Royal Princess gets midship Staircase

Now I know that title is slightly misleading as it was always there but was only available as a crew staircase to allow the crew on the ship to move around between the decks.

However Royal Princess has recently been in dry dock and has had her mid ship stairs renovated and open for passenger use.

Can we see Britannia having this done in time? Assuming Regal Princess is next to have her stairs opened up...

Personally I have no problem going up and down the stairs on all the ships, I`m 32 and in very good health, Plus I live in a 3 storey house so always on the stairs

Be interested to hear peoples views...

While my bad knees mean stairs are painful (especially going down) I'm still in favour of the stairs being available for passenger use.

Every fit and able-bodied passenger who is happy to use the stairs is one less using the lifts - so it's a win-win situation all round.

It's a shame more ships don't have extra lifts serving the atrium decks (like Sea & Sun Princess) but that's a different thread...

Even though I'm 41 and can walk up/down stairs perfectly fine I feel like it's much more reasonable to do this - those poor miship passengers during muster who have to walk all the way to the front or back! It's also a pain having to take the elevator if you're only going up/down a couple of floors; by the time you've been waiting for an elevator and you have ridden it you could've walked down the stairs twice by then!

Dan

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Even though I'm 41 and can walk up/down stairs perfectly fine I feel like it's much more reasonable to do this - those poor miship passengers during muster who have to walk all the way to the front or back! It's also a pain having to take the elevator if you're only going up/down a couple of floors; by the time you've been waiting for an elevator and you have ridden it you could've walked down the stairs twice by then!

 

Dan

 

 

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You are allowed to use the crew stairs at muster, have done a few times now.

I think it likely that all ships in this class will be updated as this has been an issue with the design which many people have identified.

Regards John

I think it likely that all ships in this class will be updated as this has been an issue with the design which many people have identified.

 

Regards John

What I could find disturbing is if it is a design issue obviously their designers don't know their business. Or they know their business but are being over ruled by corporate bean counters. What logical reason could there have been for not having central passenger stairs:confused:

I was on Norwegian Epic recently. Only two stair towers (plus a hidden one) but lots of lifts, 8 in each stair tower. No extended waits for lifts either.

I think that, in time, all the ships designed in this way will be renovated.

My husband and I are 48 and ever since we've been cruising (from the age of 33) we've used the stairs as much as possible.

IMO a mid-ship staircase is a must for passenger use.

I now feel sorry for the crew who haven't got one! :rolleyes:

What I could find disturbing is if it is a design issue obviously their designers don't know their business. Or they know their business but are being over ruled by corporate bean counters. What logical reason could there have been for not having central passenger stairs:confused:

 

I was on Norwegian Epic recently. Only two stair towers (plus a hidden one) but lots of lifts, 8 in each stair tower. No extended waits for lifts either.

Allegedly, it was a decision from the highest level of Carnival Corporation to save money - so - yes - corporate bean counters and suits fault.

Unfortunately I doubt this possible change will have a significant effect on the wait times for lifts.

IMO the major problem is that the lifts themselves are far too small, there are only the same number as on Ventura/Azura, but Britannia has 600 more passengers, and the lifts themselves are much smaller than on the other 2 ships, which also suffer from much longer waiting times for lifts than similar size ships in the RCI/Celebrity fleet.

Unfortunately I doubt this possible change will have a significant effect on the wait times for lifts.

IMO the major problem is that the lifts themselves are far too small, there are only the same number as on Ventura/Azura, but Britannia has 600 more passengers, and the lifts themselves are much smaller than on the other 2 ships, which also suffer from much longer waiting times for lifts than similar size ships in the RCI/Celebrity fleet.

I agree that it won't solve the problem with the lifts being too small but it will help to reduce some of the demand for the midships lifts because the option to use the stairs will be available and many will presumably choose to use them, especially if there is still a queue for the lifts. Currently, if you are midships, you have to use the lifts, even if it is just to go up or down one deck (or walk to fore or aft stairs and then go walk back to midships if that is where you want to go).

What I could find disturbing is if it is a design issue obviously their designers don't know their business. Or they know their business but are being over ruled by corporate bean counters. What logical reason could there have been for not having central passenger stairs:confused:

Sometimes people have an iconic design idea which not everybody understands - Edsel Ford is a good example. Clive Sinclair C5 is another yet he thought up a ridiculous personal computer idea which clearly was not going to be of use to anybody.

Regards John