Balcony Lock Question

[April6335]

I'm sailing on NCL Gem in a mini suite with young children.  Is there a child lock on the balcony door?  Or is the lock out of reach?  Looking for some peace of mind. Thank you!

Edited March 11, 2019 by April6335

[valleyvillage]

I don't believe there is what one might term a "child lock" on the door, but I can tell you they are quite difficult to operate without a fair amount of strength. A lot would depend on the child. 

[Paul Bogle]

The balcony door handle requires quite a bit of effort to turn in order to open the door. The handle doesn't lock the door. There is a separate lock that you turn located where the door panels meet and a few inches higher than the handle. This lock secures your cabin from access from the balcony and should prevent small children from unlocking the door.

[PTC DAWG]

I sort of get the query...but would a small child be alone in the room for any length of time?  

[April6335]

3 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I sort of get the query...but would a small child be alone in the room for any length of time?  

No, but he has been known to get up in the night and get into things.   I'm a light sleeper so I'm hopeful I would hear him.  

[don't-use-real-name]

As I recall - - -

 

These locks or latches are mounted up high on the door frame and not incorporated with the finger latching door handle.

 

Most of the balcony doors are sliders - the ones in the bow are apt to be those that open outward and are more

weather and water proof closing like hatch covers.

 

In the interests of security when you leave your cabin for any period of time secure the safety latch so that a person

swinging from balcony to balcony can't access your cabin.

 

[Oakman58]

All of the NCL ships I've been on have a child lock on the balcony door.  Here's a picture of where the child lock was located on the balcony door on the Jade.  The black arrow points to the knob for the child lock.  Sorry about the quality I had to do a major crop and lighting enhancement to make the knob show.

 

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, don't-use-real-name said:

As I recall - - -

 

These locks or latches are mounted up high on the door frame and not incorporated with the finger latching door handle.

 

Most of the balcony doors are sliders - the ones in the bow are apt to be those that open outward and are more

weather and water proof closing like hatch covers.

 

In the interests of security when you leave your cabin for any period of time secure the safety latch so that a person

swinging from balcony to balcony can't access your cabin.

 

This, you brought back my memory of the safety lock, we had no kids with us, and ours was locked...we unlatched it and never thought about it again. 

[NH Cruisers]

Another thing...  I sailed on Gem in a mini suite next to the bridge wing.  

The wife and I were on the balcony in the AM, room steward came in and straightened up our room.  He opened the door and told us he was done and left.  Well, he also (our thoughts) locked us out, on our balcony.  We didn't realize for about 15 minutes.

We tried to get the attention of the bridge crew waving to them and all.  They thought we were being friendly and waved back and then left the bridge wing.

We were stuck out there about an hour before the people next to us came out on their balcony.  Of course they were not native English speakers.  We finally got them to realize we were locked out on the balcony.

The room steward was called.  He rescued us from the balcony as we were sailing into Port Canaveral.

An officer came too and we explained our story how we got locked out.  He investigated and determined we locked ourselves out there.  We tried to lock one of ourselves out there after ward and could not do it.  

Anyway, don't everyone go out on the balcony and close the door.  You too may end up locked out and helpless, maybe even miss a meal.

[ClevelandCruisin]

The doors take a good amount of force to open. Plus they make a loud pop when opened, it would wake you up for sure.

[mymirabella]

We sailed carnival when my boys were little (4 and 2)but working together they could open the balcony door, there was no safety lock even though they assured me there would be. I called guest services and after a bit of arguing they left me a key so I could lock the balcony. Even though they are never left alone I do sleep, shower and use the toilet so it was a safety issue. We haven't sailed with a balcony since  partially because of this. 

 

It wasn't NCL but I would say they would likely handle it in a similar way. We couldn't get anything taken care of on the first day because they were so busy so we stacked all our luggage against the doors while we were sleeping. They(maintenance I believe) wanted to just lock the door and not leave the key but I didn't let them I argued I paid for a balcony to use it.  

[LrgPizza]

These are definitely mounted on the door up high where a child could not reach. If you didn't look for it, you'd never know it was there (which is why someone earlier answered that they aren't there. They are.)  It will give you added piece of mind to be sure it is locked, but as others have said, even a heavy sleeper would probably hear the door open.

[April6335]

Thank you everyone for relieving my pre cruise anxiety about this.   This was all very helpful!  :) 

[BalconyGal]

Yes they do.  It's a white knob high up.  

[myjillian]

A few years ago I bought several little white locks from Dollar Tree.  They run on a battery and I bring them everywhere that we go that grandkids will be...cruises...timeshares etc.  Fit them to the doors with tape and Ta Da...they let out a high pitched sound when the door is opened unless you switch them on off.  They are over 10 yrs old and still going strong😍

[Heather1972]

On 3/11/2019 at 5:26 PM, NH Cruisers said:

Anyway, don't everyone go out on the balcony and close the door.  You too may end up locked out and helpless, maybe even miss a meal.

 

Similar thing happened to my son on the Epic. I specifically told him not to go out on the balcony because we were about to go to dinner. What does he do? Goes out on the balcony and the child lock (inside the room) broke. So, now he's STUCK on the balcony.    Someone had to go through the room next door to get him off the balcony.  Moral of the story --- I NEVER close the balcony door all the way when I go out there.