Sofabed blocks balcony?

[karl_nj]

 

With NCL getting rid of turndown service with their move to once-a-day housekeeping, I'm assuming the sofabed in a triple will be "open" for the entire cruise. In balcony cabins on breakaway plus ships, how badly does an open sofabed block access to the balcony?

 

Thinking about a cruise next spring, but there will only be three of us sailing this time. Trying to determine if I need to convince my mother to come along to make two cabins work, or if we can try to make one cabin work.

 

[vince_g]

The sofas are not convertible beds that open, like you can find in the Jewel class balcony rooms. Here's a video shot on the Escape showing what you can expect on the Breakaway+ class. 

 

 

[karl_nj]

6 minutes ago, vince_g said:

The sofas are not convertible beds that open, like you can find in the Jewel class balcony rooms. Here's a video shot on the Escape showing what you can expect on the Breakaway+ class. 

 

 

Awesome, thanks! I've seen this type of sofabed setup on other lines too, especially on newer ships, which means that keeping the sofa in "bed" form should not be an issue for getting to the balcony.

 

 

[SeekingKillerWhales!]

On 7/11/2023 at 6:24 AM, karl_nj said:

 

Awesome, thanks! I've seen this type of sofabed setup on other lines too, especially on newer ships, which means that keeping the sofa in "bed" form should not be an issue for getting to the balcony.

 

 

I suspect an extra tip at the beginning (and end if well done) will help with getting the bed made up during the day and evening. (Since the room is tipping $80/night I think it should anyway.) Or you can have it made up in the am, and ask how to lower the one bed, and take out the other in the pm. I'd be surprised if you have to have the beds open all day. (But I'm an inside, singleton type so others will be far more knowledgeable than I!)

In any event, have a blast!

[BirdTravels]

So, the sofa is just made up, not pulled out. That being said, the overwhelming preferred bed location is blocking the balcony leaving open space by the closet. 

[karl_nj]

3 minutes ago, SeekingKillerWhales! said:

I suspect an extra tip at the beginning (and end if well done) will help with getting the bed made up during the day and evening. (Since the room is tipping $80/night I think it should anyway.) Or you can have it made up in the am, and ask how to lower the one bed, and take out the other in the pm. I'd be surprised if you have to have the beds open all day. (But I'm an inside, singleton type so others will be far more knowledgeable than I!)

In any event, have a blast!

 

Yeah, but I don't want to overburden the room stewards since they have more rooms to deal with now. I'm not super happy with the mass market cruise lines getting rid of turndown service, but it is what it is. As long as the room design "works" with keeping the sofa in bed form 24x7, it will be fine. This is actually what Carnival has been doing for at least 15 years anyway, even when they still had turndown service.

 

There will only be 3 of us in the room anyway--if both of my kids were coming on this trip, I'd just get 2 rooms. But one is off to college and the spring break schedule doesn't line up anymore, so it's either no cruise for any of us in the Spring or go without him. Now just need to figure out how to tell him the news, lol

 

The main reason it was on my mind was actually from a cruise on Celebrity Summit earlier this month.  They still have turndown service, but the room steward was just too lazy to put the back into sofa form, and that blocked the balcony access completely in their room (my two kids and my mom were in the connecting cabin)

 

[RB9643]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

That being said, the overwhelming preferred bed location is blocking the balcony leaving open space by the closet. 

 

I think that's just an issue in the Club balcony.  The regular balcony cabin has the closet across from the bathroom.