Do all Britannia standard balcony cabins have a sofa?

[Flo71]

Do all Britannia standard balcony cabins have a sofa? Even obstructed ones?

 

[Flo71]

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year x

[SarahHben]

Hi. My daughter said that she didn’t have a sofa in her standard balcony on Britannia. She had a mid forward cabin on one of the upper decks. 

[joeecco]

No they don’t. I believe if you zoom in on the deck plan, the cabin grades show which ones have sofa and which don’t. The one we booked for 2022 doesn’t as we didn’t see it worth the extra cost. 

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Flo71 said:

Do all Britannia standard balcony cabins have a sofa? Even obstructed ones?

 

No. Balconies are quite small. If you want to stretch out you will need to turn the chair sideways.

[purplesea]

No they don't. We did have one that had a sofa when my daughter came with my mother and I but when the sofa is folded out you can't get past it to get to the balcony as it reaches right down to the dressing table unit. To get to the balcony when the sofa was made into the bed was to climb over it or fold it up!

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Flo71 said:

Do all Britannia standard balcony cabins have a sofa? Even obstructed ones?

 

The coding for balcony cabins with sofas is that their grades are prefixed with a G, those with only a chair are prefixed with H. You can check the deck plans to see which grade the cabins are.

[john watson]

The difference is not just they are with or without the sofa,  apparently when they have a sofa the cabin itself is marginally bigger.

 

Regards John

[tring]

14 hours ago, john watson said:

The difference is not just they are with or without the sofa,  apparently when they have a sofa the cabin itself is marginally bigger.

 

Regards John

 

Are the ones with sofa a higher grade though?  We have booked the Sky Princess cruise and the standard balconies on that ship do not have a sofa, but you can upgrade to ones that do and are also slightly bigger cabins.

 

So on princess the standard balconies do not have a sofa.  The deck plans are clear though and probably also the case for Britannia.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by tring

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Are the ones with sofa a higher grade though?  We have booked the Sky Princess cruise and the standard balconies on that ship do not have a sofa, but you can upgrade to ones that do and are also slightly bigger cabins.

 

So on princess the standard balconies do not have a sofa.  The deck plans are clear though and probably also the case for Britannia.

 

 

You sort of answer your own question there Tring, the deck plans are the thing to study for cabin grades and whether they have a sofa or not.  On P&O cabins with only a chair have grades starting H, those with sofas have grades starting with G.

[tring]

14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You sort of answer your own question there Tring, the deck plans are the thing to study for cabin grades and whether they have a sofa or not.  On P&O cabins with only a chair have grades starting H, those with sofas have grades starting with G.

I did not ask the question, but basically said it is not the case for Princess, though all deck plans should give that detail. 

 

I did realise you had already mentioned that and of course that is where the info is always likely to be found, so supporting your answer which seemed worthwhile, given the varied answers that crop up in response to such questions.

 

The OP was asking about cabins which are called "standard balcony cabins".

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by tring

[john watson]

10 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Are the ones with sofa a higher grade though?  

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, tring said:

 

 

 

The term "Higher Grade" as cruise lines classify things is very loose.  If you examine identical cabin types e.g. Inside,  each cabin is as near as possible identical but position on the ship may be considered more favoured by most cruise line passengers in the cruise line's experience.  Then the cruise line will make the more favourable positioned ones a higher grade.  Then there are different cabin types. An improvement on inside would be ocean view so all these will be a higher grade than inside.  This consideration continues throughout the range on both type and position until you get up to the best suites in the best positions.  Each individual upgrade step involves generally paying a few pounds more as you ascend the grades.  If you look at old brochures you may find a ship has as many as twenty different cabin grades but in more recent brochures there are far fewer grades listed.  In general P&O have positional consideration reduced to forward, midships and aft whereas previously these were subdivided into more precise locations.   With fluid pricing you can sometime find complete anomalies where an ocean view is more expensive than a balcony cabin.  This I suspect will be due to a complete sell out on ocean view cabins so they are pricing them out of the market or to make a balcony upgrade look even cheaper. Sometimes on a certain date the same cabin will be reclassified as a higher grade without any physical change to the cabin.  

 

If you want to book a cabin realistically you got to decide do I want to choose one or allow cruise line to choose one for me?  If you choose one I should recommend adding "do not upgrade" to your booking.  If you are allowing the cruise line to give you free upgrades on a specific cabin you have chosen I recommend booking the top grade in that type e.g.  "A" grade balcony cabin,  as an upgrade will mean moving you location and also putting you in a deluxe balcony cabin with additional amenities.  It is not nice to change a selected cabin say an inside cabin where you want to be to a higher grade inside cabin where you do not want to be and have identical amenities.

 

Regards John