Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

No more lounge chairs on balcony??

brmoqueen

Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...
Merion_Mom

Merion_Mom

Posted
Posted
Will be on RCCL Mariner Repo Oct. 2011. Have booked Aft # 1392. Does anyone have pics of this cabin & are there lounge chairs on this balcony? Thanks for any info!

 

Whether there are loungers on the balcony when YOU board remains to be seen. ;)

 

 

 

 

1048328282036355651S600x600Q85.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SuiteLady

SuiteLady

Posted
Posted

We have 4 loungers and a table and chairs on our balcony with the RFS on EOS last year. I think the aft balcony rooms next to use just had chairs and a table...not sure though. I hope they still have them for our upcoming cruise because we did use the balcony ALOT!! So peaceful lounging and watching the wake....it can't get here soon enough!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
63galaxie

63galaxie

Posted
Posted

We had our choice between booking Celebrity Summit or RCI Serenade for next year's cruise. Frankly, we will switch back to Summit if we can't have loungers. We cruise primarily for the ports of call and the balcony time and we always book well in advance so we can have the balcony we want. We're paying thousands of dollars and we can't be given something to relax on? What's next, pay toilets?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hypo

Hypo

Posted
Posted
Sailed on Liberty on 3-13 in an aft JS. Plenty of room for lounge and kind of expected one since always try to book aft balconies.

 

Asked the cabin attendant and was told no - fire regulations Ask the floor supervisor and was told no for the same reason.

 

Went to customer service and was told no. Asked to talk to a supervisor and we were sent behind the customer service desk to talk to the customer service manager (can't remember the exact title).

 

She said that after a recent inspection/safety audit (possibly during dry-dock) that they removed all lounge chairs from all balconies that were JS or below. She said that there is a fire fighting danger, and that only balconies that were equipped with fire suppression equipment (sprinklers) could have lounge chairs. We grudgingly accepted this and enjoyed the rest of the cruise.

 

During our meet and mingle we talked to someone else who had a hump JS. They asked their cabin attendant for a couple of lounge chairs and had them in 30 minutes. So it does appear to be policy (at least on Liberty) and enforced up the food chain. But it also looks like if you get the right cabin attendant you could luck out.

 

We do GS for our cabin. Always had at least one lounger (last cruise Voyager Feb. 2011) . However, I have never seen a balcony on a suite that had fire protection sprinklers. I guess that they think we are stupid.

 

I have on more than one occasion dragged the mattress from my bed out on the balcony to sleep. If they start finding their mattresses on the balcony every morning and other times during the day, maybe they will rethink this stupid policy. The fire hazard from a lounger on the balcony is no more than that from the plastic dividers and deck coverings on those same balconies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mainer59

Mainer59

Posted
Posted

Often times a fire regulation is not based on the materials and their flammability but the "clutter" they might cause. There is concern that those fighting the fire can't move enough to do their job.

I am not stating this as fact in this case. Simply a possible reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
peteukmcr

peteukmcr

Posted
Posted

We were not allowed to have a lounger on LOS in May, even though asking the room attendant, new rules, you have to ask higher authority and it's not as though we didn't have the room on an aft balcony.

 

Won't bother booking early to try and get an aft balcony (in fact have rebooked for May 2012 on LOS, but just in a hump balcony).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
63galaxie

63galaxie

Posted
Posted
Often times a fire regulation is not based on the materials and their flammability but the "clutter" they might cause. There is concern that those fighting the fire can't move enough to do their job.

 

I am not stating this as fact in this case. Simply a possible reason.

 

 

I think I read that this was the rational (that the lounge chairs take up too much room). That doesn't make much sense because if one is fighting a fire, chairs and tables would be in the way also. It doesn't take any more effort to move or walk around a lounge chair as it does to move or walk around a chair.

I'm curious as to what started this? The Coast Guard has been doing inspections for, well, decades, and suddenly this becomes an issue??

Link to comment
Share on other sites
63galaxie

63galaxie

Posted
Posted
You'd think they'd want more people to have deck chairs - in case of pirate attacks.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/5366128/Cruise-passengers-fought-off-pirates-with-deckchairs.html

Just another reason to bring my own! Unbelievable! I think I'll develop a product just to fill this new niche. It will have to a very portable lounge chair, lightweight, yet durable enough to support overeating cruise passengers, self inflating and deflating, and bullet proof so it can be used as a shield in case of pirate attacks. Let's see if someone can come up with a clever name for our new port-a-lounger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mainer59

Mainer59

Posted
Posted
I think I read that this was the rational (that the lounge chairs take up too much room). That doesn't make much sense because if one is fighting a fire, chairs and tables would be in the way also. It doesn't take any more effort to move or walk around a lounge chair as it does to move or walk around a chair.

I'm curious as to what started this? The Coast Guard has been doing inspections for, well, decades, and suddenly this becomes an issue??

 

No argument but Regs change as does enforcement. Lawyers can drive enforcement as well. If an incident occurred on some ship somewhere where clutter on a balcony was determined to have caused some sort of problem a corporate directive could come down to avoid a legal problem with "precidence" going forward.

 

Inconsistent enforcement might be a factor that room stewards make a large portion of their income from tips. Some may be willing to "forget" a new rule to increase the overall income. Some may not be willing to take that chance. Some managers may be more forgiving of forgetfulness than others.

 

Again. No hard statements here. Simply possibilities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
63galaxie

63galaxie

Posted
Posted
No argument but Regs change as does enforcement. Lawyers can drive enforcement as well. If an incident occurred on some ship somewhere where clutter on a balcony was determined to have caused some sort of problem a corporate directive could come down to avoid a legal problem with "precidence" going forward.

 

Inconsistent enforcement might be a factor that room stewards make a large portion of their income from tips. Some may be willing to "forget" a new rule to increase the overall income. Some may not be willing to take that chance. Some managers may be more forgiving of forgetfulness than others.

 

Again. No hard statements here. Simply possibilities.

 

All of this is true and very well put.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
critterchick

critterchick

Posted
Posted

Forgot to report back - we had two loungers on our balcony (8588, corner aft JS) on Rhapsody in April/May.

 

Liberty Grand Suite: no lounger either (May2011). Almost unacceptable for a high priced cabin.

 

We had two loungers on the balcony of our JS on Liberty in March. I think the problem with the GS might be that they've switched to faux wicker furniture for the full suites, and the loungers are HUGE. I don't think that you could fit the chairs and table if you put the loungers out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
joand452

joand452

Posted
Posted

We were on a B2B on Allure in a JS in March. First day I asked our cabin steward for a lounger for our large balcony. She said the new regulation is no more. She got one from the pool deck for a passenger on a previous cruise and got into a little trouble. Later on in the cruise (maybe the second week), we met her supervisor and voiced our complaints to him, too. What really bothered me was that we were next to the family suite that had lots of upholstered furniture on their balcony. That stuff's not fire proof, either.

 

I wrote to RCI in Miami after our return and received a non answer canned reply.

 

If they could just put a foot stool up there, at least it would be something!

 

We're very close to Diamond now, so really don't want to change lines, and we did love everything else about Allure.

 

Maybe if they get enough complaints they can find chairs that match the material of the chairs they have now (which they do -- at Allure's Beach Pool).

 

In the meantime, I'm trying not to let it ruin a cruise. ;) But it sure did tick me off!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...