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Regal Princess balcony question

DonnaK

By DonnaK,
in Princess Cruises

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Loreni

Loreni

Posted
Posted

Also several years ago Princess replaced their balcony furniture with some really nasty stuff. We have tried a few times to make it work with pillows and rolled towels, but we finally stopped booking balconies on Princess.

 

We do miss having a balcony cabin, sometimes. We are thinking if we want to experience a balcony again, we will try Celebrity. See the other thread on Royal/Regal balconies for a photo of the lovely Celebrity balcony furniture and the balcony size on Celebrity.

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JimmyVWine Great Review Rare

JimmyVWine

Posted
Posted
There are also larger balconies forward on the Lido, Marina and Emerald deck. We loved ours on the Royal. They have a steel rail instead of glass but that didn't bother us a bit. You could still see over the rail.

 

Cheers, Denise

You are correct. So that raises the percentage of cabins with larger balconies to 6%. :)

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Loreni

Loreni

Posted
Posted (edited)
We are on the Regal in March. It'll be our first time in a balcony cabin. We booked L101 for this balcony...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1977490

 

Please don't judge the balcony experience by your next cruise. It wasn't that long ago when DH and I would "cocoon" nearly all day in our cabin, mainly lounging on the balcony our legs outstretched toward the sea, or enjoying breakfast or room service lunch on our balcony on a good-sized table. It was lovely. But we weren't out spending money at the bars or casino or spa or even for fancy coffee. And free room service is expensive: Princess has tried and failed to begin charging for it.

 

So things had to change. First the nasty furniture. Then the balconies-in-name-only.

 

If you are young and free of any arthritis AND you have very unusual anatomy, you may like the new furniture for extended lounging. I can't even stand it for five minutes.

Edited by Loreni
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floridalover5623

floridalover5623

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My understanding is that all of the larger balconies have problems:

 

1) the forward ones can be locked due to wind or you can be involuntarily bumped from the cabin by VIPs.

 

2) the aft ones get covered in soot (don't wear white).

 

3) your privacy in the side cabins is compromised by Seawalk[/QUOTE]

Only the first few decks under the Seawalk. The lower ones aren't nearly as bad.

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Mom33

Mom33

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Posted
We will be going on the Regal in December. We have always had the large balconies on the Caribe Deck. I guess we are in for a rude awakening!

 

 

If you have never been on any deck above Caribe, you will be surprised. The balconies on the decks above Caribe on the Grand class ships are 45 square feet, while the small balconies on the Regal are 41 square feet. The people that regularly book on Aloha, Baja, etc.

aren't that surprised.

There are larger balconies to be found. If you want to check mid ship, forward and aft facing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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floridalover5623

floridalover5623

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We will be going on the Regal in December. We have always had the large balconies on the Caribe Deck. I guess we are in for a rude awakening!

 

When comparing any of the Regal normal balconies to a Caribe balcony of other Princess ships you'll be in for an unpleasant surprise. I don't believe there are any Regal balconyies that can compare in size unless your in a suite.

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Mom33

Mom33

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When comparing any of the Regal normal balconies to a Caribe balcony of other Princess ships you'll be in for an unpleasant surprise. I don't believe there are any Regal balconyies that can compare in size unless your in a suite.

 

There are.:)

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19woody19

19woody19

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We will be going on the Regal in December. We have always had the large balconies on the Caribe Deck. I guess we are in for a rude awakening!

 

We will have an aft cabin on Caribe deck this October on the Regal and are thinking we may have made a mistake this time. We always try to get an aft corner cabin on Caribe but were not able to this time and just found out it is uncovered and may get sooty from the exhaust. Also read that the balconies are much smaller...that sucks as we spend a great deal of time out on them

If that is the case we shall never cruise on the larger ships again. Seems like all Princess is concerned about is how much they can cram people in and make more money.

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diane.in.ny

diane.in.ny

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If that is the case we shall never cruise on the larger ships again. Seems like all Princess is concerned about is how much they can cram people in and make more money.

 

To me, it appears that Princess took the balcony space and made the cabins larger. Standard balcony cabins now have a loveseat unlike simply space for a chair like on the Island and Coral. It makes a nice option for people who want a bit more space and just like a balcony to go out onto every now and then or to bring some fresh air into the cabin.

 

I, like you, use my balcony a lot. I would not be happy.

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JimmyVWine Great Review Rare

JimmyVWine

Posted
Posted (edited)
To me, it appears that Princess took the balcony space and made the cabins larger. Standard balcony cabins now have a loveseat unlike simply space for a chair like on the Island and Coral. It makes a nice option for people who want a bit more space and just like a balcony to go out onto every now and then or to bring some fresh air into the cabin.

 

I, like you, use my balcony a lot. I would not be happy.

This isn't quite right. A Standard Balcony does not include a loveseat. Princess introduced a new cabin category called a Deluxe Balcony that includes a loveseat. A Standard Balcony does not.

 

As for increasing cabin size, the numbers don't support your theory. According to the Princess website, a Standard Balcony on Crown on the Aloha Deck has a total of 231 sq/ft including the balcony. They state that the balcony size is 45 sq/ft. So that leaves 186 sq/ft of interior space. On Regal, a Standard Balcony (on any deck) is stated to be 222 sq/ft with a balcony size of 41 sq/ft, leaving 181 sq/ft of interior space. So they shrunk the balcony and shrunk the cabin size (though not by much either way.) When you move up to a Deluxe Balcony on Regal (and one without an extended mid-ship balcony), the total size is 233 sq/ft with the same 41 sq/ft balcony making the interior space 192 sq/ft. So yes, the Deluxe Balcony traded interior for balcony space, as the total space (233) is almost identical to that of a Standard Balcony on Crown (231). They just allocated the space a bit differently. But when comparing Standard Balcony to Standard Balcony, Regal and Royal give you a shrunken cabin in all directions, interior and exterior.

Edited by JimmyVWine
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diane.in.ny

diane.in.ny

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Posted
This isn't quite right. A Standard Balcony does not include a loveseat. Princess introduced a new cabin category called a Deluxe Balcony that includes a loveseat. A Standard Balcony does not.

 

As for increasing cabin size, the numbers don't support your theory. According to the Princess website, a Standard Balcony on Crown on the Aloha Deck has a total of 231 sq/ft including the balcony. They state that the balcony size is 45 sq/ft. So that leaves 186 sq/ft of interior space. On Regal, a Standard Balcony (on any deck) is stated to be 222 sq/ft with a balcony size of 41 sq/ft, leaving 181 sq/ft of interior space. So they shrunk the balcony and shrunk the cabin size (though not by much either way.) When you move up to a Deluxe Balcony on Regal (and one without an extended mid-ship balcony), the total size is 233 sq/ft with the same 41 sq/ft balcony making the interior space 192 sq/ft. So yes, the Deluxe Balcony traded interior for balcony space, as the total space (233) is almost identical to that of a Standard Balcony on Crown (231). They just allocated the space a bit differently. But when comparing Standard Balcony to Standard Balcony, Regal and Royal give you a shrunken cabin in all directions, interior and exterior.

 

Thank you for the correction. You are right. I should have said Deluxe balcony.

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Poulsbo Cruisers

Poulsbo Cruisers

Posted
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As long as I can sit an look at the Ocean, that's fine...I'm on vacation....

 

I agree. There seems to be a lot of complaining about this issue. If there's room for me to sit and have my coffee or a beer, I'm a happy camper (cruiser). These ships are beautiful. Princess doesn't seem to have any trouble selling them out. But, everyone has different things they focus on. If this is a primary issue, then there are other ships with larger balconies.

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kennicott

kennicott

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My understanding is that all of the larger balconies have problems:

 

1) the forward ones can be locked due to wind or you can be involuntarily bumped from the cabin by VIPs.

 

2) the aft ones get covered in soot (don't wear white).

 

3) your privacy in the side cabins is compromised by Seawalk

 

Twice we had 41 sq feet balconies with our mini-suites on the Regal. On the Royal, once, we had an approx. 75 sq foot balcony with the mini. But in February, on the Regal we had a mini-suite again, like we have had on previous voyages on the Royal and Regal, but this one was different in that it was forward facing with a huge balcony, about 200 Sq. Ft balcony and I measured it, billed as a premium mini. I had my doubts when we booked this as I thought it would be very windy and I also had the idea that the balcony door would be locked when underway. Both concerns were myths, actually the flow of air up over the bow made this balcony more comfortable than those on the sides. I was out there every day. The mini-suite itself was a little larger as well. The sea days were real nice and we enjoyed our huge balcony immensely.

 

It is true that some balconies are visible from the Seawalk. I counted them, it wasn't all that big of a deal. We had a large balcony one time in that area but I couldn't see into it from the Seawalk. When one considers all the vessels with staggered decks where one can see into multiple balconies, think it was 17 balconies that I could see into on one cruise from our higher balcony which was set back, it is a common problem anymore.

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kennicott

kennicott

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What can you tell me about the obstructed view balconies on the Emerald deck (particularly in the 400's)

 

Looking at the Deck Plan it looks like 405-429 or 406-428 might be good bets. That is because directly below on the promenade there is the bulged out portion of the deck where deck chairs are located, no lifeboats or davits should block the view. Sometimes "partially obstructed" isn't much of a problem at all, while the opposite can be the case.

 

There are websites with more comprehensive views from a given cabin. Maybe if you have a specific cabin in mind look one of those up and see what the virtual, or actual, view is.

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kennicott

kennicott

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What can you tell me about the obstructed view balconies on the Emerald deck (particularly in the 400's)

 

Here you go. Try this site, scroll down to the 400 series cabins on the second link.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/royalregalprincess/

 

https://sites.google.com/site/royalregalprincess/home/8-emerald

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