A full-sized modern cruise ship has around 800 cruise cabins. Most of these are very nice problem-free cabins that anyone would be happy with. Unfortunately the design of a ship inevitably creates some cabins that are less than wonderful.

During one of my early cruises I got an outside cabin on deck four of a new cruise ship. Unfortunately deck five was a public deck. A small bar was located directly above our cabin which left us with an unacceptable level of noise that started around sunset and continued unabated until the wee hours of the morning.

I would guess that around 100 cabins on most cruise ships have something wrong with them. This leaves the cruise line in a terrible dilemma. They want their customers to be happy with their cruise experience. They know that happy customers are repeat customers and that’s the key to their future profits.

But they also know that their profit margins are today under tremendous pressures so filling each and every cabin is now an absolute necessity if they hope to show a short-term profit.

So what are they to do? As you would expect when customer satisfaction clashes with profits – profits win. So you go to a travel agent who calls the cruise line to reserve a cruise cabin for you. The cruise line suddenly offers you a "discount" on a particular cabin you hadn’t considered until that moment.

 

I thought this was my lucky day when I was offered a $115 discount on an outside veranda cabin for an Alaska cruise. The veranda was going to cost us almost $700 more so the discount was very welcome. I foolishly didn’t ask why I was so lucky.

When we got into the stateroom I found that we were stuck with an undesirable cabin. We did have a veranda just as advertised but – our veranda cabin was the last in the line. The cruise cabin on our right was a much larger suite cabin that stuck out from the side of the ship.

This caused two problems. First our view forward was limited by our neighbor’s huge veranda. And worse, when our neighbors reclined on their huge sweeping veranda, their view was to the rear of the ship which meant they also got a nice view of our entire veranda! We had absolutely no privacy!

Was that $115 "discount" really a discount? Looking back I really don’t think so. I feel we were cheated. Now when I’m offered a "discount" I don’t feel lucky – I feel suspicious. I immediately ask "What’s wrong with the cabin?" That forces the agent to be honest and reveal the nature of the defect.

Once again, the cruise line is primarily in the business of making money and there’s no way they can afford to leave those problem cabins empty. The accountants and the shareholders simply won’t allow that.

Some cruise lines (Like Holland America) will openly reveal that the reduced cost is the result of "obstructed view". (These are the outside cabins that have windows whose views are obstructed usually by a big lifeboat handing there.)

Royal Caribbean isn’t quite so open which leaves you to guess why some cruise cabins are cheaper than others.

Another interesting story. When we came aboard the Brilliance of the Seas for a transatlantic cruise, one of our table mates had a problem. When they entered their cabin they were overwhelmed by a strong unidentified odor that was completely unacceptable. When they demanded another cabin they were told the ship was completely full and no cabins were available. They then refused to accept the cabin and demanded a full and immediate refund.

It was only after their threat that things changed. The purser told them that on each ship they had several cabins that remained empty and they were offered one of those. The cabin they were offered smelled just fine but the furniture was threadbare and the carpet badly stained.

After some digging the truth slowly emerged. Even on the most modern cruise ships the need to refurbish cabins continues on a constant basis. The cruise lines leave a dozen or so cabins unbooked on each cruise. During the cruise they have crews that refurbish the cabins enroute. Our couple ended up in one of these dog-eared cabins. They were happy when the cruise line gave them a $500 onboard credit.