I Booked a Risky Oceanview Stateroom on Norwegian Pearl, and it Paid Off!
I cruised onboard Norwegian Pearl, one of the Jewel class cruise ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. When I was booking my cruise, I took a risk - I opted to book what’s known as an ‘Obstructed Oceanview Stateroom’. In other words, I knew at the point of booking the cruise that my stateroom would have an obstruction outside the window, somewhat blocking my view.
By booking this type of cabin, I was able to save some money, but still achieve the goal of having natural daylight coming into my cabin. My personal view is that I rarely spend time in my room looking out the window when I cruise, so surely I wouldn’t mind an obstruction… More on this later!
In this post, I’m going to show you around my Obstructed Oceanview stateroom onboard Norwegian Pearl. I’ll show you the main cabin area, including the storage capabilities and bathroom facilities. I’ll then show you the view from the window of this cabin - who knows, perhaps this is a cabin that you might consider booking for your future cruise…
If you’d rather watch a tour of this cabin rather than read my review here, then here’s a link to my video tour over on YouTube. While you’re over there, please support my channel by subscribing - it’s completely free of charge to you, and it really helps me to reach more people with my content!
So, what exact stateroom did I book, and how does it look ‘on paper’?
You’ll find the Obstructed Oceanview staterooms on Deck 8 of this ship. If you’re looking at the ship from the outside, this is the deck that’s directly behind the lifeboats. In other words, it’s the lifeboats that will be obstructing the view from your window if you book accommodation on this deck.
When I was looking at the deck plans for this ship to trying and choose a cabin with as minimal an obstruction as possible, I noticed that not all of the cabins were the same. Some had the standard positioning that you’d expect to see on a deck plan (the cabin running from the central corridor to the outside of the ship), while others were presented with an alternative orientation. In other words, some cabins were sited horizontally, while others were sitting vertically. Here’s an image from the deck plan to make this point clearer - you can see my stateroom (8590) marked using a red circle.
Here’s an extract from Norwegian Pearl’s deck plan, with my cabin (8590) highlighted using the red circle.
As you can see, there are multiple aspects to this cabin that could make it a terrible choice, but also a great one. First, it’s different to lots of the other cabins - would this be in a good way, or a bad way? I guess time would tell…
Next, it’s very close to ‘O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill’, which is one of the late night dining venues on this ship. Not only that, but this space also shares a part of the ship with the Main Atrium, making it an incredibly busy part of the ship overall. With this only a few doors away, would I hear it, and would the passing traffic be annoying? Again, time would tell…
Third, the obstruction. As you can see in the picture, the obstruction outside this cabin is different to some of the cabins further along the corridor. There was a chance that it could be less obstructed due to the fact that it’s the back of the lifeboat that appears to be outside this cabin.
O’Sheehan’s is just along the hall, making it a potentially problematic cabin… © Fraser at Sea.
O’Sheehan’s onboard Norwegian Pearl shares a space with the Main Atrium, making it a very popular and noisy area on the ship. © Fraser at Sea.
Okay, let’s take a look inside the cabin.
When I arrived at the cabin on embarkation day, it was set up as a Twin. I’m not entirely sure why this was - I requested it to be a double on my online account. After a quick conversation with my cabin attendant, it was altered - zero issues!
The positive point here is that I’m able to show you the cabin set up both as a twin and also as a double bed formation.
Stateroom 8590, set up with a double bed. © Fraser at Sea.
Stateroom 8590, set up with twin beds. © Fraser at Sea.
First impressions of this cabin were really strong. There are so many different photographs of the cabins on this ship from over the years, and some of them had me worried. As soon as I walked in here, I realised that the photos I’d been looking at pre-cruise must’ve been from years ago, and the ship has underwent significant dry dock upgrades since they were taken.
Considering the age of the ship, I thought this was a really modern and fresh-feeling cabin option!
If you’ve cruised before, you can probably already see what makes this cabin different to a ‘typical’ oceanview cabin. You tend to find the beds in most cabins at the far end of the cabin as you walk in, with the window directly behind the beds. However, this cabin was presented differently, with the beds to the right as you enter the cabin, and the window straight ahead of you.
By the beds you’ll find individual lamps, both of which are equipped with a USB outlet (a surprising feature on a ship of this age!), and also a telephone that you can use to call around the ship. You can also call ashore using this phone, but I always advise against that as it’ll come with heavy charges to your onboard account…!
It’s when you look to the other side of this stateroom that you realise how different it is to a ‘typical’ cruise ship cabin.
Looking to the other side of Stateroom 8590. © Fraser at Sea.
The above image gives you a feel for how much larger this stateroom felt than those with a more typical layout just along the hall - I really loved the different perspective that this cabin offered.
At the other end of the cabin, you’ve got your storage (consisting of wardrobes, drawers, shelves and also some open storage at this end of the fixture), a small desk, and a large LED-lit mirror, which you can see offering a bright light in the above image. There’s also a full-length mirror to the left, just before the bathroom door. This offers you the ability to check your outfit ‘head to toe’ before you leave the cabin!
There’s also a television across there, which is mounted on a moveable bracket. This allows you to simply rotate this to give you the best angle depending on which part of the cabin you’re watching the TV from.
The below photos give you a closer look at each of these aspects - you can scroll through them below.
What power outlets are available in this cabin?
The big question - what power outlets are in this cabin, and what international adaptor should you travel with as a result?
Well, the main power sources are by the desk in this cabin. You’ll find both US and European outlets underneath the lit mirror, and there is also a standard USB outlet here.
As mentioned earlier, there are two further USB outlets in this cabin - one on either side of the bed on the lamps.
Here are the power outlets in this cabin: a great variety! © Fraser at Sea.
Let’s now take a look inside the bathroom…
The bathroom that this cabin is fitted with is fairly standard of any cabin bathroom that you’ll have seen on other cruise ships. The toilet cubicle is on the right side as you look in, with a large sink and mirror unit directly ahead of you.
There’s a shower enclosure to the left, and that’s equipped partly with a shower screen and also a shower curtain.
On the rear of the bathroom door, you’ll find some fixed hooks (perfect for things like robes or towels), and also some fresh towels that will be replaced daily by your cabin attendant.
Inside the shower enclosure is a retractable washing line. If you need to wash any clothes while you’re cruising, or if you get caught in inclement weather, you can hang any wet garments to dry in here. That way, your damp clothes won’t affect the main cabin itself.
Personally, I didn’t expect the bathroom in this cabin to be anywhere near this modern on a ship of this age, and so this aspect got a huge ‘thumbs up’ from me - I was really impressed!
So, what was the view like from this stateroom, and how obstructed was it?
This is the big question - was my view fully obstructed, or could I actually see outside? Well, here’s your answer…
The view from stateroom 8590 onboard Norwegian Pearl. © Fraser at Sea.
At first glance, this probably looks like an incredibly obstructed view. However, look a little closer. From this cabin, I was able to see the ocean outside (albeit only a tiny amount), and I was able to the weather every morning while I was getting ready to leave.
I was also able to see the coast from my cabin, which allowed me to determine if we were still docked, or if we had set sail.
Both of these aspects made this the perfect cabin choice for me - it allowed me to save money versus the fully unobstructed cabins elsewhere on the ship, and I could still see enough of the outside world for me to feel that the additional spend to upgrade from an interior or inside cabin was worth it.
I really hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look around my cabin onboard Norwegian Pearl. If you have, then please come and check out another post on this website - I’ve put some links below to hopefully offer you something that you’ll enjoy next.
Here’s a link to my full ship tour of Norwegian Pearl. I filmed this while onboard, and it covers every venue on the ship. If you enjoy this video, please support my YouTube channel by subscribing to it - as I mentioned at the start of this post, this action doesn’t cost you anything at all, and it massively helps me to reach more people!
