Picture of the Royal Balconies

[dmwnc1959]

all due respect to Sunsetbeachgal...I think your expectations of a balcony that you pay $7000 for may be a little different than when you're upgraded from an inside for free.

 

I'm booked in an Inside Stateroom as well and personally can't see paying the $700-800 difference between it and the lowest balcony cabin, mostly because having a balcony is not important to me in the long run. Last time I had one was on the Celebrity Mercury three years ago, and I spent more time in the shower than I did lounging and staring at the sea from my private outdoor space. If I too am lucky enough to get upgraded on Royal Princess (even though my reservation is also marked 'do not upgrade) I am sure I will look at that 9'x4' balcony as if it were as big as a train station platform.

 

But there are plenty of others besides Carole on this thread and others who did book a balcony and were plenty happy with it. Could it have been bigger in their opinion? Sure. But it didn't distract from the overall enjoyment of Royal Princess even to the point where they had a delightful champagne breakfast or ultimate balcony dinner. I've seen people cancel their bookings because their family of four wouldn't fit out there, and plenty others book B2B's and B2B2B's in the Caribbean because they just don't care about the size of the balcony on Royal Princess.

[TorontoTL]

Carole, trust me when I say that there are many many others on CC who read your posts with joy and truly appreciated that you took the time, effort and used all of your internet minutes on sharing your thoughts and observations about the RP here with us. Please don't let the comments made by one affect you so.

[guidance lady]

Well then enjoy your cruise. Must admit I've yet to play tennis on a balcony.

[Smokeyham]

We were on the first Preview sailing. I was shocked when I walked out on the balcony and found I couldn't face the sea without having my knees virtually against the glass.

 

 

 

 

Very disappointing to see the size of the balconies on Royal. We had this balcony on Sapphire's Caribe deck, and loved it! It was great to have in Alaska for glacier viewing, and even just to sit out and enjoy a cup of coffee or a drink. I loved the loungers we had, so I could stretch out.

 

[Smokeyham]

I'll also echo my disappointment on seeing that this diagram

 

Deluxe Balcony Cabin Royal

 

Translates into this balcony

 

Deluxe Balcony Royal

[Patsy Flower]

A huge thank you to everyone for sharing their photos of the balconies on the new Royal Princess.

 

I nearly booked the Royal as we really wanted to sail on her. Price this year was important to and in the end we booked the Ruby for nearly half the price.

 

Balconies to us are a huge part of our holiday, we know that is not the case for everyone.

 

We would have been hugely disappointed after always sailing with a Caribe balcony to have been faced with such a small space.

 

If we do sail on the Royal, I think we would opt for an inside as I doubt we could justify additional cost for the balcony or should I say "lack of balcony".

[LewesBeach]

I too am in the "minority" in that the lack of outdoor spaces (small balconies, no promenade, no aft pool, fewer shaded pool areas) IS a deal-breaker for me. I obviously am not the demographic they are appealing to. And its not just CC members - its all our friends & potential first time cruisers who will see pictures of these ridiculously small balconies, compare them to to other ships, and will book something else. I have cancelled my Regal Maiden next year and re-booked on the Emerald. I love Princess, but will stick to Grand class ships.

[shootingstar07]

I too am in the "minority" in that the lack of outdoor spaces (small balconies, no promenade, no aft pool, fewer shaded pool areas) IS a deal-breaker for me. I obviously am not the demographic they are appealing to. And its not just CC members - its all our friends & potential first time cruisers who will see pictures of these ridiculously small balconies, compare them to to other ships, and will book something else. I have cancelled my Regal Maiden next year and re-booked on the Emerald. I love Princess, but will stick to Grand class ships.

 

Hi Bernie

What did you do about Royal's TA? Would still love to meet you. Cruising seems to be a large family - you run into each other every couple of years!! I know our paths will cross on the high seas. Hopefully it will happen st a nice restaurant in Lewes!!

Kathleen

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[JimmyVWine]

I'll also echo my disappointment on seeing that this diagram

 

Deluxe Balcony Cabin Royal

 

Translates into this balcony

 

Deluxe Balcony Royal

This really is remarkable. I think we are all familiar with the phrase: "not drawn to scale." But there is a huge difference between a scaling error and an outright deceit. The fact that the table and chairs cannot even be arranged as depicted bears this out. There is no way to get both chairs on the same side of the table let alone do so and have room to spare behind each one. And as for the depicted width of the balcony, well, it is shown as being exactly the same width as the Queen bed plus one of the nightstands. That would be at least 72 inches, not 48.

 

People can debate all they want whether the small balconies are deal-breakers. But there really is no excuse for the use of a deceiving schematic of the cabin, especially when computer imaging can show the cabin and balcony in perfect scale. You’ll never be able to convince me that this is an honest mistake. If they are going to shrink the balconies, they have to have the fortitude to own their decision and show them for what they are. Especially when so many people assert that the balcony size is irrelevant to their decision to book or not.

[rkacruiser]

I'll also echo my disappointment on seeing that this diagram

 

Deluxe Balcony Cabin Royal

 

Translates into this balcony

 

Deluxe Balcony Royal

 

Perhaps a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission is in order because of false advertising.

[billco]

This really is remarkable. I think we are all familiar with the phrase: "not drawn to scale." But there is a huge difference between a scaling error and an outright deceit. The fact that the table and chairs cannot even be arranged as depicted bears this out. There is no way to get both chairs on the same side of the table let alone do so and have room to spare behind each one. And as for the depicted width of the balcony, well, it is shown as being exactly the same width as the Queen bed plus one of the nightstands. That would be at least 72 inches, not 48.

 

People can debate all they want whether the small balconies are deal-breakers. But there really is no excuse for the use of a deceiving schematic of the cabin, especially when computer imaging can show the cabin and balcony in perfect scale. You’ll never be able to convince me that this is an honest mistake. If they are going to shrink the balconies, they have to have the fortitude to own their decision and show them for what they are. Especially when so many people assert that the balcony size is irrelevant to their decision to book or not.

Drawing also shows an extra chair that is not in any of the photos. That might be the last straw for a lot of people.

[JimmyVWine]

Drawing also shows an extra chair that is not in any of the photos. That might be the last straw for a lot of people.

LOL. I think the depiction of the extra chair won't matter much, because based on the scale, not even Olive Oyl could sit on it.

[Mom33]

A huge thank you to everyone for sharing their photos of the balconies on the new Royal Princess.

 

I nearly booked the Royal as we really wanted to sail on her. Price this year was important to and in the end we booked the Ruby for nearly half the price.

 

Balconies to us are a huge part of our holiday, we know that is not the case for everyone.

 

We would have been hugely disappointed after always sailing with a Caribe balcony to have been faced with such a small space.

 

If we do sail on the Royal, I think we would opt for an inside as I doubt we could justify additional cost for the balcony or should I say "lack of balcony".

 

Just want to let you know that just as Princess has different sized balconies on the other ships in its fleet, it also has different sizes of balconies on the Royal. Pictures of some of them have been posted on other threads.(Shogun's live thread for instance) It has been closed to responses but is still available to view if you really want to see balconies not represented here.:D

[trajan]

I think everyone has priorities when it comes to cruising and we all place importance on different things. Some people really enjoy family time with their kids having breakfast on the deck. Princess has made that impossible with the new ships. We spend our sea days out there, most lunches and even some dinners. We usually book a caribe but last time ended up on Baja because of a last minute deal, it was ok at 40 sq ft. The mini suites on royal and regal have smaller balconies (36sq ft) than the smallest on regular balcony cabins on Ruby ...to me that is completely unacceptable. Other people don't care about balcony size, they want to be around the ship doing things. For them, royal is perfect. No one is right and no one is wrong but princess just turned off a large amount of cruisers because of deck size.

 

That's us.

 

I was actually a bit excited about this ship as our two cruises with Princess have been very positive. But now, no way. Just would not work for us. I so hope this does not become standard for all new ships!

[Cruise Junky]

That's us.

 

I was actually a bit excited about this ship as our two cruises with Princess have been very positive. But now, no way. Just would not work for us. I so hope this does not become standard for all new ships!

 

That's the scary part. Right now there are lots of alternatives, but what if this becomes the Princess norm? No thanks, time to start building up loyalty somewhere else.

[trajan]

I'll also echo my disappointment on seeing that this diagram

 

Deluxe Balcony Cabin Royal

 

Translates into this balcony

 

Deluxe Balcony Royal

 

There it is. I was trying to remember what I had been looking at that got me excited about these cabins. It was that drawing. Glad I came here and ty everyone who posted info and pictures!

 

Imho Princess has basically decided they want to charge people a premium for a balcony but they don't want them spending any time on it away from the revenue generating areas.

[Coupe]

Looks like there's room to sit down and read a book while sipping on a beverage. that's all the room I need.

[billco]

From what I have read, the Royal Princess has shown good stability during maneuvers such as hard turns. I think there was attention during the design process to a compromise between center of gravity and center of buoyancy to minimize movement. I have been wondering if the size of balconies, design of Promenade Deck and location of lifeboats, and access to center staircase all had roles in helping to make Royal Princess as stable as possible while adding another deck and increasing passenger load.

 

Would passengers be as concerned about balcony size if they knew safety and comfort were at least partially behind the reason. Or do they think Princess would have made a decision to build a ship with larger balconies if it meant fewer decks and passengers?

 

I don't know if this makes sense, because I had a few drinks while thinking about this, but I think there is more to these types of issues than just deciding to have smaller balconies, restricting use of the Promenade Deck, and not having a center staircase.

[Cruise Junky]

Would passengers be as concerned about balcony size if they knew safety and comfort were at least partially behind the reason.

 

 

So the rest of the fleet is unstable??

[billco]

So the rest of the fleet is unstable??

Does the rest of the fleet have a Marina Deck? Do the Grand, Star, Golden have Riviera and Marina Decks? My point is they are adding decks. Something has to compensate.

[Sailingpeace]

Perhaps a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission is in order because of false advertising.

 

On the website, when you look at some of the cabins that have largers balconies ( at least some of them) I noticed a mention ( in red I believe) saying that is is an extended or angled balcony . Some midship ones are like that. So Princess does know that it may be of interest to pont out a difference between the drawing and reality. It would have been nice if for the much smaller than what we are used to think of when we see that drawing for cabins on other ships, it was mentionned, also as a note that the balcony is smaller. Big difference when you know in advance vs beeing surprised by something . But, now we know. One more example of how useful CC is because of the precious information shared by fellow cruisers.

Also, in all the promotional videos that were made before the launch, it could have been mentionned or shown, a picture is worth a tousand words.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Sailingpeace

[Cruise Junky]

Does the rest of the fleet have a Marina Deck? Do the Grand, Star, Golden have Riviera and Marina Decks? My point is they are adding decks. Something has to compensate.

 

But Oasis and Allure have that many and more and their balconies weren't made for smurfs. I also don't remember Princess passengers begging them to build bigger.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Cruise Junky

[redtogo]

It would appear that with all the marketing that is or has been done on any ship that a real picture of staterooms/ balconies could be put on the Internet and in brochures. All cruise lines spend a small fortune sending promotional brochures to its target audience. Doesn't seem such a difficult job for pictures to be a true depiction of the rooms.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I think it would help their customers and in the long run would help the cruise ships. I have a trip booked on the Royal. I would not think of canceling my trip. But, it would be nice to be totally informed on what to expect though.

[The Big Booper]

On the upcoming RCI Quantum class, the balcony for a standard "E" cabin will be 80 sq. ft. And RCI has over 15 years experience building big ships starting with the extremely stable 1999 Voyager which is 5% smaller then the Royal and carries 500 fewer passengers at double. Voyager class balconies are much bigger then the Royal's.

Edited August 6, 2013 by The Big Booper

[Cruise Junky]

It would appear that with all the marketing that is or has been done on any ship that a real picture of staterooms/ balconies could be put on the Internet and in brochures. All cruise lines spend a small fortune sending promotional brochures to its target audience. Doesn't seem such a difficult job for pictures to be a true depiction of the rooms.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I think it would help their customers and in the long run would help the cruise ships. I have a trip booked on the Royal. I would not think of canceling my trip. But, it would be nice to be totally informed on what to expect though.

 

Princess has been so deceitful in the balcony size that they won't even list the size on their website. All other ships in all categories have it listed except Royal's standard balcony cabins.