egjesdal

This is intended as an informational heads-up for those that may be considering booking one of these new cabins. If you’re not, just an FYI, you may be bored with the rest of this post…

 

These cabins, which were added as part of the refit of the Oasis, have been discussed to varying degrees in a few other threads since they debuted in November. A thank you to those who have posted! The reviews of these new cabins have been mixed, at best. The main purpose of this post is not to review or rehash those threads again, but rather to offer a “buyer beware” for those that are thinking of booking them based primarily on the advertised (but mostly inaccurate) square footage, especially that of the balconies.

 

The cabin and balcony sizes of these six Grand Suites vary greatly depending on what you read and where you read it. And I’m not talking about the conflicting views in some of the CC posts, I’m referring to the actual cabin statistics posted on Royal Caribbean’s website. I know, conflicting info from the cruise line is nothing new. I just thought I’d call this out to help keep people from booking what they expect to be a giant balcony, only to realize on the day of the cruise that even a small chair will barely fit on it.

 

When you’re doing a mock booking for the Oasis and you get to the part where you select “Show Options”, you see a description of each of the available suite types. For Grand Suite you see this:

 

Grand Suite with Balcony. Two twin beds that convert to a Royal King. Private bathroom with tub and two sinks, marble entry, large closet, sitting area with table and sofa. (371 sq. ft., balcony 114 sq. ft.). Suites: 11330, 11730, 12330, 14330, and 14730 are 466 sq. ft, balcony 470 sq. ft.

 

That last part is inaccurate.

 

Even if you go to the deck plan pages for Oasis, decks 11, 12, and 14, and look for Grand Suite with Balcony, you see the same thing. Same measurements, same inaccuracies.

 

To get the actual square footages, which vary quite a bit from deck 11 to deck 12 to deck 14, you have to be on the specific Deck Plan page, then click on the link titled “Printable version of this deck”. Only then do you get the specific measurements of the “Newly enhanced” cabins, as they refer to them. Here is what you’ll see for deck 14:

 

Grand Suite with Balcony. Traditional Grand Suites feature a bedroom with two twin beds that convert to Royal King, living area with double sofa bed and lounge seating and a private bathroom with tub and two sinks. (371 sq. ft., balcony 114 sq. ft.). Newly enhanced Grand Suites (14330 and 14730) have one bathroom sink, additional square footage in both stateroom and balcony and balcony lounge seating. (421 sq. ft., balcony 136 sq. ft.).

 

Not a big difference in cabin size from the other specs listed earlier, but the balcony is three or four times smaller here than what they’re telling you on the other pages.

 

Here is what you’ll see for deck 12 if you click the “Printable version of this deck” link:

 

Grand Suite with Balcony. Traditional Grand Suites feature a bedroom with two twin beds that convert to Royal King, living area with double sofa bed and lounge seating and a private bathroom with tub and two sinks. (371 sq. ft., balcony 114 sq. ft.). Newly enhanced Grand Suites (12330 and 12730) have one bathroom sink, additional square footage in both stateroom and balcony and balcony lounge seating (433 sq. ft., balcony 362 sq. ft.).

 

So size-wise, deck 12 is better than deck 14, but still not what they tell you in other parts of their site, including the booking phase. The new Deck 11 GS’s seem to match up to their advertised size, so no issues there. Like the AquaTheater Suites on decks 8-10, the new suites and balconies get smaller the higher up you go. All have the great views of the AquaTheater shows, wake, etc., but grab 11330 or 11730 if size really matters.

 

Looking back at this post, I see it may be detail-overkill, but maybe someone will find it useful.

 

Happy cruising!

Thanks for a useful description of the staterooms. I had booked stateroom 12730 on a caribean cruise in november 18, and was able to change to 11730.

Have tried Oasis, Allure and Harmony earlier. Will try Symphony on Apr. 14. Of the mega ships we enjoyed the first on Oasis most, and looks forward to come back for another cruise.