You can close that balcony door now!

[Michelle19]

Just shut your air conditioning when you leave the door open. Why have a balcony you can't fully enjoy.

 

 

Amen.. Bring a battery operated Fan.. I love having that door open :hearteyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

The ships should just have an electrical shut off for the a/c when the door is open. If the door is open for more than a few minutes the a/c should be shut off. I have been told from Staff Engineers that when the balcony doors are left open this drains the cool air so the crew will then suffer with less a/c . The passengers in the public area must have proper temps and the doors being left open put an enormous burden of temp control so the crew decks get less a/c or no a/c and they have to sleep with he cabin doors open for any slight breeze. I wish all the a/c units shut off when the door is open and left open more than a few minutes

 

 

Not on Princess ships.

[Colo Cruiser]

Not all cruise destinations are tropical. Some people just like to crack a window for fresh air, no matter the location.

 

 

Exactly!

 

I have used the heat a few times as well.

[robroy123]

What you hear with the balcony door open is WIND...not so much the sound of the sea!

 

 

Actually that sound is the wings of semi large flying insect ... or not:eek:

[iceleven]

Or a gull could fly in and poop all over your stuff...or you. :eek:

[robroy123]

Or a gull could fly in and poop all over your stuff...or you. :eek:

 

 

In any case there is more fun to be had with the doors OPEN...;)

[Lucky TGO]

That's good to know. I'll have to try that channel 47.

Tony

[Appofed]

If you have a connecting room on the Royal if your neighbors leaves their door open you will have a whistling sound which would prevent you from sleeping.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Go-Bucks!]

What you hear with the balcony door open is WIND...not so much the sound of the sea!

 

 

We'll get aft suites and we hear the wake, not wind.

[Daniel1313]

I took the Ultimate Ship tour on the Regal last week and the Head Engineer of the ship said that on the Regal and Royal each cabin has their own separate AC unit located above the ceiling,

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Better watch out for the guy with the skepticism detector. He doesn't believe anything he hears a bartender or what a bus driver may have said. I am sure he will add the head engineer to his list.

[Carolyn R]

On the Royal Princess we had a duck stow away that enjoyed visiting all the balconies our three days at sea. I wonder if he wandered into any staterooms during the night.

[floridalover5623]

If you have a connecting room on the Royal if your neighbors leaves their door open you will have a whistling sound which would prevent you from sleeping.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I can confirm the whistling but it still didn't affect the cooling of the cabin.

[DRS/NC]

Channel 36 on the Crown last week. Loved it!

 

I had an OV room. When my white noise machine broke & I accidently found Channel 36, I was so happy!

[riclop]

Thanks for the info.

[Shmoo here]

That is true. Each cabin can control the temperature of the air flowing into it.

But the flow of air comes from a central air handler that is connected to dozens of cabins in your vertical fire zone.

The system is designed to create an overpressure of air in each cabin. This is a safety feature in case of fire. The overpressure pushes smoke away from your cabin instead of letting it in.

 

If you leave your balcony door open, the overpressure flows outside. The lower pressure in your cabin forces the system to rob the airflow from the other cabins in your area to push the pressure up in your cabin.

The reduced airflow in the other cabins means that their individual air con units have little or no air flow to cool.

Then your neighbors telephone the reception desk to complain about their warm cabins - which never get fixed, until you close your balcony door.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

Thanks for the excellent explanation.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes everyone has one on CC.

[floridalover5623]

That is true. Each cabin can control the temperature of the air flowing into it.

But the flow of air comes from a central air handler that is connected to dozens of cabins in your vertical fire zone.

The system is designed to create an overpressure of air in each cabin. This is a safety feature in case of fire. The overpressure pushes smoke away from your cabin instead of letting it in.

 

If you leave your balcony door open, the overpressure flows outside. The lower pressure in your cabin forces the system to rob the airflow from the other cabins in your area to push the pressure up in your cabin.

The reduced airflow in the other cabins means that their individual air con units have little or no air flow to cool.

Then your neighbors telephone the reception desk to complain about their warm cabins - which never get fixed, until you close your balcony door.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for the explanation. I knew about the individual AC units but always thought that their returns were separate.

[easyboy]

That is true. Each cabin can control the temperature of the air flowing into it.

But the flow of air comes from a central air handler that is connected to dozens of cabins in your vertical fire zone.

The system is designed to create an overpressure of air in each cabin. This is a safety feature in case of fire. The overpressure pushes smoke away from your cabin instead of letting it in.

 

If you leave your balcony door open, the overpressure flows outside. The lower pressure in your cabin forces the system to rob the airflow from the other cabins in your area to push the pressure up in your cabin.

The reduced airflow in the other cabins means that their individual air con units have little or no air flow to cool.

Then your neighbors telephone the reception desk to complain about their warm cabins - which never get fixed, until you close your balcony door.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for the explanation. I had an impression that all centrally controlled.

[iceleven]

That is true. Each cabin can control the temperature of the air flowing into it.

But the flow of air comes from a central air handler that is connected to dozens of cabins in your vertical fire zone.

The system is designed to create an overpressure of air in each cabin. This is a safety feature in case of fire. The overpressure pushes smoke away from your cabin instead of letting it in.

 

If you leave your balcony door open, the overpressure flows outside. The lower pressure in your cabin forces the system to rob the airflow from the other cabins in your area to push the pressure up in your cabin.

The reduced airflow in the other cabins means that their individual air con units have little or no air flow to cool.

Then your neighbors telephone the reception desk to complain about their warm cabins - which never get fixed, until you close your balcony door.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

That's really sad because even with this info, and I've red it here before, people will still disregard the comfort of others.

 

 

I cannot remember which cruise line it was, perhaps Regent or Crystal, but some cabins (suites?) where, upon request, can have beds set up on their balconies so that you can sleep outside during the cruise. If I had the $$$$$ I would definitely go for that. I once had a penthouse apartment in a big city and would often sleep outside on a chaise, wrapped up in a comforter. It was like urban camping. It was lovely.

[elliair]

For those who like to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean, there's a new remedy to the age-old problem of leaving that balcony door open and messing up the cabin temps in the entire section.

 

On the Grand (not sure about any other ships), if you tune to channel 47 on the TV, you get a soundtrack of waves rolling into a shore. The TV screen remains dark, so it won't affect those who prefer a dark cabin for sleeping.

 

We found this by accident while flipping through the channels and used it every night - great for dozing off after a hard day of cruising! :cool:

 

 

Grey

 

Canned music doesn't get it for us. On some ships the music is fine, on the Grand it really sucks and the movies offered as well. Been there....

[barbaraanne]

And we wonder why so many people complain the A/C in their staterooms doesn't work right. They write bad reviews and call the engineering staff over and over again. All the while it's the neighbors sleeping with their balcony doors open.

 

Just sayin' :evilsmile:

 

Wow, I never knew this. No wonder my room is always hot!

[Times Prince]

Is that a fact? Is that all one has to do to prevent others on the ship from a reduction of A/C? Just turn your own A/C off? I didn't know that. Why isn't that information given on the ship, at least in each guest's cabin?

 

Due to the humidity that occurred the one time I did, I'm still not sure I would want to leave the door open because mold and mildew can still grow from the dampness. It might not affect you directly but it can be deadly for some people and it can grow under the carpet and in the drapes. Don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but I live near the sea and deal with sea air and fog.

We have had the Ship's Doctor prescribe us to get a balcony cabin and leave the balcony door open for 10-15 minutes several times a day to flush the stale air out of the cabin and refresh with outside air. I doubt if he would have done this if your mold and mildew was an issue.

 

We'll stick with his prescription.

[chengkp75]

We have had the Ship's Doctor prescribe us to get a balcony cabin and leave the balcony door open for 10-15 minutes several times a day to flush the stale air out of the cabin and refresh with outside air. I doubt if he would have done this if your mold and mildew was an issue.

 

We'll stick with his prescription.

 

Well, while I won't tell this doctor how to diagnose a medical condition, I will disagree with his "prescription" regarding balcony doors. By design, unlike homes or hotel rooms, ship's AC is designed to "flush the stale air out of the cabin" 24 hours a day, every day, for every cabin.

 

To expand on what chpurser posted, and correct it a little, here is how ship's AC works. Fresh outside air is taken in by large fans, and cooled by large coolers to supply fresh air continually to banks of cabins or public spaces (typically all the cabins on one side of the ship, on each deck, within a given fire zone, so maybe 30-40 cabins). These fans supply 20% of the cabin's volume of air every hour, so every 5 hours, you have theoretically exchanged all the air in the cabin. The temperature of this fresh outside air is not controllable from the cabin, it is centrally controlled since it supplies to many cabins.

 

This supply of 20% of the volume is balanced by removing 20% or the "stale" air via the bathroom exhaust fan, or under the cabin door out to the passageway. This air is exhausted to outside the ship, after cooling the incoming fresh air.

 

The temperature control in your cabin controls a small, individual cabin cooler and fan, that merely recirculates the air in the cabin past the cooler. This is sized to recirculate 80% of the cabin volume per hour. On most ships, this is the AC unit that is shut off when the balcony door is opened, but the fresh outside air will still be supplied as when the door is closed.

 

As chpurser said, the fresh outside air is supplied to the cabin at a slight overpressure to cause air flow to be from the cabin to the passageway, to keep smoke out. Now, if the balcony door is opened, this provides a very large opening (when compared to the air duct), and so the pressure in the cabin drops, and the system providing the fresh outside air tries to compensate and rebuild the pressure, thereby taking air volume of fresh air from all the other cabins in the bank.

 

This is why, when you leave the balcony door open, your cabin will have a whistling sound (air flow from under the cabin door into the cabin, and no change in AC (the fresh air system is sending more air there), even if the cabin cooler is shut off. However, everyone else's cabin in the block will have less AC, as the fresh air is sent to your cabin, and the recirculation cooler can't keep up.

 

So, and I believe I have posted this before in regards to (your?) another post where the ship's doctor "prescribed" this practice. He/she obviously doesn't know marine engineering any better than I know medicine.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Well I'm glad I didn't have the balcony door open on that Star sailing at 3 am when I was sleeping or I may not be here! I'll never leave my balcony door open at night while sleeping, that's for sure!

[crawford]

Or a gull could fly in and poop all over your stuff...or you. :eek:

 

Or a stray lit cigarette gets sucked into your cabin........