Stay Away from "S" cabin aft Balcony's!!!!

[jgperegrine]

Just returned from the 3/30/14 sailing on the Silhouette and I wanted to warn fellow cruisers about the aft cabins. We booked late and the only available balcony cabins were #9305 aft or a cabin all the way forward. Since we never had an aft balcony we decided to go with it. What a major mistake! The balcony was covered in Soot almost the entire trip. The pictures attached were taken only 3 hours after the balcony was cleaned! When we first arrived I went on the balcony and leaned over the railing and my shirt got a black greasy stain across it. Our chairs were covered in soot and of course the floor was covered. When the smoke trail from the stacks ran straight back the balcony got covered in soot. When there was a cross wind (which was only one day) it was not to bad.

 

However, Soot is not the only problem. There is no roof, so there is no protection from the sun. The balcony is in full sun except for early in the morning and late in the afternoon. At night I like to stand on the balcony and look at the stars, can't do that on this balcony because the sky is covered in smoke. The other obvious disadvantages are; long walk to stairs, vibrations, and increased movement.

 

I hope this will help others from making the same mistake. I will be posting a review of the ship within the next day or two. Please feel free to ask any questions in the mean time.

[SFO-F/A]

Don't those aft balcony cabins cost more too?

[JohnSnowGOT]

OMG what a scathing review! LOL

Silly me I have always wanted to try an Aft balcony but they are almost always taken. Is this an anomaly?

[tenspot48]

Just returned from the 3/30/14 sailing on the Silhouette and I wanted to warn fellow cruisers about the aft cabins. We booked late and the only available balcony cabins were #9305 aft or a cabin all the way forward. Since we never had an aft balcony we decided to go with it. What a major mistake! The balcony was covered in Soot almost the entire trip. The pictures attached were taken only 3 hours after the balcony was cleaned! When we first arrived I went on the balcony and leaned over the railing and my shirt got a black greasy stain across it. Our chairs were covered in soot and of course the floor was covered. When the smoke trail from the stacks ran straight back the balcony got covered in soot. When there was a cross wind (which was only one day) it was not to bad.

 

However, Soot is not the only problem. There is no roof, so there is no protection from the sun. The balcony is in full sun except for early in the morning and late in the afternoon. At night I like to stand on the balcony and look at the stars, can't do that on this balcony because the sky is covered in smoke. The other obvious disadvantages are; long walk to stairs, vibrations, and increased movement.

 

I hope this will help others from making the same mistake. I will be posting a review of the ship within the next day or two. Please feel free to ask any questions in the mean time.

 

 

We have had the Sunset Veranda cabin twice..TA eastbound on the Solstice (15 nights) and 12 nights on the Equinox in the eastern med. We were in cabin 8344. Our friends were in the cabin next to us and we opened the barrier between us to enjoy a large balcony. Never had much soot and we were always able to enjoy the balcony any time of day..loved watching the wake and leaving a port. Sorry you had a bad experience.

[Christine Frances]

This cruiser was in same cabin and had no problem with soot. I am sorry it happened to you.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=31205170&postcount=1436

[shipshape sam]

I have read and had others who have stayed in aft (stern) cabins on S class ships complain about soot.

 

Not sure what the base line is though. My guess is there is varying degrees of soot on a sailing that is effected by a number of factors including wind direction and the specific ship.

 

I have also heard about the lack of covering.

 

I love to view the wake, but Celebrity did finally realize on M class ships that they could charge more and they carried that concept to the S class ships AND added more cabins, and shrunk the balcony and covering.

 

For me, I have always wondered by there is not the same issue on other classes of ship?

[hcat]

Also be wary out at the bar at back of ship...it's a fav spot for us, esp. If they have music ....one afternoon we got rained on by flying greasy soot...our new white outfits down to sox were greasy, the soot went in everyone, s drinks and some folk eyes.....officers showed up we all got free laundry...medical for eyes if needed and new drinks....they said someone goofed in fuel balance... now when we sit back there we try to stay under the bar....not on the sides..never happened again but was such a sudden shock....entire area was covered in a few seconds ...no aft balconies for us!

[Christine Frances]

I have read and had others who have stayed in aft (stern) cabins on S class ships complain about soot.

 

Not sure what the base line is though. My guess is there is varying degrees of soot on a sailing that is effected by a number of factors including wind direction and the specific ship.

 

I have also heard about the lack of covering.

 

I love to view the wake, but Celebrity did finally realize on M class ships that they could charge more and they carried that concept to the S class ships AND added more cabins, and shrunk the balcony and covering.

 

For me, I have always wondered by there is not the same issue on other classes of ship?

 

Apparently they are having soot problems on the new Royal Princess as well. Something to do with how the giant MUTS screen affects with wind currents ??

[SFCAcruiser]

... The balcony was covered in Soot almost the entire trip. The pictures attached were taken only 3 hours after the balcony was cleaned! When we first arrived I went on the balcony and leaned over the railing and my shirt got a black greasy stain across it. Our chairs were covered in soot and of course the floor was covered. When the smoke trail from the stacks ran straight back the balcony got covered in soot. When there was a cross wind (which was only one day) it was not to bad....

 

This issue comes up now and then on Cruise Critic and the posters will either love the aft-facing balconies, or dislike them. Some report soot, others deny soot. Perhaps this variance is the result of wind direction (?).

 

I am in the "dislike" camp because we had a similar experience to yours. Also, we were on deck 6 and felt a strong vibration in the cabin around 6:00AM when the ship was docking. The vibration was more than enough to wake us up. Yet, other posters will report feeling no vibration.

 

All we can do is report our experiences so others can "pay your money and take your chances" with an aft-facing balcony on an S-class ship.

Edited April 8, 2014 by SFCAcruiser
typo

[MVPinBoynton]

We love aft balconies and have never had soot issues. But we don't like them on S Class ships. The balconies seem smaller with no cover and with there not being an aft elevator/stairs, there is a long walk when ever you need to go anywhere. Now M Class aft balconies are awesome!

[wallie5446]

We are members of the Aft Snob Society:D, A.S.S for short,:eek: but will not book one on an S-Class due to the terraced design. The soot has been mentioned on the aft balconys on the cabin stickie at the top of the page, some like the OP's, others mild, yet others none. Everyone does mention that Celebrity steps up and cleans any clothes that get dirty.

 

OP, this is nothing new and has been an S-Class problem since the first build. Sorry it made for a ruff sailing. How was everything else?

[Babewho]

We have had the Sunset Veranda cabin twice..TA eastbound on the Solstice (15 nights) and 12 nights on the Equinox in the eastern med. We were in cabin 8344. Our friends were in the cabin next to us and we opened the barrier between us to enjoy a large balcony. Never had much soot and we were always able to enjoy the balcony any time of day..loved watching the wake and leaving a port. Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

We were in 8346 and our traveling companions were in 8344 on the Silhouette in March, and neither of us had any problems with soot. We enjoyed the aft cabins so much, in fact, that we have reserved them for a future cruise.

 

As someone else said, conditions can vary resulting in different experiences. Sorry that the OP's experience was a negative one!

Edited April 8, 2014 by Babewho

[jgperegrine]

Don't get me wrong, we did not let Soot stop us from having a good vacation. I just wanted to make others aware that this can happen to you in an "S" class aft cabin. It definitely depends on the wind direction as I mentioned the one day there was a strong cross wind and there was little to no Soot. I did post the pictures to show that the Soot is real and can happen!

[cle-guy]

Was Sillouhette the ship that had its funnels and mast modified to lower to cross under a bridge in Alaska?

 

I remember that during a CC thread about whatever ship that was, people were wondering about how the modifications might work with the dissipation of the smoke from the funnel....

 

If it was Sillie, then I guess we now know how that's worked out, considering past cruisers had documented few soot issues in those verandas.

[CPA92]

I was on the same cruise as the OP, stayed in aft cabin 1676 on deck eleven and had some soot but never enough to bother me. I loved this aft cabin!

[CathyCruises]

I think that was Solstice. . .

[cle-guy]

I think that was Solstice. . .

 

I think so too now as I think of it, Sillie spends summer in the Mediterranean I think.

[CathyCruises]

I think so too now as I think of it, Sillie spends summer in the Mediterranean I think.

 

Yup, boarding her in 12 days for the trip across the pond. . .

[shipshape sam]

Apparently they are having soot problems on the new Royal Princess as well. Something to do with how the giant MUTS screen affects with wind currents ??

 

That is funny in one sense.

 

AS much testing, planning and design they do and then to still have issues.

 

We have never sailed in aft facing (like that term) cabins on S class, but have enjoyed aft facing cabins 3 times on M class and at least on our sailings/experience can't remember a problem with soot.

 

Hope cruise lines can fix issue at some point soon. I am surprised that they can't at the source filter the soot out, allowing it to drop just outside the funnels and clean them up daily as an example.

[Project_gal]

For me, I have always wondered by there is not the same issue on other classes of ship?

 

It can be. Soot can be a big problem on the Azamara ships but you just work with it. Cover the chairs with towels and use a towel to lean on the rail. We have found that, on Azamara, towels are provided for this purpose. Did not find soot so much of a problem on Constellation [but we have only been in an aft room once] but on the days that it was, we just used towels again - just as we did if the rail/chairs were wet.

[rbsmithpaige]

Hope cruise lines can fix issue at some point soon. I am surprised that they can't at the source filter the soot out, allowing it to drop just outside the funnels and clean them up daily as an example.

 

They can. All it takes is money. Some of it yours. ;)

Edited April 9, 2014 by rbsmithpaige

[Shake]

For me it's a lot like life.

 

I would not book an Aft balcony, just prefer to focus on the present and the future, not on the past. :)

[jomf]

We had an aft balcony cabin on the Eclipse which we found to be unusable due to the soot.

 

Everything you touched was covered in soot, the floor was black which meant that if you walked outside then you carried it back into the cabin.

 

Never again will we book one of these cabins.

 

If we want to watch the wake then we will go to the bar up top and sit there with a drink!!

[gordylad]

we always book aft and never had a problem

[Cruise a holic]

Just returned from the 3/30/14 sailing on the Silhouette and I wanted to warn fellow cruisers about the aft cabins. We booked late and the only available balcony cabins were #9305 aft or a cabin all the way forward. Since we never had an aft balcony we decided to go with it. What a major mistake! The balcony was covered in Soot almost the entire trip. The pictures attached were taken only 3 hours after the balcony was cleaned! When we first arrived I went on the balcony and leaned over the railing and my shirt got a black greasy stain across it. Our chairs were covered in soot and of course the floor was covered. When the smoke trail from the stacks ran straight back the balcony got covered in soot. When there was a cross wind (which was only one day) it was not to bad.

 

However, Soot is not the only problem. There is no roof, so there is no protection from the sun. The balcony is in full sun except for early in the morning and late in the afternoon. At night I like to stand on the balcony and look at the stars, can't do that on this balcony because the sky is covered in smoke. The other obvious disadvantages are; long walk to stairs, vibrations, and increased movement.

 

I hope this will help others from making the same mistake. I will be posting a review of the ship within the next day or two. Please feel free to ask any questions in the mean time.

 

Just got off the Silhouette and had a Sky SUite S1. It was the back of the ship. We sailed to the Western Caribbean and LOVED the cabin. Yes, a little soot, and we didn't notice it until it was pointed out to us by the cabin attendent - but we loved the view and were able to have breakfast on the balcony a few times. I also prefer a covered balcony, but this balcony and view were special, especially sunrise and sunset. My DH hung his swim suits to dry on the back of a chair, which was under the covered portion of the balcony and experienced no soot problems. Perhaps the direction of the wind determines the amount of soot that falls. Our cabin attendent cleaned the balcony daily- No big deal IMO. Worth the special wonderful cabin!

Edited April 9, 2014 by Cruise a holic