Black watch - cabin 7043 terrace balcony

For those that are confused as I was concerning the Black Watch deck 7 terrace balconies that were added to 27 outside cabins, here is the definitive answer to the apparent lack of one for cabin 7043 on all official and unofficial deck plans.

Having already booked this oversized junior suite for a mystery mini cruise next year (2016) and being told that it was one of the cabins that now had a terrace balcony, I was concerned that the new deck plans for Black Watch showed that 7043 did not have an area marked for a balcony (see below)

I contacted the Fred Olsen booking agent "Fred" and even they were not sure why all the deck plans didn't show the balcony, so they contacted the relevent department, who said that it must be a mistake. Luckily Kevin at "Fred" was as confused as I was and kept going with the investigation. An email was sent to the ship asking that an image be taken of the 7043 balcony - after a week it came in and below you will see that the junior suite definately has a terrace balcony. Would I like it for a long cruise? Put it this way, it's certainly better than just a window, but a private balcony it aint, thats for sure. Great if you are social animals who don't mind chatty passers by giving you comments, or you are part of a large group etc., but if you are anything like us who like our privacy, then long sea days on a "social" balcony is not our cup of tea.

We saw them for the first time earlier this year.

Weird. Not really for us.

wft

These seem to have all the overtones of the old beach huts on the seafront :)

You get your own little bit of the promenade fenced off, but you will be sitting there on display for everyone walking past and you don't even get a guaranteed view if someone decides to stand between you and the rail.

I've not looked at the prices, but I hope they are not expecting any kind of premium for these odd cabins?

We are booked on Black Watch for the Arctic cruise next year and will be in cabin 7043.

Not a lot of choice left for us ( as we usually book a balcony) but we saw the said cabin when we were on her for christmas just gone and it will do us.

You are open to everyone going past but that won't bother us and also our cruise friends will be in a terrace cabin 2 doors down.

Susan