Soot and the aft balconies

[jmraggs]

We're just off the Liberty of Seas and we stayed in the Royal Family Suite (8714) and the adjoining balcony (8712). Due to soot issues, we found our balcony to be essentially unusable. The soot was unreal. We didn't realize this was a problem on the first evening and we were sitting out on the balcony, but when we came back in doors, everyone realized that they had soot all over their pants, shirts, hands and feet! Housekeeping was kind enough to wash our clothes at no charge, but the soot didn't come completely out of my white pants:(

 

The soot remained bad throughout the cruise. The crew members were exceptionally helpful and really tried to keep the deck clean, but the build-up between their cleanings was crazy. We loved everything about these 2 rooms except for the soot issue.

 

My question is this....is this typical? We'd love to book these rooms again, but not if this is the norm. I've heard mention of soot and having to shake things off, but this seemed more extensive.

 

[ATTACH]166459[/ATTACH]

This was from wiping just one cushion off and was taken at 8am. The deck had been cleaned/wiped down on the previous night around 9pm.

 

The only soot we ever got on our balcony was from the evil smokers up wind!;)

[CARLSBERG]

I have just read the following on another forum/site about Independece of the Seas:

 

 

"Our room just aft of the rearmost lifts, and this area was adjacent to the exhaust pipes of the ship, so there was a gentle whirring noise constantly, like you hear on a plane. This wasn't bad enough for us to request a new room, but a few days later we visited a friends room, and the silence made us realize that our room wasn’t in a great spot. So I'd recommend avoiding rooms 6344-6354, and the same on the other side. Other decks will be similar"

I have booked 7350 and 7352 on IOS in August.

 

Should i be worried?

Noise and soot maybe.

Has anyone had experience of this deck area?

 

Thanks!

[Palmetto Pilot]

Wow all that soot can't be good to breath in. I wonder if the fact that the Freedom class has more space between the funnel and the rear of the ship (to fit the flowrider) than the Voyager class, and that causes the extra soot. There would have had to have been a perfect headwind for all that soot to land square on the stern like that.

[Cuizer2]

I have just read the following on another forum/site about Independece of the Seas:

 

 

"Our room just aft of the rearmost lifts, and this area was adjacent to the exhaust pipes of the ship, so there was a gentle whirring noise constantly, like you hear on a plane. This wasn't bad enough for us to request a new room, but a few days later we visited a friends room, and the silence made us realize that our room wasn’t in a great spot. So I'd recommend avoiding rooms 6344-6354, and the same on the other side. Other decks will be similar"

I have booked 7350 and 7352 on IOS in August.

 

Should i be worried?

Noise and soot maybe.

Has anyone had experience of this deck area?

 

Thanks!

 

Your question is more likely to get noticed if you start a new thread.

[coordinator23]

We had no problems on Grandeur, but had problems on Legand. No problems on Mariner, but noticed it on another ship - forgot which one. We always ask for bathrobes and use them whenever we are on the balcony. That way their robes get dirty and we don't. I think alot has to do with the way the wind is blowing sometimes.

[uktraveller]

Radiance class ships do not have the soot problem.

 

Had some soot on the Brilliance. Ruined 2 pair of pants before we realized what it was. Both pair of pants were laundered by RCL, with a special note in the laundry indicating what was on our pants, but the spots never came out. After that we placed towels on the chairs.

 

Radiance class ships aft cabins can have soot problems. We had a corner aft on Brilliance and had to cover our chairs with towels. It was not as bad as the soot on Vision corner aft balcony but it would still ruin your clothes.

[starcat]

Has anyone had soot problems on the Enchantment Aft balcony?

[Leesbrug Land]

We are staying in the RFS Deck 9 on the Explorer of the seas. Does anyone know if the soot is bad for this balcony?

 

 

I've stayed in the RFS on deck 9 of the Explorer and we never had a soot problem. I think the best part of that cruise was laying out on the lounges on the balcany at night and watch the stars and the moon while the ship was underway. Of course you can't do that if there is a massive, black, cloud blocking the sky!:eek:

 

We usually get aft balcany cabins and we never had a problem with soot or exhaust. But the pictures of the balcany covered in soot in unacceptable:mad:. I understand that housekeeping can't be there 24/7 to clean but at the very least wash the clothes or at the most refund the difference between a balcany and an ocean view cabin!

[Rala]

I hope the poster who started the thread about sleeping on the balcony is reading THIS thread. YIKES!!!

[CARLSBERG]

Your question is more likely to get noticed if you start a new thread.

 

Thanks! I will do that

[Ashland]

Have been on INDY RFS #9708 (8 night eastern caribbean) had minor amt of soot "one" morning but were warned by our cabin steward about it and it was cleaned up quickly..Jewel JS #1100 (12 night Baltic) No soot at all !!!

[knotIn1]

The staff was actually very accommodating and I have to say that I was definitely impressed with their response to the issue. I really think they did everything they could and short of them putting up an awning to cover the balcony, can't imagine what else they could have done for us.

On the last day of the cruise, the Hotel Director contacted us and offered us a discount off of a future cruise.

 

So, for sure, they kept me as a customer, just not sure if I'd book an aft balcony again, but sounds like perhaps this was a little unusual.

 

Just wanted to say, I love your attitude. Also, I am pleasantly surprised by the way RCI handled the situation. You often read on CC how RCI ignored issue, or give guests the run around with issues. Confirms my theory, the way you act and present an issue probably has more to do with the way it is handled then one may think.

 

:)

[MrsPete]

It'd be interesting to know exactly which rooms have had these problems. I wonder if a pattern exists. For example, I've only sailed in CORNER afts and have never seen a speck of soot, which makes me wonder if the "exhaust" comes from the center of the ship.

 

But . . . some people said they had it on Day 1 and not the rest of the trip, so that kind of blows my near-the-exhaust theory. Guess y'all aren't going to name me Chief Engineer anytime soon, are you?

[absolutsixthree]

I was in aft room #9660 in August of '10, no soot at all.

[flipflopfun]

We are in 7708 in April 2011. It is great to know you had no soot problems. We were corner aft on the Jewel in March 2008 and had no soot either.

 

Kathy:)

 

Hey cruizerfromdarock !

Join our meet and mingle roll call !

We are also in an aft cabin, right above yours I believe !

I certainly hope there is not a soot issue, as this is our first aft !!!

 

Anyway come and say hi on the roll call group !

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1153969

 

Hope to talk to you soon !

Danette

[dsvd79]

We've had 4 aft cabins, and never had any soot problems. Voyager, Vision, Serenade, and Adventure.

[MikeNJ1109]

We had cabin 9390 on the Voyager a number of years ago, and did not have a soot issue at all.

 

Later this year, we'll be on the Freedom in cabin 1706 ... hopefully won't be any issues on that cruise either.

 

Michael

[klingoncruiser]

That is the main reason I DON'T do aft. However depending on the wind, it can be in some surprising places on the ship.

[dixieva]

Had an aft room three times on the Grandeur and no soot at all.

[bundito]

I'm no ship's mechanic, but reading these tales makes me think it must be some sort of lapse in maintenance. From the work that goes into designing and building these ships - and all of them (on all/most lines) have aft balconies - I can't imagine this is an oversight on the part of the designers.

 

If it's exhaust from the stacks, having it be out of control like this sounds like something needs tuning or cleaning.

 

While it's true that some onboard waste is incinerated, most of the waste water from staterooms and restrooms is treated (chemically and/or biologically) and discharged as "graywater". What's landing on your blacony isn't burnt poop.

 

Paper, cardboard, and food waste is incinerated, but the ash is discharged into the water - it's not blown out the stack. There's certainly a furnace exhaust in the stack, but proper filtering should keep the ash contained. There are industrial incinerators everywhere and you don't hear about neighborhoods getting coated with soot.

 

This is why I'm guessing it's probably an indication that there's a maintenance issue, not a design flaw or a regular, repeatable occurrence. Not saying it doesn't happen (pictures don't lie), but I'd be extremely surprised if someone reported that aft balcony 1234 on the Blahblah Of The Seas has soot on every voyage.

 

Just my semi-educated semi-scientific guess...

 

 

-Dito

Or it could be from the onboard crematorium. Just sayin.

[moknits]

Just came off a 11 night cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. We had an aft balcony, as did my parents (8670 and 8672.) Never saw a speck of soot. The balconies are nice and large - we had 2 lounger, plus 2 chairs, plus a small table. We easily could fit four on the balcony for a little sail away party.

 

Those rooms are very far from the nearest stairs or elevators though. It makes it a little harder to run back to your room if you forget something.

[judie43]

Just came off a 11 night cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. We had an aft balcony, as did my parents (8670 and 8672.) Never saw a speck of soot. The balconies are nice and large - we had 2 lounger, plus 2 chairs, plus a small table. We easily could fit four on the balcony for a little sail away party.

 

Those rooms are very far from the nearest stairs or elevators though. It makes it a little harder to run back to your room if you forget something.

 

8670 and 8672 are the cabins we have for our April 8th cruise. I am happy to know there was no soot. Also happy,after reading about no lounges on balconies,to hear you had them on "our" balconies. And I thought I couldnt get much more excited about our upcoming cruise...thanks...you made my day !

[Gordo]

We were in a Royal Family Suite on the Adventure in October 2009 and did not have any issues with soot. We love an aft cabin and have been lucky that we have not had an issue on any of the ships we have been on.

[stewpapa]

We have our first AFT balcony on the Voyager. I hope we don't have the same issue as you had :eek:.

 

I don't always believe in people getting free compts but I think in this case the purser could have thrown in a little more free cleaning. Even a small basket of fruit would have been nice on their part.

 

Thanks for posting your photograph.

 

We had very little soot on Voyager Aft 9390