Cove Balcony - do they close them in severe weather?

[Cinnamon2]

I read somewhere, here on CruiseCritic I believe, that the crew can close off the cove balconies during severe storms.  The way the cove balconies are set back into the ship with the opening cut out of the hull makes sense that they could be closed.  However, in the photos that I have seen of people's cove balconies, I have never seen a "door" or cover or whatever that could close off the balcony from the outside weather.  It doesn't seem practical to me that they would store these doors or covers somewhere else.  I have also read that occasionally they do in fact close the cove balconies during severe weather.  Does anyone know?  Does anyone have a photo to show how they do this?

[ObstructedView2]

24 minutes ago, Cinnamon2 said:

 

in the photos that I have seen of people's cove balconies, I have never seen a "door" or cover or whatever that could close off the balcony from the outside weather.  

 

 

If warranted by weather, wind, rough seas, etc... crew will indeed close the storm door on a cove balcony. 

 

 

 

 

 

✌️

[bakersdozen12]

I sailed in a cove while in the Gulf when Hurricane Patricia was hitting Mexico (very rough seas), and I sailed in another cove right through a tropical storm (the name escapes me), and neither times did our storm door get shut.  I can't imagine how rough the seas have to be for them to close them.

 

[Rockypoint]

We sailed the Carnival Vista during Hurricane Micheal and had a cove balcony.  our first night of cruising was pretty rough and at around 1am they did close off our balcony.  The balcony itself doesn't get closed off, there are steel doors that cover the stateroom door so you can not get out. The steel door is normally just opened up against the wall of the balcony in normal weather.  

 

They somehow do this only on the outside, they do not need to access your stateroom to close it off.  We just woke to the very loud sound of crew going down the balconies to close the doors.  It was kinda scary but we felt safe after that.  They re-opened them the next day in the morning some time.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, it just made the stateroom very dark since the balcony door was covered by steel.

[Cinnamon2]

Thank you for your replies.  Now I understand - it is a storm door that just covers your balcony door so it cannot be opened.  Somehow I thought they closed off the whole balcony from the weather.

[Alegeeter]

A nice upgraded inside cabin in those situations 😉

[Elaine5715]

2 minutes ago, Cinnamon2 said:

Thank you for your replies.  Now I understand - it is a storm door that just covers your balcony door so it cannot be opened.  Somehow I thought they closed off the whole balcony from the weather.

I think part of the need to to keep people inside and from creating their YouTube moment of fame during severe weather 

[teknoge3k]

Like @bakersdozen12, we have sailed through tropical storms before and they never closed our cove balcony off. In fact my wife and I sat outside and watched the rough waves and the ship cut through them. I cannot imagine how rough it would need to be for them to be closed.

[Banditswife]

We've booked coves a lot, never had the door closed.  Pictures posted by Obstructedview2 are the best way to understand how they work.

[Cinnamon2]

Yes, ObstructedView's photos show exactly how they work.  When I looked at other photos earlier, I was wrongly thinking the doors were part of the partition between balconies.  So if the doors are ever closed, it will be like a nice ocean view cabin.  Looking forward to our cruise on the Breeze next January!  Not hurricane season so I don't expect they will close the balcony door.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Cinnamon2

[Aplmac]

One steel door to cover the balcony-access door....

and another steel door to cover the big, sealed picture-window?

 

Is that what I'm seeing in his pics above?

 

I like the three big strong hinges. No messing about.

[Joe817]

13 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

One steel door to cover the balcony-access door....

and another steel door to cover the big, sealed picture-window?

 

Is that what I'm seeing in his pics above?

 

I like the three big strong hinges. No messing about.

Yes, I agree. Those hinges look storm surge quality. Good eye! 

[DryCreek]

38 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

One steel door to cover the balcony-access door....

and another steel door to cover the big, sealed picture-window?

 

Is that what I'm seeing in his pics above?

 

I like the three big strong hinges. No messing about.

I didn't think that they also closed off the window too.

I will know more after this coming Saturday though.

[tandemcruzr]

5 minutes ago, DryCreek said:

I didn't think that they also closed off the window too.

This is correct. Nothing covers the window -- just the cabin door to the balcony.

[DryCreek]

1 minute ago, tandemcruzr said:

This is correct. Nothing covers the window -- just the cabin door to the balcony.

Ahh, that's what I thought.  So it's more like being downgraded to an Ocean View room instead of an Inside Room as someone erroneously mentioned earlier.

[tandemcruzr]

We have been in Cove balconies on the Dream, Magic, Breeze and Vista. Never had the door closed on us. Fingers crossed for our Mardi Gras next year.  🙂

[DryCreek]

1 minute ago, tandemcruzr said:

We have been in Cove balconies on the Dream, Magic, Breeze and Vista. Never had the door closed on us. Fingers crossed for our Mardi Gras next year.  🙂

I think that we should have smooth sailing on the Vista this coming Saturday into the whole next week.  At least that's what the weather sites are saying.  Our last cruise (10 years ago) got a little choppy on the return.  My wife and I did just fine.  The ship was pretty much deserted.  They closed off the upper-outer decks and stacked up all of the loungers and tied them down. 

[Essiesmom]

As the Dream class ages, I think they have learned what the tolerance should be.  We were on the inaugural transAtlantic of the Dream in 2009, and they closed the door after we left Bermuda.  Seas were really rough...I thought they would never get the pilot off.  I thought we would be all the way back to France...  EM

 

[highcorral]

What happens to the deck chairs?  Do they get lashed down?

[Essiesmom]

It's not that the furniture is in danger, or a danger.  It's that there is so much wind and spray that it is a danger for people to be out there.  And since quite a few people have no common sense... EM

[BlerkOne]

7 hours ago, highcorral said:

What happens to the deck chairs?  Do they get lashed down?

 

They get removed.