Allure of the Seas - Air Conditioner Problems

There is a design flaw with the Allure of the Seas -:(

When the balcony door is unlocked (not opened, just unlock the switch), the room air conditioner shuts off until the balcony door is locked again. So... it you wish to go out on the balcony and enjoy life, the room you left behind is starting to become a sauna. My wife tried to sleep while I was reading on the balcony and she woke up in a sweat, complaining. I guess their justification is that they are trying to save energy, but it is at your personal comfort expense.

In that case, you'd think they would have put a lock on the outside of the door as well.:rolleyes: But there are a couple of interesting design issues on that class of ship (plug placement under the vanity on Oasis, solved by putting an extension cord and taking up a large part of the counter space on Allure, for example).

We had the same issue on Allure. We ended up never using the balcony, and keeping the curtain drawn at all times, otherwise the cabin was unbearably warm. Funny though, my kids had a CP balcony across from our D5 one, and did NOT have the same issues with the AC.

I have read alot of threads about this problem, but always conflicting info. Rather the door needs to be locked or just shut.

Maybe it's different for different category of balcony rooms. What category was your room.

I have read alot of threads about this problem, but always conflicting info. Rather the door needs to be locked or just shut.

 

Maybe it's different for different category of balcony rooms. What category was your room.

We were on the Allure in May in a D8 Oceanview balcony and never had this problem. We didn't ned to lock the doore, just shut it.

My husband would go out on the balcony to smoke and I would stay inside and the AC never shut off or turned down.

Are you sure its locked and not simply shut tight?

On Freedom class - the door had to be shut tight. The kids would go to bed and we would go "outside" while they slept.

The air conditioning wouldn't turn on unless the door was tight against the frame.

There is a design flaw with the Allure of the Seas -:(

When the balcony door is unlocked (not opened, just unlock the switch), the room air conditioner shuts off until the balcony door is locked again. So... it you wish to go out on the balcony and enjoy life, the room you left behind is starting to become a sauna. My wife tried to sleep while I was reading on the balcony and she woke up in a sweat, complaining. I guess their justification is that they are trying to save energy, but it is at your personal comfort expense.

We were in a D1 on the Allure and had the exact same problem. We were unable to use the balcony as the AC would turn off unless the door was shut and locked. Apparently this is not a problem with all the balconies but is the reason we will not be back on the Allure.

Interesting. But one thing to note is that I really find it hard to imagine a room getting that hot that fast. But in any case an annoying feature non the less. It reminds me of the electric outlet in the bathroom of the NCL sky would not work unless the light was on. I had to leave the light on all night so I could charge several electronics at the same time.

They only had one outlet in the room. :-/

Does anyone have a picture of the door and the switch that indicates the door is open or unlocked? Perhaps there is a dollar store fix to this problem.

On our Boardwalk balcony on the Oasis, this was indeed the problem! I tried shutting it tight, asked the steward and he said, "this is how they all are" with a shrug. It got really warm, so we didn't spend that much time on the balcony after all (June).

Does anyone have a picture of the door and the switch that indicates the door is open or unlocked? Perhaps there is a dollar store fix to this problem.

No - you physically have to shut the door and then there is a door handle that is L shaped. When it is straight across you can slide the door back and forth. When the handle is up, it is locked. When the handle is turned completely the other way, down, it is unlocked. And it was relatively hard to turn without putting your back into it. (I may have got the up or down backwards, but there is no way to rig this up - no lock switch or bypass).

This is INDY - not Oasis - with the signs advising us that we had to keep the balcony door closed for the air conditioning to work. Are the Oasis class locks different?

Yes, Oasis is different. Same style of handle, but no piece that inserts. You just slide the door and something within the actual door frame locks...I could find no way to see it...and I tried!

There is a design flaw with the Allure of the Seas -:(

When the balcony door is unlocked (not opened, just unlock the switch), the room air conditioner shuts off until the balcony door is locked again. So... it you wish to go out on the balcony and enjoy life, the room you left behind is starting to become a sauna. My wife tried to sleep while I was reading on the balcony and she woke up in a sweat, complaining. I guess their justification is that they are trying to save energy, but it is at your personal comfort expense.

You may call it a design "flaw," but it is Royal's way of conserving energy and preserving the interior of the cabins. What happens when you have a room that is 68 degrees and an exterior that is 95 degrees? Condensation. Condensation that will ruin artwork and wallpaper. As far as conserving energy, it would require more energy to keep that AC consistently working at 68 degrees if the door is open and you keep letting in the warm air. As one that is trying to become more eco friendly, I applaud Royal.

Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion, and that we are all entitled to one. No, I am not some eco-freak that protests that those who do not recycle, etc.; I just like to help conserve energy as much as I can.

You may call it a design "flaw," but it is Royal's way of conserving energy and preserving the interior of the cabins. What happens when you have a room that is 68 degrees and an exterior that is 95 degrees? Condensation. Condensation that will ruin artwork and wallpaper. As far as conserving energy, it would require more energy to keep that AC consistently working at 68 degrees if the door is open and you keep letting in the warm air. As one that is trying to become more eco friendly, I applaud Royal.

 

Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion, and that we are all entitled to one. No, I am not some eco-freak that protests that those who do not recycle, etc.; I just like to help conserve energy as much as I can.

You do not understand.

It has nothing to do with leaving the door open.

It is not that the door needs to be shut, the door needs to be shut AND LOCKED. So if you want to spend an hour on your balcony with the door shut, you cannot lock the door, so the air goes off.

Eco stupidity in my opinion.

We cruised the Allure in Feb of 2011 in an ocean view balcony and we did not have this problem. Door closed completely and A/C never turned off. Though I was concerned with handle design that it would lock with me outside and I would be stuck there.

We cruised the Allure in Feb of 2011 in an ocean view balcony and we did not have this problem. Door closed completely and A/C never turned off. Though I was concerned with handle design that it would lock with me outside and I would be stuck there.

I believe there have been threads in the past from people that locked themselves out on the Oasis. :eek:

You do not understand.

 

It has nothing to do with leaving the door open.

 

It is not that the door needs to be shut, the door needs to be shut AND LOCKED. So if you want to spend an hour on your balcony with the door shut, you cannot lock the door, so the air goes off.

 

Eco stupidity in my opinion.

Instead of Eco being Ecological, what about Economical?

Had they not done this, the cost of the cruise would be even MORE expensive. To us.

I believe there have been threads in the past from people that locked themselves out on the Oasis. :eek:

Yes but their cabins were nice and chilly when they finally got back in! :)

Instead of Eco being Ecological, what about Economical?

 

Had they not done this, the cost of the cruise would be even MORE expensive. To us.

How is LOCKING THE DOOR going to be any more economical than having the door shut without locking it?:confused:

How is LOCKING THE DOOR going to be any more economical than having the door shut without locking it?:confused:

You called it eco stupidity, as in it's a bad idea to preserve the A/C how ever they do it.

If you don't like it, don't sail.

We had the same issue on Allure. We ended up never using the balcony, and keeping the curtain drawn at all times, otherwise the cabin was unbearably warm. Funny though, my kids had a CP balcony across from our D5 one, and did NOT have the same issues with the AC.

We had the exact same issue with our D5 on the Oasis back in June. Added to that was the fact our bed position was at the balcony end, and it was absolutely amazing the difference in temperature in such a tiny space from one half of the room to the other. Only the end of the cabin closest to the the closet/AC unit was the appropriate (cool) temperature. But wow, when you walked over closer to the windows in the bed area, you could unmistakeably feel the heat radiating from the outside, even with the curtains drawn. And of course the steel of the exterior of the ship held that heat well into the night, so the room didn't really get comfy until around 3 or 4 am. We actually had a clock radio w/thermometer, temps in the warmer half of the room (bed side) never got below 73-75F most of the time. Needless to say, this resulted in us getting only about 3-4 hours sleep each night, leaving us ridiculously exhausted and craving our own home by the end of the week. Ugh!

Bottom line, the AC units in those cabins are completely inadequate, a rather amazing engineering oversight. :( My point being, as it relates to the OP, is that if the AC units were even close to being adequate, then we wouldn't have to worry about door closed/door locked, etc. Even if it turned off for the period of time that you are on the balcony, once you come back in that AC should be able to get that teenie-tiny cabin space back to the right temp within 20-30 minutes tops, no excuses.

And by the way, the fact that the CP balcony didn't have issues is no surprise - they don't get blasted by the sun all day like the exterior of the ship does, which as I said then holds that heat in the steel structure for many hours into the night. That's on reason why we're opting for a Central Park View room on our January Allure cruise ;)

I've been on both Oasis and Allure and I don't remember this being a problem. I spend a lot of time on the balcony, especially during sailaways and when DW is getting ready, and I don't remember my rooms ever getting warm. That's just my memory though.....not saying it isn't true.

If that is the case...the handle has to be locked, that is pretty dumb.

However, those of you who bought "dollar store" items to bypass the system on other ships to keep the A/C on while the door was open, and advertising it all over CC, can only blame yourselves for this. Just sayin.

You called it eco stupidity, as in it's a bad idea to preserve the A/C how ever they do it.

 

No, I said that if you shut the door, the air conditioning should continue to function. I said NOT LOCKING THE DOOR turns off the air-conditioning is ECO STUPID. Your inability to grasp the stupidity of this is frustrating, as it is such a simple premise.

If you don't like it, don't sail.

I shall bite my tongue on this one.

We had the exact same issue with our D5 on the Oasis back in June. Added to that was the fact our bed position was at the balcony end, and it was absolutely amazing the difference in temperature in such a tiny space from one half of the room to the other. Only the end of the cabin closest to the the closet/AC unit was the appropriate (cool) temperature. But wow, when you walked over closer to the windows in the bed area, you could unmistakeably feel the heat radiating from the outside, even with the curtains drawn. And of course the steel of the exterior of the ship held that heat well into the night, so the room didn't really get comfy until around 3 or 4 am. We actually had a clock radio w/thermometer, temps in the warmer half of the room (bed side) never got below 73-75F most of the time. Needless to say, this resulted in us getting only about 3-4 hours sleep each night, leaving us ridiculously exhausted and craving our own home by the end of the week. Ugh!

 

Bottom line, the AC units in those cabins are completely inadequate, a rather amazing engineering oversight. :( My point being, as it relates to the OP, is that if the AC units were even close to being adequate, then we wouldn't have to worry about door closed/door locked, etc. Even if it turned off for the period of time that you are on the balcony, once you come back in that AC should be able to get that teenie-tiny cabin space back to the right temp within 20-30 minutes tops, no excuses.

 

And by the way, the fact that the CP balcony didn't have issues is no surprise - they don't get blasted by the sun all day like the exterior of the ship does, which as I said then holds that heat in the steel structure for many hours into the night. That's on reason why we're opting for a Central Park View room on our January Allure cruise ;)

Interesting. We had the bed by the closet and never noticed any problems with the room getting warm, maybe this is the reason? Didn't really pay attention to the AC being on or off, but the room was always sufficiently cool for us, and DH is one that likes it cold! and yes, we did use our balcony quite a bit so it was often unlocked (but door closed).