BD Balcony Question?

[luvlake]

I agree with some of the postings that having a pull down and a roll away will make your room very small since there really is not room for the roll away.

 

When cruising last year daughter's family had balcony that accomodated 4 people not guaranteed 3 (look for red dots and Princess web site deck plans such as B429 and B431). Their bed was queen size and pull downs were on either side of their bed up high. When beds were pulled down there was not much room but managable. They would need to duck if getting out of bed at night but the beds were put down late at night and steward was able to put them up early the next day. (We also had exceptional steward).

 

We had mini-suite and I do not recall any pull downs in mini-suites just sofa beds. Sofa bed is great for one person but would not recommend for 2 kids. In thinking back not sure where a roll away would go.

 

If you are not planning to spend much time in your room then the balcony room would be fine but if you are planning leisure time in your room it would be nice to have inside room for kids across hall.

 

Daughters family spent a great deal of time in our mini-suite and used their room as dressing room!! :)

[mikeythemars]

When we later referred to the icons on the Deck Plan form Baja B 501 it shows a yellow circle which signifies "Will accommodate 4th person using a rollaway"

 

That is a triple (two single beds which can be combined into a queen and a pullman which drops down from the ceiling). To create a fourth berth a rollaway is brought in. We just did this type of accomodation on a CB cruise back in August. On arrival the steward had already combined the two lower beds into a queen (and moved the bedtable that normally goes inbetween them into the closet area, which is also where he stored the rollaway during the day). Also, to make room for the rollaway the steward kept the upholstered armchair out on the balcony.

 

Bottom line: it's cozy with four but works and contrary to what I'd been told here, we had no problem accessing the balcony when the rollaway was set up - even with it opened there was still a 1.5 foot wide walkway between it and the dressing table/desk that led directly to the balcony door.

[LegalEagle2012]

Thanks Mikey - that is exactly what I wanted to hear!!

 

Not planning to spend too much time in the room anyway - on the balcony perhaps though?

 

K

[luvlake]

Really don't know how there was room for night stand and roll away in closet! Don't think they would have fit in our closet for two. Closets are not huge! Where did all the clothes and shoes go with a family of 4 to clothe?

[LegalEagle2012]

Interesting to note, despite a "holding" email, I have still not had a response to my email to Princess asking several questions, including Meet and Greet arrangements.

 

Email was sent on Monday!!

[cherylandtk]

Karen,

Are you absolutely certain that you prefer the 3 bed + rollaway vs. the 4 bed arrangement? Putting the two floor beds together can be done whether you use two upper bunks or one upper + rollaway.

 

As noted in other posts, the rollaway takes up almost all the available floor space, requiring the removal of nightstand(s) and chair to allow you to move around the beds in the cabin. Putting the rollaway and/or the nightstand into the closet during the day will take up at least half, probably closer to 2/3 of the closet, leaving the four of you considerably less space for your clothing.

 

There are at least five available BD cabins on your sailing at this moment (B306 and B428-B431) that have berths for 4 people, which will give you all more elbow room in the cabin.

 

Either arrangement will have more than a bit of awkwardness and crowdedness; just be certain you are making the best choice for your own family.

[sunshine426]

I have had an OV cabin on one of the smaller Carnival cruises, and I agree it felt less clean, (however we got it soooo cheap and it was a short weekend cruise, so we were fine.)

We also prefer a balcony cabin. My daughters(who are in their 20's and paid for there own cabin) had an inside on the same deck as we were. The inside cabins on Princess are really very nice. They made great friends with their cabin steward, and still spent quite a bit of time with us on our balcony. Plus, we had some privacy from them. No nagging about the shoes etc. My mom and a friend cruised to Alaska with us. Again, we booked a balcony and they had an inside. They had wonderful service, and the cabin was virtually the same size as our balcony cabin.

[LegalEagle2012]

Pleased to say that I have finally received a two page written response from Princess in response to my email sent almost 20 days ago!

 

Basically they say nothing other than to re-iterate what I had thought - the cabin is two singles, a ceiling pullman and a rollaway. Although they do make a point in saying the singles cannot be pushed together - although we all know different!!

 

What Princess have admitted though, is that there is a printing error in the UK 2009 Brochure which does, indeed, given conflicting information for my cabin. They thanked me for pointing this out and also said that they appreciated my confusion and disappointment!! Well thanks Princess.

 

They also deny that their booking agents told my TA there were no 4 berth mini suites left! Fortunately I have the name of the staff member and my TA backs me up with the notes she placed in our booking on the day in question. I do not appreciate being lied to when I am paying rather a lot of hard-earned money for my holiday.

 

Drafting a reply as we speak - any suggestions gratefully received.

 

Karen

[cherylandtk]

Drafting a reply as we speak - any suggestions gratefully received.Karen

Have not yet heard your answer to this question: "Are you absolutely certain that you prefer the 3 bed + rollaway vs. the 4 bed arrangement? Putting the two floor beds together can be done whether you use two upper bunks or one upper + rollaway. "

There are BD quads available on your sailing, as I just checked and found both B430 and B431. We just don't know if you want a quad room or a triple room + rollaway. IF you would prefer a quad room, ask for it. IF not, then leave things be.

 

As for the being lied to about the mini-suite availability, leave it. You already said you cannot afford the cost of the mini-suite, so it is irrelevant.

[LegalEagle2012]

Yes, the family consensus of opinion is that we prefer the rollaway option. My youngest daughter will prefer to sleep at ground level.

 

Can you tell me where you see the availability for those cabin numbers please? I can only find B631 available midships on that deck on the Princess website - the rest of the BD grade are on Aloha deck only.

 

Thanks for your help though.

K

[cherylandtk]

Those cabin numbers did not come up among the six or so that pop up automatically, but when I entered them in the section below where you can select your own cabin, both came up as available. You have to enter the cabin number(s) one at a time. Not sure if you have that section on the UK webpages?

 

The good news is that you prefer to have the rollaway, and that's what you are getting. So you should be fine.

[LegalEagle2012]

Thanks for that - yes, we do have that section on our webpages in the UK.

 

Perhaos if I win the lottery or win at the casinos when I am in Las Vegas at the end of the month I will choose myself a Mini Suite and pay for an upgrade!!

[rumbler]

Help - I just read about the beds - Does anyone know how the beds are on CB - We are on - BC Aloha 342 - We been on NCL and Royal Carribean and we have always had a sofa that made into a bed. thanks

[LegalEagle2012]

You need to check the icons in the brochure for your particular cabin. Red dot means four singles - two at floor level and two from the ceiling. If you have a yellow dot and black triangle that means the cabin is a permanent 3 berth - 2 singles and a ceiling pullman and they fetch in a rollaway. The ceiling bed and rollaway can be put away during the day to leave the cabin as a standard balcony.

 

Despite the official position it does seem that the singles can be put into a queen in these cabins too.

 

Having only cruised with NCL and RCCI in a Premium Balcony, Balcony or Junior/Mini Suite - we had always had a double sofa bed and had been wrongly advised by two TAs that that is what we would have had here too!

 

The position has now been clarified to us and, thanks to our observation, Princess are reprinting their brochure in the UK as the info with the icons in the first edition is wrong!

 

If you look on this thread in earlier posts there was a post from Mikeythemars - that states this is the position on the CB too.

 

K