Regal Princess Aft balconies

[Timeforvaca]

Hi - I've done alot of searching but unable to find an answer.

 

I have read about the soot issues on Royal aft facing balconies. Was wondering if anyone that has cruised on the Regal in an aft facing balcony could comment on whether the changes they have made to this ship have helped the soot issues?

 

Thank you so much

Kristen

[mistyann]

I was wondering the same thing, we're booked for April 2015, but I was scared :eek: to get an aft cabin!

[GTletsgocruising]

Hi - Was wondering if anyone that has cruised on the Regal in an aft facing balcony could comment on whether the changes they have made to this ship have helped the soot issues?

Kristen

 

In my Regal Princess June 9 post I did address the soot issue. We had a corner aft facing suite for 10 days, and experienced very, very little soot. One morning I did notice a tiny bit of residue (not much) and the room steward had it cleaned up before we returned from breakfast. Otherwise, the deck was spotless.

 

I will add we cruised in a variety of directions, wind, and even hail one hour one day...and no soot detected. We also spent a good deal of time on the aft deck - sunning and sail away - and no one in my family commented on this. It was basically a non-event on our cruise.

 

I assume they did make some changes as the initial Royal reviews were pretty bad.

[Timeforvaca]

Thank you so much for your comments GTletsgocruising. I we just switched to an aft facing balcony on our upcoming Regal cruise and this is good to hear! :)

[Shoobie1124]

We had an aft balcony on the floor and didn't notice any soot on our 12 day we loved the room!

 

 

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[5:00_Somewhere]

In my Regal Princess June 9 post I did address the soot issue. We had a corner aft facing suite for 10 days, and experienced very, very little soot. One morning I did notice a tiny bit of residue (not much) and the room steward had it cleaned up before we returned from breakfast. Otherwise, the deck was spotless.

 

I will add we cruised in a variety of directions, wind, and even hail one hour one day...and no soot detected. We also spent a good deal of time on the aft deck - sunning and sail away - and no one in my family commented on this. It was basically a non-event on our cruise.

 

I assume they did make some changes as the initial Royal reviews were pretty bad.

 

I am SO glad to hear this. We had a wonderful aft balcony cabin on the Royal Princess last November, and the soot was so bad that we could not use our balcony. It was literally "raining" soot on us when we were out on it.

 

I hope the remedy they devised for the Regal continues to prove effective, and that it can easily (and quickly) be retrofit onto the Royal.

 

Thanks for the info, GTletsgocruising (both here and in your other thread) and Shoobie1124. :)

[mimisun]

Thank you for your comments. I will be on the Aft in Jan 2015 deck 15. I am hoping that all goes well with the soot that we have all heard about on the Royal Princess.

[mysaddlebred000]

It depends what side of the ship you are on and what deck. Some are worse than others and port is worse than starboard

[NauticalNelle]

We were on board the Royal for the BVE on Oct 11, 2014. We went to look at the aft balconies on Dolphin Deck when we first boarded. The cabin doors were open and the steward still there. We asked about the soot problem. He said engineers were on board all week and that the problem has now been fixed.

 

Hopefully someone who sails in a true aft balcony after Oct 11th will let us know if the problem really is fixed. :)

[SunshineCoast]

We had an aft cabin on the Regal on a September cruise from Venice to Barcelona and on that cruise we definitely had a problem. As we sailed out of Venice at 11 pm we didn't know until the next morning when we went out on the balcony early before it was fully light and then couldn't understand why the carpet was so black when we came back in. Then looked at floor of balcony only to find thick with lumps of soot. Also as the rail was sooty our sleeves were black. I think it may depend on wind direction and strength but we could not use the balcony for the entire trip. Hours after the balcony was cleaned it was as bad again. Even had lumps of soot falling on us when just popping out during sail-out. we pay extra (and these rear cabins were a lot more than the side balcony cabins) for a balcony in order to have breakfast and snacks and sun-bathe but this was impossible. Lovely extra wide balcony but of no use whatsoever. Why did Princess not tell us about this problem prior to sailing? We were given a small on-board credit but insufficient to cover the extra we had paid. Contacted Princess on our return but to date not heard anything from them. We are cross because we were not informed that there could be a potential problem prior to sailing and given the opportunity to change cabins.

[Timeforvaca]

Thank you SunshineCoast for your post. We ended up going to a regular deluxe balcony after reading the various comments. Then our sailing went on sale and we ended up with a mini for the same price.

 

I would be disappointed if I were you too. You are right... those rear facing cabins are priced at a premium and to have that type of experience when you selected the cabin to have an upgraded balcony experience just stinks. I hope Princess customer service responds to you!

 

Kristen

[Palmettogal]

SunshineCoast, which floor were you on? We have a cruise booked for January and we will be in a middle aft cabin on Baja. I sure hope we don't have soot!!

[SunshineCoast]

Hello Palmettogal

We were in cabin R735. Really disappointed as apart from the soot problem there is no privacy on the balcony from the balcony above. They were even worse as they have no privacy at all from anyone on the open deck above them at the back of the Horizon court - no ship plan in front of me at the moment so unsure of deck levels.

Also in our cabin the noise and shaking when coming to a stop and starting up - slowing down or going sideways - was horrendous. early hours of the morning whilst still in bed you feel as if you are in the middle of an earthquake - really scary the first morning it woke us up.

On the plus side it is a very wide balcony.

Hope this helps

[mistyann]

SunshineCoast, which floor were you on? We have a cruise booked for January and we will be in a middle aft cabin on Baja. I sure hope we don't have soot!!

 

Wow, sounds like you might be in the cabin we have booked for April on the Regal! We'll be in cabin 739 on Baja, is that the one you'll be in? Do you plan to post an update on the soot issue after your Jan. cruise? Would love to hear an update (maybe even for our exact cabin ;)!

[5:00_Somewhere]

We just disembarked the Regal Princess this morning. We had a side balcony, but purposely investigated the soot/fumes issue due to our unhappy experience with our aft balcony on the Royal last year.

 

I cannot say for certain whether the issue has been alleviated on the Regal at all, but I can tell you that the issue definitely still exists, at least to some degree. We experienced the soot and fumes first hand while investigating the new "dip pool" on the Sun Deck aft. There was black soot clearly visible there, as well as evidence of the soot on the balconies below when we looked over the railing (all the visible light colored surfaces were stained black or gray). In addition, the fumes were so bad that my eyes were burning after less than 5 minutes walking around the dip pool area. I also spoke with 2 people who had aft balconies who reported problems similar to what we experienced on the Royal last year, and both of whom were unhappy about the issue. I also spoke with 1 person who had an aft balcony on a lower deck who said, while they had some soot, the cabin steward was cleaning regularly and they felt that the issue was minimal for them.

 

Of course, as has been amply demonstrated here, this issue is at least somewhat subjective, but I wanted to report my experiences in the hope that it might help someone who is on the fence about an aft balcony cabin on the Regal or Royal.

Edited November 17, 2014 by 5:00_Somewhere

[oz cruiser 65]

just got off the majestic Cabin D 731 right in the centre of the aft....could not use it for soot.

 

 

Hi - I've done alot of searching but unable to find an answer.

 

I have read about the soot issues on Royal aft facing balconies. Was wondering if anyone that has cruised on the Regal in an aft facing balcony could comment on whether the changes they have made to this ship have helped the soot issues?

 

Thank you so much

Kristen