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Balcony doors open all night?


prmami
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We did it once on a Princess cruise on the Mexican Riviera.  It was October and the humidity was low enough at night to do so.  Never have done it again.  It's either been too cold or too  humid.  

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I'm a keep the door open while I sleep at night , my husband on the other hand would say no for secirity reasons.... doesn't want an uninvited guest in our room 🙄

 

I always love the sound of waves etc. 

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1 minute ago, whyrlygig said:

If you have ever looked up and saw all the bats flying around the exterior of the ship you would NOT keep your door open all night.  🦇

Oooo, have never seen bats, but I did see so many flying fish earlier this month outside Symphony.  Have never seen so many!

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2 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Leaving your balcony door open shuts down part of the AC system in the cabins surrounding yours.

 

This sounds like nonsense the cruise line tells you to discourage the practice.  I can't imagine why anyone would design the system that way.  Not going to be convinced without a better source than someone on a message board...

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1 minute ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

This sounds like nonsense the cruise line tells you to discourage the practice.  I can't imagine why anyone would design the system that way.  Not going to be convinced without a better source than someone on a message board...

I can confirm that for sure on Symphony, if your balcony door is not latched, the air doesn’t run in your room.  I accidentally left it unlatched while I headed to the Solarium, and it was SO HOT after we got back.

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There is a very detailed explanation by ChengCP on this topic, on these boards. It’s a fact, and is very easily verifiable. You must remember, you aren’t at home and the systems on a ship, although non sensible to you, are designed very differently (look at the electrical system and it’s inability to safely handle a surge suppressor) 

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2 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I can confirm that for sure on Symphony, if your balcony door is not latched, the air doesn’t run in your room.  I accidentally left it unlatched while I headed to the Solarium, and it was SO HOT after we got back.

 

I don't doubt that.  It's the affecting surrounding staterooms that doesn't make sense.

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1 minute ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I can confirm that for sure on Symphony, if your balcony door is not latched, the air doesn’t run in your room.  I accidentally left it unlatched while I headed to the Solarium, and it was SO HOT after we got back.

And it does that same thing on the cabins around you that are on the same circuit. Thank you for the confirmation. 

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2 minutes ago, lovelife said:

I've looked all over my cabin and do not see a sign or any paperwork telling you not to leave your balcony door open. I've never seen one in any cabin I have sailed in (not saying someone else has not seen one).

The warring is on the balcony door. Like a decal. 

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All I find is a decal on the door frame warning about tripping, no smoking, how to lock the door, and advising your AC will not operate if the door is unlocked. Nothing telling you not to leave your balcony door open at night - just that you won't t have AC if you don't lock your door.

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30 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Hopefully chengkp75, "Chief" will post and confirm whether or not the open balcony door effects surrounding cabins. I've heard it does, but I guess others around us have kept theirs closed as our AC has always works great. 

He has in the past confirmed if does effects the bank of cabins in the area. To OP and other's never leave door open...

Edited by ONECRUISER
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Old post from the Chief: 

 

There are two different AC systems in use on the ship. One is like a window AC unit at home, that merely takes the cabin air and cools it while recirculating it back to the cabin. This is what is controlled by the cabin thermostat, and by the balcony door interlock, if fitted. This system is designed to recirculate 80% of the cabin's volume each hour.

 

The second AC system is the one that is affected by the balcony door being open, and that affects the cabins around yours when you leave the door open. This system is not controllable from the cabin, and can not be shut off. This system is designed to bring fresh air into the cabin, about 20% of the volume per hour, and is balanced by the bathroom exhaust vent, which removes about 20% per hour. This system takes outside fresh air, cools it in a large air handler (in those big white spaces down the middle of most cabin decks), and supplies this air to all of the cabins in a particular fire zone (between those pesky doors in the passageway) for one or two decks, meaning one fan and cooler handles 30-50 cabins. Now, this air is sent to the cabin at a higher pressure than normal HVAC systems, for one reason. This "overpressures" the cabins, forcing any leakage at the door to go out into the passageway, not the other way around. This prevents any possible smoke ingress to your cabin in an emergency.

 

Now, what happens when you open your balcony door? You replace the 2" diameter bathroom vent, and the 3/4" x 3' crack under the door that maintains the pressure balance in the cabin, with a 3' x 6' opening to outside. This immediately drops the cabin pressure to atmospheric, and the fresh air supply AC system sends all of the air to your cabin trying to rebuild the over pressure. This means that the other cabins lose much of their supply of fresh air (cooled), and also their overpressure safety feature, and now air is drawn back into their cabins from under the door, from the passageway (warmer). Therefore, the other cabins in the zone lose some of their AC capacity, and start getting warmer air supplied to the cabin.

 

How can you tell if this is happening? Real simple. I used to do it daily when I worked on cruise ships. You walk down the passageway, and listen for the air whistling under a door. 99 times out of 100, I would find the balcony door open in that cabin. Also, if it is your cabin with the door open, when you open the door to the passageway, you will create a wind tunnel, that blows everything out of your cabin. It doesn't do this when the balcony door is closed, so the door being open obviously has an effect on the AC balance in other areas than your cabin.

 

Your humble opinion may think it is BS, but I've worked on ships for 42 years as an engineer, 35 as Chief Engineer, and I have intimate knowledge of shipboard AC systems. Yes, there is a proven effect on others from having your balcony door open, and I've had to deal with it constantly over the years I worked cruise ships, when we would get whole banks of cabins complaining about their AC.

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1 hour ago, whyrlygig said:

If you have ever looked up and saw all the bats flying around the exterior of the ship you would NOT keep your door open all night.  🦇

Too funny.  I have never seen bats.  However, I was in an aft balcony cabin on Indy several years ago with my sister.  She sat on the balcony much of the night as she doesn't sleep well and smokes. (you could smoke on balconies at that time) On several occasions we would see something flying around in the dark.  It didn't move like a bat and we had no idea what it was.  Well, my sister soon found out it was a huge Dragon Fly which happened to be attracted to the light she had on.  It flew onto our balcony.  All I could hear was banging on the door.  She felt trapped.  She didn't want to enter the cabin and have the flying passenger come in too.  I found it quite funny. She still doesn't.  :classic_biggrin:

 

By the way.  I never leave my cabin door open now unless I have the curtain across..........  

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