One word, 11 different problems
A steel bulkhead takes the horizon. A lifeboat roof takes the view straight down and leaves the horizon open. A public walkway takes the privacy and no view at all. All three arrive on a booking screen as “obstructed”, and they lead to opposite advice — one is a veto, one is a disclosure, one is a bargain for the right client.
What the client actually loses
The cause is what is in the way. The effect is what it costs them — and the advice keys off the effect, not the cause.
Horizon lost
The sea view is materially gone. This is the one people mean.
3 mechanisms
Downward blocked
Can't see straight down at the water; the horizon is untouched. A disclosure, not a veto.
3 mechanisms
Privacy reduced
The view is fine. Other people can see in.
2 mechanisms
Sky blocked
Permanent shade from above; the horizon survives.
2 mechanisms
Space intrusion
Structure physically occupies the balcony itself.
1 mechanism
What is actually in the way, and where
Established on a hull only where the mechanism is known. Several are one line's geometry and appear nowhere else.
Solid structure — a steel bulkhead, panel or railinghorizon lost21 hulls
This is the kind that genuinely takes the view, and on some ships it blocks everything from a seated position and opens up when you stand. Steer a client who is buying the view somewhere else.
Lifeboats, tenders and their davitsdownward blocked26 hulls
This takes the view straight DOWN more than the view out, and the horizon is often still there. Someone who wants to sit with a book and see sea can be very happy in one of these at a lower price — describe it rather than writing it off.
An outdoor observation deck or public walkwayprivacy reduced12 hulls
As much a privacy problem as a view one, because the people out there are looking back in. Fine for a client who wants light and doesn't care; wrong for anyone expecting either a sea view or privacy.
The balcony being open to view from another deck or a public spaceprivacy reduced13 hulls
Not a view problem at all — the sea is fine and the neighbours can see you. Worth raising in advance, because the client who wasn't told is the one who keeps the curtains shut all week.
The pool deck above overhanging the balconysky blocked8 hulls
This one takes the SKY rather than the sea — the horizon is completely untouched and the balcony sits in permanent shade. That's a genuine negative for a sun-seeker and a genuine positive in the Caribbean for anyone who wanted shade anyway, so ask before you assume which.
A whirlpool cantilevered out from the deck above, directly overheadsky blocked3 hulls
Structure and shade rather than a blocked view, with the pool deck's noise and activity immediately above. A different thing from a plain overhang because there are people up there, not just steel — worth naming to a client rather than filing under obstructed.
The ship's own aft superstructure and framinghorizon lost8 hulls
An aft balcony can look THROUGH or OVER substantial metalwork rather than at open water. Aft balconies are often oversized and sell themselves on that, so this is the one where a client's expectation and the reality diverge most — check the specific cabin rather than trusting the category.
A structural roof or canopy covering the lifeboats BELOW the balcony, extending out from under itdownward blocked4 hulls
The horizon and the sea out in front are essentially preserved — what's gone is the view straight down at the water. Disclose it and let them decide; this is not a reason to steer a scenic-view client away, and it only really matters to someone who pictured looking down from their own rail.
The ship's window-washing platform and its equipmenthorizon lost4 hulls
An unusual one, and it affects a small number of specific cabins rather than a band — the platform sits in the view itself. Worth checking by cabin number rather than by deck, because the cabins either side can be perfectly clear.
The ship's dry-slide structure running down the side of the hull, physically entering the balconyspace intrusion4 hulls
This one is not a view problem and calling it "obstructed" misses it entirely — the client still has a balcony and the sea is still there, but the slide structure comes INTO the balcony space rather than passing outside it. The rooms with the biggest balconies are the ones reported worst affected, which is the opposite of what anyone expects. Describe the geometry; don't file it under obstructed and let them imagine a wall.
A large piece of the ship immediately BELOW the balcony — a promenade roof, a canopy, a deck extensiondownward blocked6 hulls
The balcony is fine and the horizon is open; what's been replaced is the straight-down view of the water. Name the specific structure to the client rather than saying obstructed, because the thing they pictured — sea in front of them from a chair — is entirely intact.
Obstructed, mechanism unknown
The most useful number on this page, and the least satisfying.
60 charted hulls have a mechanism on record. 21 are published as having obstructed cabins without saying by what, and those render as exactly that. Filling the field in with the likeliest cause would defeat the point of having it: the whole reason to separate cause from effect is that the wrong cause produces confidently wrong advice.
On these, read the deck plan for the specific cabin rather than the category. The ship pages carry whatever the line does say about which cabins, which is often more useful than the mechanism anyway.
Three things that catch advisors
Drawn from what the records repeatedly have to correct.
Don't inherit cabin numbers between sisters
Several records say explicitly that a documented obstructed pair on one hull does not reproduce on its sister — different numbers, or not established at all. That is a finding, and carrying the numbers across erases it.
Down-blocked is not view-blocked
A roof below the rail costs the view straight down at the water and leaves the outward sea view open. Selling that as "obstructed balcony" loses a booking that would have been perfectly happy.
Privacy is an obstruction too
A balcony overlooked from a public deck has a fine view and no privacy. It is the one kind a client never thinks to ask about and always notices.
Every ship page carries its own obstruction section with what the line publishes and which cabins. Compare two hulls to see where a class agrees and where it does not.