Do you close the verandah suite drapes at night?

[runnergirl71]

I generally assume that people are nice and will do the right and decent thing, but people who persist in asking why they have to follow the rules have proven themselves to be not nice, and not inclined to do anything that will put others before them. The Aussies call that behavior whinging and I love that term! Whinging is the best way to guarantee my answers will be snarky.

 

Ah yes. The "It's MY vacation and I'll do (and/or wear) whatever I want because I paid for this!" attitude. As if everyone else paid nothing. If you don't want to abide by some general communal rules, perhaps cruising isn't for you. (The general "you", not you ellieanne! I know what side you're on! :) )

[kpgibbs]

Only ONE of my cruises did I have a balcony. People are assuming. I do not remember seeing a sign on the door. There probably was but I do not remember.

My comment about not getting snarky was related to Bob's post.

"If you want the the sky & sound (while keeping the door closed for the benefit of others) bring a DVD that has continos loop feature.

 

Otherwise, follow the rules. If you don't care for the rules then buy yourself a ship."

I may have missed it, but I have read where anyone was saying they refused to follow the rules. All I have read was questioning why. General discussion. I NEVER said I would not follow the rules.

My point is, this thread started as a friendly disccusion about curtians. Some turned it hateful quickly.

[kazu]

Only ONE of my cruises did I have a balcony. People are assuming. I do not remember seeing a sign on the door. There probably was but I do not remember.

My comment about not getting snarky was related to Bob's post.

"If you want the the sky & sound (while keeping the door closed for the benefit of others) bring a DVD that has continos loop feature.

 

Otherwise, follow the rules. If you don't care for the rules then buy yourself a ship."

I may have missed it, but I have read where anyone was saying they refused to follow the rules. All I have read was questioning why. General discussion. I NEVER said I would not follow the rules.

My point is, this thread started as a friendly disccusion about curtians. Some turned it hateful quickly.

 

Unfortunately, leaving the balcony door can be somewhat of a 'hot' topic. It is a fact that doing this can cause discomfort to others and some who have posted may have even felt that discomfort.

 

I guess I am overly observant:o but I have certainly seen that sign by every balcony that we have ever had. Now I didn't have a balcony on Homelines (now extinct) so I can't vouch for that one. But I have certainly seen the signs on the other ships that I have been on. We have sailed Celebrity, NCL, Princess & HAL in verandahs.

Edited March 4, 2014 by kazu

[Viesczy]

Curtains? I prop open the door and get some fresh air at all times! :D

 

Okay, how many of the 'it shuts off the HVAC' replies have been started? I was kidding.

 

We keep the curtains closed when we go to bed. Why? To get as many Zs as possible. We're on vacation, there isn't the back 40 to be worked or 300 head of cow to be milked so there is no reason to get up at the first light of the day.

 

We pull the hall curtain too for the same reason.

 

Derek

[Sow There]

We've been cruising for many years. Perhaps many, many years.

 

Our very first cruise was on a Sitmar ship, the Fair Wind, back in the 1980's. The ship was equipped with portholes, not picture windows (except perhaps in the super luxe suites...I really don't know). The doors out to the Promenade Deck in the public areas were often propped open while at sea.

 

There were no verandas on that ship but there definitely was air conditioning. The portholes were closed and locked with huge wingnuts that could be unscrewed if you wanted to open the portholes if you wished to enjoy the smell and sounds of the open sea. There were no signs asking passengers to close the portholes as a courtesy to other passengers.

 

If those ships were built without the HVAC interlock, why is it the current ships have the interlock?

 

I suspect, as RuthC says, there's a good reason that is likely too technical for most of us to understand so we'll continue to do as we've always done, keep the door closed except when entering or leaving the balcony.

 

Reminds me of the Serenity Prayer [Reinhold Niebhur]

 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Sow There
correct spelling

[St. Louis Sal]

I always think about what if when I wake we are docked right next to another ship and they can see in? I know I am a tad bit paranoid.:o

 

This reminded me of my first Alaska cruise experience in an ocean view cabin. We had been leaving the draperies open; love to look out if I wake up in the middle of the night. We were due to dock in Seward I believe around 6 or 7 so we had them open. We docked at 4 am and suddenly woke up to a very bright cabin with lights on the pier illuminating everything. That got me hopping out of bed.

 

St. Louis Sal

[sinclair]

Not sure if this has been mentioned

On the HAL site, one of the pictures that they use to publicize the lanai staterooms is a couple, the woman sitting on the couch in the room and the man on the lounger outside with the sliding glass door between them wide open!

[Sow There]

Not sure if this has been mentioned

On the HAL site, one of the pictures that they use to publicize the lanai staterooms is a couple, the woman sitting on the couch in the room and the man on the lounger outside with the sliding glass door between them wide open!

 

[cruz chic]

Not sure if this has been mentioned

On the HAL site, one of the pictures that they use to publicize the lanai staterooms is a couple, the woman sitting on the couch in the room and the man on the lounger outside with the sliding glass door between them wide open!

 

Yeah, that means it's ok:rolleyes:. Please, have consideration for others.

[jtl513]

... with the sliding glass door between them wide open!

And in all the advertising everybody is good looking! So much for truth in advertising. :rolleyes:

[ellieanne]

Not sure if this has been mentioned

On the HAL site, one of the pictures that they use to publicize the lanai staterooms is a couple, the woman sitting on the couch in the room and the man on the lounger outside with the sliding glass door between them wide open!

 

Those cabins may have a different A/C system.

[Randyk47]

I don't much store in the pictures from any cruise line. These are professional set-ups from the models to the setting shot by professional photographers. :)

Edited March 4, 2014 by Randyk47

[jimdalva]

On a cruise, not sure if it was Holland America or not, my wife and I woke for the day (in port) and not especially late in the morning. Drapes are now open and while she was getting ready in the dressing area, I was just laying in bed watching the news in my drawers. Suddenly, to my surprise there was one guy (maybe 2) advancing up the side of the ship on a scaffold performing some maintenance cleaning thing. There they are, just looking into our balcony - Hello!

 

I thought it was funny and gratefully nothing of too much interest to see inside. I probably wouldn't care anyway. My wife is much more private however but it turned out to be a pretty funny story anyway.

 

Of course, if it were on the "clothing optional" cruise, a different reaction and response might have been in order - "Hey, guys, hi - thanks for staying onboard and not electing to get off the ship. We know you had that option according to the folks on Cruise Critic. Honey, come on out and say hello to the fellows working to help keep the ship so clean. We're all adults here; so no need for modesty or privacy at all. Well let's get dressed and get on with those excursions. Bye guys, have a nice day"

 

 

Ah Ha Richard1 I see that the clothing optional cruise has caught your interest Maybe we will see you on board. ;)

[JJPacer]

Close ours at night out of consideration for other star-gazing nuts. People who leave their balcony lights on all night are really annoying.

 

Thank you Jimmy2x. We just got off a ship where our neighbors left every light in their cabin on, drapes open, lighting up the balconies in every direction every single night. We wanted so badly to see the stars. We kindly and politely asked them to please close them, and they would not do it. We could still see some stars, but it just wasn't the same. The same goes for leaving the balcony light on all night. Very annoying.

 

If you like your drapes open, that's fine. But please do it after lights out. Our star gazing was not what it could have been.

[kyriecat]

Personally, I like to have the drapes open but my husband does not. The sunlight wakes him up. We just completed a cruise to Antarctica and the sun was starting to light up the sky at 4 AM. That is a little early. Occasionally if we have to get up for an early excursion, I will leave the drapes open. A few times we discovered that we were docked next to another ship and could see into the cabins of the ship across from us. Peep show!

 

Regarding the A/C system, Randy is correct that air, like water and electricity, will follow the path of least resistance. If a balcony door is open, more air will flow into that cabin (and subsequently out the open door) than into the cabins further down the duct system that are closed and offer more resistance. The people in the cabins towards the end of the duct run may get no air flow. I have personally experienced this problem on Maasdam. We were the last cabin on the duct and had no air flowing into our cabin. My travel clock has a thermometer and the lowest temperature inside our cabin was 76 deg F. Most days it was in the 80s. According to the engineer onboard, the A/C blowers for the S-class ships, like Maasdam, are undersized for hot climates, such as the Caribbean. When temperatures rise and people leave their balcony doors open, the blower system cannot put out enough cool air to compensate. They ask people to close the doors and the staff adjusts the dampers to balance the air flow through the ducts, but passengers continue to leave the doors open and will re-adjust the dampers. Basically, many passengers do what they want, despite the negative effect it has on others.

 

Royal Caribbean has solved the problem of leaving balcony doors open by installing lock sensors on their new ships. Their older ships had position sensors to indicate when the balcony door was open and shut off the A/C. However, too many passengers discovered that if they put a magnet on the sensor, it would indicate the door was closed to allow the A/C to run with the door open. Sometimes my husband likes to take a nap in the afternoon so he would sleep in the cabin while I read on the balcony, but we kept the door closed. Because of inconsiderate people, the door now has to be both closed and locked for the A/C to function. If I want to be on the balcony while my husband remains in the cabin, he either has to lock me outside or have the A/C off. Because a few people can't follow the rules, everyone gets punished. :rolleyes:

 

If consideration for the comfort of fellow passengers is not reason enough to close the balcony doors, unexpected visitors is another thing to consider. I was on the balcony after dark on Zuiderdam, and there was a bat flying around. I was very glad I had closed the door so it couldn't get inside the cabin. I have seen birds flying around the ships and landing on balconies on previous cruises. I don't like the thought of a bird getting into the cabin through an open door, but the thought of sharing my cabin with a potentially rabid flying rodent really freaks me out!

[varoo]

This reminds me of one of our first cruises where we were very annoyed that the ship kept the balcony light on all night long.

We were thinking it might have been some kind of safety regulation.

 

Duh! It was not until we were more than halfway through the cruise that we discovered the switch for turning it off ourselves.

 

Our apologies to any other passengers who were probably annoyed due to our ignorance.

 

 

But on the Amsterdam, they did keep very annoying bright lights on all night long on the back of decks 6 and 7, which otherwise would have been very nice locations for star gazing.

Looked around, but did not see any switch for turning those lights off. Maybe someone on here knows the secret for doing so, if it is possible for passengers to turn them off, unless those really are left on all night for safety reasons.

 

[jimmy2x]

But on the Amsterdam, they did keep very annoying bright lights on all night long on the back of decks 6 and 7, which otherwise would have been very nice locations for star gazing.

Looked around, but did not see any switch for turning those lights off. Maybe someone on here knows the secret for doing so, if it is possible for passengers to turn them off, unless those really are left on all night for safety reasons.

 

No doubt due to the "elf and safety" minions and insurance. I may be wrong, but as I recall, the observation deck was kept pretty dark at night a number of years ago. Not anymore. As another poster mentioned, the best place is on your own balcony - provided your neighbors do not use (or hopefully never find) the light switch, and close their curtains when the cabin is lighted.

[richard1s]

[/color]

 

 

Ah Ha Richard1 I see that the clothing optional cruise has caught your interest Maybe we will see you on board. ;)

 

In a way, I think it is interesting - but I can't imagine being so uninhabited.

 

Over the years I have been to many resorts with a "nude beach", but unfortunately what I saw there is still etched into my brain!

[richard1s]

In a way, I think it is interesting - but I can't imagine being so uninhabited.

 

Over the years I have been to many resorts with a "nude beach", but unfortunately what I saw there is still etched into my brain!

 

opps - "uninhibited "