Deluxe Veranda 2D 
Room 6193
In December 2012 we booked a cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean. Departing from Rome, our itinerary included: Santorini, Mykonos and Athens, Greece; Istanbul and Kusadasi (for Ephesus), Turkey; Naples, Italy, then returning to Rome. We normally cruise with Princess, having had many great experiences and not a single noteworthy complaint. As this was an Eastern Med cruise, it didn't seem to make sense not to include Istanbul, which is generally not included on these cruises at this time of the year. So we researched the various cruise lines and found the ideal itinerary on the Celebrity Reflection, departing 6 May 2013.
We were advised to go with a 'guaranteed rate' balcony, as this supposedly offers the chance of a higher class stateroom as the sailing date approaches, based on availability. While we did get a good deal, we were quite surprised to get our room assignment about a week after we booked the cruise. Not surprisingly, we were assigned the lowest category balcony on the entire ship, the infamous 2D, room 6193, with 'obstructed view', on deck 6. It seemed clear to us that this was Celebrity's way of unloading the least desirable rooms early on.
I called Celebrity to inquire on the 'guaranteed rate' policy, and was told rooms could be assigned anytime after the booking. When I suggested this may have been a method of filling the worst balcony rooms on the ship, I was told "there are no bad rooms on the Celebrity Reflection". I was also told the 'obstructed view' constituted "only a 50 percent blockage" of the view from the balcony.
Of course we had no idea what this really meant, so I went online to try and get some information on this category of room, and found nothing. So here is some information which may be useful to anyone who is considering booking a category 2D room on the Reflection.
The obstructed view
Our 2D balcony view was obstructed by Lifeboat #12, as pictured here from inside the room. The bright orange boat was slightly below the top of the handrail, and entirely blocked the view directly down to the water. There was an unobstructed view of the water about 100 feet away from the ship.
Here's the view when sitting in the chair on the balcony, the view is completely obstructed.
View to the left while standing.
And the view to the right.
As you can see, there's a substantial obstruction in the 2D rooms. The tradeoff is in the price, which is usually deeply discounted. There are other potential problems with the 2D rooms, primarily light reflecting all night from below on deck 5; noise from passengers sometimes very early in the morning and late at night from deck 5; and a large orange wall right outside your window.
Smoking
A much worse problem is if you are at either end of the ship your room may be directly above one of the few designated smoking areas on the ship. We had a lot of smoke blow in our room the entire cruise, which we believe may have actually been from an adjoining balcony. Passenger Services wasn't particularly interested in resolving the problem, until after our fifth complaint. This, however, is not a problem specific to the 2D rooms, it could happen on any balcony on the ship when fellow passengers don't abide by the no-smoking-on-balconies rule.
But the proximity of the smoking areas to these deck 6 rooms can be a significant problem. Below is a photo of one of the designated smoking areas on deck 5, directly below some of the 2D and 2C rooms on deck 6. Note the proximity of the balconies to the man smoking in the photo. There is also a similar area on the other end (aft) of the deck which is equally as close to deck 6 balconies. If you are sensitive to smoke, beware of the location of the smoking areas on the Celebrity Reflection!
If you are considering booking one of these less expensive rooms, understand that the money you save will come at a price of an obstructed view, noise, light and the 'orange wall'. And in some cases, exposure to cigarette smoke.
Our experience on several previous Princess Cruises showed us that not all cruise lines are the same, and just about every aspect of Princess is superior to Celebrity. This experience, particulary the smoke seeping into our room, and Celebrity's response, really left us with a bad taste for Celebrity Cruises. In the future we plan to stick with Princess.
If you have found this information to be of value, please email your comments to tdn@sonic.net. Thanks.