Aft cabins on the Royal Princess

Hi,

Though we are not planning to cruise with Princess (yet!) we have been looking at the new P&O ship, Britannia. I think I am right in saying that this is the sister ship to the Royal Princess. I know there are some differences, but we love to sail in an aft cabin and have done so 3 times on the Celebrity Silhouette, and as far as we are aware the design of these cabins won't be affected by the changes they've made.

Does anyone know if aft cabins on the Royal Princess have any obstructions like the ones on the Grand Princess etc or if they are similar to the Solstice class ships - more open to the deck above, with good unobstructed views.

I hope this makes sense and thanks in advance to anyone who can help us.

:)

The aft facing balconies on this class of ship are free and clear of any of the types of obstructions you might encounter on the Grand-class. Britannia and Royal Princess, although sister ships, will have two huge design differences: their funnel shapes and MUTS (Movies Under the Stars), or the lack of. And there-in lies a problem.

The biggest problem for those aft facing balconies on Royal Princess results from an airflow problem created by the huge Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) screen which does not lift the soot far enough away from the ship at times. There are occasions for some of the aft facing balconies to be covered in a fine soot, all the way up to having larger pieces. Right now it seems to be a crap shoot on which ones get it, how much, and on how many days, depending on which way the wind is blowing.

We don't know as of yet if this will be an issue on Britannia.

Good luck.

Britannia stern under construction

(Credit picture to Maurizio Zanolla)

Royal Princess completed aft facing balconies

(Princess Cruises)

 

 

Royal Princess completed aft facing balconies

(Princess Cruises)

Does the Horizon Terrace also get the soot?

Many thanks for the information. From the latest deck plans it seems that the Britannia won't have a large screen so that may help with the soot issue.

:)

Does anyone who has sailed in the last month in an aft cabin notice any improvement in the soot issue?

We are booked for one of the aft cabins and have heard about the soot. My thought is that if we want early coffee on the balcony, we will cover the chairs and table overnight with towels, etc. Has anyone done that and if so, how did it work?

We are booked for one of the aft cabins and have heard about the soot. My thought is that if we want early coffee on the balcony, we will cover the chairs and table overnight with towels, etc. Has anyone done that and if so, how did it work?

Sorry, can't say about this ship, but when we've been on the Silhouette we have always taken something to wipe down the table / chairs on the balcony first thing and make sure we have something on our feet! Am not sure about covering things over night though - isn't there a rule about not leaving things on your balcony? I think it is a safety issue - I may be wrong, but check.

I imagine that your Cabin Steward will make sure that your balcony is washed down every day as well.

F

Yes no clothing/towels etc to be left on the balcony.

We are booked for one of the aft cabins and have heard about the soot. My thought is that if we want early coffee on the balcony, we will cover the chairs and table overnight with towels, etc. Has anyone done that and if so, how did it work?

Whatever you do, wear shoes and then take them off upon re-entering the cabin. In December the carpeting next to the aft sliding glass door in our owner's suite was filthy from the soot. Footprints were also visible in other parts of the living area. There was at least one day when no one would have walked out on the balcony because the soot was pea sized.

Does the Horizon Terrace also get the soot?

Not that I can ever remember seeing during the two weeks I was aboard Royal Princess. The vast majority of the Horizon Terrace is covered, and the exposed area just didn't seem to get any of that soot.

Does anyone who has sailed in the last month in an aft cabin notice any improvement in the soot issue?

We sailed the end of February.

There was a little soot almost every day but only one day was it so awful we couldn't use the balcony.

We are booked for one of the aft cabins and have heard about the soot. My thought is that if we want early coffee on the balcony, we will cover the chairs and table overnight with towels, etc. Has anyone done that and if so, how did it work?

I would do the opposite. Take the extra beach towels your stateroom steward will leave (because they are all aware of the problem) out with you in the morning so you know you have something clean to sit on.

And bring flip flops to wear out there!

I would still book this balcony again!

Cabin stewards are not around in the morning when you will want your coffee so you will have to be in charge of cleaning or putting a towel over the chair. I ended up cleaning it myself. All he used was a dry cloth to wipe the tables and chairs. He filled the waste basket with water and threw it on the decking. Did not have a long enough hose. Hopefully that has changed - I certainly complained about it.

What bothered us was that it felt like it was raining all the time - it was the soot.

It also depends what side of the ship you are on. Port is much worse and depends on wind direction. But we had it all the time while underway.

Go to the stern top deck and watch. You can see all the smoke come just a short distance above the ship and then drop straight down at the stern. Then some decks get it worse than others.

Our cushions were so dirty that it bothered me to be out there. We had everything covered with towels during the day.

We did book another cruise on the Royal a few weeks ago but not the stern suites. We went back to the aft and did notice the exhaust doing the same thing. Talked to the gal in the concierge lounge (also there on first trip) and she said everyone knows about it and are trying to figure out a fix. Funny is that when you ask about it, they all say they haven't heard anything until you say you experience it and then they start talking. Seems like they are told not to admit there is a problem.

Cabin stewards are not around in the morning when you will want your coffee so you will have to be in charge of cleaning or putting a towel over the chair. I ended up cleaning it myself. All he used was a dry cloth to wipe the tables and chairs. He filled the waste basket with water and threw it on the decking. Did not have a long enough hose. Hopefully that has changed - I certainly complained about it.

What bothered us was that it felt like it was raining all the time - it was the soot.

It also depends what side of the ship you are on. Port is much worse and depends on wind direction. But we had it all the time while underway.

 

Go to the stern top deck and watch. You can see all the smoke come just a short distance above the ship and then drop straight down at the stern. Then some decks get it worse than others.

 

Our cushions were so dirty that it bothered me to be out there. We had everything covered with towels during the day.

 

We did book another cruise on the Royal a few weeks ago but not the stern suites. We went back to the aft and did notice the exhaust doing the same thing. Talked to the gal in the concierge lounge (also there on first trip) and she said everyone knows about it and are trying to figure out a fix. Funny is that when you ask about it, they all say they haven't heard anything until you say you experience it and then they start talking. Seems like they are told not to admit there is a problem.

Just curious when you sailed?

I think they've made some adjustments and it's slightly better now than last fall.

We were in B736 - which is port but partially covered - at the end of February and it wasn't as bad as earlier cruisers had described.

We were in R730 owners suite at Christmas.

You were down a few decks and over - your balcony cabin is in further toward the center. The port owner suites are the ones getting getting it the worst. The owner suite decks have huge wrap around balconies and that is one reason there is more. I have tons of pictures with tons of ash all over everything.

Our last cruise on her was four weeks ago.

And we spent a lot of time watching the exhaust and as I said, it was always over the port side dropping down mainly on the port corner.

Just to say thanks to everyone for your help. We have just booked a 14 night cruise on the new P&O ship Britannia for July 2015 and booked an aft cabin F729 which I think is your Dolphin deck. Have read other posts re soot and this cabin so will just go prepared, though we think we should be ok with some cover on the balcony and being lower down.

Thanks again everyone - happy / safe cruising.

:)

We were in R730 owners suite at Christmas.

You were down a few decks and over - your balcony cabin is in further toward the center. The port owner suites are the ones getting getting it the worst. The owner suite decks have huge wrap around balconies and that is one reason there is more. I have tons of pictures with tons of ash all over everything.

Our last cruise on her was four weeks ago.

And we spent a lot of time watching the exhaust and as I said, it was always over the port side dropping down mainly on the port corner.

Compozer----I would love to see pics of the suite and balcony----can you send them my way, or is there a site I can go to and view them? Thanks!!:)