Opening Balcony Dividers in Connecting Cabins -- Yes, but Depends

[Wine-O]

Let's see, on one hand we have an experienced captain charged with the health, safefy and happiness of thousands of people an on the other hand we have a guy who's "driven many a ship" in the Navy. Wonder who really knows what he's doing?

 

Go figure.

 

It's obvious that those balconies were not designed to be opened up. You must have done a lot of sucking up to get them to do that for you. They did you a favor, and it took 24 hours. You must have been docked in Bermuda or they had little to no seas on the way. You shouldn't give everyone the impression to others on Cruise Critic that they can be opened up, willy nilly.

 

With regard to safety, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize a flapping partition that is not lashed down is a safety hazard. I've seen them shattered on the S-Class when they were attached to the rail.

[dkjretired]

I wanted to "chime in" but decided it wasn't worth it. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind circumstance and not a regular occurrence. I can see this being nipped in the bud very quickly if everyone from CC starts asking for this service. The maintenance people have better things to do.

 

You have been "spot on" with your comments. Thank you.

 

I agree with you this is a one time thing. No one ever on this board has ever said that someone came to their room with wrench's to open the balconies. Those who have their balconies open just simply ask their steward and it is done, doesn't require maintenance. The OP obviously got special treatment for whatever reason since the balconies on the M class ships except those new cabins have never been reported on this board that they were able to open the verandas. I will bet this will probably never done again on an M class ship.

Edited September 4, 2015 by dkjretired

[cruising sister]

I am going to throw myself on this grenade and confess that my balcony divider was opened on the Summit. I innocently asked if it could be done and they did it. I have no special clout, I did not suck up to anyone it just happened. I was not in the room when they did it so I can't say how it was done. I do not remember my bed placement. It was my first Celebrity cruise and I asked and it was done. I have confessed and I feel better:o

[awhfy]

We had a concierge cabin on Constellation a few years ago & we had maintenance come to reattach a divider that had been left open. We didn't know the people in the adjacent cabin. So I guess that the dividers have been able to be opened for awhile. It did take a maintenance guy with a good sized wrench to reattach it

[soxfan2013]

I am going to throw myself on this grenade and confess that my balcony divider was opened on the Summit. I innocently asked if it could be done and they did it. I have no special clout, I did not suck up to anyone it just happened. I was not in the room when they did it so I can't say how it was done. I do not remember my bed placement. It was my first Celebrity cruise and I asked and it was done. I have confessed and I feel better:o

 

Gee...and I thought I was supposed to be the only one in the history of Celebrity to have a balcony divider opened on Summit for a fraction of a day at great effort and under incredibly extenuating circumstances...hmm.

 

BTW, there are a lot of coincidences here that created this situation and the realizations which I have been able to share:

 

1) Had I not previously been on Reflection in a cabin directly above three very loud couples who had opened up their balconies and created a triple balcony, I would never have thought of this possibility, although I realize that the dividers on S Class ships are designed to open more easily.

 

2) I booked three adjacent AQ cabins for this trip for the family and was intrigued about creating a similar jumbo balcony to unite the rooms.

 

3) When I got on board Summit, I saw that my dividers were not permanently fixed but secured by a single bolt which could obviously be easily opened w an industrial wrench.

 

4) I wouldn't have known about and figured out the bed/balcony door "algorithm" had I not had three adjacent cabins and been denied the ability to open one of the dividers due to the door positions vis-a-vis the divider. Had I just had two cabins, I either would have been able to open the divider and I wouldn't have known about the potential door blocking issue and reported here "seems like all Summit Deck 9 AQ balcony dividers can be opened" or had two ineligible rooms and reported "tried to have the dividers opened but can't do it due to blocking of balcony doors." In neither case, I wouldn't have known that sometimes you can do it and sometimes you can't, simply based on the positioning of the respective balcony doors and the divider.

 

I do applaud the Celebrity staff for their can do attitude. Obviously this is a simple request, but it's also simple to just say no. (Even some passengers here have made excuses for the cruise line and said people in maintenance are too busy and this kind of request is too much of a burden to accommodate -- even though opening balcony dividers has become a competitively important capability in cruising today). Me thinks the last thing Celebrity wants people to think or feel is that they are on an outdated and disadvanatged ship...that Celebrity's Solsticized fleet is anything less than stellar.

 

Despite some of my criticisms for Celebrity's quality deficiencies -- many of which I raise because I think they could reasonably be improved upon -- I have always had high praise for the friendly "can do" attitude of Celebrity's on-board customer-facing employees. I feel the staff goes out of its way to accommodate passenger requests and they generally get it right in terms of hospitality. I suspect this same attitude doesn't exist in the Navy, but it is at the heart of what separates a terrific hospitality company and guest experience from a mediocre or bad one.

 

While much of this comes under the Hotel Manager, it all starts at the top: from the CEO (no idea who he or she is), to Captain, to the Hotel Manager, to the rest of the ship. This company gets it and this attitude/service level compensates for some for the sometimes disappointing things that can't be corrected on the spot that otherwise disappoint (bland food, slow service, etc.).

 

Cudos Celebrity.

Edited September 4, 2015 by soxfan2013