Balcony Partitions

[sealeggs]

Can the room steward remove the partitions on the balcony's of Harmony and or Wonder Of The Seas?

 

Thank you for ant information!

[sealeggs]

We will have 3 balcony cabins in a row. Just checking so hopefully the GK's can have more space.

[Ourusualbeach]

21 minutes ago, sealeggs said:

Can the room steward remove the partitions on the balcony's of Harmony and or Wonder Of The Seas?

 

Thank you for ant information!

 

19 minutes ago, sealeggs said:

We will have 3 balcony cabins in a row. Just checking so hopefully the GK's can have more space.

Yes the cabin steward can open the partition.  It does not fully remove, only a portion swings open but you can pass from one balcony to another

[sealeggs]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

THank you for the info. I will get with the Room Steward when we board.

Yes the cabin steward can open the partition.  It does not fully remove, only a portion swings open but you can pass from one balcony to another

 

[Miloomar]

7 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

Yes the cabin steward can open the partition. It does not fully remove, only a portion swings open but you can pass from one balcony to another

How large would you say the pass through space is? Would a pretty round person have any difficulty

[Ozark_Kid]

9 minutes ago, Miloomar said:

How large would you say the pass through space is? Would a pretty round person have any difficulty

I have never measured the opening but I would say at least 1 1/2 feet.  The crew open them all up to walk through when they are cleaning. 

 

[JamesEM]

Just ask your cabin steward and he will contact a supervisor to unlock the partition however, the partition will not be opened  between fire zones.

[vacationlover_mn]

6 hours ago, Miloomar said:

How large would you say the pass through space is? Would a pretty round person have any difficulty

I can’t speak to Harmony/Wonder… but on Indy the opening was a good size- no issue for a rounder person.  

[cruisinelmo]

If it helps here is a picture

[Ourusualbeach]

7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Just ask your cabin steward and he will contact a supervisor to unlock the partition however, the partition will not be opened  between fire zones.

So many post this but we have had balconies that crossed a fire zone and we had no issues at all in getting the balcony doors opened.  The one balcony was also slightly larger by about 8 inches.

[Ocean Boy]

7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

 

7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Just ask your cabin steward and he will contact a supervisor to unlock the partition however, the partition will not be opened  between fire zones.

Why is that? It isn't as if those deviders have any fire retardent capabilities.

[Ocean Boy]

OP, just remember that with the deviders viders open you lose some of your privacy. You may need to be a bit more careful with the curtains in your cabin. 

[LeeW]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

Why is that? It isn't as if those deviders have any fire retardent capabilities.

Have had cabins where fire zone had solid metal on the balcony.  Depends on the ship and floor.

[ONECRUISER]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

OP, just remember that with the deviders viders open you lose some of your privacy. You may need to be a bit more careful with the curtains in your cabin. 

Use to do my best work on the Balcony. But back then none of the Ships had dividers to open

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

Why is that? It isn't as if those deviders have any fire retardent capabilities.

After the Star Princess fire, where the fire zone boundaries did not extend past the side of the ship (i.e. not out to the balconies), and the balconies were found to be the major cause of the extensive spread of the fire, the fire zone boundaries are now extended out to the outer rail of balconies.  So, without an inplace divider at the fire zone boundary, the fire zone is easily breached, and can allow fire to spread to the next zone.  As a matter of fact, the dividers are fire retardant materials, such that they only smolder, not burn.  The closed divider also diminishes the wind tunnel effect that was found on the Star Princess, along the side of a moving ship, which will reduce the speed of fire propagation.

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

So many post this but we have had balconies that crossed a fire zone and we had no issues at all in getting the balcony doors opened.  The one balcony was also slightly larger by about 8 inches.

And, this is from a cabin steward with no fire training, or they would have known about this restriction.  As noted above, SOLAS requires the fire zone boundary to extend out to the railing of the balcony.

[Ourusualbeach]

14 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

And, this is from a cabin steward with no fire training, or they would have known about this restriction.  As noted above, SOLAS requires the fire zone boundary to extend out to the railing of the balcony.

Not sure how that does any good. The balcony dividers between the cabins from one fire zone to another  are no different than any other balcony divider, they do not extend to the floor nor do they extend to the ceiling.  Definitely not going to slow anything down.

[chengkp75]

19 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Not sure how that does any good. The balcony dividers between the cabins from one fire zone to another  are no different than any other balcony divider, they do not extend to the floor nor do they extend to the ceiling.  Definitely not going to slow anything down.

So, the fire safety experts are wrong?  The closed divider blocks 95+% of the space between the bulkhead and the rail.  That's not going to slow down fire spread, and it's not going to slow down the wind that blows the fire from one balcony to the next?  And, opening the 1/3 of the space closest to the rail (furthest outboard), where the wind is the greatest is not going to change the ability of fire to spread?  Sorry, but my years of shipboard fire training, and actual fire fighting disagrees with you, and agrees with the fire safety experts.

[sealeggs]

6 hours ago, cruisinelmo said:

If it helps here is a picture

Thank you!

That does help.

[sealeggs]

5 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

OP, just remember that with the deviders viders open you lose some of your privacy. You may need to be a bit more careful with the curtains in your cabin. 

I appreciate the heads up, but we want it so the grandkids to have a little extra room to go to each other's cabins. 

[sealeggs]

Plus we will have Ocean View.

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

So, the fire safety experts are wrong?  The closed divider blocks 95+% of the space between the bulkhead and the rail.  That's not going to slow down fire spread, and it's not going to slow down the wind that blows the fire from one balcony to the next?  And, opening the 1/3 of the space closest to the rail (furthest outboard), where the wind is the greatest is not going to change the ability of fire to spread?  Sorry, but my years of shipboard fire training, and actual fire fighting disagrees with you, and agrees with the fire safety experts.

And if they actually blocked 95% of the area I would agee however these didn't come close to that. 

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

So, the fire safety experts are wrong?  The closed divider blocks 95+% of the space between the bulkhead and the rail.  That's not going to slow down fire spread, and it's not going to slow down the wind that blows the fire from one balcony to the next?  And, opening the 1/3 of the space closest to the rail (furthest outboard), where the wind is the greatest is not going to change the ability of fire to spread?  Sorry, but my years of shipboard fire training, and actual fire fighting disagrees with you, and agrees with the fire safety experts.

Whenever someone "questions" the experts you seem to get defensive. Plenty of people question the medical "experts" on all sorts of issues. Doesn't get me bothered in the least. An explanation probably would have had a much better affect. People are just trying to understand the reasoning behind something that is not apparent, obvious, or seems counter intuitive. 

 

Maybe it would be better to go back to building ships like Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure with full metal partitions between balconies? 

[chengkp75]

22 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Whenever someone "questions" the experts you seem to get defensive. Plenty of people question the medical "experts" on all sorts of issues. Doesn't get me bothered in the least. An explanation probably would have had a much better affect. People are just trying to understand the reasoning behind something that is not apparent, obvious, or seems counter intuitive. 

 

Maybe it would be better to go back to building ships like Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure with full metal partitions between balconies? 

Not defensive in the least.  It's just that when people question an expert (whether medical or marine fire safety, and I'm not including myself as an expert), they should have some experience, or suggested data to back up the question.

 

Even if you went to steel partitions, lessons learned on the Star Princess would require that they open (and the reason they open is for fire safety, not passenger comfort), so that fire teams could proceed from one balcony to the next, closing in on the fire.

[Ocean Boy]

39 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Not defensive in the least.  It's just that when people question an expert (whether medical or marine fire safety, and I'm not including myself as an expert), they should have some experience, or suggested data to back up the question.

 

Even if you went to steel partitions, lessons learned on the Star Princess would require that they open (and the reason they open is for fire safety, not passenger comfort), so that fire teams could proceed from one balcony to the next, closing in on the fire.

 

Well, a divider that neither goes to the ceiling or floor and appears to be made of plastic seems worthy of a question to uninformed people like me. 

 

So older ships are grandfathered in and don't have to have doors cut into the metal dividers?