Opening balcony divider

[Mr. Tricky]

After much reserch and getting conflicting info I have decided that I will open my balcony divider myself. I remember reading that this can be done with a male sqare wrench/driver but I cant remember if it was a 1/4 or 1/2 inch driver. I have also read conflicting info on if it will block one of my connecting room doors, which I wont mind. Will I will have something to secure it to with bungee or tape? I have searcched the boards but to no avail. I feel that opening and closing the divider myself is my best option so I will not have to wait for someone to do it and I can close it whenever I want.

Have any of you opened them yourself, if so what tool did you use ? Were you able to prop it open or secure it? What did you do ?

[wdnoble9999]

I wouldn't go to the trouble of opening the balcony divider yourself. All it should take is a request to your room steward. We did this on a couple of cruises & no problem. Once opened, it latches in place, so no need for a bungee cord. Didn't watch closely to see how they opened it, but have to believe it isn't all that easy without the right tools. I wouldn't think that CCL would want it to be too easy as this might present a security risk of someone in an adjacent cabin having an opportunity to enter your cabin and/or balcony without your approval. This is just a guess, though. Anyway, I'd leave it up to your steward to take care of.

 

IMHO...

[klmorg]

The dividers look way too complicated for us to do, and can be different on each ship, I would think. I also don't think they would appreciate guests messing with their "equipment" & risk breaking anything.

 

We've never had a problem getting our divider open the first day. We go to the purser's desk, AND we ask our room steward to open it. Never had a problem.

[G'ma]

Leave your tools at home. Carnival wouldn't want you messing around with the equipment.

 

Your room steward will be more than happy to open it for you, show you how it's latched when opened and show you how to close it securely.

 

I don't know what "conflicting" information you've received...it isn't a difficult thing at all. Want it opened? Just ask.....

[nycruise]

We were recently on the Dream and had two adjoining cabins. Although the divider could physically be opened, it would have blocked one of the balcony doors therefore we never attempted to have it opened.

 

If you call Carnival, they can tell you if your cabins are ones which can share a balcony, not all adjoining cabins are configured to do so.

[DqALEX]

On the Carnival Legend and Miracle when I had them open, they had to use another lock that went around the rail of the ship, and the door was locked to it. Some balcony doors open to the ships rail. Just ask your room steward to have it open for you

[Kurbanfan]

On the Carnival Legend and Miracle when I had them open, they had to use another lock that went around the rail of the ship, and the door was locked to it. Some balcony doors open to the ships rail. Just ask your room steward to have it open for you

 

Yes only the Spirit class open out towards the railing......

[Mr. Tricky]

One of my concerns is that Ive heard that if the divider blocks one of the doors they wont open it for me. Conflicting reports on this. I will have my kids in the adjoining room so that for me is not a problem. Our inside door between the rooms will remain open so I dont care what room I use to go out on the balcony. Another concern I have is that I would feel better sharing the balcony with the kids vs. them having their own. I have also heard ppl report that when they requested at the pursers desk it took 2 days to get it open. Again conflicting reports.

I will ask the room steward to do it but I may have a backup plan of trying it myself. I have read a couple posts where ppl have done it themselves and it was just a matter of unlocking it with a square driver. I just want it swung open. I dont plan on dismanteling anything, just unlocking a door.

[DqALEX]

One of my concerns is that Ive heard that if the divider blocks one of the doors they wont open it for me. Conflicting reports on this. I will have my kids in the adjoining room so that for me is not a problem. Our inside door between the rooms will remain open so I dont care what room I use to go out on the balcony. Another concern I have is that I would feel better sharing the balcony with the kids vs. them having their own. I have also heard ppl report that when they requested at the pursers desk it took 2 days to get it open. Again conflicting reports.

I will ask the room steward to do it but I may have a backup plan of trying it myself. I have read a couple posts where ppl have done it themselves and it was just a matter of unlocking it with a square driver. I just want it swung open. I dont plan on dismanteling anything, just unlocking a door.

To be safe as soon as you get on the ship stop by the pursers desk and ask to have it open. They have a list, and will put your name on it.

[Kurbanfan]

One of my concerns is that Ive heard that if the divider blocks one of the doors they wont open it for me. Conflicting reports on this. I will have my kids in the adjoining room so that for me is not a problem. Our inside door between the rooms will remain open so I dont care what room I use to go out on the balcony. Another concern I have is that I would feel better sharing the balcony with the kids vs. them having their own. I have also heard ppl report that when they requested at the pursers desk it took 2 days to get it open. Again conflicting reports.

I will ask the room steward to do it but I may have a backup plan of trying it myself. I have read a couple posts where ppl have done it themselves and it was just a matter of unlocking it with a square driver. I just want it swung open. I dont plan on dismanteling anything, just unlocking a door.

 

Normally it is only the Spirit class that you have to request at the pursers desk because they open differently and only have a said amount of clamps......you are on the Conquest class and your room steward should be able to help you........

If you don't have a problem giving your cabin numbers I can tell you if you will have one that will be blocked........

[tk22]

We got adjoining balconies a couple of years ago on the Conquest. We were looking forward to having a larger balcony to share with our my son, his wife and our grandson and making it easier for our grandson to come to our room. We got the room steward to open it with no problem, but he stated it could only be open while in port and would have to be closed when the ship was in motion; we even checked with the purser's desk and they confirmed this; stating it was a safety issue. He opened it for us the first morning when we ported in Jamaica and sure enough it was closed shortly after the ship left port. So, we had it open for only a couple of hours, so we didn't even bother the other two port days as we spent most of the day in port. Seems like I have read where other people were able to have their's open the entire time; but didn't happen for us. :( Didn't ruin our cruise though; still had a wonderful time!! Wonder if being able to have the divider open depends on the ship, Captain ???

[MrPete]

The confusion is that the Spirit class is different from the other classes. On the Spirit class, you must ask at the pursers desk, BOTH parties must be present when asking, only a certain amount of them are opened, and they can only be opened by maintenance.

 

On all other ships, the partition can be opened by your steward. Just ask!

[Kurbanfan]

Wonder if being able to have the divider open depends on the ship, Captain ???

 

I know it is up to the Captain on RCCL:mad: But never heard of that on Carnival.....did you have rough seas maybe:confused:

[sdirector77]

We had a corner aft and 2 aft balcony cabins on he Triumph and out steward opened all of them for us. I had ask my PVP to ensure that all 3 could be opened before I booked the cabins. Good luck. By the way, we had so much room and we spent alot of time on the balconies.

[extcat]

Last spring on the Freedom, a leatherman did the trick for us.

[kasfun]

we will be on the glory in room 8259 and 8261. can we open this without blocking a door?:confused:

[azkcruizers]

I looked it up and you should be fine. They are listed as connecting balconies :) Me on the other hand..........the rooms I want aren't listed...does this mean I have to book the 9C:eek: to get what I want....

[kasfun]

we are traveling with 2 special needs adults and they like to be able to go back and forth between rooms. always had this when we traveled before so never checked when we picked the rooms. glad to hear we will be ok:p

[azkcruizers]

Have a great time!!!

[Mr. Tricky]

TY for the responses so far. Its funny how many different experiences ppl have had trying to get the divider opened. I guess thats why I would like to try and control when its opened or closed. I only want to open it when we are using the balcony, otherwise I will close it. We are traveling with several ppl and it would be nice to have the bigger balcony when we all want to have a drink together.

[tk22]

I know it is up to the Captain on RCCL:mad: But never heard of that on Carnival.....did you have rough seas maybe:confused:

 

No rough seas - our cruise was in second week of May. We asked our Carnival PVP when we booked and she said we would be able to open the divider, but as I said we even checked at the front desk to make sure the room steward was correct; that it had to be closed at sea. We were hoping the room steward would forget and just leave it open, but no such luck. We didn't raise a fuss or anything, just went with the flow of things.

 

As a family, we have been on a couple of cruises since then (always cruise the first part of May) and haven't booked a balcony next to eachother since. Now that I think of it, I believe it was four years ago; maybe it is different now????

[cuppycakemom]

When we cruised on the Destiny in Feb of this year, we were not able to have them open the door for us. My parents were in the cabin beside us, and we thought it would be great to have it open for our girls to go between the cabins in the am.

 

We asked at the pursers desk right away (pretty much as soon as we got on the ship), and we were told that due to safety issues, they were no longer allowed to open the doors.....??????

 

Not sure what that was about, or if it's a new policy, or if they just didn't feel like it or what!?!

[liddybugg]

The last 2 years we were on the Conquest with my sister and brother in law. Our rooms were right next door to each other. When we got into our rooms we asked out room steward to open the the divider and he did and it stayed open the whole cruise. Guess it depends on your room steward. We set one of the chairs to hold the divider so it would not bang in the wind. It was nice to have the larger balcony for the five of us. This was the way we went back and forth to each others rooms instead of the hall way.

[Epaul3]

We will be on the Spirit in January and were wanting our balcony divider open as well. I was wondering something. Since the divider opens toward the railing, does it block the view from either of the cabins? I didn't realize it opened this way. We were so looking forward to all standing at the railing together and enjoying the ocean view!

Does anyone have any pics? thanks for the help.

[Mr. Tricky]

Its starting to look like my plan B will become my plan A. Im getting the impression that it all depends what crew member you ask, how you ask, do they feel like doing it, will they give you a legit or bogus excuse not to do it. I have even read that greasing the palm of the person you ask gets better results. Its a crap shoot... All I want is to do is unlock a door. LOL