Balcony Dividers- can u open them yourself

[ourfamilylovescruising]

going on NCL Encore in Alaska with best friends who are next door to us 

we want to open our divider between the to 2 rooms we always do this on Royal but NCL last time said no

 

so has any one been able to open them or have you had any luck getting NCL to open them for you?

 

just trying to prepare our husbands if this is a for sure NO!

[KeithJenner]

Never tried myself, but the consistent report on these boards is that it is a definite no.

[Two Wheels Only]

BALCONIES SAFETY PARTITIONS: As per safety requirement, requests for partitions of adjacent balconies to be opened are not allowed.  - NCL dailies

 

Grammatically, just the requests aren't allowed but what NCL means is that the opening is not allowed. 

 

Do some other lines allow it? Yes.

Do some stewards on NCL do it with the expectation of a tip? Yes. 

Do the dividers serve a safety purpose? Yes. 

Do some guests ignore posts like these and open the dividers themselves? Yes. 

 

Their ship, their rules. Guests should act accordingly. 

 

[hallux]

Some have explained a way you COULD.  I'm not going to repeat it, but you might find it if you search.  

 

SHOULD you?  That's up to you.  The cabin steward will almost guaranteed be closing it for you if you leave it open, at a minimum, and if it becomes a habit there's a possibility you might get a visit from someone.

 

@chengkp75 can explain in more detail or accuracy, but it's become a company policy to NOT allow them to be opened.  I believe it used to be allowed but only a certain number.  If you asked after that number was reached and were told 'no', you'd be pretty upset that others got to have theirs open, wouldn't you?  The blanket 'no' policy eliminates those confrontations.

[www3traveler]

Room Stewards are NOT allowed to open the dividers.  If they do, they are at risk of losing their job.

[TheGinBoy]

Can you imagine if you were allowed to open the balcony dividers yourself?

 

The lack of privacy, the cabin thefts, the massive parties. No thanks!

[BirdTravels]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:24 PM, ourfamilylovescruising said:

going on NCL Encore in Alaska with best friends who are next door to us 

we want to open our divider between the to 2 rooms we always do this on Royal but NCL last time said no

 

so has any one been able to open them or have you had any luck getting NCL to open them for you?

 

just trying to prepare our husbands if this is a for sure NO!

The answer is No. 

[mtrancher]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:24 AM, ourfamilylovescruising said:

 

so has any one been able to open them  

 

or have you had any luck getting NCL to open them for you?

 

 

The for sure answer to having any of the crew open them for you is no

can they be opened relatively easily, yes.

[ohflvaz]

We were on the Epic in December and the steward opened them for us at first request.  Aft balcony.

 

 

[ourfamilylovescruising]

I guess I will ask and see what happens 

I really don't see how it is a safety thing when other cruise does it without any question.

 

it sucks if they can't but we will still have a good cruise

[LGW59]

25 minutes ago, ourfamilylovescruising said:

I guess I will ask and see what happens 

I really don't see how it is a safety thing when other cruise does it without any question.

 

it sucks if they can't but we will still have a good cruise

Definitely no harm in asking.  Good luck!

[hallux]

2 hours ago, ourfamilylovescruising said:

I really don't see how it is a safety thing when other cruise does it without any question.

As I noted in a previous reply - NCL USED to allow it.  If I recall a previous post from our resident engineer (who worked on NCL ships at sea at the time this change happened) there was a limit to how many were allowed open in order to meet safety regulations/standards.  NCL changed to 'none allowed' so as to avoid confrontations once the limit was reached.

 

They act as a wind break to help prevent fire spread on balconies, and as a fire break.  The Star Princess fire in 2006 might have been the push NCL needed to make the change.

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, ourfamilylovescruising said:

I guess I will ask and see what happens 

I really don't see how it is a safety thing when other cruise does it without any question.

 

it sucks if they can't but we will still have a good cruise

Each cruise line has their own risk tolerance, based on their P&I and hull insurance coverers.  And, I think there is a limit on every cruise line as to how many, and how many in a row, can be opened.  Having said that, cabin stewards will frequently ignore safety requirements if the passenger wants it, in order to ensure the DSC remains paid.

18 minutes ago, hallux said:

They act as a wind break to help prevent fire spread on balconies, and as a fire break.  The Star Princess fire in 2006 might have been the push NCL needed to make the change.

Prior to the Star Princess, balcony dividers did not open on any ship, and most ships built before the 2006 fire, still do not have dividers that open.  They were designed to open, not for passenger convenience, but to allow fire teams to progress from one balcony to the next to fight fires from the outside as well as inside.  So, the Star Princess did not push NCL to stop allowing dividers to open, it was merely that Captains were complaining of being yelled at by passengers when told they could not open their divider.  Its amazing how much respect cruise ship Captains have from passengers until they decide that that same passenger cannot do whatever they want, and then they are no different than the counter person at McDonalds.

[hallux]

Thanks for the clarification @chengkp75 I knew the Star Princess resulted in a change related to the dividers, just not exactly what the change was...

[complawyer]

one of the major no-no's on ncl ships is opening the dividers. if you try it, you do so at your own risk. if ncl insists that it cant be done, please dont act all entitled to be different.  your respective husbands im sure can enjoy their cruise without the need of opening these dividers.

[LGW59]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:24 PM, ourfamilylovescruising said:

going on NCL Encore in Alaska with best friends who are next door to us 

we want to open our divider between the to 2 rooms we always do this on Royal but NCL last time said no

 

so has any one been able to open them or have you had any luck getting NCL to open them for you?

 

just trying to prepare our husbands if this is a for sure NO!

Wondering, beyond telling them the answer is no, what else will the husbands require being prepared for?

[karatemom2]

We ran into this on our Alaska cruise last summer. We specifically booked two side by side balconies because the NCL rep who booked our trip ASSURED us the divider would be opened for us. We have enjoyed this benefit on every single other cruise line we have been on including Princess, HAL, Carnival and RCI. So we were  pretty shocked when we got a flat out “NO” despite what we had been told. We paid extra for a second balcony cabin for this perk when we could have saved money by booking an inside across the hall had we known. We were pretty unhappy and may have found our own way around it for brief periods of scenic cruising days. It stayed closed the rest of the time because we didn’t want to cause trouble for our room steward. But never again will I pay extra to book side by side balconies on NCL and we are back to Princess for our Alaska cruise this summer where they happily open the dividers for their passengers traveling together. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by karatemom2

[hallux]

1 hour ago, karatemom2 said:

We ran into this on our Alaska cruise last summer. We specifically booked two side by side balconies because the NCL rep who booked our trip ASSURED us the divider would be opened for us

In the mind of the rep - "tell them what they want to hear (and lie) and book two balconies or tell them the truth and book one balcony and an inside".  Of course they're going to tell you want you want to hear.  It's also possible the rep just was not aware of what the policy was...

[complawyer]

wouldnt the 4 of you been happier with side by side balcony cabins regardless if the divider didnt open, rather than 1 couple stay in an inside cabin. seems like  a no brainer to me.

 

also if the only reason you booked ncl balconies, was because you thought the dividers would open, maybe youre 100% correct. book with some other cruise line.

 

i dont mean to sound harsh, but so sorry, you aint gettin no sympathy from this corner.

 

i'd rather have a balcony cabin any day

[ChiefMateJRK]

25 minutes ago, complawyer said:

i'd rather have a balcony cabin any day

I would rather pay for an inside and invade my friends' balcony across the hall.  🤣

 

(that's a joke @complawyer, if I really wanted a balcony I would book one)

[karatemom2]

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

wouldnt the 4 of you been happier with side by side balcony cabins regardless if the divider didnt open, rather than 1 couple stay in an inside cabin. seems like  a no brainer to me.

 

also if the only reason you booked ncl balconies, was because you thought the dividers would open, maybe youre 100% correct. book with some other cruise line.

 

i dont mean to sound harsh, but so sorry, you aint gettin no sympathy from this corner.

 

i'd rather have a balcony cabin any day

It’s alright. I’m used to harsh responses here. The second balcony room was for my adult children. So no, they really would have been just fine in an inside cabin. We spend time together as a family on our balcony. In our experience on the other lines I mentioned, the nice thing about the side by side balconies is by opening the divider we could spread out a bit and enjoy time together as a family. That is important to us and one of the main reason we cruise. Had the NCL representative been honest with me we would have used the extra money for a cabin with a larger balcony and booked a less expensive inside for the kids. I had no reason to doubt what she was telling me based on my experience on other cruise lines. You may find it something that is unimportant to you, but every person has different priorities when they travel and I was disappointed to be misled in making my decision. And lesson learned - when we are booking two cabins side by side for a family vacation we will go with another line as we are with Princess in May. We still enjoy NCL and will cruise with them on trips where that isn’t an issue for us. In fact, my husband just returned from a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Bliss that he took to reward a couple of his staff. Regardless, I’m not looking for sympathy from you or anyone else. Just sharing my experience and opinion. 

[complawyer]

WOW!  while i indicated i didnt mean to be harsh, your response was even more so. regardless, enjoy your cruise

[DwayneG]

Would it suit your needs better to move to two connecting cabins?  The door between the cabins would at least give you an easy way to get together.  And price is the same.

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, DwayneG said:

Would it suit your needs better to move to two connecting cabins?  The door between the cabins would at least give you an easy way to get together.  And price is the same.

Or get a two bedroom suite 

[complawyer]

if these people are upset because they arent allowed to open their balcony dividers, and would have booked an inside cabin instead, i dont think they would be interested in springing for a 2 bedroom suite