Balcony size on Royal Princess

[luv-my-kids]

We have booked a standard balcony room on Royal Princess. We are booked on the Baja deck mid ship. We booked this cruise because we really enjoyed our 1st Princess cruise on the Sapphire last year. But after doing some research it appears the balconys are tiny. We spend alot of time on our balconys and I am a bit worried these will be too cramped. I did read where someone had posted that the Baja deck balconys were a bit larger. I called Princess could not get a clear answer.

 

I know the deluxe balcony rooms and mini suits have a larger balcony, but we do not want to spend anymore that we have already spent. Please advise if you have cruised on Royal and if this was an issue for you.

 

 

Thanks!

[JimmyVWine]

Much of the information you have is inaccurate. No particular deck has larger balconies and no cabin categories have bigger balconies. Regular balcony rooms, deluxe balcony rooms and mini- suites are all the same. What does matter is location. Cabins at the bow, at the stern and mid-ship under the Seaview/Skywalk areas have larger balconies but those cabins are few in number and book fast.

 

As for whether the standard size is a "problem", this is a matter of personal preference. We sail as a family of three and a standard balcony will not accommodate three chairs so those won't work for us. Two people can sit askew on the balcony without reclining. Many people find this to be just fine. Others do not.

Edited January 7, 2014 by JimmyVWine

[Astro Flyer]

JimmyVWine explained the balcony sizes & that for more than 2 in a cabin there is not much room. I don't travel with a tape measure but have read that the majority of Royal balconies are 9'x4' & Grand-class balconies are 9'x5'. So for 2 of us it was okay & we enjoyed another Ultimate Balcony Dinner. For us the balcony size was not a deal breaker nor was anything else although some will feel differently.

[more cruises]

We are all about our balconies, and while we prefer the biggest balcony possible we were fine with the one on the Royal. It was big enough for 2 chairs and a small table. We ate breakfast there every morning and sat out to read.

 

I would never call those balconies a selling point but they're acceptable.

[Pam in CA]

The balconies are "adequate," not large or luxuriously comfortable. Will you have room for a sailaway party for ten people? No. For two, it's fine. The angled ones under the SeaWalk and Seaview Bar are larger. Here's a photo of my Marina deck balcony.

[Astro Flyer]

The balconies are "adequate," not large or luxuriously comfortable. Will you have room for a sailaway party for ten people? No. For two, it's fine. The angled ones under the SeaWalk and Seaview Bar are larger. Here's a photo of my Marina deck balcony.

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Even large enough for 3 during a Venice sailaway. ;)

[Pam in CA]

Even large enough for 3 during a Venice sailaway. ;)

That, too. Mille grazie. :)

[dorisis]

Have you considered an OV cabin and booking the Sanctuary?

[Lady Arwen]

Have you considered an OV cabin and booking the Sanctuary?

 

There are no OV cabins on Royal. Just inside and balconies.

[Cruise Junky]

And even though some have said they are fine for 2. There is not enough room for two people to use their foot stools at the same time in a mini suite. That to me is not "fine"

[SwissDave]

And even though some have said they are fine for 2. There is not enough room for two people to use their foot stools at the same time in a mini suite. That to me is not "fine"

 

Correct, we got round that issue by sharing a footstool.

[luv-my-kids]

Thanks for the reply's. We just canceled our Royal Princess cruise. I just do not want to feel cramped in the room and out on the balcony. Most ships we have sailed have a "couch area" in a standard balcony room. Like I said before we loved our 1st Princess cruise on the Sapphire last year. But I do not want to take a chance with these balcony's.

Edited January 11, 2014 by luv-my-kids
spelling

[riclop]

The balconies are smaller than on any other ship.

[Woobstr112G]

And even though some have said they are fine for 2. There is not enough room for two people to use their foot stools at the same time in a mini suite. That to me is not "fine"

 

Agreed. While had an aft suite balcony that was huge, I felt sorry for those who had those tiny balconies. On a couple of occasions I was on the small balcony and realized that it was tiny. I'm glad I didn't have it because the two of yes wouldn't have enjoyed it at all.

 

Just my personal opinion

 

Bob

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for the reply's. We just canceled our Royal Princess cruise. I just do not want to feel cramped in the room and out on the balcony. Most ships we have sailed have a "couch area" in a standard balcony room. Like I said before we loved our 1st Princess cruise on the Sapphire last year. But I do not want to take a chance with these balcony's.

 

For your stated reasons, I believe you made the correct choice.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited January 11, 2014 by Woobstr112G

[Donder1]

Agreed. While had an aft suite balcony that was huge, I felt sorry for those who had those tiny balconies. On a couple of occasions I was on the small balcony and realized that it was tiny. I'm glad I didn't have it because the two of yes wouldn't have enjoyed it at all.

 

Just my personal opinion

 

Bob

 

Was soot a big problem on the aft balcony?

[Mulege]

Thanks for the reply's. We just canceled our Royal Princess cruise. I just do not want to feel cramped in the room and out on the balcony. Most ships we have sailed have a "couch area" in a standard balcony room. Like I said before we loved our 1st Princess cruise on the Sapphire last year. But I do not want to take a chance with these balcony's.

 

Consider sailing Celebrity on their Solstice class ships.

[Pam in CA]

The balconies are smaller than on any other ship.

No, they aren't. Princess has several ships with balconies as small or smaller.

 

Here's a photo of my Royal balcony.

[caribill]

The balconies are smaller than on any other ship.

 

Not if you look at the diagram on the Princess web site of a standard Royal balcony cabin

 

[Mississippian]

At the risk of being repetitive, I don't understand spending all of this money building ships that people don't want to sail. It won't be long before the Royal and the Regal will have to sell at a substantial discount to the Grand class ships.

[caribill]

At the risk of being repetitive, I don't understand spending all of this money building ships that people don't want to sail. It won't be long before the Royal and the Regal will have to sell at a substantial discount to the Grand class ships.

 

I think that on the average about 50% of cruisers on a Princess ship are new to Princess.

 

If they like it (not knowing what the other Princess ships are like), they will be back.

 

On the other hand, there were some cruises in the past month with lower pricing on 7 days on the Crown than on the Royal.

[JimmyVWine]

At the risk of being repetitive, I don't understand spending all of this money building ships that people don't want to sail. It won't be long before the Royal and the Regal will have to sell at a substantial discount to the Grand class ships.

 

I agree that when the "newness" of Royal and Regal wear off, it may be tough to price them "even up" with Grand Class ships. But itinerary will always factor in. For example, if you want to sail to Greek islands this summer, Regal has no competition (from other Princess ships). So they can keep the price high. Also, if onboard spending makes up for low fares, then selling the new girls at a discount won't matter. But it is unsettling to go to the Reviews section of Cruise Critic (as opposed to the reviews posted on this board) and read peoples' reactions. The "I won't sail on Royal again" reviews still outpace the others. And many of those reviews are from people who enjoyed their cruise. Just not enough to do it again. And balcony size is definitely factoring in.

[Mississippian]

I think the newness of these ships will help fill them for a while. And the fact that they are almost the only game in town for Europe will also help. I'm not saying I absolutely won't cruise them, but I absolutely won't be paying a lot of extra money for a balcony.

 

I really like the Grand class, save the Caribbean, and like these ships enough that might make my plans around them.

[Cruise Junky]

At the risk of being repetitive, I don't understand spending all of this money building ships that people don't want to sail. It won't be long before the Royal and the Regal will have to sell at a substantial discount to the Grand class ships.

 

 

There's a lot of people that really don't spend much time out there though. If they can sit for 1/2 hour and enjoy a glass of wine, they're happy. We're not one of them, we practically live out there and sometimes have all three meals out there so Royal/Regal is definitely off our list unless it's a fabulous itinerary. But for those 1/2 hour people, she's not so bad.

[Woobstr112G]

Was soot a big problem on the aft balcony?

 

Soot was definitely an issue for us.....

 

Bob

Edited January 12, 2014 by Woobstr112G