The Truth About Forward Facing Balconies on the Royal Princess

[tassiedevil]

Hi emileg,

 

Great photos, and thanks for your great advice.

We are booked on the Regal for Grand Med cruise 30th August Venice to Barcelona. We had an aft facing Deluxe on Baja and now due to soot issues are looking at a forward on Lido ( same cat cabin as you had).

My only concern would be wind on the balcony, and as we have never cruised the Med before not sure what to expect. Appreciate that your cruise on the Royal was not the Med but interested to know if you experienced any significant wind problems, and did you ever leave the balcony door open at night?

 

Much appreciated,

 

Eileen

 

 

Prior to the launch of the Royal Princess there was some discussion about the forward facing balconies located on the decks above the bridge. We got the impression from Princess that access to the balconies would be restricted to when the ship is in port and that the doors would be locked while the ship is at sea. In fact, Princess's description of this "deluxe balcony obstructed" specifically states PART OBSTRUCTED VIEW NON-GLASS BALC RAIL BALCONY ACCESS WHEN IN PORT ONLY .

 

Here is the truth. We just came off the Royal Princess. We had cabin L101. There are no locks on the balcony doors. The cabin steward does nothing to these doors while the ship is at sea. No one cares if you go out on the verandah. Because of high wind while at sea, it would be uncomfortable to spend any amount of time out there. However, on one of our sea days, there was no apparent wind and we enjoyed the balcony immensely.

 

Here is the view from Cabin L101 with one specific and one general warning sign.

 

I hope not too many people book this wonderful cabin, because Princess might get wind and raise the prices.;)

 

[rabbitoh_777]

.

Taken two weeks ago, here is a photo of Royal Princess taken from the deck of Coral Princess.

 

I am posting it here in the hope it might add to the discussion taking place about the forward balconies.

 

It just offers a view that one seldom sees.

 

Hope this helps :)

.

.

Great shot, thanks for posting that it really helps add to the discussion. :)

.

 

:cool:

[Mom33]

I invited anyone who wanted to from our role call to come to our cabin for sail away. Why don't you come to L103 for sail away on our March 30 cruise out of FLL ?

 

I noticed you were on the Royal for that sailing back when Dave started his Everything Royal thread. I know you haven't joined our role call but you are very welcome to come to the sail away. johnmik1 is also on that sailing in a forward facing Lido balcony. In fact 3 of us on the role call are in these cabins. At first we were all in a row (L101, 102, and 104) but Princess "upgraded" me and I lost L101 but snagged 103 when I cried on the phone.

 

I'm also trying to organize a cabin crawl and a meet and greet but only a handful of role callers are showing interest. Our role call is pretty small, just 40 people at my last head count, so I suppose that's a good thing since I've never even been to a meet and greet before much less organized one ! Hopefully my willingness, eagerness and desire to make people happy plus a strong work ethic will carry the event through to success !

 

Thanks alexmom!! We would be delighted to come to sail away. I'm glad you got L103 after losing the other one. I have been showing my husband the pictures of the forward cabins and I think we would like to try one on the next cruise.

[emileg]

Hi emileg,

 

Great photos, and thanks for your great advice.

We are booked on the Regal for Grand Med cruise 30th August Venice to Barcelona. We had an aft facing Deluxe on Baja and now due to soot issues are looking at a forward on Lido ( same cat cabin as you had).

My only concern would be wind on the balcony, and as we have never cruised the Med before not sure what to expect. Appreciate that your cruise on the Royal was not the Med but interested to know if you experienced any significant wind problems, and did you ever leave the balcony door open at night?

 

Much appreciated,

 

Eileen

All I can say is that there can be strong winds or not. If the ship is traveling at 20 knots into 20 knot winds, the apparent wind on the balcony would be 40 knots. But if the wind is from behind the ship, then the apparent wind on the balcony would be zero. We never left the balcony door open ever unless we were going in and out. It could play havoc with the air conditioning. Note though that when the ship is rolling, the sliding balcony door can swing back and forth. There is no way to lock the door from the outside. While on the balcony we used the ice tongs to hold the door shut.

 

In addition, curtains must be kept closed at night since light from the room could interfere with the view from the bridge.

 

All in all, we loved this stateroom and would book it again in a heartbeat.

[marazad16]

There is no way to lock the door from the outside. While on the balcony we used the ice tongs to hold the door shut.

 

 

All in all, we loved this stateroom and would book it again in a heartbeat.

 

Great thinking with the ice tongs!

 

A huge thank you for this post - we booked your cabin last night for a wonderful 10 day. My husband loved all the pics that were posted and the position of this cabin. :D

[alexmom]

Thanks alexmom!! We would be delighted to come to sail away. I'm glad you got L103 after losing the other one. I have been showing my husband the pictures of the forward cabins and I think we would like to try one on the next cruise.

 

Cool !! I can't wait to meet you after reading you on Dave's Everything Royal thread ! I'm just so excited to be in front over the bridge, it's a dream come true !

[alexmom]

All I can say is that there can be strong winds or not. If the ship is traveling at 20 knots into 20 knot winds, the apparent wind on the balcony would be 40 knots. But if the wind is from behind the ship, then the apparent wind on the balcony would be zero. We never left the balcony door open ever unless we were going in and out. It could play havoc with the air conditioning. Note though that when the ship is rolling, the sliding balcony door can swing back and forth. There is no way to lock the door from the outside. While on the balcony we used the ice tongs to hold the door shut.

 

In addition, curtains must be kept closed at night since light from the room could interfere with the view from the bridge.

 

All in all, we loved this stateroom and would book it again in a heartbeat.

 

Thanks for the tips about the ice tongs and the lights ! We will be extra careful !

[tassiedevil]

We never left the balcony door open ever unless we were going in and out. It could play havoc with the air conditioning. Note though that when the ship is rolling, the sliding balcony door can swing back and forth. There is no way to lock the door from the outside. While on the balcony we used the ice tongs to hold the door shut.

 

In addition, curtains must be kept closed at night since light from the room could interfere with the view from the bridge.

 

All in all, we loved this stateroom and would book it again in a heartbeat.

 

Many thanks,

Great tip re ice tongs.

Of course I should have read the notices you included in your photos sorry about that.

Will be booking L102 and looking forward to sailing the Med and arriving at the various ports with same view as the Captain!

[emileg]

I am so pleased this thread has been valuable to so many people. I appreciate your comments and questions.

[gbldcl]

I am so pleased this thread has been valuable to so many people. I appreciate your comments and questions.

 

Hi, thanks for the great info. We have L101 booked for the British Isles. Did you notice any noise from the Sanctuary above?

[johnmik1]

Hi, thanks for the great info. We have L101 booked for the British Isles. Did you notice any noise from the Sanctuary above?

 

We never heard a sound from the Sanctuary.

[steevsf]

We are booked in L101 for a British Isles cruise in May and wondered if your balcony door was ever locked on your BI cruise. Thanks.

[CI66774]

We are booked in L101 for a British Isles cruise in May and wondered if your balcony door was ever locked on your BI cruise. Thanks.

 

I had L108 last April on the Transatlantic/Baltics 26-day cruise and the doors were never locked. However, at times it was so windy I couldn't even open the door, let alone be able to remain standing on the balcony. Sometime there was a vibration and droning noise from the wind at night in those forward cabins. Still, I loved the location and it was an otherwise very quiet location.

[marazad16]

We did 10 days in L101 last month. Balcony door is never locked no matter what the itinerary. Enjoy! It is a great location with a huge balcony. We had perfect weather and we were in the Caribbean. Weather/wind would have a large impact on usage of that balcony.

[steevsf]

Thank you both for the info on L101 and the forward facing cabins. Glad to know that you were not restricted but understand that it might be windy in the British Isles.

We took a 14 day South American cruise on the Sun in a forward facing mini and the view was amazing going through the Beagle channel. Only one day that the balcony was not usable because of weather, but did get to sunbathe out there while going around Cape Horn. Looking forward to our May cruise.

I see that someone posted a recent video of L101 on youtube... he verified that the door was never locked. Thanks again and happy cruising!

[jj1144]

We would like to get two of the forward cabins as shown in this post side by side on our next cruise but they are only available on Marina level for our sailing. Lido does also have one forward cabin still available on our sailing as well. Are the forward cabins on the Marina deck (one level up) just as good do you suppose? Looks like there may be stairs between the two levels in that area. . .is that the case? If so we could also book one on each level and still be close by with convenient access. Lastly, if you have two cabins side by side there, will they open the partition between the two? Thanks for your help. :)

[unc84]

We were in M107 first week of December for a Caribbean cruise & absolutely loved this location. I would think it's just as wonderful as the Lido deck. It was true we couldn't use our balcony while underway most of the time, but sailing into & out of ports was spectacular! It was one of the side mini suites with extra room & we'd never seen or had a balcony as huge as this one. We are "aft" people but wanted to give this a try & loved it! Our steward told us this was one of the best cabins as it was the size of a suite, but sold as a mini suite. The location was also very quiet & quick to get to the pool decks. It was a hike to the International Cafe, tho;) - had to work for our morning treats!

[caribill]

We would like to get two of the forward cabins as shown in this post side by side on our next cruise but they are only available on Marina level for our sailing. Lido does also have one forward cabin still available on our sailing as well. Are the forward cabins on the Marina deck (one level up) just as good do you suppose? Looks like there may be stairs between the two levels in that area. . .is that the case? If so we could also book one on each level and still be close by with convenient access. Lastly, if you have two cabins side by side there, will they open the partition between the two? Thanks for your help. :)

 

The closest stairs between the two decks are a couple of hundred feet back from the cabins, located where the forward set of elevators are.

[candide333]

Thanks for posting. We have M107 in April on the Royal for a Transatlantic for 14 days and are exited to try a different cabin. Do you know if the couch is a fold out? We have traditional dining, so we will have a hike for dinner. Good excercise.

[CI66774]

Thanks for posting. We have M107 in April on the Royal for a Transatlantic for 14 days and are exited to try a different cabin. Do you know if the couch is a fold out? We have traditional dining, so we will have a hike for dinner. Good excercise.

 

No - the couch doesn't convert to a bed. It's like a big loveseat. This cabin only holds two people - unlike most other mini-suites.

[candide333]

I'm a cruising newbie and so when I booked L101 from the TA I never told her the magic words "NO UPGRADE" so when the upgrade fairy came I was totally blindsided ! I was notified by one of our CC roll call members that he noticed my cabin was available. So I called Princess and cried like a baby but had to settle for L103.

 

I say settle because 2 of our role call members have L102 and 104. We were going to have a meet and great for our role call. (it's a really small roll call!)

 

I'm bringing champagne and ordering OJ and strawberries for mimosas. How cool if we could have opened our 3 balconies to our tiny roll call for sail away and mimosas.

 

And FYI, I deliberately picked L101 simply so I could stand as close to the middle front of the ship and shout "I'm Princess of the world" while John from L102 took my photo.

 

Do you recall what cabin you were originally upgraded to? I thought an upgrade was only to a higher cabin and L101 is the highest cabin, so were you assigned to a Suite? We have M107 in April on the Royal TA, our first time being this far forward.

[caribill]

Do you recall what cabin you were originally upgraded to? I thought an upgrade was only to a higher cabin and L101 is the highest cabin, so were you assigned to a Suite? We have M107 in April on the Royal TA, our first time being this far forward.

 

L101 is category DZ, lowest category of the Deluxe Balcony type cabin. An upgrade could be to any other deluxe balcony category, to a mini-suite or to a full suite.

[alexmom]

Do you recall what cabin you were originally upgraded to? I thought an upgrade was only to a higher cabin and L101 is the highest cabin, so were you assigned to a Suite? We have M107 in April on the Royal TA, our first time being this far forward.

 

I don't remember the deck or cabin number but it was a "more expensive" upgrade, it was not a "better upgrade" in my opinion, and that's where the real problem was.

 

It was most definitely not a suite but was probably a mini-suite. It was on one of the lower decks, so there is no correlation between a cabin on Lido (highest deck) and an upgrade to the same deck.

 

I loved the forward cabin we had but, I was in the Caribbean not the Atlantic, so check this thread for posts from people who have made that crossing in this cabin. And pay attention to time of year too. The Atlantic can get rough by late September.

 

Lastly, if you have any port visits on your TA you might want to give some serious thought to keeping your forward cabin. There is nothing quite like these forward cabins when leaving and arriving in port.

 

Whatever you chose, have an awesome good trip !

[Yvi]

Hi

 

Could you tell me the difference on Royal between Mini-Suite M107 and L107? How is the privacy on both Mini-Suites? For us two younger peoples the room size is not so important. We love the balcony and a breathtaking view!!

 

What was your first choice? We love the photography ...

 

Thank so much for your Inputs pos and cons!

[OCruisers]

What about the mini-suites on Lido Deck?

We seldom use our balcony but would hate to be locked out if we wanted to step outside for a few minutes. :confused:

 

LuLu