Soot on RP aft balconies

Booked an aft-facing balcony, C740, on RP sailing 1/26. Now am reading of a downdraft exhaust stack soot problem. Just how bad?? Committed aft balcony guy, especially Grand Class Caribe cabins, but.....would you move? Or is it not all that bad balanced against the benefits of the view?

I have C741 booked for sailing 12/8 - will let you know (I am also a diehard aft cruiser!!)

According to the numerous posts in the numerous Royal bashing topics, the balconies are NOT usable at all due to being covered in soot.

According to the numerous posts in the numerous Royal bashing topics, the balconies are NOT usable at all due to being covered in soot.

Have you heard or read if the aft facing balconies are as bad on the Dolphin Deck? Thanks

I was just on the 11/10 sailing and the balcony was unusable for the entire 7 days. We did not sit down on your balcony chairs once. We were on Riviera which is complete uncovered (but HUGE!) and we had soot on there constantly. Even after they cleaned it.

We had a group on our balcony for first sail away and one of the woman's white shirt had black dots all over it by the time we went inside.

If it's not the soot, then it's the fumes.

Right before sailaway from St. Thomas everyone was out on the balconies (trying not to touch the railings!). Everyone was very unhappy. I shouted down the folks on Baja as theirs is half covered/half not (and was, I say WAS) our balcony for the Regal next year. Same problem for them. They were not happy either.

Have you heard or read if the aft facing balconies are as bad on the Dolphin Deck? Thanks

While I can't confirm Dolphin deck, the layout of the balconies in a tiered fashion makes me think it's not good their either. People all down the back of the ship where extremely annoyed. You could see it in their faces!! You didn't need to even talk to them.

You migh want to post a separate thread specificly about Dolphin as it's farther down than where we were.

While I can't confirm Dolphin deck, the layout of the balconies in a tiered fashion makes me think it's not good their either. People all down the back of the ship where extremely annoyed. You could see it in their faces!! You didn't need to even talk to them.

 

You migh want to post a separate thread specificly about Dolphin as it's farther down than where we were.

Thanks so much. Yeah, good idea, I think I will post a separate thread inquiring about the Dolphin aft facing balconies. Thanks again.

What has been management (ship and/or corporate headquarters) reaction to complaints?

I have friends that have been on the ship for the last two weeks and they are in E730. They did not have any major issue with soot on their balcony.

What has been management (ship and/or corporate headquarters) reaction to complaints?

We have not heard back yet. But we are told that the person is overwhelmed with complaints and slowly working through them all. I'll let you know when they get back to us.

I was just on the 11/10 sailing and the balcony was unusable for the entire 7 days. We did not sit down on your balcony chairs once. We were on Riviera which is complete uncovered (but HUGE!) and we had soot on there constantly. Even after they cleaned it.

 

We had a group on our balcony for first sail away and one of the woman's white shirt had black dots all over it by the time we went inside.

QUOTE]

 

That is terrible. Talk about putting a damper on your cruise. Did you go down to customer service and discuss it? What did they say?

 

Do they say anything about trying to solve the problem?

 

Bet they haven't had many balcony dinner requests.

We were on the Royal Princess Nov 10, 2013 cruise and had an Aft cabin...D728 on the Dolphin Deck. Balcony is half covered.

We had a real problem with soot...dirty furniture and balcony floor which tracked into the cabin and made the carpet dirty! Talked to Customer Relations several times and they had our balcony washed down but the problem returned daily. Had to put towels on the furniture to sit or your clothes got soot stained.

Ended up talking to Angela...Customer Relations Manager and she mentioned that there is a problem with the design of the stacks and Princess is working on it. The stacks are too short and therefore causing this soot problem.

Hopefully Princess can get this soot problem on the Royal Princess dealt with quickly. They should be able to do this stack correction on the Regal Princess now... as she's still being built.

Pat :)

I love aft balconies and I would move in a heart beat!

I would love to have an aft balcony as well. BUT if I am going to spend the extra dollars to get one, I am not going to spend my hard earned dollars on soot!

Think that is why they are putting the "aft" pool back on the Regal.

Got off the Royal on 11/24. Had B739. Definitely a soot problem. We thought being half covered and half uncovered it wouldn't be a problem. Didn't make a difference. I wouldn't say it was unusable, but in a way it was. We either had to wipe everything down or wear dirty clothes. Not the most convenient considering our 7day cruise in the cabin cost more than our last 10 day cruise, also in an aft cabin.

Hope this helps. :-/

-Andrew

Think that is why they are putting the "aft" pool back on the Regal.

No, as it will not affect the soot going to the aft balconies.

But it might become a soot collector on its own if the problem is not fixed.

In answer to your question about aft balconies, I wouldn't do it, We were on the Nov 3rd cruise, could really never use our balcony E731. A lot of soot most of the time, and the smell from the smokestack was awful! :mad:

They have a problem ...

This problem will not be fixed anytime soon. According to Princess and posted on here several times it is a structural issue with no simple fix. The airflow around the MUTs screen causes the deposits. They are working on a fix for the Regal. Until the Royal goes into a dry dock which is no time soon this will continue to be an issue. I too only cruise in aft suites and won't go near this ship or the Regal until there is a proven fix.

If these balconies are unusable the cruiseline should be refunding the difference of a inside cabin fare. That would be fair compensation!

If these balconies are unusable the cruise line should be refunding the difference of a inside cabin fare. That would be fair compensation!

Maybe an ocean view??

We moved from our aft Dolphin cabin to a minisuite about 4 weeks ago for our March Royal cruise. I was REALLY looking forward to an aft balcony, but in the end, we decided it wasn't worth worrying about for 4 weeks or dealing with while onboard.

We also saved about $500 by moving to a mini.

Maybe an ocean view??

The Royal does not have Ocean View cabins. :confused: :D

Cato :)