Problem on Caribbean Princess

[Slyfox16]

We recently were on the Caribbean Princess, in cabin C749, which is an aft Penthouse Suite. The room is very spacious, the bathroom big and luxurious and the balcony very large with beautiful furniture. However, if you want to use the balcony, the vent is right above you. It was so loud that we couldn't sit outside. When we first saw it, we thought it would be great for breakfasts and romantic dinners. We never had a meal on the balcony, as we wouldn't have been able to hear each other. This took a lot of fun out of the cruise. Obviously Princess is well aware of this problem. When we went to customer service to see if something could be done. they said no, but immediately gave us a credit of several hundred dollars. It was a nice gesture, but we never would have booked this cabin if we had been made aware of this problem. We thought it was very deceptive of Princess not to inform us about the vent.

[Pam in CA]

We recently were on the Caribbean Princess, in cabin C749, which is an aft Penthouse Suite. The room is very spacious, the bathroom big and luxurious and the balcony very large with beautiful furniture. However, if you want to use the balcony, the vent is right above you. It was so loud that we couldn't sit outside. When we first saw it, we thought it would be great for breakfasts and romantic dinners. We never had a meal on the balcony, as we wouldn't have been able to hear each other. This took a lot of fun out of the cruise. Obviously Princess is well aware of this problem. When we went to customer service to see if something could be done. they said no, but immediately gave us a credit of several hundred dollars. It was a nice gesture, but we never would have booked this cabin if we had been made aware of this problem. We thought it was very deceptive of Princess not to inform us about the vent.

Sorry you didn't get to enjoy your balcony as much as you would have liked. I'm surprised your TA didn't have this information and guide you to a different cabin. IMHO, the HAL aft balconies are far better designed than those on Princess ships.

[MichCook]

So sorry your aft suite experience wasn't good from the balcony perspective. Although, it was nice to get a credit of several hundred dollars.

 

It was kind of you to mention your experience for the benefit of others.

[RickEk]

There's a thread here on CC that explains all about the Grand-class aft balcony cabins. It might have made your cabin decision a more informed one... :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951&highlight=ultimate+aft+balcony+thread

[Cruzman]

This subject has been discussed ad infinitum on this board for a # of years. The search feature is your friend. Having said all of that, any competent TA would have offered this kind of info at the time of booking. Find yourself another TA! That's just my 2 cents.

[Coral]

I am guessing that less than 5% of TAs would know about this vent issue on this class of ship. The number may be even lower than that as most TAs don't specialize in cruises and wouldn't have a clue on this. And those who do specialize in cruises often sell several lines and that is a lot of cabins and ship classes to keep track of. It would be the rare TA who would point this out IMO. I wouldn't beat up the TA.

 

I booked an aft balcony next to smelly vent and the ship had been sailing for a few years when I booked it (ironically a fellow CC member had the cabin held for that same sailing and his TA forgot to make payment so I grabbed it not knowing why he let go of it). At the time, there was only one other complaint about this cabin on CC. There are now more complaints on this board concerning this cabin.

 

I agree - it is always a good idea to do a search. Thanks to the OP for pointing this out as they may help someone in the future.

[kevinandrenay]

This subject has been discussed ad infinitum on this board for a # of years. The search feature is your friend. Having said all of that, any competent TA would have offered this kind of info at the time of booking. Find yourself another TA! That's just my 2 cents.

 

I am a big fan of the search feature but would never think to question something like that. If you do not even know about something like that how can you search for it?

[karatemom2]

I am a big fan of the search feature but would never think to question something like that. If you do not even know about something like that how can you search for it?

 

It was easy. Just entered "aft penthouse balcony" and one of the first few threads that popped up in my search was the following which discusses the problem:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=669323&highlight=aft+penthouse+balcony

 

I wouldn't have known to ask about the vent, but just putting in the basic info brought the subject right up.

[azseas]

Wow - we were just in the balcony cabin right next to this suite and heard nothing -- the noise must come straight down -- thanks for the heads up.

[Coral]

Wow - we were just in the balcony cabin right next to this suite and heard nothing -- the noise must come straight down -- thanks for the heads up.

 

The weird thing is that when I had a balcony cabin right next to the vent that smelled like rotten onions (on the Sapphire) - the suite next to me (corner) wasn't affected at all. It was weird but I couldn't use my balcony at all the entire cruise so I feel for the OP.

[Host CJSKIDS]

I feel for you. We were in C749 on The Crown and hated having the cabin. The noise and the stench out on the balcony made it that we couldn't use it the entire sailing. We couldn't even open the door or the entire suite would smell like rotten food.

 

I'm sorry you had to go through this. At least you received some compensation and I'm sure you were able to enjoy the rest of your sailing.

[serene56]

I am a big fan of the search feature but would never think to question something like that. If you do not even know about something like that how can you search for it?

 

 

I google the cabin number along with the various ships names.

[nycruise]

Check out this video on youtube of cabin C749, skip to the last 2 minutes, the sound on the balcony is deafening.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkW2bOuiVM

 

Sorry you got stuck with this cabin, in my opinion it shouldn't be sold as having a balcony, it's unusable.

[Coral]

Check out this video on youtube of cabin C749, skip to the last 2 minutes, the sound on the balcony is deafening.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkW2bOuiVM

 

Sorry you got stuck with this cabin, in my opinion it shouldn't be sold as having a balcony, it's unusable.

 

OMG - I totally agree! It should be a window suite.

[RRFPresident]

Since it was my video y'all are linking to, I figured I ought to chime in. :)

 

Honestly, I didn't find any noise on the balcony to be overbearing or bothersome. The TV static sound is the wake itself, we were going at a high speed to get back to NY. It's not the best video, especially since it was taken on my mini flip cam so some of that could be noise from inside the cabin too.

 

We did have dinner on the balcony one of the first evenings, granted then we weren't going fast, and it was delightful to watch the sun peek through the clouds and reflect on the water.

 

Ours was the every day but one port day NE/Canada cruise so most of our balcony time was for watching our entry and exit out of port and to take scenery pictures before whisking off to yet another excursion.