Island Princess 11/16/2016 Balcony use restriction

[Rivercity]

Sailing Nov 16,2016 Partial Panama Transit LA Booked PR718, was just notified of restricted use of our Balcony during this transit.

Quote; "As the safety of our guests and crew is our highest priority, access to your stateroom balcony will be restricted during the Panama Canal transit. Please note this will only apply when the ship is in the locks; you will be able to use your balcony at all other times during your voyage."

 

Anyone know more about this? Is it all the PR series cabins Port & Starboard? Information from Princess concerning refit, cabins on Deck 7 is difficult.

[Texas Tillie]

It's a safety issue. When the ship is in the lock it will be close enough to the side of the lock to reach out and touch it from the balcony. :eek: Just imagine someone doing it and tumbling over the side.

[SuiteTraveler]

Here is a video of the transit:

 

This is JMO, but I would book a cabin on a higher deck.

[Nanaoften]

Could it be related to the bombings in Paris? We just did this cruise last year and had access to our balcony the whole time... Enjoy your cruise! It is fascinating!

[cb at sea]

Considering that you won't be able to use the balcony ONLY when it's IN THE LOCKS...I really don't see why that would be too much of a hassle....you will not want to sit on your balcony for the transit, anyway....you miss too much! You can still see out of the balcony...they just don't want passengers hands/arms being caught between the ship and the wall....

[NMLady]

Could it be related to the bombings in Paris? We just did this cruise last year and had access to our balcony the whole time... Enjoy your cruise! It is fascinating!

 

What deck was your balcony on? Maybe theirs is below lock level and yours wasn't??

[chengkp75]

Asked and answered on your previous thread on the Princess forum. Due to these cabins being lower than all other balcony cabins, the cables from the electric "mules" that position the ship will pass close by your balcony, and they have been known to snap before, and a parting wire cable can cut a person in half.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2280828

[Nanaoften]

We were on deck 12 i think...