For those who might need information on the most forward cabins on Emerald deck 8. I just got off 14 nights on the Sky Princess in E102.
E102 is the first forward cabin on the starboard side. From the external view of the ship, it might look like this room is the 2nd cabin in the row, but the first opening is just a walkway and not a balcony. Continuing past this cabin is an emergency exit door, which leads to another door that leads to the outside crew pool.
Although sold as an obstructed view, there is no real obstruction. It is designated this way because the balcony does not have a see-thru glass wall under the railing. I was concerned that this 1st cabin would have a much smaller balcony than normal, but there was plenty of room for the 2 adjustable chairs and a little round table.
The interior is the same as any other deluxe balcony. The room is spacious with plenty of storage space. The bed is very comfortable. The bathroom is standard with the infamous Princess shower curtain that is waiting to get to know you better 😊
The cabin is above the theatre, but we never heard any noise from below.
Speaking of noise, as you would expect, there are 2 problems with this cabin – motion & noise!
There is a lot of noise early in the morning when the ship is docking or at a tender location. There are some other random noises here n there from the crew side next door, but nothing that bothered us while trying to sleep. This location would not be good for night owls who like to sleep in!
There is more motion in the front of the ship in general and a lot of vibration during the docking & tendering procedures, as well as when the stabilizers are being used. The seas were quite wavy for our first few days at sea, and we certainly felt the motion more than we are used to. This did not pose a problem for us, but I would not recommend being this forward for anyone concerned about motion sickness.
I did have some concerns leading up to the cruise, but in the end this cabin did not pose any problems for us.