Royal Princess- Lack of a Walkable Promenade Deck

[Haboob]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Cite?  I’ve heard dozens of reasons for the disappearance of promenades but never this one. Lifeboat placement. Revenue generation. But passengers falling overboard? Never heard this before. Presumably you have some industry literature to support this theory. 

Probably better, we were chatting with a Princess captain while he took a smoke break up on a Sun Deck.  Somehow, conversation wound around to the comment, "You'd make quite the splash from up here."  His reply, "You'd never hit the water.  That's the way they're making them now."

 

You mention "revenue generation".  Think of all the foregone revenue from stepped-back balconies and smaller Lido, Sun, and Sports Decks.  Princess lost 48 folks overboard between 2000 and 2017.  MoB search costs are seldom divulged, but the cost Norwegian Star's search last summer was in the papers at $600,000.

[JimmyVWine]

16 hours ago, Haboob said:

His reply, "You'd never hit the water.  That's the way they're making them now."

 

To be fair, "That's the way they are making them now" isn't the same as "That's why they're making like that now."  Especially given that your conversation was taking place on the Sun Deck.  He was of course correct. You'd never hit the water from "up here."  But none of that really addresses the Promenade. 

[Mom33]

20 hours ago, dockman said:

1.  Walking on an indoor treadmill has little resemblance to walking an open air promenade deck hearing the ocean nearby, feeling the air temperature and ocean breezes, pausing to look out at the horizon, watching birds and the occasional sea life close up.

 

2.  Walking indoor corridors is about as exciting as going to a local Holiday Inn and walking up and down  the hallways.  I tr to walk about ten miles a day , five in a.m and five in the p.m......try walking ten  miles in the corridors or on a treadmill.  Not my cup of chai.

 

3, Walking an open air uncovered sport deck 15 or so decks above the sea looking through often dirty plexiglass with 8 laps to a mile in often windy or too sunny conditions is not the same as walking a nice promenade deck a few levels above the sea looking through open air rails , seeing, smelling, and sensing the ocean mere feet away.

 

4.  Sorry but I really don't buy the argument that new designs have much to do with lifeboat placements.  Seems to have more to do with using a good chunk of what could be a proper prom deck to add extra square footage for the shops.

 

5.  Recently spent a month on the Royal.  Really missed a proper prom deck. .

 

6.  Continue to try and pick cruises on ships that still have a proper prom deck for walking as well as nice teak or lounger chairs to sit , relax, and enjoy being close to the ocean.  More shop space selling a variety of stuff that i have zero interest in may make the bean counters happy but not me.

 

7.  Obviously prom decks are not important to many cruisers. On the other hand it does seem important to many people.  Only real solution seems to sail on older ships that were built in a time when a cruise was more about a connection to the sea and not about seeing how many more shops can be crammed inside.

 

8. Bottom line is i do make a conscious effort to pick ships with proper prom decks and will continue to do so even though the options no doubt will continue to diminish as more ships are built at the instructions of execs who seem to think more people are interested in floating shopping centers.  And they are probably right.

 

I guess one good thing about being older is that hopefully I will still be able to find a few older ships that provide what many of the newer ships don't provide.

 

 I would like to comment on Point #6 in your list. The Royal, Regal, Majestic and Sky still have Teak loungers on the Promenade deck to relax by the sea.

[dockman]

51 minutes ago, Mom33 said:

 

 I would like to comment on Point #6 in your list. The Royal, Regal, Majestic and Sky still have Teak loungers on the Promenade deck to relax by the sea.

  

yes the royal has a small prom deck with about ten teak loungers on both starboard and port stern....i spent a lot of time there but of course it is way too short for walking much and the starboard stern was smokers heaven which was no big deal when moving with the wind but not so great when in port if wind blew the smoke back towards the bow...but at least it is a pleasant place to sit close to the sea without having to look through dirty plexiglass 15++ floors up