Balcony Dividers on Anthem

[Spf12]

My wife and I will be cruising with my daughter and her family this summer.Our cabins are next to each other.Can the dividers on the balcony be opened?

[Clarea]

Yes, pending ship's management approval.

[whitsmom]

I am still sad about our Alaska cruise on the Radiance not being able to be opened up. We have 4 cabins together so I guess we will just stand up by the rail and look around the dividers to talk :halo:

[chengkp75]

I am still sad about our Alaska cruise on the Radiance not being able to be opened up. We have 4 cabins together so I guess we will just stand up by the rail and look around the dividers to talk :halo:

 

Virtually all ships built before the Star Princess fire in 2006 do not have balcony dividers that open. The Star Princess fire is the only reason they were made openable, to allow fire teams to move from one balcony to the next, not for passenger convenience. While it does simplify the turn-around day cleaning of the balconies, I think most lines would have preferred that they remained fixed closed.

[dpostman]

We had 2 adjacent rooms on Anthem last year and the room attendant had the balcony divider opened for us by the time we got back from Muster Drill.

dp

[robtulipe]

We had connecting balcony cabins on two of our Anthem cruises and our cabin steward unlocked the divider between our balconies on both cruises when we requested this of him.

[AmazedByCruising]

Virtually all ships built before the Star Princess fire in 2006 do not have balcony dividers that open. The Star Princess fire is the only reason they were made openable, to allow fire teams to move from one balcony to the next, not for passenger convenience. While it does simplify the turn-around day cleaning of the balconies, I think most lines would have preferred that they remained fixed closed.

 

They could be opened on my very fist ship, MS Rotterdam (1997), which was a nice surprise. What would be a reason for a cruise line to prefer them being fixed?

[chengkp75]

They could be opened on my very fist ship, MS Rotterdam (1997), which was a nice surprise. What would be a reason for a cruise line to prefer them being fixed?

 

They don't have to fight with passengers about opening them, and why they shouldn't be opened.

[AmazedByCruising]

They don't have to fight with passengers about opening them, and why they shouldn't be opened.

 

That was not a smart question, sorry. I suddenly remember that they also act as fire boundaries when closed.

[ONECRUISER]

Virtually all ships built before the Star Princess fire in 2006 do not have balcony dividers that open. The Star Princess fire is the only reason they were made openable, to allow fire teams to move from one balcony to the next, not for passenger convenience. While it does simplify the turn-around day cleaning of the balconies, I think most lines would have preferred that they remained fixed closed.

Learn something new everyday. As always thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge...

[hapster85]

Doesn't hurt to ask, just be prepared to be turned down. For what it's worth, the steward opened ours, but our sailing was nearly 2 years ago.

[chengkp75]

That was not a smart question, sorry. I suddenly remember that they also act as fire boundaries when closed.

 

Hopefully didn't come across as snarky, didn't mean to, it's just that folks think this was done for their enjoyment, when that was the furthest thing from their minds at the time, and I don't even think it crossed anyone's mind at IMO when the regulation was drafted, that passengers would request they be opened.

[95south]

" I think most lines would have preferred that they remained fixed closed", I've never had an issue with having them opened. As a matter of fact I've never seen a time when that request was denied. If they preferred them closed I don't think they would open them in the first place.

[chengkp75]

" I think most lines would have preferred that they remained fixed closed", I've never had an issue with having them opened. As a matter of fact I've never seen a time when that request was denied. If they preferred them closed I don't think they would open them in the first place.

 

There are specific limits on how many dividers can be opened on each side, and how many consecutive dividers can be opened at the same time. This has to do with class society rules for structural fire protection, and these limits only came about several years after the dividers were required to open, as people started noticing them open during inspections. Now, most lines leave this up to the Captain (who usually dumps this on the Staff Captain) to make a decision, based on that particular Captain's risk tolerance as to how strictly this is enforced (this is the concept of the Captain's "overriding authority" to make decisions onboard with regard to safety). Having said that, most requests for opening balcony dividers goes no further than the cabin steward, who is typically more driven by a desire to please the passengers than by any possible fire scenario. They were originally made not operable, and the ships were fine with that, no one came up with an idea that "hey, maybe we could make more passengers happy by having the dividers open". As I said, the reason they open is for firefighting, and the ship does benefit from ease of power washing the balconies, but we did it with fixed dividers on older ships, and it is doable.

 

And, any ship that opens a balcony divider between two cabins that are in two different fire zones (the cabins are on either side of the fire door in the passageway) is violating SOLAS, and introduces another level of risk, one that the Star Princess learned.

[AmazedByCruising]

Hopefully didn't come across as snarky, didn't mean to, it's just that folks think this was done for their enjoyment, when that was the furthest thing from their minds at the time, and I don't even think it crossed anyone's mind at IMO when the regulation was drafted, that passengers would request they be opened.

 

No not at all! It would probably fly over my head anyway if you tried :D.

 

We simply asked the steward to open the divider as we both had a single room and it was obvious that the dividers could be opened. I can't imagine nobody at IMO thought guests would ask as it took him 30 seconds to find the "key" to do so. He wouldn't have if that wasn't a standard that the Captain would have allowed since 1997. (He also immediately brought a heavy ashtray after seeing a pack of cigarettes. 2014. Those were the days)

 

One deck above us (deck 7), all cabins were twice as large, meaning half the number of dividers that we had. Maybe that was considered safe enough, so a few dividers less would be no problem anyway.

 

Now I'm googling for "fire curtain" but can't find what I'm looking for. A curtain that's doesn't burn itself, doesn't let much heath pass, rolls down at the push of a button or automatically when it's getting too hot, still light enough to allow people to pass. Does something like that exist?

[reallyitsmema]

Balcony dividers on Navigator, maiden voyage 2002, and Mariner, maiden voyage 2003, can be opened. Freedom class ships also have dividers that can be opened, with Freedom being the first to sail in May 2006.

[chengkp75]

No not at all! It would probably fly over my head anyway if you tried :D.

 

We simply asked the steward to open the divider as we both had a single room and it was obvious that the dividers could be opened. I can't imagine nobody at IMO thought guests would ask as it took him 30 seconds to find the "key" to do so. He wouldn't have if that wasn't a standard that the Captain would have allowed since 1997. (He also immediately brought a heavy ashtray after seeing a pack of cigarettes. 2014. Those were the days)

 

One deck above us (deck 7), all cabins were twice as large, meaning half the number of dividers that we had. Maybe that was considered safe enough, so a few dividers less would be no problem anyway.

 

Now I'm googling for "fire curtain" but can't find what I'm looking for. A curtain that's doesn't burn itself, doesn't let much heath pass, rolls down at the push of a button or automatically when it's getting too hot, still light enough to allow people to pass. Does something like that exist?

 

Well, from my experience, you are looking at two things. A lightweight, non-combustible curtain is what a welding curtain is all about, used to separate welding operations from other areas (you may see them on construction sites in portable metal frames). A "fire curtain" that automatically drops with temperature or remotely would be more like a metal fire curtain used to close off openings in galleys and the like. You may see these on a cruise ship as the metal rollup curtains that separate a pizza oven from the front counter area, that is closed when the pizzeria is not operating, and will also have a fusible link to drop the curtain in a fire. The welding curtain is a temporary fire boundary, it will eventually burn, and it doesn't insulate heat well. The metal curtain will provide up to an A-60 rating (fire on one side will not transfer heat sufficient to start a fire on the other for 60 minutes), but they are cumbersome, heavy, and not really set up for quick, novice resetting (i.e. opening and closing by general public). And when down, no one could pass through, as the rigid track holding the curtain from swaying is an integral part of the fire boundary.

[chengkp75]

Balcony dividers on Navigator, maiden voyage 2002, and Mariner, maiden voyage 2003, can be opened. Freedom class ships also have dividers that can be opened, with Freedom being the first to sail in May 2006.

 

Okay, I stand corrected. Those would most likely be retrofits based on the benefits from allowing unrestricted maintenance to the entire row of balconies. I wasn't aware that RCI had retrofitted them. I think all dividers were replaced soon after the Star Princess to ensure the material of the divider was non-combustible, another lesson learned from the Star Princess.

 

The decision to retrofit opening dividers would be on a cost/benefit basis, the benefit being access during cleaning.

[AmazedByCruising]

Well, from my experience, you are looking at two things. A lightweight, non-combustible curtain is what a welding curtain is all about, used to separate welding operations from other areas (you may see them on construction sites in portable metal frames). A "fire curtain" that automatically drops with temperature or remotely would be more like a metal fire curtain used to close off openings in galleys and the like. You may see these on a cruise ship as the metal rollup curtains that separate a pizza oven from the front counter area, that is closed when the pizzeria is not operating, and will also have a fusible link to drop the curtain in a fire. The welding curtain is a temporary fire boundary, it will eventually burn, and it doesn't insulate heat well. The metal curtain will provide up to an A-60 rating (fire on one side will not transfer heat sufficient to start a fire on the other for 60 minutes), but they are cumbersome, heavy, and not really set up for quick, novice resetting (i.e. opening and closing by general public). And when down, no one could pass through, as the rigid track holding the curtain from swaying is an integral part of the fire boundary.

 

 

The welding curtain seems to be mostly about shielding people from dangerous light, not to keep a fire at bay. The metal curtain is designed to be "actived"/"deactived" daily which makes the design a lot harder. The "curtain" I was thinking about would be for single use only, like an airbag. A really thick cloth (1-2 cm, half an inch) that would unroll from the ceiling when released. The water from the sprinkler should keep it wet. It would get quite heavy (2 cm thick, 3m wide and 2m heigh, fully filled with water 120kg, 265 pounds), but it wouldn't keep a guest or a firefighter from getting through. As long as the sprinkler works, it should be impenetrable for sparks, and the maximum heat felt on the other side would be 100 degrees Celcius, not enough to set fire to the next cabin.

 

So I wonder if such a "third kind" of curtain exists?