really good luck booking guaranty cabins on Princess because there were only 4 cabins that fell into the category and we were always moved up, but I don't know about Cunard ships.

OH and I sailed on Queen Victoria last year having booked a specific CA cabin with balcony about 2 weeks before departure. We were upgraded to deck 6 (6090) which is on the corner of the shoulder and has a larger than normal balcony. Deck 5 CA cabins are level with the top of the lifeboats and so restrict your downward view but your straight out view is clear. See attached photo taken from deck 6.

Thanks, socim. We can live with that and it will certainly prevent jumping overboard. ;)

We will see what happens. My TA says the next level up is already waitlisted and that the ship is filling up quickly so who knows.

We have booked a guarantee CA on QV on several occasions and have only once been allocated this grade. On that occasion we had a lifeboat below our cabin and no obstruction in front. It was no problem at all.

We are currently waiting to hear which cabin we are being given for our Oct 8th cruise which is also a guarantee CA.

I'm sure you will have a fantastic cruise upgrade or no upgrade and, as you said, it will stop you from jumping overboard if there is a large Orange boat beneath your balcony!

PunkiC:

Cunard helpfully posts pictures out the windows of the partially obstructed staterooms on deck 4 and 5:

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/fleet/qe_obs

Even if you don't know which stateroom you'll be assigned this will give you an idea of what the obstruction can be like.

Hello there.

We've chosen the CA grade cabin on several occasions and have found them perfectly fine!! Their location has always suited, and the obstruction only means you can't look down....well you can, but just onto a tender or a life boat.

Ok, that said, the tenders and their hoists are slightly larger than the lifeboats..but their mechanism etc are still a couple of feet or so below the balcony railing.

Regards,

Mr H.

PunkiC:

 

Cunard helpfully posts pictures out the windows of the partially obstructed staterooms on deck 4 and 5:

 

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/fleet/qe_obs

 

Even if you don't know which stateroom you'll be assigned this will give you an idea of what the obstruction can be like.

Thank you. That was certainly very helpful. We have actually had a similar balcony on Princess and it was fine.

Another time when our friends wanted to book a very expensive New Years cruise we booked a partially obstructed ocean view cabin and we hated not having a balcony. We will never do that again.

The sad part is that the standard balconies are now on sail for the same amount we paid, although we wouldn't get as much On Board Credit so I guess it's a wash.

If the standard balconies aren't selling maybe you'll be put into one anyway.