Oasis Balcony doors to be locked for air to work??

I just read a post on another board that the balcony doors on Oasis must be locked for the air conditioning to work. Please tell me this isn't true! I enjoy sitting on the balcony all hours of the day and would hate to think my DH would have to sit in the room so he could unlock the balcony door and let me back into my own room.

I believe that the balcony door just needs to be closed, not locked. The AC willnot work with the door open from what I have read.

We always keep it closed so did not notice.

I just read a post on another board that the balcony doors on Oasis must be locked for the air conditioning to work. Please tell me this isn't true! I enjoy sitting on the balcony all hours of the day and would hate to think my DH would have to sit in the room so he could unlock the balcony door and let me back into my own room.

yes, just closed. Not locked

Thanks for the quick replies. I knew they had to be closed - but locked worried me just a little :eek:.

There are sensors in the door...if the door is open the AC will shut off.....as long as it's closed/not locked it should kick the AC back on. Also the "main switch" in the cabin must always be on....if you shut that off it will also turn the AC off.

The latch on the doors (which IS the lock) needs to be engaged shut for the the AC to work on Allure. I am pretty sure the same is true for Oasis. This is different from pretty much all the other ships out there in that yes, your balcony must be locked closed for the AC to work. We had an issue with the AC 2 weeks ago on Allure and called maintenence about it. They were able to look up our room and tell us exactly what time our balcony door had been placed in the unlocked position. (Apparently the cabin attendant did not fully engage the lock after she turned down the room that night.)

I've never been on Oasis, so I can't say, but on Allure it had to be in the locked position. I may have had a defective room but on the way to an excursion several of us were discussing that fact. The room would absolutely be hot when coming in from the balcony. We tried to make sure the door was all the way closed but it didn't work unless one of us stayed in the room and turned the handle (as a test). Just saying :confused:

Me again - just got off the phone with Royal Caribbean. I told them of the discussion going on here and asked if the door had to be locked for the air to work on Oasis. He said that while he can't give me a 100% definite answer that neither he or his supervisor have ever heard this question before and that if this was the case he is sure that they would have had many calls from passengers. He also said both he and his supervisor have both been employed there quite a while.

I can think of many different scenerios where someone being locked out on a balcony could be a huge liability for the cruise line.

I guess I'll know one way or the other in January.

I'll check it out for you in 12 days!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!

Closed, not locked. I would have remembered that massive inconvenience if I had to lock and unlock the door every time a family member went out on the balcony or wanted back in.

I'll check it out for you in 12 days!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!

Have a WONDERFL cruise!!

fyi- I remember Trainman posting about the a/c on his LIVE Allure thread (January 15-22, 2012). Sounds like the Allure and Oasis are one and the same design regarding the a/c and balconies:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trainman-2

Both the Oasis and the Allure have this "situation"

I don't use the word "Problem" because the ships were designed that way.

It is "good design" for the ship but a royal pain in the butt for the cruisers.

Briefly, there is a switch in the doors to the balconies. If the door is not fully closed and the handle in the down position then:

1. The A/C system shuts off

and

2. The heating system turns on.

The heating system turns on because the outside moisture coming into the cool room creates condensation which caused dripping from the ceiling and then the occupants get upset when they get dripped on. The condensation also causes problems with the wiring and controls in the ceiling.

There is no locking ability on the balcony and it is not possible to lock yourself out or keep the A/C Running while you are on the balcony.

I have put some thought into this and am drafting a letter to RCI. I will post it here when I send it off.

This can be fixed but it will not be easy and will be expensive.

We experienced the same "problem" with the A/C on Allure. I was told by maintenance to not use the balcony if I wanted to keep a cool room.

This is the reply from sunnydaysmile:

Please keep us posted on the response from RCI regarding this "problem"? and when one of our fellow cruisers finds a solution - please share

Weren't there a couple of threads a while back from passengers that accidentally locked themselves out on their balcony on Oasis. The latches caught when they shut the door.

I fear I may just add to the confusion, but here goes anyway:

We have been on Oasis/Allure for six weeks total. Two of those weeks were in an ocean-facing balcony, one was a Central Park balcony, and the other a Boardwalk balcony. The door to the ocean-facing balcony absolutely had to be locked. Marlee and I tested it twice to confirm this. With the door unlocked and closed, the A/C turned itself to a very reduced power level and the cabin warmed up quickly.

The A/C in the Boardwalk cabin appeared to turn off with the door unlocked, but we did not run a structured test to confirm this.

However, the state of the lock made no difference in the Central Park cabin. The A/C functioned at normal levels with the door closed but unlocked. Frankly, I was wondering if their system was broken (not complaining though, since the cabin stayed nice and cool for a change).

Bottom line is that it seems to work differently in different parts of the ship. Our personal bottom line is that we will book the same Central Park cabin on future Allure cruises once our existing bookings run out. (We already have it reserved for two of our four future Allure sailings.)

This "feature" of Oasis-class is the thing we dislike the most about these otherwise wonderful ships. But we dislike it a lot. It may eventually steer us back to Freedom-class or to another line, as having a cool cabin AND having the use of our balcony is important to both of us.

Rich

I will add to this...

If you call Maintenance, they can "look at" your balcony door on their computer and tell you if it is closed and locked or not.

On our last cruise on the Allure, we had a bad switch in the door which showed that the door was not closed and locked even though it was. It took me awhile to get this resolved because the girl on the phone kept giving me the "official reply" from the "book of rules" she was reading from. I finally took the issue to Guest Relations and that got me a new switch.

But keep this in mind. If the balcony door is not closed and locked, the system turns on the heat in your cabin to remove condensation.

We were in an ocean view balcony on the Allure last year and I can tell you we definitely had to shut and lock the door for the AC to work. My husband loves to sit on the balcony and our cabin would freq. be 81 F. It was quite uncomfortably warm and humid. For this reason alone, we would not book the Allure again. It would seem that the Oasis should have been built along the same lines and I would be hesitant to book it.

I can certainly see having to have the door closed, but locked also is just crazy. Engineers should have to take cruises on the ships after they design them! :cool:

There's got to be a way to "hack" this, and I thought there was another thread where someone mentioned the work-around, but perhaps it pertained to another ship / cruise line. I just can't remember now.

Hubby works in access control and said there is a work around for this which we will be utilizing. I like having the door open and the AC on thank you.

Unfortunate that it has come to this...too bad that pax had so many reading comprehension problems and just couldn't seem to read the signs and keep balcony doors closed so that the air could work.:( So now many people have to be inconvenienced.

It should be set up for each cabin. For those that just can't seem to keep the doors closed their air should automatically shut off and have to be reset. Let them be inconvenienced instead of all of the other pax who manage to keep their balcony doors shut.

It should be set up for each cabin. For those that just can't seem to keep the doors closed their air should automatically shut off and have to be reset. Let them be inconvenienced instead of all of the other pax who manage to keep their balcony doors shut.

Why not just trigger it based on whether the door is open or shut? Why should it have to be locked?

I understand why they wouldn't want the AC running if the door is open, it's the locked part I don't get. :confused:

Hubby works in access control and said there is a work around for this which we will be utilizing. I like having the door open and the AC on thank you.

^ ^Unfortunate that it has come to this...too bad that pax had so many reading comprehension problems and just couldn't seem to read the signs and keep balcony doors closed so that the air could work.:( So now many people have to be inconvenienced.

Agreed, Bakincakes. Someone is always trying to work around it. And also proud of the fact too. Shame.

But keep this in mind. If the balcony door is not closed and locked, the system turns on the heat in your cabin to remove condensation.

I'm not disputing this. I just thought that A/C had the dehumdifying effect instead of heat.

This sounds just great.

If you want to use your balcony, you have the heat turned on in your cabin.

If I would have known this, I would not have booked a cruise on the Oasis, and probably not on anything associated with RCI, as this is the epitome of utter stupidity.

Unfortunate that it has come to this...too bad that pax had so many reading comprehension problems and just couldn't seem to read the signs and keep balcony doors closed so that the air could work.:( So now many people have to be inconvenienced.

 

It should be set up for each cabin. For those that just can't seem to keep the doors closed their air should automatically shut off and have to be reset. Let them be inconvenienced instead of all of the other pax who manage to keep their balcony doors shut.

Why not just trigger it based on whether the door is open or shut? Why should it have to be locked?

 

I understand why they wouldn't want the AC running if the door is open, it's the locked part I don't get. :confused:

We never keep the door open when we are out on the balcony--repeat, it is always shut. Allure is the only ship we have sailed on that this has been a problem. There was no way for us to enjoy the balcony and keep the cabin cool.

If you want to use your balcony, you have the heat turned on in your cabin.

 

If I would have known this, I would not have booked a cruise on the Oasis, and probably not on anything associated with RCI, as this is the epitome of utter stupidity.

I'm not reading that you can't use your balcony. I'm reading that you need to keep your door closed. Different things.