Royal - is the lack of mid ship stairs a big problem?

[rjack22]

We will be sailing on the Royal and have booked cabin E433 which is mid-ship very close to the mid-ship elevators. I am wondering if the lack of mid-ship stairs will be a big problem? While I normally would take stairs if only going up or down a couple of decks I have no problem taking the elevator IF they aren't overly crowded and busy.

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the Royal and had cabins mid-ship comment on this issue? Is it bad enough to consider moving forward or aft? I hate to move though because we were lucky enough to snag a cabin with a larger balcony.

[slc22]

We will be sailing on the Royal and have booked cabin E433 which is mid-ship very close to the mid-ship elevators. I am wondering if the lack of mid-ship stairs will be a big problem? While I normally would take stairs if only going up or down a couple of decks I have no problem taking the elevator IF they aren't overly crowded and busy.

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the Royal and had cabins mid-ship comment on this issue? Is it bad enough to consider moving forward or aft? I hate to move though because we were lucky enough to snag a cabin with a larger balcony.

 

Hi, I was in D424 just above your deck, also midship. Had the extended balcony also - very nice. My experience cruising week of December 8, the response of the midship elevators was good. I'd mentioned that except for embarkation day (which is always the same experience on other ships too), the response was good - better than some hotels I have been in!

 

I predict you will have many conflicting responses. But my experience midship was very good! I would definitely book that location again on the Royal.

 

Enjoy!

[JimmyVWine]

Personally, in choosing between two evils, (balcony size and no mid-ship stairs), I would opt for a larger balcony such as the one you have and roll the dice on the elevator situation. Worse come to worse, you walk to a different staircase is you really run into issues. But there is no way to make a small balcony into a big one.

Edited January 14, 2014 by JimmyVWine

[CI66774]

Didn't really seem like a huge heal. However, I was near the forward elevators. The only time the elevator situation was bad was on embarkation day - it was like stuffing hot sausages into a tin can. Otherwise, I think you'll be fine.

[Sayra]

We also opted for a larger balcony midship. We have a no elevators on ships rule, so I figure we will just get in extra steps walking forward or aft every time we want to go somewhere. It might add up to an extra cookie each day.

[BRANDEE]

We will be sailing on the Royal and have booked cabin E433 which is mid-ship very close to the mid-ship elevators. I am wondering if the lack of mid-ship stairs will be a big problem? While I normally would take stairs if only going up or down a couple of decks I have no problem taking the elevator IF they aren't overly crowded and busy.

 

Can anyone who has sailed on the Royal and had cabins mid-ship comment on this issue? Is it bad enough to consider moving forward or aft? I hate to move though because we were lucky enough to snag a cabin with a larger balcony.[/quote

 

Big problem..no. I was in R444. Walked aft or forward most of the time. If using elevator , just give yourself some extra time. I'm a stair walker so I felt it was a pain in neck to wait for an elevator to go up 2 decks to go back and forth to the pool area. Swirls (ice cream) is right outside the elevators on pool deck..so just grab a cone and wait !

[Pam in CA]

I was on the T/A and thought it was an issue, possibly because I was on Marina deck and would have preferred to be able to walk up or down one flight rather than have to wait for an elevator every time. Plus, there seemed to be one or two elevators out-of-service some of the time. The first 8-9 days of our cruise were very port-intensive with a port every day and all-day tours. You're tired and a bit cranky. Coming back to port, there were very long waits for the elevator as it seemed as though everyone came back at once. Very different from a Caribbean cruise

 

All you have to do is bring your patience. In September, my cabin is more mid-ship but that hasn't stopped me from booking the Royal.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Pam in CA

[akeasley]

Can't say I ever missed the stairs. Our room was on the Lido deck though so I didn't need to take an elevator for the pool, buffet, etc.

[usateg]

I was on the Royal back in November & had a midship balcony right below the Seawalk but on Marina Deck (also had an extended balcony). I usually always use the stairs but when I wanted to go down to dinner or the Piazza or the gym etc I had to walk quite a bit to get to the stairs). This was inconvenient at times because the ship is very long. In addition, do not let them fool you - just because they say it is an Extended Balcony the balconies on the Royal are not that big - even these). They put a table & 2 chairs with ottomans but you cannot ever use the ottomans because the balconies are not wide enough (even the extended).

 

This is just my thoughts but to each his/her own. Good luck :)

 

Usateg

[HRPro]

We were in Baja 416 on the TA and as Pam mentioned elevators were crowded on port days when returning from tours, but it wasn't a big problem. I definitely wouldn't give up my larger balcony to get near stairs. I just walked forward if I wanted to take the stairs--no big deal. There are six elevators midship, so we usually didn't have to wait long except for embarkation day and after muster drill. Enjoy the Royal--she's a beauty!

[sunshine100]

We were in E405--very midship--we loved our cabin and the area we were in. Yes, we maybe had to walk a little bit more, but we all could use the extra exercise!!! It never really bothered us--we are on vacation--no hurry to get anywhere!! We also had a much larger balcony(we did a cabin crawl and saw the different size and categories of rooms). we were on the nov. 10 sailing and leave on her again this Sunday! Unfortunately, we booked a sideways inside room more aft, near a staircase. I would love any size balcony, but I feel very fortunate to just be going again on a great, beautiful ship!!

[Jordie's home alone]

We booked Baja midship (inside) before realizing the stairs situation, but didn't want the hassle of rebooking despite the major crimp to our usual "traffic patterns."

 

I resolved to enjoy the extra steps (almost always forward in our case), especially when backtracking through action decks, which I love to wander through anyway.

 

Ultimately it was almost a non-issue for us. HOWEVER, the overall impact of the general stairs/elevator situation on the Royal was not a pretty sight, and I felt bad for almost anyone needing to use an elevator except for the middle of the night. I've never witnessed more overloaded elevators, guests playing elevator roulette, and the like, on any other ship.

 

For what it's worth though, we loved the ship and our fellow guests.

[Astro Flyer]

We spent 18 days in midship cabin D508 & adjusted to the inconvenience of no stairs above deck 7 for passenger usage. They're there just not finished for passenger use but available in an emergency. Like on all ships occasionally the elevator was full when it arrived & we waited for one with room for us.

 

A year ago we sailed on an RCI ship which also had only fore & aft stairs and we adjusted to that also.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Astro Flyer