Storage in Prima Balcony Cabin

[Livabeth]

I was looking at a balcony cabin on the Prima for a family of 4 and the amount of storage areas to unpack suitcase appears to be lacking.  There looks to be a couple of small drawers in the closets and one in the vanity.  Would appreciate if someone could share their thoughts and experience with the storage in a balcony cabin on the Prima for 4 adults.

 

Thank you.

[CruizinSusan70]

Good luck.  We were on the Prima for 11 days with two of us staying in an inside Handicapped cabin.  Not enough space to have all of our clothes put away.  Instead of living out of a suitcase we ended up piling up clothes in stacks on the long table under the mirror.  You need to make adjustments at times and we did.

I would go on cruisedeckplans.com.  On the Prima, there are at least a half a dozen balcony videos posted on YouTube from deck nine alone.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Livabeth said:

I was looking at a balcony cabin on the Prima for a family of 4 and the amount of storage areas to unpack suitcase appears to be lacking.  There looks to be a couple of small drawers in the closets and one in the vanity.  Would appreciate if someone could share their thoughts and experience with the storage in a balcony cabin on the Prima for 4 adults.

There is no storage. 

 

There are three "closets", two with doors, one without. The two closets with doors have two small basket "drawers" each. 

 

While you can stash your suitcases under the bed, there is no bed skirt, so it just looks messy. You can probably open your suitcases up and use them as "drawers" under the bed. Pull them out when you need stuff. 

 

Open Closet and one of the closets with a door. There is a shelf that folds down giving you a bit more storage in the first closed closet

 

The second closet with a door also has a safe which takes up space

[AwesomO]

that's so disappointing. and for a new ship, it doesn't look particularly sleek or modern. It just looks unfinished. so bland 😞

[jdc987]

Bland is a good word, that was my thought.

[mitchtech]

There are no other drawers at all besides the baskets in the closet?

[BirdTravels]

51 minutes ago, mitchtech said:

There are no other drawers at all besides the baskets in the closet?

 

small drawer at the desk


two small drawers in one nightstand

 

open space in second nightstand. 

 

Nothing if you are expecting to unpack your suitcase. 
 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by BirdTravels

[GreenFamily]

That couch is too small for two adults to sleep comfortably. It might work for two little kids. I would look for reviews.

Edited January 28, 2023 by GreenFamily

[JGmf]

Thanks as always for the photos and facts @BirdTravels

 

My takeaway: very tight for 2 adults to store/hang items and nearly impossible and unworkable for 4 adults. If tried for 4, the room wouldn't be an oasis, rather, it would be cluttered chaos.

[BirdTravels]

59 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Thanks as always for the photos and facts @BirdTravels

 

My takeaway: very tight for 2 adults to store/hang items and nearly impossible and unworkable for 4 adults. If tried for 4, the room wouldn't be an oasis, rather, it would be cluttered chaos.

Every needs to stay on the suitcases, potentially opened flat and staged under beds. The baskets on the closets are tapered (for appearance) making them hard to use.  We just hung some clothes and had piles of stuff on the shelves on the open and closed closet. We used the few drawers for CPAP parts and electronics (chargers, cameras, and such). 
 

The photos above are from a Balcony room on the Prima. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by BirdTravels

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, GreenFamily said:

That couch is too small for two adults to sleep comfortably. It might work for two little kids. I would look for reviews.

 

A room for 4 would have a Pullman. (Which takes up more space because the ladder is usually stored in the closet.)

Edited January 28, 2023 by BirdTravels

[GreenFamily]

31 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

A room for 4 would have a Pullman. (Which takes up more space because the ladder is usually stored in the closet.)

I thought the only family cabins with Pullman beds were inside cabins. In YouTube videos, the family balconies on the Prima all appear to have those tiny pullout couches. 

[SplashOfWater]

We had more storage in our Large Oceanview (OA) cabin on Deck 5. In addition to the desk, we had a chest/bureau that had four drawers and two side cabinets each with two shelves. We also had four end tables in the cabin: two open and two 2-drawer. We had a sofa, but I don't believe it pulled out to a bed. I think the Family Oceanview (O4) sleeps 4. There is another Oceanview category (OB) that is a smaller cabin and is missing the extra storage.

 

 

[mitchtech]

I think I'll  be hanging our t shirts! Haha

[uneamie]

23 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

small drawer at the desk


two small drawers in one nightstand

 

open space in second nightstand. 

 

Nothing if you are expecting to unpack your suitcase. 
 

 

I think that space next to the vanity and mirror in the corner could have been put to better use by an extension to the closet with a storage unit with drawers. Also I wonder if the bottom shelf in the closet can hold an open suit case. Other than that I like it idea of keeping a suit case open under the bed and just pulling it out. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by uneamie

[Sand and Seas]

Our Club Balcony (MA) at the aft of the ship had the same three closets and looked very similar to the pictures above.  We did have 2 of the two drawer nightstands plus an open-shelved nightstand on the other side of our couch.    

 

We also had an amazing amount of open 'walking-around' space probably due to the way the room bulged out for the rounded balcony area.    I recall seeing someone's pictures of their Haven room and realizing we had much more 'walk-around' floor space.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Sand and Seas

[curlstravel]

I thought there was plenty of space for two people, I really appreciated it the drawers in the nightstand.

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, uneamie said:

I think that space next to the vanity and mirror in the corner could have been put to better use by an extension to the closet with a storage unit with drawers. Also I wonder if the bottom shelf in the closet can hold an open suit case. Other than that I like it idea of keeping a suit case open under the bed and just pulling it out. 

The goal was to make the room feel spacious, but is actually similar in total square footage as other NCL ships. The “trick” is to make the room a little wider. They do this by reducing the depth of the room (making the room shorter) by using a love seat versus 3-seat sofa and eliminating the desk running the length of the room with extra storage and counter space. So, while the room feels roomier, there is less storage and less seating.

[DMP609]

I find this lack of storage disappointing. I'm still very much looking forward to our trip on the Prima, but one of the things I really love about cruising is unpacking and not having to live out of my suitcase. We are a family of 3 so it's going to be a challenge. It seems so short sighted not to have better storage space or at least more shelving to put clothing onto.

[CruizinSusan70]

18 minutes ago, DMP609 said:

I find this lack of storage disappointing. I'm still very much looking forward to our trip on the Prima, but one of the things I really love about cruising is unpacking and not having to live out of my suitcase. We are a family of 3 so it's going to be a challenge. It seems so short sighted not to have better storage space or at least more shelving to put clothing onto.

Magnetic hooks that attach to the wall can be used for additional space to hang things from.

[moto_italia]

Seems there are 3 closets of hanger space in the Prima Balcony Cabin, so I'd convert one to hanging shelves that easily fold up in your suitcase.

https://www.amazon.com/GRANNY-SAYS-4-Shelf-Hanging-Organizer/dp/B09BLKLLTB?th=1

 

[Livabeth]

Thank you everyone for your insight.  I do think that being organized and unpacking our suitcases would be a challenge, but we will have to get creative if we decide to book a balcony cabin on the Prima.  I like the idea of packing hanging shelves and collapsible bins to use in the closets or on the vanity.

 

Does anyone know what the set up is for the third and fourth bed in the balcony cabin?  Does the sofa turn into a single bed and the fourth bed come down from the ceiling?

 

[BirdTravels]

24 minutes ago, Livabeth said:

Does anyone know what the set up is for the third and fourth bed in the balcony cabin?  Does the sofa turn into a single bed and the fourth bed come down from the ceiling?

Normally that is the case. Other's say no, but the love seat would only fold out to be a single bed. Not big enough to two. 

 

For us, we just had our folded shorts and t-shirts (straight out the suitcase) in a big pile on the closet shelf. Undies and socks in a basket. Shoes at the bottom of the open closet. Snorkel gear and misc stuff on the shelf of the open closet along with hanging damp/wet items. And electronic (chargers, GoPro, etc.) on the desktop, in the desk drawer and in the night stand drawer (along with CPAP gear). A few dinner outfits hanging. (Nope, we don't hang t-shirts or shorts 🙂)

 

About 2/3 through the cruise, we rotated some clothes to the laundry and pulled a few more from the suitcases. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by BirdTravels

[GreenFamily]

I found this picture of a Prima balcony cabin on YouTube. It doesn’t look as comfortable as a bed, but not terrible either.

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by GreenFamily

[Cruising Lynne]

When we cruised on Prima, it took me a few minutes to decide how we wanted to utilize the storage space. We had a balcony cabin with the closet that had three sections. There were a lot of extra hangers in our room, so I was able to hang most of my clothes in the first section that does not have   a  door. My shoes went on the shelf below them. I put the shelf down in the middle section for folded items and I used a small folding storage cubby from dollar tree for miscellaneous small items. I put swimsuits and socks in the wire basket type drawers. My husband had the next section which was big enough for his hanging items and it also had two of the basket type drawers and the safe. He had the night stand with drawers on his side of the bed for his extra items and socks and underwear.

 

It worked out pretty well. Any more than two people and you would have to be really creative. I like the idea of the hanging shelves for that situation.

 

I liked that the bathroom had a small drawer that I did not notice at first. The handle for it is where you would hang a hand towel. I loved the nice big shower with the glass door, and foot rest for shaving.

 

I missed the longer vanity/desk that the away ships have. Also, it would have been nice if the TV  could be angled to see it better from the couch.

 

The room felt spacious and comfortable once we got every thing organized.