Caribbean Plaza deck: Noise to wake the dead

[LEtue]

I slept through the Northridge earthquake, so people in California can understand that. (My house did not collapse.) I will have a Plaza deck room next year on an Alaskan cruise. I'm looking forward to it so I can get to the IC faster. I guess light sleepers have problems with ship noises.

 

I normally sleep through the worst storms that FL can produce but there was no sleeping in P323 on the Star - starboard side - inside cabin. This is not the lowest inside either but an IC (we were upgraded).

 

Outside cabins may be better.

Edited September 25, 2015 by LEtue

[Been There, Planning That]

I normally sleep through the worst storms that FL can produce but there was no sleeping in P323 on the Star - starboard side - inside cabin. This is not the lowest inside either but an IC (we were upgraded).

 

Outside cabins may be better.

 

 

No ours was a window; I believe in top window category.

 

Ruth

[dchip]

Our Caribbean Plaza deck was noisy but a similar cabin on the Grand was one of the quietest but smallest cabins we've ever had at sea.

 

The only problem is that it's difficult to choose within a modest budget and specific cabin listings,

 

Ruth

 

I agree, I have always loved this section on the Grand, what I experienced on the Caribbean Princess in May was out of this world (or like this thread describes, noise to wake the dead). There is something wrong on this particular ship, period. Like I said on the previous page I thought of this thread many times, while I was crossing the Atlantic filming in my cabin at 3:00 am just to prove to my family how insane the "noise" was, all the while wishing I had listened to the OP.

 

Tammy

 

Thank You so much for your posts on the Grand. I feel much better. Really looking forward to enjoying being so close to the IC. I may finally remember to get some cold coffee drinks in the afternoon. :D

 

Cheers, Denise

[ldlewis45]

For those of you who have had sewage smells in the bathroom, I've read here on Cruise Critic in other forums that in many cases, you can get rid of it by pouring some water down the drain in the floor. Apparently, the smell can be caused by the pipes drying out, allowing sewage gases and odor to back up into the rooms.

[Cruise Raider]

Not on the Plaza deck but on our very first cruise we were on the Riveria deck right under the pool. Someone said you can hear them putting the pool chairs out very early in the morning and putting them away at night. I asked our travel agent an she said there would be no problem. Well I can tell you there was. I am a light sleeper but I am sure most could hear it. I would never book a room under the pool again.

 

This happened to us as well. While we booked a guarantee, so it was of our own doing, shame on the travel agent that said it would be no problem. That room under the pool (we were right under and beside the trident grill) was the worst. Almost made me stop cruising with Princess altogether. I think that complaint was actually my first post on CC. I have come to also post many, many more positive experiences. Lesson learned.... as much as a guarantee can sometimes be a bargain, it can also be the cause of great frustration. A sleep deprived passenger is oftentimes a very grumpy passenger...I know I was.

PS-- hope you passed this along to your TA and then dumped him/her.

[Cruise Raider]

Thank you all for calling attention to noise issues on the Plaza deck. I am a light sleeper and was considering saving money on our next cruise by booking OV's on the Plaza deck. Now I will rebudget and book balcony cabins - and not below the pool (thank you recent poster to this thread for the reminder on that).

 

Keep in mind, there are some obstructed oceanview cabins on the Emerald deck with very little obstruction. We usually book these as they are little more than an inside (almost always), give you natural light and are in a great location. Check out this site below to determine if any of these wouldn't be sufficient. I use this site for all my bookings as well as for my friends / family. I think the best one we've had was E403 on the crown. When in port, they put up this round plate but absent when at sea. Best obstructed cabin ever. E619, E605, E631 (and coordinating port side cabins) also excellent choices for the price. I thank Renmar weekly for putting this together.

 

 

https://sites.google.com/site/cabinviewbyrenmar/

[hm9912]

Just for clarification. Is the noise on the Starboard side (odd numbers)? I don't see any references to the Port side (even numbers). Is it the OV or interior cabins?

 

We just got off the Caribbean Princess and were in P309

 

The only noise were large waves slapping against the ship while in the North sea and outside of St John Nova Scotia. We could not dock due to 65 knot winds and 40 ft seas. We was rocking and rolling for one night and we loved it

 

Norway and Iceland were wonderful

 

 

Howard

[Been There, Planning That]

Howard confirms my impression that the noises were only extreme in a few cabins, but of course I only spoke with a couple of neighbours.

 

But we were kept awake by loud grinding noises on a couple of rough sea nights.

 

Ruth

[cr8tiv1]

Just off the Crown Princess. Booked midship Plaza Deck 318, 322, 326, and 338. All interiors. All near the International Cafe. Port Side (with blue and red carpeting!). Seas were extremely calm going up to San Francisco and down to Ensenada from Los Angeles. Not a sound out or complaint of any of those rooms. Love this location.

 

Only issue was that there is a door leading to the International Cafe. It is closed between midnight and 6 AM. There was a little bit more foot traffic than I had expected.

[bytmee]

We loved the Plaza deck location, close to the theatre, Piazza and Cafe with a nice walk through the Art Gallery

But when in open seas, the stabilizers come to life and would range from a mild squeak in slight conditions to very noisy when it got a bit rough

The whole cabin would vibrate, so ear plugs won't help ya

We were 'upgraded' from an inside cabin on Aloha which we were very grateful for, at the time

 

I would sure rather have the noise than sea sickness but I would probably advise others to avoid the outside cabins, mid-forward on the Plaza deck

 

It was our 1st cruise and we loved it :)

[dchip]

We are on the Grand right now in P306. We would book this cabin again in a heartbeat. The only noise is a little whine from the stabilizers at times. We love walking out of the cabin door and feeling like you are right in the middle of activity. The hallway is very quiet.

 

It is also a fabulous location for getting on and off the ship in port! I'll let you know what it sounds like tomorrow when the tenders are used. :eek:

 

Cheers, Denise

[chengkp75]

I recently returned from a Caribbean Princess cruise. I was kind of excited to have inside cabins on the Plaza deck. My son and I were in P331 and my wife and daughter were two cabins away in P319. These cabins are right next to the art gallery and really in the thick of things. We loved the location.

 

There was NO noise problem from the art gallery or anything, but on several nights at around 3 a.m. or so there was really loud clanging sounds underneath our cabins. It sounded like someone was opening and shutting an iron door repeatedly for an hour or more. Sleep was out of the question. I think this may have been the ship stabilizers, based on something I think I read on another post. It was really loud.

 

My wife said she would never stay on the Plaza deck again. I don't know if the problem would have been as bad if we had been a bit forward.

 

We stayed on the Lido deck once years ago and loved it. We also concluded after this trip that the Riviera deck near the Terrace pool would be an awfully good place to have a stateroom.

 

I'm just passing this information on for those of you who might find it useful.

 

I would be very concerned if the stabilizers were "clanging". There is nothing in these systems that would make this kind of noise. I can think of a couple of things that would cause this, however:

 

The drains from the exterior decks run down through the ship to a point just above the water line, and then out the side of the ship. These drains have a clapper type check valve to keep the sea water from going back up the drain line, and sometimes due to the ship rolling or the wind in just the right direction, these clappers will flop around, making a lot of noise.

 

Given your cabins location, it could have been water hammer in steam pipes used in the laundry, when the laundry shuts down at night.

[RDC1]

Am currently on Carribean princess. One night we had rough seas. While sitting in the IC noticed a very load noise and vibration whenever a large wave would go by the window. The noise would preceeding the wave by a few seconds. Seemed to be occurring when the wave reached the stabilizer area.

[Cruise Raider]

Am currently on Carribean princess. One night we had rough seas. While sitting in the IC noticed a very load noise and vibration whenever a large wave would go by the window. The noise would preceeding the wave by a few seconds. Seemed to be occurring when the wave reached the stabilizer area.

 

 

We seemed to notice this as well once when sitting in the computer area on the Star. Our table mates had a room on the plaza deck ... said they never heard a thing. Interesting!

[Bonjour51]

I am in Plaza 325 Caribbean Princess. The noise is absolutely loud and awful. 4am wake-up! Absolutely no chance of sleeping through it. The ship seems to groan when the stabilizers are out. I can sleep through that but not the sledgehammer banging at 4am