Outside cabin ? Are you clear

I have in the past made mistakes when booking a cruise, especially when it came to booking cabins that had obstructed views. This happened on a few occasions and was not done to mislead anyone. Unfortunately the cruise lines do not make it easy for us as agents to check. Yes they have their nice glossy brochures that include deck plans, but have you really had a good look at these? I need to use a magnifying glass just to see the cabin numbers, and to read those silly symbols they use to identify certain aspects of the cabin itself, I give up. I now try and upload deck plans from the internet but even that is not as simple as it sounds, unless you have a super fast internet provide don’t bother. Luckily I have worked on a number of our most popular ships so this has been the best tool for me to use. I just feel sorry for those agents that have not seen may ships and have to rely on tools the cruise line offer us.

As agents we are not in the business to mislead our customers, the last thing we want is to have that awkward conversation once the customer has returned from their cruise complaining that their cabin had an obstruction and we as agents had not made them aware of this.

To ask for an outside cabin is a very open question and yes I admit as agents we must make sure that you would like a clear view and not an obstructed view, when I am asked this question I always ask whether they would like and obstructed outside cabin or even a balcony(that could be classed as an outside cabin too)

Remember ask as many questions as possible and make sure you are booking exactly what you want.