Keeping Balcony Doors Open on the Ruby

[Garn]

This might be a dumb question, but is there a hook or something that lets you keep the balcony door open, or do you need to bring a bungee cord or something? One of the high points of our last cruise was hearing the water at night, and I'm hooks.

 

Also, does Princess have little "maps" of the ships? NCL gave little index-card sized fold-out maps, so you could navigate to the various places before you got the feel of the ship. Otherwise, I'll need to make my own.

 

thanks!

[hllwdcruiser]

The doors stayed open on their own - and yes, you do receive a map upon embarkation. We hardly used it though - there are wall maps by every elevator bank and staircase.

[LARGIN]

You will have a heavy sliding door so no bungee needed..

[flamomo]

Yes to both questions.

The sliding door to your balcony is rather heavy, but slides smoothly. It will stay open with no problem. We often leave the door open at night in warm climates. The sound of the sea is so relaxing.

At check-in for boarding, you will be handed your key card along with a small folding card with information on locations of the places on the ship that you need to know.

[FLACRUISER99]

All you folks do realize that you are letting lots of humidity into the ship & causing the AC system to work harder by leaving the door open.

[rcacace]

All you folks do realize that you are letting lots of humidity into the ship & causing the AC system to work harder by leaving the door open.

 

Why should they care....unless they've set the AC on off or highest setting, which I doubt.

[Guest Spo]

There was a shrill whistling noise when we opened our balcony door on the Crown. I thought they had intentionally figured out some way to keep people from leaving the door open:eek:!

[Toto2Kansas]

Why should they care....unless they've set the AC on off or highest setting, which I doubt.

 

I have heard of a lot of passengers that actually do just that. They set the AC at the lowest temp, then open their balcony doors at night so they can hear the ocean while they sleep. It always made me go 'hummmm', that old case of 'who cares', it's not on my Electric bill and I am paying for the cruise the way "I" want it. :rolleyes:

[hllwdcruiser]

All you folks do realize that you are letting lots of humidity into the ship & causing the AC system to work harder by leaving the door open.

 

Absolutely! I am all about sustainability (my 20 something children give me no choice - they make me feel guilty enough for what our generation has done to "their planet") We never left our doors open except for a minute or two - I was just answering the question.;)

[Garn]

Thanks for your replies.

 

All you folks do realize that you are letting lots of humidity into the ship & causing the AC system to work harder by leaving the door open.

 

Yes, it does waste energy (although we don't leave the A/C cranked full blast). Of course, the people who eat huge amounts require the ship to move extra food across the ocean, and use energy to refrigerate the food, and more to cook it. Those that use the casinos require a large, open space that needs to be shipped and air conditioned. Those in suites require more A/C than in my balcony. (Not that I'm attacking anyone who does things, just that if we're counting "uneeded energy expenditures", let's look a the big picture).

 

Let's face it, there's nothing "green" about cruising. I try to be reasonably responsible, but leaving the balcony door open while we sleep is really a drop in the bucket compared to crusing overall (not to mention the flight to get to the port). I do consider sustainability with my vacation choices, and may at some point that cruising is too irresponsible, regardless of leaving the door open- but I'm not yet at that point, and I think the pleasure/damage ratio justifies it, for me, right now.

 

Again, thanks all for letting me know about the doors and the maps.

[rcacace]

Perhaps it's time that they install switches to cut off the AC when the door is open. I think Celebrity has that system.

[Tiffany's mom]

To keep the door from moving when open just pull the handle down, like you would when you lock the door close.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree lock the handle down with the door in the position you want.

[BayCalif-Ariz R Us]

Perhaps it's time that they install switches to cut off the AC when the door is open. I think Celebrity has that system.

 

Some of the ships do have the switch to shut off the AC in the room when the balcony doors are opened. This is what a senior princess officer told me last October. Leaving the doors open does raise havoc with the system.

[Pam in CA]

I agree lock the handle down with the door in the position you want.

Exactly. While the door is a heavy sliding door and shouldn't move, sometimes it does. Turning the handle down locks the door in position.

 

FYI, you will most often get a whistling noise if the door is open just a little bit; usually, if you open it a little bit more, the noise will diminish.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I can't remember if it was on HAL or Carnival that the A/C stopped as soon as we opened the balcony door. I know Princess doesn't have this, but it would be a good option in their future builds.

[Colo Cruiser]

I have not seen any A/C door switch on our Princess cruises. :)

[Toto2Kansas]

I can't remember if it was on HAL or Carnival that the A/C stopped as soon as we opened the balcony door. I know Princess doesn't have this, but it would be a good option in their future builds.

 

I remember a switch on the Carnival Legend which turned off the AC when the balcony door was open. (don't laugh, we got the cruise free from Carnival, everything free from photos to drinks!) :) Still wasn't enough to take us back to that cruise line. lol

 

But I have never seen anything like this on any Princess ship we have sailed on.

[CruisinChris]

Ok people - doors open screw up the AC SYTEM for everybody plus it's actually a safety hazard. WHile the ship underway, and open door creates a vacuum - you've all had your stateroom door slam shut or be hard to open with the balcony open while the ship is moving. This vacuum effect pulls things into the ship. Need I remind you of the Star Fire? AN open balcony door would have drawn the fire into the ship! Further, I would contest based on my experience you CANNOT hear the sea with you balcony door open. You might hear bow wake if you're upfront or the churning of water from the wake aft but there's no gentle lap lap of waves. You're not a 30 foot sailboat. sorry. It's a nice romantic idea, but not at all realistic.

[flamomo]

This is not meant to be rude, but getting attacked for something as simple as wanting to sleep with the balcony door open is not polite either.

 

So please, let's not over-react to the idea that some of us like to have our balcony door open at night. I think it's way more common than you might believe. It may not be PC or "green", but it's something we enjoy, and only get to do it once or twice a year. Horror stories and "might happens" will not change us to your way of thinking.

 

You do your thing and close and lock your balcony door, and we'll enjoy listening to the sound of the sea.

[Mijuraad]

Just read an ad in today's paper from a major cruise line. Its big pitch was that passengers can leave the balcony door open and fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.

 

This doesn't seem to agree with the posts I've just seen on this site. I wonder what are the real facts about open balcony doors.:cool:

[Sincity]

(don't laugh, we got the cruise free from Carnival, everything free from photos to drinks!) :) Still wasn't enough to take us back to that cruise line. lol

 

Same here. Free Carnival cruise and never again on that line. When we did a coastal to Ensenda last year on the Dawn, it was wonderful to sleep with the doors open.

[lhanson38]

We love to sleep with the door open...But we would never leave the air on when we do...There nis no way i can understand someone doing that :mad:would you do that at home...I think not

[robsaw]

Leaving the AC on anywhere/anytime with windows/doors open is a waste.

 

However, with the AC off, I can't see the open balcony door having either much effect on the rest of the ship's AC or on safety given the incredible rarity of fires on balconies (now all have sprinklers on the balconies too).

 

If it was a real hazard/incredible waste I'm sure Princess would be making more of a strong policy statement about it,

[captainron]

We can shorten this thread easily enough!!! If you want to leave your balcony door open do so. If you don't want it open, leave it closed.

 

Either way, for God's sake we don't want to get to the point where we'll have the Balcony Police checking our staterooms at night. :rolleyes:

 

Stateroom stewards are directed that if you are not in your stateroom to close all balcony doors. Similarly if you leave clothing items on your balcony they can be seized by ship's security as they are a fire hazard, but that's the subject I'm sure of another thread.

 

Ciao for now!!!