Discovery Princess Mini Suite E712 - Balcony Access and Privacy?

[sailawaybellaluna]

Hello all,

 

I recently booked my family of 4 in Mini Suite E712 on the Discovery Princess - Category ME.

 

The cabin comes with a warning that the "Balcony Door Blocked When Upper Berth Or Sofa Bed In Use". This isn't the case for all Mini-Suites, but just a select few, one of which I've chosen. My question is: will the door be locked by the cabin steward, or can I crawl over my children and still access it? They will have a sofa bed and a pull down.

 

My second question is: will the balconies directly above us on Deck 9 be able to look into our balcony? I read that the block of cabins directly above are extended balconies but can anyone speak to the privacy of these aft mini suites on Deck 8?

 

I've actually sailed the Discovery Princess twice before, but never in the ME category so I'm uncertain! I did book another Mini Suite on Deck 12, but on further examination if I do that, we will lose our onboard credit and casino offers for some reason! That's $450 OBC so I'm debating if it's worth it.

 

Thanks for reading and any advice/feedback you may have!

[sailawaybellaluna]

Ooops, I waited too long to edit.

 

One last question: I'm also concerned about smoking. I just hung up with Princess, who did confirm that there is a smoking area just below on Deck 7, Starboard side. We are Port side, and she also think there is a smoking area directly below, but wasn't sure. Can anyone confirm?

 

Thanks!

[azddave]

Hello sailaway;

 

The DW and I were on the Discovery on a California Costal cruise in E715.  While E713 was available, I didn't need the 3/4th beds and I wasn't sure what to expect with this cabin.  Have you looked at cruisedeckplans?  They have a video with pictures that are supposed to be from E712.  It looks like if the ladder wasn't in place you would just need to snake around the upper bed to get to the balcony door.

 

You won't have much privacy on your balcony as the mini does extend out quite a bit beyond the deck 9 cabin balconies.  It wasn't a great concern for us, but was a bit off-putting.  At least I knew what to expect from exterior pictures of the ME's.

 

I don't believe that the port side has a smoking area on deck 7, though I can't say for sure.  I can say that the smoke from the starboard side was never a problem for us, and we are non-smokers and certainly dislike it in the casino.

 

 

Happy sailing,

     Dave

[EDDY0827]

With the 3rd and 4th berths are deployed, accessing your balcony will be a bit of an obstacle course but can be done if you are nimble enough.

Your sliding door will not be locked.

[startedwithamouse]

The aft suites on Discovery offer little to no privacy. 

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thanks everyone for chiming in! We canceled our reservation for this cabin!

 

Ironically, the night I posted this, I got a casino offer brochure in the mail (which I often ignore) but it happened to have a QR code. I scanned it, found a mini suite on Deck 12 midship, and ended up booking it for even cheaper! Yay! 

 

Appreciate your input...

[WorldTravelFan]

Where do I find cruisedeckplans for the video of E712? I have that room booked on the Enchanted Princess. 

[azddave]

For the Discovery just go to the referenced website .com.  Scroll down and click on Princess Cruises and then your ship of interest.  Although the Enchanted is the same class as the Discovery I hope the Discovery video is representative of your cabin.