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Is soot a problem on aft/stern cabin balconies?

ratfam

By ratfam,
in Princess Cruises

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ratfam

ratfam

Posted
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Just booked a premium balcony right along the back of Deck 10 of the Caribbean Princess for a European cruise this summer. We really use our balcony when we have one and keep the door open when we are in the room (but not overnight) and were excited about the advertised wake views. Then my mother said she had a friend (and frequent Princess cruiser) who had a rear-facing suite on a Princess ship and that they would never do it again because of soot problems. Can anyone who had cruised in a rear-facing balcony, on Caribbean Princess or otherwise, let me know if they found soot to be a problem? Thanks!

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
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Soot issues were first reported with the advent of the Royal Princess. Royal was a completely new class of ship. There are only 3 ships in that class so far: Royal, Regal, and Majestic. Until then there were no soot issues on any ship. You will be perfectly safe from soot on your cruise. :)

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Papa Yoda

Papa Yoda

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Deck 10 Caribe stern balconies are completely covered on Grand class and have never had other than minor soot. We had serious soot on Island Princess stern suite balcony on Lido. Like black snow while in port in Guatemala.

 

 

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Deck 10 Caribe stern balconies are completely covered on Grand class and have never had other than minor soot. We had serious soot on Island Princess stern suite balcony on Lido. Like black snow while in port in Guatemala.

 

 

We had an aft Lido suite and had no soot.

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eclue

eclue

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We book a rear aft whenever they are available - only had soot one time on the Royal, but to tell the truth, I can tolerate the soot to have that fantastic wake view and sound; there is nothing like it !

eclue:cool:

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SadieN

SadieN

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No soot problems but have had other issues.

 

One problem we've had on an aft facing balcony was varnish vapor.

 

They were revarnishing the pool areas on the Golden. All the vapors seemed to end up in our aft facing cabin. Turns out the balcony sliding door was off kilter, the fumes made their way thru the gap. Never an issue during the day, only at night. We'd have no problem sailing that cabin again.

 

On the Ruby, the cabins just below the Lido deck, closest to the middle offer no balcony privacy.

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Kristal Blade "Live from...." Rare

Kristal Blade

Posted
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We had an aft cabin on Diamond Princess. No soot just fabulous views, no wind and it converted us to selecting an aft balcony whenever possible.

Sometimes we had a bit of noise from the moving of sun loungers by the aft pool but not enough to put us off.

 

 

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ratfam

ratfam

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Thanks everyone for the quick responses! I feel much more comfortable and I think that we will give it a go based on this information, since it is a port heavy itinerary we won't be able to enjoy the balcony as much as on an itinerary with more sea days but it sounds like we should be fine when we are able to use it, and the different perspective will be nice since the few times we have cruised with a balcony we have always been on the side of the ship. Appreciate the help!

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Ask4Jay

Ask4Jay

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We have done 17 cruises, ALL of them in an aft cabin. We have had soot on some cruises, usually only under these conditions: when the balcony is partly uncovered AND the ship swings at anchor, instead of being docked. At anchor you are always downwind, at the dock there is a good chance that the exhaust is blown across the ship. Under way, the exhaust does not have time to settle, the ship is too fast. When we did have soot, DW wiped it off with a damp cloth.

 

 

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capriccio

capriccio

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We've had aft suites on the Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby and Royal Princesses. The only one with a soot issue - and it was absolutely terrible - was on the Royal in December 2013. We have since spent another 20 days on the Royal and have 25 days coming up in October in mid-ship minis. We will never reserve an aft owners suite on the Royal again due to 1) the possibility/probability of soot and 2) the changes in the suite layout on the Royal class ships.

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CLynnB

CLynnB

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We had an aft balcony on a Carnival Dream. Soot was a major problem. Clothes got covered. Chairs had to be cleaned numerous times. We couldn't enjoy the balcony. It was money wasted in my opinion.

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alex_dude

alex_dude

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We had an aft balcony on a Carnival Dream. Soot was a major problem. Clothes got covered. Chairs had to be cleaned numerous times. We couldn't enjoy the balcony. It was money wasted in my opinion.

hello,

I got a balcony booked for RC next April, and also its my first time; I'm curious... why do you say its a problem?

 

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ratfam

ratfam

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Thanks again for all the feedback. Sounds like this tends to be a ship and location specific issue, it sounds like the Caribbean Princess is less of an issue and it looks like our balcony is covered, so I am going to be optimistic and we are going to go ahead and give it a try.

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