Things in the Sky

As I mentioned earlier, this was my second voyage on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas. Last time, I was in a Grand Suite (GS), and this time it was a Junior Suite (JS), so I decided it would be worthwhile to compare the two.

There is definitely a noticeable size difference, as the Grand is about 70 square feet bigger than the Junior. This extra space did make a very nice layout. My sofa bed and my parents’ bed were facing each other with a curtain going accross the room. This worked out great. My parents could draw the curtain when they wanted to sleep, and I could walk in later at night and not disturb them as much, especially because the bathroom was on my side. In the junior, the two beds are parallel and the curtain doesn’t go out that far.

Junior:

Grand:

As you can see, the GS does have a very different style of furniture. The furniture in the JS is very similar to that in any other cabin.

Interestingly, the balcony for the Junior (101 square feet) is bigger than the one on the Grand (89 square feet). The balcony in the JS isn’t as wide as the one in the GS (just because the cabin is narrower), but apparently it is a bit deeper.

The bathroom in the GS, with its two sinks and Viking mosaic (I’ve had the same face stare at me on the Mariner, Navigator, and Liberty – I do hope I have a picture somewhere in my backups) is very spacious, but the one in the JS is nice as well. The one in the latter is noticeably smaller, but it still has a tub.

Junior:

Grand:

In the storage department, the JS wins by a wide margin. As you can see, the cabin comes with a great walk-in closet.

Meanwhile, you can see the closet space behind the bar in the GS in this photo:

Don’t get me wrong, the GS had plenty of storage space, I just greatly preferred having a walk-in closet with shelves. It was also large enough to double as a changing room.

Many of the differences between the two cabins have a lot more to do than the physical rooms. GS and above receive very nice perks, such as access to the concierge lounge (and the concierge can be much more helpful and powerful than guest relations at some points), reserved seating at shows, and priority tendering.

Both of these cabins are quite nice, but obviously I do like the GS better due to a nicer layout and access to suite perks. The only major perk for the JS is the walk-in closet. The most important factor, however, is price. On this last cruise, I think the difference between the GS and JS was over $2,000, which I think is a bit pricey. But I have seen other itineraries when its a lot less, and in that case I would go for the nicer suite.