Balcony shade

[madgemonica]

Does anyone have any idea if Mini suite Cabin D315 on Coral has any shade on the balcony from lifeboats above? We have been offered this cabin .

We are going through the Panama Canal in April and would like a little shade as well as sun on the balcony.

[Corfe Mixture]

The balcony of D315 is not shaded and it is also overlooked from the balconies on C Deck above.

 

On D deck, the four mini-suites numbered D416, D417, D503 and D504 are partially shaded. Those numbered D705 or higher are fully covered by the balconies above.

 

The mini-suites at the front of C Deck are also fully covered.

 

The mini-suites at the rear of C Deck are partially covered, except for the very aft pair which are uncovered.

 

Avoid the four mini-suites midships on C Deck. The balconies are both small and badly overlooked from the side.

 

The four mini-suites midships on A and B Decks are fully covered but the front pairs are somewhat windy when under way.

 

Also take Note: The lifeboats are at the level of E Deck. If you are on D Deck and find they are above you, then climb in one. The ship is upside down!! :rolleyes:

 

Trust this helps.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Corfe Mixture
added comments on lifeboats

[Corfe Mixture]

Does anyone have any idea if Mini suite Cabin D315 on Coral has any shade on the balcony from lifeboats above? We have been offered this cabin .

We are going through the Panama Canal in April and would like a little shade as well as sun on the balcony.

 

Which way are you going through the canal?

 

If you are going from LA to Florida, then odd numbers (starboard side) are best.

 

If you are going from Florida to LA, then even numbers (port side) are best.

 

If you are doing a partial, then it doesn't make any difference.

 

Trust me. Done it three times now and booked to do it a fourth time at Christmas 2015.

[LewesBeach]

Which way are you going through the canal?

 

If you are going from LA to Florida, then odd numbers (starboard side) are best.

 

If you are going from Florida to LA, then even numbers (port side) are best.

 

If you are doing a partial, then it doesn't make any difference.

 

Trust me. Done it three times now and booked to do it a fourth time at Christmas 2015.

 

I am doing a full transit FL to LA. When you say "best", do you mean for view or for shade? I didn't think most of D deck minis had any shade.

Thx!

Berni

[Essiesmom]

I am doing a full transit FL to LA. When you say "best", do you mean for view or for shade? I didn't think most of D deck minis had any shade.

Thx!

Berni

 

When transiting the canal from FLL to LA, you will actually be traveling northwest to southeast. therefors, most of the day the sun will be on the port side of the ship, and the ship itself will shade the balconies on the starboard side (except at midday). EM

[madgemonica]

We already have a balcony booked but are on wait list for mini suite.

We decided to decline this mini suite and go back on wait list hopefully for something more suitable.

Thanks for all the info though,very useful though am still confused as to which side ,port or starboard ,would be best.

We want some sun but with a little shade on the balcony for my husband who has already had a brush with skin cancer.

Thanks again for your speedy replies.

[Corfe Mixture]

I am doing a full transit FL to LA. When you say "best", do you mean for view or for shade? I didn't think most of D deck minis had any shade.

Thx!

Berni

 

Best for the following reasons:

 

1. In the canalized section of the canal, as opposed to Lake Gatun, all the infrastructure, including the maintenance port, the small villages / hamlets, the Panama railway and the Chagres River, which is the source of water for the canal are all on the South American side.

 

2. Although you never know which of the two sets of parallel locks you will go through, at the Pacific end, the infrastructure is also on the South American side, as is Panama City.

 

3. The sun will rise almost due East in April, actually around 12° north of due East by late April, and track across the Southern sky setting around 12° north of due west just after 6pm true solar local (sidereal) time. As you pass across the north coast of South America, the sun will rise to around 10° south of directly overhead at noon. So you will have the opportunity to take the sun during the day and, provided you have a covered balcony, the sun will be sufficiently high for you to enjoy shade from the balcony above when it is at its peak. Staterooms on the other side will get very little sun when tracking across the top of South America.

 

4. As you work your way up the Pacific coast to LA you will be able to enjoy the sunset from your balcony every evening around 6pm local (on 21st March the sun rises at almost exactly 6am at sets at 6pm everywhere in the world – that is why it is called the Equinox).

 

5. Finally, and these only apply to my recommendation because you are going from FL to LA:

a) as you transit Lake Gatun, ships going the other way will pass close by on your side, which adds to the interest of the day, and creates photo opportunities.

b) if Aruba is on your itinerary, ships always moor port side to which means that you will have views of the town from your balcony.

 

Only thing you are on the wrong side for is the Gatun Dam, but as this is near to the Gatun locks, and you will certainly be on deck for the entry, you will be able to see the dam by going to the starboard side of Sun Deck, or Promenade Deck, after you come out of the last lock.

 

That is about it. As I said, trust me. Any further questions, just ask.

 

On the subject of shade on balcony cabins, check out this link:

http://www.islandpanama.org/meet-the-ship/covered-balcony-guide/

 

Finally, if you or your other half is at all interested in geo-politics and or engineering, then buy him/yourself a copy of ‘The Path Between The Seas’ by David McCullough for Christmas. Without doubt the definitive book on the canal, its conception and its construction. They do sell it on board, but it is a serious book and it should be read before you go, otherwise you will miss so much. Available in the UK and US on Amazon. For what it is worth, I am on my second copy as I loaned my first copy to someone and didn’t get it back so I went out and bought another copy.

 

Enjoy your trip. Even if you are not on the best side, it will still be a truly amazing experience.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[Corfe Mixture]

We decided to decline this mini suite and go back on wait list hopefully for something more suitable.

 

You will get what you want. We are on Ocean this Christmas which is a much smaller ship. We had a mini-suite and had been wait listed for a full suite since January. Up until a few weeks ago all the mini-suites were also sold out and had been for some time.

 

As the final day for payment approached, one suite came available and that released our old mini-suite. Since then pay day has passed and there are now 6 mini-suites available on what is a much smaller ship than Coral.

 

I think that you can be confident that you will get a better choice of mini-suites in January when everyone has to pay up. Just keep checking on the Princess website, by making "dummy bookings to see what cabins are available then phone your TA when you see what you want.

 

I say this because, in my case, although they were intending to contact me when a suite came available, after a cancellation by a US client, the cancellation happened late in the day Pacific Time and the computer system responded immediately and the suite reappeared on the website and could have been booked as new client. Fortunately I spotted it at 9am the following morning and called. Apparently they were planning to call me when head office opened up in the morning, which would have been mid afternoon in the UK, by which time it could easily have been long gone to someone new who booked on line.

 

The moral of the story is therefore - don't just wait to be contacted - be proactive.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[pablo222]

4. As you work your way up the Pacific coast to LA you will be able to enjoy the sunset from your balcony every evening around 6pm local (on 21st March the sun rises at almost exactly 6am at sets at 6pm everywhere in the world – that is why it is called the Equinox).

 

This isn't true. Local sunset and sunrise times do not occur at 0600/1800

due to arbitrary timezone boundaries, and also differ based on lattitude.

 

For instance, you might check the sunrise.sunset in Iceland on 21-March

using this table:

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/iceland/reykjavik?month=3&year=2014

[madgemonica]

You will get what you want. We are on Ocean this Christmas which is a much smaller ship. We had a mini-suite and had been wait listed for a full suite since January. Up until a few weeks ago all the mini-suites were also sold out and had been for some time.

 

As the final day for payment approached, one suite came available and that released our old mini-suite. Since then pay day has passed and there are now 6 mini-suites available on what is a much smaller ship than Coral.

 

I think that you can be confident that you will get a better choice of mini-suites in January when everyone has to pay up. Just keep checking on the Princess website, by making "dummy bookings to see what cabins are available then phone your TA when you see what you want.

 

I say this because, in my case, although they were intending to contact me when a suite came available, after a cancellation by a US client, the cancellation happened late in the day Pacific Time and the computer system responded immediately and the suite reappeared on the website and could have been booked as new client. Fortunately I spotted it at 9am the following morning and called. Apparently they were planning to call me when head office opened up in the morning, which would have been mid afternoon in the UK, by which time it could easily have been long gone to someone new who booked on line.

 

The moral of the story is therefore - don't just wait to be contacted - be proactive.

 

I have looked at the princess site and there is another mini suite D616 available. I suppose I could ring back about this but don't know if that's got any shade.How can I find out which cabins have a bit of shade?

[cb at sea]

You do NOT want to stay on your balcony! You will want to roam about the ship, different sides, and deck levels, to get the most out of the canal passage!

[Corfe Mixture]

This isn't true. Local sunset and sunrise times do not occur at 0600/1800

due to arbitrary timezone boundaries, and also differ based on lattitude.

 

For instance, you might check the sunrise.sunset in Iceland on 21-March

using this table:

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/iceland/reykjavik?month=3&year=2014

 

As I had used the phrase 'true local solar (sidereal) time' I didn't feel that it was necessary to repeat it.

 

You are correct on latitude differences, but not, as I said in my post, on 21st March when, apart from very minor discrepancies arising from the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere, mathematically the day is 12 hours long and sunrise and sunset throughout the world is at 6am and 6pm sidereal time.

 

The discrepancy you will have observed will be because the tables you quote from will be working on the principal of sunrise occurring at the instant the sun first appears above the horizon and sunset occurring when it finally disappears below the horizon, whereas mathematically sunrise and sunset occur when the midpoint of the sun is on the horizon. The effect will be that in your, tables which I have not looked at, the date on which the sun is totally below the horizon and has any part visible above the horizon will occur around three days earlier on 18th March.

 

Other than this any discrepancy is, as you make in your reference to local time not being the same is solar time, a function of longitude and NOT latitude. For example if on the 21st March the midpoint of the sun is on the horizon when the local clock says 06.40 and 18.40 then solar noon will occur when the local clock says 12.40 and local time is being displaced by 10 degrees from solar time.

 

This is because the error you refer to is 4 minutes per degree of longitude.

 

If you are not sure about the maths think of the fact that 360 degrees equates to 24 hours, so 15 degrees equates to one hour (which is why time zones are typically 15 degrees wide) and 1 degree equates to 1/15th of an hour.

[Corfe Mixture]

You do NOT want to stay on your balcony! You will want to roam about the ship, different sides, and deck levels, to get the most out of the canal passage!

 

Totally agree, and I did not mean to imply that one would sit on the balcony all day. However the passage between locks takes around 6 hours and you can't walk around all day. So, if you are going to take a break on your balcony, you do want to be on the more interesting side, even if it is only whilst you are having lunch and/or afternoon tea.

 

Whatever, I have set out my reasons why I think one side is better than the other and hopefully done so in sufficient detail to allow each to come to his/her own conclusions about the validity of my reasoning.

[pablo222]

As I had used the phrase 'true local solar (sidereal) time' I didn't feel that it was necessary to repeat it.

 

Eh ... I will just save the moderators the effort of deleting my post.

Edited October 18, 2014 by pablo222

[1025cruise]

While I can't say this with 100% certainty, I believe none of the Dolphin mini suites have covered balconies, only the handful of Emerald ones.

 

At least that is the case with other ships.

[Corfe Mixture]

I have looked at the princess site and there is another mini suite D616 available. I suppose I could ring back about this but don't know if that's got any shade.How can I find out which cabins have a bit of shade?

 

Click on the link in my earlier post. It will takes you to a site which shows the shade situation for all cabins on both Island and Coral. Although this will not be completely valid after Island comes out from its major 'restyling' in May, the discrepancies will be at the rear of the ship and in particular aft on B Deck where the replacement of the Youth Centre with balcony cabins on A Deck will mean that the shade situation on the starboard side will be the same as on the port side.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[LewesBeach]

While I can't say this with 100% certainty, I believe none of the Dolphin mini suites have covered balconies, only the handful of Emerald ones.

At least that is the case with other ships.

 

 

I have looked at the princess site and there is another mini suite D616 available. I suppose I could ring back about this but don't know if that's got any shade.How can I find out which cabins have a bit of shade?

 

See post #2 of this thread

[Corfe Mixture]

While I can't say this with 100% certainty, I believe none of the Dolphin mini suites have covered balconies, only the handful of Emerald ones.

 

At least that is the case with other ships.

 

What you say is correct for the larger ships, but, because there are "bumps" on the side of the ships, the situation is much more complicated on Island and Coral which is why a man named Tom put up an excellent site with photographs and deck plans addressing the subject of both shade and being overlooked.

 

Unfortunately Tom's site disappeared but someone had a copy of the webpages and created a new site, which is the site I gave a link to in an earlier contribution to this thread.

[JimmyVWine]

While I can't say this with 100% certainty, I believe none of the Dolphin mini suites have covered balconies, only the handful of Emerald ones.

 

At least that is the case with other ships.

Coral and Island have little in common with "the other ships". Totally different builds.

[LewesBeach]

When transiting the canal from FLL to LA, you will actually be traveling northwest to southeast. therefors, most of the day the sun will be on the port side of the ship, and the ship itself will shade the balconies on the starboard side (except at midday). EM

 

Thanks, this makes sense, and I'm gad I have a cabin on the starboard side. I did a partial transit several years ago and am less interested in the workings of the canal than I am in staying out of the sun.

Berni

[pablo222]

As I had used the phrase 'true local solar (sidereal) time' I didn't feel that it was necessary to repeat it.

 

You are correct on latitude differences, but not, as I said in my post, on 21st March when, apart from very minor discrepancies arising from the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere, mathematically the day is 12 hours long and sunrise and sunset throughout the world is at 6am and 6pm sidereal time.

 

I am puzzled who you are writing for.

 

I think most gentle readers would read your post and think that

if I go outside on my balcony at 6:00am or 6:00pm I will see

sunrise/sunset.

 

You say ... not so, that you mean sidereal time not local time.

 

How would the casual readers would make any use whatsoever of this information?

 

How many would know that you mean sidereal?

 

How many would be able to actually calculate it for their current location?

[Northender]

I am puzzled who you are writing for.

 

I think most gentle readers would read your post and think that

if I go outside on my balcony at 6:00am or 6:00pm I will see

sunrise/sunset.

 

You say ... not so, that you mean sidereal time not local time.

 

How would the casual readers would make any use whatsoever of this information?

 

How many would know that you mean sidereal?

 

How many would be able to actually calculate it for their current location?

 

I had to google it. :eek::eek:

[shredie]

Does anyone have any idea if Mini suite Cabin D315 on Coral has any shade on the balcony from lifeboats above? We have been offered this cabin .

We are going through the Panama Canal in April and would like a little shade as well as sun on the balcony.

 

I think the answer is "no," but the explanation has gotten so complex, I can't say for sure. ;)