In-cabin airconditioning

[PadLondon]

Do cabins have their own air conditioning temperature controls?

[user8]

Yes.

[kakalina]

They do but I wouldn't count on getting great service from them. They don't show degrees or anything, just an indicator to turn to blue for cool or red for heat. As it is a central system it doesn't work very well during peak use times. That said, we haven't had any trouble getting comfortable in the cabin most of the time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Also -- if you happen to be a verandah or balcony cabin and the people in the cabin next to you leave their verandah door, it will affect the temperature in your cabin.

[usha]

Also -- if you happen to be a verandah or balcony cabin and the people in the cabin next to you leave their verandah door, it will affect the temperature in your cabin.

How does it do that?

Doesn't the air conditioning shut down if the balcony door is left open?

[leoandhugh]

the a/c of one cabin cannot shut down just because the balcony door is left open. and how well the thermostat works in an individual cabin can depend somewhat on the distance from the main blower and a/c unit. there are generally 8-10 cabins on the same blower and if you are in the most distant and all others have their's open wide, you will get less blower strength to get the a/c out into the cabin.

[RuthC]

Also -- if you happen to be a verandah or balcony cabin and the people in the cabin next to you leave their verandah door, it will affect the temperature in your cabin.

You don't even have to be next door, or even on the same deck for that matter, for an open veranda door to have an effect on your cabin's a/c.

You can be in an inside on a lower deck without any a/c at all, because someone is enjoying"fresh air at your expense. :eek:

[lardor]

Do cabins have their own air conditioning temperature controls?

 

If you are in an inside cabin you need to always turn lights on to see....and those lights can heat up a cabin faster than the A/C can cool it down....Be aware of this.

[fann1sh]

No matter what causes in-cabin A/C to be "not enough", I've had the problem in various cabin types. In an inside, I was given a fan. In a suite, it was fixed so I got enough cold air. Don't know if this was just due to the particular ship(s) I was on, but I haven't booked in the cheap seats lately on the older "S" class ships (which tend to have more A/C issues, IMO).

 

BTW, in an outside/verandah cabin, always keep the curtains tightly shut when you're not in the cabin to max the A/C efficiency.

[Juanita462]

On our last cruise many people had problems with the AC - a friend had his fixed by an engineer who told him that all the AC units needed maintenace so he was expecting a lot of calls. Right away we called for maintenance as ours was not working well - they came and vacuumed the filter and opened a valve that allowed more cold air in the room. It worked and we had no trouble from then on in spite of going through some very hot areas.

 

We are keeping that in mind for our next long cruise.

[cruz chic]

On our last cruise many people had problems with the AC - a friend had his fixed by an engineer who told him that all the AC units needed maintenace so he was expecting a lot of calls. Right away we called for maintenance as ours was not working well - they came and vacuumed the filter and opened a valve that allowed more cold air in the room. It worked and we had no trouble from then on in spite of going through some very hot areas.

 

We are keeping that in mind for our next long cruise.

Thanks for some constructive info. It seems that every ship I've been on lately has a/c problems except for the upper parts of the ship where the balconies are. Those folks were freezing. This makes no sense. The higher you go up the warmer it should be.

[DrTee]

I've been in inside cabins for better than 1/2 of the cruises I've taken, and never had the issue you're talking about. Of course, with no a/c it would get pretty miserable, and I would think a technician should be called.

I've been told (on Celebrity) that the a/c shuts off when the balcony door is open. I'm not an a/c tech; that's just what I was told.

If I'm not careful with my TV remote, will I accidently change the channel in a cabin two decks down?

 

That analogy doesn't work. My understanding is that the a/c on the ship is like central air, it's not like each cabin has its own individual unit. You can control the temperature somewhat in your cabin, but if people are leaving doors open (and that's any doors, not just balcony doors), it seems logical that the air would become dissipated.

 

For example, my house has central air, but I can control the different rooms in my house to a degree. Some rooms are cooler (or warmer) than others. If I opened a door or window, my a/c would be trying to cool the planet, and the air in my house would not be comfortable. My little a/c unit, which is designed for a house of a certain size, just couldn't keep up.

 

Remote controls, on the other hand, are programmed to work with individual tv sets. It is possible that your remote might have the same programming code as the one next door, but it's unlikely that the frequency would extend that far, and besides, the walls would obstruct the signal (Like when my cat gets between me and the tv and I can't use the remote through thick cat).

[PathfinderEss]

Wow, I had no idea that air-conditioning could become such a "hot" subject. LOL I thought smoking was bad. Next time on a cruise I'm going to check with my neighbor's and see if they want to watch movies all night or CNN being I'll have that universal remote. Come on guys lets don't be so sensitive, maybe the truth over air-conditioning lies somewhere in the middle. The only thing I know is I want it, and I want it to work. Most cabins I've been in, the cooling system have been barely adequate. Though I understand that the whole ship maybe using air-conditioning at the same time, boy that's a whole bunch of space huh, so I'm guessing in saying that, I should be happy I have any air coming my way at all, right?

[Sundagger]

TV remote controls are infra-red, not radio frequency controlled. So the commands can't go through walls (or cats:) ).

[user8]

PadLondon,

 

See what you stirred up with such an innocent question? :rolleyes:

[kakalina]

DH was an HVAC worker. He says that it is true. Leaving the balcony doors open would have a significant effect on the cooling of other portions of the ship. The more doors left open the worse the problem will be. We discussed this onboard one night with the engineer. He said that is why they put stickers on all balcony doors advising pax not to prop them open at any time.

[cruz chic]

DH was an HVAC worker. He says that it is true. Leaving the balcony doors open would have a significant effect on the cooling of other portions of the ship. The more doors left open the worse the problem will be. We discussed this onboard one night with the engineer. He said that is why they put stickers on all balcony doors advising pax not to prop them open at any time.

Thank you for providing the proof for the doubters since we didn't seem to provide enough. I'm thinking that people will do whatever they like regardless. I mentioned to a guy I work with about leaving the balcony open and he couldn't of cared less. I think if it doesn't effect them it's a non issue. I'm not saying everyone is this way but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot are.

[cruzincurt]

As an engineer who deals with building airconditioning systems, my guess is that for a large section of rooms, there is a single airhandler and a common distribution duct running the length of a group of cabins.

 

As the ducts pass down the line from cabin to cabin, I suspect each cabin has a VAV (variable air volume) box that is controlled by that particular cabin's thermostat. The volume of conditioned air injected into the cabin depends on the thermostat's call for cooling. If the thermostat keeps calling for cooling (since the door is open and the system cannot satisfiy the thermostat) that cabin's VAV box opens all the way taking more than it's share of conditioned air from the central duct, therefore, the other rooms further down the line get starved for air.

 

When you crank the thermostat to "warm" the heat doesn't come on, you will hear less air (cool air) coming from the ceiling vent thus letting the room warm up naturally due to the lights, people, TV, or sun load on the exterior wall of the cabin.

 

The engineers would not over design the system to keep every cabin as a meat locker in an instant, they will assume an average demand and a long time constant, that's why the system is generally slow to respond to you changing the thermostat.

 

So in the end, yes, leaving the door open and the thermostat turned to high cool will rob AC from cabins further down the line. The system is not unlike any school building we design, we have to keep telling the teachers not to open the doors and windows when the AC is running. So perhaps, if you want the door open, turn the thermostat to warm. Your attempt to cool the Caribbean is diverting the cool air from someone else.

[cruzincurt]

Another problem caused by the open balcony is that the system is now sucking in the hot humid air thus reducing its ability to cool the ship. Ever notice that when your balcony door is open, the cabin door is hard to open or slams shut? That's because the air from each cabin is returning back to the system through the door vent or through the gap under the door. Some is also sucked up the toilet exhaust.

 

The ship's interior is under negative pressure due to the suction of the AC return. Thus the door gets slammed shut and all that hot humid air is being sucked back into the system under that gap under your cabin door. So the system has to work harder to provide cool air throughout.

 

Now if you were in a hotel with your own room AC system through the wall, what you did in your room would not affect the other rooms...but you're not..and you are.

[kakalina]

Another problem caused by the open balcony is that the system is now sucking in the hot humid air thus reducing its ability to cool the ship. Ever notice that when your balcony door is open, the cabin door is hard to open or slams shut? That's because the air from each cabin is returning back to the system through the door vent or through the gap under the door. Some is also sucked up the toilet exhaust.

 

The ship's interior is under negative pressure due to the suction of the AC return. Thus the door gets slammed shut and all that hot humid air is being sucked back into the system under that gap under your cabin door. So the system has to work harder to provide cool air throughout.

 

Now if you were in a hotel with your own room AC system through the wall, what you did in your room would not affect the other rooms...but you're not..and you are.

 

And don't forget most ships use sea water as a cooling tower.

If the water is warm the system don't work as well to start with.

 

Virgil

[sapper1]

Another problem caused by the open balcony is that the system is now sucking in the hot humid air thus reducing its ability to cool the ship. Ever notice that when your balcony door is open, the cabin door is hard to open or slams shut? That's because the air from each cabin is returning back to the system through the door vent or through the gap under the door. Some is also sucked up the toilet exhaust.

 

The ship's interior is under negative pressure due to the suction of the AC return. Thus the door gets slammed shut and all that hot humid air is being sucked back into the system under that gap under your cabin door. So the system has to work harder to provide cool air throughout.

 

Now if you were in a hotel with your own room AC system through the wall, what you did in your room would not affect the other rooms...but you're not..and you are.

Would it make a difference if one turned the air to "warm" and then plugged the gap under the door with a rolled up towel? If that still would impact other cabins, I will not do it as I don't wish to be part of the problem. Thank you for your explanation of how the AC works.

[pipedreams62]

If You need us

 

[pipedreams62]

[Saga Ruby]

In 2005, onboard Saga Ruby, my second night in an inside cabin was a lively one. I was sound asleep at 1:00am when I awoke to a roaring noise and realized that the "heater" had turned onto High and was determined to turn me into an Egyptian mummy in short order.

 

I bounded out of bed and called Reception, explaining the problem. Several nice HVAC men, including an engineer, came promptly to my room, were impressed with the sub-Saharan heat, fiddled with some vents in the ceiling then all was calm and all was bright.

 

The next day, the Hotel Director came to my cabin and said that, due to several hardware problems with my cabin, they were moving me across the hall. She escorted me to my new digs and handed me the key. It was Shangri-La and I called it my bowling alley, complete with outside view, a huge tiled bathroom, real twin beds, and a fridge!

 

Never overlook the power of an HVAC problem.

 

Ruby

[lawyerrose]

Alright thank you for clarifying that. As you can tell this is a real hot issue for me. I was on the ryndam last year and my cabin was quite hot. They came and looked several times then told me it wasn't hot. Mine was bearable but the 2 cabins beside me were like an oven. One cabin had a huge fan to try to cool them down. Not pleasant to pay for a trip and then have to deal with it. Like my coworkers lack of interest showed I find that a lot of people do not care unless it happens to them. Just thrying to explain my frustration and not start another fued.

 

Literally, a HOT issue! :) There's not too many things that would ruin my cruise, but having to deal with an overheated cabin might be one of them! OMG! I HATE to be in an overheated room! :mad: I totally understand why this is an issue to you now. I've had the problem in older ships, but thank God never in the newer ones (Westerdam, Princess, Carnival Legend, or Costa Magica). However, I did notice that on the Westerdam, I'd turn it colder at night and it would get nice and cool. But I'd wake up around 3 or 4 am and it would be overwarm again and the a/c wasn't blowing. I wondered if they cranked the a/c back at night to save $$ or I just had a weird a/c system. :confused: