Pacific Princess Forward Balconies

[ozdroggy01]

I am interested to hear of any first hand experience regarding the amount of wind that is experienced on any of the forward facing balconies on Pacific Princess

when steaming at normal cruising speed 18-20 Kts on a calm day, say wind speed 10 kts. Specific suites/cabins are 7004 and 7000 but any "for'ard" experience will do.

Does the sloping shape of the bridge structure deflect the wind upwards and over the balcony or is it generally too windy except when in harbour.

My searches have led me to a couple of aft facing balconies and soot but nothing on those facing forward.

Thanks for any personal experience you may have had.

[Colo Cruiser]

7 minutes ago, ozdroggy01 said:

I am interested to hear of any first hand experience regarding the amount of wind that is experienced on any of the forward facing balconies on Pacific Princess

when steaming at normal cruising speed 18-20 Kts on a calm day, say wind speed 10 kts. Specific suites/cabins are 7004 and 7000 but any "for'ard" experience will do.

Does the sloping shape of the bridge structure deflect the wind upwards and over the balcony or is it generally too windy except when in harbour.

My searches have led me to a couple of aft facing balconies and soot but nothing on those facing forward.

Thanks for any personal experience you may have had.

These balconies experience the same wind as on any other ships forward facing balconies.

Hence the steel railing instead of glass.

We have sailed in 7000 and had family in 6001.

Anything forward facing can have wind issues.

Of course sailing in and out of port is a great location.

You just cannot predict wind other than it will be more of an issue than not for forward facing balconies.

IMO the sloping superstructure makes no difference.

[ozdroggy01]

Thanks Keith. I am harking back to my early navy career in open bridges. We had wind deflectors that funneled the wind up and over the bridge and you could sit in the captain's chair and look out over the ocean in comfort. Of course, on sunny days you could even be getting a suntan😁.

Although there are no deflectors these days maybe the general design of the whole sloping 'bridge' structure achieves a similar out come.

I am sure there will be some air movement just as on any balcony but my experiences with ship side balconies is that there is rarely a day when you can't use your balcony in comfort.

Sea days are my best days! I want to be able to enjoy them.

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, ozdroggy01 said:

Thanks Keith. I am harking back to my early navy career in open bridges. We had wind deflectors that funneled the wind up and over the bridge and you could sit in the captain's chair and look out over the ocean in comfort. Of course, on sunny days you could even be getting a suntan😁.

Although there are no deflectors these days maybe the general design of the whole sloping 'bridge' structure achieves a similar out come.

I am sure there will be some air movement just as on any balcony but my experiences with ship side balconies is that there is rarely a day when you can't use your balcony in comfort.

Sea days are my best days! I want to be able to enjoy them.

I hear ya. 

There are those that love those forward facing balconies and book them all the time.

Just so you know the downfall of them up front.  😉

[SeaDog-46]

Had a for'd balcony on Sapphire Princess for 50 days last year.

The balcony was larger than most but there are no chairs or table.

Use at sea at normal speed with a wind forward of the beam would make it unusable.  With the wind astern it is not so bad & good for entering port.

[ozdroggy01]

Thanks. Yes, unfortunately that is as I would expect. May have to go to Plan B.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I have friends that had 7001 recently.  They experienced some decent-sized waves during their cruise.  Their cabin flooded pretty badly due to the waves crashing over the front of their balcony.  They had to have huge, loud fans in their cabin for many nights to dry out their carpet.  I couldn't believe it because I've had many front-facing cabins and never experienced anything like this, but my cabins have always been up much higher.  So this is something to consider on some itineraries.

[jagoffee]

15 hours ago, ozdroggy01 said:

Thanks. Yes, unfortunately that is as I would expect. May have to go to Plan B.

You may want to do a little more research on an Aft facing balconies  I have cruised on the R Class ships numerous times in the Aft section without any soot issues.

[ozdroggy01]

Thanks jagoffee. I agree that the aft suites do look OK but I have just found another problem with PP suites - there are no walk-in showers! I have no intention of climbing in and more importantly, out of a bath.

Looks like it will be a balcony cabin.