Thoughts on Junior Suite

[Frozen2014]

I keep eyeing a Junior Suite for our family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) and wondering if we should make the jump. In one case, we have 2 connecting interiors so the big old debate....2 bathrooms vs 1 large room that gets with double points (which would get us to Emerald much quicker than sticking with regular staterooms).
We usually stay in one room, and if we made the jump in the above case, we would only do so if we booked a Junior Suite room that has sofa bed and pullman (i.e. so our kids wouldn't lose their separate beds)...and these JS have one shower, but 2 toilets.

The jump is high for one cruise, but that's moving from interior rooms to JS, so moving up a few categories. In another case, we have a spacious balcony (and this particular room is extra large due to specific room at aft). The jump is only $400 more but only advantage would be extra points (on a short cruise).

Thoughts on Junior Suite? Are they worth it?

 

[starvenger]

I found a review for you: https://eatsleepcruise.com/2016/10/oasis-of-the-seas-junior-suite-review/

Hope that helps. It looks pretty nice, fwiw.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thank you. The review does make them favorable. One of the ones we could upgrade to JS is on Voyager class so not as nice as Oasis, but other one would be similar to the review.

 

[OKgirl]

You get double loyalty points for booking a Junior suite so the points are the same whether you do 2 interior/balcony rooms vs a junior suite. We've stayed in a Junior suite on Liberty and Harmony and neither had 2 bathrooms so if this is what you need, I'd get 2 rooms. (However, since my husband was booked in one room and I was booked in another room, we each only got the points for 1 room each - we would have both gotten double points had we been booked together in the Junior suite). Our junior suite got us on the ship a bit faster, access to the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast/lunch on Harmony, and was double the size of a standard balcony room, but we were booked in a HA room which may be a big larger. It also had a walk-in closet so I could get dressed in there without having to change in front of my preteen boys (who would have been horrified.....) 2 rooms also allows for "adult time".... We prefer 2 rooms now but book a junior suite for us and an adjacent balcony room or interior for the 3 kids.

 

[Frozen2014]

You get double loyalty points for booking a Junior suite so the points are the same whether you do 2 interior/balcony rooms vs a junior suite. We've stayed in a Junior suite on Liberty and Harmony and neither had 2 bathrooms so if this is what you need, I'd get 2 rooms. (However, since my husband was booked in one room and I was booked in another room, we each only got the points for 1 room each - we would have both gotten double points had we been booked together in the Junior suite). Our junior suite got us on the ship a bit faster, access to the Coastal Kitchen for breakfast/lunch on Harmony, and was double the size of a standard balcony room, but we were booked in a HA room which may be a big larger. It also had a walk-in closet so I could get dressed in there without having to change in front of my preteen boys (who would have been horrified.....) 2 rooms also allows for "adult time".... We prefer 2 rooms now but book a junior suite for us and an adjacent balcony room or interior for the 3 kids.

Your post confused me a bit. I know we get double points for a JS so for a 7 night cruise, we would get 14 points.

But if we keep our 2 rooms (where we booked DH and DS in one room, and DD and I in other room)....wouldn't we get 7 points?

 

[OKgirl]

Sorry - it is a bit confusing when I re-read it! You only get the points for the room you are booked in. (My daughter and I got the points for one room, husband and 2 boys got points for the other room). Had we all been booked in the junior suite, we would all get double points. (I was under the impression I would get double points for one room AND the normal points for the other..... Not so, unfortunately). You are correct as you posted above.

 

[frank808]

For every night you get 1 point.
Suite class you get 1 extra point per night.
Travelling solo you get 1 extra point as long as room is classified to sleep more than one person.

2 cruisers in a inside room will get one point per night.
1 cruiser in an inside room that sleeps 2 or more would get 2 points per night.
Travelling in a suite you get 2 points per night
Travelling solo in a suite you get 3 points per night.

JS on ships with Coastal Kitchen allow you to make reservations for dinner only. To have breakfast and lunch in CK, you must be travelling in a GS or above or a pinnacle member.

If you have an aft corner balcony, i would not move unless it was to an aft JS. Only the aft corner JS on Grandeur(and her sisters) have a walk in closet. Royal reclassified the aft D1 balconies to JS category a few years ago so those rooms do not have a walk in closet.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thank you both for the clarification. Ok...so even though we have 2 cabins, we still each get 1 point. That's what I thought but got excited that I had misunderstood.

JS on ships with Coastal Kitchen allow you to make reservations for dinner only. To have breakfast and lunch in CK, you must be travelling in a GS or above or a pinnacle member.

If you have an aft corner balcony, i would not move unless it was to an aft JS. Only the aft corner JS on Grandeur(and her sisters) have a walk in closet. Royal reclassified the aft D1 balconies to JS category a few years ago so those rooms do not have a walk in closet.

Thank you.
We have 2 interior connecting rooms on Anthem. So this would get us CK for dinner (upon availablity only as I understand, since higher suites get precedence). For these rooms, I would only consider making the jump if we selected a JS with a sofa bed and pullman. These rooms do have 2 toilets and sinks...and 1 shower.

On Voyager class...yes we have aft corner room. It's a different shape than the JS (which has one almost next to it), so hard to tell, but it's quite wide and so very spacious and looks close in size. Not sure how I feel about an aft room as I've heard the balcony gets super hot. On this cruise, we are travelling in August and won't be moving that much during the day (a 4 day Bahamas cruise). But we selected this specific room for the space. Our kids would share a sofa bed, so its no different with the JS also only having a sofa bed (and I don't think they have any JS with sofa bed and pullman on this ship). Not a huge deal not having a walk in as on our last cruise, we found lots there was enough storage ....but good to know.

 

[frank808]

Thank you both for the clarification. Ok...so even though we have 2 cabins, we still each get 1 point. That's what I thought but got excited that I had misunderstood.



Thank you.
We have 2 interior connecting rooms on Anthem. So this would get us CK for dinner (upon availablity only as I understand, since higher suites get precedence). For these rooms, I would only consider making the jump if we selected a JS with a sofa bed and pullman. These rooms do have 2 toilets and sinks...and 1 shower.

On Voyager class...yes we have aft corner room. It's a different shape than the JS (which has one almost next to it), so hard to tell, but it's quite wide and so very spacious and looks close in size. Not sure how I feel about an aft room as I've heard the balcony gets super hot. On this cruise, we are travelling in August and won't be moving that much during the day (a 4 day Bahamas cruise). But we selected this specific room for the space. Our kids would share a sofa bed, so its no different with the JS also only having a sofa bed (and I don't think they have any JS with sofa bed and pullman on this ship). Not a huge deal not having a walk in as on our last cruise, we found lots there was enough storage ....but good to know.

With 2 connecting inside staterooms you will not have access to CK. Junior suites have access for dinner only. You are correct that Grand Suites and above get first shot at CK reservations via the concierge.